Month: February 2022

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Go-live date (expected):16/02/2022Game special features:– Megaways
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– Win exchangeNumber of paylines:117,649Number of reels:6RTP% (recorded/theoretical):96.51% – 96.56%Variance/volatility:HighNumber of symbols to trigger feature/bonus:3Can feature be retriggered?YesNumber of free spins awarded:10Stacked or expanding wilds in normal play?Single wildStacked or expanding wilds in feature play?Single wildNumber of jackpot tiers:0Auto-play function?Yes

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Go-live date (expected):17/02/2022Game special features:– Wild symbol
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– In-game jackpotsNumber of paylines:46,656 ways to winNumber of reels:6RTP% (recorded/theoretical):96.00%Variance/volatility:Very highNumber of symbols to trigger feature/bonus:Bonus game: 6 bonus symbols
Free spins: 3 scattersCan feature be retriggered?No Number of free spins awarded:10-25Stacked or expanding wilds in normal play?NoStacked or expanding wilds in feature play?Yes Number of jackpot tiers:N/AAuto-play function?Yes

Players wagered $789.6m during the month to December 31, a 1.2% rise from November 2021. The figure was 60.1% up on the at $491.7m wagered during December 2020, though failed to match the record $840.4m staked by players in October 20201.

Some $752.8m was wagered online in December, accounting for 95.3% of the total, with $36.7m spent on in-person wagering across the state.

To read the full article, visit iGB North America.

This includes ads placed on copyright-infringing websites on their behalf by affiliates. The Commission has called on operators to promptly terminate contracts with offending third parties.

The GC has made its Infringing Website List (IWL), owned by the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, available to licensees.

The Commission attests that any advertising on an unlicensed site is contributing to its funding and therefore linking gambling with crime.

A Gambling Commission statement said: “Over the years, we have seen a significant reduction in gambling adverts appearing on copyright infringing websites, but a number of gambling adverts continue to appear.

“This demonstrates the need for gambling operators to introduce additional controls or to review the monitoring methods they currently have in place to ensure this does not occur. To date, the Gambling Commission has not specified any particular measures that licensees should take to prevent this, however, we are clear about our expectation.”

Recently the Gambling Commission led an investigation which led to the disruption of illegal lotteries being run through social media site Facebook.

Avid Gaming is the owner of Canadian online sports betting brand Sports Interaction, which it leases exclusively to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and the Mohawk Online socioeconomic initiative. Sports Interaction operates in Canada through Mohawk Online, with offices in Kahnawà:ke and Ireland, and a headquarters in Jersey.

It is a key supporter of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke, supporting cultural and language programmes, schools, healthcare and other public services, with 50% of its employees in the province native Mohawks. This support for the community will continue under Entain’s ownership.

The business has grown rapidly in recent years, with gross revenue up by around 40% year-on-year in 2021, to CAD$76m, with earnings reaching CAD$18m and pre-tax profit CAD$17.4m for the same period.

Entain aims to strengthen its presence in Canada through the deal, with Sports Interaction joining its Bwin and Party brands in the market.

Avid Gaming’s chief executive Will Golby, alongside other members of the leadership team, will remain with Entain once the deal completes.

“Sports Interaction is the leading Canadian sports betting and gaming brand and is aligned perfectly with our own ambitions of great customer service and ambitious growth, coupled with an unwavering commitment to sustainability,” Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen said of the deal.

“It is highly complementary to our existing operations in Canada, and the combination of its local expertise and Entain’s powerful platform will provide customers with an unrivalled range of exciting and engaging products in this fast-growing market. We look forward to welcoming Will Golby and his team to Entain.”

It follows the operator applying for a gaming licence in the province of Ontario, which is due to open its borders to private operators from 4 April. A number of operators, including TheScore, PointsBet and Rivalry have already received operating licences from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario last week.

Online betting in the country, meanwhile, came to fruition after a bill repealing the country’s ban on single-event sports betting became law in June last year.

