Month: July 2022

At the CMS Law Conference, Miller revealed details of certain areas in which the Commission was considering changes.

He said that the regulator would announce some consultations on changes “in the near future”, including the way it calculates financial penalties for breaches of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP). He said that the intention of these would be “to ensure they better drive compliance with the licensing objectives and to seek to be more transparent in the way we calculate them”.

In addition, he said the Commission would explore expanding the personal management licence regime, in order to increase accountability.

At the same time, Miller revealed that the Commission was looking into changes to how it conducts consultations themselves, after receiving feedback on the current process.

“Two messages came out clearly,” Miller said of this feedback. “Firstly, people feel that we sometimes take a scattergun approach to consultations. We find an issue and we push out a consultation, regardless of what else is going on or what else we have asked operators to do or provide views on at that time. This makes it hard for stakeholders to plan the time needed to respond and, where necessary to implement changes. 

“Secondly, people have also questioned whether consultation responses really make a difference to the outcome. A concern that sometimes the question is so narrow or the minute details seem so locked in that stakeholder views won’t change anything.

“So these concerns are leading to the Commission looking to change how we seek stakeholder views and how we carry out consultations.”

As a result, the new consultations will take a new format, in which the Commission will launch “consultation windows” where it will publish proposed changes in a more predictable manner.

“I can’t promise we won’t ever be forced to issue a consultation outside these periods but that should be the exception rather than the rule and we would clearly explain why we needed to depart from the usual ‘window’,” he said.

In addition, Miller discussed the regulator’s planned new methodology to measure rates of gambling participation and harm. The body released the results of a pilot study in May, though it warned that the sample used for this study appeared to over-index gamblers.

Miller said that the body was still working to ensure the data was as reliable as possible, but wanted that until then its estimates should not be used to calculate the amount of gambling harm in Great Britain.

“We’ll be using the next year to analyse the new methodology further, correcting issues where we find them and scaling it up so it’s ready to become the new ‘gold standard’ of participation and prevalence,” he said. “Of course, the data we released from the pilot also got coverage. We understand that – new problem gambler data – whether at an appropriate scale or from a pilot, will always be of interest. 

“But we’d like to be clear that the pilot data can not be used as an estimate of problem gambling at this stage.”

Meanwhile, Miller also reiterated the regulator’s position on the Gambling Act review. Speaking before the resignation of Gambling Minister Chris Philp and the planned resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to alter the timeline of the review, Miller said the Commission “haven’t been playing a waiting game for the review”, and would continue to make changes where needed.

Changes already made by the Commission this year include new rules for interaction with customers deemed to be “high-risk”. Miller said that the Commission found it needed to implement more prescriptive rules because operators were not delivering satisfactory outcomes.

“Our preferred approach is and remains in favour of outcomes-based regulation and avoiding overly prescriptive rules and requirements,” he said. “However, that preference is not sustainable where we consistently see a failure to achieve positive customer outcomes.”

Without a PKI certificate, it is not possible to check whether players are registered with the Central Register of Exclusion of Chances (Cruks), the regulator’s central exclusion register for problem gamblers.

The KSA created Cruks on 1 October 2021 – and required operators to consult the register before granting a player access.

A PKI certificate then compares the player’s data to Cruks every time a player would wish to gamble.

Due to limited validity, operators themselves who are responsible for the process of providing valid certificates.

Operators who ignore this information may find themselves subject to a fine.

The reminder comes out in the context of a major national conversation and ongoing reform regarding gambling in the country; most recently resulting in a national ban of role models in gambling-related advertising.

The suspension came into immediate effect from today (7 July).

Earlier this week, Bet-at-Home suspended its GB Affiliate programme, its only marketing channel in the country.

Yesterday (6 July), Bet-At-Home head of marketing Alessandro Manzella told iGB the operator was not exiting the GB market.

When asked about this statement after the suspension was announced, Manzella declined to comment.

Announcing its decision, the Commission said that the review and consequent suspension follows concerns that “activities may have been carried out contrary to the Gambling Act 2005”.

The Commission said these activities may not have been covered by Bet-at-Home.com’s licence and that as a result it may unsuitable to carry on its licensed activities.

The regulator added that suspected social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings were key considerations in the decision to suspend the licence.

The review will be carried out under section 116 of the Act, while the suspension was made in accordance with section 118 (2) of the Act.

“We have made it clear to the operator that during the course of the suspension, we expect it to focus on treating consumers fairly and keeping them fully informed of any developments which impact them,” the Commission said.

