July 2022

July 29, 2022

Entain takes 1.5 million online bets on Women’s Euro 2022

Entain revealed it has processed 1.5 million online bets on the Women’s Euro 2022 national football team competition, with 14% of these wagers being placed by female customers.

Of the bets placed across Entain’s brands, 46% have been from punters in the UK, ahead of 22% by German customers and 16% Brazil.

In the UK specifically, Ladbrokes and Coral have experienced a five-fold increase in the total number of bets placed on the tournament, up to and including the semi-final, compared to the Women’s Euro 2017. Entain also noted a six-fold increase in bets placed by women.

Almost 60% of outright bets from the UK have been on host England to win the tournament, with this figure being the same for outright bets from Germany.

England will face Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium on 31 July, with 72% of bets placed with Ladbrokes Digital UK being for England to win the match in 90 minutes.

Entain said the increase in betting rates on the Women’s Euro 2022 comes amid an increase in wa..

July 29, 2022

Churchill Downs considers turning TwinSpires into B2B product

US gaming business Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has announced plans for its online betting platform TwinSpires to offer B2B support for sportsbooks wishing to add a horse racing vertical, following the Q1 announcement that CDI would be exiting the online sports betting and casino businesses.

CDI chief executive officer William Carstanjen made the announcement in the company’s Q2 earnings call to investors where he outlined the TwinSpires B2B horse racing strategy.

“We intend to be a leading distributor of horse racing content, either directly to convert to customers of TwinSpires or under a B2B model that enables the online distribution of horse racing content to millions of new customers who have opened online sports wagering accounts.”

Carstanjen pointed to the retail horse racing operator’s extensive institutional knowledge of pari-mutuel wagering as a key USP for the business:

“Given our expertise and extensive knowledge of pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing, we have th..

July 29, 2022

iGB op-ed: the Premier League should jump before it’s pushed

iGB op-ed: Zak Thomas-Akoo argues that the Premier League should make concessions now on gambling shirt sponsorship deals, rather than being forced into it.

This Tuesday, the barons of English football met in an undisclosed location for one of their once-in-a-while shareholders meetings – which according to reports included some rather striking ideas for “a new deal for football”.

Apparently this is some sort of grand bargain between the Premier and lower leagues, as well as more importantly a big old bash at new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s house.

Great stuff, but wasn’t there supposed to be something in there about a voluntary betting shirt sponsorship ban? Last week, it was reported that there was enough support for such a ban, subject to a transition period and certain conditions, to pass the necessary 14-vote threshold.

Kicking the can down the road

While the machinations of the big clubs are a bit of a black box, it’s probably the case that, as speculated in the press, the c..

July 28, 2022

Flutter to lay off staff in UK and Ireland

Betting and gaming giant Flutter will make a number of redundancies in the UK and Ireland, following an internal review.

The business, which operates brands including Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet in the region, did not provide details of how many redundancies there would be or which roles would be affected.

However, a spokesperson did say that it expects the majority of those whose roles are eliminated to find new positions with Flutter. As a result, there would be only a “small number” of job losses.

“These proposed changes reflect the next phase of our integration, as we look to consolidate parallel operating models and position the business to continue growing against a more challenging operating environment,” the spokesperson said.

“While we have sought to minimise the impact this will have on our colleagues, with most employees affected being redeployed into alternative or newly created roles, the proposals may lead to a small number of job losses.

“We are communicatin..

July 28, 2022

German state of Bremen shuts down all bookmakers amid AML concerns

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen – the smallest state in Germany – has announced a full closure of all bookmakers following a statewide investigation into money laundering.

The announcement affects the four operators that offer retail betting services in Bremen – Tipico, HappyBet, Tipwin and XTiP – which between them operate 32 betting shops.

A total of 24 of the operators’ franchises were “tolerated” in the state before the shutdown came into effect, according to a statement on Bremen’s state website, but were awaiting full approval.

Now, however, Bremen has issued rejection letters to all 32 betting shops after the four operators were unable to prove where their funds originated from, leading to concerns about money laundering.

Once the rejection notices were issued, it became illegal to bet in any of the bookmakers in Bremen.

The announcement came from the Bremen Landtag, after Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer conducted a press conference explaining the closures.

“Basically, it..

July 28, 2022

Bet-at-home announces layoffs as it abandons in-house platform

Bet-at-home will replace its existing proprietary platform with the EveryMatrix tech stack, while the Germany-based operator also announced up to 45 job losses as a result of the outsourcing.

The EveryMatrix solution will include a sportsbook, casino platform, player management, payments module and affiliate software, with the deal to cover all the markets in which Bet-at-home is currently present.

“Selecting EveryMatrix as our platform provider will further allow us to keep providing the best service to our 5.5 million registered players while enhancing our operations in key markets,” Bet-at-home chief executive Marco Falchetto said.

“This partnership will boost not only sports, but also casino. With this partnership, a new and exciting phase of bet-at-home development can begin.”

EveryMatrix group chief executive Ebbe Groes added: “Bet-at-home has dominated the sports betting vertical in several European markets and we’re delighted to further contribute to their success.

“This..

July 27, 2022

XLMedia’s new focus on US betting pays off as H1 EBITDA exceeds $10m

A renewed – and acquisition-powered – focus on US sports betting helped drive XLMedia’s revenue up 39.2% to $44.5m, while earnings grew beyond $10m.

