Month: September 2021

Yesterday’s bell-ringing ceremony at New York’s Nasdaq Stock Exchange saw a host of Sportradar executives in situ, to mark the launch of the data specialist’s initial public offering. 

Also in attendance were its investors, among them basketball legend Michael Jordan and Los Angeles Lakers part-owner Todd Boehly. 

It certainly doesn’t hurt for a business aiming to lead the evolution of the sports viewing experience to have one of the most iconic name in sports as a backer. But it was a statement from an investor who couldn’t attend that set out its bullish position. 

“Today is just the beginning for Sportradar,” said Ted Leonsis, owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment – the company that controls Washington DC’s NBA, NHL and WNBA teams – and venture capital fund Revolution Growth. 

“Revolution Growth first invested in the company in 2015, recognising that trusted data was becoming an increasingly integral part of professional sports,” he explained. “When we look at where the sports industry is today, and where it is going, data analytics is without a doubt one of the most important tools for sports teams, for media companies, and for betting organisations. 

“Sportradar has helped eager fans access a more immersive sports experience. And rapid digital acceleration during the pandemic has opened up numerous new opportunities across the industry.”

For Sportradar chief executive Carsten Koerl, the listing was “a testament to the ambition, originality and resourcefulness of our employees, the strength and commitment of our partners, the confidence and support of our investors and the vision of our customers”.

He pledged to “continue to propel digital transformation across the sports ecosystem” following the listing. 

Accelerated growth

The IPO will see up to 19.0m Class A shares in Sportradar sold at $27.00 per share, with Koerl granting the underwriters an option to sell an additional 2.85m shares at the same price. When the offering closes on 16 September, this could result in proceeds of $513.0m from the IPO alone.

Its chief commercial officer and regional CEO for Asia and the Pacific Eduard Blonk says the company has to date shown a record of growth and free cash flow. Sportradar now has the means and the funding to accelerate that growth, and invest in its technology, its people and its acquisition strategy. 

Blonk sees its data rights deals as “the raw material”, which in turn requires investment in technology to enhance its camera technology and computer vision, allowing it to collect more data points. “But then of course it’s what you do with these data points,” he says. “There is access to so many of these for the sports we are tracking.

“So to build the story with those data points, for the fans, it’s the story you build, and for that you need the technology to compute all those data points.”

US prospects

He sees Sportradar as having been adept at selling that story to the market, and for a listing location, the US “is a good natural fit for Sportradar going forward”. This was not only down to the wave of regulation sweeping the states, he adds, but also for the broader market trends when it comes to fan engagement and access. 

“[As] technology company we believed this was the best fit for us, [because] the sports fans, and how you access those fans, it’s a market where things are quite advanced,” he explains. “They see how to take that fan journey forward, and that was a key reason for looking at a listing here – and of course there is some market mechanics as to why those choices were made.”

However Sportradar’s path to the Nasdaq could have taken a different route. Blonk says both a traditional market listing and a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) combination were considered. “At the end of the day it was the decision the board and the investors to decide on the most suitable”. 

Though it ultimately opted for the traditional listing route, Todd Boehly, who led the SPAC that was expected to combine with Sportradar, ultimately became part of the IPO. His Eldridge Industries holding company, alongside advisory body Radcliff Management LLC, and certain other investors committed to purchasing $159.0m worth of shares at the offering price.

Of course, the exponential growth of the US betting market also makes it a particularly attractive location for a listing. It’s likely to grow to a $23bn to $30bn market at maturity, Blonk points out.

It’s also the breeding ground for covergence between betting and media, across broadcast and digital platforms. Since 2018, this has seen efforts to incorporate sports viewing, tracking teams, fantasy sports and placing bets into a single ecosystem, to enhance the fan experience. 

“We’re serving over 350 media and broadcasters and sports betting operators, so the likes of DraftKings on one side, and the Apples, the Googles on the other,” Blonk says. “So it’s all about the fan, and yes there are different mechanisms to extract value. You use that same raw material, but tell different stories to engage with those audiences. And it is merging. 

“The other role we play is with the leagues,” he continues. “We have more than 150 relationships globally, and it’s not about extracting value, it’s also about bringing value to the leagues. 

“They need to ensure their marketing, advertising works for them – so they have that same story need to address that market. We play a role in both of these, as well as providing data and performance analytics.”