“The suspension does not prevent the operator from allowing consumers to access their accounts and withdrawing funds. Bet-at-home.com Internet Limited – which operates bet-at-home.com, bet-at-home.co.uk and uk.bet-at-home.com – can be contacted through its website.”

In May, bet-at-home revealed how its revenue dropped by more than 50% in Q1 of 2022, following regulatory difficulties in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

Who’s the best League of Legends support player? And why? Fans will argue about this for hours, but the truth is, we cannot really know.

There currently isn’t a data-driven way to evaluate player performance in esports. Instead, the narrative is often driven by a handful of analysts and then the public perception on Twitter or Reddit – and we all know how scientific that is.

And yet correctly evaluating player skill is tremendously important. For one, there is real money attached to this – how valuable you are to a team determines the salary you can negotiate. Then there are the questions of individual skill, adaptability and team success; is a player performing well only in their current team constellation or will they be a star performer in any team?

And, of course, the entertainment value of discussing pros and cons of players is only raised if you can base it on tangible values.

There’s a reason why some people love baseball and that’s because, as we all learned from Moneyball, it comes loaded with statistics. The same kind of statistics that we have for our esports players – so we should use them.

In this regard esports is not far behind traditional sports either. From NFL to NBA, clubs have also only recently started employing their own analyst teams. Premier League player Kevin De Bruyne famously used data scientists to show that he is “significantly underpaid” just a year ago.

And while research into player evaluation exists, it is still scarce. It certainly cannot provide answers for who the best midfielder in the world is, or how a national team combined of 11 different athletes will perform.

Esports is at the forefront of data analysis

As esports enthusiasts, we often look to traditional sports for guidance, but in this case we should be at the forefront of the research and not vice versa. Because, unlike our colleagues, we actually have the data!

In order to do any kind of traditional sports analysis, you first have to either painstakingly write down each time someone touches the ball, have players wear some kind of measuring equipment, or apply complex video parsing in order to  get the data.

Esports, on the other hand, IS data.

Since the matches are happening on a server, every single action taken is recorded by default. The officially licensed data that Riot provides via Bayes Esports Solutions, for instance, contains player positions, item buys and attacks launched – more or less the complete game state – at a very high temporal resolution.

It’s also possible to obtain mouse and keyboard movements, something widely used to distinguish cheaters, but in this case to actually measure player reaction times and concentration.

The fact that players have certain assigned roles further simplifies the situation. You can tell the AWPer in CS:GO by the fact that they have the AWP, and the jungler in LoL will be labelled as such in the data.

Where a lot of traditional sports research first focuses on automatically determining the role of the player, we can jump straight into figuring out what it means that a player is good.

Of course, this would not be an article about esports if I didn’t mention patches at least once. Yes, patches exist and will hinder this type of research just as much as anything else regarding esports machine learning. When it comes to high-level decision-making and team play, dealing with patches will certainly be a nuisance. That bridge needs to be crossed when we come to it.

Right now we barely have any statistics about players that go beyond what is provided by the game. And adapting to patches is a skill in itself, so measuring player performance between patches is something we could and should be doing too.

Given the richness and the depth of data available, there is simply no reason why esports should not be at the forefront of research about team composition and performance. It should be traditional sports looking to us for guidance, not the other way round.

Dr Darina Goldin is the director of data science at Bayes Esports. She started playing competitive Team Fortress 2 in grad school. While no longer an active gamer, she is still an avid esports fan. At Bayes, she has created numerous predictive models for Counter Strike, Dota2 and League of Legends. When not crunching numbers, you can find her at the gym training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Joosen has experience in leadership positions across a number of international technology and consumer industries companies, including chief executive of Boxer TV Sweden and as managing director of Nordics for Panasonic, Chantelle Group, and Twentieth Century Fox.

She has served as a non-executive director with businesses such as William Hill-owned Mr Green and is currently a non-executive director with Currys in the UK and Billerud AB in Sweden.

Vidler has 30 years’ experience in marketing and technology, and has served as the CEO of independent end-to-end creative production partner Tag EMEA since 2020.

Prior to this, Vidler spent six years as CEO of Centaur Media, as well as four years as CEO for EMI Music UK and Ireland. She also held senior roles at Bauer Media and at the BBC and was a non-executive for Gamesys, where she chaired the ESG committee. 

Freer is CEO of The Freer Company, which provides business vision and brand narrative advice, prior to which he was CEO of American subscription streaming service Hulu.

