August 2022

August 19, 2022

Kansas to launch legal sports betting on 1 September

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has announced that licensed operators in the US state can begin to accept wagers on 1 September.

The four state-owned land-based casinos – Boot Hill Casino & Resort, Kansas Star Casino, Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, and Kansas Crossing Casino & Hotel – will be able to accept bets in-person and on mobile platforms.

Tribal casinos are also working to align on compacts with the state for sports wagering, with these casinos to be authorised to launch as soon as agreements are reached.

“Legalising sports betting is a common-sense solution that keeps Kansans’ money in Kansas and drives business to sporting events, casinos, restaurants, and other entertainment venues,” Kelly said. “I want to thank all our partners for working with us to get this done in time for football season.”

Kansas Lottery executive director Stephen Durrell added: “This announcement represents a lot of hard work and collaboration between the Kansas Lottery, the Kansas Racing and Gam..

August 18, 2022

Penn exercises options to acquire remainder of Barstool

Penn Entertainment – the business formerly known as Penn National Gaming – has exercised its option to acquire all remaining shares of media brand Barstool Sports.

Penn acquired a 36% stake in Barstool for $161.2m in 2020, after which it rebranded its sportsbook product to bear the Barstool brand name.

The operator would then increase its stake in Barstool beyond 50% – paying $62.0m for a further 14% stake – within three years. Penn was also granted immediately exercisable call rights that would allow it to acquire the remainder of the media business, “based on a fair market value calculation”.

In February of this year, Penn then revealed that it planned to exercise these options and control the entire Barstool business by early 2023.

Read the full story on iGB North America

August 17, 2022

Why MaximBet is more than a sum of its parts

When PASPA was repealed, Daniel Graetzer saw the biggest opportunity of his career. Having gone all-in on the market, he is now running a nationally recognised brand in MaximBet.

When it comes to partnerships between US media giants and sportsbooks, it tends to be the market leaders that get mentioned. It could be 888 using the Sports Illustrated brand for its US push. Or Penn National acquiring Barstool Sports and theScore to drive its growth.

The rampant speculation around ESPN moving into betting operations tends to cite DraftKings or Caesars as being its most likely partner. In short, the companies involved tend to be large, and listed.

But MaximBet, a challenger launched in 2021, has successfully pivoted from a Europe-focused, multibrand business into a US-focused, media brand-driven competitor.

And chief executive Daniel Graetzer is keen to stress that MaximBet is not just a gimmick – he’s building a new proposition for the US sportsbook industry.

Building betting into a..

August 17, 2022

Sportradar shares up 15% after raising full-year revenue guidance

Data provider Sportradar’s share price rocketed after it raised its full-year revenue guidance for 2022.

The announcement came as part of its second-quarter financial report, in which the provider also revealed that its revenue for the three months to 30 June was €177.2m, up 23.0% year-on-year.

In total, €29.1m of Sportradar’s revenue came from the US, up by 66.3% as the US market continued to expand. Rest-of-world betting services brought in €95.5m, up by 20.6%. This, the business said, was mostly due to more focus on “higher-value-add” services such as managed betting services.

Rest-of-world audiovisual services to betting operators came to €39.7m, up by just short of 10% thanks mostly to new customers.

Other operations brought in a further €12.9m.

The business then paid €43.4m for purchased services and data licences, up 33.1%, plus €64.4m in personnel expenses, up 37.6%, €21.2m in other operating income, a slight increase, and €49.2m in depreciation and amortisation, up by 75…

August 17, 2022

GiG CEO: Rationale for Sportnco deal proven by Q2 performance

A full quarter’s contribution from Sportnco has aided Gaming Innovation Group’s international expansion drive, and while new opportunities emerge in the Americas, Europe is also playing a key role in its growth trajectory.

Gaming Innovation Group’s (GiG) first quarter results for 2022 set a new high point for revenue, for the second consecutive reporting period. The supplier has now extended that winning streak to three quarters, reporting a 37.1% year-on-year jumping in revenue to €22.1m (€18.6m/$22.5m).

GiG Media, its affiliate division, continues to grow rapidly, but for the three months to 30 June, the platform business’ performance was the standout performer. Revenue grew 43.1% to €7.3m, reflecting a full quarter’s contribution from Sportnco.

Richard Brown, GiG CEO

Sportnco’s impact in Q2

In the wake of the first quarter results, chief executive Richard Brown talked up the anticipated impact of adding a proven sportsbook to GiG’s portfolio. Following Q2’s figures, it certa..

August 17, 2022

Stats Perform pens long-term extension with Spain’s LaLiga

Stats Perform has signed a long-term extension to its strategic partnership with La Liga to exclusively collect and manage live official data and player statistics from the top professional men’s divisions of Spanish football.

Under the five-year deal, Stats Perform will capture data from over 800 LaLiga matches per season and distribute them to licensed global broadcasters, sponsors, publishers, fantasy providers, sportsbooks and the leagues’ own digital platforms.

Stats Perform’s Opta data will power content across LaLiga’s broadcast, digital and social platforms, including AI-powered advanced analytics and predictions while the Opta-powered PressBox Graphics platform will be used to create new visual assets.

In addition, Stats Perform will retain the right to distribute live video streams of LaLiga games to licensed sportsbooks in international markets via its recently up graded Bet LiveStreams service.

LaLiga joins Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1 and over 60 other football co..

