October’s handle was 3.3% lower than $461.2m in the same month last year, but 16.7% up from $382.5m in September this year and the largest amount since $476.8m was bet in March.
Football remained the most popular sport to wager on during the month, drawing $168.6m in total bets, ahead of $57.1m in basketball wagers and $32.5m worth of baseball bets. A further $126.2m was spent on parlay bets and $61.4m across other sports.
The Caesars Sportsbook app is available for download to mobile devices, while consumers can also access the Caesars Sportsbook website on desktop.
Users can take advantage of a special early offer when they register and deposit funds but will not be able to place bets until the market launches.
Combined evenue for the month from the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino and Hollywood Casino at Greektown was $102.8m (£86.6m/€98.9m), which was 10.0% lower than $114.1m in October 2021 and also 0.7% down from $103.4m in September this year.
Slots and table games revenue in October amounted to $100.7m, a year-on-year drop of 9.7% from $111.5m last year but only marginally lower than $100.8m in September this year.
Qualified adjusted gross receipts (QAGR) from retail sports betting from casinos accounted for the remaining $2.1m in revenue, down 19.2% from $2.6m in both October 2021 and September this year.
Sports wagering handle for the month reached $34.2m, a drop of 31.3% on last year but a 27.1% increase from $18.5m in September.
MGM remained the market leader with 46% share, ahead of MotorCity on 32% and the Hollywood Casino on 22%.
For MGM, $46.4m of its revenue came from slots and table games, with the other $711,959 generated from sports betting QAGR.
MotorCity posted $32.4m in slots and table games revenue and $680,649 in sports wagering QAGR, while Hollywood Casino reported $21.9m in slots and table games revenue and $702,147 in sports betting QAGR.
The three casinos paid $8.2m in gaming taxes to the State of Michigan and $12.4m in wagering taxes and development agreement payments to the City of Detroit during September.
The venues also paid $79,182 in retail sports betting gaming taxes to the State of Michigan, in addition to $96,778 to the City of Detroit in retail sports betting taxes.
The robust revenue growth is mainly due to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in venues, ensuring a rebound for Codere in almost all markets.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 74.8% to €57.4m from €24.6m in the same period the previous year. Codere’s potent performance in Argentina and other Latin American countries is one important factor in this result.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA margin also rose 2.6% to 16.7% in the three-months leading to 30 September compared to the same period of 2021.
Revenue jumped for Codere in all Latin American markets – most dramatically in Argentina where it increased 146% year-on-year to €98.6m, 122% of the pre-pandemic total. One important factor is that average player spend per visit has increased in the country. This pattern was repeated in Panama where the country’s €19.2m revenue total was 98% of the 2019 number, and Uruguay which rebounded to 116% of pre-Covid revenue at €21m.
However, Codere’s activities in some markets, while up year-on-year, has not yet as totally recovered to its pre-pandemic health. Mexico is growing more slowly, with revenues up 44.2% year-on-year to €61.4m, only 81% of the pre-pandemic total. Codere blamed this on the negative impacts of promotional restrictions and an indoor smoking ban.
In Q4 2021, Codere singled out Mexico as a country where growth had been sluggish.
“The recovery in this market has been slower than in other geographies due to the continuity of operating and capacity restrictions, as well as the country’s slow macroeconomic recovery,” said Codere in its Q4 statement.
The company’s operations in Europe are similarly struggling to hit the revenue totals they had experienced pre-pandemic. Spain’s €40.7m total is 88% of Q3 2019’s, while Italy’s figure of €68.2m is just 83% of the amount it received in the pre-pandemic period.
Since November 2021, Codere has been under new management after the company’s creditors took over. Control of the business was transferred to a new holding company named Codere New Topco SA, which was owned by a consortium of Codere’s former bond-holders.
Meanwhile, the online division of the business was spun out via a SPAC merger that closed weeks after Codere New Topco was formed. This business also reported results today (16 November), with €28.9m in revenue.
Sportradar reported that revenue from the United States was up by 61.2% to €31.6m.
“This growth was driven by a strong increase of US betting services, driven by cross-selling non-data products to betting operators as well as benefiting from our customers’ growth as a result of a development in the underlying market and new states legalising betting,” the group said.
