In her new role, Loney will join the BetMGM executive team and oversee the operator’s compliance department including online and retail operational compliance, registration and licensing, anti-money laundering and financial compliance, and responsible gaming.
Loney joins BetMGM after three years with Penn Interactive, where she was recently served as vice president of compliance and regulatory affairs, following a spell as its director of compliance.
Ohio is due to commence legal sports wagering on January 1 and players in the state are now able to register and deposit funds with Caesars in preparation for this launch.
Consumers that sign up with Caesars ahead of January can take advantage of a special early registration offer, whereby if they deposit $20, they will receive an additional $100 worth of bet credits.
Scully replaces Collins as Undersecretary for Tech and the Digital Economy within the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS), after Collins announced he would leave the front benches yesterday (28 October). In this role, he will oversee gambling, and in particular the review of the Gambling Act.
Scully is the fifth different minister to be in charge of the Gambling Act review.
The first, Nigel Huddleston, served from the 2018 until March 2021, when he was replaced by John Whittingdale. During that time period, the government launched the first stage of the review, a consultation on possible changes.
In March of 2021, just before the consultation closed, Huddleston was replaced by John Whittingdale. Whittingdale oversaw much of the initial drafting of the Gambling Act white paper, but he was then moved away from this brief in a 2021 cabinet reshuffle, with Chris Philp becoming his replacement.
Philp continued to work on the white paper, which appeared to be imminent this summer, before he resigned in July, part of a wave of resignations of senior government figures. At the time, he said the review was already at the Prime Minister’s desk.
However, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson then announced his own resignation, Collins took over the gambling brief, delaying the publication of the white paper.
While Collins remained in place when Liz Truss became Prime Minister last month, he left the government soon after Rishi Sunak entered Downing Street, leaving Scully to take over the role.
Scully is the MP for Sutton and Cheam in London, having first been elected in 2015. Since 2020, he has served as Minister for London and will continue to do so while also taking on his new position in DCMS. He also served as Parliamentary Undersecretary for Small Business from 2020 until July 2022.
“I’m excited to get stuck into my new role as Minister for Tech at DCMS, & delighted to continue the work with so many friends as Minister for London,” Scully said.
UK industry body the Betting and Gaming Council welcomed Scully’s appointment.
“Congratulations to [Paul Scully] on his new appointment as Minister for Tech at DCMS with responsibility for betting and gaming,” the body said.
The data will be released every six months starting in 2023 and will address four areas.
These are: the percentage of their players they contact as a result of risky gambling; the effect of contacting these players; how much these players reduced their problem gambling habits; and what percentage of these contacted players stop gambling.
Chief executive Hasse Lord Skarplöth said the aim behind this new initiative is to instill trust in the gaming industry.
Skarplöth noted that the Swedish Quality Index measured trust in the gaming industry at the end of last year and found that trust in the gambling sector was exceptionally low.
He stated: “We see this initiative as a first, and big, step in the work to improve the reputation of the gaming industry.
“The amount of people gambling has increased alongside the potential of companies taking responsibility for those who are at risk of developing harmful gambling practices. Operators offer the opportunity to play and therefore have the heavy responsibility of identifying and stopping players that may be at risk of problem gambling. By sharing this internal information, investors, politicians, our customers and the public are given the opportunity to evaluate us and how we push strive for more responsible gambling.”
ATG will join lottery operator Svenska Spel and Unibet operator Kindred in reporting key responsible gambling stats in Sweden.
This announcement follows Skarplöth’s blistering critique of bonuses, saying that they are “embarrassing” and “drive gambling addiction”. Sweden only allows operators to offer one bonus per player sign-up for a maximum SEK100. A large part of the industry is opposed to the bonus ban. However, Skarplöth believes that bonuses can contribute to problem gambling and ATG decided to self-impose a bonus ban.
A single complainant came forward over the three adverts, two of which appeared on the Bing search engine and the other on Google. All three adverts were published in May this year.
The Bing ad said, ‘Lottoland Irish Lottery – Only £2 Here’ and ‘£209m US Powerball Lotto. £56m Megamillions 6for1. Contact us. Play here’.
