Gross gaming revenue from sports betting amounted to $3.3m (£2.4m/€2.7m) in January, up from $1.9m in the corresponding month last year and 43.4% higher than $2.3m, in the final month of 2020.
Rush Street’s Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady retained top spot in New York with $1.4m in revenue, up 79.7% from $778,997 last year.
The del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo and its DraftKings sportsbook was close behind in second with $1.3m, more than double the $610,250 posted in January 2020.
Resorts World Catskills ranked third with $479,557, up by 21.2% year-on-year, while Tioga Downs Casino in the Fingerlakes, which runs a FanDuel sportsbook, followed with $390,346, up 59.4% on last year.
For the financial year to date, sports wagering revenue in the 10 months through to the end of January was $3.3m.
The month saw 26,171 unique active players place 1.1m bets, and 3,504 new customers register with the operator.
Basketball was the most popular betting market recorded, accounting for 46% of all bets placed. American football was the second most popular sport, bringing in 31% of bets, followed by soccer, ice hockey and mixed martial arts, accounting for 8.5%, 3.9% and 3.3% of bets respectively.
The average bet amount placed was $32.30 across all sports.
66% of bets placed were single or teaser bets, while the remaining 34% were combo and systems bets. Pre-match wagers also accounted for 66% of the total bets placed, while 34% were placed in-play.
20Shots said Fantasy5 is currently the fastest growing free-to-play football game in the UK industry, allowing customers to pick a fantasy team of five Premier League players. If all five players exceed their fantasy points targets, the customer can win a jackpot of £10,000 (€11,500/$13,900).
Fantasy5 is now live and available on Generation Web’s platform, as an integrated product featuring its own branding as part of each partner sportsbook’s offering.
The deal is 20Shots’ first with a third party platform, and will see operators drive traffic to the free-play weekly jackpot game for the first time, which the supplier said will accelerate Fantasy5’s organic growth.
Customers playing via Australian sportsbooks will enter the same global pool of players, currently over 46,000, with the jackpot for an Australian sportsbook entrant set at AUD$20,000 (£11,200).
The agreement will see 20Shots underwrite the full liability for any jackpot, with operators paying a fixed fee per entrant per round.
“Following a smooth and swift integration the Fantasy5 product is now live on our platform and available for all partner sportsbooks to offer their soccer customers a free shot at the $20,000 jackpot,” said Hamish Davidson, chief executive of Generation Web.
“The agreement demonstrates our commitment to offer our sportsbook partners the best and most innovative recruitment and retention products with free-to-play representing a key growth area.”
“We’re delighted to be the first platform to make Fantasy5 available to Premier League fans in Australia and based on their UK growth we look forward to celebrating Australia’s first jackpot winner soon.”
20Shots co-founder Jacob Kalms added: “Our partnership with GenWeb is now complete and active meaning for the first time, their operators can integrate and utilise Fantasy5 to recruit, retain and engage football sportsbook customers on the world’s most popular football betting medium, the Premier League.”
“Our organic growth and retention rates suggest that operators will benefit from the stickiness of the product when introduced to their audience at scale. Strategic partnerships with operators and platforms represent the next phase of our growth beyond organic customer acquisition and we are delighted to sign a major agreement just months after soft-launching our flagship product.”
Yolo’s new sub-fund is focused on seed-stage and A-stage investment opportunities in the gaming and fintech spaces.
“We have already assembled a diverse portfolio of high-growth companies across gaming and fintech and are now looking to build specialised sub-funds to specifically focus on these verticals,” Tim Heath, general partner of Yolo Investments, said.
“As well as capital, we are now in a position to provide significant upside to our investments via our network. With more than €200 million AUM, we are actively searching for disruptive businesses to which we can add value and open for investment from Limited Partners.”
Yolo Investments manages assets across more than 50 companies, with a combined value of over €200m (£174.5m/$242.7m). The investment fund succeeded Vereeni Investments, assuming all the assets and holdings of the previous fund.
“These new sub-funds in Yolo Investments will continue the fantastic work of Vereeni Investments over the last couple of years,” Heath added.
The fund’s previous investments include casino content studios OneTouch and Green Jade Games, fintech companies coins.io, Credis Bank and Yeahka, and new live casino concept the Bombay Club.
Heath, who served as chief executive of Coingaming Group until last year, had spent the last two years gradually stepping away from the operational management of the group to fully dedicate his time and effort to setting up Yolo Investments as a licensed venture capital entity.
