Month: June 2021

Stakelogic said the latest purchase was a strategic acquisition and will further strengthen its development capacity. Stakelogic had previously been working with Hurricane Games via its Greenlogic development partner program.

The agreement will see the entire Hurricane Games team retained and also given creative and technical freedom to design and develop games, with the support of Stakelogic staff.

The deal comes after Stakelogic last week also completed the acquisition of Serbia-based software developer Smart&Applied.

“The acquisition of Hurricane Games takes our in-house development capabilities to the next level, allowing us to grow at pace while also delivering new, exciting content to our operator partners on a regular basis,” Stakelogic chief executive Stephan van den Oetelaar said.

“Hurricane Games was one of the first studios to join our Greenlogic Program, so we have plenty of experience working with its team of incredible talent to create games that stand out in operator lobbies and deliver a superior player experience.”

Hurricane Games director Andrew Fraser added: “Stakelogic has been instrumental in our rise to date and I am thrilled to further strengthen the relationship between both studios via this acquisition.”

“We have some incredible concepts in the pipeline and now that we are part of the Stakelogic family have the resources to bring them to life and deliver the best possible player experience across all of our titles.”

Under the 10-year deal, PointsBet will partner with the Riverboat on-the-Potomac to offer both online and retail sports wagering in Maryland.

The Riverboat on-the-Potomac operates as a licensed satellite simulcast facility for horse racing.

PointsBet will pay online and retail sportsbook market access fees to the Riverboat Group, as well as a portion of net gaming revenue derived from its sportsbook operations in the state.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Overall revenue in the three months to 31 March totalled €134.3m (£116.0m/$163.6m), up from €131.8m in the corresponding period last year, according to data published by national regulator Serviço de Regulação Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ). 

Online was by far the primary source of revenue in Q1, accounting for €128.3m in revenue for the quarter, up 82.8% from €70.2m in 2020 and a record quarterly total in the country.

Revenue from online sports betting jumped 101.5% to €69.5m, while the amount spent by players on sports wagering during Q1 rocketed by 184.1% from €149.2m to €423.8m.

Football accounted for 81.3% of all bets placed online in Q1, ahead of basketball on 9.2% and tennis with 5.6%.

Turning to online casino and revenue jumped 64.3% year-on-year to €58.8m, while the amount wagered by consumers also increased by 65.1% to €1.61bn – the first time the country has surpassed the €1.0bn mark.

Online slots were the most popular form of casino games, accounting for 72.9% of all online casino bets in Q1, followed by roulette with a 12.3% share and blackjack on 6.4%.

SRIJ also revealed that 329,400 players signed up for new online gambling accounts during the quarter, more than double the amount on Q1 of last year, while a total of 86,100 people had self-excluded from online gambling by the end of the quarter, compared to 52,100 at the same point in 2020.

In terms of retail, revenue plummeted 90.3% from €62.0m in Q1 of 2020 to €6.0m in the opening three months of 2021. This was due to the temporary closure of gambling venues in the quarter, in line with Covid-19 restrictions that were in place across Portugal during the period. Almost all of the retail revenue that was collected came in January.

Gaming machines revenue was down 91.6% to €5.2m, while revenue from other forms of land-based gambling dropped 92.6% to €812,750.

American roulette accounted for half – €411,140 – of other land-based gambling revenue, while €202,130 was attributed to blackjack and baccarat revenue amounted to €94,890.

The figure is based on data collected from operators, transaction history from customer bets on events that turned out to be corrupt, and analysis of tribunal and criminal sentences passed on corruption cases.

The report – which can be read here – also said that many efforts to limit match fixing through national betting restrictions due to bets being placed outside of the jurisdiction where the corrupt event occurred. Between 2017-2020, 92% of basketball match fixing alerts came from bets placed abroad, while the figure for football was 84% during the same time frame.

The IBIA said that therefore “any restrictions on betting products enforced by regulators in the market where the potentially corrupted sporting event took place would therefore have been completely ineffective” for these events.

“The regulatory authority would have no data on any of these potential integrity issues if regulated operators were unable to offer the markets and were unable to track any suspicious betting activity,” it added.

“The demand for those banned products invariably results in consumers migrating to offshore operators unhindered by such product restrictions and outside of that market’s regulatory oversight. This is counterproductive to the core regulatory and integrity policy aim.”

