Month: April 2022

Announced last month, the rebrand followed the acquisition of Livestream Gaming, owner of the Loot.Bet server-based real-money gaming platform and esports betting brand in February.

The group said that the new name would better reflect its activities across the esports and igaming sectors.

React Gaming’s common shares are now trading under the new name on the TSX Venture Exchange, along with a new ‘RGG’ trading symbol. The group said there was no consolidation or change in share capital in relation to the rebrand.

“With the completion of our Loot.Bet game-changing acquisition, it was time for us to re-brand our name to better reflect our activities in the esports and igaming sector,” React Gaming president and chief executive Laurent Benezra said.

“The addition of Loot.Bet has increased our revenues considerably, and we are convinced that we can expand our leading online gaming and betting platform activities into promising new markets.”

Alongside Loot.Bet, React Gaming’s subsidiaries also include esports social gaming platform HypeX.gg, esports specialist business Generationz Gaming Entertainment, Canadian Fortnite outfit Team Bloodhounds and esports organisation Parabellum.

“Over the next few weeks, we will be launching several marketing initiatives to increase Loot.Bet’s user base, currently estimated to be over 500,000 users,” Benezra said. 

“We will also be launching programs to monetise the other subsidiaries that make up our esports ecosystem, including HypeX.gg, Team Bloodhounds and Generationz, as well as our professional esports team Parabellum Esports.”

Under the deal, agreed via a Bally’s subsidiary, Bally’s subscribed for 25,000,000 common shares of Snipp at US $0.20 per share and will be entitled to nominate one director to Snipp’s board of directors

Bally’s will also have first refusal in respect to any offer to purchase all or substantially all of Snipp’s assets received from any competitor. 

Completion of the investment is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange as well as the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. 

“Bally’s is one of the most forward-thinking companies in the gaming industry and their investment illustrates the value that they see in SnippLoyalty as well as our SnippCare customer acquisition, retention, and engagement platform,” Snipp founder and chief executive Atul Sabharwal said.

Bally’s and Snipp will also enter into commercial agreements whereby Bally’s will become Snipp’s exclusive gaming partner for Snipp’s ‘Gambit’ loyalty gaming platform, which the provider recently acquired in connection with its purchase of Gambit Rewards.

This will also cover Bally’s receiving a three-year term licence of the SnippLoyalty software platform, intended for implementation across Bally’s physical and online properties, the first of which will commence this quarter.

Bally’s will also be granted an option to licence the source code for the specific version or versions of the SnippLoyalty software platform implemented in any of its properties for a price of $10.0m.

In addition, Snipp will licence certain free-to-play games and trademarks from Bally’s for inclusion in the Gambit Rewards platform. Bally’s members will have access to Gambit’s free-to-play mode and Gambit members will be able to redeem Gambit Prize Tokens in the form of Bally’s loyalty points.

“Our acquisition of Gambit was intended as a way to better align ourselves with the Gaming world,” Sabharwal said. “Now, only a couple of months later, we’re entering a deep relationship with Bally’s.

“We welcome their presence on our board and look forward to tapping their deep expertise in this high-growth industry.”

Bally’s Interactive chief operating officer for North America, Adi Dhandhania, added: “Working together with Snipp furthers our strategic goals around omni-channel integration with well-established technology that can combine rewards platforms across the Bally’s brand and thereby provide our customers with a seamless user journey.”

Wynn in December announced Cameron-Doe as its new chief financial officer to succeed Craig Billings, who was appointed as Wynn’s new chief executive in the previous month.

At the time, Wynn said Cameron-Doe would join the business with effect from the second quarter of 2022 after completing her notice period with Aristocrat, where she has been CFO since January 2018.

Aristocrat has now confirmed that Cameron-Doe’s last day with the business will be 15 April, after which she will be replaced in the interim by deputy chief financial officer Sally Denby.

Denby worked in senior finance roles at Aristocrat for more than seven years, including four years as its group general manager of finance

Aristocrat added that a global search to appoint a permanent replacement for Cameron-Doe is “well progressed”.

“Julie has been an exceptional partner to me and the leadership group,” Aristocrat’s chief executive and managing director,” Trevor Croker said. “I am thankful for Julie’s dedicated service to Aristocrat over the past eight years and wish her all the best for the future.”

