Month: March 2022

Having over 25 years of experience in the industry, Walker has held roles at both operators and suppliers, having worked previously with Evolution Gaming, Rank Group, Ceasars Entertainment and Pragmatic Play.

Most recently he also worked with high profile gambling organisations as a consultant.

In his new role, he will be taking responsibility for studios, products, commercial content and operations within Stakelogic. He will be working alongside Anthony Sammut, head of studios, and Sanita Gabriel, head of operations.

Stephan van den Oetelaar, CEO at Stakelogic, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Richard to the team and for Stakelogic Live to benefit from his unrivalled experience and knowledge.”

“Stakelogic Live has achieved a great deal in a short space of time but under Richard’s leadership we will undoubtedly be able to hit our goal of becoming the number one provider of live casino content in markets across Europe and beyond.”

“I have been particularly impressed with Richard’s passion and dedication, and am looking forward to working with him closely over the coming months and years.”

On his new appointment, Walker stated: “I’m delighted to have joined a company with significant desire to grow and disrupt the live casino vertical. Stakelogic Live may be the new kid on the block but we are aiming to be amongst the best in the business.”

Stakelogic is set to roll out in a number of jurisdictions in 2022, having expanded into live casino and opening a studio in Birkikara, Malta late last year.

The company also received a licence from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) earlier this month, which will allow it to operate in the Netherlands– a country that has gained significant traction since its regulated online gambling market opened in October last year.

The ‘Made to Play’ initiative will unify the 888casino, 888sport and 888poker brands under a single brand positioning.

888 will support the strategy with a multi-channel marketing campaign, which, launching today (11 March), will include adverts that will appear across television, social media and video-on-demand channels.

The marketing campaign will initially focus on the UK before being expanded to additional countries over the coming months. 888’s sub brands will each also launch their own Made to Play campaigns later in the year.

“The launch of our Made to Play master brand strategy is an important step for us, combining each of the strong brands we have built over the years under a consistent message that articulates what makes 888 stand out from the crowd and why our customers love playing with us,” 888’s vice president of strategic marketing Sivan Finn Shalev said.

The launch of the strategy comes after 888 this week posted a 15.4% increase in revenue to $980.1m, as the business prepares to acquire the non-US assets of William Hill. 888 expects this to complete during the second quarter of this year.

In an earnings call following the results announcement, 888 said that it hopes to build on its name recognition in Germany, the Netherlands and Ontario, as it anticipates a slowdown of its existing business in mature markets such as the UK in 2022.

“In these markets, we already have experience, we have brand presence, we have teams working on them, we have marketing material, we have everything that it takes to make those significant part of our portfolio of growth countries,” chief executive Itai Pazner.

Last week, Great Britain’s Gambling Commission issued 888 with a fine of £9.4m over a series of social responsibility and money laundering failings, including setting its deposit threshold for financial checks at £40,000.

Players in the state can place a range of wagers on professional and college sports such as football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, mixed martial arts, boxing, soccer and tennis.

Other features on the FanDuel Sportsbook app include Same Game Parlay Plus, where players can combine Same Game Parlay bets from one game with bets from other games.

Wyoming becomes the 15th US state in which the FanDuel Sportsbook app has gone live, following launches in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Sports betting was legalised in Wyoming in April last year after Governor Mark Gordon signed House Bill 0133 into law. Its market then launched on September 1.

FanDuel’s Wyoming launch comes after the brand last week launched a new responsible gambling advertising campaign and committed to an additional $100,000 donation to the National Council on Problem (NCPG) in the US.

Coinciding with this year’s Problem Gambling Awareness Month in March, the multi-media ‘The System’ campaign will be spread across television, digital social and audio.

Revenue for the 12 months to 31 December 2021 was $259.7m (£198.8m/€236.7m) up from $167.0m in the previous year.

Breaking this down, AGS said $205.6m of overall revenue was attributable to its gaming operations, with the remaining $54.1m equipment sales.

Operating costs were 13.6% higher at $240.0m, which left an operating profit of $19.7m, compared to a $44.2m loss in the previous year.

Despite AGS also noting $44.4m in interest expense, which, after also including $1.2m in other income, left a pre-tax loss of $24.8m, which was a significant improvement on the $91.3m loss posted in 2020.

