Month: December 2021

Symplify already has partnerships with a number of gambling operators, including William Hill, LeoVegas and Betsson, but said Jada’s experience with real-time marketing, churn prediction, hyper-personalisation and segmentation would all help it secure its position in the igaming space.

As part of the deal, Jada co-founders Alberto Alfieri and Josh Tromans-Jones will continue running the Jada platform.

 Symplify’s CEO Robert Kimber and COO Fatima Ekekrantz, meanwhile, will join the Jada board. 

 “AI is playing an ever-increasingly influential role in successful operations and Jada’s capabilities will augment Symplify’s already strong igaming position,” Symplify CEO Robert Kimber said. “Our mission is providing a 360-degree service for our partners and I’m excited to add another vital layer to our solution and be working alongside Alberto and Josh as we continue to grow the business.”

Alfieri said he expected the combined business to deliver a stronger product than before thanks to synergies between the two suppliers.

“Josh and I are incredibly excited to team up with Symplify and feel our AI solution perfectly fits within the business. The synergies between our two company objectives and philosophies means this will deliver an unrivalled business management system that translates across a wide range of verticals.”

At the start of most esports games, you are asked which kind of character you want to play from the available pool. Depending on the title, there will be from a dozen to over a hundred different possibilities, each one with their own strength and weaknesses. In team-based games in particular it becomes important to create a balanced selection – you want your team to have somebody who can deal damage, somebody who can heal, somebody who can provide ranged support, and so on.

This is of course especially true for professional matches, where team play is everything. The so-called ‘draft phase’ is crucial for the outcome of the match. And while anecdotal knowledge exists about which setups perform best, it is hardly ever backed by facts.

Pick and ban

MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arena games) in particular make this analysis difficult. The ‘pick and ban’ phase – the time at the start of the map when teams can pick their champions or ban other champions from the shared pool of options, has long become its own game within the game. And with reason. After all, especially when everything else is equal, your selection can make or break your game. It’s meaningful in many ways:

● Is there currently an overpowered champion and was one team able to select it?

● Does the team prefer certain champions and if so were they able to get them?

● Are there champions or groups of champions that can effectively counter the opposing team?

● Have the teams selected early or late game champions (that is, do they have champions that can effectively destroy the opposition while everyone is still weak, or will they become very strong towards the end of the match?)

● Has one team picked a champion which the enemy would really like, effectively blocking them from that champion?

Certain champions are always coveted because they perform better than others. There are also some setups that are very situational or tailored to outplay one particular team. Finally, some setups are simply forced by the opposition banning the heroes one actually intended to pick.

As analysts we can attach a value to each pick or ban and make suggestions based on that.

When the draft phase starts, we would like to say what the best choice for the first team is. This choice being made (the first hero being picked or banned), we can update our beliefs about what the best option for the other team is.

Sometimes we will end up with just one very strong candidate, while other times several viable options will be available. This is what a data scientist on an esports team would prepare.

But at Bayes Esports we don’t want to just suggest the right picks. We also want to analyse an existing composition. After each pick or ban, the win probability of the teams needs to be reevaluated. This is highly sensitive for betting.

Since the draft is crucial for a team’s win probability, it should also be reflected in the betting odds, too. A team not getting their optimal hero selection should bring their overall chances of winning the map down.

Ideally this evaluation method can be highly customized and able to learn from a team’s past matches. And of course we want this to be easy to adapt once a patch has come out. After all, a patch can significantly disrupt the in-game mechanics, changing the value of any given champion and triggering a new meta-game.

Looking for a solution

It seems like an easy problem to solve, especially given the large pool of historic data that Bayes Esports has access to. Couldn’t we just formulate win statistics from this data and use it to evaluate future matches?

While this sounds like a good idea, the maths behind it don’t work out. There are currently 154 champions in League of Legends and 120 in Dota 2. In each professional match, ten of these characters will be picked and ten more will be banned. This leaves us with trillions of potential team combinations. Even if we wanted as little as 20 matches per draft, it’s very obvious that we would never get enough data.

Moreover, some combinations are never played in the first place – you will be hard pressed to find a team consisting of all support heroes, for example. Some champions get picked in 40% of the matches, others get picked only once or twice in an entire tournament. Is that due to their clear downsides, or does a team picking them have an innovative strategy? When a team finally decides to play with five (traditionally) support heroes, how will you evaluate their decision, if you’ve never seen this played before?

This is a problem that many data scientists in esports have been trying to solve for a long time now. I do believe that a solution is possible – but just like in my last column, it involves being able to generate more data, as much as is needed.