Cameron-Doe’s departure exit after Aristocrat earlier this year failed in an effort to acquire Playtech.

Playtech’s board backed an offer for Aristocrat to acquire the business for £2.7bn (€3.2bn/$3.7bn) in October, subject to shareholder approval. 

However Playtech in February revealed that proxy votes received to date suggested the acquisition would fall short of the 75% of votes required for Aristocrat’s bid to proceed. Playtech has since received an approach from TTB Partners over a possible takeover.

As of 11 April, El Mihdawy is prohibited from playing in or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by any international tennis governing body or national association until the full disciplinary process is completed. 

The ITIA did not go into further detail about the match fixing charges facing the player, but it did state that the provisional suspension was issued under section F.3 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Corruption Program.

This clause permits the ITIA to suspend a player or other covered person before a notice of major offence has been issued, prior to a hearing or at any time after a bearing but before the issuance of a written decision.

El Mihdawy is currently 804 in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world singles rankings and has a career-high ranking of 281.

This marked the first sanction issued by the ITIA since January, when Peru’s Mauricio Echazu was banned for two years and three months after he was found to have breached a number of rules of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).

Also in January, Argentinian tennis player Nicolás Arreche was banned for four years after he was found guilty of match-fixing.

In line with requirements set out by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, PointsBet will carry out a two-day soft launch period before rolling out online casino in full in the state.

The roll out comes after PointsBet in February completed a successful soft launch of its online sports betting product in Pennsylvania, prior to rolling out the sportsbook in full.

PointsBet also currently offers online casino in the regulated US states of Michigan, New Jersey and West Virginia, as well as Ontario in Canada.

“It is an exciting time for the online casino market, and we’re proud to be able to tap into this momentum and introduce our proprietary product in Pennsylvania,” PointsBet’s president of technology Manjit Gombra Singh said.

“We’re quickly scaling our online casino business and looking forward to expanding and refining our suite of products throughout the year to deliver more options for our users in PointsBet online casinos.”

Each agreement will run for three years, with Veikkaus to support the Veikkausliiga, its clubs and all teams under the SPL umbrella, as well as Finland’s futsal clubs and Finnish Cup competitions. 

These arrangements will include Veikkaus providing financial backing for Finnish clubs and teams.

The deals will also enable Veikkaus customers to access a range of benefits, competitions and content related to the Finnish national team, with content to appear on the operator’s social media channels.

“We are really pleased the long joint history of Veikkaus and domestic football continues and deepens.” Veikkaus chief executive Olli Sarekoski said. “Our cooperation plays an important role in enabling our customers to access the best betting products, services and content on the market. 

“The sport plays an important role, and it is great that the agreements cover Finnish football so widely.”

SPL chairman Ari Lahti added: “Veikkaus is a significant and long-term partner in domestic football. Together, we felt it was really important to strengthen and expand the cooperation so that it would bring even stronger financial benefits to the clubs.”

The deals come after Veikkaus last month reported a 12.7% year-on-year decline in revenue to €1.10bn (£916.2m/$1.19bn) for its 2021 financial year. The revenue fall came as the monopoly’s market share fell by 5% to 74%, meaning the unlicensed market made up the other 26%.

Glatz-Kremsner will be replaced on the ECA board by Erwin van Lambaart, who took on the role of chief executive at Casinos Austria earlier this month.

As such, van Lambaart will serve as Austria’s representative on the ECA board, the ECA confirmed following its board meeting at ICE London 2022.

ECA also announced Pieter Boers, vice president of gaming and services at Holland Casino, will join its board, replacing Van Lambaart’s vacated position as representative for The Netherlands on the ECA board.

“The contribution of Bettina Glatz-Kremsner, as Board Member and the ECA’s vice chair during the last two years, has been critical to the unified response of the land-based casino sector to the adversity faced by members during the Covid-19 crisis,” ECA chairman Per Jaldung said.

“I wish Bettina the very best as she retires from her role at Casinos Austria and, on behalf of the ECA, recognise the debt we owe for the contributions she has made, not only in regards to our association, but to the casino industry as a whole. I am sure we will cross paths in the future, and I look forward to such opportunities.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Erwin van Lambaart on his new role leading Casinos Austria. As an existing and highly valued ECA board member; I look forward to maintaining our close working relationship. 

