Month: October 2022

Raids took place in Redford Township, Taylor and Allen Park gas stations, as well as at a Flint-area store, on September 28 and 29. The raids were associated with joint investigations led by the Michigan Department of Attorney General and the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB).

Investigators removed one gaming machine from each gas station and 53 machines from the Mundy Township storefront.

Investigators took one machine from each gas station, including one slot-style device and two so-called ‘coin pushers’. State officials seized a total of $3,295 from inside the coin-pusher machines and $290 from inside the slot-style gaming machine.

The remaining 53 machines, seized from the Mundy Township storefront, allowed users to play casino-style games. Customers also allegedly received promotional game play by purchasing what authorities said were “overpriced” snacks and merchandise on site.

A total of $9,141 in alleged gaming-related cash was seized when search warrants were executed at the location.

“We’ve seen an increasing number of complaints about alleged illegal gambling, and we appreciate the help received from citizens who call our tip line,” MGCB executive director Henry Williams said.

“The MGCB works closely with local law enforcement agencies to investigate alleged illegal gambling locations, which do not provide the protections associated with legal, regulated gaming and can bring unwanted crime to neighborhoods.”

Bonuses are the practice of offering free or extra bets to consumers in order to attract or retain players too their platforms; with the method sometimes coming under criticism as an inducement that helps contribute to negative social responsibility outcomes.

Sweden has a stringent bonus regime, only allowing operators to offer one bonus per player at sign-up, worth no more than SEK100. This has been criticised by the Swedish Moderate Party – which have called for the rules to be reformed:.

“This would make it easier for gaming companies to retain customers in the licensed market and have long-term relationships with the players, both of which increase consumer protection,” said the party.  

Much of the industry has also opposed the bonus ban. However, as the former state-owned gambling monopoly in the Sweden, ATG takes a different view.

“Bonuses not only drive gambling addiction, they must also be seen as a bad rating on a product to have to sell it, before you have sold it,” said Skarplöth.

The ATG chief stressed what he believes is the incompatibility of bonus offers with more humanitarian principles.

“For the vulnerable player, a bonus offer, however mundane it may be, can contribute to problem development and relapse into problem gambling. You don’t have to think very long to understand that bonuses and sustainable gambling don’t actually play at all.

Skarplöth continued, acknowledging that some bonsues may not seem so harmful, but arguing that online casino bonuses were clearly a problem.

“The problem is that bonuses are probably a good idea for the betting companies. New customers flock in at the same rate as more-or-less liquid bonuses change hands. And certainly some tea light holders from the Postcode Lottery may seem innocent. But when an online casino provider thanks its customers with cash, it is cynicism.”

The executive also focused on the negative associations that come with free bets or spins from a brand perspective, arguing that these are not just socially irresponsible but also suggest a product is not interesting on its own.

“By the way, it’s a bit embarrassing that a product like a game, which is supposed to be a fun experience and nice relaxation, is marketed as if it were a surplus stock of expired canned goods. Does the industry really not have more confidence in the content of its offering?”

Stupid idea

Skarplöth was introspective on ATG’s own experiments with the practice before the company self-imposed a ban.

“I admit, ATG has also fallen into the bonus trap. A few years ago, with a few tens of kroner per player as bait, we tried to attract new customers in a competitive gaming market. It was a stupid idea and, incidentally, not even particularly successful, if by successful you mean adding new customers.”

“Either way, it didn’t feel right, and we decided bonuses weren’t for us. Since then, we have therefore had a self-imposed bonus ban, just like Svenska Spel has.”

However, recent evidence from the Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen may suggest that a bonus ban can actively contribute to negative social outcomes by pushing players to illegal sites. In a June survey, players who engaged with the unlicensed sector reported that free bonuses and bets were the principle reason they used unlicensed websites.

The agreement comes despite hotels in the state having an existing exclusivity deal with Tabcorp, the national totalisator board. 