August 17, 2022

Entain to pay record £17m for wide-ranging failings in GB

The GB Gambling Commission has ordered Entain to pay a record £17.0m (€20.3m/$20.6m) after it identified a series of social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failings across its online and land-based businesses.

Entain will pay £14.0m for failings from LC International Limited (LCI), which runs Entain’s online brands including Ladbrokes.com, Coral.co.uk and Foxybingo.com.

The remaining £3.0m is for the Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited (LBG) land-based business, which operates 2,746 betting shops across Great Britain.

All £17m will be directed towards socially responsible purposes as part of a regulatory settlement, while the Commission will impose a series of additional licence conditions, with an Entain board member tasked with overseeing a new business plan for improvement.

In addition, a third-party audit of compliance with the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice will take place within 12 months.

As a result of the failings, Gambling Commission chief execut..

August 17, 2022

Genius beats revenue and earnings guidance in Q2

Sports data supplier Genius exceeded its revenue and earnings guidance in Q2 of 2022, while its loss was drastically reduced as large stock-based payments no longer weighed into its earnings.

The operator’s revenue exceeded its guidance for the quarter, which was set at $68m.

Betting technology, content and services brought in $44.8m, which was up by 10.4% year-on-year. Genius said about half of the increase was due to new customer additions, around $1.5m from renewed or renegotiated contracts with existing clients at higher prices, and a further $500,000 from “increased customer utilisation of existing Genius content”.

Revenue from media technology, content and services almost doubled to $15.0m. Sports technology content and services revenue was $11.3m, up 56.9%.

Looking at revenue geographically, $43.9m came from Europe, a 4.5% increase, $21.4m from the Americas, more than double the total from a year earlier, and $5.8m from the rest of the world, up by 34.9%.

Genius’ cost of re..

August 16, 2022

DC sports betting handle continues downward trend in July

Washington DC’s sports betting handle declined for the second consecutive month in July, while both revenue and player spending in the market fell year-on-year.

Consumers bet a total of $11.3m (£9.4m/€11.2m) on sports during the month, down 11.7% from $11.3m in July 2021, while the monthly total was also 18.1% lower than $13.8m in June this year.

Gross gaming revenue from sports wagering stood at $1.2m, which was 33.3% lower than $1.8m in July last year, but 20.0% up on June 2022’s total of $1.0m.

Looking at individual operator performances, Caesars again processed the largest amount of bets during the month, posting a handle of $4.3m and $378,662 in revenue.

Gambet, which is operated by the DC Lottery and powered by Intralot, claimed top spot in terms of revenue, as after paying out $2.8m in winnings from $3.3m in bets, this suggested revenue for July was $457,616.

BetMGM, which operates in DC in partnership with Major League Baseball franchise the Washington Nationals, ranked th..

August 16, 2022

News Corp venture adjusts wagering plans with TexBet acquisition

News Corp Australia and Tekkorp’s new NTD Pty wagering venture will acquire assets from local operator TexBet, as part of a change to its agreement with betting supplier BetMakers.

NTD agreed to purchase certain assets owned by O’Shea Bookmaking Pty, which trades as TexBet, with support from BetMakers. TexBet is a long-standing SaaS platform customer of BetMakers.

Effective from completion of the sale of TexBet, BetMakers shall receive ownership and IP rights for the betting platform technology currently owned by TexBet, while BetMakers will also support the migration of TexBet users to the NTD platform.

This follows an initial deal, agreed in April when the NTD venture was first announced, which stated that News Corp will run the venture with backing from gambling executives Matt Davey of Tekkorp and Matt Tripp, while BetMakers’ technology will drive NTD.

The deal said that BetMakers’ OM Apps subsidiary would provide B2B platform technology and wagering solutions to NTD, which wi..

August 16, 2022

GiG sets €65m EBITDA goal for 2024 as Sportnco contributes to record Q2

Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) drastically upped its long-term targets – now aiming for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around €65m (£54.7m/$65.9m) by 2024 – following a record quarter bolstered by the acquisition of Sportnco.

The results – for the second quarter of the year – were the first to include sportsbook supplier Sportnco. GiG acquired Sportnco for €51.3m (£43.2m/$56.7m at the time) as the quarter began after agreeing the deal in December.

The business set an all-time record in revenue with €22.1m, up 37.1% year-on-year. While the acquisition helped the business, GiG also noted the total was up by 24.0% organically.

Media – covering GiG’s affiliate brands – continued to make up the majority of revenue, with €14.8m, up by 35.1% year-on-year, and by 5.0% from the previous record high set in Q1.

Of this total, €9.8m came from publishing brands and the remaining €5.0m from paid media. New launches for the division included a brand focuse..

August 15, 2022

NeoGames’ BtoBet enters Ethiopia with UtopBet

BtoBet, the sports betting supplier subsidiary of online lottery platform provider NeoGames, has expanded into Ethiopia after entering into a partnership with UtopBet.

Under the deal, BtoBet will provide its proprietary sportsbook platform and other sports betting services, including risk management, to UtopBet in the East African country.

The Ethiopian online and retail sports betting operator will offer betting on both local and international sports events, while it will also add esports betting to its offering for the first time.

BtoBet’s deal with the UtopBet brand means the supplier has a presence in 28 different jurisdictions around the world.

“We are pleased to further strengthen our presence in Africa, by going live in the highly competitive Ethiopian market,” NeoGames’ chief executive Moti Malul said. “UtopBet is one of the more well-known brands in the local market and I am pleased that the choice to power their retail and online channels fell on our flexible solutions an..

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