Month: October 2022

The ANJ issued a number of binding guidelines and non-binding “recommendations” to operators on the subject of bonusing, similar to its previous guidelines and recommendations on marketing.

Among the guidelines were new rules about offering bonuses to players at risk of harm.

It said that operators should “ensure that no commercial offer includes financial reward to people identified as potentially having excessive or pathological gambling”; “exercise particular vigilance with regard to people who have recently benefited from a self-exclusion measure or a gambling ban” and “avoid any allegation of an alleged absence of risk”.

It also said that the frequency and size of bonus offers should be “reasonable”.

The guidelines also dealt with language around bonus offers that could be misleading or not sufficiently transparent.

The new rules note that, any bonus offer that “omits, conceals or provides material information in an unintelligible, ambiguous or out of time manner” is prohibited.

Language that must be present for a bonus offer includes its duration if time-limited, if it is completely free or requires a bet to be placed, if the reward is withdrawable cash or “credits”, whether the bonus received is fixed or variable and any other necessary conditions to receive it.

“Write the complete rules of the financial reward offer in a legible and understandable manner and make them available on an easily accessible medium,” the ANJ said.

Non-binding bonus cap

Its non-binding recommendations, meanwhile, go further. The regulator said that operators should not offer welcome bonuses worth more than €100, whether as a single bonus or in a package.

For bonuses for existing customers, meanwhile, it called on operators to “rebalance commercial offers and loyalty programs” so that promos were “less linked to the level of intensity” of play.

Regarding transparency, the guidelines said that operators should use specific examples to illustrate how much a player is likely to win in practice from certain bonus offers.

The venue has been closed for more than two years due to the pandemic and damage from Hurricane Laura, which hit Louisiana in August 2020.

Reopening as Horseshoe Lake Charles, the revamped 60,000sq ft facility will feature almost 1,000 slot machines and table games, a new Caesars-branded sportsbook and an official World Series of Poker (WSOP) room.

Other amenities at the property will include 253 hotel rooms, a range of food and beverage outlets, and a Gordon Ramsay Steak restaurant, owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

“When we closed the Isle of Capri in 2020, we were not expecting the property to be shut down for this length of time,” Caesars’ president and chief operating officer Anthony Carano said. “But we couldn’t be prouder of our team and all of the hard work they’ve put into this beautiful property.

“We look forward to welcoming our partners and the community to celebrate with us as we commemorate this milestone and introduce them to Horseshoe Lake Charles.”

Horseshoe Lake Charles senior vice president and general manager Jeff Favre added: “The support from the Lake Charles community has been tremendous, and we can’t wait to welcome our guests back to experience our all-new resort.

“After being closed for more than two years, to reopen as a Horseshoe casino is the cherry on top of a pretty spectacular celebration.”

Confirmation of the reopening comes after Caesars earlier this month also revealed plans to open a new casino in New York’s Times Square, in partnership with SL Green Realty.

The operator will submit a licence application for a planned downstate casino in New York, which would be the first full casino in New York City. Other operators that have expressed interest include Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Universal Entertainment.

The agreement will run through to the end of the 2030-31 season and cover a wide range of NBA data and supplementary betting services for FanDuel’s sportsbook platform.

FanDuel also agreed to extend its original August 2021 main data deal with Sportradar to September 2031, with Sportradar to remain as the preferred data and odds supplier to the operator.

Sportradar and FanDuel will work together to deliver improved sports betting experiences to customers, including, for the first time, using certain player tracking data to create props and support the growth of same game parlays.

FanDuel will also become the first North American operator to utilise Sportradar’s official NBA data, following the operator’s landmark partnership with the NBAannounced in November 2021, under which both FanDuel and DraftKings became official betting partners of the NBA.

Other aspects of the deal include FanDuel gaining access to a range of betting products and betting entertainment tools such as live match trackers and betting widgets.

In addition, FanDuel’s teams in the US will be able to utilise Sportradar’s proprietary Live Channel Trading (LCT) product to support in-play trading.

“As the largest operator in North America, FanDuel is an exceptional partner, trusting in our products and services to help define their market differentiation,” Sportradar chief executive Carsten Koerl said.

“We are thrilled to further expand our relationship with FanDuel in a manner that will evolve and grow the skyrocketing market for sports betting in the US, while continuing to monetise our long-term partnership with the NBA. This deal demonstrates the value of our strategy in delivering products and services on top of data rights.”

FanDuel president Christian Genetski added: “FanDuel’s top priority is to provide a superior product experience to our customers. As we forged this deal, it was critically important that our commitment to NBA basketball and its official data be tied to substantial reinvestment in product innovation and enhancements that will ensure FanDuel retains a market leading NBA offering.

