Month: June 2021

Condor said that Patel brings with him years of experience within the marketing sector, and is expected to aid the business – whose brands include the likes of Rembrandt Casino and 24Bettle – with its brand growth strategies moving forward.

Patel said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Condor Gaming at such an exciting time in their development. I love their vision, their tech and the fact that they like to do things differently.

“Their philosophy fits mine. They have a healthy appetite for innovation and the infrastructure they have built shows it. I’m confident that together we will build on the platform Condor has established and achieve the ambitions of the board.”

Condor’s chief commercial officer Oliver de Bono added: “I’ve worked with Prash in the past and he’s a great asset, meticulous in his planning and anticipation of industry changes. Our recent growth has given way too many opportunities for the group and I know Prash will bring the big guns with him. Looking forward to where we go from here.”

The new proposal formed part of Germany’s fourth state treaty on gambling, which would permit online casinos to operate across the country. The treaty has been approved by all 16 states and is due to come into effect on 1 July.

The Bundesrat has sent a proposal to the legislature (Bundestag) for final approval, with this currently being examined by three different committees.

However, EGBA said that the proposal would provide a “substantial and unfair” tax advantage to land-based gambling venues in Germany.

EGBA gave the example that in Bavaria, the tax measure would lead to online poker and slots stakes being taxed up to five times higher than their equivalent in land-based casinos and rates 15 times higher than slots in land-based amusement arcades. This, the EGBA said, would result in a tax advantage of €290m (£250m/$353m) each year for the state’s land-based operators.

According to EGBA, this would constitute an illegal state aid under European Union law, with the organisation estimating that the extent of the illegal aid for land-based gambling establishments in Germany would be €741m each year should the measure be approved.

The association had previously hit out at the proposed measure, suggesting it would push players to unlicensed operators. The industry body said that the tax would lead to a failure to meet the treaty’s key objective: bringing players into the regulated market. 

The organisation cited a report from Goldmedia on behalf of Entain, Flutter Entertainment and Novomatic subsidiary Greentube, which said the tax rate could see 49% of players use unlicensed sites.

“We have previously made our concerns about the tax proposal known to the German authorities but to no avail and they will now need to justify the measure under EU law,” EGBA secretary general Maarten Haijer said.

“We appreciate the efforts made in recent years towards introducing a new online gambling regulation in the country and recognise that an appropriate tax will need to be paid by online gambling operators. However, the rate of the proposed tax is punitively high and will distort market competition and directly benefit Germany’s land-based gambling establishments over their online counterparts. 

“We call on German politicians to rethink the proposed tax rate and bring it closer in line with the tax rate applied to online casino products in other EU countries.”

The EGBA’s complaint comes after German industry body Deutsche Sportwettenverband (DSWV) also filed an EU state aid complaint against the Bundesrat, arguing that proposed igaming tax rates offer an unfair advantage to land-based operators.

Yesterday (1 June), DSWV confirmed to iGB that it had filed a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the tax rates should be classed as illegal state aid in a move that may delay implementation of the treaty.

Under the multi-year agreement, the Olimpo.bet online sportsbook will go live with Kambi’s sports wagering technology.

Olimpo.bet will initially target Peru, where the brand will draw on Kambi’s presence in both Colombia and Argentina to support its launch and potential expansion in the region.

“We are delighted to partner with Kambi to launch our new disruptive brand; it quickly became clear Kambi was the only partner we could trust to support us with our ambitious time-to-market strategy and future expansion across the South American continent,” an NG Gaming spokesperson said.

“Furthermore, Kambi’s flexible technology, alongside its proven risk management and price differentiation capabilities, will give Olimpo.bet a platform on which to outcompete the market.”

Kambi co-founder and chief executive Kristian Nylén added: “This is an important strategic partnership for Kambi as we continue to expand our footprint in Latin America’s growing sports betting market.

