Month: February 2022

The Gambling.com Group said the deal would support its wider growth strategy in the North American market and expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive.

BonusFinder publishes online portals to consumers find and compare bonuses for online sportsbooks and casinos, counting Canada as its largest market. BonusFinder also has a presence in the US and plans are in place to expand its reach in the country.

The aggregate purchase price of €12.5m included €10.0m in cash and €2.5m in newly issued, unregistered ordinary shares in Gambling.com Group.

Selling share shareholders may also benefit from additional earnout payments based on the financial performance of BonusFinder in 2022 and 2023. 

The maximum total consideration is €60.0m, with an earnout payment of €19.0m due in 2023 should certain targets be hit, as well as up to €28.5m in 2024. Gambling.com Group has the option to pay up to 50% of each earnout payment in unregistered ordinary shares.

The acquisition closed yesterday (31 January) and will be consolidated into group financial statements from today (1 February).

“We believe that the combination of these two complementary businesses is immediately accretive to our fiscal 2022 earnings and establishes a foundation for a leadership position in North America which will drive value creation for our shareholders,” Gambling.com Group chief executive Charles Gillespie said.

“We believe the deal structure provides an attractive risk/reward balance for the Group. The total consideration for the transaction will vary commensurately with the financial performance of the acquired business, guaranteeing an attractive acquisition multiple for the Group and tightly aligning the financial incentives of the newly combined businesses.”

BonusFinder chairman Fintan Costello (pictured) added: “These organisations complement each other well as partners within the North American market.

“Gambling.com Group has demonstrated its leadership position within the online sports betting and igaming industry, and its proprietary technologies and experience will provide BonusFinder with the tools to maximise growth in this exciting new era of North American regulation.”

The deal comes after Gambling.com Group last month also completed its acquisition of Roto Sports, the operator of US-facing fantasy sports news and advice site RotoWire.com, for $27.5m.

The aim of the trial is to identify individuals at risk of harm and put provisions in place to ensure they are protected by all regulated operators.

Under the system, data of customers’ play across different operators may be shared, meaning customers who have exhibited signs of gambling problems should be unable to move to a different operator without an intervention being put in place, and spending spread across many operators can be recognised more quickly.

This will come in a number of forms, including safeguards and bans for at-risk customers who wish to play with other operators.

Members of the BGC are investing more than £1m in the trial.

Previously, concerns from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regarding data sharing had delayed the trial.

However, in October last year, the ICO expressed its support for the single customer view.

“I am delighted with the commitment from BGC members and the significant financial investment they are undertaking to get on with delivering this scheme quickly,” said Wes Himes, executive director for standards and innovation for the Betting and Gaming Council. “While many companies put forward proposals for this system, it was clear that Gsmstop stood out from the rest.”

“We are committed to ensuring the trial scheme which focuses on those most at risk is proportionate and effective. We are getting on with the work of change and once again, demonstrating that despite the challenges and complexities, when it comes to safer gambling, technology is our friend.”

The trial is set to take place by the end of March 2022.

In October 2020 British Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur said that the financial sector could aid in making gambling safer by supporting a single customer view. Minister responsible for gambling Chris Philp also backed the idea.

The following month McArthur announced that there had been progress in the single customer view implementation, stating that the Commission had spoken to operators and technology suppliers and felt confident to go ahead.

Last month the BGC urged operators involved with sports partnerships to promote safer gambling to fans.

Walaszek joins STS from media business Ringier Axel Springer, where he spent almost four years as IT development director.

Prior to this, Walaszek had an 11-year spell with DreamLab, where he served on its board for just under four years. He also spent time as director of IT development, head of project management office and head of IT project management.

Earlier in his career, Walaszek also enjoyed three years with Opcom, first serving as project manager, before going on to become project director.

“The fact that Jarek Walaszek joins the group will allow us to build a completely new quality for customers in Poland and abroad,” STS chief exectuive Mateusz Juroszek said. “His experience will help make STS’s product and technology offer even more innovative and focused on mobile solutions.

“We have full control over the technology we use because it is one of our primary competitive advantages. The STS Group structure includes a company called Betsys, which has developed a proprietary bookmaking system. The platform is fully scalable and adapted to all sales channels – online, mobile and retail sales. 

“We develop our product and technology internally and the STS team of specialists in these areas consists of approximately 160 persons. STS is not only a leader in its industry but also an attractive employer that attracts top talent.”

