This is the most recent of Kambi’s Americas partnerships, following deals in Argentina and Peru, and will see Island Luck integrate Kambi’s sports betting services into its own sportsbook.
Island Luck, which was established in 2009, is currently one of the leading gaming operators in the Bahamas.
Revenue for the six months to June 30 amounted to $89.7m, up from $45.4m in the same period last year, though Full House’s performance in the first half of 2020 was significantly impacted by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Last year saw Full House close its casinos for a large portion of the first half as states sought to slow the spread of Covid-19.
In contrast, casinos this year were permitted to operate throughout the half, albeit with some restrictions in place, including capacity limits and some social distancing.
This continued operations saw casino revenue more than double year-on-year from $31.7m to $66.7m, while food and beverage revenue increased by 50.0% to $13.5m, hotel revenue 74.1% to $4.7m and other operations, including online sports betting, 135.0% to $4.7m.
In his new role, Auning-Hansen, who has served on the CEGO board since April 2020, will oversee the international growth of the business and the expansion of Spilnu and Lyckost into new markets.
This will include Great Britain after CEGO recently secured a new licence in the region.
Auning-Hansen joins CEGO from juice and sandwich company Joe and the Juice, where he served as chief financial officer for almost two years.
Prior to this, he spent six-and-a-half years as chief financial officer at Danske Spil, but left the Danish state-owned operator shortly after it sold its stake in CEGO to the studio’s original owners and the private equity fund Via Equity III K / S.
Earlier in his career, Auning-Hansen had spells as head of finance at Qvartz, senior manager at Deloitte and an auditor at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Switzerland.
“I am delighted to have been appointed CEO of this incredible organisation and to be taking a more hands on role,” Auning-Hansen said. “The world is very much our playing field so long as we continue to focus on regulated markets, which is at the heart of our expansion plan.
“We have access to a large amount of data which we use to fine-tune our offering for each market we enter, taking a country-by-country approach. This means we can deliver a localised product into each market, not only meeting but exceeding player expectations and this has been a key factor in our success to date.
CEGO chairman Jesper Karbrink added: “In Allan we have a CEO with a proven track record of driving growth across a wide range of companies and in various sectors.
“He has played a part in our story to date in the capacity of board member, but now he has the opportunity to have greater influence over the business as we continue to expand.”
Ditka, who played for the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys during the 1960s and 1970s, will become an NFL brand ambassador exclusively for RSI’s BetRivers.com brand.
BetRivers.com serves as the official and exclusive sportsbook partner of the Chicago Bears, the franchise Ditka led to the Super Bowl XX as head coach.
Ditka is one of only two NFL legends to have won a Super Bowl as a player, assistant coach and a head coach, achieving the playing and assistant coach titles with the Dallas Cowboys.
The Preseason Access collection debuted on 11 August in conjunction with Autograph, and features autographed passes from athletes such as Wayne Gretzky, Tony Hawk, Naomi Osaka and Tiger Woods.
Tom Brady is set to be the headline athlete for the first release.
DraftKings president and co-founder Matt Kalish said: “Autograph’s Advisory Board includes some of the most iconic athletes ever, and we could not imagine a more fitting figure than Tom Brady to headline our first ever NFT drop on DraftKings Marketplace.
“The overall NFT market has already surged to over $2.5 billion in sales volume for the first half of 2021, and so whether someone is well-versed or barely familiar with digital collectibles, we envision DraftKings Marketplace being a premier platform for all within a trend that is decidedly here to stay.”
The operator has been selected as the “priority negotiation right holder”, meaning it will have first rihgts to negotiate with the prefecture’s government on terms to build the resort.
The resort is set to be built on the site of Huis den Bosch theme park in the city of Sasebo.
The new resort will form part of Japan’s IR project, which was greenlit by the government in July 2018, and aims to encourage tourism with sites featuring multiple commercial and cultural attractions.
Legislation states that the resorts can dedicate no more than 3% of their floorspace to gambling, while local citizens will be required to pay an entry fee.
Initially, five companies put themselves forward, with all five invited to submit initial questionnaires.
However, this was reduced to three finalists – Casinos Austria International, Niki Chyau Fwu Group and Oshidori International Development, which had partnered with US-based Mohegan Sun – in March
Last week, Oshidori announced that it had withdrawn from the bidding process, leaving only Casinos Austria International and Niki Chyau Fwu Group – a joint venture between Japenese commercial real estate developer The Niki Group and Taiwanese construction business Chyau Fwu Group.
Oshidori said it did not approve of the development and operation rules imposed by the prefecture and that the request for proposals process was not being implemented ethically or fairly.
In a statement, the business also said it had encountered “multiple suspicions of ethical fraud in the RFP process”. It concluded that it could only participate in a selection process which is transparent and professional.
Despite Oshidori’s withdrawal, it was still selected as the “runner-up” bid, in the event Casinos Austria International’s construction and operation of the resort cannot be completed.
