Month: November 2021

In July this year, the European Commission launched a consultation on a package of legislative proposals to strengthen the European Union’s (EU) AML framework. This will see a new EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) established as a centralised body coordinating AML and financial intelligence units across all member states. 

New black and greylists will be established, to identify countries with higher money laundering risks, while a €10,000 limit for cash payments in the EU will be enforced, and existing AML controls will be extended to the crypto-asset sector. 

In its response to this consultation, EGBA said the introduction of regulation as opposed to a directive would ensure the new controls were legally binding and enforceable. This would contribute to a “unified, strengthened, and predictable legal framework”.  

The fact gambling was included in the proposals was also welcomed by the association. It said that while existing controls for AML and gambling were reasonable and strict, a uniform framework would ensure they are applied consistently.

EGBA would look to support the controls by introducing the first pan-European guidelines for tackling money laundering in the online gambling sector, it added. 

Sector-specific guidance was still lacking, it said, and recommended this be strengthened, in particular for suspicious transaction reporting (STR). EGBA said it has been calling for the introduction of industry-specific STR for some time and said that the formation of the AMLA would support this aim. 

EGBA added that the roles of the AMLA and national authorities should be clearly divided in order to prevent duplicate reporting, which in turn could reduce administrative and compliance costs.

Meanwhile, EGBA said it welcomed the new “horizontal” rules, saying the harmonisation of customer due diligence (CDD) measures such as internal policies and procedures for risk management could benefit the wider market.

In relation to this, EGBA said clearer rules on the identification of suspicious transactions and requirements related to customer risk analysis would lead to greater clarity through the introduction of uniform rules and their interpretation across the EU.

In order to ensure these new CDD rules were properly applied, it highlighted a number of factors to be considered. It said the application of EU regulation in non-EU countries, where companies may have subsidiaries, must be clarified to avoid conflict with third-country laws. 

Equally, it said the need to establish a business risk profile early in the customer relationship was difficult for the gambling industry. The purpose and nature of the business relationships in the sector were generally self-evident, meaning the risk profiling was unnecessary. 

Finally, EGBA added, it was “of paramount importance” to ensure AML rules do not conflict with other rules such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Entities covered by the legislation are not asked to take on functions outside of the scope of their business relationship, it added. 

The Commission will now discuss the legislative package with the European Parliament and Council before deciding which proposals to implement. 

Compiled by the world’s leading online betting and gaming recruitment agency, this exclusive 14-page report gives a full breakdown of how compensation has changed across regions, departments and roles in the year to the end of June 2021.

Pentasia’s global team of specialist recruiters also provide analysis of the data as well as some advice for companies looking to recruit in a highly pressurised talent market.

Click here or on the reader below to read the iGB-Pentasia Salary Survey for 2021.

The investigation took place after a member of the commission overheard a conversation between a business development manager at Entain subsidiary Neds and a racegoer at Fannie Bay Racecourse on 31 July.

During the course of the conversation, the manager disclosed that certain bonuses were available to the racegoer, or any person who opened a Neds account, using a QR code on their business card.

The manager then handed a business card to the racegoer and suggested they share the QR code with their friends. The commission member obtained the business card from the racegoer and later opened a Neds account using the QR code.

This method of setting up an account saw the commission member presented with three “bonus cash” offers.

A betting inspector was then appointed by the commission to investigate the matter, writing to Entain about the allegations on 7 September 2021.

In response, Entain provided a list of new account holders that signed up to Neds using the QR code on 31 July, including the first cash bonus they received. It also acknowledged that two contracted business development managers for Neds were in attendance at the Fannie Bay Racecourse on 31 July, confirmed they distributed business cards with QR codes that linked to Neds’ sign-up page.

The operator accepted that the language used by the business development manager amounted to an inducement to gamble, though said this was the employees acting outside of the company’s authority.

Entain did also argue that the practice of offering the bonus via a QR code was compliant with the code. Since the bonus could only be obtained after signing up for an account, it said, this could not be considered an inducement to gamble.

However the Northern Territory Racing Commission ruled that Entain violated clause 5.5(a) of the NT Code of Practice for Responsible Service of Online Gambling 2019, which states in part that an online gambling operator “must not offer any credit, voucher or reward to a person to open a betting account”.

By offering a sign-up bonus, available through a QR code on its employees’ business cards, the Racing Commission ruled that Entain had breached the ban on inducements to gamble.

