Month: May 2022

The aim of the suit, which was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, is to compel Wynn to register fully as a foreign agent. In the filing, the Department of Justice provides its evidence of this to the US Attorney General.

The suit states that Wynn had been advised to register as an agent for China and as a senior official of China’s Ministry of Public Security under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which he declined to do.

The complaint alleges that between June 2017 and August 2017, Wynn spoke to US president Donald Trump and members of his administration to communicate that a businessman who left China in 2014 and was later charged with corruption by China and sought asylum in the US should be removed from the US or have his visa cancelled.

This, the suit claims, was done at the request of Sun Lijun, who was vice president of the Ministry of Public Security at that time.

The communication, which occurred over “multiple discussions”, took place in-person and by phone.

Wynn allegedly tried to organise a meeting between Trump, White House senior officials, the National Security Council and Sun, along with Chinese government officials.

During this time Wynn continued to operate casinos in Macau. The DOJ alleges that Wynn acted on China’s requests to protect his businesses in the region.

“The filing of this suit – the first affirmative civil lawsuit under FARA in more than three decades – demonstrates the department’s commitment to ensuring transparency in our democratic system,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

“Where a foreign agent uses an American as its agent to influence policy decisions in the United States, FARA gives the American people a right to know.”

Wynn founded Wynn Resorts in 2002, having previously founded Mirage Resorts which was bought by MGM. He stepped down from Wynn Resorts in 2018 after media reports alleging sexual harrassment, which Wynn denied.

As was evident late last year when iGB published the latest salary survey from Pentasia, it was clear back then that the North American market had an insatiable appetite for talent.

“Major financial investment translated into record-high recruitment demand in 2021, spiking particularly high on the US East Coast,” the report found.

The report went on to state that the search for talent was broadening out with operators and suppliers looking to recruit from the wider pool of digital and ecommerce sectors and not just the existing land-based talent pool.

The report said then that “demand may settle somewhat in 2022” but that identifying candidates “will remain a huge challenge”.

The search

“That is definitely the case,” suggests Robert Gray who heads up Pentasia’s US-facing operations from his base in Las Vegas.

You don’t have to look too far to understand one of the key reasons for this. The pace of change in the US, the opening up of new markets and the sheer intensity of the competition within the online space, both for sports-betting and for igaming, is unprecedented.”

“It is simply down to more states beginning to regulate,” says Gray, who notes that while Pentasia has been working in the North American market for many years, the past 18 months have seen an explosion of recruitment activity.

“We have seen land-based operators moving into the space, new online operators, European and global incomers, the lot,” he says. “It really has been the perfect storm.”

It is the kind of pressure that puts the pressure on companies working in the space to attract the right candidates.

“The market is incredibly competitive and we are constantly evolving how we can best showcase what makes FanDuel standout,” says Tricia Alcamo, chief people officer, FanDuel Group.

She adds that candidates are in a “good position” to be selective right now, and not just about their compensation packages.

“Candidates are focused on the whole experience,” she says. “What’s important to one candidate may be different from what’s important to another. Candidates are more focused than ever on the full package, including the workplace experience and culture.”

Kelli Glynn is interim co-chief people officer with Sportradar in New York. She says that the company needs unique skill sets and that with a rolling roster of 20-plus open positions available, the pressure to find talent is more intense than the situation pre-pandemic.

In particular, she notes that the candidates they are speaking to are often fielding multiple offers and that this means that employers “have to be creative to differentiate themselves”.

“It’s not just about salary anymore,” she adds. “We’re able to use some of our unique benefits like equity, company-paid medical and dental insurance, paid time off and flexibility to stand out – and, of course, culture is key.”

Turning to outside the sector

A major factor at play with developments in the US online sector right now is that the fight for talent has extended far beyond the borders of the gaming world and into other areas of technology and digital businesses.
Indeed, Gray suggests that many operators and suppliers are now specifically seeking out candidates without any experience of the gaming sector, whether online or land-based. “People coming from ecommerce is a popular route,” he says. “Plus, with technology generally, there are obviously transferable skills.”

As Glynn from Sportradar says, “great talent can come from a variety of industries”. “There are a handful of key roles for which we do need betting and gaming expertise, but for the most part we tend to look at the core skills of the role and growth mindset when recruiting talent,” they add.