AGS received $2.2m in tax benefit, but also reported a negative impact of $984,000 in relation to foreign currency translation, which left a net loss of $23.6m, compared to $88.1m in the previous year.

Shifting attention to the fourth quarter, revenue for the three months to 31 December was 50.6% higher at $70.2m. Some $52.0m of this total was generated through gaming operations, and the other $17.2m equipment sales.

Offering a more in-depth breakdown of performance AGS revealed that revenue from its electronic gaming machine business was 52.1% higher at $64.5m for the quarter, helped by higher-yielding premium games, more consistent core game content execution and a stable gaming macroeconomic backdrop.

Table product revenue increased 25.0% year-on-year to a record $3.2m, helped by ongoing customer demand, while interactive revenue jumped 51.4% to $2.5m.

However, revenue growth was accompanied by a 25.5% rise in operating expenses, but the provider still posted an operating profit of $1.8m, compared to a $7.8m loss in 2020. When excluding certain expenses, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was 51.4% higher at $32.3m.

AGS also reported $11.2m in interest expenses, leading to a pre-tax loss of $9.2m, almost half the $18.1m loss posted in the previous year. After including a $574,000 positive impact of foreign currency translation, this left a net loss of $8.5m, compared to $13.7m in 2020.

“If 2020 was the year of resiliency within our business, 2021 was the year of transition,” AGS president and chief executive David Lopez said. “Supported by the foundational changes put into place over the preceding 18 months and an accommodative macroeconomic backdrop, we were able to establish operating momentum within all three business verticals as we progressed throughout the year, a trend that continued into the fourth quarter.”

“With our improved 2021 financial results behind us, our attention has shifted to ensuring we are best positioned to achieve even greater success in 2022. 

“To that end, I would characterize 2022 as a year of acceleration for AGS; one in which we will look to further leverage the continuous improvement in our people, products and processes to strengthen our financial performance.”

The company announced that it is now “morally unable” to continue doing business “with a country that is an aggressor nation” for many of its partners and stakeholders.

Following the announcement Beter will cease all business activities with its operator partners in the country, and give notice on all co-operation with suppliers based in Russia.

Beter will continue to stream its services from its multiple locations situated across the EU despite the temporary closure of tournament organisers Setka Cup and Esportsbattle in Ukarine.

Gal Ehrlich, CEO at Beter said: “With the present situation we consider ourselves unable to continue doing business with a country that has affected the lives of so many of our Beter partners and stakeholders based in Ukraine. This is the reason why no one can remain indifferent.”

“We are deeply concerned about the war that was started in Ukraine by Russia, that is why termination of all our operations in Russia with both operators and suppliers is a must.”

“We stand with Ukraine in these troubled times. But still we see the potential of the Ukrainian market and hope soon to reopen our studios in several cities of Ukraine.”

The company is currently preparing plans to further boost its content in the coming weeks by scaling up its Europe-based operations in response to the crisis.

The announcement came after a number of other businesses in the gambling industry cut ties with Russia over the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Last week LeoVegas suspended betting on Russian and Belarusian domestic sports, while Parimatch withdrew its brand Betring LLC from the country.

The global gaming industry has come together to support the people of Ukraine, aiming to raise £250,000 through a fundraiser for the charity Choose Love.

In his new role, Mendel will support Playtika with its growth plans across the gaming finance and Web3.0 blockchain technology sectors.

Mendel will join Playtika having most recently served as executive director of blockchain applied research at J.P. Morgan for almost three years.

Prior to this, Mendel was managing director of the Blockchain Research Institute at Tel Aviv University for three years, while he also spent over two years as general manager for cyber security at Intel.

His other roles included senior director for cyber security for the chief technology officer’s office at Broadcom, while he also co-founded security business SCsquare and was its chief executive for over 12 years.

“I am delighted to be joining the exceptional team at Playtika and bring to bear my two-plus decades of experience leading advanced blockchain and cybersecurity projects,” Mendel said.

“Playtika has a proven, unique expertise in creating sophisticated technology in its products and day-to-day operations. I am excited to join this team and expand Playtika’s reach into Web3.0 and GameFi.”