“The ambition shown by NG Gaming to be among the leaders in sports betting matches our own, and we are excited at the prospect of Olimpo.bet going live in time for the Copa América.”

In April, Kambi revealed revenue climbed 55.1% in the first quarter, thanks to continued growth of the US market and a busy American sporting calendar. The period also saw the supplier sign a deal with Casino Magic to launch a new sportsbook in Argentina.

Wild Streak has a portfolio of 39 casino slot titles supported across online and land-based applications, and also develops content for social casino.

Bragg signed a purchase agreement to acquire all of the outstanding membership interests of Wild Streak in a cash and stock transaction for a price of approximately $30.0m.

The sellers of Wild Streak received $10.0m in cash at closing and will receive $20.0m worth of common shares of Bragg over the next three years.

Bragg said that together with its acquisition of Spin Games announced in May, the deal serves to advance its acquisition strategy by increasing its ability to develop and distribute online casino content to the US market in-house.

Doug Fallon, the founder and chief executive of Wild Streak, will join Bragg as managing director of group content following the acquisition, and will lead the company through its US content creation strategy while also collaborating with its European development staff.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Betting World, Phumelela’s sports betting subsidiary, allows customers to bet on a variety of sports including cricket, rugby and football.

According to an update released as part of Phumelela’s ongoing business rescue, the transaction took place on 31 May 2021 at a sale price of ZAR120m (£6.1m/€7.1m/$8.7m). Phumelela noted that this price was subject to final adjustments, and that the final price will be published in a future business rescue plan update.

Phumelela was placed in a state of business rescue – a type of bankruptcy arrangement – last May after the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdowns in South Africa affected business.

The company’s business rescue plan outlined debts of up to ZAR1.17bn (£236.0m/€261.3m/$312.0m).

In September, Phumelela rejected a ZAR925m (£41.9m/€46.7/$55.0m) acquisition bid from BetFred that would’ve acted as an alternative to the business rescue plan to accept a deal from Mary Oppenheimer Daughters instead.

Phumelela made moves to cease business in December after it delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, a decision that would see the business broken up to repay creditors.

In its statement, Phumelela noted that all creditors who had submitted claims against the company had been paid or would be paid in due course. The deadline for submissions was 30 November 2020, while claims submitted late would be processed in a longer timeframe.

Dave Hayward will join the team as account manager, and Louise Mouton will enter the role of promotions manager.

Hayward has several years of experience in multi-channel igaming, including with Enteractive while Mouton has worked with many B2C operations in marketing and promotions roles.

“I am delighted to welcome Louise and Dave to the Red Rake Gaming team,” said Nick Barr, managing director for Red Rake.

“Dave coming from working with B2C operators in the past across acquisition and retention can apply his knowledge when working closely with our partners to help them achieve their objectives. Louise has significant marketing experience across the B2C business and will work with our partners to create out the box, innovative marketing initiatives to help drive our clients’ revenues.”

Red Rake, which originally started out as a social casino business, expanded into real-money casino offerings in 2016.

The company has expanded with a number of partnerships in the last several years, including a distribution deal with SoftGamings and a partnership with BtoBet in 2020.

Under the agreement, Betsson will acquire certain branding rights, as well as benefit from perimeter board signage and video boards in stadiums, on press backdrops and on banners on the competition’s official website and mobile app. 

Betsson will also be the exclusive sponsor of the ‘Match Line Up’ for all 28 matches and the exclusive sponsor of the ‘Player of the Week’ polls on Copa America’s official social media channels. 

In addition, Betsson will be able to use certain Copa America branding assets for Colbet – its Colombian-facing gambling brand – when the Colombia national team is playing during the tournament.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to raise Betsson’s brand awareness to a new level in the markets we’re operating in,” Betsson’s operations chief executive Jesper Svensson said. “We know that Copa America is a huge event and is very popular in Latin American countries, and beyond.”