Alcamo agrees, suggesting FanDuel is attracting candidates form a “broad range of backgrounds” including from ecommerce and general leisure as well as land-based gaming.

“Yes, there are some adjacent spaces like the ones suggested, but new hires are also bringing relevant skills from other areas like the payments industry or from other consumer brands that have experienced a similar rate of significant growth,” she says.

The Pentasia salary survey confirmed the trend for seeking talent form outside the sector, pointing out that direct gaming industry experience can be hard to find. But Gray adds a coda, suggesting that the US sector can do more to retrain people with a background in the bricks and mortar industry.

“I think they can be doing more to upskill people from land-based,” he suggests. “I understand some of the motives; the sector is moving so fast they are under pressure to produce results immediately and don’t have time to train people up. So, they look to other areas of tech. But they run the risk of ignoring a sizeable potential talent pool.”

Work from home

If there is one aspect of the last couple of years that looks likely to have a life span far beyond that of the pandemic it that of remote working.

As the Pentasia report said in 2021, the five-day week in the office has “vanished” to be replaced by working from home and hybrid options. The survey found that among tech vacancies, there has been a seven times increase in the number of remote posts. Notably, pay rates match of even exceed on-side hires.

Gray confirms the evidence from last year’s survey; virtually everyone in the gaming and betting sector is working a combination of remote and in-office days.

“That is a massive factor now,” says Gray. “The majority of conversations I have with candidates, their preference is to work from home or at the very least have the hybrid options.”

Alcamo says the whole landscape around flexibility has “changed dramatically coming out of the pandemic”. She adds that it has encouraged new thinking around workplace culture and to “put some of our creative innovation to the test as we redesign not just the gaming industry, but the way we define work-place success”.

“Where we are now, and with the experience of the pandemic under our belts, flexibility is currently at the top of the list of what we can offer candidates,” she says. “We’ve taken a position that a “one size fits all” model isn’t the right approach.”

In practice, it means identifying roles where it can make sense to be remote and others where there are benefits from teams working together, with individuals given the opportunity to define the right mix of remote and in-office.

“Two years of working from home has been polarizing in terms of how employees want to engage,” says Glynn from Sportradar. “We’re seeing both extremes – candidates who are desperate to be back in the office and those who want to remain 100% remote.”

It means that Sportradar has landed at the same position as FanDuel and presumably many others – accommodating flexibility in order to ensure the get the best people.

“Sportradar’s culture is rooted in sports and technology and we’ve seen that teamwork and innovation are enabled by being together so some in-person time is our preference,” she adds.

“Our three US offices – New York, Minneapolis, and Las Vegas – are all open again and we’ve made investments in them to ensure our employees get to enjoy great in-office perks on the days they come in.”

As the world progresses to a post-pandemic environment, things might change further when it comes to where people are working. But one thing seems unlikely to change, and that is the demand for more talent to feed an industry which is growing at pace.

“Talent could be the sector’s greatest challenge in the years to come,” concludes Gray. “Getting the right people in, at the right time, with the right skills to build your business has never been more crucial in the US.”

An operator’s view: Tricia Alcamo, Chief People Officer, FanDuel Group

Tricia Alcamo joined FanDuel only in April, taking on the role of chief people officer having previously been at Spectrum Enterprise and Amex years. She took the time to answer some questions from iGB about the issues facing her in her new role.

iGB: How tricky do you find it competing with the biggest tech firms for tech talent? Do you find it hard recruiting from that space?

Tricia Alcamo: I think it’s all about differentiating the employee value proposition from that of the biggest tech firms. To many candidates, the stage of our growth is what excites them the most. We hear often that candidates find it appealing that we are a leader in a consumer-focused, high growth market. FanDuel is an exciting place to work, no doubt about it.

iGB: What percentage of new recruits comes from other online betting and gaming companies? Is this a particular battlefield?

TA: Hard to give a percentage, but for FanDuel hiring in the US, our ability to bring in talent with specific online betting and gaming experience benefits tremendously from our position as part of the broader group of companies under the Flutter Entertainment umbrella. In the broader Flutter group, we have a global population of subject matter experts and have facilitated a number of important internal transfers, bringing direct industry knowledge and experience.

iGB: Do you think the online betting sector benefits from being relatively high profile right now? Do you find there is a lot of enthusiasm from people to join the business right now?