Since the prior year’s results, XLMedia changed the structure of the divisions within the business, as part of a wider restructuring effort.

Rather than a single sports betting vertical, the business split revenue related to betting into US sports and European sports. It was the US sports division that generated the vast majority of XLMedia’s revenue, with $30.2m, which was more than five times the total recorded in H1 of the previous year.

Much of this came from recent acquisitions such as Sports Betting Dime and Saturday Football Inc.

“The opening of new regulated markets and the signing of new media partnership agreements has allowed the US Sports business to capitalise on the full US sports calendar, in particular the Super Bowl, and deliver strong growth in H1 2022,” the XL board said.

The European Sports division, meanwhile, br..

July 27, 2022

UK Tote Group names Spencer and Holt non-executive directors

Pool betting operator UK Tote Group has appointed Lord Spencer of Alresford and Mark Holt as non-executive directors to its board.

UK Tote said the double addition would support its ongoing growth plans, with the focus on product innovation, better value, improved customer experience and strong partnerships to create more liquidity and bigger pools.

Lord Spencer is an entrepreneur and founder of interdealer broker ICAP, which became a FTSE100 business in 2006, and its successor, electronic markets services provider NEX plc. He is also one of more than 150 investors in UK Tote.

In addition to acting as a board director of a small number of private businesses, Spencer became chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies in 2020.

Holt brings experience and knowledge from his time working in senior technology roles with a number of businesses. These included spells as chief technology officer at CPA Global and chief technology officer for Trainline.

He is currently chief product and engi..

July 27, 2022

Pinnacle makes integrity push by joining IBIA

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has announced online sports betting brand Pinnacle as its latest member.

Pinnacle, previously known as Pinnacle Sports, will now feed into IBIA’s global betting integrity monitoring and alert platform.

The operator joins a group of other sports betting operators that have joined the IBIA, with the association’s members accounting for more than $137bn (£114bn/€135bn) in global betting turnover per annum and almost 50% of all regulated commercial operator online betting activity.

“Our focus on integrity not only applies to our clients but also the governing bodies themselves, an area which is increasingly important for responsible gaming operators,” Pinnacle chief executive Paris Smith said. “We are delighted to become members of the IBIA and look forward to working closely with the organisation to combat betting-related corruption and manipulation.”

IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali added: “The size and scope of Pinnacle’s sports ..

July 27, 2022

Underdog raises $35m to pursue sports betting

Paid fantasy sports operator Underdog has raised $35.0m (£29.0m/$34.5m) during a Series B funding round to support its plans to expand into sports betting.

The round included funds and accounts managed by BlackRock as well as Acies Investments and valued the business at $485.0m.

BlackRock and Acies join existing investors including billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, professional basketball player Kevin Durant, American football star Odell Beckham Jr, and former Paddy Power Betfair chief executive Breon Corcoran.

Underdog said the funds would go towards its plans to begin building licensed sports betting products, while it also intends to hire more than 100 new employees as part of its wider expansion plans.

“Since the start of Underdog, we’ve believed that building quality products and putting customers first is a winning recipe,” Underdog president and chairman Jeremy Levine said.

“We’re excited to continue to innovate and build new experiences from the ground up in fantasy, sp..

July 27, 2022

Kambi pivots to modularisation as DraftKings exit continues to hit Q2 revenue

Betting supplier Kambi will increase its focus on modularised products rather than its full sportsbook solution – and may seek to make acquisitions – after key client DraftKings’ migration away from Kambi’s sportsbook continued to affect its earnings in Q2.

Revenue for the supplier for the quarter ended 30 June was down by 18.8% from Q2 of 2022 to €34.7m (£29.2m/$35.2m), a change the business said was due to the migration of US betting giant DraftKings away from Kambi’s platform and onto the SBTech product it acquired in 2020.

While DraftKings has already completed its migration, two other key clients are also taking steps to move away from its platform in favour of in-house options. Unibet operator Kindred has been building its own platform, set to launch when its partnership with Kambi ends in 2024.

If DraftKings – which produced 25% of Kambi’s revenue the prior year – is excluded, revenue was up 16% from Q2 of 2021.

Penn National gaming, meanwhile, acquired theScore last year, ..

July 26, 2022

Norwich City director: club will “never again” have betting shirt sponsor

Norwich FC's commercial director, Sam Jeffrey, has said that the club will “never again” sign a betting shirt sponsorship deal, adding that the club must “almost self-regulate” when it comes to deals of that nature.

Instead, the club is set to sign a one-year sponsorship contract with Norfolk-based car manufacturer Lotus Cars.

The club’s latest home kit, which features Lotus, was released at the end of last month.

While Jeffery emphasised that the club must “assess all opportunities” for sponsorship, he stringently ruled out future betting deals.

“There were some [sponsorship] opportunities specifically in the betting space,” said Jeffrey. “These opportunities derived a higher partnership fee as is the case in industries such as betting.

“However, we believe this is the time, as a board and club-wide decision, to almost self-regulate when it comes to betting on the front of our shirts.

“So, certainly with the club in its current structure we will never again have a betting b..

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Monthly Archives: July 2022