Entain’s claim that the bonus offer on the business card was compliant with the NT Code was rejected by the Racing Commission. It said the QR code amounted to an inducement to gamble, as it encouraged players to sign up for a Neds account.

The Racing Commission also rejected the claim that the business development managers were acting of their own volition, noting the offer was available through company-issued business cards.

This resulted in the maximum fine of $26,690, or 170 penalty units. The Commission could have also made the decision to suspend or cancel Entain’s licence.

Martin Pullen heads up all GIG’s managed services operational teams, including customer support, payments, risk & fraud and player safety. An industry veteran, he has been with the company for six years, with previous experience at some of igaming’s biggest operators, including William Hill and Ladbrokes.

Automation of processes is the key to providing safer playing environments and a sustainable future for the gaming sector.

That’s the view of Martin Pullen, Head of Operations at GiG, who believes the progress of technological solutions in upgrading performance in areas such as responsible gambling, as well as risk and fraud and AML, is essential in ensuring consumers have full confidence in the platforms they access.

In terms of responsible gambling, operators now have access to tools and services that can identify potential risks and take action in real-time. Market leaders such as GiG’s rules engine Logic can pick up on changes in behaviour immediately, allowing automated interventions as well as notifying dedicated teams that they should take a closer look at a particular player.

The speed and efficiency of these automated tasks have multiple advantages, not least that they ensure operators can prove to regulators that they are complying with rules by monitoring customer activity and allowing operators to react instantly as an event takes place. The interventions and suite of customer-facing tools, such as deposit and session limits, guarantee assurance for players. The increasingly sophisticated nature of automated processes also takes the heavy lifting away from operational teams, allowing them to concentrate on advanced manual assessment.

“Five to six years ago these were manual processes,” Pullen says. “Teams would receive reports on a daily basis with activity from the previous day  and go through them. However, in mature regulated markets in the 2020s, that’s simply not good enough. You must be aware and react to triggers  as quickly as possible.

“The game-changer has been the ability to identify risk and trigger a response in real-time, which can be done with GiG Logic. We have the capability to send a direct interaction on the frontend which is play-interrupting. That can be a general promotion of our RG tools or a trigger specific message, which the player must acknowledge.”

Sustainable database
Those with a negative view of the gambling sector may be surprised to learn of such huge financial and time resources being diverted towards player protection. Such opponents of the sector may also be expecting revenues to be solely directed towards player acquisition and then squeezing as much money out of them as possible.

But times have very much changed, as Pullen explains.

“Maybe even as recently as four or five years ago there was a sense among some in the industry that player protection was a box-ticking exercise to satisfy regulators,” he said. 

“I think there has been a change in terms of strategy. The strengthening of RG services is the number-one way of developing a sustainable database. Focus previously was all on VIP players and getting a high proportion of that [segment], but regulatory changes mean that now the successful operators, many of whom are our clients, will have a larger and more varied database.”

Pullen identifies a number of metrics by which operators can benchmark their performance in customer protection. Time to action and time to respond to an RG trigger are among the most important, as is the uptake of RG tools such as deposit or session limits.

“A good RG product is about sustainability for the operator. We want customers to play within their means, not reach the end of the road and self-exclusion,” he said. “If an RG product is good then the overall number of people who reach that place should be lower. 

“There was a time when the view might have been that if a player self-excluded they could easily be replaced. However, regulatory and marketing changes mean acquisition is not cheap. Now it’s so important for operators to keep their customer base.”

New products
The gambling industry’s attitude towards corporate responsibility in 2021 is almost unrecognisable compared to just a few years ago, but there’s no sense of ‘job done’ at GiG. The supplier continues to work on projects that will enhance player protection, both with those who buy in to its tools and those who use its managed services.

In the last 18 months, GiG  has progressed its real-time data, responsible gaming and AI-led protection tools. These monitor a player’s gameplay and session time as soon as they register and deposit, taking into account characteristics such as sex and age. It compares their behaviour to a historical database of self-excluded accounts and highlights those who could potentially be at risk.

Another key product which runs throughout a customer lifetime and can be defined as a deviation pattern monitoring tool, monitoring every player and assessing typical behaviour, alerting player safety teams should there be a spike in deposit habits, for example.

“We’ll continue our focus on more automation,” Pullen said. “Not just alerts and monitoring but also operational processes. We are developing a programme where all alerts from RG, AML and risk and fraud will feed into a single dashboard so they don’t have to access data from various services.