“We’re excited to continue our long-term relationship with Sportradar, as their comprehensive data is a critical element to a successful customer experience, and one we now have long-term stability with moving forward.”

The launch will establish Bayes as the country’s first registered supplier to leverage official esports live data directly from a game publisher and delivering this to online gambling operators.

To support the venture, Bayes has expanded its existing partnership with Bet365, with the two companies to jointly deliver new esports betting products in both New Jersey and Colorado.

In addition, Bayes said it would continue to work with regulators and lawmakers in other states across the US, including in Nevada, to introduce new laws legalising betting on esports.

“Back in May when we announced the closing of our financing round, we stated that we were looking to expand into the US market and that we were looking to become a licensed betting supplier,” Bayes managing director and chief operating officer Amir Mirzaee (pictured) said.

“Now, just a couple of months later, we have kept our promise. The betting market in the US is changing and while it is still lagging behind its European counterpart, it without a doubt will be one of the biggest and most relevant markets in the near future.

“Out of all the states, New Jersey and Colorado happened to be the most progressive and open to innovation, but we expect others to follow suit very shortly.”

Meanwhile, Bayes has entered into a partnership with games publisher Krafton to further expand its range of esports data. The deal will cover official data from popular game title ‘PUBG: Battlegrounds’.

Bayes also has exclusive partnerships in place with Riot Games for League of Legends, ESL Gaming, Dreamhack, BTS, and OGA.

“We aim to support Krafton in laying the groundwork to streamline data access for its global community and scale their official data offering both for esports and community use cases,” Mirzaee said. “That will include enabling a broad variety of digital applications, including live and historic game data access, statistics and data visualisations, and many more.

“Our main objective is always the enhancement of community engagement while driving for the integrity of the esports in particular.”

Bayes also recently announced a series of new appointments within its management team.

Christopher Bohlmann joined as director of growth and finance, while André Schneider was also brought in as Bayes’ new senior director of people operations.

Following the resign of Lottery.com’s previous independent auditors Armanino LLP, the portal will now work with Yusufali & Associates LLC, who will perform quarterly financial reviews and annual audits for the company.

Much of the company’s troubles stem from the fact that after sacking its president and CFO after discovering instances of non-compliance with state and federal laws, Lottery.com discovered that the company’s cash holdings were overstated by $30m.

The company faced more struggles as it said that it was not able to pay employee wages. It admitted in a SEC filing that as of 29 July 2022 it owed $425,000 in outstanding payroll obligations.

In an attempt to improve its situation, the company recently attempted to obtain funding from a business known as Woodford Eurasia, a subsidiary of investment firm United International Holdings Netherlands BV.

This investor demanded that four of the five remaining members of the Lottery.com board resign as part of the terms of the loan. This led to two board members quitting in protest after claiming the company deliberately “thwarted” attempts to look into “red flags” raised regarding the new investor.

It was amid this turmoil that Armanino resigned as auditors.

In addition, Lottery.com earlier this month announced the appointment of new independent board members, including a new interim CEO and interim CFO.

Yusuf Musaji, founder & CEO of Yusufali & Associates LLC said, “We are delighted to have been appointed the official auditors of Lottery.com. We are committed to the efficient and thorough review and audit of the company’s public filing and understand the importance of finalising our work on a timely basis.”

Sohail Quraeshi, CEO of Lottery.com commented, “We are delighted with the appointment of Yusufali as our auditors and are assured by their vast experience in successfully managing the complex financial audits and review of other public corporations that we have made the right choice.

“We are at the threshold of a new beginning at Lottery.com and look forward to working with them. It is critical to the success of the company as we move forward with renewed diligence, accuracy, and commitment that we only have the best team in place to help us.”

The brands were awarded Gold Advanced Level 3, the highest level of certification available from GamCare, following a recent assessment by the gambling harm charity.

GamCare also praised Flutter for promoting a positive culture for safer gambling among its UK and Ireland brands, as well as integrating its processes across internal systems such as e-learning, employee communications, and support services.

The Safer Gambling Standard is an independent mark attributed to operators that go above and beyond their licensing obligations to protect customers from gambling-related harm.

Since its last assessment in 2020, Flutter has introduced a series of safer gambling measures across its brands, including becoming the first operator to put in place a mandatory deposit limits for customers under 25.

Flutter has also invested in its gambling team, which now has over 200 colleagues working in roles that directly help the operator to protect its customers.