TA: Absolutely. And to be a recognized brand and a market leader in that space is an attractive draw.

iGB: How hard does the patchwork of regulation in the US make your job right now?

TA: It adds complexity for sure and it means we look to our compliance and regulatory team as a critical area to bring in great talent. We are lucky to have some of the best and brightest from the legal and compliance fields as part of our team, leaders in the space who are passionate about taking on the challenges that come from this complexity. They understand that their work is critical to the success of the company and it is a fantastic opportunity for them to have a seat at the table as the regulatory environment helping to define the industry.

The government published its final version of a major gambling reform bill, which was first proposed in January.

The law includes a requirement for “adjusted moderation” in marketing.

Under this new standard, “the marketing of games should be adapted for to take special account of the fact that different forms of gambling entail different risks of addiction”.

The government clarified that the new “adjusted moderation” is not the same as “special moderation”, which is the standard imposed for marketing of alcohol and was proposed as a new standard for gambling law year. In Sweden, alcohol marketing “must not be intrusive, include outreach or urge people to use alcohol”.

The call for “adjusted moderation” is less severe than the previous proposal to ban ads for “high-risk” games between 6 am and 9 pm which had also been under consideration.

“The government determined that both channeling and media revenues could be adversely impacted by such a ban, while many at-risk people would continue to be exposed to ads,” the government said. 

The government determined that both channeling and media revenues could be adversely impacted by such a ban, while many at-risk people would continue to be exposed to ads.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), said the absence of an advertising ban between certain hours was the most important aspect of the bill.

“It is entirely in line with what the government announced it would include and we are cautiously positive of this bill,” Hoffstedt said. “The most striking thing is actually what is not included in the proposal, such as a ban on advertising for gambling on TV, radio and streaming media between 6 am and 9 pm.

“We are pleased that the government has listened to stakeholders in the gambling industry as well as several publishers who have pointed out the disadvantages of such a proposal.”

However, Hoffstedt added that while the “adjusted moderation” standard is an improvement when compared to a ban, it was still extremely ambiguous and would leave the industry uncertain of how it can or cannot market itself.

“The remaining concern is the proposal for ‘adjusted moderation’,” he said. “It seems to be a paraphrase of risk classification and the very ambiguity of what it actually means opens for legal uncertainty. 

“Here, the legislator should consider whether it really wants to introduce further uncertainty regarding the interpretation of regulatory measures, uncertainty that risks leading to protracted court proceedings.”

The bill also includes many of the same major topics as the initial proposal, including licences for business-to-business software providers. 

Under the rules, a gaming software licence would become mandatory for suppliers who offer their services to operators in Sweden. This, according to the government, would help to limit unlicensed gambling in the country.

Details of how these licences would work were outlined in a consultation that opened in March. Under the proposed rules, the application fee for supplier licences, which may last up to five years, would come to SEK120,000.

B2B licensees must be headquartered in the European Economic Area or set up an office in Sweden.

Independent research agency Explori surveyed attendees at the event. In addition to the satisfaction score, Explori found that 90% of iGB Affiliate London attendees said they were likely to return to the event, compared to the industry standard of 67%.

In addition, attendees gave the show an 86% rating for importance, compared to an industry standard of 59%.

As a result, the show obtained a net promoter score, which measures the likelihood of attendees recommending the show to colleagues, of +51.

Naomi Barton, Clarion gaming’s portfolio director responsible for the iGB brand, noted the success came on the back of iGB Live! 2021, which also achieved extremely high satisfaction ratings.

“We came away from last Autumn’s in-person event held at the RAI Amsterdam with a really positive response which was heightened by the fact that we were the first large scale gaming brand to come back post-COVID, and I am delighted to say that positivity has been very much in evidence seven months later as we returned to ExCeL London after a two-year absence,” she said. “A significant proportion of live events are returning negative NPS scores and to achieve +51 is a major achievement. 

“Also, having satisfied visitors feeds directly through to the community of exhibitors.”

Barton added that the business would continue to build on this success for iGB Live! 2022, which will be held in Amsterdam in July.