As a result, the deal will not involve any Entain wagering terminals, or hotel staff accepting or taking commission for bets. Instead, Ladbrokes and Neds will simply be advertised at these venues.

“For decades now, many NSW hotels have operated PubTABs for Tabcorp at a significant loss – primarily due to high Sky Channel and EBT (betting terminal) fees,” AHA NSW CEO John Whelan said. “In country NSW it’s even worse, with the majority of country pubs currently running their PubTAB at a loss.

“Today’s partnership with a world leader in Entain will finally give NSW hotels competition and choice.”

An evolution?

Entertain Australia chief executive Dean Shannon said the deal was an evolution of the retail betting experience.

“While there is still value in more traditional cash retail wagering, there is a highly engaged audience of punters who like to go down to their local for a bet with their mates, and how they do that has evolved,” he said.

“This partnership recognises that evolution and is about offering choice for the benefit of AHA NSW members and their patrons. There is no reason why traditional cash wagering can’t co-exist in a hotel, alongside an advertising sponsorship arrangement with Entain that promotes the digital offering of one of our leading brands.

“Entain recognises the opportunity for us to connect and communicate with the audience inside hotels is valuable and we intend to support the operators of those venues, just as we would any other advertising channel.”

Whelan, meanwhile, noted that the deal followed the way in which hotel patrons had already started to change their habits.

“Our patrons are already exposed to advertising from corporate bookmakers on our pub TV screens, on the radio, in newspapers and on their phones,” he said.

“Increasingly people are choosing to bet on the races or the footy on their phones – not in the traditional retail environment. Today, most people betting on their phone in a NSW pub are placing a bet with Ladbrokes, Neds or another corporate bookmaker.”

Released on the 22 September 2022, the online slot game is already getting perfect scores on review sites and there’s already been over eight max wins at 100,000x. Callum Sultana, game product owner, explains how they’ve made Money Train 3 bigger and better than ever.

Being one of the most well-known aggregators and supplier of unique content in the gaming world can bring its own challenges, especially with competition high and demand even higher. This is only looking to increase with H2 Gambling Capital estimating that the gross win for online casinos, of which slots takes up a huge proportion, will hit €54.6m by 2027.

Relax Gaming entered a host of new markets this year including Ontario, Italy, Spain and, most recently, Columbia.

Arguably, there’s no better time to release the latest Money Train 3 installment, but what’s the secret sauce to getting people excited about a sequel game? This could quite literally be the multi-million-dollar question.

“If we shared the secret, it would no longer remain one. But something I think most players enjoy with the Money Train series is that big wins and max wins happen in different ways so essentially very few wins will ever be the same, which keeps the game fresh and allows people to have their own unique experience rather than a shared one.” Sultana explains.

Getting players interested in a new game is just half of the battle, making sure it’s widely used is a whole different ball game. With thousands upon thousands of slot games online, and new releases coming out throughout any given year, a game in a sequel could prove even more difficult to go mainstream. This poses the question: do singular games tend to outperform sequel games or is the success of a game purely dependent on its features?

Sultana gives this food for thought, “I think that can be a hard comparison to make as you need success in a singular game to ever justify the sequel but what I can say is that expectations are always higher when making one.

It’s very important to remain true to the series and the original game that brought the success in the first place. With Money Train 3, we struck the right balance and the real measure of success will come when the game is live.”

Pair Sultana’s feedback with the fact that the first sequel, Money Train 2, had rave reviews like this one from askgamblers.com: “Money Train 2 is a superbly designed game that has super high volatility as well as extremely high win potential, it’s a must-play!” It proves that sequel games can definitely be as good, if not better, than the original.

But the proof is in the pudding – here’s a rave review on Money Train 3 from bigwinboard.com:

“While Money Train 2 has a rock solid track record of spitting out some of the most insane win clips ever seen, Money Train 3 is next level. Take all of the drama, emotion, disappointment, hope and sheer white-knuckle, hair-raising excitement of what came before, tune the daylights out of it, double the potential, send it roaring into the future, and you’ve got Money Train 3, a slot with everything necessary to completely disrupt the online gambling landscape.”

