Month: January 2022

BetMGM, a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Entain, will join Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel and Rush Street Interactive, which began operations in New York last weekend. BetMGM thanked the New York Gaming Commission for progressing its license application, although the regulator has not yet confirmed the award publicly.

BetMGM’s integration with MGM Resorts’ M life Rewards program gives New York’s BetMGM customers the ability to redeem their gameplay for experiences at MGM Resorts properties including Empire City Casino in Yonkers and Borgata in New Jersey. As an official sports betting partner of Madison Square Garden Arena, BetMGM also will be able to reward its customers with VIP experiences involving the New York Knicks NBA team and New York Rangers NHL team.

Adam Greenblatt, BetMGM’s chief executive, said: “With today’s monumental news, we’ll now be able to fully activate our relationships with MGM Resorts’ Empire City Casino and Madison Square Garden.

“We look forward to offering customers in New York unique experiences that they can’t access on any other platform.

“A huge thank you to the New York Gaming Commission as well as to our entire BetMGM team who have worked tirelessly to bring this to fruition.”

Online sports betting in New York launched on Monday, though operators are required to pay a 51% tax rate after a bidding process to select operators.

Nine betting operators were recommended for licenses following the conclusion of the state’s tender process. New York Gaming Commission last week cleared the initial four operators to accept mobile sports bets, while the regulator said that the other five operators – PointsBet, Resorts World, BetMGM, Bally’s Corporation and Wynn Bet – “continue to work towards satisfying statutory and regulatory requirements necessary to launch”, with approval expected on a rolling basis.

BetMGM already operates in 13 states and the District of Columbia, and is due to launch in Louisiana in the first quarter of this year.

Overall, gaming revenue was up by 22.7% year-on-year and reached the highest total since April.

Sports betting revenue increased by 51.8%, the highest rise recorded by any sector in November. It jumped to DKK252m in November 2020 from DKK166m.

For the first 11 months of 2021, ports betting revenue came to DKK2.20bn , a 9.5% rise from the same period in 2020.

Online casino revenue also increased, from DKK198m to DKK218m- a yearly rise of 10.1%. In total, online casino revenue from January to November 2021 stands at DKK2.55bn – up 13.4% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, slot machine revenue rose only slightly, coming in at DKK102m. This was a yearly increase of 2.0%. Figures recorded for 2021 so far saw slot machine revenue total at DKK711m, a year-on-year decrease of 25.0%, as slot halls were closed for much of the early portion of the year.

Land based casinos also saw success, generating DKK32m in revenue throughout November- a 14.3% rise year-on-year. However, its revenue for 2021 so far decreased in yearly comparisons, from DKK226m to DKK205m, again because of closures.

The Tribe argues Florida Voters in Charge “brazenly violated” electoral law and committed fraud in its signature-gathering process to allow commercial casinos in the state.

Under the state constitution, any expansion of gaming by an entity other than the Seminole Tribe requires a constitutional amendment, which must be approved by referendum. A measure must receive 891,589 signatures to appear on the ballot for the 2022 election.

The two parties were already embroiled in a legal battle, after Florida Voters in Charge argued that representatives of the Seminole Tribe “interfered” with its petitioning, such as trying to hire away employees of the pro-expansion group.

With that case still ongoing, the Tribe’s own political committee, Standing Up For Florida, denied the vast majority of claims made by Florida Voters In Charge. It argued that the actions it did take were justified, in light of the pro-expansion group’s alleged activities.

The Tribe-backed political committee then responded with a counterclaim this week, arguing that it was in fact the Las Vegas Sands-backed committee that engaged in illegal activity.

“The FVC-PAC’s hired professional petition gatherers are brazenly violating Florida election law and not only submitting illegally-obtained petitions to various Supervisors of Elections, but now seek to use this Court to restrict free speech and competitive labor hiring on the basis of illegal and unenforceable employment relationships,” Standing Up For Florida said.

The counterclaim argues that Florida Voters In Charge agreed deals with a number of contractors in which the contractors were paid based on the number of signatures they gathered.

Standing Up For Florida produced an agreement between Florida Voters In Charge and one such contractor, GPD, which says that “total compensation shall be based on the number of valid petitions submitted”. The contractor was to receive $450,000 for every 25,000 signatures, according to the agreement.

A different contractor, Grassfire, paid its own employees based on the number of signatures that they gathered, as shown by a pay structure chart posted on its website.

Florida Statute 104.186 says “a person who compensates a petition circulator […] based on the number of petition forms gathered” is committing a first-degree misdemeanour.

“As an illegal compensation scheme in violation of Florida’s election laws, not only are all the employment contracts illegal, but also all the petitions gathered pursuant to this scheme are invalid and void,” the claim continued.

The tribe’s political committee then went further, claiming that Florida Voters In Charge also took part in “the shredding of petitions, the illegal completion of missing information on petitions, and the forging of signatures, including the signature of a Supervisor of Elections”.

Standing Up For Florida produced photos that it claimed were of buckets into which Grassfire sorted petitions.  One of these was labelled “trash”.

“These petitions were shredded in Grassfire’s office, where it is believed there are cameras,” the counterclaim alleged.

As a result of these claims, Standing Up For Florida has called for injunctive relief to declare Florida Voters In Charge’s signatures void.

The clause of the Florida Constitution regarding gaming expansion has also been a central factor in another legal dispute in Florida, concerning sports betting. The Seminole Tribe was permitted to offer sports betting in the state – including statewide online betting – after a new compact was approved last year.

However, after a lawsuit from a pari-mutuel operator, mobile betting on non-tribal lands was deemed to be in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the tribe’s Hard Rock Sportsbook was taken offline.

