Month: February 2023

Reporting its Q4 and full-year figures, Red Rock said that a 2.8% year-on-year increase in net revenue from $1.62bn to $1.66bn had contributed towards a 0.4% rise in adjusted earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from $743.9m to $741.0m.

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In August, DoubleDown and former parent company International Game Technology (IGT) reached an agreement in principle to pay $415.0m to settle a class action complaint in Washington state.

The Benson v DoubleDown Interactive LLC et al lawsuit was filed in 2018, with plaintiffs who had lost money through the Washington-based group’s games claiming its range of social casino products that use virtual chips constitute illegal gambling enterprises under state law.

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The content will be used in the context of prevention and awareness, according to PMU, which said that it was mobilising its network to hammer home the responsible gambling message.

Griezmann, who stars for France’s national football team, has spoken on the topic through two “Coach Antoine” pieces on his Instagram channel to some 37 million followers. Meanwhile, PMU has also produced new video clips and a “What the turf” tutorial to be shared on its platforms.

The new suite of content will build on the relaunch in the autumn of Stakeresponsable.fr – PMU’s dedicated responsible gambling website.

PMU also said that it has developed training materials, in collaboration with researchers, to share with its racetracks and outlets, as well as a “PMU&Us” e-learning training module for staff.

“PMU is always striving to do better in guiding and adapting these strategic initiatives over a long-term period, particularly in relation to the protection of players,” Emmanuelle Malecaze-Doublet, general manager of PMU, said.

“Our ‘Responsible Challenge’ action plan falls within the framework of the principles defined by the National Gaming Authority. This commitment mobilises internal teams with complementary skills to support all aspects of responsible gaming: prevention, awareness, detection and support for players.

“Beyond these actions, PMU surrounds itself with numerous specialists… in order to constantly adapt and improve its approach and its actions around responsible gambling. This shared culture of responsible gaming is fully integrated into the company’s current transformation.”

Player spending for the month amounted to $18.7m, which was 12.6% lower than $21.4m in November and also 3.1% behind the $19.3m wagered in December 2021.

In terms of gross gaming revenue, this reached $2.4m in December, a 7.7% drop from $2.6m in November, but 71.4% up from $1.4m in December of the previous year.

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The failure related to a specific period in June 2022, during which KSA said Bingoal allowed players to register for an account on its igaming website without cross-checking with Cruks.

Licensed operators in the Netherlands must be connected with Cruks and use the system to ensure any consumers attempting to register for an account or gambling have not signed up for the national self-exclusion scheme.

In order to consult Cruks, licensed operators must hold a valid public key infrastructure (PKI) certificate. KSA said during the period in question, Bingoal’s certificate had expired and could therefore not run the required checks on players.

The regulator said it took Bingoal approximately three days to secure a new certificate and regain access to Cruks.

However, KSA said as Bingoal still accepted new users and allowed them to gamble without consulting Cruks, this constituted a breach of regulations and licensee requirements. 

“Bingoal should not have done that; the law says that a player may only gain access to a high-risk game of chance after a game provider has determined that the player in question is not registered in Cruks,” KSA said.

“Cruks is an important tool to combat gambling addiction and to protect players against the undesirable effects of gambling.”

Bingoal has lodged an appeal against the ruling.

Vella joined Acroud in August 2019 as financial controller before being promoted to the role of head of finance in April of last year.

Prior to this, Vella was a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers Malta for seven years, while she also holds an Honours degree in Accounting from the University of Malta.

“I am very happy to welcome Tricia in her new role as interim CFO, as we are preparing for an exciting time of rapid growth,” Acroud chief executive Robert Andersson said. “She will form part of the company’s group management.”

Attard stepped down as CFO on 7 December to pursue another career opportunity. It was agreed that he would remain with the business until early March 2023 to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities.

He took on the role in November 2021 after initially joining the business as head of finance in July 2020. Attard also previously worked for Highlight Media Group, KPMG Malta and KPMG Channel Islands.

Acroud said a recruitment process for a permanent CFO is in progress.

Denuvo and ESIC will collaborate on developing a framework to implement anti-cheat technology within the esports industry.

Denuvo will provide ESIC with anti-cheat software, as well as periodic reports of data metrics related to integrity and industry risk with the aim of gaining insights into industry pain points and promoting fair play in esports.

Denuvo will also support ESIC in its continued delivery of integrity frameworks for the broader esports industry while providing access to its software capabilities.

