Month: March 2023

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The survey was commissioned by the BGC and conducted by YouGov.

According to the trade association, 82% of players responded affirmatively when asked whether gaming businesses “should be allowed to offer promotions such as free bets” to their users. The survey also found that 54% of those questioned said that banning promotions would drive bettors to the black market, which has no restrictions on promotions.

“This survey reinforces what anyone who knows anything about betting already understands – that betting customers, just like consumers of any other product, value offers like small free bets which are subject to strict controls and restrictions to protect the vulnerable,” said BGC CEO Michael Dugher.

The survey comes in the context of the ongoing reform of the UK’s gambling laws. The government is expected to release a white paper in the next few weeks that will point the way forward by presenting a number of specific policy proposals – which may include changes to the laws surrounding gambling promotions.

Economic footprint

The lobbying organisation highlighted the economic footprint of the industry in the UK as giving lawmakers reason to pause before setting off down this path – emphasising that the regulated betting and gaming sector supports 110,000 jobs, generates £7.1bn in economic activity and contributes £4.2bn in tax revenue for the treasury.  

The BGC pointed to what it described as low-by-international-standards problem gambling rates, which, according to the latest figures published by the Gambling Commission, fell to 0.2% of the adult population, down from 0.3% the previous year. However, due to the small sample size, the regulator also emphasised that this reduction is not statistically significant.

“The market for betting is hyper-competitive with most customers using a number of different operators,” added the former Labour MP. “Banning or severely restricting free bets would be another attack on the punter; it degrades the customer experience and it also hurts business which jeopardises jobs.

“What’s more, as this survey makes clear, if promotions are restricted or banned, there’s only one place punters will go, that’s the growing, unsafe, unregulated gambling black market.”

Lobbying effort

Earlier this month, the BGC reiterated its warning over the imposition of new gambling taxes, as well as published the results of a separate YouGov study asking bettors for their views on regulation.

ACMA ordered Casino Jax, Mirax Casino, Wild Fortune Casino, Kosmonaut Casino, Slotozen, Rolling Slots, N1 Bet Casino and No Deposit Kings to be blocked.

The operators were deemed to be operating illegally in the country and in breach of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.

ACMA requested that Australian internet service providers block access to the eight websites.

Since ACMA made its first blocking request, 709 illegal gambling and affiliate websites have been blocked, while 180 have also pulled out of Australia since ACMA began enforcing new illegal offshore gambling rules in 2017.

The latest blockings come after ACMA last month also requested the blocking of Pokie Surf, 24 Casino, Stellar Spins, Olympia Casino, Rock n Reels and Boomerang Casino for breaching the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.

Also last month, Noah Rose, a sole trader operating as BetDeluxe, to pay AU$50,172 as part of its crackdown on spam-unsubscribing rules. 

An ACMA investigation found BetDeluxe sent more than 104,000 SMS messages without an unsubscribe function and over 820,000 SMS texts that did not include the sender’s contact details.

Messages were sent between December 2021 and February 2022 and advertised a “cheeky punt” and “VIP service” on sports and racing, as well as promoted bonus bets and money-back offers.

The company’s reported revenue beat its annual projected outlook range of €718m to €723m. US revenue stood at €127m for the year, as opposed to the €71.7m the business reported in 2021. This compares with the 25.8% rise in its international betting segment which grew from €309.4m to €389.1m from 2021 to 2022.

From this revenue, the business announced adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €125.8m, a 23% increase from the €102.0m the company achieved in 2021.

The business hailed the strong results across all its key performance metrics. CEO Carsten Koerl said he was “very pleased” with the company’s results, driven by what he described as “exceptional execution”.

“We saw excellent performance across all of our key performance metrics despite challenging macroeconomic conditions including a second consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA in the US,” said Koerl.

Koerl also highlighted Sportradar’s relationships and harnessing of new technological capabilities as key to the company’s success in the year ahead.

“Our continued long-term partnerships with leading global sports bodies, and innovation across new technologies such as artificial intelligence and computer vision and as important, a team passionate about delivering solutions to our clients, make us very excited about our growth in 2023 and beyond.”

