Month: October 2021

Under the agreement, PointsBet will have a presence on Dailyfaceoff.com and be integrated into The Nation Network and its collection of affiliated sites.

Canada-facing Dailyfaceoff.com is a fantasy statistics and information hub for sports bettors, publishing professional insights, opinion pieces, inside information, news and statistical analysis to 1.5 million monthly users.

The Nation Network operates a 12-website network, including its flagship Oilersnation.com site, offering stories, social posts, videos and podcasts to five million users across Canada.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Gross gaming revenue for the month amounted to $1.6m (£1.2m/€1.4m), up 14.3% from $1.4m in the same month last year, but 48.4% lower than $3.1m in July this year. This represented the lowest monthly revenue figure since $1.8m was posted for February this year.

Mobile revenue accounted for $1.5m of the total in August, with just $95,892 coming from retail sportsbooks in the state.

Looking at handle for the month, players wagered $36.3m on sports, an increase of 32.0% on last year, but the lowest monthly total since $27.5m was bet in August 2020.

This was also 1.1% down from $36.3m in July this year, marking the fifth consecutive month of handle decline in the state.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The regulator’s response is in conjunction with the European Commission’s proposals for a reform of its Consumer Credit Directive.

The revisions would ensure that information related to credit is presented to customers in a clear way, ensuring that they’re fully aware of what they’re signing up for. Spelinspektionen itself recently issued warnings to operators over inadequate displays of information.

Rules to improve assessments of player’s creditworthiness will also be introduced in an attempt to reduce debt levels among consumers.

Member states will also be asked to promote financial education and to ensure debt advice is made available to consumers.

In response, Spelinspektionen director general Camilla Rosenberg said: “The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate is positive about strengthening consumer protection and promoting responsible methods of lending. 

“Strengthened consumer protection when granting credit, in particular a strengthened and expanded credit review, can contribute to a reduction in gambling on credit and thus promote the protection of players with problematic gambling behavior.” 

The Netherlands will formally open its market tomorrow (1 October), with BetEnt one of just 10 operators to have secured licences to go live in the country.

The multi-year deal with Kambi will see BetEnt’s new BetCity.nl-branded online sportsbook operate with Kambi’s sports betting technology.

Kambi will also support BetEnt with compliance and responsible gambling initiatives such as sports integrity in the Netherlands. 

“It is exciting to enter the regulated Dutch market with such a first-class partner who fully supports and has an unrivalled track record in our values of compliance and sports integrity,” BetEnt chief executive Melvin Bostelaar said.

Kambi chief executive Kristian Nylén added: “Kambi is delighted to have been selected as the exclusive online sportsbook provider to BetCity.nl and provide the support for them to launch on day one of the market opening.

“The Netherlands will be extremely competitive but the combination of Kambi’s technology and sports betting know-how with BetEnt’s sports-first strategy leaves the BetCity.nl sportsbook well placed to succeed.”

Tombola, Bet365 and Holland Casino were among the other operators to secure a licence to operate online gambling in the Netherlands, ahead the delayed opening of its market.

The Dutch Remote Gambling Act (KOA) came into effect on 1 April this year, 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.

A new survey has found that Spain had the joint-lowest rate of problem gambling in Europe in 2020, while online play did not increase significantly despite a large drop in land-based gambling. 

The report found that 0.25% of people in Spain were classed as problem gamblers by the problem gambling severity index (PGSI).

This, the research said, meant Spain was tied with Denmark for the lowest rate in Europe.

According to the report, the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic led to a major decline in land-based gaming in 2020, with the total number of players playing at casinos, bingo halls, gaming lounges, retail betting shops or gaming machines dropping 50% to 3.8 million – around 11.0% of adults.

However, despite the decline in land-based gaming, the report found that there was not a similar increase in online gambling. The number of people playing online remained stable at 1.5 million.

The survey also found that the vast majority of Spanish adults – at 80.9% had taken part in some form of gambling, though this was down 4% from the peak reached in 2013.

Trade group Cejuego said that this showed that gambling was a “normal” activity for most Spanish adults.

The report also found that the most popular reasons for gambling were for entertainment or for social interactions.

Lottery games were the most popular type of gambling, with the popular Gordo Christmas lottery being played by 70.8% of the adult population, or around 24.5 million people. The El Niño and La Primitiva lotteries were the next-most popular games, followed by ONCE scratchards.

The report noted that scratchards were particularly popular among younger players, with the majority of players being under 35, though the portion of adults playing dropped from 9.9% to 9.4%.

Under the multi-year agreement, Sports IQ’s player-props markets will be made available for use by Sporting Solutions’ portfolio of B2B and B2C sports betting partners.