The appointment comes STS in December launched its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) as part of its initial public offering.

The offer values the business at PLN3.6bn, with STS chief executive and largest shareholder Mateusz Juroszek, together with his family, to retain a 70% holding in the group.

In July 2020 Spelinspektionen requested Betway’s annual report and auditor’s report for its 2019 financial year. Betway had reported a loss of €50.3m and negative equity of €4.8m,

Its parent company, Betway Group Limited, reported a loss of €42.4m and a positive equity of €49.9m, while its subgroup, Betway Limited Consolidated Limited Group, recorded a loss of €60.4m and negative equity of €13.8m.

Betway is registered in Malta, and the Malta Companies Act states that it allows negative capital as long as a company can provide proof that it can continue to conduct business.

In October 2021 Betway submitted a capital guarantee from its parent group, at the request of Spelinspektionen, in response to how it can improve this negative equity.

Spelinspektionen concluded that Betway “lacks its own capital base” and is “completely dependent” on support from its parent company.

In addition, the regulator outlined that the capital guarantee “compensates only partially” for the negative equity.

Betway violated chapter 4, section 1, section 3 of Sweden’s Gambling Act, which allows the granting of licences to operators that can prove themselves suitable.

In response Spelinspektionen has issued a warning to Betway, assessing the infringement as “minor”.

In December 2021 Spelinspektionen fined Betway SEK100,000 for accidentally making a bonus campaign available to all customers, instead of to customers that had signed up to one of Betway’s minor brands.

Last week Betway’s owner, Supergroup, completed a $4.75bn (£3.54bn/€4.23bn) merger with publicly traded special purpose acquisition business Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp. (SEAC), allowing Super Group to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

SEAC entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Super Group in April last year.

Dutch gaming law requires players to set limits before playing, both in terms of playing time and time spent gambling, but it does not provide guidance to operators for maximum limits for most players.

Jansen referred to a loophole in the current playing limits system, which allows a player older than 23 years of age to set playing time limits of 24 hours a day and seven days a week, plus a deposit limit of €100,000 per day.

While acknowledging that this is permitted within gaming legislation, Jansen suggested that operators shouldn’t look to take advantage of the system and should instead prioritise player safety.

Jansen said: “It may not be to the letter, but it is to the spirit of the law to limit the limits to be set. Corporate social responsibility also has a moral side. 

“In addition, I cannot imagine that limits such as those mentioned here are necessary to compete with illegal gambling sites.”

Online gambling has been legal in the Netherlands since the market launched on 1 October 2021.

Jansen warned that if operators don’t take the responsibility of setting limits seriously, the government may have to intervene.

“If providers themselves do not take sufficient responsibility, the government will at some point do so,” Jansen added. “This was recently the case in Sweden, where the deposit limit was lowered and a stricter control on advertising was announced. 

“My cautious assessment is that we could also go down that road in the Netherlands. If providers no longer take responsibility, of course.”

Jansen has also previously warned operators to moderate their advertising within the country, so as to avoid the government having to step in and impose stricter marketing laws.

The acquisition enables Paysafe to increase its scale in Latin America, taking advantage of the open banking and building on its recent acquisition of PagoEfectivo.

Paysafe expects the two acquisitions to drive multiple cross-selling opportunities across all its business units, enhancing long term growth prospects.

Founded in 2007, SafetyPay operates primarily in Latin America and enables eCommerce transactions via a wide choice of open banking and eCash solutions. This latest deal see’s Paysafe strengthen its strategic foothold in Latin America, building on its recently announced acquisition of Peruvian payments platform, PagoEfectivo. 

The company now has a presence in 11 Latin American countries, with over 90 percent bank coverage and over 180,000 cash collection points. It serves nearly 300 merchants primarily in the travel, entertainment, and digital goods industries.

As part of the transaction, the entire SafetyPay team now transitions into Paysafe’s eCash and open banking solutions team which is headed up by Paysafe eCash CEO, Udo Mueller.

Reporting to Mueller, SafetyPay’s CEO, Gustavo Ruiz Moya, becomes CEO of eCash for Latin America and global head of open banking.

Philip McHugh, Paysafe’s CEO, said: “We’re very excited by what SafetyPay adds to our group as part of our global real-time banking solutions.  We believe that together we will find extensive cross-sell opportunities for online merchants who are looking to expand into new markets.  We also see huge potential to offer SafetyPay solutions to some of our largest existing customers, particularly those looking for growth in fast-growing Latin America.”

