Clarion Gaming launches new marketing campaign for ICE London

The slogan will be used in support of the 2022 show, which will take place from 1-3 February  at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre. Registration for the show opened earlier this month, with those who wish to attend able to register here.

“The industry has made important steps with regards to the return of in-person events, not least with September’s successful staging of iGB Live! in Amsterdam,” Clarion Gaming managing director Stuart Hunter said.

“What iGB Live! demonstrated is how much we’ve all missed the unique buzz and theatre of live events and how productive they are in facilitating connections and business opportunities,” he explained. “ICE London is the embodiment of all that’s good about face-to-face, and our theme ‘Together never felt so good’ really captures what we have been missing since the last edition of ICE London closed its doors back in February 2020. 

“It may be a slightly overused phrase but this really is a people business and the team at Clarion Gaming sees it as a great responsibility and an honour to reflect these unique credentials in our creative, in our communications and, most importantly, in the delivery of the experience in February.”

Hunter said the campaign behind was developed following discussions with customers, and listening to their hopes and aspirations. Through these talks, the sense of solidarity and coming together as a community featured highly, he explained.

“To help achieve this we are making our biggest ever marketing and communications investment, maximising the number of touchpoints the brand has with the international industry, attempting to answer any misgivings, working alongside our exhibitors and amplifying the ‘Together never felt so good’ core campaign message.”

Click here to book your place at ICE London

Italy iGaming Dashboard – September 2021

Sports betting revenue reached €187.3m for September, up from €115.0m the previous month. €119.4m came from online and mobile sources, while land-based sports betting generated €67.9m.

Overall GGR was up to €276.8m, continuing its month on month growth. 50.47% – €139.7m – was attributed to casino and slot game revenue. Sports betting increased its revenue share to 43.14%, up from 35.12% the previous month.

Snaitech was the operator with the largest share of sports betting revenue, contributing 15.6% of the revenue total. Goldbet was second with 14.5%, followed by Sisal with 12.4%.

Snaitech maintained the dominant market share with regards to strictly online betting with 13.6%. Sisal followed with 12.9% while Goldbet and Eurobet both held a 10.9% share.

Pokerstars were the top performing operator for online casino, contributing 9.77% of the revenue total. Sisal’s share was 9.27% followed by the 7.6% enjoyed by Snaitech.

Ficom Leisure is a leading European corporate advisory firm specialising in all segments of the betting and gaming sector.

Ficom Leisure also provides exclusive monthly estimates on the Spanish online market in the Spain iGaming Dashboard, including operator market shares across casino, sports betting and poker.

It also provides monthly estimates on several US states, including New Jersey in the New Jersey iGaming Dashboard, Pennsylvania in the Pennsylvania iGaming Dashboard and Iowa in the Iowa iGaming Dashboard.

Bet365 partners with NBA’s San Antonio Spurs with new free-to-play game

The game – Call your shot – will launch on October 20, as the NBA season begins, on Spurs.com and the franchise’s social media channels.

Fans can make predictions for every Spurs regular-season game, earning credits for correct predictions. These credits will allow players opportunities to enter raffles for prizes including courtside seats, suite packages, autographed items and team jerseys.

Read the full story on iGB North America

Crypts of Fortune by TrueLab

Will you dare to awaken the pharaohs from eternal sleep to solve the mysteries of fortune?

You can play a demo of Crypts of Fortune here!

Go-live date (expected):13/10/2021Game special features:– Akhenaten free spins
When 14 Akhenaten scatters have been collected, the Great Pharaoh grants 10 free spins with an expanding symbol of the player’s choice.

– Nefertiti free spins
Beautiful Nefertiti bestows 10 free spins with an increasing number of expanding symbols on each retrigger, as long as 14 Nefertiti scatters have been counted. The Great Queen selects a random expanding symbol.
Number of paylines:1-10Number of reels:3×5RTP% (recorded/theoretical):96.01%, 94.04%, 92.10%Variance/volatility:Medium

Anubis’ Moon by Evoplay

Once they gain entry, players will finally get the opportunity to be enriched with amazing respin features and huge payouts for winning scatter combinations.

You can play a demo of Anubis’ Moon here!

Go Live Date (expected):Out now!Game special features:SCATTER SYMBOLS
Scatter symbols can land on any reel and form combinations regardless of their position on the reels. When 3 or more Scatter symbols land on the reels, they are not paid immediately but become Sticky and trigger the Respin
RESPIN FEATURE
The Respin lasts as long as Scatter symbols appear on the reels. Respins stop when no new symbols appear on the reels, or when 20 Scatters occupy the entire reel zone.
SCATTERS PAYOUT
At the end of Respins feature, all Scatter symbols are paidNumber of paylines:20Number of reels:5RTP% (recorded/theoretical):96.00%Variance/volatility:Med HighNumber of symbols to trigger feature/bonus?:3Can feature be retriggered?:Respins continue until sticky scatters appear on the reelsNumber of free spins awarded?:NoStacked or expanding wilds in normal play?:NoStacked or expanding wilds in feature play?:NoNumber of jackpot tiers?:NoAuto-play function?:Yes

Evolution goes live with Janshen-Hahnraths in the Netherlands

The partnership will see Evolution’s live casino, RNG-based games and slot games from its NetEnt and Red Tiger brands offered to Dutch players for the first time.

In addition, Janshen-Hahnraths – which operates the Fair Play Casinos brand of land-based venues – will have access to Evolution’s live games portfolio, including classic games such as roulette and blackjack along with Evolution’s range of live game shows.

