Month: April 2022

Revenue was down 8.7% from 2020. This, the business said, was due to the fact that not only were its casinos closed for 168 days due to Covid-19 in 2021, but they also faced restrictions for the entire period in which they were open. In contrast, Holland Casino noted that its venues had been particularly successful in the first two months of 2020, before any restrictions were in place.

Slot machines made up almost exactly half of this revenue, at €152.4m, down 18.0%. Table game revenue, meanwhile, was down 25.5% to €94.1m.

Online gaming, meanwhile – which launched in the Netherlands on 1 October, with Holland Casino one of 10 initial licensees – brought in €40.4m. This – Holland Casino said – made up more than 20% of the €185m in revenue recorded by the entire regulated Dutch online market in that period.

Tips brought in €8.2m, down 23.4%, while food and beverage revenue declined by 25.6% to €7.9m. Other revenue was down 28.2% to €1.2m.

The business then paid €85.2m in gambling taxes, which was an 8.9% decline from the year prior.

This left it with net revenue of €219.0m, which was 8.6% less than in 2020.

The business then paid €279.9m in operating expenses, which was 12.0% less than in 2020.

Personnel costs declined sharply, by 35.2% to €116.1m. However, operational costs increased by 25.1% to €104.1m, while depreciation, amortisation and impairment costs were up by 7.2% to €59.7m.

As a result, its net operating loss came to €60.9m, which was a 22.5% reduction from the year before.

Holland Casino paid a further €3.4m in net finance-related expenses, which meant its pre-tax loss was €64.3m, down 20.3% year-on-year.

After receiving an €18.6m tax benefit, Holland Casino’s loss was €45.7m, which was 22.2% less than in 2021.

Holland Casino chief financial officer Ruud Bergervoet said that the business was still in a strong financial position despite the successive losses, thanks to support it had received from the Dutch government.

“Despite the negative figures, we are in good financial shape at the core. This is partly thanks to the agility of Holland Casino and to the government support, which enabled us to retain a large proportion of the jobs in our company. It also became clear in 2020 that we needed to accelerate work on creating a future-proof Holland Casino,” Bergervoet said. “This is why we launched the Horizon restructuring project, in which, in addition to cost savings, we also looked at how we could manage the organisation as a whole more efficiently and effectively. 

“The investments in the two new casinos in Utrecht and Venlo are also paying off. We also invested in our renewed restaurants.”

Bergervoet added that Holland Casino had much more success in 2022, and as a result it would no longer need to avail of the Netherlands’ salary subsidy scheme, Noodmaatregel Overbrugging Werkgelegenheid (NOW).

“Since 23 March of this year, there are no longer any restrictions on visits to Holland Casino. We saw the impact of this immediately in our figures,” he said. “As a result, we have decided that we will no longer make any use of the Dutch government’s NOW scheme as of Q1 2022.”

Eriksen previously worked as head of broadcasting at national broadcaster NRK where he led the conversion to digitized technology. Both NRK and Norsk Tipping are managed by the Ministry of Culture and have collaborated with the Lotto draw, Sports Gala and NM week.

“I am very happy to be able to present Thor Gjermund Eriksen as the new CEO of Norsk Tipping, Norsk Tipping chair Linda Bernander Silseth said. “He has a solid background from the media industry, including as CEO of Amedia and broadcasting manager for NRK for the past nine years.”

“I am confident that Eriksen is the right person to strengthen Norsk Tipping’s role as a responsible and attractive gambling provider. This in turn will ensure a stable and predictable profit for good causes.”

During the pandemic, Norsk Tipping introduced new measures to secure vulnerable players and increase safer gambling restrictions, including reducing the maximum monthly loss limit on its high-risk online games to NOK5,000 (£417/€485/$575). Eriksen said the social mission of the monopoly was particularly important to him.

“This is a very exciting and challenging job, and I am very happy to have had this opportunity. Norsk Tipping’s social mission is important for the whole of Norway, for the players and for the sports, culture and humanitarian sector, which are completely dependent on the means of gambling,” Eriksen said.

