Month: August 2021

Samardziski arrives with almost 20 years worth of experience in the igaming industry. He has held senior roles at the likes of Max Entertainment (which he co-founded) and SlottyVegas.com.

He also created a series of webinars for Clarion Gaming’s Totally Gaming Academy, which were delivered to senior figures across the industry.

Samardziski said: “I’ve been following True Lab Games for some time now and find their content exceptionally engaging.

“I came to understand how efficient their delivery is, and I am convinced that they will be a significant player in the years to come, coupled with strong leadership and guidance.”

True Lab co-founder Konstantin Katsev added: “Igor is a valuable addition to the team, due to his exceptional leadership skills and deep understanding of the field.

“We wish him many successes in his new role and look forward to working side by side to see True Lab reaching new heights.”

Crown interim chairman Jane Halton said the combination of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and state-level inquiries into each of the operator’s properties meant the year was particularly difficult.

“2021 has been a challenging year for Crown, with intense regulatory scrutiny and unprecedented impacts on business operations from the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said.

Non-gaming revenue, which includes wagering, was Crown’s largest source of income, as it came to $651.1m, down 9.4%.

Main gaming floor tables, meanwhile, brought in $412.9m, down 40.0%, while main floor gaming machine revenue was down 14.0% to $548.9m.

VIP revenue completely collapsed, thanks mostly to strict travel restrictions for entering Australia. This total was down from $306.7m in 2019-20 to just $6.9m in 2020-21.

Breaking revenue down by segment, the flagship Crown Melbourne property brought in $582.5m, a 60.5% drop as it faced extended closures for much of the year.

The majority of Crown Melbourne’s revenue, at $406.9m, came from its main gaming floor, a 54.3% decrease. From this total, $241.2m was generated by table games, down 54.3%, while machine revenue was down $165.7m to 51.5%.

VIP gaming fell to almost nothing from $352.3 in 2019-20, while non-gaming revenue dropped 52.8% to $171.2m.

Crown Perth fared better and became the operator’s leading property, as revenue grew 21.1% to $613.3m. Main floor machines brought in $306.6m, main floor tables $171.7m and non-gaming revenue $264.1m.

“Crown Perth reopened with restrictions towards the end of June 2020 and remained open for the entirety of the first half, trading above expectations,” Crown chief financial officer Alan McGregor said. “Crown Perth faced several short-term closures throughout the second half, and while trading performance has rebounded quickly following each shutdown, overall performance moderated throughout the course of the year.”

Crown Sydney – which is not yet licensed to host gambling after the Bergin Inquiry determined Crown was “unsuitable” to hold a licence – brought in $68.6m, all from non-gaming sources. Crown may still be allowed to operate gaming in the future if the state of New South Wales – which recently implemented changes of its own in response to the inquiry – is satisfied it can be a suitable licensee.

Crown’s wagering and online division brought in $147.0m, an 8.5% increase. The Crown Aspinalls members-only club in the UK took in $2.1m.

The business made a further $207.8m on the sale of apartments in Crown Sydney, which was counted separately from its revenue.

However, expenses only dipped slightly to $1.98bn. Employment costs remained the largest expense, at $695.4m, down 6.0%.

Taxes and levies declined 12.3% to $373.1m, while depreciation and amortisation expenses rose 5.5% to $290.3m. Other costs included $112.7m in costs of sales, $102.7m in property costs and $28.0m in asset impairment.

After these costs and an $8.7m loss from businesses in which it holds a non-controlling stake, Crown made a loss before tax and finance costs of $239.5m. Adding in $69.1m in costs for financial items, Crown’s pre-tax loss was $308.6m.

The business then received a $47.3m tax benefit, resulting in a final loss of $261.3m. 

The business continues to face difficulties going forward. Crown Melbourne closed again on 5 August in what was initially a seven-day lockdown, but has remained closed since. 

Meanwhile, Crown still awaits the outcome of reports into its suitability to hold a licence for each of its two Australian properties that currently hold gaming licences. In July, Adrian Finanzio, the counsel assisting the Victoria state commission into Crown Melbourne, told that inquiry that Crown was “not a suitable licensee”.

Following the Bergin Inquiry, Crown made a number of major personnel changes. Ken Barton resigned as chief executive, with then-chairman Helen Coonan taking over on an interim basis. Steve McCann was later appointed as Barton’s full-time replacement.

Last week, the operator announced that Dr Ziggy Switkowski would take over as Crown’s new chairman.

The certification will enable Oryx to offers its platform and RGS to licensed operators in the Netherlands immediately when the market launches on 1 October.

