Month: June 2021

This sees the introduction of a progressive jackpot feature to a Big Time Gaming title, with a mega jackpot starting at £300,000 and three tiers below it (major, midi and mini).

• You can download the First Look Games affiliate pack for Bonanza Megapays here!

Game type:	Video slot (progressive jackpot)
Go-live date (expected):	Out now!
Game special features:	Megapays, reactions, free spins and the unlimited win multiplier
Number of paylines:	117,649
Number of reels:	6
RTP% (recorded/theoretical):	96.40%
Variance/volatility:	High
Number of symbols to trigger feature/bonus?	4
Can feature be retriggered?	Yes
Number of free spins awarded?	12
Stacked or expanding wilds in normal play?	N/A
Stacked or expanding wilds in feature play?	N/A
Number of jackpot tiers?	4
Auto-play function?	Yes

Your players will join the hunt for prizes worth up to 20,000x their stake. Three or more scatters lands a choice of free spins rounds, where they can pick from the elemental stones for a combination of spins, a symbol stack and a multiplier.

• You can download the First Look Games affiliate pack for Treasures of the Lost Stones here!

Game type:	Video slot
Go-live date (expected):	Out now!
Game special features:	Free spins selection, stacked wilds, scatter bonus
Number of paylines:	243
Number of reels:	5×3
RTP% (recorded/theoretical):	93.06%
Variance/volatility:	Very high
Number of symbols to trigger feature/bonus?	3-5
Can feature be retriggered?	Yes
Number of free spins awarded?	8-18
Stacked or expanding wilds in normal play?	Stacked
Stacked or expanding wilds in feature play?	Stacked
Number of jackpot tiers?	N/A
Auto-play function?	Yes

• You can play a demo of Cleopatra II here!
• You can download the First Look Games affiliate pack for Cleopatra II here!

Game type:	Video slot
Go-live date (expected):	08/07/2021
Game special features:	Free spins, Sphinx scatters, multipliers, retriggers
Number of paylines:	20
Number of reels:	5×3
RTP% (recorded/theoretical):	95.89%
Variance/volatility:	Medium
Number of symbols to trigger feature/bonus?	3+
Can feature be retriggered?	Yes
Number of free spins awarded?	5-20
Stacked or expanding wilds in normal play?	N/A
Stacked or expanding wilds in feature play?	N/A
Number of jackpot tiers?	N/A
Auto-play function?	Yes

California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) now has 39 members following the recruitment of Tejon Indian Tribe and the readmission of Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians and the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians.

The group, which represents the interests of federally recognised tribal governments and associate members who are California’s only legal casino operators, now includes more than a third of all tribes in the state.

Read the full article on iGB North America.

The bill was passed unanimously with 29 votes in favour, and it now advances to the Chamber of Deputies.

The bill defines a slot machine as any electronic system capable of receiving bets, which grants the user a time of use, and grants prize money through a randomly generated algorithm.

Due to slot machines being “games of chance”, they are banned outside of casinos which carry the necessary operating permit – which doesn’t yet extend to online slot machines.

The sanctions for breaking these rules include minor imprisonment and a potential fine of up to CLP$10.4m (£10,025/€11,694/US$13,911).

Within 180 days of the bill becoming law, potential vendors must have sent their licence applications to the Superintendency of Gambling Casinos and the Public Ministry.

This is the latest step in the Chilean governments attempt to regulate the gaming industry, with plans to legalise online gambling announced back in February.

When a UFO lands above the reels, a symbol is selected on each spin to turn wild in the base game, and add a modifier in Free Spins. Each premium symbol has its own modifier and range from expanding wilds to increased Megaways for plenty of variety and otherworldly excitement.

• You can play a demo of Invaders Megaways here!
• You can download the First Look Games affiliate pack for Invaders Megaways here!