“I look forward to getting to know Norsk Tipping better, the challenges that await and not least everyone who works at [the Norsk Tipping office in] Hamar.”

Eriksen will be taking up the position on 12 September, taking over from Asne Havnelid, who has held the position for the past 6 years.

In June 2020, Norway’s Ministry of Culture launched a consultation on a consolidation of the country’s gambling laws into a single Gambling Act, which aimed to maintain Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto’s monopolies in the market while improving customer protections.

Last year, the government submitted the new Gambling Act, which included a promise to impose greater sanctions on unlicensed operators and affiliates who offered unlicensed gaming to customers in the jurisdiction.

Reports last week claimed that Fanatics had agreed a source code deal with Amelco as part of its plans to build a sports betting product.

“There is no deal in place with Amelco,” the spokesperson said, however.

Fanatics, which raised $1.5bn in January this year at a $27bn valuation, has long been credited with an interest in expanding from sports memorabilia into sports betting brand.

Last year, the business was among the bidders to operate sports betting in New York. Fanatics and Penn National Gaming’s Barstool brand were each listed as operators in a bid from Kambi.

This bid was ultimately unsuccessful, however.

Instead, a FanDuel-led consortium comprising DraftKings, BetMGM and Bally Bet was recommended, as was Kambi’s other proposal – involving Caesars Sportsbook, PointsBet, Resorts World, Rush Street Interactive and Wynn Bet.

The business also created a betting and gaming division last year, led by Matt King – formerly chief executive of FanDuel – and is advertising more than 40 new roles in betting and igaming.

Another media brand seen as part of a new wave of operators, streaming provider Dazn, today announced it was to launch a betting product under the Dazn Bet brand, in partnership with Pragmatic Group.

Operating under the brand name Eagle Casino and Sports, Soaring Eagle Gaming will be the 15th operator to secure approval from the MGCB, completing the regulator’s full complement of online licensees.

Soaring Eagle Gaming will operate in partnership with platform provider GAN in Michigan.

“I congratulate the Saginaw Chippewa tribe as they expand their gaming offerings,” MGCB executive director Henry Williams said. “All of Michigan’s federally recognised tribes are offering internet gaming and sports betting.”

Michigan launched legal igaming and online sports betting with an initial 10 operators on 22 January 2021. State law means licences are limited to commercial and tribal casinos located in Michigan.

Confirmation of the new licence comes after Michigan commercial and tribal operators posted a combined $162.2m (£124.7m/€150.5m) in total gross receipts and gross sports betting receipts for March. 

Last year was a good year for Playtech, in the end. According to the final results published in late March, revenues rose 12% to €1.2bn, while adjusted EBITDA was up 25% to €317.1m.

The results were decent across both the B2B and B2C operations. In the latter, the Italian retail and online betting and gaming business Snaitech bounced back from the pandemic. Online was the standout, up 45% to €229.9m, helping to offset the forced retail closures during the early part of 2021.

In the B2B business, meanwhile, revenues rose 11% to €554.3m helped by a booming Americas segment where revenues grew 64% to €101.3m. This was driven by the continuing success of the Caliente strategic partnership (more of which later).

Looking further down the page

But of course, it is the corporate activity surrounding Playtech which has stolen all the headlines in the past year.

CEO Mor Weizer is now a part of the potential bid consortium being put together by TTB Partners. The Hong Kong-based investment firm which has also roped in former Playtech CEO Tom Hall, meaning the earnings call with analysts necessarily skirted round the central issue of Playtech’s future.

The bid will (hopefully) bring to an end one of the most complicated and long-winded takeover tackles to ever afflict the online gaming sector.

After an initial approach from Aristocrat, a failed bid from the Eddie Jordan-fronted JKO Partners, the emergence of an Asian-based shareholder grouping ready to block deals it didn’t like and finally the TTB approach, it seems that in the coming weeks the saga will finally reach a conclusion.

And that, we presumed, would be the end of Playtech’s relatively eventful life as a listed company. Formed at the dawn of the online age by Teddy Sagi, the company progressed to London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 2006 before progressing to the main list of the LSE in 2012.