If we had agents trained to play League of Legends or Dota2 on a professional level, we could simulate the match again and again, assigning random team combinations to both sides. It’s a lot of work – the agents would need to be retrained after every patch, too – but maybe we could finally answer the question if Renektorn is better than Orrn.

The regulator said a number of failings occurred between October 2019 and December 2020, meaning they took place under its previous ownership, Caledonia Investments.

Asset manager Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) acquired a majority stake in the operator for a “nominal amount” in March 2021.

These failings included allowing a customer to deposit £22,400 in five days without a “meaningful interaction”, a sign that financial triggers may have been set too high.

A different customer deposited and lost £12,400 over six days, but the operator’s only record of a customer interaction said they were “coping well in Covid-19”.

When Buzz Bingo did interact with customers, the Commission said that the operator did not always follow its procedures and ask if they were comfortable with their levels of play.

The Commission also noted that after two customers won large sums of money, the operator “failed to consider the increased risk of gambling harm to those customers despite the customers displaying high levels of spend”.

These incidents were viewed as the operator failing to comply with Social Responsibility Code of Practice provision 3.4.1, the regulator ruled.

Looking at anti-money laundering failures, the Commission said triggers for source-of-funds checks were too reliant on open-source or anecdotal information, such as trusting that a large customer win was adequate proof of funds.

In addition, customers were able to trigger multiple alerts without Buzz Bingo taking action. 

“One customer was able to hit nine financial alerts before their account was suspended pending an AML interaction,” the regulator noted.

When AML interactions did occur, the regulator said records of the actions taken were often lacking in detail. These failings were found to be in violation of paragraph 2 and 3 of Licence Condition 12.1.1, relating to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. The business also failed to act in accordance with Ordinary Code Provision 2.1.1

As a result, the Gambling Commission issued a warning and required Buzz Bingo to pay a £780,000 fine.

“As a regulator we expect all operators to effectively implement policies and procedures which make gambling safe and crime-free,” Gambling Commission executive director Helen Venn said.

“Every single gambling business should be aware that we do check that these are in place and are being adhered to. If they are not, we will take action.”

Buzz Bingo chief operating officer Dominic Mansour said that, since the failings occurred, the operator has worked to completely overhaul its compliance processes to ensure that similar events would not happen again.

“One of Buzz Bingo’s core values has always been to put players first and protect those that are vulnerable,” he said. “Buzz Bingo is fully committed to ensuring it meets the highest standards of compliance across its digital platform, including its anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations.

“The fine from the Gambling Commission relates to legacy issues that have now been addressed. Buzz Bingo has reviewed and overhauled all its compliance measures and is confident that current policies and processes now meet the standards set.

“Moreover, Buzz Bingo has increased its current and ongoing investment to enhance all its risk and compliance processes to continually improve player protection.”

The fine comes a week after the Gambling Commission released its annual compliance and enforcement report, in which it criticised operators for insufficient AML and social responsibility checks.

Also last week, Gambling Commission interim chief executive Andrew Rhodes warned operators that the Commission would take strong action against licensees that fail to live up to its standards.

Speaking at a conference hosted by GambleAware, he said that the unlicensed market is “nowhere near” enough of a threat to deter the regulator from taking strong action if needed.

This was an increase of 9.6% compared to the country’s Q3 2020 results, when performance was heavily impacted by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19 ) pandemic.

However, the figure was down from Q2, when operators took in €617m.

Sports betting made up €264m of the overall GGR, up 15.7% year-on-year.

A total of €1.60bn was staked on sports during the third quarter, a number aided by the end of the 2020 European Championship and the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which combined to attract €520m worth of bets.

This was a decrease of 0.9% from the €1.61bn stakes recorded in Q3 2020, which at the time was the highest number recorded since the market opened. Stakes were also down from Q2 of 2021.

Bets on horse racing generated €81m, down 6.9%, while poker GGR rose 10% to €99m.

Horse racing stakes reached €363m, which is the same amounted recorded in Q3 2020.

A total of 2.2 million players were active during the quarter, up 0.7% year-on-year.

In October, ANJ condemned operators for limiting stakes or outright refusing to take players’ bets, and said this was not permitted in France.

The regulator has also slammed operators for aggressive marketing activities, especially around Euro 2020. After the event ended, it promised to implement an “action plan” on marketing.

The provider said that it identified both states as “highly attractive” markets following the legalisation of online casino and sports betting in each state.

EveryMatrix is already active in New Jersey and has agreements in place with operators such as Kindred Group and Resorts Digital, while the provider said it also plans to look at moving into other states in the near future.