“The figures are part of a bigger picture which saw the iGB brand attract visitors to London from 87 countries with close to eight out of 10 attendees classified as being part of the final decision-making process,” she said, “As an organising and marketing team our aim is to build on these hugely positive metrics at July’s iGB Live! and continue the process of ensuring that the brand unlocks business opportunities for all of our attendees, continues to help raise professional standards in the sector and delivers an enhanced return on investment for our exhibitors.”

Under the agreement, brokered in September of last year, MGM will own the operations of the property. Cherng Family Trust, Stonepeak Partners and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) will own the real estate assets of the property itself.

MGM will lease the property from its new owners for 30 years, with three 10-year renewal options. It will pay an initial $200m per year in rent, with this total then increasing at between 2% and 3% per year, depending on inflation rates, placing the overall value of the deal at approximately $5.65bn.

Opened in December 2010, The Cosmopolitan has a 110,000sq ft casino, a hotel with 3,033 rooms, 26 food and beverage offerings, a 3,200-seat theatre and 36,000sq ft of leased retail space,

“This is a big moment for our company and for the Las Vegas Strip,” MGM president and chief executive Bill Hornbuckle said. “The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has already established itself as one of the Strip’s premier resorts with an iconic brand, well-curated experiences and a loyal customer base. 

“We’re also thrilled to have the talented group of CoStars from The Cosmopolitan joining the MGM Resorts family. We look forward to improving upon The Cosmopolitan’s already strong results by offering their customers access to the extensive and exclusive amenities and other benefits only MGM Resorts can provide.”

The purchase comes after MGM Resorts earlier this month also agreed to acquire online gambling operator LeoVegas for approximately $607.0m.

MGM will pay SEK61 per share to acquire all of LeoVegas’ share capital, which LeoVegas noted was a premium of 44% compared to LeoVegas’ closing share price on 29 April. The operator said it will finance the deal through its existing cash reserves.

The LeoVegas board unanimously recommended the offer.

Revenue for the three months through to 31 March was 73.7% higher than in the opening quarter of last year, primarily due to a record number of new depositing customers (NDCs) and all-time high revenue from revenue-sharing agreements. 

Revenue from the publishing business, comprising online platforms and media partnerships where online traffic comes directly or organic search results, more than doubled from €23.9m to €48.4m.

This, Better Collective said, was driven by existing partnerships with The Daily Telegraph in the UK and NJ.com in New Jersey, as well as through its new deal the New York Post, which came into effect in January when New York’s legal online sports betting market opened. 

Paid media revenue, which covers lead generation through paid media and social media advertising, also increased 26.7% €19.0m, following the decision to switch more NDCs from cost-per-acquisition to revenue share contracts or hybrid revenue models.

Since the latter part of the fourth quarter of 2021 and into the first quarter of this year, the group said this move led to a “significant improvement” in the performance of its paid media business.

In terms of geographical performance, US revenue rocketed by 435.0% year-on-year to €31.0m, driven by the New York launch and its acquisition of Action Network in May 2021. Rest of world revenue in the quarter also increased 10.3% to €36.4m.

Total NDCs for the quarter doubled from 180,000 to 360,000, a quarterly record for the group.

Turning to spending and expenses were higher across the board. Revenue costs were up 53.0% to €23.1m, while staff costs doubled to €15.7m and other external expenses hiked 96.4% to €5.5m. Amortisation expenses were 53.3% higher at €2.3m and depreciation costs reached €487,000.

After also accounting for €1.7m in special items, this left an operating profit of €18.7m, up 64.0% year-on-year. Better Collective also noted €2.9m in financial expenses, but this was largely offset by €2.3m in financial income.

As such, pre-tax profit reached €18.0m, an increase of 65.1% from €10.9m last year. Better Collective paid €4.3m in tax, leaving €13.7m in net profit, up from €8.3m last year.

In addition, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was 75.0% higher at €23.1m.

“2022 got off to a flying start with significant growth across business areas,” Better Collective co-founder and chief executive Jesper Søgaard said. “Q1 showed very strong organic growth and a record quarterly revenue of €67m, which was driven by a record intake of new depositing customers and an all-time high gross gaming on revenue share accounts.”

