Month: August 2021

The partnership will allow for a TwinSpires retail sportsbook to open at the Mazatzal Hotel & Casino, which is owned and operated by the Tonto Apache Tribe.

TwinSpires will also be able to roll out its online sportsbook, though both launches will be subject to the brand securing the applicable gaming licenses and regulatory approvals.

“The team behind the most exciting two minutes in sports is thrilled to partner with the Tonto Apache Tribe and pursue offering our leading sportsbook product and promotions to sports fans throughout Arizona,” TwinSpires president Ian Williams said.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The monitoring sweep used avatar technology to assess the distribution of advertising for alcohol, gambling, and high fat, salt or sugar products, via websites and YouTube channels attracting a mixed-age audience.

The monitoring which underpins the project was focused on non-logged in websites and YouTube channels whose audiences consist of 75-90% adults.

It assessed whether advertisers using dynamically served adverts for age-restricted products were showing the adverts to children on mixed-age websites.

The ASA used avatars for the purpose of identifying trends in how these ads are being delivered. These avatars were constructed to reflect the online browsing profile of different age groups: 6-7 year-old, 8-12 year-old, 13-16 year-old, adult, a shared profile for an adult and child, and a neutral profile.

However, it said that the avatars’ automated actions, visiting 250 web pages on both desktop and mobile devices twice a day, are “obviously not indicative of real world online behaviours.”

This, it said, explains why the six avatars received 27,395 ads across the 250 sites in a three-week monitoring period.

The figures do not reflect real-world exposure levels to advertising, but the data gives the Authority a good basis for assessing whether age-restricted ads are being targeted away from children in online media which attracts a mixed but heavily weighted adult audience of 75% or above, it said.

The study found that gambling ads were served in broadly similar numbers to child and adult avatars, with no significant skew towards the adult profiles. The neutral avatar, which has no browsing history to provide indicative age information, was served noticeably fewer gambling ads in mixed-age media.

The avatars received 248 ad impressions for gambling products from 11 brands, compared to 182 ad impressions for high fat, salt or sugar products from 9 brands. The ASA said these numbers are relatively small and indicated that HFSS and gambling advertisers were largely successful in targeting their ads away from children.

The authority described the minimisation of children’s exposure to age-restricted ads generally as a legitimate regulatory objective, and said it therefore wants to see advertisers use available tools to more effectively target their ads away from children, even where the majority of an audience is over 18.

The project runs alongside the ASA’s year-long project to tackle age-restricted ads appearing in media aimed specifically at children.

“We call on advertisers to make better use of targeting tools to minimise children’s exposure to dynamically served age-restricted ads,” said Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA.

“And we call on third parties involved in the distribution of these ads to ensure the data and modelling on which those tools rely are as effective as they can be. Finally, we will be exploring whether the report should lead to more prescriptive measures relating to dynamically-served age-restricted ads. This latest monitoring sweep is just one part of a wider set of initiatives where we’re harnessing technology, all with the aim of ensuring children are protected online.”

Karhu moves into the position having previously served as chief business officer and will take over the day-to-day running of the business, as well as assume responsibility for strategy development and execution, driving growth and overseeing resources and development.

He replaces Toni Halonen, Bojoko’s co-founder Toni Halonen, who will take on the newly created role of chief product officer, with a core focus on improving product and user experience.

“Over the past four years, I have watched the business grow into an award-winning, market-leading online gambling affiliate organisation with a presence in markets around the world,” Karhu said.

“I have always worked closely with Toni in my role as chief business officer and believe I am in a strong position to take over the reins and continue to drive the business forward and on to greater success.

Halonen added: “In Joonas we have the perfect candidate for the CEO role; he knows the business and also has unrivalled knowledge of, and experience in, the market.

“This reshuffle allows me to refocus on my passions – technology and SEO – and to ensure that Bojoko continues to push the boundaries in the areas of technology and user experience.”

The allegations were made by Kane’s wife, who alleged via an Instagram post that the 30-year old left wing is “obviously throwing games to win money”.

An NHL statement said: “The League was made aware this evening of a post on social media alleging that San Jose Sharks Player Evander Kane bet on NHL games. The integrity of our game is paramount and the League takes these allegations very seriously.

“We intend to conduct a full investigation and will have no further comment at this time.”

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Collins initially joined GiG in 2019 as director of talent acquisition. He then became director of business development last year. 

Ben Clemes, chief commercial officer and managing director of platform at GiG, said he was confident that bringing the three teams together under Collins’ leadership would help GiG attract and retain more clients.

“I am excited to announce Martin’s additional responsibilities and have every confidence that aligning the three teams (sales, business development and marketing) will have a positive impact on our commercial pipeline.”

Prior to joining GiG, Collins founded specialist recruitment agency Red Executive and spent five years in the business development team of recruiting agency Betting Jobs.

“Martin has been with GiG for over two and a half years, working as director of business development,” Clemes said. “Within that time he has helped to empower the organisation to grow and drive revenue.”

Collins said he was pleased to be working alongside very strong sales and marketing teams.

“Having been within the organisation for two and a half years now and having worked heavily with the leadership team to create and deliver our B2B strategy, driving value, growth and revenue at every opportunity, the addition of the combined sales and marketing component drives even more synergy across the organisation and helps ensure alignment in everything we do,” he said.

“I am also lucky enough to inherit two superstars in Ricky Ruddock on the sales team, whom I worked with for over 15 years prior to even coming to GiG; and Rhea Craib, who has successfully delivered our B2B marketing strategy for the last 18 months. 

“With three additional hires starting in September, I am very much looking forward to the challenge and working across the organisation to deliver success to GiG.” 

The appointment comes after director of sales James King announced his departure last month.

In May, GiG reported 64.0% year-on-year revenue growth in the first quarter of 2021, with media services business hitting an all-time high of €10.0m.

Italy implemented an outright ban on all forms of gambling advertisements in the country in January 2019, though deals in place prior to this date were allowed to run their course. 

However, the FIGC has written to the government calling for the ban to be temporarily lifted and permit gambling sponsorship in football to allow more money to flow into the sport in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The FIGC proposed the ban be lifted for a minimum of two years, potentially until June 2023, to allow the sector to properly recover from the pandemic.

The proposals also include creating a new “Football Savings Fund”, whereby 1% of all bets placed on sports in Italy – both online and via retail – be sent to a national fund, which, managed by the FIGC, would be used to finance football projects across the country.

“We are at a crossroads; we must act quickly to prevent the professional football crisis from obliging the clubs to block their activity, thus bringing the entire sports sector to its knees, the companies of the 12 product sectors connected to it and the entire country system, with an undesirable decrease in direct and indirect tax contributions, FIGC president Gabriele Gravina said.

“We did not ask the government for refreshments, rather to recognise the socio-economic importance that football has through the adoption of some urgent measures to relieve the clubs from the crisis generated by Covid-19. Football can play a decisive role in Italy’s overall recovery.”

While the ban prevents Italy-facing brands from partnering with clubs, a number of Italian clubs have agreed deals with a focus on other markets. Most recently, Premier Bet agreed a deal to serve as the official betting partner of AC Milan in Africa.