Month: July 2021

The Belgium-headquartered technology supplier’s platform will provide trading, risk management, fraud prevention and marketing assets as well as its proprietary suite of tournaments and promotions.

Blitz becomes the third site in Belgium, and the ninth worldwide, to integrate Ardent Group-owned Gaming1’s sportsbook platform.

Sylvain Boniver, chief operating officer at Gaming1, said: “We’re delighted that our unique sports betting product has integrated with another top Belgian operator in Blitz, which will enthusiastically welcome a solution that has proved a key calling card for sportsbooks in that market and beyond.

“Last year was challenging for everyone, but Gaming1 is pleased to have gone from strength to strength in the period since with crucial strategic agreements such as this one.”

As well as its land-based outlets in France and Belgium, Gaming1 also operates in Portugal, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Colombia and MGA markets.

Discussing the partnership, Peter Spiler, chief executive at Blitz, said: “We are thrilled to have gained access to Gaming1’s cutting-edge sports betting solution, the latest step in a commercial relationship which has proved mutually beneficial over the long-term.

“We’ve been really impressed with how our valued partner has come through such a tough year and have no doubt that this latest integration will help us continue attracting a varied range of different players.”

The club, which has a government-granted monopoly in providing pari-mutuel betting on horse racing in the region, saw a 12.1% year-on-year increase in turnover through a record 835 races and 88 meetings, which was one more than the number of meetings in 2019/20.

Local races turnover accounted for HK$129.3bn of the total, representing an increase of 11% over the last season. HKJC also simulcasted 206 overseas races through the course of the season, generating HK$7bn, which was up 37.7%.

The World Pool of international races, which was created by the HKJC and launched at Royal Ascot in 2019, saw growth of 108.6% to HK$1.8bn. The co-mingled component was up HK$313m or 88.1%. The Dubai World Cup meeting set a turnover record for an international event of HK$332m in March before the recent Royal Ascot King’s Stand Day surpassed that figure with HK$340m.

Betting duty reached a total of HK$13.7bn, representing a 13.6% increase from the previous year. 

The club said operational highlights of the last year include managing the challenges of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, with health protocols enabling it to continue to host a busy racing season. To ensure racing could continue, it created a bubble at its two local racecourses, Sha Tin Racecourse and Happy Valley Racecourse.

HKJC has also taken steps alongside authorities in the Guangdong Province on the Chinese mainland towards the ambition of hosting a regular international-standard racing programme at its Conghua Racecourse from 2025. This includes the construction of an 8,000-capacity stand at the facility.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, HKJC’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have been able to again complete a full season with a clear focus of ensuring racing to continue while upholding the principle of protecting the public health and safety of our employees, stakeholders and the public. The remarkable season turnover has enabled us to contribute more for the betterment of our society.

“Given the circumstances confronting the club, our overall season racing turnover of more than HK$136bn is outstanding. The growth in turnover is testament to the quality of our product and the support of our customers.

“To achieve these types of figures underpins the importance of horse racing to Hong Kong and its people. We are also delighted with how popular our simulcasts are with Hong Kong customers and we are pleased that we will offer more next season.”

The partnership will see Flutter Entertainment-owned PokerStars feature exclusively throughout the European broadcast market via virtual trackside advertising for each Formula 1 season until 2023.

The deal is the latest brokered by ISG, a leader in the deployment of virtual advertising technologies to help brands target specific regional audiences through televised sport, as part of a partnership with F1 that dates back to 2018.

“Working with Formula 1 provides us with the opportunity to reach a fan base whose passion for sport goes way beyond motorsport,” said Tom Warren, group marketing director at PokerStars Marketing. “To be able to engage an audience of this size and yet focus just on the regions that are key to us makes this a very exciting proposition.”

Tony Ragan, joint chief executive of ISG, said: “We’re delighted to have reached this agreement with Flutter Group. Combining the worldwide appeal of PokerStars and this targeted approach in engaging fans with many similar traits as the PokerStars’ community is an incredible opportunity for innovation and further engagement between the two popular brands.”