Playtika chief strategy officer Eric Rapps added: “Web 3.0 represents a disruptive new wave of commerce, product, and community engagement, and we believe best-in-class expertise in blockchain technology will be a key determinant of the ultimate winners in this new frontier. 

“We are excited to continue our technology leadership as we look to expand into Web3.0, starting with GameFi, a natural extension of our mobile gaming business. I am thrilled to have Dr. Mendel, one of the world’s leading experts in blockchain technology and cybersecurity, join our team to lead this new growth initiative.”

Revenue for the 12 months to 31 December 2021 amounted to $50.5m (£38.3m/€45.6m), up 2.6% from $49.2m in the previous financial year.

Turnkey contracts remained NeoGames’ primary source of revenue, generating $29.9m for the year, though this was 7.4% lower than in 2020. 

Revenue from the use of intellectual property rights increased 19.4% to $8.0m, while its joint operation in Michigan with Pollard Banknote experienced the most growth after reporting $7.6m in revenue, up 72.7% year-on-year.

Shortly after the end of the year, NeoGames made a major growth announcement in that it had commenced a public offer worth SEK4.3bn to acquire 100% of the shares in Aspire Global.

At the time, NeoGames said Aspire Global shareholders holding a combined 67.0% of Aspire Global’s outstanding shares have elected to accept the offer and will elect to receive up to 100% of the 7.6 million offered NeoGames shares.

A bid committee of independent Aspire Global directors, formed in response to the offer, also unanimously recommended shareholders accept the offer.

Looking at costs for the full year and total operating expenses reached $51.6m, up 37.2% from $37.6m in the previous year. 

General and administrative costs were the main outgoing at $12.3m, up 64.0%, but the provider also reported higher spend across distribution, development and sales and marketing. NeoGames also noted $3.8m in prospective acquisition expenses, as well as $14.6m worth of depreciation and amortisation costs.

When removing certain costs, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) was 16.4% higher at $33.4m, though higher spend overall led to an operating loss of $1.2m, compared to a profit of $11.6m in 2020.

However, NeoGames was able to counter this with additional profit from its share in the Pollard Banknote joint venture, with the $12.4m generated here offsetting $4.8m in interest expenses and $1.5m in finance costs, as well as partially higher operating costs.

This meant pre-tax profit reached $5.0m, though this was down 37.5% year-on-year. The provider paid $325,000 in income tax, resulting in a net profit of $4.7m, down from $6.5m in 2021.

Looking at the fourth quarter, revenue for the three months to 31 December was 12.1% lower than the year before at $12.3m. Operating costs increased 60.7% to $18.0m, while adjusted EBTIDA slipped 14.1% to $7.9m.

After accounting for $3.2m in joint-venture profit share, as well as $1.2m in interest costs and $1.1m in finance expenses, this left a pre-tax loss of $4.9m, compared to a profit of $3.2m in the previous year.

NeoGames received $1.3m in income tax benefit, but posted a net loss of $3.6m, in contrast to a $2.5m profit in Q4 of 2021.

 “Sound commercial execution and unrivalled innovation in iLottery are continuing to drive growth for our customers,” NeoGames chief executive Moti Malul said. “During the fourth quarter we saw growth in all of our key accounts with particular strength in our US accounts. Our combined revenues and share in NPI Revenues grew 5% sequentially, and over 40% for the full year.”

Malul also referenced the proposed Aspire Global acquisition, saying it remains on track to complete before the end of the first half of this year.

“More and more we find our iLottery customers require a broad range of integrated gaming verticals,” Malul said. “We firmly believe that combining NeoGames and Aspire Global will drive our strategy to be a leader in providing digital solutions to lotteries globally.

“We are already successfully collaborating with Aspire to launch their Pariplay content in Alberta and the early results are very encouraging. We remain focused capitalising on an expanding market opportunity and continuing to create value for our shareholders.”

Meanwhile, NeoGames also published guidance for its 2022 financial year, during which it expects revenue to amount to between $90m and $97m, representing an approximate 11.0% increase year-over-year at the midpoint. 

The Caesars Sportsbook was already active in Illinois, but will now relaunch using its own Liberty platform, acquired when the business bought William Hill, with consumers able to download the app and place bets from anywhere in the state.