Game Type:	Video Slot
Go Live Date (expected):	Out Now!
Game special features:	– Enhanced Wild mechanic – The Unicow (from Invaders from Planet Moolah), – Volatile Free Spins bonus – Megaways
Number of paylines:	117,649-1,000,000
Number of reels:	6
RTP% (recorded/theoretical):	96.30%
Variance/volatility:	Medium
Number of symbols to trigger feature/bonus?:	4-6
Can feature be retriggered?:	Yes
Number of free spins awarded?:	7-15
Stacked or expanding wilds in normal play?:	Stacked
Stacked or expanding wilds in feature play?:	Expanding
Number of jackpot tiers?:	N/A
Auto-play function?:	Yes

Codere Online, valued at approximately $350m (£251.8m/€294.2m), will continue to be led by its existing management team and Codere Group will maintain majority ownership.

In a statement, Codere Group said the listing will progress through a business combination agreement between Codere Online and special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) DD3 Acquisition Corp which has already been approved by the boards of both parties.

Codere Online said it will seek to take its business model in Spain and Mexico throughout Latin America, building existing markets such as Colombia and leading new opportunities in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Argentina. It will also analyse options to access the Hispanic online gambling niche in the US.

Completion of the proposed business combination – which Codere Group claims will create the first publicly listed online gaming operator in Latin America – is expected in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“We are proud of this deal, which will provide our online team with the financial resources needed to grow Codere Online and take it to a new, higher level,” said Vicente Di Loreto, chief executive of Codere Group.

“It is a good signal of the value we have been able to create in the last three years boosting this business unit.”

The business combination values the combined company at an estimated enterprise value of approximately $350m, or 2.3 times Codere Online’s estimated 2022 revenue of approximately $150m.

Four institutional investors – DD3 Capital Partners Baron Funds, MG Capital and LarrainVial – have committed to a private investment of more than $67m that will close concurrently with the business combination and Baron Funds has committed to roll-over approximately $10m of shares in the SPAC, resulting in minimum transaction proceeds of $77m.

DD3 has $125m of cash in its trust account that, together with the private investment will be used to fund marketing expenditures, technology and platform improvements and expansion into new high-growth markets.

Moshe Edree, managing director of Codere Online, said: “This deal brings together the renowned Codere brand and our deep expertise in growing online gaming businesses with a world-class sponsor like DD3 that has a proven track record of building businesses through a team of seasoned investors.

“By going public and with the new capitalisation, we will be in a superb position to leverage our online business in our core countries of Spain, Italy, Mexico, Colombia and Panama, as well as the City of Buenos Aires, where we expect to start operating in late 2021, to fuel our further expansion in other high-growth Latin American markets.”

Martin Werner, founding partner of DD3 Capital Partners said: “The omnichannel presence of Codere, paired with the expansive addressable market and limited competition from global gaming operators, gives Codere Online a unique advantage in their expansion across Latin America.”

Meanwhile, the wider Codere Group – which has faced financial difficulties – said it continues with the financial restructuring process started in April, with creditors last month approving a plan to take control of the business as the operator’s struggles continued in Q1. Shareholders also approved the deal.

Revenue was down 54.3% year-on-year to €127.2m (£109.9m/$155.1m) amid venue closures in almost all of its key markets.

The group said the Codere Online transaction does not imply any changes to the restructuring process announced to the market in April as a consequence of the severe liquidity problems that the group is going through as a result of the pandemic, and while the group will see some returns from the deal, they will not be more than $30m.

“The liquidity that this transaction generates will be invested mainly in Codere Online,” Codere Group said in a statement. “The rest of the group could only receive up to a maximum amount of $30m, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions. Additionally, the valuation obtained for our online business is not an adequate reference for the rest of the company assets or its retail operation.”

In this episode of Right To The Source, host Ed Birkin chats social casino with social slot consultant Guy Hasson, who reveals he only entered the space in search of “a normal, regular job” after being so tired and exhausted by a shoot of a science fiction movie he’d written.

Guy also unpacks the history, mechanics and appeal of this $6bn+ global industry – “the people who created it came from the industry, came from 888. They couldn’t figure out why this worked either” – as well as the much-targeted but never-executed conversion of this now 27.5 million-strong daily audience to real-money.