Rest-of-world betting services was the largest segment of the business, with revenue up 28.4% from Q3 of 2021.
This, Sportradar said, was mostly due to clients using more products in which Sportradar receives a higher revenue share, such as as managed betting services.
“This growth was driven primarily by increased sales of our higher value-add offerings including managed betting services, which increased 84% to €38.2 million, and live odds services, which increased 12% to €27.1 million.
“MBS growth was attributable to a record annualised turnover of €19.0 billion and the success of our strategy to move existing customers to higher value-add products.”
Rest-of-world betting audiovisual rights brought in €33.1m, up 14.1%.
Other segments – such as AD;S and non-betting-related data – brought in €13.3m, up by €38.5m.
The cost of purchased services and licences also increased, by 61.6% to €47.5m.
Sportradar also paid €68.3m in personnel expenses as headcount grew by 27% year-on-year. Other costs included €31.8m in depreciation and amortisation costs and €20.3m on other operating expenses.
However, a gain of €11.0m on foreign currency – compared to a €4.8m loss the year before – helped the business turn a profit. The business reported pre-tax income of €14.7m, compared to a €6.0m loss the year before.
After paying €1.9m in tax, the business reported a €12.8m profit, which compared to a €9.0m loss a year earlier.
The business reported adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €36.5m, up from €20.9m a year earlier.
Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl said Sportradar’s overall performance had exceeded expectations.
“Our strong performance in the third quarter exceeded our expectations across all key financial metrics,” he said. “We consistently managed to grow revenue, profitability and cash flows despite adverse market conditions during the first three quarters of 2022.”
He highlighted the US in particular, which he said was profitable in Q3.
“The company exceeds expectations quarter-in and quarter-out, and as a result of our operational performance – in particular the US and the betting rest-of-world business – as well as our organisational streamlining, we are able to raise our full year guidance for revenue and increase the lower end of our Adjusted EBITDA range.
“We are proud of the continuous success of our U.S. operations. We managed to generate a US profit for the first time in the third quarter, displaying solid operational leverage in the business model.”
Following the Q3 announcement, Sportradar increased its revenue outlook for the year. While the business had previously expected revenue for 2022 to fall between €695.0m and €715.0m, it now projects full-year revenue of between €718.0m and €723.0m.
The business also updated its full-year EBITDA guidance. Previously, it projected this to fall between €123.0m and €133.0m. However, it has now narrowed this guidance to between €124.0m and €127.0m.
Looking further ahead, Koerl said he was not concerned about the possibility of recession, as betting has been resilient to market conditions.
“Sportradar services a global betting market that is expected to grow by 11% annually until 2027,” Koerl said. “Historically betting revenues have grown consistently with the exception of 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the number of sports fixtures.”
A major development at the end of the quarter was Sportradar and rival data supplier Genius coming to a settlement in a legal battle over English football data rights. Under the deal, Sportradar will be able to purchase a sublicence for Genius’ English football data, but it will not be able to use unofficial data scouts at these matches.
Koerl said the agreement was a positive for Sportradar, as it would allow the business to sell more data via the sublicence.
“You saw the announcement and I don’t need to dive deeper,” Koerl said. “We have the sublicence, we have this data and we will incorporate this into our products. We have to pay for the data of course but we will be able to sell it to our customers with a positive EBITDA contribution.
“This was not possible before as we had no access to the data.”
Koerl also added that he expected to see more growth from the US going forward, as the market shifts more to in-play products which depend more on data solutions.
“More than 90% of our rest-of-world revenues are driven by in-play,” he said. “We believe we can see that success in the US as well.”
On 15 September, an Australian parliamentary committee, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs began an inquiry into online gambling and its effects on those who experience harm from the activity.
The committee sought out written submissions from both individuals and organisations providing recommendations on this topic. Entain and Sportsbet responded to the call to action, and wrote separate documents outlining their recommendations for policy in this area.
In the document that Entain provided, it argued that it believed that current levels of regulation in the sector were “appropriate”.
“Regulation that is not proportionate risks undermining the customer experience and driving growth in the use of black market illegal offshore gambling providers,” the operator stated. “These illegal offshore gambling providers do not pay Australian taxes, do not pay product fees to Australian racing and sporting controlling bodies and significantly do not offer protections for their Australian consumers.