How to get players engaged with the new game

There are a considerable number of new features in Money Game 3 – many of which have review sites across the web applauding with excitement. iGB asked Sultana if he could walk us through the new features. “I think this article would be too long if we ran through them all,” was his reply which, admittedly, has players at the edge-of-their-seat level of intrigue.

Sultana did however, give us an insight into what to expect from the new features. “Like with any sequel, the game needs to be better than its predecessor,” he said. “But at the same time it’s a fine line between adding to a game and completely changing it, so all the features were picked with two goals in mind, the first one being that the game should be consistent with the rest of the series and second that these features need to contribute to the higher wins. This is why we added a new middle tier with the Absorber, Tommy Gun Payer and Tommy Gun Sniper and why the game now features five persistent symbol features.”

How player feedback shapes game development

The year of Money Train 2’s release came at the time when the world was in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic which enabled it to build a captive audience. So how do you keep this audience in a time where the world has opened back up again?

“It’s important to maintain continuity between the first two Money Train slot games while offering the player something new and exciting in the third game.” Sultana talked about how the development of Money Train 3 was different this time around, “We sat down with players and listened to what they didn’t like in the previous versions of the game and adapted it or removed it. “One good example is the payer; most players felt that feature wasn’t fruitful enough so we decided to change how it operates by targeting one symbol with a higher payout multiple times, instead of all symbols with a smaller value.”

The healthy balance between continuity and uniqueness

Player feedback is at the crux of Relax Gaming’s developmental work, but so is keeping a happy medium of maintaining the continuity of the first two games and ensuring Money Train 3 is fresh.

Sultana explains: “When we’re making a sequel, we’re not really looking for what makes a game unique but instead we’re looking at what made the original game great and what will make this one even better. On that note Money Train 3 is loaded with many more ways to hit the max win than its predecessors and of course has a much higher max win of 100,000x bet vs 50,000x in Money Train 2 and we believe that was a natural progression for this iteration of the game.

In terms of how often this will land, we don’t want to take away from the fun of the game but if you compare the 50,000x wins on both MT2 and MT3, you will be seeing it more often on MT3.”

How storytelling is used as a tool in the Money Train series

The max win is enough to have us with those animated bulging jackpot eyes, but the game’s storytelling is what will get us there. Psychologists say that as humans we are far more likely to engage with something if it has a story, that’s why games like Money Train have proven so popular. PsychologyToday sums this up perfectly: “Stories leapfrog the technology and bring us to the core of the experience.”

With this in mind, it’s no wonder that the visual elements paired with the storytelling have been a unique selling point for Relax Gaming. “I think the narrative has always been quite effective in engaging with our audience as most of our main demographic have grown up on western movies and sci-fi films and this game has progressively linked the two overall releases.”

So there you have it, the biggest, boldest, and bravest new release from Relax Gaming, bringing you Money Train 3, the latest slot game that you just cannot go without playing.

In his new role, Zuckerberg will support and develop Soft2Bet’s casino and sports betting products, working with the wider development team to expand the provider’s range of online casino solutions.

Zuckerberg joins Soft2Bet having most recently served as vice-president of product at Aspire Global, following a spell as head of product for the developer.

Prior to this, he spent time at Entain-owned Ladbrokes Coral and online gambling operator 888.

“I’m thrilled to join Soft2Bet’s world-class product team and to help the company continue to grow by using my experience to build up its brands to be the best in the industry,” Zuckerberg said.

‍Soft2Bet chief executive Uri Poliavich added: “Yoel’s appointment reflects both his experience and knowledge of the business. His role will centre on tackling these ongoing developments in product to ensure Soft2Bet maintains and continues to build on its position as one of the top players in the market.”