Gustavo Ruiz Moya, SafetyPay’s CEO, added: “Becoming part of the Paysafe Group will help us build on SafetyPay’s leadership to date and accelerate our future growth. It’s also an immense opportunity being able to join forces with PagoEfectivo in Latin America, as well as the wider eCash team, to exploit the many opportunities we see as the nascent open banking ecosystem continues to open up across the continent.”

Paysafe’s eCash business is now able to offer its solutions in 60 countries with over one million distribution points.

This deal comes after the company finalised its SPAC merger with Foley Trasimene in April, allowing it to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Procurator General of Macau provided more details into arrests made late last month for crimes related to illegal online gambling. These arrests included that of Chan, who was the chairman and chief executive of operator Macau Legend, as well as running junket operator the Tak Chun Group.

Chan resigned from his roles at Macau Legend after the arrests.

The Procurator general said that after police detained 11 suspects, including then-SunCity chairman Alvin Chau for allegedly using a Macau junket to recruit players to an offshore gambling site based in the Philippines, police conducted an “in-depth investigation” into the case.

Through this investigation, four more people were arrested and transferred to the Procurator, including two individuals with the last name Chan.

The Procurator said that one of these individuals, one of the two people to be arrested on 28 January, is suspected of not only organising illegal gambling, but also money laundering and “the crime of executing the leadership or command of a triad organisation”. The last of these crimes carries a 15-year prison sentence.

Given the timing of the arrests, this refers to Chan Weng Lin.

The second individual arrested on 28 january is charged with “disobedience”.

The two people who were arrested on 29 January – including the other individual named Chan – were charged with crimes related to covering up other offences. 

The Procurator General said that the first individual had been detained to prevent him from fleeing Macau, while the other three faced “other coercive measures”.

Pending necessary approvals, the sportsbook facility will be set over two floors and allow fans at the venue to place a wide range of bets across a host of sports events and contests.

The addition of the sportsbook would mark an expansion of the partnerships that FanDuel already has in place with both the Bulls and Blackhawks. These existing deals include media, VIP fan experience and advertising assets.

While awaiting regulatory approval from the Illinois Gaming Board, the United Center and FanDuel will build a non-wagering space adjacent to the main atrium. This FanDuel-branded facility will allow fans to watch live sports action while attending events at the arena.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Colorado opened its legal sports betting market in May 2020, enabling consumers to wager both online and at retail sportsbooks located across the state.

In that time, players wagered $5.03bn on sports, with revenue from this reaching $325.9m, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

The milestone handle figure was reached in December, during which players spent $461.4m betting on sports, an increase of 62.6% from $284.6m in the same month of the previous year, but 2.9% down from $469.0m in November 2021.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

This followed the regulator’s annual review of responsible gaming action plans within the industry. Operators are obliged to submit an action plan for ANJ approval each year, with a view to preventing excessive gambling and gambling by minors. The plans should contain the concrete actions to implement the changes necessitated by ANJ.

The regulator conducted a similar review of marketing practices in the country in January 2021, which highlighted several concerns about marketing strategies, particularly for monopolies.

Going into 2022, ANJ said it wants operators to prioritise the protection of minors, in addition to the identification of and support for excessive gamblers.

In terms of preventing underage gambling, ANJ operators must do more to emphasise an anti-underage gambling agenda through the media, restrict the access minors have to operator websites and social media accounts, and make parental control software more readily available.

Operators should also strengthen their player identity checks so as to limit circumvention of the ban on underage gambling.

For identifying and supporting problem gamblers, operators are tasked with establishing identification systems designed to catch problems early, adopt ANJ’s definition of gambling addiction, and setting up support systems which match the level of gambling addiction encountered.

Operators are also encouraged to utilise customer knowledge to deploy targeted preventative actions.

ANJ said: “Excessive gambling and gambling by minors are indeed one of the most significant risks affecting the gambling market in France.

“The ANJ considers that substantial progress still remains to be made by the majority of operators in order to achieve the objective of preventing excessive or pathological gambling set by the state in terms of gambling and thus to consolidate the foundations of a recreational gambling market, which is the regulator’s compass.”

it did also note positive developments, however, such as the increasing visibility of messages aganst underage gambling and improved systems to recognise problem gambling.