“It is therefore important that any future regulations are balanced and clearly evidence-driven. As a first step, this involves ensuring that existing regulations are monitored and researched to assess whether they have achieved their safer gambling objectives.”
The business outlined the work it done to ensure that its customers are being protected from harm, arguing that it was a case of “self-regulation in action.” The company pointed to such measures as Entain’s suite of safer gambling tools “Punter Assist” which are integrated into all Australian brands, the incorporation of a safer gambling metric in the group-wide bonus scheme and its work identifying at-risk consumers using a dedicated Responsible Gambling Team.
The company also emphasised its support of the ongoing National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering (NCPF), which will shape Australian safer gambling regulation in the short to medium-term.
“Entain has long been a supporter of the (NCPF) and has actively participated in consultation processes and testing procedures to support its roll out,” the business stated. “However, we believe it is premature to consider further regulation until these measures have had time to be fully implemented, monitored and their effectiveness reviewed.”
Sportsbet similarly produced a written document outlining its thoughts on Australian online gambling policy. The operator made a number of specific recommendations for how the inquiry should be conducted and what issues it should tackle. Chief among them was Sportsbet’s recommendation that policy should be led by a “personalised, data-led approach to inform consumer protection.”
“A personalised, data-driven approach is necessary to ensure the minimisation of gambling-related harm and to support responsible gambling,” said Sportsbet. “This approach requires a gambling operator or a provider of any gambling product to know their customer, and invest in data analytics that allow for a proper assessment of gambling behaviour to facilitate targeted intervention.
“At Sportsbet we have three defined areas of focus in our approach to risk identification and intervention with our customers (behavioural, predictive and pro-active intervention). We use machine learning to determine problem gambling risk scores for every individual customer on a daily basis. This allows us to monitor our customers’ activity and intervene quickly when we identify customers who may be at risk of developing problems with their gambling.”
On 9 January 2007, Steve Jobs walked onto stage at the MacWorld Expo with a little black piece of glass and metal in his hand.
“We’re gonna make some history together today,” he said, holding up the new gadget.
In the 15 years since the iPhone burst onto the scene, the smartphone has transformed the way we live: shrinking the world and connecting us all. We spend half our lives staring at its screen – and when yours is gone or smashed, it’s not unusual to experience a feeling something like missing a limb.
And the changes the smartphone has wrought on the commercial realm, especially in payments, are in some ways even more total. Consumers expect to be able to pay with a push of a button and have the product shipped to their front door without friction or inconvenience. They are not going to accept payment delays, analogue systems or being taken up the garden path.
This has long been a problem in gaming where, in most jurisdictions, strict anti-money laundering, know your customer and social responsibility requirements complicate the payment process and push that level of ease out of reach.
“When you get into the gaming space in the US the payments rules and regulations and the gaming rules and regulations really don’t operate in the same way,” says Global Payments president and member of American Gaming Association (AGA) board of directors Christopher Justice.
Justice paints a picture of an industry riddled with legacy technology that is increasingly out of touch with how consumers are spending their money elsewhere.
“Part of it is how they’ve all come together coupled with technology that was built so many years ago that’s not really adapted to the fact that the majority of Americans have a smartphone in their pocket,” he said. “Three quarters of all retail transactions are done in self-service. Half of all holiday purchases last year were done on a mobile phone.
“All of these various stats pointing to where we’re moving as a society are dramatically different than what’s actually happening in the casino market primarily because it’s just built on models of yesterday.
“Part of the challenge then is consumers don’t understand why I can go onto Amazon.com, push a button, order dog food and the Uber driver is going to deliver it to my door before noon – all the while I go to the casino and I’ve got these hoops to jump through,” says Justice. “At the end of the day, we look at the gaming market very similarly to e-commerce, where clicks kill.”
Justice says the problem is compounded by mobile, which operates in a smaller environment than desktop and makes the need for more efficient payment methods even more acute.
“Unlike a computer with a keyboard and a much bigger landscape in which to operate, mobile is far more like electronic buying. So we are minimising those keystrokes, making the process easy whereby a guest can go from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, property to property, and still have access to the money they need in order to fund their gaming entertainment.”
