Month: August 2021

The English Football League’s first round of fixtures takes place this weekend, with the Premier League following suit next week.

BGC has highlighted the steps its members have taken to improve the standards of betting adverts in the past two years in attempts to reduce the number seen by young people. One such action was the introduction of a social media code of conduct for football clubs and gambling websites.

Other steps include a whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling ads during football matches, which has led to a 97% reduction in these ads being seen by children during the whistle-to-whistle period, according to a study by Enders Analysis. This ban also led to a 47% reduction in gambling ads during Euro 2020 when compared to the 2018 World Cup.

Betting logos have also been banned from children’s football kits, the Industry Code for Responsible Advertising was introduced last October, and the industry has provided sponsorship and advertising opportunities for football teams.

BGC chief executive Michael Dugher said: “The start of the new football season is an exciting time for fans across the country. BGC members are proud to provide financial support in a variety of ways for the beautiful game, but it’s also important that we maintain the momentum when it comes to protecting young people from gambling harm.

“Around 30 million people in Britain – half the population – enjoy a flutter, and the vast majority do so safely. According to the Government, the rate of problem gambling is 0.5% and has been stable for the past 20 years.

“But one problem gambler is one too many, so we will step up our work on protecting young people and providing help for those experiencing harm.”

Widely known as the Fixed-Odds Wagering Act, the legislation will allow customers to place fixed-odds horse racing bets through official licence-holders, rather than only pari-mutuel bets.

Licensees will be obligated to pay a share of their revenue from such wagering to the standardbred or thoroughbred permit holder.

Murphy’s signature comes after the bill secured unanimous approval in both the New Jersey Senate and Assembly in June.

Online wagering solutions provider BetMakers, which has an exclusive 10-year fixed-odds agreement on thoroughbred horse racing in New Jersey, welcomed the announcement.

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Revenue for the six months to June 30 amounted to $1.40bn, up from $855.4m in the first half of last year.

Zynga’s online games business was by far the primary source of income during the period, with revenue here reaching $1.14bn, an increase of 56.2% on 2020. Advertising and other revenue also shot up 108.5% to $256.3m.

Bookings for the half were also up 51.8% to $1.43bn, with mobile bookings rising 53.4% to $1.39bn and advertising bookings 109.7% to $256.2m.

Turning to costs and total expenses for the half were up 23.7% to $1.33bn, though the rise in revenue meant adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was 114.3% higher at $296.8m.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Revenue was up 9.6% to $1.30bn for the first half of the year.

However, the business then paid expenses of $1.00bn, though this was down 13.2%. The largest of these expenses were costs of revenue, at $366.9m, up 2.5%. 

Research and development costs were up 40.4% to $177.0m, while sales and marketing costs grew 14.1% to $286.6m. General and administrative expenses, on the other hand, dropped by 58.0% to $171.9m.

This meant operating income was up more than 600% to $295.7m.

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The revenue generated represents a 406.0% increase on the $305.5m raised during the same period last year, mostly thanks to the easing of pandemic-enforced restrictions, which forced Penn’s properties to close for most of Q2 of 2020.

The Northeast segment, containing properties such as Ameristar, Hollywood Casinos and Meadows Racetrack and Casino, was the biggest contributor to the revenue total with $652.5m – a 535.3% increase from last year. $368.2m came from the South, $294.8m from the Midwest, and $140.4m from the West.

Gaming revenue was up significantly from 2020, rising 403.9% to $1.31bn. Revenue from food, drink and hotels also increased to $240.3m.

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Under the deal, DraftKings will leverage Genius Sports’ technology to power live experiences for players and also gain access to Genius Sports’ proprietary, official data and live video feeds from over 170,000 events per year.

This will include Genius Sports’ full suite of National Football League (NFL) products, content and player acquisition and retention solutions.

