Month: July 2022

Pinnacle, previously known as Pinnacle Sports, will now feed into IBIA’s global betting integrity monitoring and alert platform.

The operator joins a group of other sports betting operators that have joined the IBIA, with the association’s members accounting for more than $137bn (£114bn/€135bn) in global betting turnover per annum and almost 50% of all regulated commercial operator online betting activity.

“Our focus on integrity not only applies to our clients but also the governing bodies themselves, an area which is increasingly important for responsible gaming operators,” Pinnacle chief executive Paris Smith said. “We are delighted to become members of the IBIA and look forward to working closely with the organisation to combat betting-related corruption and manipulation.”

IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali added: “The size and scope of Pinnacle’s sports betting operation makes it a valuable addition to IBIA’s global monitoring and alert network. 

“Our growing roster of members are committed to high levels of integrity and to the protection of sporting events and betting products alike. It is pleasing that so many leading operators like Pinnacle have chosen IBIA as their preferred sports betting integrity partner.”

The news comes after the IBIA earlier this month announced that it reported 88 suspicious betting alerts in the second quarter, with football the sport of most concern.

Football was responsible for 32 alerts during Q2, ahead of tennis with 27, horse racing on 12 and eight for table tennis. A further four alerts were related to esports, three for basketball and one each for handball and greyhound racing.

The operator noted that year-on-year comparisons with Q2 of 2021 were “challenging” due to benefits received from government stimulus and the lifting of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions in the same period last year.

However, it added that it was able to achieve year-on-year growth across a number of core metrics due to a continued focus on core customers and sustained efficiencies throughout the business.

“Our operating trends remain strong, as play from core customer segments grew both year-over-year and sequentially from the first quarter of 2022,” Boyd’s president and chief executive Keith Smith said. “We also improved companywide operating margins from the first quarter despite inflationary pressures.”

Total revenue in the three months through to 30 June was $894.5m, a marginal increase from $893.6m in Q2 of 2021. This was despite a 5.9% drop in gaming revenue, with Boyd reporting growth across rooms, food and beverage and other areas.

Boyd’s Midwest and South casinos drew $604.1m in revenue, with revenue from Las Vegas local casinos amounting to $236.5m and Downtown Las Vegas operations $53.9m.

Total operating costs for the quarter edged up 3.5% year-on-year to $649.4m, but pre-tax profit was up 29.3% year-on-year at $188.8m. This is due to their financial costs coming down to $56.2m compared to $120.4m in the previous year, where costs had been impacted by charges related to early extinguishments of debt.

Boyd paid $42.1m in income tax, which left it with a net profit of $146.8m for the quarter, an increase of 29.1% on Q2 of 2021.

In addition, quarterly adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rent costs (EBITDAR) was $353.9m, an 8.2% drop on the record $385.4m posted in the same period last year.

Turning to its first-half performance, total revenue was 12.5% higher at $1.8bn, with Boyd reporting year-on-year growth across gaming, rooms, food and beverage and other areas.

Midwest and South casinos were the main sources of revenue, generating $1.19bn during the quarter, while revenue from Las Vegas local casinos reached $464.0m and Downtown Las Vegas revenue was $103.4m.

Group operating costs climbed 6.2% to $1.26bn, but financial and other costs were down by almost half to $96.5m. Pre-tax profit was 42.6% higher at $399.6m, while after paying $89.9m in tax, net profit was $309.7m, up 43.5% year-on-year.

Smith also noted that adjusted EBITDAR for the half was 2.2% higher than the year before at $692.7m.

“Overall, we are encouraged by the continued strength of our business and remain confident in our strategy and our ability to navigate today’s uncertain economic environment,” Smith said.

Speaking on an earnings call after the results were published, Smith also spoke about Boyd’s pending acquisition of Pala Interactive, the North America-facing igaming software and services supplier that is majority-owned by the Pala Band of Mission Indians.

Boyd agreed to acquire the business in March for $170.0m and hoped to complete the deal by the first quarter of next year. Smith said this remains on track, with the aim of finalising the acquisition by 1 January 2023, but added that the product offering may not be ready until the middle of the year.

“Our online gaming strategy is built upon leveraging our geographic distribution, loyalty programme and customer database to build a profitable regional online casino business,” Smith said. “Pala will provide us the full suite of products, technology and expertise we need to execute that strategy without the need for additional significant investments or acquisitions.

“If we’re able to close and we get all the regulatory approvals around the first of the year, I think by about middle of 2023, we should have a product where we’re able to offer it to our customers.”

Looking further ahead and at the wider business, Smith acknowledged the current economic issues impacting the industry but said there is “no compelling reason” to believe there will be a significant change in the direction of its business in the near term.

“Our operations remain strong and stable, our management teams are focused and we remain confident in our strategy, our operating model and our ability to navigate these uncertain times,” he said.