Consumers spent a total of $463.0m (£337.0m/€403.8m) on sports betting in December, up 47.9% from $313.0m in the same month in 2020, but just 0.1% lower than the record $463.7m set in the state in November of 2021.

Basketball overtook football to become the most popular sport among bettors in the state, with $148.5m wagered in December. Football placed second with $141.8m in bets, while parlay bets amounted to $117.3m and other sports drew $117.8m in total wagers.

Turning to adjusted gross revenue , this amounted to $25.8m, an increase of 6.2% from $24.3m in 2020, but down 45.9% from the record $47.7m set in November 2021.

The Blue Chip Casino’s FanDuel-operated sportsbook remained the market leader in terms of revenue, posting $7.6m off a handle of $121.1m for the month.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Based in the US, Brown will report directly to Andreas Krannich, managing director of integrity services at Sportradar, and support the business with its growth plans in the region.

Brown joins Sportradar after eight years with the NCAA, where he served in a number of risk management roles, most recently as managing director of enterprise risk management.

While at the NCAA, Brown led the organization’s approach to sports betting risk mitigation, which included the development of a program featuring the integrity-related monitoring of 12,500 games each year, as well as the well-being education of 550,000 student-athletes, and improving the background check and review measures of 19,000 game officials.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Revenue for the full year amounted to $10.6m, up from $8.4m in the previous 12 months and a new annual record for the state.

Consumer spending on igaming in Delaware also climbed from $228.7m to $308.8m, which was another yearly state record.

Delaware Park led the way with $4.2m in revenue, ahead of Dover Downs on $3.6m and the Harrington Raceway with $2.8m.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The transition is set to begin on 18 January 2022, when customers will be able to create a new DraftKings account and transfer over existing funds.

The migration from the SBtech-powered Scoreboard platform, used by Oregon Lottery since 2019, was unanimously approved by the Oregon Lottery Commission in August 2021. This was made possible DraftKings’ acquisition of SBTech, agreed in December 2019.

DraftKings’ co-founder and president of global technology and product Paul Liberman said: “DraftKings is thrilled to embark on this journey with the Oregon Lottery as we build out a coast-to-coast presence with our top-rated online sportsbook for these fans to experience ahead of the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl.

“The Oregon Lottery shares our innovative spirit as one of the most progressive organizations in the real-money gaming sector, and together we look forward to delivering the exceptional online sportsbook products that Oregonians have been anticipating.”

Oregon Lottery director Barry Pack added: “We’re excited about the improved experience for our players – including the ability to make same game parlay bets. DraftKings is a premier provider in the US.

“We see benefits for Lottery too, as the shift to DraftKings means fewer third-party service providers and a simpler financial structure for player accounts.”

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was confirmed that Everi would purchase game development technology and intellectual property from Atlas. 

Everi, which said it expects the deal to close within the next 60 days, said the assets would complement its existing game development studios and portfolio of games, as well as provide a pathway for future expansion into new markets around the world.

In conjunction with the acquisition of the assets, Atlas development and engineering team members will join Everi. 

Everi added that it intends to fund the acquisition from existing cash on hand.

“We look forward to Atlas’ game developers and engineers bringing a global perspective that will help us execute a more robust product roadmap and support our growth strategy of delivering best-in-class content,” Everi’s executive vice president and games business leader Dean Ehrlich said.

“This transaction strengthens Everi’s development capabilities and will further bolster the future expansion and differentiation of our gaming products. 

“We expect to leverage the Atlas development team and purchased assets to provide more original content for our current customer base while creating an opportunity to further penetrate the markets Atlas has historically served, including Australia.” 

The deal comes after Everi in December announced plans to restructure its leadership team, moving Michael Rumbolz from the role of chief executive to executive chairman, while chief operating officer Randy Taylor will take over as CEO. 

Each of the new appointments are due to come into effect from 1 April this year.

In October last year, Everi also acquired certain strategic assets of Meter Image Capturing, a provider of progressive meter reporting solutions to the gambling sector.

Founded in 2017, IGG has some of the most successful gaming-focused Twitch channels in the world, with over 1,000 creators worldwide. 

By creating this partnership, the company aims to expand beyond its core igaming streaming business into esports, utilising Team Singularity’s diverse roster of over 100 players in over 30 countries.

This partnership follows the launch of IGG’s proprietary platform WinParty in October.

“We are delighted to partner with Team Singularity, an organisation which is paving the way to a growing worldwide eSports ecosystem across multiple platforms,” Interactive Gaming Group chief executive Cristina Niculae commented.

We believe in the power of community building, and team Singularity stands out in their ability to engage a community between content and competition,” Niculae explained. “This partnership is one step forward towards our vision to inspire the world to play and bring great interactive entertainment to people around the globe.”

Atle S. Stehouwer, founder and CEO of Team Singularity, added: “I am excited for team Singularity to team up with the good people from Interactive Gaming Group.

Their extensive track record speaks for itself, and this partnership will help us grow our revenue stream and partnership engagements overall”.

Casinos and gaming halls were forced to temporarily close on 17 December to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, amid the rise of the Omicron variant of the virus.

The closure order was due to expire on 16 January, but the Danish Minister of Health today (13 January) said that this will be extended until the end of the month.

Managers in charge of the day-to-day running of casinos and gaming halls will be responsible for ensuring the venues remain closed until permitted to reopen.

The most recent figures released by the Danish government show that the country recorded 24,343 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, with the seven-day average now at 19,606.

This week, Spillemyndigheden also reported gaming revenue in November 2021 amounted to DKK604m (£67.7m/€81.1m/$93.0m), a month that saw year-on-year revenue growth across the board.

Slot machine revenue climbed 2.0% to DKK102m, while land-based casino revnue was also up 14.3% year-on-year to DKK32m in November.