This is now possible after the state on 5 March implemented new laws that permanently removed a requirement for players to register in-person at a land-based casino in order to place bets on a mobile app.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed HB 3136 into law in December after the in-person rule was temporarily relaxed during the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, allowing players to register online while retail venues were closed.

However, the requirement was re-introduced in the state in April 2021 as retail facilities began to re-open following restrictions being lifted.

“We’re pleased to launch our best mobile sports wagering product and to reach more sports fans in Illinois,” Caesars Digital co-president Chris Holdren said. “This is an important step for us as we continue to expand our offering of best-in-class rewards for sports fans across the state.”

The app will be integrated with the Caesars Rewards customer loyalty program, where users can accredit Tier Credits and Reward Credits on every bet they place. These can be used to unlock bonus cash in the app and exclusive opportunities at Caesars destinations, including at locations across Illinois.

Caesars Sportsbook is active in 22 states and jurisdictions across the, 16 of which are mobile sports betting.

Earlier this week, BetMGM also launched its mobile sports betting app in Illinois.

The amount spent during February was 33.5% higher than in the same month last year but 7.9% behind the record $42.9m set in January of this year.

The Oregon Lottery, in partnership with DraftKings, is the only licensed operator of online sports betting in the state.

The lottery’s current Scoreboard online sportsbook, powered by DraftKings through its SBTech division, is currently being phased out in order to be replaced by the standard DraftKings sportsbook. This process began on January 18, with players able to create a new DraftKings account and move funds across.

As such, the monthly results were split in half to show activity on the DraftKings sportsbook and from any remaining players still with Scoreboard.

Spending with DraftKings in February amounted to $39.2m, while the remaining $273,328 was wagered through Scoreboard.

Looking at gross gaming revenue, this reached $3.3m, which was 22.2% up from $2.7m in February 2021 and also 37.5% higher than $2.4m in January this year. However, it was some way short of the $4.4m monthly record set in November 2021.

Of this total, almost all of it was attributed to the DraftKings sportsbook, while Scoreboard incurred a small loss of $8,185.

In terms of activity, basketball was the most popular sports to bet on in February, attracting $20.2m in total wagers. Football followed with $5.1m, then ice hockey with $4.3m.

Single and teasers were the most popular bet types with consumers across both DraftKings and Scoreboard during the month, accounting for $28.1m in bets on DraftKings and $267,151 on Scoreboard.

In contrast, parlay betting on DraftKings reached $11.1m and just $6,177 on Scoreboard.

Under the multi-year deal, OLG will becomes an official NHL sports betting partner on both its Proline+ digital sports wagering platform and the new Proline product at retail lottery outlets across the Ontario province.

OLG will acquire distribution rights to the NHL’s official logos and cross-promotion across NHL digital and social channels.

The agreement will also include exclusive OLG/Proline and NHL events and promotions at retail outlets and online with Proline+, as well as co-branded promotions during select 2021-22 regular season games, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stanley Cup Final and 2022-23 season.

In addition, Proline+ will serve as presenting sponsor of the Proline+ NHL Pre-Game at the 2022 NHL Heritage Classic, the official fan festival before an outdoor game between the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs at Tim Hortons Field in Ontario.

“As a leading gaming entertainment operator for more than four decades with an excellent track record in Ontario, OLG is an ideal partner for the NHL to begin our transformative entry into this space in Canada and to further engage our avid Canadian fan base.”

NHL’s senior vice president for North American business development, Kyle McMann, said.

OLG chief digital and strategy officer Dave Pridmore added: “The OLG-NHL deal is a big win for our valued sports bettors. A partnership with a world-class organisation like the NHL will help complement the ultimate sports betting experience for hockey fans on Proline+ and Proline at retail, where our players can execute legal single-event wagers and other unique bets on a sport they love.”

Single-event sports betting officially launched in Canada on August 27, but is currently only offered by provincial lotteries.

Last month, it was announced that Ontario would open its legal igaming market on April 4.

AGCO released its final igaming sports and event betting regulatory standards in September of last year, including changes to advertising standards and integrity rules.

OLG last month also agreed a new deal for its Proline brand to become the first sportsbook partner of the National Football League in Canada.