Oryx’s full-service platform features a proprietary set of tools including player and payments management, automated know-your-customer, compliance, CRM and promotions, as well as fraud and risk management.

The platform platform also has built-in features for player protection management as well as reporting processes to the Dutch regulator as set out in the country’s regulations.

In addition, Oryx’s RGS was certified with an initial 50 exclusive titles from Gamomat, Peter & Sons and ORYX’s own in-house studios ready for rollout.

“We have a track-record of quickly adapting our ORYX platform, games and technology to the requirements of new jurisdictions and we are thrilled to be fully prepared and ready to immediately offer our services and a selection of high-performing games when the Dutch online market opens,” Bragg’s chief technical officer Peter Lavric said.

“We see great potential in this exciting new market and look forward to helping our operator partners through the process of launching a competitive online offering, including a portfolio of premium games that are primed to be enjoyed by Dutch players.”

These agreements allow this group of operators to purchase NFL in-game commercial units and other select NFL media inventory.

These operators join Caesars, FanDuel and DraftKings, which signed approved operator agreements with the NFL back in April.

No sportsbooks outside of these seven approved operators will be permitted to purchase advertising during NFL games, or certain other media rights.

“We are pleased to announce this select group as approved sportsbook operators,” said Nana-Yaw Asamoah, vice president of business development for the NFL.

“Along with our three official sports betting partners, this group of operators will help the league to engage fans in responsible and innovative ways this season as the sports betting landscape continues to evolve.”

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Revenue was significantly higher than $351,425 in July last year, though 2020’s figures were impacted by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic as the state continued its recovery from the crisis.

However, revenue was 10.8% lower than the $3.7m posted in June this year.

Mobile accounted for $1.7m in revenue during July, while $1.6m was generated from retail sports betting, with this split $989,687 across Twin River’s sportsbook and $561,469 at the Tiverton Casino.

In terms of handle, players spent $22.1m on sports betting in July, which was up from $6.7m last year but 25.1% lower than $29.5m in June 2021.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Revenue from ordinary activities over the 12 months ending 30 June, 2021 amounted to AUD$19.5m (£10.4m/€12.1m/$14.3m), compared to revenue of $8.6m in FY20.

BetMakers’ chief executive, Todd Buckingham, said in his report that the increase in revenue was due to rising demand for the company’s products and services in Australia and overseas, and that the figure included two weeks of revenue from the company’s acquisition of Sportech’s Racing and Digital business, completed in June 2021.

Buckingham also pointed out that the business’ share price has gone up from $0.045 to $1.07 over the past two years, stating that the company’s strategy is being clearly executed, and has delivered sustained value growth for shareholders.

The majority of BetMakers’ revenue, $13.5m, came from Australia and New Zealand, while the US brought in $2.5m and the UK and Europe $2.4m. The rest of the world brought in the remaining $1.1m.

The business’ cost of sales for the year amounted to $9.3m, up from $2.2m, for a gross profit of $10.2m, up 61.1%.

However, expenses rose faster than revenue, thanks mostly to share-based payments, which came to $12.4m, a huge increase on 2020’s figure of $885,026. Much of these costs were related to the Sportech acquisition.

Both employee benefit expenses and professional fees more than doubled from the previous year, costing the business $9.1m and $1.8m respectively. Administration expenses cost a further $974,126, up 47.6%.

IT and occupancy expenses came in at $692,582 and $205,247, respectively, both up significantly on 2020. Depreciation and amortisation expenses cost the business $2.7m, up from $2.1m, while impairment of receivables cost a further $98,976.

Finance costs totalled $100,637, down from $481,618, while other expenses increased significantly to $3.1m, compared to just $88,175 in 2020.

These costs left the business with a loss before income tax benefit of $20.9m, compared to a $2.4m loss in the previous year.

After an income tax benefit of $3.5m, up from a $277,844 benefit in 2020, BetMakers was left with a total comprehensive loss of $17.5m, compared to a $2.1m loss in 2020.

Arouh was promoted to the position having served as deputy chief legal officer and senior vice president at GAN since February of this year.

He replaces Todd McTavish, who is due to step down from the role tomorrow (1 September) after resigning due to personal reasons.

Prior to joining GAN, Arouh operated his own law firm where he represented a number of public companies in the internet gambling industry. 

“This is an exciting opportunity to leverage my industry, commercial and transactional experience at a fast-growing company in a complex, regulated environment,” Arouh said. 