Last year, ISG brokered a five-year deal in the Asia region between F1 and online betting brand 188Bet. The operator’s branding appears on virtual trackside advertising for races that are broadcast, together with bespoke activation and integration across F1’s various digital and social platforms.

In addition, 188Bet has exclusive ownership of F1 Play, a predictor app for the Asia sports betting market, and receives official F1 betting data supplied by Sportradar.

Under its 2018 deal with F1, ISG is able to sub-license betting partnership rights to betting operators, giving access to regionalised branded on-screen graphics, physical and virtual trackside signage and digital integration across F1’s digital and social platforms.

Would a player spend $10,000 on a slot game just for a chance to win $1,000, one tenth of their spend?

The answer may be obvious to many of you, but I have recently had a discussion with a certain person in the business who did not believe me. So I thought that one person probably wasn’t the only one who thinks this way. Others in a similar situation may also benefit from the answer, and more importantly, the reasons why.

The answer is yes, yes, yes.

Let me explain; this is how real players behave:

People love to compete

First, players would participate in a slot tournament and pay many times its prize just for the chance to win its prize. The fact that on the way more money has been spent in achieving that goal does not really enter the math the players do in their heads.

Winning the prize becomes the thing, regardless of the cost. In addition, once you’ve begun and spent time and money on it, you are likely more invested to win because of that.

Players will spend to reach a bonus

Second, if players win a bonus in which they surprisingly win a huge prize, they will try to trigger that bonus (each time taking more than 100 spins) many times in order to repeat that positive experience. They may play this game for weeks, triggering the bonus hundreds of times and never repeating that big win, sinking more and more money into it, because it makes sense to them.

The same kind of behavior goes for a jackpot. Players do not need to win a jackpot to be incentivized by it. Having the big prize dangle in front of their eyes will incentivize them to play and play and play just for the tiny chance of a huge win.

The bottom line is: it isn’t logical; it’s behavioral.

It doesn’t have to make sense to you. What matters is that it makes sense to the players. And we have to know what makes sense to the players.

The system will enable said organisations to collect testing samples remotely, helping athletes and sporting bodies alike to circumvent logistical issues caused by the pandemic.

The Remote Testing System includes exhaled breath analysis and dried blood spot analysis. Sportradar said that it would provide the industry with a cost effective solution.

Dominic Mueser, head of anti-doping services at Sportradar, said: “The Remote Testing System, Sportradar’s latest step into anti-doping, doesn’t replace traditional testing methods, rather it enhances existing methods and modernizes the process in a manner that addresses the realities of a new, post-pandemic world. Now, more than ever, technologically-driven, agile and flexible solutions need to be embraced for anti-doping organizations to effectively carry out their missions.

“It also ensures athletes around the world can be tested without the requirement of physical contact or additional protocols, which can be cumbersome, at best, or highly challenging, at worst, at the present time.”

Sportradar’s involvement with sporting integrity issues continued as its Integrity Services division announced a two-year agreement with Badminton Europe to monitor European badminton competitions.

The deal will see Sportradar Integrity Services provide provide bet monitoring and reporting via its Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS) for badminton matches in the BEC Championships, BEC International Challenge, BEC International Series, and BEC Future Series.

Sportradar Integrity Services has detected more than 6,000 suspicious matches during the past 15 years – 600 of which occurred in 2020.

Badminton Europe general secretary Brian Agerbak said: “This agreement demonstrates Badminton Europe’s commitment to tackling the threat of match-fixing.

“By bringing the expertise of Sportradar Integrity Services on board to monitor our competitions through their UFDS platform, we now have valuable insight into the betting markets offered and activity occurring on our tournaments at a global level, and our tournaments are boosted by having these protections.”

Sportradar signed a similar deal with the International Table Tennis Federation, which it recently extended until 2023.

Sportradar Integrity Services managing director Andreas Krannich added: “We are thrilled to sign this agreement with Badminton Europe to help support the integrity of European Badminton competitions.

“At Sportradar we have witnessed growing evidence of global match-fixing in recent years across a range of sports, and it is vital, now more than ever, that strong integrity measures are put in position. Sportradar Integrity Services have a proven track record in this field, and the UFDS services provided through this agreement will offer significant assistance to Badminton Europe as they look to identify and mitigate all forms of betting related integrity risk.” 