UK Tote said the double addition would support its ongoing growth plans, with the focus on product innovation, better value, improved customer experience and strong partnerships to create more liquidity and bigger pools.

Lord Spencer is an entrepreneur and founder of interdealer broker ICAP, which became a FTSE100 business in 2006, and its successor, electronic markets services provider NEX plc. He is also one of more than 150 investors in UK Tote.

In addition to acting as a board director of a small number of private businesses, Spencer became chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies in 2020. 

Holt brings experience and knowledge from his time working in senior technology roles with a number of businesses. These included spells as chief technology officer at CPA Global and chief technology officer for Trainline.

He is currently chief product and engineering officer at 10x Banking Technologies Services, a financial services business focused on moving banks from monolithic to next-generation core banking solutions. In addition, Holt is a non-executive director at Camelot and chair of training business Divrsity.

“During an exciting time of growth for the Tote we are delighted to appoint Lord Spencer and Mark to the UK Tote Group board,” UK Tote Group chairman John Williamson said. 

“Michael has been an investor in the Tote from the outset and continuing to share his unrivalled experience across the business world as a board member will be an incredibly valuable support to our team. 

“Mark’s technological expertise will be of significant benefit as we continue to develop and improve the Tote’s pool betting engine. 

“Both Michael and Mark will support our outstanding executive team and the excellent work of our 170 employees in our Wigan HQ and London office.”

During the year, the operator geared up for a number of key launches, the most notable being providing its technology for media giant News Corp Australia’s new wagering venture.

The agreement, which was finalised in April, will see BetMakers’ OM Apps subsidiary deploy B2B technology and wagering to NTD Pty, which involves News Corp and Tekkorp Capital.

That agreement follows notable launches in the US recently. Earlier this year, BetMakers extended its partnership with New Jersey’s Monmouth Park and the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association ahead of the launch of fixed-odds wagering in the state.

Cash receipts from customers were AU$93.4m for the year, up by 325%.

Staff costs, including contractor and recruitment costs, were the highest expense for the year, at $48.6m.

Product manufacturing and operating costs were AU$26.6m, AU$1.4m of which related to rolling out fixed-odds wagering in New Jersey.

Administrative and corporate costs came to AU$15.9m. The remaining AU$4.6m was made up of paid income taxes, advertising and marketing costs, leased assets costs and other costs.

This left the business with an operating loss of AU$1.6m.

The business also revealed that it spent AU$15.0m on investment activities related to the News Corp launch.

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the quarter were AU$107.7m. After spending $21.0m on investment activities, and with small gains from operating activities and exchange rate movement, the total cash equivalents at the end of the period was AU$87.5m.

Since the prior year’s results, XLMedia changed the structure of the divisions within the business, as part of a wider restructuring effort.

Rather than a single sports betting vertical, the business split revenue related to betting into US sports and European sports. It was the US sports division that generated the vast majority of XLMedia’s revenue, with $30.2m, which was more than five times the total recorded in H1 of the previous year. 

Much of this came from recent acquisitions such as  Sports Betting Dime and Saturday Football Inc.

“The opening of new regulated markets and the signing of new media partnership agreements has allowed the US Sports business to capitalise on the full US sports calendar, in particular the Super Bowl, and deliver strong growth in H1 2022,” the XL board said.

The European Sports division, meanwhile, brought in $3.8m, which the board described as “solid”.

In casino and gaming – an area that the business worked to restructure following regulatory challenges – revenue was $8.4m. While this was down 32.8%, the business said the decline was “in line with expectations”.

“The business is now showing signs of stabilising, having suffered from a year-on-year decline in tail revenue,” the XLMedia board said. “The business has reduced its cost base to reflect this reduction in the scale of its activities and continues to be a cash generator for the group.”

Revenue from the personal finance division of XLMedia, meanwhile, was down from $6.6m in H1 of 2021 to just $800,000 this year. This, the board said, was because the business was working on a complete overhaul of the segment.

“The decline results from the need to replace ageing technology, re-evaluate marketing tactics and align with best practice,” the business said. “The management and production teams are now based within the group’s US division, and the personal finance vertical is focused on completing the redesign and replatforming of its primary websites, with the objective of improving site performance and enhancing the consumer experience and stabilising revenues.”

Meanwhile, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came to $10.5m, which was up by 59.1% from H1 of 2022.

Looking ahead, XLMedia said that trading for the year as a whole was “in line with expectations”.

At the end of the quarter, David King took over as XLMedia’s new chief executive, replacing Stuart Simms.

King had previously served as chief executive of regional news group JPIMedia between November 2018 and January 2021 and was also chief executive of Time Out Group for four years.

Under the agreement, Betfred will remain as title sponsors of the World Matchplay until at least the end of the 2025, with the bookmaker to also continue its support of the Women’s World Matchplay that took place for the first time this year.