Weizer himself became the CEO in 2007 but the headlines were often dominated by Sagi and his shareholding, a situation that was finally resolved in late 2018. But if Sagi’s departure from then shareholder register was meant to signal an end to the drama surrounding Playtech’s listed life, then it was a short-lived hope after Aristocrat big emerged early last year.

When Weizer subsequently joined the TTB effort, it appeared to cap the drama with the suggestion that he would be in charge of the business as it set sail as a private entity. These last results, it was presumed, would be the company’s valedictory statement as it not-so-quietly slipped from the public gaze.

But is this the case?

A public affair

Having spoken to a number of company insiders, past and present, as well as other sources with a keen interest in what happens next at Playtech, it appears that a move private – while once the preferred option – is now not thought to be the likely endgame.

Instead, the business is set to remain as a listed entity, albeit with a substantial portion of its shares held by whatever consortium of investors is finally put together by TTB.

It comes down to the percentage that the London Stock Exchange (LSE) will allow for a listed entity to have a majority shareholder.

The thinking is that there is relatively recent precedent for this move. When Guoco bid for Rank back in 2011, its offer to buy shares was accepted by just under 75% of the shareholders, thus as the Financial Times said at the time, managing to stay listed “by the skin of its teeth”.

However, as a corporate lawyer pointed out, the LSE has since changed the rules further.

As of early December last year, the free float/shares in public hands requirement for companies listed on the main market in London was 25%. This was reduced to 10% by the FCA, with effect from that date, along with some other relaxations to encourage companies to choose London for their listing. 

In Playtech’s case, it might be that an offer is made to own substantially all of the company but for a small slug to remain in the open market.

Why is this option attractive? Here the sources suggest that contrary to previous speculation that TTB would want to take the company into the private realm in order to make more of a push in Asia, it is actually the US opportunity that the prospective investors find attractive.

This makes sense. While the rollout of US igaming legislation has somewhat stalled, it won’t be held back forever. There is too much money at stake and providers such as Playtech well know it. It is, after all, why Aristocrat made their own bid

A listing, so runs the current logic, gives Playtech a degree of credibility when it comes to regulators in the US and is a valuable asset. It is not something that should be bargained away in the takeover struggle.

All of which means that far from the last set of annual results being Playtech’s swansong as a listed entity, they actually represent the launchpad for Playtech’s next stage of corporate life.

We haven’t seen the end of Mor Weizer after all, which for those who have been following the company ever since he took the CEO post is a huge relief. He really would have been missed.

Scott Longley has been a journalist since the early noughties covering personal finance, sport and gambling. He has worked for a number of publications including Investment Week, Bloomberg Money, Football First, eGaming Review and Gambling Compliance.

Bryan Cherrett has more than 15 years’ experience in the gaming industry, having worked as both operator and acquirer, with a keen interest in payments. Away from work, Bryan is passionate about family and sports and believes in a ‘never give up’ attitude.

Soft2Bet is using its experience in gaming, which spans slots, tournaments, live casino and sports betting, to propel itself into a leading position in the payments vertical. The supplier already supports more than 10 brands, including YoyoCasino, CampoBet, LightCasino and ZuluBet. 

When planning its future investments, Soft2Bet aims for creative solutions, with an emphasis on speed to market, and has integrated over 100 payment providers to date. Their head of payments operations, Bryan Cherrett, believes this strategy is now paying off, and its foresight is helping it forge ahead of the competition.

“Soft2Bet thrives in being amongst the first to offer credible payment solutions that no one else has on the market,” he explains. “To name a few – creative open bank solutions, P2P solutions and also in early stages we are considering NFT technology vis à vis payment options.”

Leading from the front has given Soft2Bet the means to accommodate a wide geographic reach, continues Cherrett, with the management of different currencies and the subsequent risks all handled through a localised strategy.

“We have professional local people who head all of our core and emerging markets and provide professional insight into the particular market,” he explains. “This helps us to offer top notch products and solutions, which are tailor-made for that particular region. 