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Carlander will support the group’s network of sports betting operations, which includes the Expekt and BetUK brands.

He joins LeoVegas having most recently served as chief product officer and vice-president of sports and racing at Svenska Spel between August 2021 and October 2022, in what was his second spell with the Swedish operator.

From 2006 to 2018, Carlander held several roles with Svenska Spel, including sportsbook risk manager and sports trader, odds compiler and sports trader and head of live sports trading and sportsbook integrity.

Between his two spells with Svenska Spel, Carlander spent three years as country manager for Kindred’s Unibet brand in Sweden.

“I’m very impressed with what the teams have done so far,” Carlander said. “A multi-brand sportsbook including Expekt and BetUK to name a few, competing and taking market shares in some of the most competitive regulated markets in the world.

“I’m looking forward to being a part of a great team that enhances the thrill of sports with a true personalised betting experience. We are ready to take it to the next level together with MGM and I’m happy to be part of that journey.”

The appointment comes ahead of LeoVegas being acquired by MGM Resorts International, in a public tender offer worth $604m (£529m/€607m).

The proposal for MGM to pay SEK61.00 in cash per share was unanimously backed by the LeoVegas board, while MGM also secured all regulatory and governmental approvals. In September, it was revealed 65.56% of LeoVegas shareholders, representing 63,047,289 of the total shares in LeoVegas, had accepted the terms of the offer. 

Last week, it was also announced that LeoVegas has elected a new three-member board ahead of the pending acquisition. The board will include current LeoVegas chief executive Gustaf Hagman, MGM Resorts CEO William Hornbuckle and Gary Fritz, head of gaming at IAC, a major shareholder in LeoVegas.

The board will be responsible for reviewing and evaluating commercial casino applications in the US state, as well as recommending up to three new facilities for licensure.

In April, New York state lawmakers agreed to plans to allow three casinos in the downstate region that includes New York City. The board will issue a request for applications for any interested casino applicants by 6 January 2023, with the first licences not expected until later next year at the earliest.

“I sincerely appreciate these individuals’ desire to accept this task, which is truly a public service,” Commission chairman Brian O’Dwyer said. “This competitive process and the resulting projects can lead to real transformation of communities through capital, investment, direct and construction employment and tax revenues.”

Abreu is president and chief executive of the New York Women’s Chamber of Commerce, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to empowering the economic development of women and minorities through business ownership, microenterprise and self-employment.

She has led the group since August 2003, prior to which she spent time as director of the Women’s Business Center at Queens Economic Development Corporation, as well as director of the Women’s Business Resource Center at Hunts Point.

Been is the Boxer Family Professor of Law at New York University (NYU) School of Law, an affiliated professor of public policy of the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and faculty director of NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.

Been returned to NYU following a spell as the commissioner of housing preservation and development for the City of New York and deputy mayor for housing and economic development.

Rabinowitz is senior counsel to law firm Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone and focuses his practice on state and federal litigation, appellate litigation, constitutional law, civil rights law, voting rights law, education law, including higher education and labour relations and liaison with local, state and federal agencies and officers relating to economic development.

He also served on the New York Gaming Facility Location Board in 2014-15.

Pariplay was issued both online gaming service provider and gaming services registration exemption by the state, as well as a licence from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to do business on its territory.

As a result, the state and tribe – which operates Foxwoods Casino – will now be able to partner with Pariplay and gain access to its Fusion platform of more than 14,000 titles from over 80 providers.

Pariplay is also active in Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia and New Jersey in the US, as well as Alberta and Ontario in Canada. In addition, the supplier last month secured approval in Buenos Aires in Argentina.

“We are delighted to have gained our Connecticut licence, which is our fifth awarded to Pariplay in the US; our bold approach to entering regulated markets is something we’re very proud of, and this is allowing us to continue to excel as a business,” NeoGames’ chief executive Moti Malul said.