Countries that have introduced strict reglations to conteract match-fixing include Sweden, where betting on rule violations like yellow cards is banned. There are also a number of restrictions on betting on lower-league events in Sweden.

IBIA’s report also highlighted instances where the motivations for match fixing were sporting related, rather than solely making money. Citing an international study from Ghent University, 10% of players approached for match fixing did so purely for money, while 70% of cases were sporting related.

Of the 650,000 events (including 150,000 horse racing events) that operators offered betting opportunities on, 99.96% had no suspicious betting alerts – meaning only one in every 2700 events generated an alert.

The report also went some way to dispelling the misconception that fraudulent betting primarily takes place online, noting that 1 in 5 (22%) of football alerts came from retail outlets from 2017-2020. In addition, it said that match-fixing is easier to detect online, making it appear that online betting is a larger risk when this may not be the case.

From 2017-2020 tennis generated the most match fixing alerts with 537, though the IBIA noted that this was due in part to the large number of tennis matches that took place, as only 0.2% of matches produced an alert.

Football was second with 207, while table tennis was next with 72. In football, the majority of these alerts, 91%, came on primary markets such as the match winner, rather than secondary markets like yellow cards or corner kicks. Card betting alerts occurred only once per 1,700 card betting markets offered, and the IBIA noted that even this was “skewed” by six alerts within one country’s top league in 2019, which have led to arrests.

“Without the ability for IBIA members to offer and monitor this market, this activity would likely have gone undetected and unpunished with bets placed with non-reporting operators,” the IBIA said.

For basketball, every alert was on a primary market. Similarly for tennis, the vast majority of alerts were for match or set betting, rather than individual points which generated just 5%.

270 matches were flagged by IBIA in 2020 for suspicious activity.

Europe turned out to generate most alerts, with 521 occasions being flagged in the three year period. 194 events were flagged in Asia, and 91 alerts were generated in Africa.

The report also included a ranking of many of the most significant betting markets across the globe on factors such as regulation, taxes, product offering and marketing, with Great Britain and Malta at the top.

In addition, the report included a number of findings about the global betting market in general, including that the size of the market is set to reach $106bn by 2025 and that online betting shows no sign of relinquishing its majority of the global market, which is gained in 2020.

Griffiths will with Allwyn bid chair Sir Keith Mills to advise on player protection safeguards and developing close relationships with other researchers studying gambling addiction.

Bringing with him 34 years of academic study, Griffiths has served as the director of the International Gaming Unit at Nottingham Trent University for more than 20 years. 

Outside of academia, Griffiths has advised governments on gambling addiction and mental health, including the World Health Organisation’s Expert Advisory Group on Adolescent Technology Use. 

“I embrace advisory roles because I believe it’s the most effective way to improve swift intervention by forging closer collaboration between operators, charities, campaigners and experts,” Griffiths said.

“I’m partnering with Allwyn because their sister companies have proven to be industry leaders on player protection across Europe, while their early backing of raising the National Lottery’s age limit demonstrated their serious engagement with the UK regulatory environment.”

Bid chair Mills added: “Player protection sits at the heart of our parent company’s lottery operations across Europe, where they have experience of developing tailored solutions for especially vulnerable social groups. 

“By appointing Dr Griffiths to our advisory board, we will continue to set the standard on player protection in the industry, and I look forward to working with him and the rest of our fantastic team to present a plan that makes the National Lottery both exciting and safe for all its players.”

Sazka in Apirl announced it was to bring together its UK operations under the new ‘Allwyn’ corporate identity as it bids for the country’s latest National Lottery licence.

Sazka set out its intention to bid in October last year and faces competition from Italian lottery operator Sisal and India’s Sugal & Damani. Incumbent Camelot also completed the Gambling Commission’s Selection Questionnaire, but has not yet announced if it is bidding for the tender.

Technology entrepreneur and founder of Lastminute.com Brent Hoberman, former global chief executive of Syco Entertainment Charles Garland, and the managing director of Twitter UK, Dara Nasr, also serve on the bid’s advisory board.

By Kenneth Williams

The theme for the first half of 2021 is normalisation following last year’s frenzied growth. Leading operators have jumped on the opportunity to integrate themselves as organic supporters of the esports scene, with dozens of bookies, among them Betway, Parimatch, 1xBet, Bet.GG and Rivalry, all signing deals with competitive squads and tournament organisers in 2021. 