The first Google also offered referenced the ‘Lottoland Irish Lottery’, as well as a ‘Charity Combo for £2. Win-win charity Lotto + BRC Scratch 50% off. Support UK Charities Here’.
The second Google ad said ‘Lottoland Lotto x5 – Just £1 – 5 chances to win £1 million’, as well as ‘CAN Your Lotto Do That? Lottoland Can’.
The complainant, who understood that the Lotto games provided an opportunity to bet on the outcome of a lottery rather than participate in the lottery, challenged whether the ads were misleading.
Responding to the claim, Lottoland said it had previously agreed to make changes to its ads to ensure adverts referenced bets and betting. However, it said problems with third-party ad templates and settings meant these ads did not contain clarifications on this.
In the case of the Bing ad, Lottoland said a default setting meant the relevant parts of the ad were inadvertently generated by a combination of random words from various online sources that were automatically published, while clarifications for bet and betting were not.
Specific references to ‘£209M US Powerball Lotto and ‘£56m Megamillions 6for1’, Lottoland said, were taken from its website and used to create an ad, adding that Bing had confirmed the setting has now been deactivated in the UK.
Turning to the first of the two Google ads, Lottoland said this was a Responsive Search Ad (RSA) and, in line with previous assurance, it had made updates within its Google account to ‘pinned terms’ in order for ads to reference bet and betting.
Lottoland said this should only allow suitable ads to be generated, but, in rare instances, the Google algorithm had not used the pinned terms because of a word count and space issue. Since the ad went live, Lottoland said it had ensured pinned terms were included in a way which would avoid the word count and space issue in the future.
For the final Google ad, Lottoland said this was an expanded text ad and that the algorithm Google used for creating ads omitted some key words. It added that the ad had now been discontinued following the notification of the complaint.
Irrespective of these explanations, Lottoland said in all of the referenced ads, indications were given that the offer being advertised related to a service provided by Lottoland, with the operator being referenced by name in each advert.
Lottoland added that the ads did not reference the ‘Irish National Lottery’ and therefore were not misleading, while there was no real risk of confusion or conflation, and customers would not reasonably consider that they were playing the National Lottery.
However, despite Lottoland’s response to the claim, the ASA decided to uphold the single complaint.
In its assessment, the ASA noted the use of the term ‘Lotto’ in the ads, as well as references to ‘Irish Lottery’ and ‘US Powerball Lotto’. The ASA considered in that context and in the absence of any qualification, consumers would interpret the term ‘Lotto’ to mean a lottery and that Lottoland provided an opportunity to purchase tickets for draws.
The ASA said consumers were likely to associate lotteries with contributing to charitable causes, and that it considered the claim ‘Support UK charities here’ was likely to reinforce the impression the service being offered was a lottery.
However, the ASA also said it understood the ads related to a service whereby consumers could bet on the result of lottery draws.
Referencing the first two ads, the ASA said it was clear players could choose numbers in the same way as playing lottery games, but this was not connected to the lottery operator. For the final ad, the AA this referred to a random number generated lottery run by Lottoland and consumers were not playing in the lottery but betting on the outcome of the draw.
Concluding its findings, the ASA said the adverts were likely to mislead consumers and, as such, breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).
The ASA said the adverts must not appear again in this form. It also warned Lottoland to ensure future ads do not mislead by omitting the fact the service offered the chance to bet on the outcome of a lottery, and to ensure references to betting were clear and included in the ads.
With industry salaries rising by 12.5% on average, the battle for talent is as fierce as it was in 2021.
Some candidates are commanding even higher raises, according to the gaming recruitment specialist.
The full results of the 2022 Salary Survey will be released early in November.
“Put simply, the scarcer the commodity, the more expensive it becomes,” Pentasia managing director Alastair Cleland explained. “The talent market is certainly presenting challenges, but the igaming industry is in good shape to take them on.”
Premiums paid for compliance roles are particularly high, Pentasia compliance specialist Kerry Gillitt added. “This year there are pockets of extreme salary increases where compliance talent shortages are necessitating highly aggressive pay offers.”