“Risks are also dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and we have measures in place per country/region, rather than one that fits all.”

Strength in numbers

Its expansive product range is supported by a network of external partners that help ensure a high standard of player protection, which Cherrett describes as an integral component of Soft2Bet’s strategy. Collaborations with the likes of regtech specialists MuchBetter gives the company a wider pool of expertise to choose from, enhancing its offering and customer base.

“We believe in our partners,” Cherrett says. “Without these partnerships we could have never become what we are today, and what we aim to be in the coming weeks and months. The partnership with MuchBetter is just one of the most recent ones – we feel that the personal touch we have with our partners has helped take us to the next level.

“We pride ourselves on the way we show support in difficult personal times and believe in hearing what they have to say.”

Another notable partnership for the provider is their deal with Onfido, which provided reliable identity verification and a KYC solution. Each deal has had a positive impact on the Soft2Bet strategy, Cherrett believes.

“As a company, it is not our sole interest to make money – we are passionate about the wellbeing of our players, and so adhere to the regulatory requirements and pay particular attention to factors such as bettors playing within their limits.

“Now that we have KYC tools such as these in place, we intend to safeguard the security of our players and make sure that the player that is registered on our end is the actual person authorising the payments.”

Adapt and grow

This underlying support structure allows Soft2Bet to continually look at expansion opportunities, and devise the creative solutions that allow them to take advantage of these. Of course, that means cryptocurrencies are in the supplier’s sights. 

As cryptocurrencies emerge into the mainstream, and with the trend looking likely to continue, companies must adapt to this new mainstream form of payment, Cherrett believes. Soft2Bet is keeping ahead of the curve as this rapidly changing phenomenon shapes the way we look at the payment landscape.

“Cryptocurrencies have been discussed for quite a time now but it seems that many companies are still scared to dive into it,” he says. 

“From our perspective, this is mainly due to the concern that many don’t fully understand how much they are paying for a transaction in fiat value, since it seems that human beings always want to calculate their spend in a more traditional currency.

“At Soft2Bet, we are monitoring closely how we can develop a crypto product that is fully understandable for all players, with clear explanation as to what is being paid and what is expected to be received. Simplification for this method is what we are after.”

New horizons

Also crucial will be the continued growth of the business. As a company in a sector that is expanding and evolving, Soft2Bet plans to evolve with the market, to maintain its high standard of tailored solutions.

“The payments world is in constant flux,” Cherrett says. “The changes in the past few months, from 3DS2 (a multi-factor authentication protocol used to confirm digital identity during checkout) to open banking, show that this part of the business is very much alive and kicking. 

“At Soft2Bet we are ensuring that we have specialised tailored payment options for all our players, since an EU player does not expect to have the same solutions that we offer to our LatAm players and vice versa.”

Ultimately, he continues, the business has to be open and active around the world, moving in tandem with its partners.

Going forward, Cherrett says that Soft2Bet want to continue utilising the “very good relationships” they have with their partners

“Going into the future, we are suggesting payment products that they can develop to help them thrive.”

Futbin boasts 50 million monthly viewers on its website, plus a further three million daily active users on its app, which better Collective said made it “the world’s leading esports brand” dedicated to the FIFA games.

Better Collective will pay €70m in cash and €5m worth of existing shares up front, plus €30m in earnout payments to be made over the next two years, for a total fee of €105m. The business noted that it recently expanded its credit lines with Nordea Bank by €100m to help finance this and other deals.

Jesper Søgaard, CEO and co-founder of Better Collective, said the business may continue to pursue other esports-related acquisitions.

“Esports is maturing and attracting more and more people globally – also professional athletes,” he said. “Acquiring Futbin and related assets is a clear testament to Better Collective’s ambition of creating a platform that reaches esports audiences across the world. 

“And even though more than 100 million people visit our esports platforms every month, we will continue to look for additional growth. We are very impressed with the high growth profile and the technology behind Futbin and the other assets in the portfolio. We expect to see significant positive synergistic effects with Better Collective’s business going forward.”