“We’re excited to be working with Janshen-Hahnraths Group and extending their Fair Play Casinos’ offering into the new Dutch online gambling market,” said Gavin Hamilton, commercial director at Evolution.

“Our extensive online offering is a great fit for further developing their exciting games portfolio and we look forward to achieving great new things together.”

Janshen-Hahnraths has been established for over 60 years, operating 38 land-based Fair Play casinos in the Netherlands.

“We have been planning for this day for a long time,” said Björn Fuchs, chief digital officer at Janshen-Hahnraths.

“We are absolutely delighted to now offer both existing and new Fair Play customers a fantastic choice of world-class online games. We are sure players will agree that the sheer quality and variety of the online games now available to our players on desktop and mobile at the Fair Play website has been well worth the wait.”

Janshen-Hahnraths is one of 10 operators permitted to launch in the Netherlands, after the country’s igaming market opened on 1 October.

Holland Casino went live last week, after a technical error with the Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kannspelen (CRUKS) caused a delay.

Entain, Kindred, 888, Betsson and LeoVegas, who were not issued igaming licences in the Netherlands, have blocked Dutch customers in a temporary move until they receive their own licences.

B90 to acquire Performance Media affiliate assets

The total consideration to be paid is approximately €4.4m (£3.8m/$5.1m), with B90 to pay an initial €600,000 and issue 19,965,000 new Ordinary Shares. A further cash payment of €1.1m will be made on or before 31 March 2022, though this may be settled by issue of new ordinary shares.

The acquisition includes the domain, business IP and 100% of the operations of Oddsen.nu, which has been operating for over 20 years in its home market of Norway.

Oddsen.nu connects publishers with affiliate programs that allow them to promote sports betting offers, a wide range of sports news, events, analysis and forecasts. The site also operates a forum where users can discuss sports betting.

For the financial year ending 31 December 2020, the assets being acquired as part of the agreement generated €781,000 in revenue and €616,000 in net profit. 

“The acquisition of Oddsen continues the transformation of our business,” B90 exectuive chairman Paul Duffen said. “This transaction adds a valuable new domain to our online real estate; increases our affiliate marketing capability; and takes our operations into Norway, which is an attractive, stable and well-established market for sports betting. 

“We believe that the acquisition is an important step into owning proprietary software and taking control over valuable parts of the value chain in our industry.”

To help finance the deal, B90 has raised £1.2m, before expenses, through a subscription of 8,888,465 new ordinary shares.

Aside from funding the acquisition, proceeds from the subscription will be used to increase working capital and support the expansion of the group’s operations.

“Coupled with the fundraise, which gives a strong indication of the support that our stakeholders have for our growth strategy, our business now has a real operational and financial platform from which to grow,” Duffen said.

“We consider it a strategic acquisition that can be used as a platform to be rolled out in other markets as well.”

Entain to block all Dutch customers ahead of licence application

In a statement, Entain confirmed that it had complied with the “cooling off” period imposed by Dutch gaming regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) in conjunction with the Dutch Remote Gambling Act (KOA), and would submit its application for a Dutch gaming licence by the end of 2021.

Entain also stated that it would cease its services for players tomorrow (October 1), the day the market reopens. The operator added that this would impact earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization by around £5.0m per month.

The KOA came into effect on April 1, after the date was delayed several times. It was initially supposed to implemented on 1 July 2020, with the market to open six months later.

Yesterday (29 September) the KSA revealed the identities of 10 operators who had been issued licences to offer online gambling in the new market. Among the names were Tombola, Bet365 and Holland Casino.

Those who have not received a licence will face action from the KSA if they continue to accept Dutch customers. The regulator already fined Tipico for taking Dutch customers last week, dismissing Tipico’s arguments that it did not target the Netherlands as “irrelevant”.

The KSA had expected to receive up to 40 applications for licences and projected granting 35. However, the regulator announced in April that it had received 28.

All of the 28 applicants had paid the stipulated €48,000 (£41,578/$57,787) fee along with their applications.

Earlier this month, KSA released advertising guidance for licensees who will operate in the market from October 1.

In order to offer services in the new market, licensees must adhere to rules outlined in the KOA – including that they must check players against the new ‘Cruks’ self-exclusion tool.

Playtech and Unibet agree multi-state partnership

Playtech – which is already live in New Jersey through agreements with Bet365 and BetMGM – said the move will help continue its expansion across the US market.

Shimon Akad, Playtech Chief Operating Officer, said Playtech had sought to partner with market leaders within New Jersey.

“We are delighted to announce this exciting step in Playtech’s US growth,” Akad said. “Unibet delivers a fantastic entertainment experience to its US customers, and we are proud to partner with them to deliver Playtech’s casino software as part of their market leading offering – starting in New Jersey. 

Read the full story on iGB North America

Rhode Island sports betting revenue slips to 12-month low in August

Revenue for the month reached $1.1m (£818,248/€950,620), down 21.4% from August last year and the lowest amount since $351,425 in July last year.

The August total was also down 66.7% from $3.3m in July of this year.

Mobile revenue for the month amounted to $723,453, while retail revenue was $406,406, with $262,499 at the Tiverton Casino and $143,907 at the Twin River site.

Players wagered a total of $24.0m on sports in August, up 3.9% from $23.1m in the same month last year and also 8.6% higher than $22.1m in July this year.

Read the full story on iGB North America.