Earlier in his career, Freer led 21st Century Fox’s global entertainment and sports television assets, while as president and chief operating officer of the Fox Networks Group, he served on the Hulu, National Geographic, and Big Ten Network.

Shaked, a gaming entrepreneur and experienced game producer, was previously employed by the group until 2017 as a game producer, online marketer and business development manager. He now acts as an early-stage investor in gaming and blockchain start-ups.

The appointment of Shaked has been requested by Sinitus Nominees Limited, the largest shareholder in 888, which has the right to appoint a non-executive director. 888 will make a further announcement in respect of this matter in due course.

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome three outstanding candidates in Andrea, Andria and Randy to the board of 888,” 888 non-executive chairman Lord Mendelsohn said. “As well as further strengthening the group’s corporate governance structure, they each bring extensive and highly relevant skills and experience to our board which will be of significant benefit to the group as it delivers its long-term strategic objectives as an enlarged business post the completion of our acquisition of William Hill.

“888 has a number of very exciting opportunities ahead and I am looking forward to working closely with our strengthened board to continue to deliver the Group’s growth strategy and generate further stakeholder value.”

The appointments come after 888 last week completed its acquisition of William Hill’s non-US assets from Caesars for £1.95bn.

888 had initially agreed in September 2021 to acquire the non-US business of William Hill. This came soon after US operator Caesars acquired the entire William Hill business for approximately £2.90bn, with the intent to dispose of all but its US assets.

Originally, the purchase price for the deal was £2.2bn. However, 888 and Caesars agreed to reduce the purchase price to acquire the assets by £250m, with the cash portion of the deal now set at £584.9m instead of £834.9m.

Hammon replaces Tommi Maijala, who had served as CEO since November 2019. Maijala will remain with Relax until the end of 2022 to support the transition.

Hammon takes on the new role having been chief product officer at Relax since January 2018, prior to which he had spells as product manager and chief product officer during a seven-year stay with NetEnt.

“As a company, we’ve continued to grow from strength to strength over the last few years and we represent a world class offering across all verticals,” Hammon said. “Of course, a company is only as strong as the people who embody its mission, and I’m blessed to have a team who are so passionate about what they do and want to see Relax taken to the next level.

“Relax has grown in terms of people but also in terms of market power and brand. This is something I’m keen to continue and help drive. Relax has a bright future filled with global expansion, exciting new product offerings and a positive working culture.”

Relax chairman Patrik Österåker added: “Relax is continuing steadfast on its journey to claim an ever-larger footprint in the gambling industry, and we believe Simon with his experience, knowledge and vision is the perfect person to lead the team in the coming years.

“Simultaneously, we’d like to take the opportunity to extend our gratitude to our outgoing CEO Tommi Maijala, who has been instrumental in guiding the company through arguably the most pivotal years of our history. 

“Simon will be able to continue building boldly, supported by the confidence that a rock-solid foundation provides.”

Relax now operates as part of Kindred Group, with Kindred in October last year having acquired the remaining 66.6% stake in the developer for approximately €295m. Kindred had previously held a 33.4% stake in Relax since 2013.

Playmaker announced the news in a press release in which it focused on the rising popularity of soccer in North America, emphasising its place as the now the fourth most popular sport in the country after American football, basketball, and baseball.

Playmaker CEO Jordan Gnat commented on the deal: “Soccer is on the rise in the US and Canada, and Playmaker is focused on becoming the preeminent voice for the sport across the Americas, from the top of Canada to the bottom of Argentina.”

“World Soccer Talk founder, Christopher Harris, exudes a true passion for sport that’s shared by the entire Playmaker team, and we’re excited to welcome him and World Soccer Talk into our family and our ecosystem as a core piece of a broader soccer strategy in advance of World Cups 2022, 2023 and 2026.”

World Soccer Talk web, social media and podcast assets will join Playmaker’s existing portfolio of digital soccer content. Through Playmaker’s wholly owned subsidiary Futbol Sites; the business already has a Spanish speaking footprint across Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and the US Hispanic market.

In May, Playmaker acquired creator agency and podcast network TPN Media Group, as well as The Sports Drop, a sports media business.

Philp – who cited “events over the past few weeks and months” as his reason for departing – has become the latest in a long line of ministers that have resigned citing a lack of confidence in Boris Johnson, and to call for the Prime Minister himself to resign.

The exit comes with a white paper forming part of the government review of the Gambling Act expected imminently. Philp revealed that it had been sent to Johnson’s office for final approval.