“ESIC is proud to announce this new partnership category targeted at strengthening the role of anti-cheat providers in the maintenance of competitive integrity within the esports industry,” said Stephen Hanna, ESIC’s director of global strategy and partnerships.

“As a distinguished partner to the games industry, Denuvo is well poised as our first anti-cheat partner to work with us in finding and executing upon more sophisticated applications for anti-cheat technology to tournament operation,” Steve Huin, chief operating officer of video games security at Irdeto, added. “As gamers ourselves, we at Denuvo are dedicated to bringing fairness and fun back to online gaming and are therefore thrilled to ensure the same fair game opportunities will be available for the players of esports.”

Better Change and Betknowmore from Great Britain, as well as the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) from the US and AGOG of the Netherlands, will each receive £13,200 in funds from the initiative.

Part of ICE London 2023, which is taking place at the ExCel in London from February 7-9, the ICE CPZ this year features a record 20 stands, comprising a mix of providers of responsible gambling tools and solutions alongside not-for-profit organisations.

The GB Gambling Commission, Focal Research, Casino Guru, Future Anthem, Department of Trust, Mindway AI, Epic Gaming, LexisNexis, Rightlander, IGT, SG:Certified, W2, Crucial Compliance, GamCare, YGAM, Gordon Moody and Gamstop are among those featured.

The CPZ also drew sponsorship backing from Kindred Group, Betsson, Flutter, International Game Technology (IGT), Les Ambassadeurs, Only Prizes, BettorView and Greentube, all of which contributed to the total £52,800 donation.

“I’m delighted that thanks to the support of CPZ sponsors we’ve been able to raise such an impressive sum for organisations which do so much in the safer gambling space,” Clarion Gaming’s director of industry insight and engagement, Ewa Bakun, said.

“This year we have included two organisations active outside the UK. This reflects the international credentials of ICE London, which consistently attracts industry professionals from more than 100 nations.”

Messner will leave the position in order to pursue a career outside of the sports betting and casino industry.

Catena Media said it had commenced a process to recruit a new CFO, with Messner to leave the business within the next six months.

“Given our closer focus on the North American market, we have agreed that this is the right time to make a transition in our financial leadership,” Catena Media chief executive Michael Daly said. “Peter has contributed hugely to our recent successes, and we thank him sincerely for his efforts.”

Messner became at Catena Media in March 2020, joining the business having served in the same role at Swedish media giant Modern Times Group’s esports-focused subsidiary MTGx. 

Prior to this, he also spent time in senior roles with poker network Ongame and its one-time parent company, bwin Interactive Entertainment.

News of the departure comes after it was announced last week that Better Collective had acquired a minimum position of 5% in Catena Media.

This came after Catena appointed Carnegie Investment Bank AB as a financial advisor earlier this month. In this role, Carnegie will assist Catena in determining its strategic options for the potential sale of the remainder of its business.

Better Collective said it will not comment any further on the acquisition.

Total revenue for the year stood at DKK6.72bn (£801.3m/€903.1m/$969.2m), which was up from DKK6.23bn in the previous 12-month period.

Online casino remained the primary source of gambling revenue in the country during the year, with this sector generating DKK2.90bn in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%.

Of this total, 73.4% came from online slot machines, 8.2% roulette, 7.2% blackjack, 3.5% bingo and 3.2% other games. Spillemyndigheden noted that 61.1% of online casino revenue came from mobile, while 38.9% was generated by computer-based igaming.

Elsewhere, sports betting revenue also increased by 3.9% to DKK2.32bn, with 62.5% from mobile, 10.8% computer and 26.7% retail shops. 

Land-based slots revenue jumped 47.6% to DKK1.15bn for the year, with the majority of this revenue (77.3%) coming from dedicated slots halls and the other 22.7% from slot machines in restaurants across Denmark.

Spillemyndigheden also reported a 58.6% rise in revenue from licensed land-based casinos to DKK3490m, primarily due to the removal of all Covid-19 restrictions that were placed on gambling venues in the previous year.

Meanwhile, Spillemyndigheden published figures for the country’s Rofus self-exclusion scheme, with the total number of consumers to have registered having increased by 27.8% to 38,921 by the end of 2022.

Of those who have registered, 75.4% are male and 24.6% female, while 66.1% of players on Rofus excluded themselves permanently from gambling.