Month: May 2023

In his new role, Bucero will be responsible for the finance and legal teams, and also oversee the group’s performance across all its business units.

He will split his time between Malta, where EveryMatrix’s legal and compliance teams are based, and the Romanian capital of Bucharest, where the group’s finance team is located and the business is headquartered.

Bucero joins EveryMatrix after more than 16 years with Codere, where he served in a range of senior roles, including as CFO for its digital and online division for the past four-and-a-half years.

During his time at Codere, Bucero oversaw a series of large-scale finance and business projects, including assisting the online division with its listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US.

Prior to this, he spent seven-and-a-half years with Tecnocom in Spain, holding a number of key positions such as finance manager and director of finance in Spain.

“EveryMatrix is a high growth business and we have huge plans that we are constantly executing, therefore we needed the best and most experienced finance expert to join us on this journey, so we’re delighted to have secured Gonzalo’s services,” said EveryMatrix chief executive Ebbe Groes.

“We spent a significant amount of time identifying the best candidate for this crucial role and Gonzalo stood head and shoulders above the rest. His vast experience and knowledge at Codere within demanding regulated markets, in retail and online and across a wide variety of areas will be invaluable and I’m confident he will be a huge asset.” 

Bucero added: “I’m thrilled to join Ebbe, the management team and the business at such an exciting time for EveryMatrix.”

“The plans he has outlined made my decision to join an easy one, and I’m looking forward to getting to know the team and every element of this great business so we can achieve the ambitious but achievable goals we have set ourselves.”

Handle for the month amounted to $494.4m, which was down from $505.6m in March 2022 but 16.3% ahead of the $425.1m wagered in February of this year.

Consumers bet $489.9m online during the month, while the remaining $4.5m was wagered at land-based, retail sportsbooks in the state.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Players spent $41.5m betting on sports during the month, down 9.4% from $45.8m in March 2022 and also 3.7% lower than the $43.1m wagered in February this year.

Of this total, $30.0m was spent betting online, with the remaining $11.5m wagered at retail facilities at the Twin River and Tiverton Casino locations. Twin River took $6.2m in bets and Tiverton $5.3m.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The deal, which consists of both online and land-based offerings, will see the providers supply the technological capabilities for sports betting to the business, as well as support the relaunch of Bally’s online sports betting platform Bally Bet.

The operator said that it expects Bally Bet to roll out across seven states and at four retail gaming locations by the end of 2023. The company further hinted that this may represent only the first stage of a global expansion.

Variable cost structure model

Through these partnerships, Bally’s said it wants to leverage Kambi and White Hat’s “proven” technology integration, licensing across regulated jurisdictions, end-to-end as well as the companies’ track record of executing “quick launches”.

The business said that another factor in why it has chosen to go down this route is that these partnerships will mean that the fixed cost structure of Bally’s previous in-house system would become a variable structure that will generate “significant cost savings and reduce risk”.

Bally’s said that these benefits, in addition to enhancing Bally’s retail and online sportsbooks, will better position the company to deliver near and long-term results to investors.

Bally’s chief executive Robeson Reeves said the business was “very excited” to have entered into the agreements with the two suppliers.

“Kambi provides an award-winning sportsbook that delivers unrivaled sports betting entertainment,” said Reeves. “By incorporating that with White Hat’s PAM platform solution, as well as our geographic reach, customer base, and marketing prowess, Bally’s will be optimally positioned to achieve significant scale and capture substantial market share in the global gaming market.

“This, in turn, will support our vision of becoming the premier, full-service, vertically integrated casinos and resorts, online sports betting, and igaming company.”

Access to Kambi source code

Under the terms of the Kambi deal, Bally’s will integrate Kambi’s suite of omnichannel product, trading capabilities, content solutions and “model driven approach” to liability management to deliver its sports betting services.

Bally’s also said that it maintains the option, pending the achieving of “certain material performance metrics”, to acquire a licence to a limited part of the Kambi’s onine and retail source code.

If Bally’s decided to exercise the option and pay an agreed sum, the two businesses would enter into a separate long-term outsourcing agreement in relation to Kambi’s range of modularised services.