Ultimately, while the data is the starting point, it’s what businesses do with that raw material – across multiple outlets – that creates the value, Blonk says. And to highlight that convergence, having investors such as Michael Jordan, Todd Boehly certainly helps.

“No organisation is better positioned than Sportradar to be the dominating force at the nexus of sports and big data,” Leonsis’ statement concluded.

“It is evidenced by their unparalleled data science team, their deals with major leagues and media companies in the US and around the world, and their forward thinking approach to partnerships with companies like DraftKings. Revolution Growth is proud to have played a role in helping this game-changing company reach today’s milestone.”

Roughly 1.7m people played Veikkaus games in 2021, meaning that half the company’s revenue came from 119,000 players. The figure compares favourably with Finland’s gambling industry as a whole, which takes into account offshore gambling, whereby 2.5% of players across all sites account for 50% of the revenue.

The data was collected through mandatory identification, a feature which has been rolled out across Veikkaus products over the year.

ID verification was introduced to Veikkaus slot games in January, before being added to retail betting in June. 80% of gambling in the country takes place via registered players, and Veikkaus plans to make that 100% by the year’s end.

The company also aims to have all products subject to ID verification by the end of 2023.

“This information gives us a positive message that the direction of our responsibility measures is the right one,” Veikkaus’ director of data and analytics Lauri Halkola said. “The reading is based on data on identified gambling and covers the majority of euros played to Veikkaus – including slot machines.

“We have taken and will continue to take measures to prevent gambling problems in advance. Our goal is also to significantly reduce the share of problem gambling with our solutions.”

Responsible gaming measures implemented by Veikkaus this year include the introduction and extension of a €500 daily loss limit, which was eventually made permanent by the Finnish government.

Veikkaus’ initiatives were also responsible for almost 30,000 players opting to self exclude from gambling.

The gaming giant has released detailed information regarding SG Lottery’s performance and future opportunities to interested parties, in connection with its previously announced intention to divest the business as part of a strategic review.

In June, it said it wanted to spin off its lottery and sports betting arms in an effort to position the company for “sustainable growth”. This will see it focus on gaming products and services across online and digital channels.

To read the full article, visit iGB North America.

This figure was the lowest for any of the past six months. The Commission warned against comparisons with months prior to this period, due to significant differences in operating conditions.

The drop in overall GGY was mostly due to a significant decline in betting yield. Despite Euro 2020 – in which England made a run to the final – real-event betting yield dropped 19.1% month-on-month to £196.9m, by far the lowest figure recorded this year.

This came as the number of real-event bets also dropped to a yearly low, by 6.9% to 252.1 million.

The number of real-event bettors, however, only dipped by 2.0% to 5.5 million.

Slots, meanwhile, saw a 4.1% increase in GGY, to £187.2m. This came as the total number of slot spins grew to 5.91 billion and the number of slots players ticked slightly upwards to 3.1 million. The average slot session length remained at 19 minutes – the joint-shortest average length in the measured period.

Non-slot gaming GGY – mostly made up of table games – was down 1.9% to £57.7m as the number of players was down 1.8% to 2.2 million, despite the number of bets increasing by 6.3% to 282.3 million.

Virtual event betting was up 2.2% to $6.1m, while poker GGY grew 3.3% to £6.0m. Esports betting yield posted the largest month-over-month increase, by 17.4% to £1.2m.

GGY from other online gambling products was down 8.8% to £1.3m.

The number of safer gambling interactions reported in July  came to just over 1.0 million, up marginally. This was mostly due to a rise in automated interactions, as direct interactions decreased by 4%.

Earlier this month, the Gambling Commission announced Marcus Boyle as its new chairman, as incumbent chair Bill Moyes’ term came to an end. Boyle took over as chairman from 5 September.

He takes on the role with the government’s review of the 2005 Gambling Act underway, and a white paper setting out a series of regulatory reforms expected by the end of 2021.

Among the reforms the Commission is considering is the introduction of specific thresholds for financial risk. In a speech at the Know Now Conference on Social Responsibility for Gambling Operators, Commission’s executive director Tim Miller said a consultation on the matter would soon be opened.

Coljuegos and the National Police first carried out raids in Bogotá towns Suba, Ciudad Bolivar and Engativá, which recovered COP$5.89bn that had been obtained through illegal gambling operations. A total of 224 gambling machines were also uncovered.

In Montería, Córdoba, 50 electronic slot machines were confiscated across raids on 15 establishments, while COP$1.22bn in illegal gambling funds was also discovered.