In April, DraftKings was selected as one of the NFL’s tri-exclusive official sports betting partners, while Genius Sports became the league’s exclusive distributor of real-time play-by-play statistics, proprietary Next Gen Stats (NGS) data, and official sports betting data feed.

As such, DraftKings will become one of the first operators to implement a full Genius Sports NFL offering, including NGS that powers the full player lifecycle.

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Under the deal, GNOG will serve as an associate partner of FRM and its branding will appear on the No. 38 Mustang car, driven by Anthony Alfredo, as well as on the team’s hauler and online platforms.

GNOG’s GoldenNuggetCasino.com website will also be primary sponsor of the No. 38 car at the Nascar Cup Series races on August 22 at Michigan International Speedway and on September 11 at Richmond Raceway.

“The Nascar Cup Series is one of the premier sports leagues in the country with a passionate fan base of online casino and sportsbook patrons,” GNOG marketing director Samir Banerjee said.

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Under the three-year deal, which runs to the end of the 2023-24 season, Winamax branding will feature on the front of players’ shirts.

Winamax, which previously partnered with Bordeaux between 2015 and 2019, will also benefit from branding placement on surfaces inside the team’s Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux stadium.

In addition, the operator will work with the club on a range of fan-focused initiatives, such as poker tournaments and betting odds offers.

“The club is proud to find Winamax again as a major sponsor; the trust and loyalty of this major player in online betting is tremendous proof of the central place occupied by FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the French football landscape,” Bordeaux president Gérard Lopez said.

Winamax Julien Huber added: “The season ahead marks the start of a new era. Winamax is as proud as it is enthusiastic at the idea of ​​supporting the club, among the oldest in Ligue 1, in its new project.”

Earlier this week, Playtech took the decision to reschedule its general meeting where shareholders would vote on a proposal already on the table from a consortium led by the Barinboim Group which Playtech’s board had agreed to accept.

The vote, initially scheduled for 15 July, had been delayed after Gopher lodged a $250m bid for Finalto in July, rivalling the Barinboim bid, with playtech using the extra time to ask more questions of Gopher’s offer.

However, Playtech’s board ultimately opted to continue to recommend the Barinboim offer, citing Gopher’s lack of “clarity” with regards to its own bid.

Playtech’s board said Gopher responded to initial questions, but that it was left waiting for responses to follow-up questions which would allow it to proceed with negotiations.

A subsequent Gopher statement claimed the company was “highly disappointed with the Board of Playtech’s decision not to change its recommendation”, claiming that the timeline of events has been misrepresented by Playtech.

Gopher alleges to have responded promptly to Playtech’s initial request for additional information regarding finances and regulatory approval. Disclosure of further information was deemed confidential and necessitated a confidentiality agreement being put in place – which Gopher claims both companies agreed to.

It then said Playtech planned to issue a circular which would be made public before any confidentiality agreement could be implemented, causing a pause in the confidentiality process. It added that it did not expect Playtech to reveal it had received insufficient information or for the board to announce its continued backing of the Barinboim offer.

Playtech has responded to these claims, saying: “Playtech does not recognise Gopher’s characterisation of the chain of events to which it refers in its press release of 3 August 2021.  If Gopher is willing to provide the requested information, Playtech would welcome Gopher doing so.

“As previously stated, the proposal received from Gopher is uncertain in terms of its deliverability, principally because it remains not binding in nature and subject to a number of conditions. Accordingly, the Board is currently not in a position to change its recommendation to Shareholders in respect of the disposal and the resolution as set out in the original circular.”

Penn will pay $17.00 in cash and 0.2398 shares – $17.00’s worth – of its stock for every theScore share, for a total consideration of $34.00 per share. This will mean that theScore shareholders will hold approximately 7% of the new combined business, while current Penn shareholders will hold the remaining 93%.

The deal is set to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Penn chief executive Jay Snowden said theScore would complement Penn’s existing Barstool brand of sportsbooks and online betting and gaming products.

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