Discover what measures Clarion will be putting in place to create a safe and comfortable experience, and understand what attendees need to do to access the show.
There will also be the opportunity for you to ask questions as Stuart and Richard open up the floor to the audience.
Attendees, exhibitors and contractors are all invited to join.
Previously, SportNation.com and Vie.Bet were available on BetConstruct’s platform, but the sites will move to an option built by Idefix, which Esports Entertainment acquired as part its $30m acquisition of online casino operator Lucky Dino Gaming in March.
“The migration to Idefix is an important milestone for Esports Entertainment Group as it clearly demonstrates our company’s success in technology development and integration as well as our ability to drive operational efficiencies to enhance the profitability of our igaming brands,” said Grant Johnson, CEO of Esports Entertainment Group.
The websites will launch with casino, esports and sports betting offerings available.
To prepare for the website migration, BetBy sportsbook capabilities were integrated into Idefix.
The Idefix migration also allows SportNation.com and Vie.bet customers to access a range of payment solutions and benefit from the platform’s player account management system.
“We expect the consolidation of SportNation and Vie onto our proprietary platform will allow both brands to grow their revenue and enable us to cross-sell our offerings to more efficiently maximize player value. I am extremely proud of our entire team for their hard work, and believe this migration provides a repeatable long-term roadmap for further technology rationalisation,” continued Johnson.
On 10 June 2021 Betway published a marketing campaign which promoted a 200% deposit match bonus. This was supposed to be exclusively available to customers registered to a minor brand owned by Betway Limited, but was accidentally made available to all Betway customers upon logging in.
From 11:00 to 14:30 on 10 June, the offer was used 53 times between 52 customers registered to the Betway database.
No marketing communications were sent out to customers advertising this offer. Betway also contacted customers to make them aware of the issue.
Betway flagged the issue to Spelinspektionen, which considered the breach as less serious as the operator had acted quickly, and issued the SEK100,000 fee.
The breach violated chapter 14 section 9 of the Gaming Act, which states that a licencee can only offer bonuses to players when a player first registers and not on a continual basis.
Spelinspektionen refined its regulations on bonuses in 2019, when Betsson’s NNG Nordic subsidiary and PlayOjo operator SkillOnNet were found to have offered bonuses to players on multiple occasions.
NGG Nordic was fined SEK19m, which was eventually reduced to SEK14m following an appeal. SkillOnNet was fined SEK14m.
In November, the Swedish government published details of an inquiry that Spelinspektionen will carry out, which will address gambling marketing in the country in the wake of the deposit cap ending.
The deposit cap, which was set at SEK5,000 (£428/€501/$575), was part of a temporary set of restrictions put in place to combat gambling harm during the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
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Gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the three months through to 30 September hiked 14.0% to a record €876.2m.
Breaking down its performance, numerical lotteries remained Sazka’s core area, bringing in €371.1m in GGR, down 1.4% on last year.
Video lottery terminal and casino GGR climbed 13.1% to €194.6m and sports betting 32.4% to €148.5m, while igaming GGR more than doubled to €101.5m. The remaining €60.5m in GGR came from instant lotteries, slightly down on €61.3m last year.
In terms of geographical performance, the majority of GGR came from Greece and Cyprus, with GGR across the two markets rising 20.3% to €470.4m. This was mainly due to Sazka’s OPAP subsidiary in November last year increasing its stake in Stoiximan operations in the countries to 84.48%.
Austrian GGR edged up 2.0% year-on-year to €309.1m, while GGR from the Czech Republic also increased by 28.7% to €96.4m.
After accounting for gaming taxes, net gaming revenue amounted to €541.0m (£462.1m/$612.1m), up 18.7% from €455.8m in the same period last year,
Looking at costs, expenses were up across all areas with the exception of personnel, where spending was down 3.6% to €79.9m. Agent commission fees amounted to €123.7m, materials, consumables and services €119.4m, marketing €46.4m, and other operating costs €28.7m.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up by 40.0% to €285.1m. After accounting for €54.7m in depreciation and amortisation costs, as well as €100,000 related to the impairment of non-financial assets and €30.1m in financial costs, pre-tax profit was €197.5m, up 182.1% year-on-year.
Sazka paid €46.0m in tax during the quarter, leaving a net profit of €151.1m, an increase of 190.8% on €52.1m at the same point in 2020.
“The third quarter was the first quarter in 2021 when all our businesses operated without material Covid-19 related restrictions,” Sazka chief executive Robert Chvatal said. “Our physical retail businesses in Greece and Cyprus and casinos in Austria and internationally, which were adversely impacted by restrictions in H1, demonstrated a very rapid recovery, in line with our expectations.