“I look forward to continuing to help GAN grow and helping the GAN team deliver GAN’s proprietary digital platform to extend our customer’s casino brands by immersing our customers’ players in real money internet gambling, internet sports betting, and social casino gaming.”

GAN’s chief executive Dermot Smurfit added: “Michael’s knowledge of GAN, relevant legal and on-line gambling industry experience, energy and record of accomplishments, coupled with his proven leadership, make him the ideal candidate to manage our global legal strategies and activities, and lead our in-house and external legal teams.”

The appointment comes after GAN earlier this month reported a 316% year-on-year rise in revenue for the second quarter of its financial year.

Revenue for the six months to 30 June amounted to €527.1m, down from €607.2m in the corresponding period last year.

Veikkaus put this decline down to the impact of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, explaining that its slot machines and gaming arcades were closed for almost four months of the half, whereas last year the facilities remained open until mid-March until closing due to Covid-19.

The operator estimated that Covid-19 restrictions and the subsequent closure of its gaming facilities had a negative impact of €150.0m on its margin for the first half of 2021.

Lottery games remained the primary source of income for Veikkaus, with revenue for this part of the business amounting to €316.6m, down 4.3% on last year but representing 60.0% of total revenue for the period.

Casino games revenue was down 38.5% year-on-year to €134.2m, accounting for 25.5% of all revenue in the half, while the other 14.5% came from sports betting revenue, which was up 31.4% to €76.2m as a result of major sports events including the Uefa Euro 2020 national football team tournament.

Veikkaus also noted that of the total €527.1m in revenue generated in the half, 55% of this came from its online operations, while the other 45% was from retail channels.

In terms of costs, total spend for the half was down 28.6% to €57.3m, which was helped by a 30.3% reduction in sales commissions and location fees from €55.9m to €39.0m.

The operator also reported €41.2m in employee benefits expenses, as well as €29.6m worth of service costs, €18.5m in depreciation and impairment spending and €22.7m in other operating costs.

Lottery tax was 60.5% lower at €28.8m, though this was primarily due to the government reducing the lottery tax rate from 12% to 5.5% for the 2021 calendar year in an effort to help operators through the Covid-19 crisis.

As such, Veikkaus ended the first half with a net profit of €330.2m, only marginally down from €332.7m last year.

The state of emergency caused by the corona pandemic has continued around the world for more than a year and has also had a major impact on Veikkaus’ operations,” Veikkaus chief executive Olli Sarekoski said. 

“Despite the pandemic, we were able to take significant concrete steps in building a more responsible gaming environment during the early part of the year.”

This included Veikkaus in January pushing ahead with plans for new responsible gambling rules. Customers wanting to play slot machines in stores, kiosks, restaurants and service stations must first authenticate themselves and set a loss limit.

Veikkaus in May last year was forced to introduce the measure for online customers in line with a decree from the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, aimed at reducing players’ losses during the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The measure was initially seen as temporary but after the requirement was extended on a number of occasions, the government in June this year made loss limits permanent, with players limited to losing €500 (£428/$587) each day while playing online casino games with Veikkaus and €2,000 each month.

This was extended to Veikkaus gaming arcades from July, while the operator last week also introduced loss limits for its online games. 

Full authentication has major benefits not only for the prevention of gambling-related harm but also for age limit controls, crime prevention, and the development of business operations that are even more sustainable,” Veikkaus chief financial officer Regina Sippel said.

“It is our goal to make sustainability our success factor for the future and to turn into a leading expert of sustainability in the gaming business.”

Veikkaus also referenced its recent announcement regarding it opening negotiations with 830 staff members as it intends to make up to 200 redundancies, in order to “secure the continuity of [its] operations.” This could also see the roles of 350 staff at the business change materially.

“Veikkaus’ operating environment and business volume have undergone profound changes in the past few years,” Veikkaus said. “To continue to perform successfully in the future, Veikkaus strives to adapt its operations, making them more efficient so that they would meet the demands of the changing operating environment.”

The changes have been introduced via an updated code of practice for safer gambling from the Irish Bookmakers’ Association (IBA).

The code outlines a range of industry commitments across player protection measures, and all IBA members including operators such as Boylesports, Flutter Entertainment and Entain will now adopt the latest version of the code.

The IBA said the code represents a set of minimum commitments to be made by the industry, and that many operators will go above and beyond the provisions it sets out.

The credit card ban has already been adopted by some operators such as Flutter, with others making the necessary technological changes within their businesses no later than the end of this year.

The introduction of a whistle-to-whistle advertising ban will see a restriction on gambling ads shown around live sport before 9pm, running from 5 minutes before each event until 5 minutes after, however it will not apply to horse racing or greyhound racing.