Conmebol commercial director Juan Emilio Roa added: “We see this partnership as a milestone in Conmebol Copa America history. It connects football lovers through the sports passion and cheerful experiences with their national teams’ performance in the world’s most traditional national teams competition.”

The deal marks Betsson’s latest step to enhance its presence in Latin America. In April, the operator purchased a 50% stake in JDP Tech, a software development business that owns a proprietary technology platform for handling payments in Latin America. 

Also in April, Betsson announced that it would launch in Mexico through a partnership with local land-based operator Big Bola Casinos. The operator is also active in Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, and has a presence in Peru.

The ‘Play it Safe’ campaign will run across the UK, US, Italy and Australia, promoting safer gambling among those who gamble at land-based casinos and betting shops.

Gambless will distribute flyers that include a Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) self-assessment test and a free code to access psycho-educational resources on the Gambless app.

The Gambless mobile app features a range of resources, including player protection tools supplied directly from land-based operators including the Hippodrome Casino in the UK and LoginBet betting shops across Italy.

“These days we hear the words ‘reopening safely’ very often, and for gambling venues ‘safely’ has a double meaning – both from a sanitarian standpoint and with regards to responsible gambling,” Gambless chief executive Maurizio Savino said. 

“It’s important we all remind ourselves which habits are healthy and which ones can become harmful.

“We are aware that land-based establishments are coming from a tough year, thus we are offering our resources freely, without asking any contribution to operators. Same goes for gamblers, who can access our psycho-educational resources for free until the end of 2021.”

Last month, casinos, bingo halls and adult entertainment centres in England were permitted to reopen as Covid-19 measures were eased, with betting shops having resumed operations in April.

In the US, restrictions are also being eased on a state-by-state basis, with casinos in Nevada now able to operate gaming facilities at full capacity without social distancing requirements.

Italy has also started to reopen its land-based gaming market, while in Australia, while such facilities have remained open for large periods of the pandemic, state lockdowns have seen certain measures implemented and venues forced to close or operate at limited capacity.

Last week, Crown Resorts closed its casino in Melbourne as the state of Victoria announced a lockdown until 3 June, though this has since been extended by an additional seven days.

The two year contract comes into effect immediately, with the Betano logo set to be on Fluminense shirts in time for today’s Copa do Brasil final.

This marks Betano’s second sponsorship deal with a Brazilian football team this year, after striking a similar agreement with fellow Campeonato Brasileiro Série A football team Atlético Mineiro earlier this year.

Fluminense president Mário Bittencourtt said: “We always affirm that the appreciation of the club would involve the arrival of a partner who understands the greatness of the club – this is what Betano comes to add. 

He added that the sponsorship deal was an important step in the club’s financial recovery after the effects of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

“This shows that, as I have repeated, we are achieving results through a management philosophy that prioritizes the organization, the stability of the environment and the recovery of our finances. We are on the right path, looking to expand our brand and we will have a sponsor who understood this project.”

Betano’s country manager for Brazil Alex Fonesca added: “We at Betano are very proud to announce the signing of a sponsorship contract with Fluminense Football Club. We started here a strong and lasting union that is already born full of thousand glories and victories. 

“Tomorrow, at the opening of the Copa do Brasil, when the team of warriors is fighting for this cup, our brand will already be on the armour.”

Senate Bill 588 was introduced in February by Senator Edward Jackson and went on to pass in the state’s House by a vote of 73-13 in May, before securing final approval in the Senate during the same month in a 27-0 landslide vote.

Lee signed off on the bill at the end of last week, clearing the way for the nine-member Sports Wagering Advisory Council to assume control of regulation of the state’s sports betting market.

The Council will not formally take control of regulatory duties until January 1 2022, but the Council will now start to meet regulatory with the TEL as part of the transition of power.

The first such meeting was staged yesterday (June 1), during which the Council and TEL focused on the process of appointing an executive director to lead the Council.

Read the full story on iGB North America.