Such was the success of its first quarter, and taking into account the recent acquisitions of Canada Sports Betting and Futbin, Better Collective increased its guidance for the full year. 

EBITDA is now expected to reach €85.0m, up from an initial estimation of €75.0m, while revenue growth is expected to be between 20% and 30%, compared to the previous forecast of 15% to 25%.

Publication of the results comes after Better Collective earlier this month dismissed reports that it intends to buy Racing Post owner Spotlight Sports Group as “highly speculative”.

A report in the Sunday Times on 8 May claimed Better Collective, the largest listed igaming affiliate business in the world by revenue, “emerged as the odds-on favourite to clinch a deal” to acquire Spotlight from private equity business Exponent.

The report said that other businesses had also been in the running to acquire Spotlight after Exponent hired investment bank PJT Partners to arrange a sale, but that these had dropped out.

However, a Better Collective spokesperson said that the story was grounded only in speculation.

Revenue for the three months to 31 March 2022 was 11.1% higher than €40.7m in the same period last year, helped by launches in both New York and Louisiana. 

Search revenue accounted for €43.9m of total revenue in Q1, up 15.3% year-on-year, while paid revenue was 43.5% lower at $1.3m.

Revenue from cost-per-acquisition affiliation accounted for 67% of all revenue in Q1, while 27% came from revenue-sharing arrangements, and the remaining 6% from fixed-fee models.

In terms of business segments, sports betting led the way with €25.5m in revenue, up 77.1% year-on-year and representing 56% of all revenue in the quarter. Catena said its launch in New York and Louisiana helped this segment, as did high wagering activity on events such as the NFL’s Super Bowl and UK horse racing event the Cheltenham Festival.

Casino accounted for 42% of group revenue share, but revenue here fell 25.3% to €18.9m. Catena put this down to Q1 of 2021 being an extraordinarily successful quarter in North America due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) measures placed on land-based casinos, with more players turning to online, whereas this year, the market returned to more normal conditions.

Financial trading revenue fell 24.1% to €842,000, representing 2% of all revenue. Catena said this drop reflected challenging conditions on financial markets, in stark contrast to an exceptionally strong first quarter of 2021. 

In terms of new depositing customers, Catena was able to bring in 171,918 new players in the quarter, an increase of 9.1% on the previous year.

Looking at spending in Q1 and operating expenses were 19.2% higher at €23.6m, though the increase in revenue meant operating profit was 3.3% higher at €21.7m. Other costs reached €638,000, leaving a pre-tax profit of €21.8m, up 12.4% year-on-year.

Catena paid €884,000 in income tax and after also accounting for €1.1m in interest payable on hybrid capital securities, this left a comprehensive net profit of €19.8m, an increase of 16.5% on last year.

In addition, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 2.4% to €25.6m for the quarter.

“After our solid start to 2022 we are well positioned for a busy year ahead and to keep delivering on our financial targets,” Catena chief executive Michal Daly said. “We are investing strongly in personnel to prepare for future market launches and growth. 

“Our people-focused culture and innovative strength equip us to continue capturing the outstanding opportunity in North America while remaining adaptable and responsive to market conditions at global level.”

Spillemyndigheden continuously monitors approximately 23,000 slot machines in retail sites across the country with the aim of flagging illegal activity in the land-based market.

In 2001, the regulator carried out 1,511 basic inspections of venues, which was significantly more than 683 in 2020, with activity limited due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic leading to the temporary closure of many retail locations. Some 1,829 inspections took place in 2019 prior to the pandemic.

From these inspections, 255 cases were reported to the police, 46 of which were from 2021, 83 in 2020 and 126 in 2019. 

These reports take place when a provider breaches certain rules such as allowing consumers under the age of 18 to play slot machines, there are no staff in the gaming hall or games not covered by the operator’s licence were being offered.

The approximate 300 operators that run retail slot machines in Denmark are required to pay a fee of DKK678 (£77/€91/$96) for each terminal, as of 2022. The provider is responsible for reporting to the regulator how many machines it runs and how much they should pay in fees. 

Fees are paid to the Spillemyndigheden, with operators also having to pay tax at a rate of 41% of gross gaming revenue to the Danish Tax Agency. If gross gaming income exceeds a certain amount limit, there is also a surcharge of 30%.