Alongside Heath, co-founder of RB Capital Julian Buhagiar, Coingaming Group chief commercial officer Steve Tsao and director of mobile casino developer OneTouch Ragnar Toompere will be general partners in the fund.
Coingaming Group’s chief operating officer, Maarja Pärt and the group’s chief investment officer, Jaan Lainurm, will also sit on the fund’s management board.
Yolo recently announced its first successful exit, with a 6x return on its investment in Estonia-based gaming operator Coolbet, which was acquired by GAN for $175.9m in cash and stock in December.
The two-year deal will see 188Bet’s logo appear on the sleeves of players’ shirts during all Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal cup matches.
188Bet will also work with Werder Bremen’s to engage with Asian fans, with this to include the creation of branded digital content using the club’s crest, players and the team’s Weserstadion home ground.
In addition, the 188Bet logo will appear on LED boards inside Weserstadion, as well as on match day interview backdrops and social media channels in Asia.
“188Bet are a well-established and forward thinking company, which is an important addition to our partnership roster,” Werder Bremen chief executive Klaus Filbry said.
“They are an exciting brand that aims to bring together the sports betting audience in Asia and we are tremendously proud to be part of this journey.”
188Bet managing director Nigel Singer added: “At 188Bet, we recognise the importance of football to our customers, in particular interest in the Bundesliga. Over the next two years, 188Bet looks forward to a successful partnership with Werder Bremen.”
Pires Investments, an Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed investor that backs next generation technology businesses, in December subscribed for 6,667 ordinary shares in Low6 at £30 each for a total consideration of £200,010 (€229,019/$277,967).
Low6 in Q4 of last year also closed a pre-IPO round, raising £3.3m in convertible notes. Two prominent Australian institutional investors participated in the raise, with the issue being over-subscribed.
The provider, which has raised over £8.0m to date, has now proposed extending the pre-IPO round to allow further investment from an unnamed leading gaming industry player, with any additional funds to provide further working capital.
“We are delighted to see Low6’s progression since our recent investment in December 2020 with a significant increase in users as it continues to roll out new apps in partnership with globally renown sporting brands and work with new influencer partners,” Pires chairman Peter Redmond said.
“Its plans to IPO in Q2 2021 remain on track and we look forward to updating the market on this investment in due course.”
Last month, Low6 launched its UFC Picks mobile app as part of its partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, with more than 8,000 fans using the app.
Running until the end of March, the campaign will promote treatment and support for gambling harm, drive awareness of support and signpost women to the National Gambling Treatment Service.
The campaign will run across radio, magazines and in digital media, and target women aged between 18 and 54.
GambleAware said it developed the campaign in response to recent research on women and gambling harms, with a YouGov report backed by the charity finding that 10% of women in Great Britain experience some level of gambling harm.
“Following the success of the previous campaign, we are continuing with our targeted approach to make sure women are not overlooked in the drive to raise awareness of gambling treatment and support,” GambleAware communications and engagement director Zoë Osmond said.
“These findings highlight an increase in women suffering from gambling harm, and we hope this campaign will help to signpost those experiencing harms to the help that is available.”
The launch of the new campaign comes after GambleAware last week partnered with research organisation Expert Link on a initiative to co-design and deliver a nationwide network of people with lived experience of gambling harms.
Expert Link will design an independent network that will operate across Britain and be representative of the entire British community, focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion.
Helen Coonan, who moves from chairman to executive chairman, will take over leadership of Crown while its board looks for Barton’s replacement.
“I would like to thank Ken for his dedication and commitment to Crown,” Coonan said. “Ken joined Crown more than a decade ago and has played an invaluable role with the business, initially as CFO and in the past year as CEO. Ken has always put the interests of Crown first.”
Barton resigned following an inquiry that found evidence of money laundering and insufficient diligence into junkets with alleged criminal ties. It said that Crown’s “unjustified belief in itself” and “corporate arrogance” led to a lack of thorough investigation of serious claims against its business and an assumption that the claims must have been deceitful.
This report was triggered when Asian gaming giant Melco agreed to purchase a 19.99% stake in CPH Crown Holdings in May 2019 for approximately AUD$1.76bn (£981.9m/€1.06bn/US$1.19bn). Following allegations in the press, the inquiry set out to determine whether Crown was a suitavble licensee.
Although Melco ultimately pulled out of the acquisition, the inquiry continued with its results released last week.
Coonan said that allowing her to lead the business while it replaces Barton would offer some much-needed stability.
