Online sports betting Archives

September 2, 2022

Brazilian operators risk being punished for government inaction

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle argues that Brazil’s latest crackdown on sponsorship punishes operators that believed they had a clear pathway to launching before the winter.

Five matches into the season, the Premier League – and European club football in general – is well and truly back.

But the big moment of anticipation in the football world this year is still to come, when those domestic leagues will, of course, stop this winter, for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

However excited those in Europe may be, surely no nation can match Brazil in its enthusiasm for the World Cup.

So naturally, the event has long been the circled date on the calendar for the launch of regulated sports betting in Brazil.

Operators had surely hoped that the months in the build-up to the event would be a time to prepare to get their licensed operations up and running, putting the finishing touches in place to take bets on the World Cup.

But instead, it might be close to the exact opposite.

With the opening match n..

August 26, 2022

GNOG secures market access in Kansas with Boot Hill Casino

DraftKings-owned Golden Nugget Online Gaming (GNOG) has secured market access in the state of Kansas by entering a partnership with Butler National Corporation, operator of the Boot Hill Casino & Resort.

Under the deal, which is subject to the receipt of licenses and regulatory approvals, GNOG will roll out its online sportsbook in Kansas, allowing players across the state to place bets on sports.

New laws in the state will allow land-based casinos each to contract with three sports wagering platform providers, as well as offer sports betting through a retail sportsbook.

Butler National Corporation president and chief executive Clark Stewart said the aim for the operator is to launch sports betting in some form by September 1, the date which licensed casinos can begin accepting wagers.

“GNOG is a recognised and established brand within the gaming industry,” Stewart said. “We’re thrilled our customers may soon experience all the excitement that online sports betting has to offer wit..

August 26, 2022

Cost of living represents looming crisis

iGB op-ed: Zak Thomas-Akoo argues the gaming sector should brace for a squeeze as macroeconomic conditions start to bite.

“Now is the winter of our discontent,” burbled Richard III, in the famous warning of what happens when a clever clogs lets ambition outstrip means. More prosaically, winter is certainly on the mind of those in the UK as the country braces for a potential triple threat of recession, energy price shocks and generalised inflation, all of which have direct industry implications.

A combination of supply constraints, fiscal and monetary policy, and energy disruptions have made inflation a worldwide phenomenon but it is most ferocious in the UK. In August, annualised inflation reached 8.5% in the US, 8.6% in Eurozone, just 6.5% in France – and 10.1% in Britain.

As our long, hot and doomed summer recedes into the middle distance, from Middlesbrough to Downing Street, Britain is blowing off its dusty old picture books of 1978 as it braces for the squeeze, and it’s not muc..

August 26, 2022

Sports Interaction secures Ontario licence after Entain acquisition

Canadian online sports betting brand Sports Interaction has become the latest operator to secure an internet gaming licence from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).

The new licence will enable the operator to roll out its Sportsinteraction.com site and offer sports wagering to consumers across the province.

Sports Interaction joins a host of other brands to have secured licences in Ontario, which opened its legal online gambling market in April this year. Prior to the market opening, Sports Interaction had been a major brand in the Ontario grey market.

Bally’s, PokerStars, SkillOnNet and BetVictor are among the latest licensees, while operators such as theScore, PointsBet and Bet365 were approved before the market opened.

Earlier this year, Entain acquired Avid Gaming, the business behind Sports Interaction, from Middlebrook Investments Limited in a CAD$300m deal.

Avid Gaming leases Sports Interaction exclusively to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and the Mohawk ..

August 25, 2022

USA Today publisher Gannett alters Tipico deal, removing exclusivity

US media giant Gannett has altered its affiliate partnership with Tipico, removing exclusivity for the operator.

Gannett – which owns the country’s leading newspaper by circulation, USA Today, as well as a large network of local newspapers – had signed a deal with German market leader Tipico last year, as the operator looked set to expand in the US.

The operator committed to $90m in media spend over the five-year agreement, while Gannett would also receive referral fees for customers that placed bets after being directed to Tipico from Gannett properties.

That agreement replaced Gannett’s partnership with MGM-Entain joint venture BetMGM, meaning the media business would promote Tipico odds instead of BetMGM’s.

Read the full story on iGB North America

August 25, 2022

Betting and Gaming Council welcomes Fitzdares as latest member

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), an industry body for the UK regulated betting and gaming sector, has announced historic personal bookmaker Fitzdares as its latest member.

Fitzdares, which has operated since 1882, will now work alongside the BGC and its network of members to influence decision-making in the UK industry.

The bookmaker allows customers to place bets via its official app, website, live chat, SMS, email and telephone, while in 2020 it also opened its first “Fitzdares Club” in Mayfair, a venue for members to watch live sport.

Earlier this year, Fitzdares launched its second location in the Cotswolds, complete with an 18-hole golf course.

“As a medium-sized independent and boutique business, we wanted our voice heard,” Fitzdares chief executive William Woodhams said. “The BGC gives us the opportunity to be at the table where the key decisions are being made in UK gaming.”

Fitzdares this year also announced its expansion into the Ontario regulated market, being one ..

August 23, 2022

Kambi pens multi-channel sportsbook deal with Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort

Kambi Group has entered into a multi-channel sportsbook agreement with Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in the US state of Arkansas.