According to Colombian law, each illegal electronic slot machine comes with a fine of COP$72.6m.

For other illegal gambling operations, the fine is stipulated at COP$272.5m for each establishment, point of sale, outlet and vendor.

In addition, each establishment will be prohibited from operating as a gambling facility for five years, and those responsible will be subject to a prison term of six to eight years.

In August, Coljuegos seized 139 items of gaming equipment from seven raids on unlicensed gambling establishments in the town of Manaure.

According to data from the AANA, only 0.45% of ad complaints were directed at AANA’s wagering code of conduct.

The wagering code specifically applies to the advertising of betting products and services provided by licensed operators in Australia. It applies to all RWA members, and covers betting on events such as horse racing, greyhound racing, and sporting events.

The decline in complaints is attributed to restrictions on gambling advertising during live sporting events, introduced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

A statement from ACMA’s latest report said: “ACMA monitoring activities indicate that the government’s policy to protect children from gambling ads in live sport between 5am and 8.30pm has been effective on broadcasting platform.

“Broadcasters are following the rules, with a marked decrease in the volume of gambling ads from the start of pre-game shows to the end of post-game shows.”

Earlier this week, the media regulator found TV company Foxtel to have breached broadcasting rules over an Australian Football League gambling ad.

The lawsuits stem from individuals who took part in online casino games outside of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, before the country’s latest state treaty (GlüNeuRStV) was enforced. At the time, Schleswig-Holstein was the only state in which online gaming was legal.

The GlüNeuRStV, which expanded Germany’s igaming market outside online betting, came into effect on July 1 2021.

The suits argue that because the individuals took part in casino games before it was legal, they should be entitled to reimbursement for any losses they may have made.

Law firm Hambach and Hambach represented online casino platforms and payment providers in the suits.

A final judgement on one of the suits, which took place on 1 September in Leipzig Regional Court, concluded that gambling has an inherent risk of losing money and thus by participating the players were aware of the possibility of losses. The court also emphasised that the plaintiff had made themselves liable for prosecution by breaching section 817 sentence 2 of the German Civil Code by playing illegally.

On the same date, the Braunschweig Regional Court rejected an individual’s application for legal aid after they filed a similar suit. Again, the court pointed to gambling risks and how the plaintiff had violated section 285 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits participation in illegal gambling.

A third suit was dismissed by Munich District Court on June 10 2021. The suit was against a payment provider and alleged that it had breached contractual obligations towards the player. The claim fell under tort law but failed as the payment provider had not defied any protection laws.

The GlüNeuRStV came with controversial conditions, including a 5.3% tax on online slot and poker stakes and a €1 per spin stake limit.

Comtrade will debut its iCore iGaming platform in the US to provide player account management and backend infrastructure for G3 in New Jersey, where widespread esports betting has recently been legalised.

G3, the esports, gaming and entertainment agency, said it selected Comtrade to ensure high standards of player protection ahead of its market entry.

To read the full article, visit iGB North America.

Carousel Group-operated MaximBet, which recently debuted in Colorado, will gain access in Pennsylvania through its agreement with Caesars Entertainment and also now has online sports betting access in Ohio.

The two new markets are in addition to three other states where it also already has market access, Indiana, Iowa and New Jersey. MaximBet, which bears the name of the prominent men’s lifestyle magazine, also has plans to launch in Canada.

To read the full article, visit iGB North America.

In his new role, Hurtado will lead the development of Pariplay’s in-house games studio and proprietary content.

Hurtado has ten years of industry experience. Most recently, he held the role of head of product operations at Gamesys. He previously held positions at 888 Holdings, Unibet and Betsson.

Hurtado also managed operator brands at Casino Euro, Norges Automaten and Suomiarvat.

“It is a privilege to be joining a company with a well-earned reputation for excellence in both aggregation and the production of its own high-quality in-house content,” said Hurtado.

“My goal now is to use my own industry experience to drive forward Pariplay’s games development strategy so that we can put our titles in front of as many eyes as possible around the world.”

The appointment comes as Pariplay works to expand its presence worldwide. Most recently, in June, the company was granted a Greek supplier licence following the process for online gaming licences opening in October 2020.

“Joey brings the sort of experience and deep industry knowledge that will prove invaluable as we implement our growth strategy for proprietary games content,” said Adrian Bailey, managing director at Pariplay.

“I look forward to working together as we continue to make rapid progress in an ever-increasing number of regulated markets.”