Increased costs drive reduced profit

Despite the continued revenue and EBITDA growth, Sportradar’s profits fell 18.0% from €12.8m to €10.5m from 2021 to 2022. Additionally, the company actually made a loss of €33m in the three-month period ending 31 December.

This is due to rises in a number of key costs of the 12-month period.

The businesses purchased licences and services costs rose 47.4% between the years, to €176.0m compared to €119.4m the previous year. Sportradar said the increase was driven by “continuous investments in content creation, greater event coverage and higher scouting costs.”  

Personnel costs also saw large growth during the period, rising 44.7% year-on-year from €183.8m to €266.0m. The quarterly rise was even more dramatic, rising 72% to €81.0 compared to the €34.0m the company announced in the three-month period ending 31 December.

The data company said that this was due to a €9.0m in acquisition costs, a one-time cost of €5.0m due to management restructuring as well increased headcount associated with “investments in AI and Computer Vision.”

Sportradar also reported 42.8% year-on-year increases in its depreciation and amortisation costs, which increased to €184.8m from the €129.4m the business announced the previous year.

Fourth quarter

Revenue for the three-month period ending 31 December stood at €206.3m, an increase of 35%.

The company’s rest of world segment grew year-on-year by 29% to €105.9m for the three-month period, accounting for 51% of total revenues.

According to Sportradar, this was driven by strong performance from the businesses managed betting services division, in which trading volume grew 75% year-on-year.

Sportradar said that this was the result of a strong Fifa World Cup performance.

The US segment also saw significant growth during the quarter, with revenues rising 77% year-on-year to €41.2m year-on-year.

“Our fourth quarter financial results illustrate the momentum we’ve built throughout 2022,” said interim CFO Ulrich Harmuth. “We demonstrated operational leverage in our business model, despite making significant investments in our products and technology, streamlined our organisation to be more customer-centric, and strengthened our balance sheet by repaying our debt.

“Our 2023 guidance of revenue growth and margin expansion reflects the investments we have made to date and the growing global sports market opportunity.”  

Players wagered $38.0m on igaming during February, down 13.8% from $44.1m in January but 55.7% ahead of $24.4m in the same month last year.

Of this total, $23.0m was spent on video lottery games and $15.0m on online table games.

Read the full story on iGB North America

The blacklist, which will be updated monthly, features websites operated by brands such as Campeonbet, Casinoextra, Dublinbet, Kahuna Casino, Winmachance, MyStake, WinUnique, VegasPlus and YBet.

Last March, ANJ was handed new powers to block and delist illegal gambling websites, as well as those advertising these sites.

Since the first administrative blocking and delisting orders were sent out in June last year, ANJ has issued a total of 152 orders, following which some 532 URLs relating to illegal gambling content have been blocked.

ANJ said the procedure to block such sites has also been improved so that action can be taken to halt access to illegal websites faster. Previously, it would take four to six months from identifying an illegal site to a judge approving the decision to block access.

However, ANJ can now consult with an administrative judge to request French internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to websites identified as operating or advertising illegally. 

A formal notice will be sent to the publisher and host of a site; if this goes unanswered for five days and the operator does not cease operation, ANJ may contact ISPs to take the relevant action to block access. This, ANJ said, could reduce the length of the blocking process to one to two months. 

Some 17 operators are currently licensed to operate in France, while La Française des Jeux holds the monopoly for lottery in the country. A list of these approved operators is also available to view on ANJ’s website.

“When a French consumer plays on an illegal website, it exposes you to multiple risks such as the unauthorised collection of personal data, payment fraud, installation of malicious computer programs, non-payment of winnings and the absence of measures to prevent excessive gambling and underage gambling,” ANJ said.

“The ANJ also suggests that players report illegal gambling sites to the regulator.” 

This was the regulator’s first full-year annual report since the Netherland’s online gambling market opened in October 2021.

René Jansen, chair of KSA said that the year had presented many opportunities for improvement.

“In recent months, I have often been asked how I look back on 2022 as the first full
calendar year in which online games of chance were offered legally in the
Netherlands,” said Jansen “My short answer is: with mixed feelings.

