November 2022

November 30, 2022

CDI to develop DraftKings horse racing offering

Race track and gaming business Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has entered into a multi-year agreement with DraftKings to develop DK Horse, a pari-mutuel wagering horse racing product for the sports betting operator.

CDI’s B2B horse racing subsidiary TwinSpires will develop the white-label solution. This will involve providing the company’s advanced deposit wagering technology to DraftKings.

While TwinSpires initially started life as CDI’s B2C online betting and casino platform, the business pivoted to being a B2B provider after facing intense market competition in 2021.

Under the terms of the deal, CDI will also provide the pari-mutuel wagering rights to content that the business owns or controls, such as the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. CDI will also provide additional horse racing content on the operator’s behalf.

“We are excited to collaborate with Churchill Downs Incorporated, not only to give our existing customers an opportunity to engage with pari-mutuel horse wa..

November 30, 2022

Metric partners Racebook HQ for trading services

Sports betting supplier Metric Gaming has partnered with Racebook HQ to offer managed trading services to horse racing operators.

Through the partnership, Racebook HQ will use automated decision makers to offer pricing “on products that are notoriously difficult to trade” across horse racing, greyhound racing and trotting.

“We are extremely excited to announce this partnership and could not have found a better partner in Metric Gaming,” Racebook HQ chief executive Sam Ford said. “Technology is at the core of what we do at Racebook HQ, and Metric Gaming clearly hold the same aspirations to create premium products and services for the global betting and gaming industry.”

Metric Gaming and Racebook HQ: similar outlook

Metric Gaming CEO Keith Hayes said that Metric and Racebook – which is backed by professional racing bettor Zeljko Ranogajec – shared a similar outlook on the global betting landscape.

“RBHQ is the dominant racing provider globally and from our very first conversations,..

November 29, 2022

Luckbox owner to acquire Asia-facing B2B platform

Luckbox owner Real Luck Group has signed a letter of intent to acquire an unnamed igaming platform targeting the Asia-Pacific region.

Real Luck Group will acquire 100% of the shares in the Asia-facing business, which it says will give it access to more than 6,000 games from 50 game providers.

Real Luck Group chief executive Thomas Rosander said that the business had long aimed to add a B2B element to its portfolio, but that through this deal it is set to accomplish this sooner than it had expected.

“Adding B2B to our proprietary platform has always been a significant part of the Luckbox strategy, and this important acquisition means we will complete this objective almost a year in advance of our projections,” he said. “It also extends our opportunities into APAC, a significant region that we currently do not have a presence in and perhaps the largest esports market globally.

Real Luck Group CEO Thomas Rosander

“This transaction ultimately builds our business’ upside by providing ..

November 29, 2022

Does brand awareness really impact customer loyalty?

As operators search for customer loyalty, brand awareness is front-of-mind. But does it really impact loyalty and is it enough for long-term success?

Welcome to episode three of our five-part consumer insight series designed to outline and analyse the customer acquisition, retention and development opportunities for the leading operators in North America.

In episode one, we explored the common challenges faced by bettors when attempting to register, fund and bet with their preferred apps, highlighting the correlation between seamless user journeys and brand loyalty.

In last week’s episode, we dove deeper into the day-to-day frustrations faced by consumers and the opportunities for operators to develop improved customer experiences that can impact both loyalty and market share.

In this week’s episode, using our proprietary insights, we will analyse the best-performing operators in terms of brand awareness, app preferences and customer loyalty – all through the lens of the consumer. ..

November 29, 2022

IBIA signs up Bet99 as latest member

Canadian online sports betting and casino platform Bet99 has become the latest gambling business to join the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).

Bet99 will now feed into the IBIA’s global betting integrity monitoring and alert network, working alongside a host of licensed operators from around the world.

Ontario approval

The announcement comes shortly after Bet99 secured approval from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario to offer online gambling services in the Canadian province.

Membership of an integrity body such as IBIA is a requirement for Ontario licence-holders.

“Joining IBIA, the world’s leading independent integrity monitor, is critical to our sportsbook strategy, in which trust, integrity and protection are prioritised for our Canadian customers,” Bet99’s head of sportsbook André Bewerungen said.

“We are delighted to combine forces with IBIA to combat foul play in sports, as well as betting-related corruption and manipulation..

November 29, 2022

Maryland records 16.5 million geolocation transactions in first five days

More than 16.5 million geolocation transactions were reported during the opening five days of Maryland’s newly regulated online sports betting market.

Data published by geolocation and fraud prevention specialist GeoComply revealed activity across 477,365 unique accounts between 23 November, the day the state’s market opened, and 28 November.

The five-day period included the Thanksgiving weekend, and some 3.7 million geolocation transactions were recorded on Thanksgiving Day alone, with focus on events such as the NFL, NBA and the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

Read the full story on iGB North America

November 28, 2022

The man who revitalised Fremont Street

Downtown Las Vegas was once associated with Sin City’s Rat Pack era, but the Fremont Street experience is – quite literally – very different today. Enter Circa Sports’ Derek Stevens, an industry outsider who is playing a huge role revitalising the area by bringing a brand new casino and sports betting experience.