The supplier was approved by Germany’s age verification regulator, die Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (KJM), earlier this year, and has now added several new services to help operators remain compliant with KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements in the jurisdiction.

The solution brings together identity data checks with credit bureau Schufa, KJM-approved facial biometrics and ID document validation, video verification with live human agents, politically exposed person (PEP) and sanctions watchlist screenings, and payment card checks.

The Schufa database check allows operators to confirm a customer’s name, address and date of birth, check for fraudsters using the identities of the deceased and uncover linked addresses.

This can be used as an integrated precursor to the HooYu liveness detection, facial biometric and ID document validation journey which is a system approved by the KJM.

Jochen Biewer, German gambling licensing expert and managing director of Chevron Consultants GmBH, said: “The HooYu suite of services truly supports German gaming operators to meet age verification and AML compliance requirements.”

David Pope, marketing director at HooYu, added: “HooYu is a KYC orchestration and customer onboarding platform that not only helps operators to build KYC processes, but also to maximise customer onboarding success rates.

“German operators can now use one HooYu API to call on any or all of these services as part of their age verification, fraud or anti-money laundering controls.”

The money was donated as part of Paddy Power’s Save our Game campaign, which aimed to support Irish football clubs.

As the England team managed to score 11 goals throughout the tournament, the total amount, which was paid in pounds sterling, came to €128,650.

The recipients include Ferry Rangers FC, which will use the €10,000 donation to build suitable dressing room facilities, and Brideview United, who plan to use their which will spend its €5,000 donation fixing a clubhouse that suffered damage in an electrical fire in May.

Celtic Park FC received €5,000, which will address damage done by the emergency helicopters that regularly land on their pitch, due to its proximity to the local hospital.

After sharing images of their nets being held together by cable ties, Lenamore Rovers received €1,000 in donations.

So far, €51,000 in donations have been announced as part of the campaign, with the rest expected in the coming weeks.

Xtremepush offers automation and real-time data opportunities to personalise customer experiences and promote engagement.

The investment will aid in Xtremepush’s expansion plan, which aims to extend its workforce beyond the UK, Ireland and Central and Eastern Europe.

Xtremepush’s current customers include affiliate platforms Oddschecker and Livescore, as well as the Oregon State Lottery, PlayUp and Penn National Gaming. Outside of the world of gambling, its clients include Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, Liz Earle and Wowcher.

“This funding from Grafton Capital is an enormous vote of confidence in Xtremepush,” said Tommy Kearns, CEO and Co-Founder of Xtremepush.

“It validates and recognises the calibre of our technology, our people, and the ambitious growth plans we have for the company globally. It also gives us very welcome access to Grafton Capital’s vast knowledge and experience in the growth stage development of SaaS companies like ours, and will allow us to move ahead with aggressive expansion in overseas markets, including North America, the Middle East and Asia.”

Since its inception in 2014, Grafton Capital has invested over £130m in European software and technology companies. It usually invests between £5m and £20m in newer companies that offer online platforms and software.

“Xtremepush has a first-rate team that have developed an excellent product and built an impressive suite of global customers,” said Edward Barroll Brown, managing director at Grafton Capital.

“We believe that Xtremepush is well positioned to grow as more and more businesses need to get smarter about how they engage their customers across multiple channels, whilst managing first-party data and privacy requirements in a fast-changing digital marketing environment.”

The proposal would see Scientific Games (SGMS) acquire the remaining 19% equity interest in the games developer that it does not currently own in an all-stock transaction, following which SciPlay would become a wholly-owned subsidiary.

SciPlay was previously the social division within SGMS until becoming an independent business, trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, in 2019.

Read the full article at iGB North America.

Mediapro Canada, which has a 10-year deal to promote the sport, will integrate Genius Sports’ live data and content into its OneSoccer dedicated streaming platform.

Genius Sports’ data-driven marketing technology will also help to expand Mediapro Canada’s domestic audience by driving OneSoccer subscriptions through personalised promotions and offers.

Read the full article on iGB North America.