“I am especially pleased about a significant improvement in profitability levels in our Austrian business following the successful execution of our restructuring program, which is expected to deliver annual savings of €45m.”
Looking at the year to date, net gaming revenue in the nine months to 30 September was 43.9% higher at €1.27bn, while GGR also hiked 50.8% year-on-year to €2.14bn.
Pre-tax profit for the period was 223.0% up to €406.0m, while after paying €81.1m in tax, this resulted in a net profit of €324.9m, an increase of 245.3% from €94.1m last year.
“While governments have introduced some new restrictions after the end of the period, these are much more limited than in previous periods and have in the case of Austria already been relaxed again,” Chvatal said.
“We remain optimistic about the outlook for Q4, supported by strong trading in most of our businesses and in the online channel.
“Overall, I am very pleased with Sazka Group’s continuing strong performance in Q3 2021 and I look forward with confidence and excitement to a great fourth quarter and 2022 as our strong trading momentum persists and we continue to make progress on our strategic objectives.”
Publication of the results comes after Sazka Entertainment, the parent company of Sazka Group, last week announced that it was rebrand its entire business as Allwyn with immediate effect.
The operator said the new name reflects its evolution from a pan-European lottery operator into a global business. The brand will be extended across the whole business, though its individual brands will be retained and continue to operate without any changes.
Sazka in April announced it was to bring together its UK operations under the new Allwyn corporate identity as it bids for the market’s latest National Lottery licence.
The supplier did not mention how much revenue came from casino compared to sport, but did say that Germany accounted for 24% of casino revenue during the quarter, down from 50% last year. This is due to new regulations for online casino in Germany, impacting large EveryMatrix clients in the country.
Gross profit for the quarter amounted to €12.6m, up 46% from last year. Gross casino profit came to €6m for Q3, showing little fluctuation from last year.
Profit from sports products came to just under €4m, showing a slight increase on Q3 2020. Platform profit for the company was €3m, a major improvement on 2020 when profits were near zero.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came to €4.4m, which was a 12% increase on 2020.
Ebbe Groes, CEO of EveryMatrix, said: “The strong financial performance this quarter confirms our ability to deliver on the growth strategy we have set out.
“In the Casino segment, we saw a significant impact of the regulatory changes in Germany, where EveryMatrix is particularly strong. But the diversity of our client base as well as our well-balanced product portfolio means that this nine-month period is still strongly up on the year before.”
Q3 also saw EveryMatrix move forward with its US expansion plans, agreeing deals with Resorts Digital Gaming and Kindred Group. The company also agreed a strategic partnership with payment technology business Nuvei Corporation.
Groes added: “Our expansion plan for the highly attractive US market is progressing very well. We now have an office, an experienced team, a pipeline that is delivering sales, and we continue to advance with the licensing process.”
EveryMatrix also made changes to its senior management during the quarter, appointing Mark McMillan to its board and naming Alina Alexandru as its new chief technology officer.
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Esports Entertainment Group brand LANDuel will host a 256-player, in-person Madden 22 tournament at the Hard Rock venue on 22 and 23 January 2022. With the businesses having received special approval from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, participants in the tournament will be allowed to place bets on their own matches.
“We are extremely proud to offer a one-of-a-kind esports wagering experience in partnership with EEG,” said Joe Lupo, president of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. “We are confident that this innovative and highly regulated partnership will prove to be a success, contributing to our market-leading gaming offerings.”
Aside from the tournament itself, the event will also include a number of PCs available for “side matches”, allowing those who are not part of the tournament to also play and wager on their own matches.
EEG received a licence to operate in New Jersey in May, its first US licence following the creation of its GMBL New Jersey subsidiary.
The brand was recalled by some 37% of the 1,178 who had seen advertising and sponsorship by legal providers in the last 30 days in their state.
FanDuel ads were seen by 30% of the sample, followed by Caesars Sportsbook on 19%, then BetMGM by 16% and Barstool Sportsbook by 10%.
There is evidence that offshore sportsbooks retain a notable presence in the market, the polling revealed. Advertising by Costa Rica-based Bovada.lv is recalled by 4% of the sample, with 14% also remembering campaigns by other brands not referenced in the questionnaire.
“When we look at states where online sports betting is already live we find advertising recall for smaller brands grows substantially, particularly among existing gamblers”, said Oliver Rowe, global sector head for leisure and entertainment for YouGov.