Danish law states restaurants and pubs may only have three slot machines at any time, with only gaming halls permitted to run in excess of three terminals. The 23,000 slot machines currently operational in Denmark are spread across 983 gaming halls and 1,277 restaurants.

In February, it was revealed that Danish non-lottery gross gambling revenue came to DKK6.2bn in 2021, a 3.5% increase driven mostly by growth in online casino.

Sports betting came to DKK2.4bn, showing a 5.2% increase since 2020. This is thanks to it being the first 12-month period since Covid-19 restrictions that there was a full calendar of sports.

Online casino experienced the steepest incline, totalling DKK2.8bn, as compared to DKK2.4bn in 2020. This was a rise of 16.7%.

Slot machines and land-based casino saw a decline, with a notable drop of 22.4% in revenue. Due to restrictions related to coronavirus, many slot halls were working at 50% capacity, with only every other slot machine in operation.

Land-based casino saw a 6.9% decline with total revenue of DKK236m. From January to May, land-based casino saw no revenue due to Covid -19 restrictions.

Revenue slipped 0.2% month-on-month, but figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board revealed a 14.5% increase from $404.1m in April last year.

All but two areas of the state’s regulated market experienced year-on-year revenue growth in April. 

The highest increase was reported in sports betting, where revenue climbed by 28.0% to $33.7m. Of this total, $30.7m was generated online and $3.0m came from retail betting, while the state’s handle also increased 19.5% to $572.8m.

Valley Forge, partnered with FanDuel, retained top spot in the sports betting market with $22.8m in revenue off of a $228.2m handle. Hollywood Casino at the Meadows and its Barstool Sportsbook placed second with $3.5m in revenue and a $120.3m, then Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and BetRivers with $3.0m from $39.7m in bets.

Turning to igaming, revenue here was up 22.0% to $113.1m. Online slots revenue for the month was $76.7, an increase of 22.5% on last year, while online table games revenue also jumped 20.9% to $33.5m and internet poker revenue 22.8% to $2.9m.

Hollywood Casino at Penn National claimed top spot in this market with $45.2m in revenue, ahead of Rivers Casino Philadelphia on $28.8m and the Valley Forge Casino Resort with $21.5m.

Retail slots remained the primary source of gambling revenue in Pennsylvania, generating $217.9m in revenue, up 8.2% year-on-year. Retail table game revenue was also up by 17.5% to $91.5m.

Video gaming terminals and fantasy sports were the only sections of the market in which revenue declined in April.

Revenue from video gaming terminals fell 2.6% to $2.9m, while the fantasy sports sector revenue dropped 16.8% to $1.7m. DraftKings led the way in fantasy sports with $1.0m, ahead of FanDuel with $638,605.

Pragmatic Play secured its third Bonanza game in the charts last month with Sweet Bonanza. Whilst not new to the charts as such, it now looks like it’s here to stay, not least as this Candy Crush-inspired game has spawned its own sequels. But it’s not the normal sequel effect we’ve witnessed before, such as the likes of Piggy/Doggy Riches last month…

First off, their Candyland variation is a live version of the game. Then we have their operator-branded versions such as Bets10 Bonanza which are also hitting a sweet spot. Live editions and operator versions of a game are relatively new and quite rare. Combining the two is unusual and the handful of studios that offer these game types face a powerful newcomer.

Live slots

On the live slots front, you could argue that Playtech and Evolution have had this niche all to themselves for too long. Live Buffalo Blitz, Age of Gods or Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt quite simply had no peers. Even if you broaden the category to include gameshows, there are only a handful of live specialists with competing offers such as Beter, Betgames TV, eBET, LiveG24 and Stakelogic. Mostly, it’s dominated by the same duo with their Crazy Times, Spin A Wins and Deal Or No Deals.

Pragmatic have been making steady inroads into the live roulette or blackjack field and so live gameshows or slots are an obvious addition. Whilst Playtech and Evolution may be wary of this latest entrant to ‘their’ domain of live slots, the good news is that live slots, or even gameshows, are still one of the least saturated areas in gaming. In a world where 500 new games are launched by 500 studios each month, three is hardly a crowd.