Justice says that the way to square this circle is to create an interconnected ecosystem that does discriminate between online and land-based offerings. He uses the example of Global Payments’ own omni-channel product as an example of this in action.
“So how we are really trying to address these things is the fact that we are creating an interconnected ecosystem. Our VIP Preferred programme, which has more than three million consumers, grows by about 35,000 to 40,000 members every month, which are consumers that are enrolling or getting their KYC done at either brick-and-mortar casinos or one of our online locations.”
The company’s VIP Preferred offering that Justice mentions is a B2C e-check system. The system allows a user to electronically transfer funds to ilottery or casinos where other payments might not work.
Global Payments has also found success leveraging existing casino infrastructure for its own ends.
Since the 1990s, most slots in the US operate under a ticket-in, ticket-out or TITO system. A slot prints a piece of paper with a barcode in that can be redeemed at the cage, rather than emptying of physical coins, as is the popular stereotype.
The company’s VIP mobility product builds and expands upon this system, enabling the business to work within the exisiting compliance framework that a casino has, instead of constructing a new one from whole cloth.
The system allows users to make digital tickets that connect to a slot or table game with a QR code. Funds can be quickly transferred in or out – or used for non-gaming services at the casino.
“Our approach is very different because we’re the only system that leverages the TITO infrastructure, which has been in place for 20 years,” said Justice. “The reason we do that is because everything is tracked and auditable. Since we’re warranting the funds moving in and out, we’ll balance every day to the penny across the entirety of the resort.
“Leveraging that infrastructure allows that to be done, so we’re not creating new processes and opening the door to new compliance avenues like you would if you were using a wagering account-based system.
“The result of all of that is the way our system is built helps to facilitate and maintain the existing compliance a casino has already. There’s no AML footprint because it’s all electronic sources of funds that are already known.
Justice believes that the trends that have brought omni-channel payments to this point are on the verge of hitting critical mass in 2023.
“If you look at a typical bell-shaped curve of a product introduction, we are really at the end of that early adopter phase moving into the fast follower stage,” says Justice. “2023 is going to be a remarkable year, in which more and more people will be investing in cashless solutions. It’s a natural evolution because as I mentioned earlier, three quarters of all transactions in the US and retailers are self-service today.”
“People don’t want to stand in line, they don’t want face to face conversations, they don’t want any of that stuff. As we move into cashless, it is hand in glove with where we are going as a society. Then when you look at the mobile purchases that were made last holiday season, everybody’s on their mobile phone.”
Justice also pushes against characterisations of online consumers as some kind of mass of 20-something trendy digital-natives who engage differently with technology than the day-to-day American consumer.
“It used to be, I would have people tell me that my customers are too old: they’re not tech savvy enough to do this,” says Justice.
“Well, the fact of the matter is when we look at the typical demographic of our database, it’s a 55-year-old plus female. They’re on their Android, they’re on their iPhone, they’re using this technology.
“Were really finding this to be a tremendous convergence that’s driving forward. I think 2023 will be the year that we start to see mass adoption.”
The legislation, which is led by the minister of state for law reform James Browne, will create the framework for the new licensing and regulatory regime in the sector. A new statutory authority is set to be created to act as the nation’s regulator, the Gambling Regulatory Authority.
Currently gambling regulation is regulated through a fragmented governance structure that runs through multiple government departments; including the department of justice, the department of justice and equality, revenue commissioners from the Irish Tax Authority and district courts.
The new body will have wide reaching powers to regulate advertising and gambling, licence businesses and to impose sanctions and fines.
“This approval by cabinet is significant and the publication of the bill is unquestionably a major milestone. It is an important and necessary piece of legislation, designed to meet the challenges of gambling responsibly in 21st century Ireland,” said the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin.
“This long awaited and much needed Bill takes a responsible approach to balancing the freedom to gamble with the safeguards to protect people from falling prey to addiction. This bill provides a clearer framework for operators and for consumers.”
Under the new system, three different categories of licence will be created for both remote and in-person gambling. These will be B2C gaming, betting and lottery licences, B2B licences, as well as charity licences.