Under the deal, Kambi will provide its on-property and online sportsbook solutions direct to the thoroughbred racetrack and casino.

Kambi will support Oaklawn with the launch of its online sportsbook operations under the brand “Oaklawn Sports”, subject to Arkansas passing the relevant laws. Online gambling of any kind is not yet legal in the state.

In addition, Kambi will continue to provide its retail sports betting solution to Oaklawn. The venue has been offering sports wagering through Kambi’s retail sportsbook since last year, with the new, multi-channel deal replacing the existing agreement.

“Oaklawn has been one of the most trusted brands in Arkansas for more than 100 years and we are excited to now offer our loyal customers yet another great amenity with our much-anticipated mobile wagering platform,” Oaklawn general manager Wayne Smith said.

Kamb..

August 23, 2022

New Hampshire sports betting handle falls to 11-month low in July

Consumers in New Hampshire wagered $42.7m (£36.3m/€43.0m) on sports in July, the lowest monthly figure since August of last year.

July’s handle was 16.4% higher than $36.7m in July 2021 but 20.3% behind the $53.6m bet by players in June this year, according to figures published by the New Hampshire Lottery.

Of this total, $33.1m was wagered online with DraftKings, while the remaining $9.5m was spent at retail sportsbooks across the US state. DraftKings secured exclusive rights to offer sports betting online via the New Hampshire Lottery in November 2019.

In terms of revenue, gross gaming revenue from sports betting in July amounted to $4.5m, which was 45.2% ahead of $3.1m in the same month last year and only 6.3% lower than $4.8m in June 2021, despite the difference in handle.

Some $3.7m of gross gaming revenue was generated online, while $768,211 came from retail sports betting facilities.

The New Hampshire Lottery also reported that the state was able to generate $2.1m in tax fr..

August 23, 2022

Rush Street Interactive: the exception that proves the rule

At a time when US sports betting operators are shifting focus to profitability rather than expansion, Rush Street Interactive believes it is a step ahead of the competition. Chief executive Richard Schwartz explains how a disciplined approach, online casino and its pan-American ambitions, will achieve this.

The early stages of the US betting and igaming market have been typified by a race to build as big a customer database as possible, at whatever cost. Each state that launches experiences advertising shock and awe, as operators bankroll vast campaigns to use each rollout as a land-grab for new sign-ups.

Rush Street Interactive (RSI), the business that listed on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2020, has looked to take a different approach. At a time when there is greater scrutiny of company spending, and investors query how long hefty losses can be sustained, it has managed to keep its spending in check.

While the push for profitability is still relatively new to the wide..

August 22, 2022

Dazn Bet goes live with UK “soft launch”

Dazn Bet – a new betting venture from streaming giant DAZN – has launched its beta product in the UK, the first market in which it is live.

The streaming business announced the launch of a new betting brand in April, which would be powered by technology from Pragmatic Play and named Dazn Bet.

Later that month, Dazn announced that Mark Kemp, who at the time was chief executive of BoyleSports, would lead the new betting brand.

The operator will do business under a Great Britain Gambling Commission licence held by One Click Limited. One Click had operated a number of B2C brands in Great Britain such as Casinoland and Royal Slots, before withdrawing from the market earlier this year.

Kemp said the the ultimate goal of Dazn Bet was to create a product that fully integrates betting into streaming. The business said it hoped to also integrate news updates, non-fungible tokens, tickets, and merchandise – as well as betting – into its streaming product in the near future.

“The initial laun..

August 22, 2022

How social gaming set Bryan Bennett up to succeed at Betfred

Bryan Bennett fought “800lb gorillas” working for a challenger brand in the social casino space, and that experience could prove crucial as he works to make Betfred USA Sports a key player in the sports betting sector.

The social casino boom of the early 2010s, sparked by what was then Caesars Interactive’s investment in Playtika in 2009, opened up a new audience to the gaming industry and sparked a wave of M&A. The likes of DoubleDown, Big Fish Games, Product Madness and Buffalo Studios were among those to sell at significant multiples.

The smaller challengers tended to have to fight for market share, which in turn saw the market leaders turn to them as acquisition targets to further shore up their strong positions.

Bryan Bennett entered the fray as vice president of marketing for slot developer Rocketplay, one of these challengers, and one that was ultimately snapped up by slot manufacturer AGS. This saw Bennett, who previously worked for strategy games developer Kabam and casua..

August 19, 2022

WynnBet and MaximBet among latest sports betting licence applicants in Ohio

A further four operators have submitted applications for mobile management services licences in Ohio, with WynnBet and Maximbet among the brands seeking approval in the state.

As confirmed by the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC), the two operators, along with Digital Gaming Corporation – which has the rights to the Betway brand in the US – and Stake Trade, more commonly known as Prophet Exchange, have put their names forward for a license

WynnBet, the online gaming division of Wynn Resorts, applied in partnership with Jack Thistledown Racino. WynnBet’s efforts to launch in Ohio date back to January last year when it announced it had secured a market access deal in the state with an unnamed partner.

Carousel Group-operated MaximBet put forward its application with Jack Cleveland Casino, having in September last year revealed it had agreed a market access deal in Ohio, again with an unnamed partner.

Meanwhile, Digital Gaming Corporation sent its application to the OCCC in partne..

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Tag: Online sports betting