“To support our business advances and multi-state partnerships, we have now filed licence applications in West Virginia and Michigan,” said Erik Nyman, who was appointed president of EveryMatrix Americas in August 2020 to spearhead the US expansion strategy.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The operator will offer sports wagering in Virginia via a partnership with the Colonial Downs Group, a subsidiary of California-based Peninsula Pacific Entertainment that owns six Rosie’s Gaming Emporium locations across Virginia, as well as the Colonial Downs Racetrack in New Kent County.

Last month, PointsBet and Colonial Downs Group secured a license from the Virginia Lottery to offer online sports betting in the state.

PointsBet’s launch in Virginia will also be supported through its partnership with NBC Sports.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Combined customer spend across Caesars Entertainment, DC Lottery’s Gambet brand, BetMGM and Grand Central amounted to $21.4m in November, up 21.6% from $17.6m in the same month last year, but down 18.6% from the record $26.3m in October this year.

Revenue was up 22.2% year-on-year from $3.6m in November 2020, with this amount also 175.0% higher than $1.6m in October this year.

Caesars, which has an online mobile sportsbook and a retail sportsbook at the Capital One Arena, remained the clear market leader in DC with $3.0m in revenue off a handle of $13.9m.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Total revenue was 75.5% higher than $568,000 in November of 2020 and also 7.2% up from $930,093 in October this year.

Video lottery was responsible for $766,790 of revenue for the month, while $196,488 came from online table games and the remaining $33,361 from poker rake and fees.

Player spending amounted to $30.1m, an increase of 83.5% from $16.4m in November 2020 and the highest monthly total since $30.7m was wagered in March this year.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The moves will take effect on 1 April 2022.

Rumbolz became chief executive of Everi in 2016, and has sat on the business’ board since 2010. Prior to this, he served as a consultant to the business and advised upon “various strategic, product development and customer relations matters”.

Ronald Congemi, lead independent director of Everi said Rumbolz played an instrumental role in the supplier’s growth since becoming chief executive.

“Under Mike’s leadership the company’s market capitalization has increased from $168 million at the time of his appointment as interim president and CEO in February 2016 to approximately $2 billion today,” Congemi said. “The company’s appreciation in market value, the significant growth we have achieved across our business and the culture of collaboration and innovation that exists at Everi today all directly reflect Mike’s leadership. 

“Mike was instrumental in establishing a vision for Everi, and he steered the company through significant changes while implementing new operational practices. His contributions include improving the Company’s depth and breadth of leadership, driving a corporate culture based on teamwork, collaboration and inclusion, and putting Everi on a growth path based on continuous operational improvement. 

Before joining Everi, Rumbolz held a number of other roles including as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, president and CEO of Anchor Gaming, the director of development for Circus Circus Enterprises and Chief Deputy Attorney General for Nevada.

“It has been an honor to serve as Everi’s CEO, working with the finest team in the industry for nearly six years,” Rumbolz said. “I believe the Company’s best years are still ahead and I look forward to all of Everi’s future successes.

“I am confident that under the continuity of the Company’s leadership highlighted by Randy assuming the CEO role and with our great team, that Everi will continue to drive our existing business momentum and will continue to grow shareholder value.”

Congemi added that the business will continue to gain from his input in the new role.
“Mike has placed Everi on a very strong foundation for the future,” he said. “On behalf of our board of directors, we sincerely thank Mike for his nearly six years of outstanding service to the Company as our CEO, and we are excited that we will continue to benefit from his experience, insights and guidance as executive chairman.

Taylor, who will take over the CEO role, has been Everi’s president and chief operating officer since 2020. Prior to this, he was executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, holding these roles since 2014.

“During his more than ten years at Everi, Randy Taylor has consistently assumed additional leadership and operations responsibilities,” Congemi said. “We are very fortunate to have a talented executive in Randy who is capable of seamlessly stepping into the CEO role to continue to lead and advance the strong growth trajectory and momentum the Company has established over the last several years.”

“Randy knows Everi intimately and has played a critical role in shaping the company’s growth initiatives while also being a leading advocate for establishing the values and principles we stand for as a company. 

“Randy is highly respected by all of our stakeholders, both in and outside the company, and the Board is highly confident he is ideally suited to become our next CEO to continue to advance and execute Everi’s growth strategy in the years ahead.”

Last month, Everi revealed that a record performance by its gaming business during the third quarter of its 2021 financial year helped drive group revenue up 49.7%. Total revenue for the three months through to the end of September amounted to $168.3m (£123.2m/€145.2m).

Working with the BetRivers and PlaySugarHouse brands, Payton – the daughter of Chicao Bears legend Walter Payton – will promote the brands in key markets Illinois and Arizona via the creation of sports betting and cultural content and commercial appearances.

Payton is the co-host of WGN-TV’s Chicago’s Best and is well known across the US for presenting the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award at the Super Bowl each year.

To read the full article, visit iGB North America.