September 2022

September 30, 2022

Light & Wonder completes $800m OpenBet sale

Light & Wonder has completed the sale of its OpenBet sports betting platform to Endeavor, three months after the initial planned closing date and for $400m less than was first agreed.

Endeavor – a sports media business that owns IMG Arena – will pay $750m in cash for OpenBet, plus 2.3 million Class A shares, worth $50m.

The sale forms part of a general streamlining of the Light & Wonder business, formerly known as Scientific Games. It also sold its lottery arm – which retained the Scientific Games name – in October of last year to private equity group Brookfield Business Partners.

The sale also follows the exit of Barry Cottle as Light & Wonder chief executive, with Matt Wilson serving in the role on a temporary basis until a full-time replacement is found.

Wilson said the new business can now focus on growth, now that it has a more clear focus on gaming, whether land-based, online or social.

“With the completion of the OpenBet divestiture and our now streamlined organisation, Li..

September 30, 2022

RI sports betting bounces back in August as revenue hits five-month high

The Rhode Island Lottery reported year-on-year growth within the state’s sports betting market in August, while revenue reached its highest monthly total since March 2022.

Revenue for the month amounted to $3.0m, which was 172.7% higher than $1.1m in August of last year and also 3.5% up from $2.9m in July this year.

Of this total, $1.6m was attributed to online betting activity, while $1.4m came from retail sports betting via sportsbooks at the Twin River and Tiverton Casino land-based sites.

Twin River was the more successful of the two casinos, bringing in $866,413 in revenue for the month, while the Tiverton casino generated $504,225 from sports wagering.

In terms of handle, player spending in August reached $27.7m, up 15.4% from $24.0m in August 2021 and also 9.9% higher than $25.2m in July of this year.

Consumers spent $17.9m betting online during the month, as well as $9.9m at land-based sportsbooks. Twin River processed $6.1m in retail bets and the Tiverton Casino $3.8m.

F..

September 30, 2022

Dutch market an early success, but true battles are ahead

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle says that the first year following the Dutch market launch has been an overwhelming success in channelisation terms, but tinkering with the formula could put all of that at risk.

In terms of the actual act of getting sites online and ready to take customers’ bets, the launch of the Dutch online market was a bit of a mess.

A technical hitch with self-exclusion scheme Cruks meant that sites were not permitted to launch on 1 October as expected, going live a day later instead. This, of course, followed a number of other delays for a variety of reasons.

But if we’re talking about the general performance in the months after opening up, the Dutch market looks to have been a success.

The country exceeded its three-year channelisation target within year one. Figures released today by regulator de Kansspelautoriteit – one day before the first anniversary of that launch – reveal that 85% of Dutch players are gambling within the licensed market.

Much of the reason f..

September 29, 2022

Road to World Cup: Preparing your sportsbook product

With the World Cup kicking off in November, punters will be presented with a wealth of big games to bet on. With just four months to go, the period for preparation is getting shorter and shorter.

Operators need to ensure they are prepared for handling an influx of traffic, while maintaining the highest possible standards of customer experience. To succeed when competition for players is at its fiercest, sportsbooks need to ensure they have a stable, robust, scalable and flexible solution that performs under pressure.

In this webinar, sportsbook platform specialist BtoBet and a panel of experts explore how to make sure you’re match-fit for the tournament.

We discussed:

How a quality sportsbook is key for an operator to increase its growthThe relevance of machine learning-driven tools and the part they play in player engagementThe importance of market localisationCustomising front-end UXTailoring your content offering ahead of the World Cup

Check out other on demand videos here.

September 29, 2022

GAN debuts sports betting in US with Island View Casino launch

GAN has launched sports betting with Island View Casino in Mississippi, marking the first US deployment of GAN Sports since its acquisition of Coolbet in January 2021.

Consumers at the casino will be able to place sports bets at 20 internet-connected kiosks, while GAN will also roll out a “Bet the V” branded mobile sportsbook to complement the retail offering.

The mobile solution will be enabled by GAN’s GameSTACK Player Account Management (PAM) system for omnichannel sports betting via retail kiosks or mobile devices while on location at the casino.

GAN will also provide supporting marketing and customer services, while the deal will allow for the state-wide roll out of mobile sports betting, should Mississippi pass the relevant laws to expand wagering in the future. At present, consumers are only permitted to place mobile bets while on-site at a licensed casino.

The launch was made possible after GAN acquired Vincent Group, the parent company of operator Coolbet, for $175.9m in J..

September 29, 2022

Danish regulator cancels one of two injunctions against Tipwin

Danish regulator Spillemyndigheden has cancelled a money laundering injunction it issued against Tipwin earlier this year, but left a second injunction against the operator in place.

In June, the regulator said it had reported Tipwin to local police and issued injunctions over failings in the anti-money laundering efforts undertaken at its retail betting shops.

The regulator said the business had breached two different sections of the Danish Money Laundering Act: Section 7, which deals with risk assessments, and Section 8, about policies and practices for staff to detect possible cases of money laundering.

However, after what Spillemyndigheden described as “careful consideration”, it cancelled the injunction that related to Section 8. It said that, as Tipwin’s staff that should have been responsible for these practices were outsourced, the operator did not commit a failing here. However, it did note that the failings would be covered by a different section of the Act: Section 24.