“I’m guessing that most of the first two exits, Playtika and DoubleDown, were because they thought they could turn the social players into real-money. The fact it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it can’t”.

Enjoy the podcast!

The same court also rejected an appeal made by Betway against a Spelinspektionen penalty.

The Aspire and Genesis cases both involved self-exclusion tool Spelpaus, which all operators must be connected to. Genesis received a warning and a SEK4m (£329,600/€382,000/$431,900) penalty fee in March 2019 as it had not been connected to Spelpaus for 33 days.

Aspire – which operates sites such as Karamba and Mr Play – received a SEK3m penalty fee because it had not been connected for nine days.

As specified by Swedish law, the penalties in this case were based on both the seriousness of the offences involved and the annual turnover of the licensee that committed an infringement.

However, both operators appealed the decisions to the Court of Appeal in Linköping, which reduced both penalties to SEK2m and SEK1.5m.

Both operators then appealed the rulings again, in the Court of Appeal in Jönköping.

While the court agreed that the offences were serious, it took issue with the way Spelinspektionen calculated the size of the penalty. 

While the court said the regulator may base penalties on turnover generally, it noted that these cases came very early after the Swedish market opened.

As a result, Spelinspektionen took the operator’s turnover for only January and February 2019 and calculated annual turnover from these figures. Both operators said this led to inaccurate figures, and as Spelinspektionen did not present evidence otherwise, the court lowered each penalty to SEK1m.

However, Spelinspektionen has now opted to appeal both rulings to the Supreme Administrative Court.

“The penalty fees decided by the Court of Appeal are too low in relation to the seriousness of the infringement and the companies’ turnover,” the regulator said. “In order for penalty fees to be dissuasive and proportionate, it is necessary to take the companies’ turnover into account when determining the size of the penalty fee.”

Spelinspektionen added an affirmation that its ability to issue penalties in this way was of “decisive importance” for all decisions made as a result of the Gambling Act.

In addition, the court in Jönköping also rejected an appeal made by Betway after it was found to have offered illegal bonuses in May 2019, for which it received a SEK5m penalty fee. Betway was found to have offered “recurring bonuses” such as free-play incentives for making deposits, even though Sweden’s Gambling Act only allows operators to offer players one-time bonuses upon sign-up.

The court agreed with the regulator’s assessment that a serious violation occurred, and thus upheld the penalty.

Legal appeals have been a major part of the regulatory enforcement process in Sweden since the market opened in 2019. This included an appeal by Kindred overturning sanctions related to a loophole in the country’s temporary deposit cap for online casino.

Though Spelinspektionen attempted to appeal the decision to remove the sanctions, it was ultimately denied leave to appeal.

The two businesses already worked together in order to create avatars for Kindred customers.

Building on this partnership, the concept of designing unique LGBTQ+ avatars for Kindred customers, with features including Pride flags, was developed in the group’s LGBTQ+ Network meetings.

The new LGBTQ+ avatar options are intended to blend in with current avatar options, but provide an alternative option for customers to present themselves online.

“The accumulative impact over time of these adjustments and inclusion is important for minority-identifying individuals and I am glad that we, as a company, can be a part of that,” said Gavin Hayward, Kindred’s chief human resources officer.

“Internally it means Kindred employees can be proud to work for a diverse and inclusive company, whatever their gender or sexual identity. This is not a tick-box exercise for Kindred, this is aligned with our corporate values and our broader Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy. It might be seen as a small thing for many but we know it brings reassurance that most LGBTQ+ people don’t often see.”

Katharine Arnsby, poker and bingo team lead and a member of Kindred’s LGBTQ+ Network, added: “It’s amazing to work for a company that is open to suggestions like this.

“It’s a big world, and there are a lot of different people out there. I have been part of the LGBTQ+ community for many years, and I’m thrilled to see these acknowledgements of inclusion from the mainstream.

“The difference is vast from when I started in this industry 20 years ago, and it’s thanks to individuals and companies like Kindred driving change.”