Technical skills are also in demand. Remote jobs are particularly attractive to these candidates. It’s the skills, rather than the location, that commands a premium.
The number of remote working roles increased 30% from 2021.
This doesn’t mean pay has dropped; working from home pays the same as on-site roles.
The growth in senior leadership salaries, meanwhile, beats the industry average of 12.5%.
Salaries for leadership roles increased by over 16% on average. Pay packets are supported by generous benefit and equity packages, meaning candidates are comfortable demanding these perks.
Diversity in the workplace is an issue of increasing importance for employers. Equal opportunities are a key consideration for the gambling recruitment specialist’s clients.
However, the survey also highlights challenges that need addressing around gender diversity, particularly at the upper echelons of the industry.
Diversity in the workplace is an issue of increasing importance for employers.
Pentasia’s clients demand high standards when it comes to equal opportunities. In the area of gender diversity, there remain major challenges to be addressed, particularly at senior levels.
Ultimately this means employers are having to work harder than ever to stand out in a competitive market.
“From flexible work options, to investing in retention and developing talent in-house, these are the factors that are giving employers a competitive edge,” Cleland added.
The full iGB-Pentasia Salary Survey will be published in November 2022. Catch up on last year’s findings here.
Under the agreement, Genius will continue as the official tracking provider for FDC through its Second Spectrum technology, which is already installed at every English Premier League stadium.
Powered by computer vision and AI, Second Spectrum will also now be used capture sub-second positional data on every player, as well as the actual ball. This data will then be made available to all partners including broadcasters.
FDC will also work with Genius to develop and exploit skeletal tracking data to create new opportunities for media partners and deliver richer fan experiences. These, Genius said, could include interactive metaverse applications.
“Technology continues to drive how data is collected, analysed and presented,” FDC general manager Adrian Ford said. “Working with Genius Sports’ Second Spectrum technology enables Football DataCo to be at the cutting edge of what is possible, and we look forward to developing new ways of using data for our stakeholders.”
Genius Sports’ chief executive Mark Locke added: “This partnership is an important next step in demonstrating the way data and advanced technology can amplify storytelling and fan engagement.
“Genius has believed deeply in this vision for many years, which is now becoming a reality in partnership with FDC and the Premier League. We’re incredibly excited to work on solutions to enhance how the most popular league in world soccer is consumed by millions of passionate fans worldwide.”
Genius Sports is also FDC’s exclusive supplier of official live data to the global sports betting sector, also providing data on competitions run by the English Football League and Scottish Professional Football League.
The deal comes after Sportradar’s legal dispute against Genius and FDC this month reached a resolution, with the parties agreeing out of court that Sportradar will receive a sublicence for English football data, but that it must stop unofficial scouting.
Sportradar will be granted a sublicence that will grant access to a delayed secondary feed until 2024. At the same time, Sportradar will cease its unauthorised in-stadium data collection activities.
The three months to September 30 was a busy period for CDI in terms of marketing and acquisitions, with the group having complete a series of deals, including the $79.0m purchase of the Ellis Park racetrack and gaming facility in Kentucky towards the end of the quarter.
CDI also agreed to sell 49% of its United Tote Company subsidiary to the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and completed previously announced purchase of Chasers Poker Room in Salem, New Hampshire.
In addition, CDI brokered a major, multi-year partnership with Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group, covering multiple areas of the operator’s business including sports betting, advance deposits wagering (ADW) and television verticals.
Upon publishing its Q3 results, CDI also offered an update on its pending acquisition of the assets of (P2E)after it struck a deal worth $2.49bn (£2.15bn/€2.48bn) earlier this year.
CDI has so far secured regulatory approval from local regulators in Iowa and Virginia, but the purchase remains dependent on other customary closing conditions, including clearance from the New York State Gaming Commission. However, CDI still said it expects the deal is to close before the end of 2022.
Turning to the Q3 performance in detail, CDI said revenue was 2.5% lower year-on-year at $383.1m. Gaming remained the primary source of income, with revenue edging up 0.1% to $185.9m due to increases at Fair Grounds and Ocean Downs.