“We are delighted to be joining forces with Entain, which is an exceptional company combining world-class brands, strong leadership and a winning strategy,” Avid CEO Golby commented.

“It has a unique approach to local markets, and no other company of its scale consistently delivers so many well-executed, localised approaches to the same level of customisation and detail.”

Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, the grand chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, added that Entain was a “world class operator with a genuine desire to positively contribute to the communities in which it operates”.

“This new partnership between Entain and the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke is mutually beneficial, and brings with it prime opportunity for bolstering our self-sufficiency through the continuing success of Sports Interaction,” Sky-Deer added.

The combination is expected to deliver approximately CAD$15m in synergies for Entain in 2023, through sharing technology, content and procurement efforts.

The campaign includes films featuring TV personality Anders Lundin aimed at promoting safer gambling by encouraging the public to choose to play with operators holding Swedish licences.

The campaign also consists of three short comic films developed for social media on the theme of ‘Games Need Rules’, linking to a longer film on the Spelinspektionen.se site where the regulator provides further detail on the benefits of opting to play with one of its licensees.

“The aim is to inform the public that there is a choice to be made, between gaming companies that have a Swedish licence and gaming companies that do not have it,” said Yvonne Hejdenberg, head of communications at Spelinspektionen.

“The goal is for the public to gain increased knowledge about the benefits of choosing a gaming company with a Swedish licence.”

The campaign launches amid a crackdown on offshore operators by the regulator, which launched in October last year. This saw Spelinspektionen commit to taking aim at companies passively accepting bets from Swedish consumers, rather than only focusing on those actively targeting the market.

As a result, operators not licensed by the regulator be required to take precautions to block access and payments from Swedish customers.

This will become ‘version 2.0’ of Spillemyndigheden’s certification system, the regulator explained, following previous updates in 2015, 2018 and 2020.

The system outlines what conditions operators must meet to be issued licences, with rules tightened around data, testing and player protection.

The certification document was submitted to the European Commission on 25 January 2022. It must now enter a standstill period, which ends on 26 April 2022.

Changes will be implemented across a number of areas. A players’ status with Denmark’s Register of Voluntarily Excluded Players (ROFUS) will no longer be stored by licensees after it has been used for the original purpose.

In January, Spillemyndigheden reported that over 30,000 players had self-excluded with ROFUS.

Additionally, operators will no longer be required to submit quarterly reports on system changes to Spillemyndigheden.

Specifications also address the use of certain types of language. Requirements to display information on harmful gambling, the ROFUS register and other customer protection measures must be clearly displayed on the licencees’s site interface in accurate and clear language.

Adjustments will be made to the testing process. Current requirements for testing must adhere to certain International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) requirements, specifically ISO17020 or ISO17025.

ISO17020 holds requirements for different types of inspection bodies, while ISO17025 details the requirements testing and calibration labs.

If the European Commission ratifies the certification update, ISO17025 will remain while ISO17920 will be replaced by ISO17065, which has requirements for bodies certifying products and services.

If the updated certification system is ratified by the European Commission, there will be a transition period that ends on 1 January 2023.

The latest figures released by Clarion Gaming show that 42% of professionals attending this year’s show on 13-14 April at the ExCel London are registered in and operating throughout the US.

In addition, data shows that 78.9% of those currently registered to attend are categorised as final decision makers.

Figures from iGB’s principal data partner H2 Gambling Capital have forecasted 200% growth in the total addressable revenues for affiliates in North America over the next five years, compared to the global figure of 68%.

Add the new states either launched or launching, such as NY which had $1bn staked in 16 days, and you get the picture of an extremely buoyant market.

“We are still 10 weeks from going live and I’m delighted that the figures are looking strong, and positive for both our exhibitor and visitor communities,” said Naomi Barton, portfolio director responsible for iGB Affiliate. “Lead events such as iGB Affiliate London serve to reflect the dynamics of the industry sectors that they serve and the uptick in US pre-reg figures is a manifestation of the market dynamics impacting the affiliate sector in North America.”