The products will cover pre-game and live betting on major sports events and competitions in the US including the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association.

Sporting Solutions, part of the FDJ group, works with sportsbooks in the UK and European markets, and has recently made progress in North America, agreeing deals in Canada with both Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) and Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC).

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Sisal’s activities throughout the year focused on people, consumer, community and planet.

Regarding its goal to eliminate problem gambling with its products, Sisal reduced deposit limits last year in addition to conducting research on over 15,000 online customers to analyse their gaming behaviours. It also introduced an algorithm to identify at risk players, and launched a training course for employees and networks at points of sale.

Looking at its progress towards equal pay, at the end of last year, 39% of Sisal’s 2,170 employees were women.  The percentage of the difference in pay between genders was 12.9%. The company introduced the Impact Index, an organizational measure of gender diversity, as well as the certification of the Winning Women Institute.

Sisal also managed to save almost seven tonnes of CO2 last year as part of its Zero Net CO2 Emissions policy. The company also achieved a Silver medal of Ecovadis, an internationally recoginsed eco sustainability platform.

It hopes to build on this with a 10% reduction in paper use, 30% net CO2 emissions and the achievement of 50% of the use of energy from renewable sources in the future.

 Sisal hopes to win the fourth UK National Lottery Licence tender, throwing its hat in the ring late in the process in April. The operator has partnered with telecommunications giant BT on the bid, with the aim of using new technologies to widen the appeal of lottery games.

The British Gambling Commission launched the fourth licence tender in August 2020, with the aim of announcing a preferred applicant by September 2021.

Pan-European lottery and gaming giant Sazka Group was the first to announce its intention to compete for the licence in October 2020, while Sugal & Damani, India’s largest lottery operator, joined the race later that month.Incumbent licensee Camelot completed the Selection Questionnaire in October, but did not ever publicly confirm whether it was bidding for the tender.

The announcements come after Entain vowed to cease operating in the Netherlands earlier today.

Both operators expressed that their decisions to withdraw operations in the Netherlands were in the hope of receiving a Dutch igaming licence once the market opens.

If operators are caught offering gaming services without a licence, Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) will take disciplinary action. The KSA fined Tipico €531,250 last week after it had offered gambling in the Netherlands, despite not specifically targeting customers from the country.

Betsson attributed its decision to the fact that the new Remote Gambling Act says operators who do not target the Dutch market, but offer services to Dutch players, should cease operations in the country.

“Compliance with laws, rules and ethical standards in the countries in which we operate is a foundation for Betsson,” Pontus Lindwall, outgoing CEO and president of Betsson.

“We have a strong belief in the Dutch market, and we have a clear ambition to operate under the new Dutch regulatory framework in the future, making us able to yet again offer Dutch customers an outstanding and sustainable customer experience.”

LeoVegas stated that in recent quarterly results, the Netherlands market had accounted for a low-to-mid share of its revenue.

Likewise, Betsson revealed that the decision to cease operations in the Netherlands could affect its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization by around SEK25.0m (£2.1m/€2.4m) per month.

The KOA was enacted on April 1 after almost a year of delays that followed the initial proposed date of July 1 2020. The market was to open six months later.

Yesterday (29 September) the KSA named the ten operators that had received the first batch of igaming licences in the Netherlands.

Props.com will provide extensive coverage of the news, insights, analysis, and trends relevant to sports betting in the US as the market grows ever bigger.

Patrick Everson will serve as the site’s head of content, joined by managing editor Matt Jacobs and associate managing editor Spencer Limbach.

Everson said: “In this rapidly expanding space, what I love most is bringing that sports betting experience straight to you, like you’re on the floor of a Vegas sportsbook with me. Taking you behind the counter to tell you where the action is, why the numbers are moving, and more.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The claims – alleging that 10 professional players, including four from the Netherlands, worked with a known match fixer for extra income, were made by aDutch professional tennis player on the NOS podcast Getfixt.

The player chose to remain anonymous.

Khalid Ali, CEO of the IBIA, appealed for anyone with knowledge on the claims, and those involved, to come forward with information.

“IBIA condemns any form of match manipulation and works closely with many sports bodies to combat this, including the tennis authorities,” said Ali.

“In this case, we urge the parties involved to contact the ITIA.” 

Ali also stressed that anyone who is contacted by individuals seeking to corrupt matches must report it.

“The association encourages all players and others linked to sport who are approached by corrupters to immediately report this to their respective governing and integrity bodies.” 

In its first quarter results in April, the IBIA reported that tennis and esports generated the highest betting integrity alerts for the period.