“Reforming gambling legislation and regulation in Ireland is a key commitment in our programme for Government and Justice Plan, and has been one of my key priorities as minister,” said Browne. “I am pleased to have gotten the draft legislation to this point, and look forward now to it being published and brought through the houses to enactment.
“This legislation will establish a gambling regulator which will be robust with a focus on prevention of harm to people vulnerable to problem gambling and particularly protecting children, and also a focus on enforcement of a strong, modern regulatory framework for the gambling industry.
Browne warned that operators who persist in offering illegal gambling services could face criminal penalties.
“Operators who provide gambling activities without a gambling licence issued by the Authority, or who do not operate in accordance with the provisions of their licence could, if convicted, face to up to 8 years imprisonment and/or a fine at the discretion of the courts.”
Under the provisions of the bill, new rules are set to take effect in the ways that gambling is promoted and advertised. Gambling advertising will be subject to a watershed banning its broadcast between 5:30am and 9:00pm. Free bets and promotions are also on the slate to be abolished.
“Strict regulation of gambling advertising will be a priority area for the Authority. Under the legislation, advertising intended to appeal to children will be prohibited, as will advertising that promotes excessive or compulsive gambling,” continued Browne.
“In this digital age, to address the particular proliferation of gambling advertising on social media, such advertising shall be prohibited by default.
“The bill also puts forward certain measures to minimise the ill effects of gambling. The Bill will establish a National Gambling Exclusion Register. The bill prohibits the use of credit credits as a form of payment. The Bill will allow the Authority to prohibit the offer of inducements and promotions.
“A Social Impact Fund will be created and managed by the Authority while being funded from the industry. It will be used to finance initiatives to reduce problem gambling and support awareness–raising and educational measures.”
The World Cup is set to take place in Qatar and will begin on November 20.
The survey was conducted by market research company Morning Consult between November 3 and 5. A national sample of 2,213 adults took part.
SportNation and RedZone both said the sites were “closing for a variety of reasons including the economics of operating a small igaming business in the UK market.”
Users will be able to place bets and use their accounts will normal functionality until 30 November – after which they will be able to login to withdraw funds from the 7 December, when the final closure is due to take effect.
Following this, there will be another seven-day period where the operator will process requests to withdraw funds of any amount over £1. From 14 December, SportNation and RedZone stated that “should any customer balances remain, we will continue to comply with requests for refunds of such balances to the extent required by law and in accordance with our terms and conditions.”
The operator has said that it intends to keep possession of customer data for five years following the closure of the site, in line with legal and regulatory requirements.
The SortNation brand also has a dot.com site based in Malta, which has not announced any plans to close.
SportNation and RedZone became part of Esports Entertainment Group in 2020, when the group acquired Argyll Entertainment. Argyll also operates Fansbet, which had previously been owned by Rush gaming run as a white-label site via Viral Interactive.
At the time of publication, Fansbet gave no indication that it would also close soon.
However, in SportNation’s FAQ page in which it provided details of the exit, it directed consumers to send their business to FitzDares, rather than the continuing FansBet brand.
In an SEC filing accompanying EEG’s annual report for the year ending 30 June, the company discussed the UK operations of the Argyll brands, including SportNation and RedZone.
EEG said that it intended to reduce marketing spend in a pivot towards user retention rather than acquisition, having taken steps such as leaving affiliate site Oddschecker.
“In recent months, the company has reduced its spending on marketing and has been focused on retaining existing customers and reactivating past customers. We believe these efforts will have a positive effect on our results of operations.”
The business also noted “regulatory developments” related to the Argyll brands in Great Britain, but if the FansBet brand remains in the market then this would suggest the exit is not related to the Argyll licence.
“Since the acquisition of the Argyll igaming business on July 31, 2020, the company has been responding to periodic requests for information from the UK Gambling Commission in relation to information required to maintain its UK license following the change of corporate control,” it said.
“The company continues to operate in the UK market and there have been no adverse judgments imposed by the UKGC against the company.”
In this report, Esports Entertainment Group also provided an update on a recent default on its debt. It said the creditor in question had not at the time taken steps to pursue a payment, but that it could still do so.