“This automation of tasks is so important, and we are seeing positive results from clients across the industry.”

This was up by 23.2% compared to the same period in 2020, which was affected greatly by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Sisal’s online division emerged as a major contributor, with revenue rising by 90.9% year-on-year to €185.6m. Online betting made up €93.8m of the total, up 110.8%, while online casino revenue rose 90.9% to €77.0m.

Online lotteries and bingo accumulated €8.8m of the revenue, up 29.5%. Meanwhile, online skill games totalled at €5.8m, which was a rise of 11.3%.

For retail, however, revenue fell 25.3% year-on-year to €196.8m. Retail lottery made up €94.8m of this, a rise of 26.5%, while amusement with prizes (AWP) games contributed €42.5m and video lottery terminal (VLT) €30.6m, decreases of 40.8% and 32.7% respectively. Retail betting came to €28.8m, a drop of 59.5%, after all of Sisal’s in-person gaming offerings were affected by Covid-19 lockdowns.

International revenue, from lottery supply deals in other markets, totalled €77.3m, up 514.7%. The majority of this (€72.0m) came from Turkey, where Sisal operates the Milli Piyango national lottery. Morocco, where it is partnered with Loterie Maroc, contributed €4.9m, up 94.7%, while Spanish revenue fell 26.9% to €333,000.

This expansion did see operating costs increase, however. Service costs were the largest single outgoing at €200.0m, 17.2% more than in the first nine months of 2020. Amortisation, depreciation and impairment charges added up to €100.3m, a rise of 9.3%.

Personnel costs made up €64.7m and other operating expenses generated €2.9m, increases of 10.7% and 29.8% respectively.

The remaining expenses were made up of expenses made by purchasing raw materials and consumables at €11.5m, which was up 43.3% year-on-year, and impairment of financial assets at €2.9m, a decrease of 62.3%.

This left an operating profit of €50.2m, up 286.2%.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), for the year to date came to €103.1m, up by €111.2m year-on-year. Income taxes and losses on financial items came to €67.7m and €8.4m respectively.

Financial assets impairment profits came to €2.9m, a decrease of 62.3% year-on-year.

Sisal also recored gains of €15.9m from non-cash items, reorganisation costs and start-up development costs. The overall net profit totalled at €103.7m, by €111.2m year-on-year.

“Results for the third quarter of 2021 were very positive, sharply increasing compared to 2020, which had been marked by compelling challenges, but also by even greater opportunities for the whole sector,” said Francesco Durante, CEO of Sisal.

“Today’s results confirm the soundness of our choices and let us look at the market with confidence and the awareness of the excellent progress we have made on the three sustainability pillars and on digitalisation and internationalisation — the core principles of our growth strategy.”

Last month Sisal filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Italy’s stock exchange, Borsa Italiana’s Mercato Telematico Azionario (MTA).

Issued by the British Gambling Commission, the licence will enable HitSqwad to offer its online games to licensed operators in Great Britain.

HitSqwad said the new licence forms part of wider plans to launch its jackpot games in core regulated markets around the world, with its first titles set to debut to go live in Britain via Playzido early in 2022.

The provider is currently developing a series of jackpot themes, each of which will have a family of associated games with a mobile-first focus.

“Securing our British Gambling Commission licence is a milestone moment for HitSqwad,” HitSqwad chief executive Charl Geyser said. ”Not only is it our first major licence, but it allows us to launch our content into one of the world’s largest online gambling markets. 

“Our strategy going forward is to now secure additional licences in other key regulated markets with the objective being to provide as many operators and their customers with access to our innovative and exciting jackpot games as possible.”

Focused on developing bespoke online jackpot games, Mauritius-based HitSqwad offers its products under royalty agreements to licenced gaming operators or affiliates in markets worldwide.

Chief executive Charl Geyser has spent more than 25 years working within the land-based gaming sector, while director David Axten has operated in financial and capital markets for over 25 years.

Director George Titan has over 14 years’ experience in accounting, specialising in areas such as corporate finance, taxation, strategic planning and company structuring, while Hayden Zwart, general manager of development and operations, has worked in the igaming sector for more than 23 years.

Total revenue for the 12 months to 31 May 2021 is likely to amount to $55.7m, which would be up from $43.4m in the corresponding period last year.