The catalyst for increased involvement is the return of LAN play. Aside from a few scattered exceptions, esports’ celebrity trio of League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive were all restricted to online play in early 2020. The core scene is finally returning to LAN play, with Dota’s successful Singapore Major and CS:GO’s PGL Major Stockholm set for this October.

Smaller esports have the most to gain. Tier 2 esports such as Rocket League, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and Rainbow Six: Siege have continued in the online era, but they’ll get a massive boost in popularity from LAN play. Rising titles including Valorant, Super Smash Bros. Melee and League of Legends: Wild Rift are still in their infancy. This is a huge opportunity for oddsmakers to integrate themselves into upcoming scenes, an investment that could pay off big in the long term.

Invest in your esportsbook

Adding new titles is the first thing operators should do to capitalise on esports’ triumphant return. Betting operators that invest in infrastructure now will reap the benefits for years to come. 

The clearest example of this is Hearthstone. Activision-Blizzard’s card game first launched in 2014, but their esport scene is in its twilight years. Regular first-party events still take place, but third-party interest and growth are dried up. The few bookies who started making Hearthstone lines in 2015 still get business today, but there aren’t many incentives to enter the space now. Tons of esports are currently in their ‘2015 Hearthstone’ phase, so betting operators should strongly consider expanding their esportsbook.

Valorant is the obvious first choice for early adoption. It’s very similar to Counter-Strike and has the backing of Riot Games, the same developers that pushed League of Legends to esports’ peak. Wild Rift is in the same boat. It’s also worthwhile to examine the cost of entry for stable esports like Siege and PUBG. These games will get a resurgence once LANs become available.

The availability of bets on new esports can also create a positive feedback loop. Existing esports bettors will be more interested in competitive titles they know they can bet on. New esports fans will be brought into the ecosystem by new releases and international tournaments. Having access to lines from the start increases their likelihood of betting – the difficult part is making sure they come to your site and not your competitor’s.  

Sponsorships and partnerships

Sponsoring teams and partnering with tournament hosts are the two best methods of attracting esports fans to your betting site. Imagine your brand’s name headlining the first international Valorant tournament or on a LAN Melee champion’s jersey. There’s no better way to draw a connection between an esports success and your betting site.

1xBet broke ground with their Electronic Sports League partnership. They now have top billing across all ESL and DreamHack events. They’ve also signed a similar agreement with WePlay. These kinds of partnerships are particularly valuable because they supersede any other agreements between competitors and teams. No matter which company appears on the jerseys, your business will get top billing for stream ads and special title segments. They’re also less committal. Single event partnerships are a great way to test relationships with tournament hosts.

The decentralised nature of esports makes team and personal sponsorships cheaper and easier than you might expect. Both groups are very sponsorship-hungry due to 2020s slowed momentum. Betway’s esports team sponsorships include BIG, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Beastcoast and MiBR. Yearly contracts are a good place to start before extending towards longer agreements – just make sure your prospective organisation is compatible with your intended audience and brand.

The GGR was generated from an overall turnover of €102.0m, which increased by 9.2% compared to the previous first quarter. The €21.4m difference between the GGR and turnover is due to the inclusion of the amount wagered for Intralot’s licensed B2C operations in its turnover.

The licensed operations, or B2C, made up €34.2m of the turnover, a year on year increase of 3.8%. Revenue from this segment, meanwhile, came to €12.8m.

Management contracts made up the smallest amount of the turnover at €13.3m, but this was a year-on-year rise of 66.0%.

Technology and support services brought in the largest portion of the turnover at €54.3m, an increase of 3.9%.

In terms of game types, lottery games led the way this quarter, bringing in 63.0% of the overall gaming turnover. Sports betting made up 19.1%, while both video lottery terminals and IT products and services made up 8.7%, a combined 17.4% of the amount. Racing accounted for 0.5% of the total turnover.

The Americas led the way in geographical turnover, amounting for €55.0m of the €102.0m total consolidated sales. This was an increase of 10.6% year on year.

Conversely, Europe suffered a drop of 11.7% in turnover, coming in at €34.4m. A combination of other countries made a total of €16.8m this quarter, a rise of 20.0%.