HK$39.7m of the revenue total came from the supply of lottery hardware, compared to HK$8.7m from non-lottery hardware. Lottery distribution and ancillary services generated HK$19.4m, games and entertainment products raised HK$10.1m. HK$17.8m came from other sources.
HK$68.7m of the revenue came from the mainland People’s Republic of China, while the remaining HK$9.2m was raised in Hong Kong.
AGTech’s operating losses for the year have dropped significantly, falling 47.9% to HK$55.0m. The company was able to cut employee expenses by 17.4% to HK$74.9m. Inventory purchasing costs were HK$28.2m. Depreciation expenses came to HK$10.4m, while other expenses – including marketing costs, research and development, and administration – amounted to HK$38.8m.
After accounting for HK$1.9m worth of income tax, net losses for the period came to HK$43.7m – down from HK$109.7m in 2020.
A statement from AGTech said: “AGTech is committed to evolving its business into a comprehensive lottery, mobile games and entertainment content and technology provider to customers around the world.
“Furthermore, the group will continue to develop differentiated games and entertainment platforms with the goal of integrating unique social games and sports entertainment content, ultimately to create an innovative business model to increase the group’s commercial value.
“Looking forward, AGTech will continue to pursue overseas opportunities and globalize our business through offering our proprietary systems and platforms, as well as operational and technical expertise, in addition to seeking strategic partnership with local partners in Asia.”
When the GlüNeuRStV came into effect in July 1st after Nordrhein-Westfalen approved it, it permitted licensing for slots and poker games. However, it stated that non-poker table games, both through RNGs and with live broadcasts of dealers, were not covered by the treaty in the way that slots and poker are.
Therefore, permission to offer banked table games is handled through the granting of concessions by individual states.
Nordrhein-Westfalen has now opened the bidding process for this, with up to five non-poker table game licences to be granted. Licences will be valid for 10 years.
Existing licence-holders require a separate licence to offer non-poker table games and will be given a maximum of two sites from which to broadcast live banker games.
The GlüNeuRStV was implemented in July following a process that lasted many years and drew substantial criticism. It aimed to legalise online casino games but included restrictive measures, such as a €1 per spin stake limit.
However, after negotiations, the state of Schleswig-Holstein revealed that states would have the power to take control of their own online casino rules. This meant the option to extend their monopoly on table games to virtual bankholder games.
The A1 licence issued by the regulator allows Iforium to deliver its Gameflex casino aggregator platform and portfolio of approved gaming content to licensed operators in the newly regulated Greek market.
“I am proud to confirm Iforium have been granted an A1 Supplier Licence by the Hellenic Gaming Commission,” said Phil Parry, chief executive of Iforium.
“Continuous expansion of our regulated footprint is key to Iforium’s strategy and our new licence in Greece marks our 17th successful regulated market entry.
“I look forward to working with our valued partners in the newly regulated Greek market and supporting their future growth via our Gameflex aggregation platform.”
Greece launched its online gaming licence process in October 2020, after regulations for the market were passed by the country’s parliament in 2019 and submitted to the European Commission in January 2020.
This year, several companies have received supplier licences from the HGC, including Aspire Global’s Pariplay, casino games and software developer Playson, Malta-based supplier B2B Gaming Services, and most recently Bragg Gaming Group subsidiary Oryx Gaming, as well as game developer Hacksaw Gaming.
Launched in December 2020, the TCF is run in collaboration between Entain and the Trident Leagues – the Isthmian, Northern Premier and Southern Leagues – to help fund community projects run by 245 clubs playing across the leagues.
Clubs can apply for funding via a grant application process and the TCF paid out grants to 27 clubs during the 2020-21 season to fund projects covering coaching in the community, the expansion of girls’ football and the health and wellbeing of youngsters.
Entain is active in the scheme via the Entain Foundation’s Pitching In programme, which also launched last year as a multi-million-pound grassroots and non-elite sport investment fund to support clubs with financial pressure after the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
The additional £150,000 in funding will be added to Entain’s headline partnership with the Trident Leagues and brings its total contribution to the competitions to over £1m.
Stuart Pearce, former captain of the England men’s football team and an ambassador of the Pitching In project, welcomed the new funding at what he described as a “challenging time” for grassroots football.
“Non-league football clubs faced unprecedented effects on their finances from the Covid-19 pandemic and many clubs continue to struggle to stay afloat,” Pearce said. “Entain committing to further funding of non-league teams will make a big difference to hundreds of clubs, thousands of players and hundreds of thousands of fans across the country.
“The Trident Community Foundation demonstrates the true meaning of Pitching In and strengthens existing bonds within communities across the country. I look forward to seeing non-league clubs thrive so that the future generation of football fans can experience and enjoy the game at grassroots level.”
In a joint statement, Isthmian chairman Nick Robinson, Northern Premier chairman Mark Harris and Southern League vice chairman Anthony Hughes added: “This latest phase of Entain’s ‘Pitching In’ grassroots and non-elite sports investment programme is critical for the future of non-league football.
“Our clubs are at the heart of their local communities and this funding will provide them with the means to strengthen those links.”