During the last 12 months, Futbin made €13m in revenue, representing a growth rate of 55% per year from 2019. As most of this revenue came from ad sales and subscriptions, Better Collective said the move “entails a significant revenue diversification for Better Collective as current revenue is not derived from activities related to sports betting”.

The affiliate business said the move helped it expand in the world of esports, with its esports-related assets now attracting more than 100 million views per month. In March 2020, the business acquired HLTV.org – which specialises in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – in a deal worth up to €34.5m.

“Granting a unique access to the esports audience, this is a key segment for retail and consumer brands in their global positioning,” Better Collective said. “The increased scale allows for optimised revenue streams through improved partnerships.”

As a result of the deal, Better Collective has raised its financial targets for 2022. The business now projects its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to reach €85m, up from the previously projected €80m.

New Hampshire’s handle for the month reached $78.8m (£60.6m/€73.1m), which was comfortably higher than the $55.8m wagered by consumers in the same month last year and 11.1% more than $70.9m in February 2022.

Players spent a total of $60.3m betting on sports via the internet in March, while the other $18.5m was wagered at retail sportsbooks.

In terms of revenue, gross gaming revenue from sports betting during the month reached $5.3m, up from $4.3m in March 2021 and also 430.0% more than $1.0m in February this year.

Of this total, $4.8m of revenue was generated via internet betting, while the remaining $460,420 came from retail wagering.

The New Hampshire Lottery also revealed that the state was able to generate $2.5m in tax from sports betting during March.

For the financial year to date, player spending for the nine months to the end of March amounted to $658.2m, while revenue was $37.6m and tax income $17.5m.

Revenue for the second full month of legal online betting in the state was comfortably ahead of $16.7m in February, whereas for the first few days of regulated wagering in January – with the market having opened on 28 January – there was a $9.0m loss.

Players wagered $205.7m on sports via the internet in March, which was less than $211.0m in February. However, the February handle total included $10.0m in promotional bets and offers, whereas March only had $802,245 worth of promotional deductions.

Basketball betting was the primary single source of revenue for operators, with licensees having won $12.8m in total from such bets. Soccer revenue was $467,735 and baseball $173,131, while parlay revenue reached $13.6m.

Penn National Gaming and its Barstool Sportsbook, Caesars, DraftKings, Rush Street Interactive and its BetRivers Sportsbook, and Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group in partnership with Boyd Gaming all went live with online sports betting on opening day of regulation in January.

WynnBet and partner licensee Horseshoe Bossier followed just over a week later, launching on 9 February.

Turning to retail betting, which became legal in October last year, revenue for March was $1.7m, up 168.0% month-on-month, while retail wagers edged down 1.5%m to $27.0m.

Basketball was again the main revenue source for operators, though at a much lower value than that of online at $133,540. Baseball revenue was $41,591 and soccer $20,903, while football wagers produced a loss of $300,093 and parlay betting revenue reached $1.8m.

The total was 27.3% higher than $127.4m in March of last year and also 11.6% higher than $145.3m in February this year.

These increases, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) said, were primarily due to a record performance by the state’s igaming sector, where gross receipts were up 38.2% year-on-year to $131.4m.

In terms of online sports betting, gross receipts amounted to $30.5m, which was down 5.6% from $32.3m in March of 2021. However, the MGCB noted that the state’s online handle was 13.4% higher at $451.6m.

Combined total adjusted gross receipts, which account for promotional spending, reached $133.2m, representing a year-on-year increase of 23.7% from $107.7m in March last year.

Online gaming adjusted gross receipts climbed 33.7% to $118.6m, though adjusted gross receipts from sports betting declined 22.8% to $14.7m. 

Operators submitted $24.7m in taxes and payments to the State of Michigan during March including $23.9m in igaming taxes and fees and $805,334 in online sports betting taxes and fees.

Last week it was also revealed that revenue from the three land-based commercial casinos in Detroit, Michigan increased 8.0% year-on-year to $122.9m in March.

It was also announced that Soaring Eagle Gaming, the gaming arm of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe, was authorised to launch igaming and sports betting in the state.