Betsperts acquires sports betting, fantasy football site

The acquisition will give Betsperts app users access to sports betting and fantasy football research and analysis to support their betting and fantasy sports play. It is Betsperts’ second major deal of the year, after the acquisition of news platform Fantasy Life in May, which will now be supported by 4for4’s content.

“We’re excited to join a growing team in the Betsperts ecosystem,” said Josh Moore of 4for4.

“With [Fantasy Life founder] Matthew Berry on board, and more resources now available to us, we can’t wait to take 4for4 to the next level and help shape the bright future of Betsperts Group.”

“The addition of 4for4 brings premium content to our users, bolsters our user base, and builds our financial relationship with customers,” Betsperts CEO Reid Rooney commented.

“We have seen tremendous success this football season with the integration of 4for4.”

The news follows Betsperts closing a $6m funding round in August, led by HBSE Ventures and Verance Capital.

Flutter renews long term partnership with Racecourse Media Group

The agreement runs until 2028 and includes streaming rights and “other key areas of the RMG business”.

RMG will be granted access to Flutter’s marketing and promotional material, giving Flutter’s UK and Ireland customers access to RMG’s horse racing content in return.

RMG CEO Martin Stevenson said: “This agreement will have far reaching benefits for RMG’s racecourses and the industry itself.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Britain and Ireland’s largest betting company, Flutter Entertainment, which gives both companies the opportunity to work together to promote RMG’s racecourses and the sport.

“We will be able to call on the considerable marketing reach of both companies in terms of working together via sponsorships and advertising, to expand the appeal of our horseracing both domestically and overseas.”

RMG recently renewed deals with racecourses all over the UK, including high profile events such as the Randox Grand National Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Cazoo Derby Festival, Qatar ‘Glorious’ Goodwood Festival and Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival.

Flutter also recently announced its acquisition of bingo operator Tombola in a deal worth over £400m.

“We’re delighted to confirm that we have reached a new long-term agreement with RMG, a key partner in providing the best possible horseracing product to our customers,” Flutter CEO for the UK and Ireland Conor Grant added.

“We have an important and longstanding relationship with the racing industry, investing a total of £100m through media rights, sponsorship, hospitality, marketing and the levy in the last year. We are continually looking for ways to collaborate directly with partners like RMG and the rest of the racing industry to enable British horseracing to achieve its great potential and secure the long-term sustainability of the sport.”

BGO owner puts player database up for sale

“Operating in a regulated environment where the issued fines are not proportional versus the size of the operation makes little sense for BGO,” a representative of the operator told iGB.

“It is with regret that BGO surrendered its licence after nine successful years, but it was the right decision to protect the players, staff and affiliate partners from a potential default,” they said. “We welcome offers on the database and brand from other operators with a remaining appetite for the market.”

The nine years’ worth of player data includes 430,000 active GB player accounts across the BGO, Powerspins, Vegasluck and Chilli.com brands, with the operating business having generated £300m NGR in that period, iGB understands. The BGO.com domain will also be put up for sale.

BGO’s licence was suspended with immediate effect on 15 October, while the Gambling Commission carried out a review under Section 116 of the 2005 Gambling Act.

The Commission said that “failing to protect consumers” had been a key consideration in its decision to conduct the review.  

Expansion into new verticals aids Genius Sports growth in Q3

Revenue for the three months to September 30 amounted to $69.1m, a significant improvement on the $40.6m reported for the third quarter of 2020.

The biggest contributors to this total were Genius’ betting technology, content and services operations, accounting for $43.6m , an increase of 63.6% on last year. This, it said, was the result of price rises on contract renewals and renegotiations with existing clients, as well as new customer wins and increased utilisation of its content.

Media technology, content and services, meanwhile, more than doubled year-on-year to £13.9m, driven by new customer wins for programmatic advertising services and the inclusion of revenue from recent acquisitions. 

Genius in Q3 agreed to acquire creative performance platform Spirable, while earlier in the year it also struck deals to purchase data tracking and visualisation solutions provider Second Spectrum and free-to-play games and fan engagement solutions business FanHub Media Holdings.