Pariplay head of compliance Lawrence Hanlin added: “As more and more markets embrace regulation in the US, we’re given further opportunities to make a real impact for operators and partners alike.

“Connecticut marks an important milestone for us in our quest to be the leading aggregator across the states, and we’re very proud of all we have achieved so far, with us now live in five of the six markets which allow for online slot gaming.”

In-Play MultiBet will allow players to wager on multiple events within the same game while a match is taking place. This, Genius Sports said, could include customers placing new bets after each goal or touchdown and during intervals. 

“Combining same game parlays with the unstoppable growth of in-play betting is a breakthrough innovation for us and our partners,” Genius Sports’ chief commercial officer Jack Davison said.

The tool will be available in time for betting on the 2022 Fifa World Cup, the national team football tournament that is scheduled to kick off in Qatar next month.

“Starting with the biggest sports event of the year, the Fifa World Cup, InPlay MultiBet will enable our partners to unlock bigger margins and drive engagement between key match events and breaks,” Davison added.

In-Play MultiBet will also run across football’s English Premier League, the National Football League and Fiba basketball and Fivb volleyball leagues worldwide.

Genius Sports will power In-Play MultiBet using AI-powered live odds from its LiveTrading service.

The new launch comes after Genius Sports, in August, revealed it was able to exceed both its revenue and earnings guidance in Q2 of 2022, while its loss was drastically reduced as large stock-based payments no longer weighed into its earnings.

Betting technology, content and services generated $44.8m (£39.5m/€45.2m), which was up by 10.4% year-on-year. Revenue from media technology, content and services almost doubled to $15.0m, while sports technology content and services revenue was up 56.9% to $11.3m.

The filing followed a warning by the Nasdaq stock exchange that it must fill the seats by a 5 October deadline in accordance with the exchange’s rules and regulations. The newly appointed include Sohail S Quraeshi as CEO as well as Vladimir Klechtchev and Amer Rustom as new outside directors. They will sit alongside remaining director Richard Kivel, who will continue as chairman of the board, therefore fulfilling the Nasdaq’s requirements that the company has at least three members of the board.

Quraeshi started his career as a securities analyst, and has worked in banking institutions in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Currently he is the founder of contact tracing and digital asset management company TSS Vertical and managing director of Singapore-based asset management business Vahoca Pt.

Klechtchev is a Fellow Chartered Accountant with experience in audit, investment banking, risk management, compliance, fraud investigations, project evaluation, consultancy and business advisory services. Rustom co-founded the Platinum group and has ties with many Middle Eastern and North African prominent officials and leaders.  

Lottery.com has been riven by turmoil the last months, marred by financial irregularities, a board that was in open civil war and multiple class-action lawsuits.

In July, the company revealed that it had “overstated” its cash balance by $30m, leading to the company terminating the employment of its president, treasurer and chief financial officer Ryan Dickinson. CEO Lawrence DiMatteo resigned later in the month, although he opted to remain on the board. This was followed days later by an SEC filing that stated the business owed $425,000 in outstanding payroll obligations, leading to questions whether it was possible for the company to continue as a going concern.

“Since the company’s business is dependent on the efforts and talents of its employees, particularly its developers and engineers, and the provision of ongoing services to customers by its employees,” said Lottery.com in the filing, “a material loss of its employee base may result in the inability of the company to operate its technology, meet its obligations to customers, the loss of key customer relationships and revenue and claims for breach of contractual obligations.”

Shortly after this, the business was threatened with delisting by the Nasdaq stock exchange over the business’ late filing of its quarterly report.

With the business facing existential questions, the troubles came to a head in September, when an outside investor known as Woodford Eurasia Assets provided the business with a $50m loan. Two board members resigned in protest, stating in their resignation letters that the company had “thwarted” attempts to look into “red flags” raised by the new investor. Board members Lisa Borders and William C Thompson Jr condemned the “potentially inappropriate activity” that had occurred within the company.