“I also extend a warm welcome to our newest board member, Pieter Boers, whose input is most welcome at this pivotal time for the land-based casino industry in Europe.”

The restructure comes after the ECA last month announced French casino operator the JOA Group as France’s first business to be certified according to its Responsible Gambling Framework.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) said the rise was primarily due to the casinos operating at reduced capacity in March last year as a result of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) measures in the state.

However, it was also noted that the March 2022 figure was higher than the $94.7m posted in February of this year, representing a 29.8% month-on-month increase.

The MGM Grand Detroit led the way with a 46% market share, ahead of MotorCity Casino on 33%, then Penn National’s Greektown Casino Hotel with 21%.

Breaking down the monthly performance, table games and slots accounted for $120.9m of all revenue generated during the month, up 9.1% year-on-year and 26.5% ahead of February this year.

Table games and slots at the MGM reached $55.9m, while MotorCity posted $39.3m and Greektown $25.7m.

The three casinos paid the State of Michigan $9.8m in gaming tax during the month, as well as $14.4m in wagering taxes and development agreement payments to the City of Detroit.

Turning to sports betting and total qualified adjusted gross receipts (QAGR) for March was $1.0m, down 65.0% from March 2021 but 31.3% more than February this year.

MotorCity claimed top spot in sports betting with $718,442 in QAGR, ahead of Greektown on $664,550 then the MGM at $545,336.

The casinos processed a total of $26.4m in bets, with gross receipts at $2.0m, while $72,891 was paid in state taxes and $89,089 in retail sports betting tax to the City of Detroit.

The Toronto-headquartered Bragg Gaming subsidiary will provide its proprietary PAM platform for igaming to the brand, which is set to launch after obtaining its operators’ licence. Oryx will also deliver games developed by its in-house studios as well as exclusive content from partner studios.

The partnership represents the supplier’s third agreement to provide its PAM platform to an igaming operator for the Netherlands market and its fifth agreement to supply online gaming content in this market.

Chris Looney, chief commercial officer at Bragg, said: “We’re well aware of how powerful and agile our turnkey solutions are for those beginning online operation in new markets. Our new partnership with 711 is a testament to their trust in our ability to provide them with the igaming platform and content that will help them successfully launch and grow their presence in the Netherlands.

“We have established a very strong platform and content presence in the Dutch iGaming market and we are thrilled to make further inroads into this exciting space together with a local and well-established operator.”

Bragg said it expects to announce additional platform and content agreements in the coming months as it continues its expansion in regulated European markets.

Gilles De Backer, chief operating officer at 711, said: “We are very pleased with the licence approval in the Netherlands and had the pleasure to cooperate with Oryx for the licence approval process. They offered us everything we needed to get the licence and are still offering us great support.

“Before we started our operations in this market we looked into many other platforms. Today we are certain that we made the right call.”

In consultation discussions with the SAR, the IMF executive board’s said that Macau had been “hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis”, with a 54% decline in gross domestic product in 2020 followed by an 18% expansion in 2021 “driven by the partial recovery of the gaming sector”.

The gradual return of foreign tourists and the recovery of domestic demand is expected to drive Macau’s continuing recovery this year, with GDP increasing by 15.5%, before the issuance of new gaming concessions contributes towards growth of 23% in 2023.

In March, Macau’s government announced that gaming licences in the SAR would be extended by six months, until the end of this year.

However, the IMF noted that the collapse of economic activity during the height of the pandemic, “mostly on account of weak services exports, highlighted Macao SAR’s overreliance on the gaming industry”.

Furthermore, “due to the still relatively low tourism receipts” and “in the absence of rapid progress towards economic diversification”, Macau’s current account surplus in 2021 was estimated to be less than half of what it was before the pandemic.

“Large downside risks remain,” the IMF stated. “A resurgence of the Covid‑19 pandemic could stall Macao SAR’s near‑term recovery and undermine the medium‑term viability of the gaming sector. “Some uncertainty remains regarding the proposed amendments to Macao’s gaming law, which in combination with the recent ban on the gaming services’ marketing in the mainland, clouds the outlook of the gaming sector.”