The poll of a representative sample of 2,233 members of the US public aged 18 between 19-23 November 2021, showed that nearly half (47%) could not recall any ad campaigns by betting brands.
However, in states where online betting is legal with multiple providers, just 21% were unaware of either advertising or sponsorship:
“Two thirds (68%) of those who believe online sports is now legal in their state say they’ve recently seen at least one ad each day, and over half (56%) say they see at least one sponsorship message daily”, Rowe added.
Concern that ads would prompt people to spend too much on gambling is expressed by 44% of the US public, while 54% agree that advertising and sponsorship needs to be more carefully targeted to avoid underage demographics.
Only 14% are confident that operators have effective measures in place to ensure bettors don’t get into trouble by wagering beyond their means.
“These issues need to be monitored as more states come on line to ensure the industry can see and understand any possible downturn in sentiment. A preemptive approach seems sensible”, said Rowe.
You can read the full brand view article, Legal sports betting: the US public’s view, here.
In granting the order in part, the presiding judge argued that while PlayUp had not provided sufficient evidence that Mintas had breached trade secret laws or confidentiality agreements, they accepted that she could cause “irreparable harm” to the business. Mintas has responded, flatly denying the allegations and pledging to respond in court.
It comes in the wake of talks to sell the business to cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsing.
In July 2020, Australia-based PlayUp hired Mintas to lead its US division, which has since secured approval to launch in Colorado and New Jersey.
As part of her contract, Mintas agreed to a “confidentiality, non-competition, non-solicitation and non-disparagement” clause. Under this provision, she could not share confidential information about PlayUp except as part of the “good faith performance” of her duties as US CEO.
In addition, the clause said that Mintas could not engage “in any form of conduct or make any statements or representations that disparage, portray in a negative light, or otherwise impair the reputation or commercial interests of the company”.
In November, Mintas and PlayUp opened discussions to extend her contract.
In these negotiations, Mintas requested she replace Daniel Simic as global CEO. She also asked for her salary to be doubled to $1m, and her shareholding increased to 15%.
The two parties “did not reach an agreement” on the new contract.
PlayUp alleged that, in response to it refusing Mintas’ terms, she “engaged in conduct directly in violation of [her contract]”.
The operator claims Mintas contacted Sam Bankman-Fried of cryptocurrency exchange business FTX, which was negotiating to acquire PlayUp’s Australian business in a $450m deal, warning him of “systemic issues” and that “the company is not clean”.
These statements, PlayUp argues, ultimately led to that deal collapsing.
In addition, the operator claims Mintas “threatened to damage [PlayUp’s] reputation to gaming regulators, commercial and business trading partners, and customers”.
It noted that on 10 November, Mintas “threatened to ‘burn PlayUp to the ground’”. An advisor to PlayUp’s board noted that Mintas had sufficient access to the operator’s technology, records, operations, data and contracts to carry out those threats.
As a result, on 30 November, PlayUp filed suit in the United States District Court for Nevada. It alleged breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of the Nevada Uniform Trade Secrets Act, among other similar laws.
It filed for an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, intended to “prevent […] irreparable harm just so long as is necessary to hold a hearing, and no longer.”
The operator argued that continuing to allow Mintas to have access to PlayUp information could cause irreparable harm to the business.
The judge, Gloria M. Navarro, did not believe PlayUp had provided sufficient proof that Mintas had violated any trade secret laws or confidentiality agreements. She noted that any statements allegedly made by Mintas did not contain specific information that could be classed as confidential.
However, she agreed it was likely Mintas breached her contract by disparaging the company, and may have breached the non-compete clause through private negotiations with FTX. As a result, Navarro determined that PlayUp was likely to win a breach-of-contract case.
With this proven, Navarro then set out to determine if Mintas could cause “irreparable harm” to PlayUp without a restraining order. Given the “burn PlayUp to the ground” statement, she determined that this was likely.
Navarro also pointed out that the downside of opting not to issue a restraining order was more serious than the downside of issuing one.
“If [Mintas] does not carry out her threats of spreading false information about [PlayUp], then imposition of this temporary restraining order will not harm [Mintas],” the court said. “Conversely, even if [Mintas] disparages [PlayUp’s] reputation and standing, imposing this temporary restraining order will not harm any of [Mintas’] personal interest.”
As a result, Navarro issued a temporary restraining order. Under its terms, Mintas is restrained from “engaging in any form of conduct or making statements or representations that disparage, portray in a negative light, or otherwise impair the reputation or commercial interest of plaintiff PlayUp”.