Betfred has sponsored the PDC’s World Matchplay summer event since 2019, with the new deal meaning it will have served as title sponsor for a least seven years by 2025.

“Our sponsorship of the Betfred World Matchplay has been a brilliant success for the past four years and I’m delighted that we’ll be working with the PDC until at least 2025,” Betfred boss Fred Done said.

“The Betfred World Matchplay is one of my favourite sporting events each year and the 2022 event has been a wonderful championship.”

PDC chief executive Matt Porter added: “Betfred have enjoyed huge exposure over the past four years with their sponsorship of the World Matchplay and we’re delighted to continue to work with them for at least the next three years.”

The extension comes as Betfred announced that its charity activity during this year’s World Matchplay helped raise £35,428 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Betfred donated £50 for every 180 scored throughout the nine days of action, with the World Matchplay featuring a record total of 367 maximum scores to trigger a £10,000 charity bonus.

Competing players and visiting celebrities also took part in a nine-dart challenge, with £1 per point being donated to charity. This helped raise an additional £7,000 for the campaign.

“This was a particularly memorable Betfred World Matchplay and the incredible standard produced by our players is reflected in this amazing amount which will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Support,” Porter said.

“To see the 180s record smashed during the event was an achievement in itself and a massive contributor to the charity donation. In addition, the nine-dart challenge activity proved popular with everyone who took part across the nine days.

“This wonderful donation from Betfred will make a huge difference to a charity which does so much good work.”

The broker said that it accepted DiMatteo’s notice of resignation on July 21 and he stepped down as CEO the following day. DiMatteo will now serve as senior advisor to the board.

DiMatteo is a co-founder of Lottery.com and had served as its CEO since May 2015. He also co-founded WinTogether, which operates as part of the wider Lottery.com business.

Prior to joining Lottery.com, DiMatteo co-founded and was CEO of photo mobile application Glimpsable between March 2013 and February 2015.

DiMatteo becomes the latest high-profile exit from Lottery.com in recent weeks, with the broker last week having also announced that chief revenue officer Matthew Clemenson had resigned.

This came as Lottery.com revealed it “overstated” its cash holdings by $30m, soon after sacking president and CFO after discovering questions about its compliance and accounting practices.

The broker said it initiated a review after discovering “instances of non-compliance with state and federal laws concerning the state in which tickets are procured”.

Following this, its board “terminated the employment” of its president, treasurer and chief financial officer Ryan Dickinson earlier this month, appointing Harry Dhaliwal as interim CFO.

As part of the changeover, the business reviewed its cash balances, and discovered that it had “overstated its available unrestricted cash balance by approximately $30m and that, relatedly, in the prior fiscal year, it improperly recognised revenue in the same amount”.

Under the terms of the agreement Comrade will supply its iCore igaming platform to the Bucharest-based business.

Comtrade chief commercial officer Steven Valentine explained that the iCore platform integrates a number of features, including “real-time bonusing, dynamic segmentation, real-time push messaging, and many more player engagement tools.”

“When someone decides to migrate their platform, they put a lot of trust of their existing business on you,” said Valentine.

“We have shown on many occasions that we are the smart choice for a growing operator. Having done many tier 1 migrations in the past, we have now made our igaming platform more accessible to small and mid-size operators who have outgrown their current solution.”

“With our flexible approach to individual client needs, we are a very reliable choice for operators looking to improve their platform technology.”

The Romanian gaming sector is currently in a state of ongoing regulatory uncertainty, in the face of a proposed 40% withdrawal tax in the Central European country’s fiscal code.

While the details of the tax have been watered down in the most recent iteration, industry trade body the Association of Remote Gambling Organisations has criticised the draft text.

Csaba Tanko, chief executive officer at Stanleybet Romania, added: “We are delighted to use Comtrade Gaming’s technology, as we believe it is key to help us grow, shape our future, and at the same time provide our players with the best customer experience.”

“We are more confident knowing they are taking care of our backend technology specific to our needs. This way, we will be able to focus more efficiently on marketing and increasing our market penetration.”

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Based at GLI’s facility in Sydney, Australia, Wilson will work with land-based, igaming and lottery clients across the region. 

Wilson joins GLI after a spell as professional year instructor at Performance Education in Sydney, training students on strategies for integrating into the Australian business workforce.

He also spent time as a business instructor at Atwea Community College in Newcastle and at Queen Ann College in Sydney, while in his earlier career, Wilson served in a number of management roles with a major Australian retail chain.

“We are thrilled to welcome Barrie to the GLI team,” APAC general manager Samantha Powell said. “His diverse background of leadership and business will be extremely beneficial to GLI’s clients. 

“In particular, his abilities to help people grow beyond their current borders and to explore new territories will be very helpful to clients who want to expand their footprint.”