“We recognise that there is a need for the industry to continue to develop the highest of standards for safer gambling,” said IBA chairperson, Sharon Byrne. “We believe in particular, that the credit card ban and the ‘whistle-to-whistle’ advertising restrictions are significant steps on that path.”

“The IBA has long called for the establishment of a regulator in Ireland, and we welcome the government’s commitment to legislating for that in the coming period.

“This code is not the answer to problem gambling and we believe there is more that can be done within the forum provided by a regulator.  However, we believe that these measures continue the journey the industry has been on in recent years, to ensure standards are increased for all.”

Byrne concluded by saying that she hopes those operators who have not yet committed to the new safer gambling code will do so before long, and that the IBA looks forward to working with Ireland’s proposed gaming regulator to adopt further evidence-based safer gambling measures.

Valentin Darechkin is Chief Commercial Officer for RevenueLab.biz. Valentin has worked in affiliate marketing for six years, during which time he has been involved in the launch of several successful projects as well as becoming a recognised conference speaker and expert contributor to industry publications.

In a world of increasing competition, Valentin Darechkin, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at a global affiliate aggregator RevenueLab.biz believes that the future of affiliate marketing will continue to be paved in strong partnerships.

“I think, for every affiliate, the most important challenge is to constantly be on the wave of change. The industry is very dynamic and in order to make good money you have to work with strong partners, not alone.”

In the early days of affiliate marketing, affiliate publishers had no other choice but to go alone when it came to approaching and negotiating deals with operators. Brands would have dozens of agreements with their affiliate partners, each with their own requirements and offerings.

Affiliate programs later evolved, creating an umbrella under which brands could work efficiently with multiple affiliates, avoiding conflicts and complexities that could cannibalize profits.

Then, RevenueLab.biz came onto the scene, with it, a new industry-changing model that further streamlined the partnership process for brands and affiliates alike.

Simplifying the process
“Usually, publishers work with many affiliate programs at the same time. It means that they have to aggregate all affiliate program statistics and all financial processes somewhere for

daily traffic analysis. Previously, it was done manually and it took a lot of time and effort.”

Working with so many affiliate programs at once, mistakes would inevitably occur, taking time to fix. Publishers would be forced to have contacts with dozens of separate affiliate program managers.

“What if you are working with 20 affiliate programs at the same time? This is definitely not an effective way to monetise your traffic,” says Darechkin.

RevenueLab.Biz, leveraging its 11 years of industry experience, changed the way affiliate marketing would be conducted by aggregating all its affiliate programs into a single platform.

“Our affiliates have access to summary statistics and all financial processes on a single platform. An affiliate manager is able to arrange all details of cooperation with each affiliate program, defend affiliates’ interests and resolve disputes.”

The resulting model has allowed affiliates to concentrate on their core business – finding and funnelling new sources of traffic by generating new content and engaging players. It’s also allowed them to ensure that they’re getting the best deal at any time.

“Many affiliate programs are very selective about publishers [they work with], and even then, publishers may not be getting the best deals in the market. Adding to all this, brands themselves can also change a deal at any time, without prior agreement,” noted Darechkin, when asked about the challenges that publishers go through on a daily basis.

As a result, it’s difficult for publishers to know which brand will give the best results in any particular geography of traffic sources. Whilst affiliate programs will recommend the brands that are most beneficial to them, he adds.

“We have 11 years of industry experience and the best analysts to help every publisher from day one.”

A friend to affiliates
For affiliates, the platform also allows them to always stay one step ahead of industry developments and ensure they are working with the affiliate programs that play best to their strengths.

“First of all, our affiliate managers define the geography and traffic source of the affiliate. After that they analyse statistics on the desired geography and traffic source for the past years. We have access to worldwide statistics and this helps our managers choose the best offer no matter what the geography or traffic source.”

Darechkin said the increasingly restrictive rules on gambling and promotion globally have also made It difficult for affiliates to hit the ground running in new markets. Darechkin again urges affiliates  considering a market entry to find reliable partners well in advance of this.

“It is fundamentally important to get invaluable experience and insights at the start, so as not to lose money and time. RevenueLab.biz can become this partner. It is in our interest to help affiliates enter new markets, because we only earn if affiliates earn.”

In the future, Darechkin says affiliates should keep their eyes peeled for opportunities in Africa, LatAm and Asia, which is expected to grow rapidly due to increasing internet penetration and relatively low competition.

“In order to take key positions in these markets in a year, affiliates should start working now, as large companies do not sit still and are already working on these markets.”