Flutter’s tombola online bingo brand also operates to Advanced Level 3 standard and will be reassessed by GamCare in the coming months to ensure it still meets the criteria of this level of standard. 

“It is a hugely proud moment for everyone at Flutter to have all of our online brands awarded the highest gambling changes by GamCare,” Flutter UK and Ireland’s director of risk and safer gambling, Luke Sugden, said.

“A core pillar our global sustainability strategy – the Positive Impact Plan – is our Play Well strategy, which focusses on providing customers with a positive, entertaining and safe experience at all times. 

“This certification not only signals progress against this commitment, but is a credit to our fantastic colleagues, who continue to put safer gambling at the heart of everything we do as a business.”

During an earnings call following Kindred’s Q3 results, Tjärnström offered an update on Kindred’s performance in the US market. Here, he said the business hoped to break even by 2026.

“We are now live in seven states,” he said. “We’re going to reduce that to six when we leave Iowa and then increase it again to seven with Washington. 

“We have been in an investment position across our state footprint and it will take some time, a few years to achieve profitability.

“We’re expecting the contribution from 2022 to be negative from 2021, but then in 2023 we’re reducing those losses and by 2026 we’ll be breakeven across our current state footprint.”

Last week, FuboTV became one of the highest-profile operators to exit the US market, highlighting the difficulty in turning a profit for operators that are not close to the top in market share. However, Tjärnström said Kindred would remain committed to the market.

“With our current setup, we see some positive signs of development and we’re expecting those to become more visible going forward,” he said.

New Norway strategy

As well as updates on markets such as the Netherlands and the UK, Tjärnström also spoke of Kindred’s recent decision to stop targeting Norwegian customers, following threats of fines from regulator Lotteritilsynet.

“We can come back on that later, but we believe that the Norwegian market is similar to other markets where we’ve seen local regulation,” he said. “It follows a similar pattern to what we’ve seen in Sweden and the Netherlands where it would benefit everyone to introduce local regulation.

“We’re fully convinced that that’s where Norway is heading in the long term, but this is a normal development in the lead-up to local regulation.”

Tjärnström added that while he couldn’t reveal details of the expected revenue impact from the change, he felt that signs from similar actions taken in the Netherlands before Kindred blocked Dutch customers entirely would suggest the impact would be minimal.

“We cannot comment on [the revenue impact], but we have done similar changes in the Netherlands and we didn’t see a material impact of that then,” he said. “Of course it remains to be seen a bit in Norway.”

The Kindred CEO also spoke of Belgium, where a ban on all non-lottery gambling ads is set to be introduced. Tjärnström said that Kindred should be less impacted by the ban than other operators because its brands were already well-known, but that he still felt it was not the right action to take.

“As we are market leaders in Belgium, we are probably one of the ones who will suffer least from this,” he said. “But it’s a very delicate balance overall. 

“Restrictions on freedom of speech, albeit commercial, will lead to negative aspects as well. But we are confident that we can manage the impact.

Speaking on returning cash to shareholders, meanwhile, Tjärnström said that Kindred would look to both dividends and stock buybacks, rather than simply focusing on one.

“It’s a combination,” he said. “That’s what we have done and it’s what we plan to continue to do.”

Donelan was appointed to the Ministerial position last month by Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss, replacing Nadine Dorris, who had served in the role since September 2021 under Boris Johnson.

Sunak was yesterday (25 October) formally appointed Prime Minister, almost immediately after Truss stepped down from the role, and soon began forming his new Cabinet.

Donelan was announced one of a number of Ministers that will keep their positions within the Cabinet Office, with others leaving their roles following the exit of Truss.

Previously, Donelan held the role of Secretary of State for Education from 5 July to 7 July 2022 and Minister of State for Higher and Further Education from 15 September 2021 to 5 July 2022.

As Secretary of State for DCMS, Donelan will continue to lead the government’s review into the 2005 Gambling Act.

In 2020, the government launched a review of the Gambling Act with an initial consultation that closed in March 2021. The next stage of this review is a white paper, though this has been repeatedly delayed due to personnel changes in government and at the Gambling Commission. 

The paper was only weeks away from publication when Truss announced her resignation, and while it has not yet been announced when the document can be expected, yet another change in leadership will likely create further delays.

PlayNow.com will be operated by the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation (SaskGaming) as the only legal igaming website in Saskatchewan, offering licensed gambling to players on an exclusive basis.

This is in line with an arrangement announced last September, which was agreed by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and the provincial government.

The PlayNow.com platform will be delivered by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) and based on a website of the same name that is operated by the BCLC in British Columbia.