Operator-branded slots

It’s a similar story for operator-branded versions of slots too. The idea of branding games for an operator client is nothing new – but there are still very few that do it, at least on the slots front. Pretty much all live dealer suppliers have branded live tables, not least as rooms and tables are often set in dedicated environments for each client.

When it comes to branded slots, however, there aren’t many to speak of: Gaming Realms offer a branded Slingo, Spinomenal and Playson compete on the “Book Of Operator XYZ” front, whilst Iron Dog, Blueprint Gaming and iSoftBet all have branded versions of the iconic Megaways mechanic: Party Casino Megaways or Golden Palace Megaways, for example. Playtech and Inspired Entertainment have dabbled here but that’s pretty much it – a handful of competitors at most.

The downside of operator-branded slot games, of course, is that you have another title to test, brand and maintain. If you have 300 operator clients, testing costs alone will be prohibitive, for all but your biggies. Yes, you’ll probably need a retest for each iteration – even if it’s just the logo that changes…

But the upside, again in a world of proliferation, is that your game will secure longevity and great site positioning. Which operator doesn’t want to show off its own branded games?

Chart newcomers

Anyway, back to the charts. The top four positions have been stable for a few months now with Starburst, Big Bass Bonanza, Book Of Dead and (the original) Bonanza all performing well. Two new releases via the new Games Global entity made the top 20: Wildfire Wins (Just For The Win) and Dungeons And Diamonds (PearFiction Studios).

Top 20 games by distribution

Top dealmakers

On the deals front Relax Gaming have been busiest in recent months adding new studios such as Spribe, Blue Guru Games, Intouch Games and (in April) Hölle Games, taking them to top aggregator dealmaker over the last six months. Blue Guru joins them as a Silver Bullet integration too, i.e. a studio that will publish via their GDK platform. With 13 of Relax Gaming’s 75 studio partners integrated via Silver Bullet, they are clearly challenging Yggdrasil on the publisher model. More on this next month…

Biggest aggregator dealmakers

Spribe have been the busiest studio recently securing distribution via three new aggregators but it is FBM Gaming that currently tops the studio dealmaker charts.

Biggest studio dealmakers

Easter-themed releases

No Easter titles made the top 20 but there were a handful of old and new chicken/rabbit themed games that performed well. Crossing the road from yesteryear we had The Great Chicken Escape (Pragmatic Play), Eggomatic (Netent), Lucky Easter (Red Tiger), Eggspendables (Inspired Entertainment) and Easter Eggs (Play’n GO).

The best new Easter releases were Chicken Drop (Pragmatic Play) which outperformed its slightly newer stablemate Chicken Chase. King Carrot (Hacksaw Gaming) was exceptional, whilst Magic Eggs (Wazdan), Easter Fortune (Synot), Lucky Farm Bonanza (Bgaming) and Easter Gifts (Spinomenal) all performed well. Swintt, another player in the “Book Of ..” category, took Book Of Easter to market but it was left to newcomer Popok Gaming to wish us all a “Happy Easter”.

It’s been a year since Evolution acquired BTG and unusual that none of their partners launched an Easter Megaways for the anniversary. Yet with 10 Megaways titles in the top 50 and studios falling over each other to launch operator-branded Megaways above, I imagine they’re none too concerned.

* Please note these are live charts which update every month so please ensure the month of April 2022 is selected in the drop-downs to match the analysis

**The interactive games chart at the top excludes live games and table games. Game rankings are determined by the number of game appearances on the casino homepages of more than 1,500 casino sites. To access many other charts including game rankings, live and table games, positions on subpages or to filter game performance by game theme, game feature or by operator type, get in touch with egamingmonitor.com. Egamingmonitor covers 37,000 games, 1,300 suppliers and 1,500 operators. 

*** The unique games and studio charts are based on the wider dataset of more than 4000 pages from 1,500 operator sites and also include all game types, including live games, table games, video bingo, video poker, scratchcards, crash games and more.

****Data on deals by month was collected from April 2020 onwards and the rolling chart reflects current dealmaking performance, i.e. how many deals were signed over the last six months. Deals between companies from all time are available via egamingmonitor.com. Note that only deals either a) on company websites or b) in the gaming press or c) reported to us by studios and aggregators, are collated. Deals between companies from all time are available via egamingmonitor.com.