“The Gambling review is with No 10 at the moment for final approval, containing strong measures to protect people from gambling addiction,” Philp said in his resignation letter. “I have met with families of those who have committed suicide as a result of gambling addiction and I urge you to deliver the review in full undiluted.”

Philp’s position was within the government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), led by Nadine Dorries, who has not yet resigned.

The three operators had approached the Supreme Administrative Court in an effort to have the historic penalties, issued by Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen, overturned. 

However, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld three earlier decisions by the Court of Appeal, meaning Betfair, Betway and Skill On Net will now have to pay their penalties.

Betfair’s penalty relates to a case from June 2019, whereby the operator was found to have allowed wagering on sporting events featuring a majority of participants under the age of 18.

Licensed operators are not permitted to offer odds on events where the majority of participants are under the age of 18, as this is seen to increase the danger of minors being exposed to attempts to manipulate sporting results.

Betfair’s initial appeal to the Administrative Court in April 2020 was rejected, though a later hearing at the Court of Appeal in June last year led to the operator’s penalty being reduced from SEK5.5m (£437,877/€512,331/$522,995) to SEK4.5m.

In the case of Betway, the operator was issued a penalty of SEK5m in May of 2019 after Spelinspektionen ruled it breached bonus rules in the country. 

Licensed operators in Sweden can only offer players a bonus when they first sign up to their online gambling platforms, but Betway was found to have offered bonuses on several occasions after the initial sign-up.

Betway appealed to the Administrative Court in June 2020, which led to the penalty being reduced to SEK4.7m after it was ruled that the operator’s estimated annual turnover had been set too high.

However, the Court of Appeal in Jönköping in June last year rejected a further appeal, while the latest ruling from the Supreme Administrative Court means the penalty remains.

Turning to SkillOnNet, the operator in June 2019 was issued a SEK14m penalty after it was also found to have breached regulations by offering players bonuses on multiple occasions and offered lottery games that were not covered by its licence.

SkillOnNet failed in an initial appeal in December 2020 to the Administrative Court, which concluded that the operator had violated the bonus ban and provided the lottery games. A second appeal to the Court of Appeal was also turned down in January this year.

Johnson’s decision to step down has not yet been officially announced, but has been widely reported by UK media.

It has followed a number of resignations of government ministers, including the minister responsible for the Gambling Act Review, Chris Philp. The decision also came with the release of the white paper expected to be imminent.

In his resignation letter this morning, Philp revealed that the review was at Johnson’s desk, awaiting “final approval”.

Speaking yesterday (6 July), before Johnson resigned, Northridge Law partner Melanie Ellis said that a potential change at 10 Downing Street could lead to delays in publication of the white paper, but was unlikely to lead to major amendments to its content when it is released.

“I think it would definitely affect the timing of it. But I think there is general cross-party support for gambling reform, so even if there’s a snap election we’ll definitely see changes,” she said. “And ultimately any changes would be debated in Parliament.

“So ultimately I don’t think it would make a massive difference to the outcome, but it could push the timing back a bit.”

Meanwhile, Wiggin LLP partner Sarah MacDonald, also speaking yesterday, said that recent media reports about the white paper suggest that it is at such an advanced stage that major changes would be unlikely.

“Given that the media is reporting on what they think are the more controversial bits, you’d think the paper was pretty well advanced and they’d be in a position to publish,” she said.

However, she said that if there ultimately was a snap election, the disruption should be much greater.

“A change of Prime Minister might delay things still but if it wasn’t just a change of Prime Minister but a change of government entirely, that could have a big impact,” she added.

John White, CEO of the British Amusement Catering Trade Association (Bacta), said that further delays to the process caused by Johnson’s or Philp’s exits would put the amusement industry and its 20,000 employees “in limbo”.

“The next government should seek to appoint a minister to oversee the long-overdue Gambling Review White Paper as soon as possible,” he said. “The draft proposals have already been delayed, leaving 20,000 people who work in seaside arcades and adult gaming centres across the UK in limbo. 

“Any potential further delay would come at an increasingly difficult time for the industry, with rising energy prices and inflation damaging these often small and family-run businesses. A recent survey of Bacta members revealed that recruiting and rising prices were very top concerns. 

“We are very much open to further discussions with the new government and the new gambling minister, and strongly believe that our proposed reforms will help the industry address the costs of doing business, especially since, by law, our members currently cannot raise some of the prices they charge consumers.”