Sports technology and services revenue hiked 104.9% to $11.6m, which the supplier said said was a direct result of the inclusion of revenue derived from Second Spectrum and Sportzcast, the latter of which was acquired in December last year.

The third quarter also saw Genius agree a series of strategic partnerships to provide its National Football League (NFL) offering to Caesars, DraftKings, Entain and BetMGM, Golden Nugget Online Gaming, Penn Interactive, WynnBet and 888. 

In addition, the supplier secured a temporary event wagering supplier license by the Arizona Department of Gaming, and was certified by the State of Connecticut, Department of Consumer Affairs as an online gaming service provider.

Turning to spending and revenue related costs rose significantly, and at $86.4m were 196.9% higher than the prior year. Total operating expenses, meanwhile, jumped from $11.6m to $47.5m.

This higher outgoings offset the growth in revenue, leading to operating loss of $64.8m for the quarter.

Finance costs amounted to $5.7m, with a $10.5m change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities partially offset by a $4.9m gain on foreign currency. This resulted in a pre-tax loss of $70.5m, significantly more than Q3 2020’s $2.0m loss .

When certain items were factored back into Genius’ net profit figures, the supplier’s loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation came to $392,000.

Genius received a $497,000 income tax benefit, resulting in a net loss of $70.0m.

Looking at how this impacted year-to-date figures, revenue for the nine months through to the end of September was $178.7m, up 74.0% year-on-year.

Revenue costs climbed 360.1% to $366.7m and operating expenses rocketed by 735.1% to $309.0m, leaving an operating loss of $497.0m. Other expenses reached $42.9m, resulting in a pre-tax loss of $539.8m, though adjusted EBITDA increased 4.3% to $14.1m.

After accounting for a $379,000 income tax benefits, Genius ended the nine-month period with a net loss of $539.5m, compared to a $16.8m loss at the same point in 2020.

Despite wider losses, Genius increased its full-year 2021 revenue projections to between $257m and $262m, up from a range of $225.0 to $260.0m. However, adjusted EBITDA is now set to be broadly breakeven, whereas Genius previously said it would be between $10.0m and $20.0m. 

“Genius Sports’ growth is accelerating at an unprecedented level that far surpasses our original expectations,” Genius co-founder and chief executive Mark Locke said. “We are capturing more opportunities than ever before, underpinned by the broad adoption of official data by the entire ecosystem. 

“While only months into our first NFL season, we are even more confident of the long-term prospects of the partnership. We are transforming the global sports betting market through our progressive investment in technological innovation, and we will continue to do so for years ahead.”

Genius chief financial officer Nick Taylor added: “We’ve positioned the business for continued success, giving us great confidence in raising our 2021 revenue outlook. We anticipate continued strong revenue growth as the market continues to expand and evolve, while preserving the option to reinvest in the business to fund strategic growth initiatives and drive long-term sustainability and scale. 

“This early stage of our growth cycle presents a window of opportunity to invest in the future success of the business, and we’re excited to continue building towards our strategic vision.”

Court ruling puts a halt to Seminole sports betting in Florida

This effectively brings to a halt sports betting in the state, which launched on 1 November under the exclusive rights set out in the compact. 

Agreed in April and signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis in May, the compact grants the Seminole Tribe, owners of the Hard Rock brand, exclusive rights to online and in-person sports betting in the state.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Swedish gambling revenue up 4.7% to SEK6.3bn in Q3

Revenue – total players’ wagers minus winnings paid out – for the quarter climbed 4.7% year-on-year to SEK6.3bn (£523.6m/€622.1m/$699.6m). While this represented an improvement on the SEK6.04bn recorded for Q3 2020, it was down it was down 3.0% from SEK6.5bn in the second quarter of the current year.

Commercial online betting and gambling revenue accounted for SEK3.91bn of this total, up 5.4% on last year and representing 61.8% of Q3 turnover.