Webis is not yet able to publish a full report for the financial year as planned due to a delay in Deloitte USA reviewing the activities of AmTote, the third-party wagering hub provider to Watch&Wager. This, Webis said, was delayed due to a novel coronavirus (Covid-19) issue.

Webis has agreed an extension with authorities and will publish its full set of accounts by 28 February 2022, meaning only limited details about its performance in the 2021 financial year are currently available.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Nordisk Games said that depending on Flashbulb Games’ financial performance in the coming years, the 100% acquisition price could amount to several hundred million DKK.  

Nordisk Games previously spent DKK16.5m (£1.9m/€2.2m/$2.5m) to acquire its 43% holding in the studio.

“Flashbulb is a studio packed with talented and experienced developers, who understand and enjoy the challenge of creating really unique games and turning them into commercial success,” Nordisk Games’ senior partner and Flashbulb Games chairman Martin Walfisz said.

“Having collaborated really well for the past five years we were keen to increase our involvement, which led to the discussion with the founders to acquire 100% of the studio. We now very much look forward to continuing to work together for many years to come.”

Flashbulb Games managing partner and co-founder, Rune Dittmer, added: “Nordisk Games were the first to invest in us not long after we founded the studio, and they have always been super-supportive while at the same time being happy to let us dictate the direction of the business.”

Nordisk Games is owned by entertainment business Nordisk Film, part of Nordic media group Egmont, and has in recent years invested more than €200m in games studios across Europe.

Online revenue for the month came to €243.9m, marginally behind October 2020 but also a dip of 11.9% compared to September 2021’s total. 

The majority of this total came from online casino, which accounted for €148.8m, the strongest month since May this year. PokerStars Casino continued to lead the vertical, though its market share declined marginally from September, to 9.2%.

It was a similar story for Sisal, which retained second place in the vertical at 8.8%, but also saw its market share decline. Snai, despite growing its share of revenue to 8.0% remained in third. 

While casino revenue was up year-on-year, sports betting’s contribution across all channels dropped significantly, to €117.9m. This represented a 51.6% drop from the prior year, and a 37.1% decline from September 2021. 

This could be attributed to online betting, which posted revenue of €76.1m, the second lowest total of 2021 to date. In the channel, the top four operators by market share were all businesses with a retail presence. Playtech’s Snaitech, on 15.2%, led the way, with Sisal (14.4%) and SKS365 (11.9%) following

Retail betting also suffered a significant drop during the month, falling from September’s €67.9m – the year’s high – to €41.8m. Goldbet, which ranked third in online market share, led the way in retail with 23.1% market share. Snaitech followed on 18.8%, then Eurobet on 14.9%. 

For poker, both tournaments and cash games enjoyed a strong month. Tournament rake of €8.4m marked the product’s best month since April, while cash game revenue of €5.6m was up 5.0% year-on-year. For both, PokerStars remained the market leader by far – it accounted for 46.4% of tournament rake, and 43.3% of cash game revenue. 

Scroll down for the full dashboard, supplied by Ficom Leisure. 

The platform, which is backed with £2.6m (€3.1m/$3.5m) in seed funding from a number of angel investors, will allow fans to challenge each other in a range of sports prediction games, competing against their friends or in mini leagues to win cash prizes.

Players will be required to place small stakes on their predications, with leaderboards to be updated dynamically as games progress and reward players with prizes. 

Following a £6m pre-money valuation, PickGuru brought together a list of angel investors for a seed funding round to support the launch of the platform.

The round generated £2.6m in funds and included support from a former communications director at Paddy Power, Global Cycling Network founder and chairman Simon Wear, Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham, the founders of recent unicorn Marshmallow, and Grabyo founder Will Neale.

In terms of leadership at PickGuru, Slipper will serve as chairman, with support from Paul Cobley, the founder of Matulo Software, as well as Paul Watkins, former financial planning and analysis director at Stats Perform, Jon Owen and Jon Youell, the founders of Pitch International, and Adam Perrin, co-founder of Masomo Games and ex-brand director at Paddy Power.

PickGuru is seeking to fill 10 roles across development, compliance and marketing with a view to recruit a further 20 roles over the next 12 months and the aim of launching in early 2022. 

“Following months of hard graft and huge investment, we’re proud to be building the first UK-focused platform that uniquely combines elements of fantasy sports, gaming and live action, and strongly believe users will love the result,” Slipper said.

“I’m delighted that some of the most successful sports entrepreneurs shared our vision and I thank them for backing our ambitious plans for the business.”