Revenue from the TwinSpires online betting segment fell 1.5% to $107.4m as a $1.8m rise in horse racing revenue more than offset by a $3.4m decline in sports and casino revenue, following CDI’s decision to exit the direct online sports and casino business in Q1.
Live and historical racing revenue jumped 25.6% to $102.4m, helped by a higher handle at Churchill Downs Racetrack due to more live racing days, but other revenue dropped 94.2% due to Arlington not conducting live racing as CDI racing and simulcast operations at the end of 2021.
Operating expenses were slightly lower at $320.1m, down 1.6% year-on-year, while $42.4m in equity income from unconsolidated affiliates more than offset interest cost, leading to an additional $10.4m in profit.
Pre-tax profit was 16.3% lower at $73.4m, while after paying $16.4m in tax, this left a net profit of $57.0m, down 7.2% on last year. However, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at a record $163.2m, up 4.6% year-on-year.
In Q3 of 2021, Kindred reported revenue of £277.8m, which was down by 6.9% year-on-year. Almost all of this revenue came from B2C operations, at £271.9m, while B2B revenue – from Relax Gaming – was £5.9m.
The decline in revenue continued to be down to the operator withdrawing from the Netherlands at the start of Q4 2021. While the operator returned to the country during the quarter, generating revenue again, the amount Kindred took in was less than before the country regulated, as was expected.
Kindred said it was “exceeding expectations” with 137,000 active Dutch customers, and brought in around £400,000 per day since launching on 11 July. Chief executive Henrik Tjärnström added that the business had around a 15% market share in the country.
“Thanks to our strong brand awareness, unique product offerings, and an excellent team, we are off to a flying start,” Tjärnström said.
When the Netherlands is excluded, B2C revenue was up by 8%.
The majority of B2B revenue, 56%, came from Western Europe. The Nordics brought in another 29%, while central and eastern Europe brought in 10% of revenue.
The rest of the world made up the other 5%.
Looking specifically at the UK, Kindred said its revenue here was up by 10% year-on-year. This, it noted, was despite a 32% decline in bonus spend.
In Belgium, revenue was down 16% year-on-year, partly due to a weaker sporting calendar, while in France, revenue was up 24% year-on-year but this was mostly margin-driven.
In Sweden, revenue was up by 29%, mostly due to growth in casino, while revenue was up 8% in Denmark.
The operator did not reveal revenue from Norway, where it opted to stop targeting customers earlier this month, following threats of fines from the country’s regulator.
Revenue from locally regulated markets was up to £215.8m, which was up by £167.2m in Q3 of 2021.
Breaking revenue down by product, sports betting brought in 40%, casino and games – excluding poker – brought in 55%, poker brought in 3% and other products produced 2% of revenue.
Looking at costs, Kindred paid £70.3m in betting duties, up by 39.2% due to the operator’s higher regulated market exposure.
Tjärnström noted that regulated markets will always lead to higher costs, including betting duties, in the short-term, but that going forward, profit margins in these markets tend to recover.
“The initial margin pressure that comes with entering these markets is inherent, but so is the recovery,” he said. “We saw it in 2019, and we’re seeing it here too.”
Revenue-share payments to affiliates were down to £9.7m, while other costs of sales declined to £43.8m.
As a result, Kindred made a gross profit of £154.0m. After £53.0m in marketing costs, £37.7m in salaries and £23.0m in other operating expenses, the business made an underlying profit of £25.9m, a sharp decline from the £73.1m recorded in Q3 of 2021.
The business made an additional £36.9m on changes in the fair value of payments related to the acquisition of Relax Gaming. When this, plus interest and tax, is included, total profit was £57.9m, down slightly from £60.6m a year earlier. Earnings per share ticked slightly down to £0.26.
Kindred also offered an update on its performance from 1-23 October. During this period, average revenue per day was £3.3m, up 27% from the same period in 2021, in which Kindred had no revenue from the Netherlands. Excluding the Netherlands, average daily revenue was up by 6% year-on-year.
Tjärnström noted that these results are made more impressive by the fact that the operator expects further growth in the back half of Q4.
“We’re expecting a significant activity period in the period around and after 20 November,” Tjärnström said. “And then December is a strong casino month. So the peak of the quarter should be ahead of us.”