U..

September 28, 2022

Elys granted approval for DC nightclub sportsbook

Gaming technology provider Elys Game Technology has been granted approval by Washington DC local government for a white-label joint venture with the Ozio Lounge, a Mediterranean-themed nightclub.

The business formerly known as Newgioco has agreed to launch a joint venture with District Hospitality, the club’s operator, and will trade under the BetDupont LLC name. The agreement has an initial term of three years from the date the licence is issued – with inbuilt provisions for two anticipated extensions of two years each.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval from the DC Office of Lottery and Gaming (DCOLG) – and would be the third white label retail sportsbook opened by the business in the city, having engaged in similar deals with the Grand Central Restaurant and Sportsbook, which has been completed and the Cloakroom Gentlemen’s Club, which is awaiting regulatory confirmation.

Elys executive chairman Michele Ciavarella placed the deal in the context of the business’ wider US s..

September 28, 2022

DAZN eyes betting expansion with Eleven deal

Worldwide sports platform DAZN Group has entered an agreement to acquire the global sports media businesses of Eleven Group to support its betting expansion plans.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but DAZN said the purchase would expand its live sports streaming capabilities in markets around the world and add approximately $300.0m (£281.5m/$314.1m) in revenue per year to its business.

DAZN said that should the acquisition go ahead, the addition of Eleven to its business would support its wider plans to grow its betting operations.

In recent months, DAZN has made a series of announcements supporting its betting business. Last month, the company soft launched the beta product of the DAZN Bet sports betting venture in the UK.

First revealed in April, DAZN Bet is powered by technology from Pragmatic Play, and is being led by Mark Kemp, formerly chief executive of BoyleSports.

The move into the world of betting came after DAZN last year hired Shay Segev – formerly chief..

September 28, 2022

How lotteries can leverage their scale in sports betting

Across the globe, state lotteries have opportunities to move into sports betting, but doing so will create new challenges that only a few may be capable of addressing. How can they go about creating a thriving sportsbook? By Jari Vähänen

On a global scale, lotteries are a diverse group of companies. There are huge differences between the operators, with very few unifying features.

Jari Vähänen

Broadly speaking, the common thing that binds them is their exclusive right to run lottery games. Yet when looking at the World Lottery Association’s membership, not all companies even have this monopoly position. However, in this article, I will focus on lottery companies that operate at scale, namely state lotteries.

Lotteries as a monopoly

The term “state lotteries” refers to the fact that these companies were originally under the direct control of the state and sold lottery games. Most lotteries originally sold scratchcards and lotto (or draw-based games). It is only in the past three d..

September 28, 2022

GBGB hits out at “misguided” calls to ban greyhound racing in Britain

The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) has criticised calls from three animal charities to ban all forms of greyhound racing in Britain, describing the approach as “ill-conceived” and “misguided”.

The chief executives of the RSPCA, Blue Cross and Dogs Trust issued a joint statement urging an end to greyhound racing as soon as possible, suggesting a phase-out over a period of five years to allow the racing industry and animal welfare organisations to plan and coordinate the care of dogs affected.

The charities said in some parts of the UK, such as in Wales where there is just one track, it is expected that the phase-out period needed would be significantly shorter and racing could end sooner.

Referencing data from the GBGB, the body governing licensed greyhound racing in Britain, the charities said over 2,000 greyhounds died and nearly 18,000 injuries were recorded from greyhound racing between 2018 and 2021, while more dogs were injured on independent tracks.

As such, the char..

September 27, 2022

Dutch minister defends sponsorship transition timeline

Dutch minister for legal protection, Franc Weerwind, has defended the timeline of the country’s sponsorship ban, amid further questioning on the subject from MPs.

In July, the Dutch government announced a number of measures to curb gambling advertising, following severe pressure from MPs. Many forms of ads will be banned from the start of next year, while gambling sponsorships in football will be banned from 2025.

When asked about the upcoming sponsorship ban, Weerwind said that the two-year adjustment period set out for the ban is a “reasonable” length of time.

“That is why a period of two years has been provided for the entry into force of a ban on sports sponsorship,” he said.

“In view of the serious importance of addiction prevention and the special importance of sport, I consider this a short, but reasonable period of time.”

He was questioned in parliament last week (23 September) by Mirjam Bikker, a member of political party ChristenUnie.

The questions mostly dealt with foo..

September 27, 2022

Best perspective: emerging sports and integrity

Integrity has long been a major issue in sports betting. While this is a problem for even the most established of sports, emerging sports can be blindsided by the scale of the problem. Marese O’Hagan speaks to Steve Hall, commissioner of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), about how emerging sports are approaching the issue of integrity.

In its second quarter 2022 report, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) received a total of 88 suspicious alerts pertaining to sports betting worldwide. Football was the subject of 32 of these, while tennis and horseracing followed at 27 and 12 respectively.

But virtually every sport has been touched by match-fixing and betting corruption. Routinely, headlines appear that detail a variety of penalties across a number of sports for engaging in the practice.

For sports in their infancy, the issue of betting corruption can be difficult to grapple with. Time and resources are needed to tackle the problem, both of which some emerg..

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Monthly Archives: September 2022