Derek Stevens of Circa Sports is a gambling industry outsider. He built up a successful auto parts business in his native Michigan before moving into the casino business, purchasing the Golden Gate in 2008. He’s honest about what attracted him to the city.

“The key thing that brought me to Vegas was the fact there’s no income tax in the state of Nevada,” he says, bluntly. “I run an investment portfolio, so that was helpful.”

Derek Stevens poses next to Vegas Vickie, an iconic symbol of ‘Old Vegas’

“But,” he adds, “I’m more of an operator.” He’s also someone who likes a challenge, acquiring a casino on the cusp of the Great Recession. Stevens “really fell in love with downt..

November 28, 2022

Kahnawàke council launches legal challenge against Ontario igaming laws

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke (MCK) has launched a constitutional challenge against iGaming Ontario and the attorney-general of Ontario, arguing that the province’s regulation of gambling is unconstitutional.

The Council – which runs its own gambling licensing regime – said that the Ontario regime did not meet the requirements for gambling outlined in Canada’s constitution.

As a result, it has filed a motion in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to challenge the legality of Ontario’s igaming framework, which it said was “illegal and unconstitutional”.

Ontario igaming legal status

Commercial betting and gaming are legal in Canada only if it is “conducted and managed” by a provincial government. While in most provinces that offer online gambling, the government runs a monopoly, Ontario instead launched a licensed regime this year, with more than 30 different licensed operators so far.

While a specific definition of conducting and managing is not provided, the Mohawk Council of ..

November 28, 2022

Dutch operators under tax investigation for pre-2021 activities

The Dutch government has published a memo revealing that – as of last year – eight operators were under tax investigation for their activities in the country before it regulated online gambling, with authorities planning to look into seven more.

The memo was dated 28 October 2021 – four weeks after the Dutch online gambling market launched. The memo was written by the Corporate Service for Professional Technology (CD VT) within the Tax and Customs Administration and was sent to “Dutch online gambling companies”.

It was revealed last week following a freedom of information request.

The memo said that – prior to the launch of regulated online gambling – a number of operators made money from the Netherlands that should have been subject to tax, but that these taxes were not paid.

These companies, it said, were in practice based in the Netherlands but on paper were listed as being from other countries in order to escape taxes.

In particular, the companies with unpaid tax bills were t..

November 28, 2022

World Series of Politics Episode 8: Midterms, Maryland, Minnesota and Texas

In episode eight of the World Series of Politics, Brendan Bussmann of B Global Advisors and Brandt Iden, now Fanatics Betting and Gaming's newly appointed vice-president of government affairs, take on California, Minnesota, Texas and Maryland.

We kick off this week’s podcast by congratulating Brandt Iden, who has taken on a major new role as vice-president of government affairs for Fanatics Betting and Gaming.

California sports betting hopes crash land

Our dynamic duo start off by picking over the wreckage of California’s sports betting ballot measures, reflecting on what went so disastrously wrong.

Is Minnesota in play?

Next they run the rule on the other states where the Midterms have heralded change. Brandt is surprised by the Democrats’ clean sweep in the Gopher State, but that could create opportunities for the industry.

The party’s strong relationship with the tribes facilitate legal Minnesota sports betting in 2023. Remember, there’s more on the Midterms from Brenda..

November 25, 2022

GB gross gambling yield recovers to almost £10bn in 2021-22

Great Britain’s gross gambling yield (GGY), excluding lotteries, increased 16.5% to £9.93bn ($12.0bn/€11.53bn)
from April 2021 to March 2022.

The figures were supplied through industry research from the Gambling Commission.

While this is a significant rise, the total is 0.8% below the 2019-20 numbers, which mostly occurred pre-pandemic. Despite the increase in the headline numbers since this, the Commission reports that the number of bettors in the sector have fallen.

“Since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in 2021 and products and opportunities to gamble are available to consumers again, the overall percentage of the adult population who gamble remains lower than it was pre-Covid (28%),” said the Commission.

This can be explained by gaming spend increasing to a proportionally larger extent than the number of consumers. However, as the Commission outlines, there are strong signs of increased participation in gambling activities from younger demographics.

“There are signs of a r..

November 25, 2022

Waterhouse VC: Crunch time in the US

In his latest column, which goes live first on iGB, Tom Waterhouse of Waterhouse VC scrutinises the gambling stock performance in the US, and the variable of customer acquisition costs.

As discussed in our June newsletter, investors in US online wagering operators are growing impatient with the losses recorded for the sake of gaining market share.

One reason we focus primarily on suppliers over operators is because operators rely heavily on their customer acquisition cost (CAC).

In mature, highly taxed, regulated markets, a handful of operators earn the majority of profits because they have the lowest CAC and the best operational efficiencies.

ONE-Year Performance of Operators with Exposure to US Online Wagering.

Sportsbet take 2

Flutter’s third quarter results demonstrated FanDuel’s (Flutter’s US brand) clear market leadership. It has a 42% gross gaming revenue (GGR) market share in mobile sports betting and 18% market share in igaming.

As shown above, Flutter is the only opera..

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Monthly Archives: November 2022