He added that there were currently no signs that the economic environment had hit Kindred’s earnings, but that this could always change.
“Although we still do not see any tangible indicators of macro-economic pressure, the current geopolitical insecurity continues to create uncertainty across markets and industries, and we continue to closely monitor these developments,” he said.
Last week, Kindred announced an extraordinary general meeting in which shareholders may vote on new board members.
The sole planned new board member will be James Gemmel, a partner at Corvex Management. Corvex is an investment fund that acquired a 10% stake in Kindred earlier this year, and immediately announced that it would push for the operator’s board to pursue a sale.
The Kindred board did so, but was unable to find a buyer at an appropriate price. iGB understands that questions about how Kindred had adapted to the increasing prevalence of locally regulated markets became an obstacle for some prospective buyers.
Corvex then increased its stake to become Kindred’s top shareholder. Upon announcing this, it requested the opportunity to have a role on Kindred’s nomination committee, allowing it to select board members.
Corvex founder Keith Meister was named as chairman of the nomination committee, giving him significant influence in board appointments.
This was the first full quarter since Evolution’s €340m acquisition of Nolimit City, which was completed in August. Also during the quarter, Evolution opened a new live casino studio in Connecticut.
Asia contributed the highest amount to the revenue total, at €127.8m. This was followed by the rest of Europe – which excludes Western Europe and the Nordics – with €115.3m and North America at €50.1m.
Live games made up €310.4m of the revenue, 44.7% more than in the third quarter of 2021. The remainder – €68.1m – came from random number generator (RNG) games, which also rose from €61.5m.
“Live casino reported a continued rapid growth of 45% in the quarter,” said Martin Carlesund, CEO of Evolution. “We continue to see very strong global demand for our new as well as existing products and we are increasing market shares and our distance to competitors.”
“The rollout of the full product suite to all regulated markets continues.”
However, Carlesund deemed the growth of RNG games throughout the quarter as “not satisfactory” and blamed this on a lack of new slot games. After the business acquired NetEnt, Carlesund initially noted low growth in the RNG division, and the business aimed to pivot from releasing a large number of games to a smaller number.
“RNG revenue, now including Nolimit, was €68.1m – a growth of 2% pro forma from the revenue in Q3 2021,” he said. “This is not yet satisfactory.”
“We have delivered too few slots games during the period.”
On the other hand, though, Evolution CFO Jacob Kaplan said that the quarter was a particular success for live casino revenue.
“We added on over €30m in revenue from the previous quarter, the largest absolute increase we’ve had for live casino in a single quarter,” he said.
Kaplan also reiterated Evolution’s commitment to RNG growth, but admits that the RNG did not perform as expected during the quarter.
“We remain committed to the target of double digit growth for RNG, and we have communicated in previous quarters that development will not be a straight line,” he continued.
“The development in this quarter is weaker than I expected a few quarters ago.”
Operating expenses were €142.1m, up 36.6% year-on-year. More than half of this was personnel expenses, at €76.2m.
Despite the rise in costs, Carlesund said that Evolution’s outlook is positive and outlined its plans for growth.
“There is more cost inflation than we expected at the beginning of the year,” said Carlesund. “Prices, transport, services and almost any supplies are increasing fast in cost. However, we reiterate our guidance margin for 2022 being between 69%-71%.”
“I’ve not seen any apparent signs of a consumer slowdown, but we need to acknowledge that the world is in a very unstable situation. In this context, it is important to state that the investments are continually high, margin may vary quarter-on-quarter and if there is a trade-off between growth and margin, we will always prioritise growth and market checks.”
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were €261.0m.
After depreciation, amortisation and impairment costs at €24.6m, the operating profit was €236.3m. After financial items and tax totaling, the total profit for the quarter was €221.2m – a rise of 40.5% year-on-year.
Revenue for the first nine months of the year is €1.04bn – an increase of 40.5%. EBITDA so far is €728.9m, and the operating profit is totaled at €658.0m.
Following finance items income at €8.0m and tax of €46.2m, the total profit for the first three quarters of the year is €619.8m , 42.8% higher than the first three quarters of 2021.