“We are tracking comfortably ahead of the pre-reg figures for 2020 which represents positive news for the 160+ exhibitors already confirmed for iGB Affiliate London, who will be occupying 6,265 sqm of net floor space across three halls at ExCeL London.”

iGB Affiliate London allows affiliates to connect via networking and business-led opportunities. Its sister event ICE London, which will take place at the ExCel over 12-14 April, is the biggest B2B event in the gambling industry.

While this represented an increase from the 3.3% recorded in Q3, it was down year-on-year. In the fourth quarter of 2020, when Kindred began publishing figures to track revenue generated from harmful gambling as part of its push to reduce this figure to 0%. For that quarter, 4.3% of revenue came from unsustainable play.

Kindred said the quarter-on-quarter rise was due to a number of factors. It explained that there was historically a rise in high-risk play during the holiday season, as it is a sensitive time for some individuals.

Another factor was that Kindred withdrew from the Netherlands as the country’s regulated igaming market opened for business. The operator said this contributed to an increase in the numbers reported, though did not elaborate why.

Kindred also noted that it invested more resources into its responsible gambling initiatives during Q4, saying this highlighted the necessity to focus on earlier interventions that can be automated for the lower risk group of customers. 

This appeared to have a positive impact, with the highest sign of improvement in player behaviour following interventions. Figures for Q4 show 79.2% of players that displayed harmful gambling behaviour showed an improvement in their behaviour after intervention, marking a significant increase on the 64.9% reported for Q3.

Kindred said this demonstrated the importance of early engagement in disrupting the development of problem gambling behaviours.

“Despite the share of revenue from harmful gambling increasing this quarter we remain dedicated and focused on our journey towards zero,” Kindred chief executive Henrik Tjärnström said. 

“While we are not pleased that the trend remains flat over the last year, we have known from the beginning that we won’t solve this overnight, and we know there is still work to do. We have committed ourselves to this ambition and we will continue to work towards reaching 0% revenue from harmful gambling.”

Tjärnström said Kindred would continue to work to more targeted deliveries during 2022 in order to provide greater advice and guidance to customers.

“While 2021 has been focused on research initiatives and have better data driven understanding of player dynamics, we will in 2022 continue the work to increase our capacity to effectively engage better and faster with detected customers,” Tjärnström said.

“Besides additional self-control tools and optimised customer communication, will we launch automated interventions for lower risk groups.”

The total beat the $1.30bn monthly record set in New Jersey in October of last year by some distance. Amounts wagered in the first 16 days of legal online betting alone had reached $1.18bn.

The New York State Gaming Commission also reported that gross gaming revenue for the 23-day period from 8 to 30 January amounted to $113.0m.

The reporting period included figures from Caesars Sportsbook, FanDuel, DraftKings and Rush Street Interactive, all of which began operations on opening day in New York, as well as BetMGM, which went live on January 17, and PointsBet from January 25.

Caesars Sportsbook established a strong early lead, processing $615.5m in bets during the first 23 days of legalization, posting $55.9m in revenue.

Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel was second with $501.8m as a handle and $23.6m in revenue, followed by DraftKings with a $367.7m handle and $27.1m in revenue.

BetMGM took $78.1m in wagers and turned $3.2m in revenue, while Rush Street Interactive was next with a $32.4m handle and $847,035 in revenue.

PointsBet, which only went live towards the end of the period on January 25, processed $32.4m in wagers and posted $2.3m in revenue.

The New York State Gaming Commission continues to publish weekly updates on its newly regulated market.

The market looks set for further growth after it was announced that WynnBet, the online sports betting and casino brand of Wynn Resorts, launched its online sports wagering platform in the state of New York.

Players in New York can download the official WynnBet app to their mobile device or place bets via the WynnBet website.