However, expenses affected the overall profit. Costs of sales knocked €75.8m from the 102.0m turnover total, leaving gross profit at €26.1m, a rise of 37.0%. The total cost of sales also includes the €21.4m betting winnings from the licensed B2C segment.

Other operating income added €5.5m to the total, but selling expenses of €6.6m brought earnings back down. Administrative expenses at €15.1m and research and development expenses at €456,000, a €2.3m and €199,000 increase respectively, further decreased earnings. Final considerations of reorganisation expenses at €5.0m and other operating expenses at €979,000 brought the total earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to €3.4m, compared to a €2.9m loss in 2020.
Interest and similar expenses costed €12.1m. However, investment income, interest income and foreign exchange differences reduced losses by €4.1m. With the addition of €70,000 in profit from businesses in which Intralot does not have a controlling stake and, the total operating loss before tax totaled at €3.4m, down 77.1%.

Tax, costing €2.1m, brought the overall net profit loss to €5.5m, which was an increase of 67.0% year on year.

The total earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA )came to €24.4m.

Further, Intralot recorded a loss of €882,000 for discontinued operations, an decrease of €908,000 year on year. This, plus the loss of €5.5m from continuing operations, brought the total loss after tax to €6.4m. This was a increase of almost €10m year on year.

The discontinued business total involves Intralot Peru, which the business sold in February, following several deal extensions with different clients.

The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) is the body tasked with monitoring the advertisements, whilst global analytics company Nielsen tracks the advertising content of EGBA members.

The tracking will be conducted across social media and digital advertising as well as television, specifically focused on four EU countries – Greece, Romania, Sweden, and Ireland.

The EASA will then send the analysis of the tracking results to the EGBA, potentially including suggestions of how the code of conduct can be improved.

EGBA secretary general Maarten Haijer said: “EGBA members are committed to advertising in a socially responsible way, even more so during prominent events like the EURO 2020 football championships.

“EGBA’s responsible advertising code puts this commitment into action and independent third-party monitoring of the code will support both compliance and trust in the code. 

“We hope gambling authorities around Europe will acknowledge the efforts made by EGBA members to raise the bar in responsible advertising standards.” 

EGBA launched its advertising code in April 2020. It includes a section on content moderation and how gambling advertising should look, as well as a focus on minor protection, whereby adverts should not be shown during broadcasts dedicated to minors, while also setting out details regarding age screening tools on social media to protect minors.

The code also covers first-of-their-kind measures for social media marketing, in terms of age-gating on the social media profiles of gambling brands to ensure minors do not have access.

Issued by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the licence will enable Slotmill to offer its suite of games to all operators licensed by the MGA.

The provider counts the likes of Neon Dreams, Vikings Creed, Wildfire, Lucky Lucifer and Vegas Gold among its slot titles.

Slotmill’s games have also been certified in Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

“Being granted an MGA licence is a major event that opens up a multitude of new and exciting business opportunitie,” Slotmill founder Johan Ohman said.

“Furthermore, the MGA license is a seal of credibility confirming that Slotmill’s products and services meet the toughest standards and I am confident that it will generate a multitude of new long-term partnerships and propel the company forward.”

So far, the investment has supported the launch of the ICE Connect events, which are to be followed by the launch of ICE365.com, a dedicated home of digital insight, news and analysis.

This will focus on the land-based sector, supported by crossover with igaming where relevant, as well as new growth opportunities such as esports.

A European edition takes place from 21 to 25 June, followed by ICE Connect North America from 28 June to 2 July.

These digital events facilitate the interaction of buyers and sellers across the industry, using algorithms to match qualified, senior level decision-makers who have both buying power and immediate requirements, with industry leading solution providers.

The investment will also support the launch of ICE365.com, a new content-led brand that acts as an online companion to the in-person show. It will go live on 28 June.

This will focus on the land-based sector, supported by crossover with igaming where relevant, as well as new growth opportunities such as esports.

Clarion Gaming managing director Stuart Hunter explained that the new digital components were designed to support the ICE and iGB in-person experience “content, connectivity, news and insight delivered throughout the year.”

“ICE exists to help the industry achieve its commercial and business objectives,” Hunter said.

“The investments that we have made in our digital armory enhance our capabilities enabling members of the industry to access the power of the ICE brand with just a click.”