“Much is going well, but as a supervisor I also see points where improvement is needed. Much still needs to be done – primarily among the licensees – to do full justice to our mission of Playing Safe.”

The regulator said that 277 preliminary investigations into illegal online websites took place in 2022. Out of this came 26 investigations into illegal online providers.

A total of 18 intention orders – subject to periodic penalty payments – were put in place throughout the year, which resulted in seven fines being issued totalling €29m.

KSA also noted that it received 83 notifications regarding illegal gambling advertisements on social media in 2022. This was 71% less than in 2021.

In total, 59 of these were investigated and violations were found in 16.

Applications for licences

KSA said that it had received 27 applications for online licences in 2022, compared to 42 in 2021.

Seven of these requests were withdrawn. KSA said this was because it had made it clear that the applications would not progress. Three applications were rejected.

In total, 13 online gaming licences were granted throughout the year.

Elsewhere, 45 permits were granted to operate slot machines in 2022. In total, 89 investigations into slot machines were completed and 26 of these took place on an interim basis with no further consequence.

Seven applications for slot machine permits were denied.

Turning to lotteries, KSA issued 24 licences in 2022 – 46.6% less than in 2021.

Five existing licences were revoked in 2022. KSA explained that this was because the licence holder had said that its lottery sales were “disappointing”.

A reverse triangle merger is a type for acquisition where the acquiring entity forms a subsidiary for the purpose of purchasing the target company. Once the deal is completed, the target company will absorb the subsidiary to create a new company, fully owned by the acquiring business.

The business – which currently trades at $0.069 per share, making it a penny stock – says that one of the goals of the merger is to move to a “higher tier exchange”.

HeadsUp is currently an over-the-counter security, meaning that it is not currently listed on a formal exchange, and instead traded through broker-dealer networks.

The markets have not reacted positively to the announcement, with the company’s share price dropping 22.7% since the beginning of trading today.

According to HeadsUp, the business had been in a “mandated quiet period” due to a number of non-disclosure agreements. The operator had entered into multiple corporate finance agreements to consolidate its assets, as well as its previously announced and upcoming transactions.

Read full story on iGB North America

In the land-based and retail gaming industry, many businesses have faced enormous pressure from the cost of energy. In August, industry trade body the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) called on the government to tackle the escalating prices, for its potentially “catastrophic” impact on industry.

The budget received a mixed reception from the industry. John White, CEO of Bacta praised some aspects of the government’s plan, but criticised steps that were not taken.

“We welcome the chancellor’s commitment to enterprise and growth and while the 100% capital allowances and the increased investment allowance will provide some help to our hard-pressed sector, this was a missed opportunity to adjust some key unfairness in our tax regime,” said White.

White also lamented the missed opportunity to reform gaming tax structure.

“Jeremy Hunt should have allowed operators paying Machine Game Duty (MGD) to reclaim VAT and to simply adjust the MGD tax boundaries to allow some lower stake machines to pay 5% instead of 20% tax,” he said. “Hopefully, the help with childcare will provide a boost to the labour market as we, like many other sectors, are struggling to recruit and retain staff.”

Energy bills

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, energy bills throughout Europe have spiked in response to curtailing in the supply of natural gas from Russia. In September, the government announced the energy bill relief scheme – which capped the energy bills for non-domestic users by setting a guaranteed wholesale price.

This programme was set to expire at the end of March, to be replaced by the energy bill discount scheme, which was far less generous than the previous scheme. Under the new system, there will be no price cap, with businesses instead only offered a discount if energy prices breach a certain threshold.  

In the spring budget, the chancellor has opted to extend energy relief for households beyond the April date when the scheme was set to expire, for an additional three months. However, this has not been extended to business, who will go on past March with no assurances of a price cap.

Spring budget

The chancellor also confirmed the rise in business tax from 19% to 25%, which was first announced in the autumn, and is set to take effect from April.

Hunt also announced a new system of “full expensing” wherein businesses that invest in the UK will be able to write off the full cost of their investment against their tax bills. While the initial programme is set to last three years, the government “intends to make this measure permanent when fiscal conditions allow”.