“Assuming the role of executive chairman is a decision I have not taken lightly but the board feels it provides leadership stability and certainty at this important time for the business,” she said.
While the report found that Crown was not suitable in its current form to operate the casino, it determined that it may still do so if it underwent certain changes. These included avoiding dealing with junkets unless they are licensed by the Authority, a full audit of accounts, as well as a compliance audit, and a restructuring of Crown’s board.
Coonan added that the operator was taking efforts to ensure it is compliant with all recommendations from the inquiry and its own internal reform programme.
The board is determined to maintain the momentum as Crown takes significant steps to improve our governance, compliance and culture,” she said. “Working closely with the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority and regulators in Victoria and Western Australia, I will continue to lead on implementation of Crown’s ambitious reform program.”
Barton said he was sure the operator was now on a solid path as it implemented these changes.
“I would like to thank the Crown Directors for the opportunity to work with them on implementing Crown’s strategy,” Barton said. “Over the past 10 years, Crown has established itself as a great Australian company with world-class assets and I am absolutely certain the business is now on the right path as it works to restore confidence in its operations.
“I am committed to assisting with the transition to new leadership.”
Barton – who took over as chief executive after John Alexander resigned in January 2020 and served as CFO since 2010 – will continue to receive the entitlements agreed in his employment contract. This includes a fixed renumeration of AUD$3m per year.
The unprecedented spike in interest has come in the wake of last week’s announcement confirming the postponement of the summer editions of the co-located ICE London and iGB Affiliate London shows, which will now take place in February 2022.
Barton (pictured below left) explained that iGB Live! and iGB Affiliate Amsterdam had always been popular in the industry. The last edition, held over 16 to 19 July 2019, achieved a satisfaction rating of +38, which she said put the shows “in the Premier Leagues of B2B events”.
“The level of interest measured by traffic to igblive.com, and more significantly by the number of enquiries that are being made directly to the sales team, underlines the strategic importance of iGB Live!,” Barton said.
Naomi Barton
“Our event will be the first established in-person show of 2021 for our industry and has all of the credentials to kick-start the beginning of the return to normal or to redefine what normal is and its implications for consumers and the industry.”
The enquires have come from a mix of stakeholders, she revealed, including those that would normally associate more closely with ICE London.
This, Barton said, highlights a desire across the industry to engage with the market in 2021, and a growing desire from the land-based sector to explore opportunities to diversify their offerings by moving online.
As a result, Clarion Gaming is looking to add new experiences, new content and new features to connect with the needs of the market.
Furthermore, iGB Live! 2021 will be run with the highest possible safety and security standards in place.
“The safety and security of the iGB Live! and iGB Affiliate community is at the top of our agenda and the owners of the RAI have put in place the very best in-venue Covid protocols and cleaning standards to ensure visitor safety, as has the mayor and the city of Amsterdam,” said Barton.
“I would be delighted to hear from any of our stakeholders who would like to contribute to this and help shape the look, feel and content of what will be the most important event of 2021,” she added. “I can be contacted on my personal email address: naomi.barton@clarionevents.com.”
Clarion Gaming will also run a series of digital engagement initiatives over 2021, providing its audiences with the latest insights and analysis of the market across multiple channels.
One of the tentpoles of this digital strategy will be ICE Connect, an invitation-only executive summit programme. This will see algorithms employed to scientifically match qualified, senior level decision-makers who have both buying power and immediate requirements with industry leading solution providers.
ICE Connect will run from 21 to 25 June, focused on Europe, then with a North American focus between 28 June and 2 July. A repeat of this schedule will then follow in the autumn.
The reopening was permitted to take place as the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) situation in the region moved from the acceleration phase to the basic level, allowing for the opening of slot machines in kiosks, shops and traffic stations, in addition to the gaming hall.
The Covid-19 situation is monitored by district within Veikkaus, and decisions regarding the closure or opening of venues take place on a region-by-region basis.
Any district showing a basic level of infection may reopen its gaming facilities, whereas any region in the acceleration or spreading phase must remain closed.
Players using Veikkaus’ decentralised slot machines must now, since the introduction of new player protection measures in January, identify themselves with either a Veikkaus card or a debit card attached to their player loyalty account.
The operator said at the time of introduction that the measure would have “significant financial consequences,” anticipating a decline in player losses of around €300m from this and other player protection measures.
The operator also said that the change would help players to stay in control of their gambling.