State lottery and land-based slot machine revenue fell 5.7% to SEK1.39bn, while revenue from charitable lotteries increased by 4.2% to SEK803m.

For the first time since the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) struck, Spelinspektionen reported revenue from Casino Cosomopol’s land-based operations, with the Svenska Spel subsidiary reopening its doors. Casino revenue for the quarter reached SEK132m.

Charity bingo games revenue edged down 2% to SEK46m, while revenue from the land-based commercial games segment, including restaurant casinos, declined 47% to SEK47m.

A total of 95 operators were active during the quarter, while by the end of the period, some 65,500 consumers had self-excluded from gambling through the Spelpaus.se program.  

Viking Runes by True Lab

Go Live Date (expected):Early DecemberGame special features:Lightning Wilds
Each cascade adds up to the number of active Lightning Wilds, up to 4.
Cutting through the stormy skies, they move onto the field.

Runic Shuffle
The powerful spell shuffles the icons on the reels and forms a winning cluster.

Spell Of Ancestors
The magic of ancients transforms all low symbols into identical runes.

Viking Sorcery
Viking Sorcery calls forth from 3 to 9 Wilds on the reels.

Bonus Buy
Press the Bonus Buy button to get to Free Spins without delay!Number of paylines:Cluster 6+Variance/volatility:HighMax winx25000

Kindred co-founder Ström increases Kambi stake to 19.57%

Ström and Veralda acquired 649,624 shares in Kambi for SEK147.1m (£12.2m/€14.5m/$16.4m) over a series of share purchases.

Veralda acquired 777,624 shares in three batches between 27 and 29 October, then between 12 and 16 November and on 19 November, but also sold 125,000 shares in while terminating an endowment insurance on 18 November.

Veralda now holds 6,078,188 shares in Kambi, corresponding to 19.57% of the total capital in the business.

The share purchases come after Veralda in February reduced its ownership stake by 2.2% to 17.5% at a price of SEK462 per share, resulting in proceeds of approximately SEK312m.

Last month, Kambi reported that its net profit more than doubled year-on-year during the third quarter of its 2021 financial year, while revenue was also up 48.0%.

Revenue for the three months to 30 September reached €41.6m, up from €28.1m in the corresponding period last year, while net profit hiked 133.3% to €11.9m.

Monopoly Lunar New Year by SG Digital

This game has plenty going on with fixed jackpot prizes, free spins on an expanding reel set, and a bonus round with inspiration from Lightning Link.

You can download the First Look Games affiliate pack for Monopoly Lunar New Year here!

Go-live date (expected):1/12/2021Game special features:– Fixed jackpot prizes
– Free spins
– Lightning Link
– Expanding reelsNumber of paylines:243-7,776Number of reels:5RTP% (recorded/theoretical):95.99%Variance/volatility:MediumNumber of symbols to trigger feature/bonus?1Can feature be retriggered?NoNumber of free spins awarded?8Stacked or expanding wilds in normal play?SingleStacked or expanding wilds in feature play?SingleNumber of jackpot tiers?4Auto-play function?Yes

King Kong Cashpots by Blueprint Gaming

Alongside a classic Free Spins round and Blueprint’s Jackpot King functionality, Golden Kong symbols are active throughout the gameplay with three or more in view awarding one of seven instant cash prizes.

You can play the demo of King Kong Cashpots here!

Go Live Date (expected):25/11/2021Game special features:GOLDEN KONG
Golden Kong symbols are active in the main game and free spins where 3 or more in view awards one of 7 instant cash prizes.

FREE SPINS GALORE
Reveal 3 Bonus Symbols anywhere in view and be awarded the Bonus Free Spins round.
Spin the Free Spins wheel to win a combination of free spins and a win multiplier of up to 30 free spins with up to ax10 multiplier active!Number of paylines:20Number of reels:5×3RTP% (recorded/theoretical):95.5%%Variance/volatility:MediumNumber of symbols to trigger feature/bonus?:3Can feature be retriggered?:YesNumber of free spins awarded?:Up to 30