Saskatchewan will become only the third province in which PlayNow.com is active, after its initial launch in British Columbia and also in Manitoba.

To support the launch, PlayNow.com has agreed a sponsorship deal with local Canadian Football League team the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The PlayNow.com logo will appear on players’ jerseys, while the deal also includes a range of stadium activations.

“We are excited to be the exclusive provider of Saskatchewan’s first and only legal online gaming site, which will provide a safe and secure option for residents to play their favourite casino games and bet on their favourite sports teams online,” SIGA president and chief executive Zane Hansen said.

“Residents will be pleased to know that when they play on the PlayNow.com site, the proceeds are reinvested back into the province. Similar to the existing brick-and-mortar casinos in the province, all net proceeds from the PlayNow.com site are reinvested back into Saskatchewan.”

FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron added: “This historical partnership, is the first of its kind, with a First Nations operator for online gaming with revenue sharing between First Nations and the province. This will provide many economic benefits to the residents of the province and our First Nations communities.”

Betsson will pay €14m to acquire 80% of the shares of KickerTech, paying €6m in cash up front, €4m in cash in six months and a further €4m in either cash or shares in 12 months.

KicketTech brought in €2.6m in revenue over the 12 months to 30 September, while its earnings before interest and tax were €1.3m.

”We continue to grow our sportsbook business around the world and this deal will both strengthen our position as one of the leading B2C sportsbook operators in the market and complement our highly competitive B2B sportsbook proposition,” Betsson chief executive Pontus Lindwall (pictured) said. “We are acquiring a proven business with a track record of growth in client base, sportsbook turnover and revenue in the past years. The acquisition will contribute sportsbook functionality, tech development capabilities and new B2B clients. I am very pleased to welcome the new team and clients to the Betsson Group.”

The deal was announced alongside Betsson’s Q3 results, which also highlighted Betsson’s continued focus on B2B.

Future acquisitions

In an earnings call following the results, chief financial officer Martin Öhman said the business would likely plan to make further B2B acquisitions, given its strong cash position.

“We have quite a strong balance sheet and we want to have a strong balance sheet, especially when you are entering rougher times in financial markets,” he said. “It helps us to deliver on our strategy both organically and through M&A. Having a strong balance sheet helps us have flexibility when growing. 

“We just used our balance sheet to acquire a B2B business and I think that will be our position going forward as well.”

Lindwall added that the acquisition made sense – despite Betsson having an existing B2B sportsbook product – as it would help the business expand its B2B operations geographically.

“I think when buying this one, we broaden the spectrum of customers we can serve with sportsbook products,” he said. “We can cover much more of the market now globally with these two products.

“And on top of that we will get synergies both on the sales side and on development as well.”

Record revenue

The business announced records in a variety of measures during Q3, including record-high revenue of €200.3m, up 17.8% year-on-year.

B2B revenue was €45.1m, representing 22% of Betsson revenue. This was up from €28.6m a year earlier, meaning B2B took up a larger share of overall revenue than before.

Within B2C, locally regulated markets brought in €71.5m, up from €54.7m and also representing a larger share of revenue than before.

Casino revenue grew to €135.4m, which was up by 8.2% year-on-year.

Sportsbook revenue grew more quickly, by 45.0% to €61.9m. This came on turnover of €1.06bn, including €733.0m from in-play betting.

Betsson made a further €3.0m from other products.

Geographically, the trend of rapid quarter-on-quarter growth for Betsson in Latin America was halted. The business made €38.0m from the region, which was up 59.0% year-on-year but down from €45.7m in Q2. Latin America was also the only market in which sports betting brought in more revenue than casino.

The quarter-on-quarter decline in this region, Lindwall said, was “margin driven”.

In Western Europe, revenue was €25.0m, down 29.6% year-on-year, mostly due to the operator’s exit from the Dutch market. The total was up slightly quarter-on-quarter.

Revenue from the Nordics was €53.8m, up slightly year-on-year.

Central & eastern Europe and central Asia, however, was the region in which Betsson had the most success. Revenue was up 48.1% year-on-year and 28.9% quarter-on-quarter to €78.8m.

Rest of world revenue was €3.9m.

Betsson income

After €66.5m in costs of sales, the business made a gross profit of €133.8m, another record high. The total was also 21.7% more than the gross profit recorded in Q3 of 2021.

The business paid €95.4m in operating expenses, including €34.1m in marketing costs and €30.8m in personnel expenses, but its operating income still came to €38.4m, another record and up 21.1% year-on-year.

After financial items and tax, Betsson’s net income was €32.6m, slightly short of the record total from Q1 of 2021, but up 16.1% year-on-year.