[Read full story on iGB North America]

KRAIL highlighted the reduction in the number of website offering unauthorised games of chance as a successful result of its work and cooperation with law enforcement. Since the regulation of the market in 2020, Ukraine has attempted to reduce the number of illegal gambling operations active in the country.

Following the detection of unlicensed gambling operations, KRAIL transfers the information to the Bureau of Economic Security which then engages National Centre for Operational-Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks to IP block the domains.

The regulator’s list of the 1,895 unlicensed sites included a number of mirror sites that were put up in order to evade the Ukrainian government’s blocking attempts.

In a speech last week, KRAIL head Ivan Rudy spoke out to the need to spoke of the importance of working with other state bodies to mitigate the growth of the illegal sector and effectively combat money laundering.

“Thanks to the legalisation of the field of gambling and effective work on the regulation of the market, gambling has become a powerful sector of the economy and directs billions to the state budget,” said Rudy.  

“Together with the present colleagues from the State Financial Monitoring Service, the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank, the Ministry of Justice, the State Tax Service, ARMA and other state bodies, we will continue to use all available mechanisms to ensure full financial security and overcome the shadow market in the field of gambling.”

Ukraine steps up efforts against illegal gambling

Since 2022, Ukraine has stepped up its gambling enforcement in reaction to the ongoing invasion of the country’s by armed forces of the Russian Federation.

In addition to the unlicensed operators, Ukraine has opted to sanction any business that continues to operate in Russia or Russian-controlled territory.

In March, Parimatch suspended all operations in the country after being subjected to sanctions. The operator strenuously denied accusations levelled against it, arguing that Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) “falsified” information.  

The classification occurred after GGL reviewed several forms of DFS, and concluded at a hearing that they could be classified as illegal gambling.

The regulator referred to Germany’s Fourth State Treaty on Gambling, which iterates that gambling must only be operated with the strict permission of the GGL.

GGL said that a “well-known” DFS provider ceased to operate in Germany after the hearing occured.

Ronald Benter, GGL board member said that the decision had been made to protect German players from addiction and illegal gambling offerings.

“We find that our decisions are accepted by the providers and implemented promptly,” said Benter. “This protects consumers from illegal offers and the risk of betting and gambling addiction.”

GGL CEO Benjamin Schwanke added that keeping illegal gambling offerings at bay is a joint effort that must concern regulators and authorities.

“Fighting illegal gambling is an important consumer protection issue and can only be effective if all other authorities involved, such as law enforcement agencies, pull together,” he said.

Last month, Jackpot50 was added to Germany’s white list, a document which details all operators that have been approved to operate in Germany.

Also last month, Zeal’s Lotto24 AG subsidiary received a virtual slots licence from GGL.

A number of operators including BetMGM, Caesars, SuperBook Sports, Unibet, Tipico, RSI’s BetRivers and SugarHouse and 888’s SI SportsBook have agreed a deal with WagerWire, with the company saying that more affiliate deals will be announced soon.

WagerWire also confirmed that it has been authorised to operate in 16 US states as well as in Washington D.C., Ontario and Puerto Rico, with regulators in the appropriate jurisdictions approving the platform’s vender affiliate licences.

Zach Doctor, WagerWire co-founder and CEO, believes the recent announcements represent the next step on the road for the company.

“We’ve built WagerWire through a community first approach focused on education, responsibility and fun,” said Doctor.

“The addition of these iconic brands to our partnership group sets a strong foundation for the next phase of our growth and the rollout of our betting marketplace.”

The technology platform company provides in-house content from its media network to players on its social channels and on the community page of its site. WagerWire also provides tools like its “Bet Value Calculator”, which it says allows players to calculate the market value of any potential bet.

Recently, WagerWire launched a new media division to provide a range of content for fans from grassroots creators across the US and Canada.

Fisk first joined Microgaming in October 2016 as director of sportsbook, where he was responsible for developing and growing the company’s sport betting offering.

The former PokerStars director of operations left Microgaming in 2018 to join Apricot Investments as chief operating officer, where Microgaming said he continued “to work closely with the Microgaming team to enhance its platform systems and services.”

Due to his previous experience with the company, Microgaming said that Fisk is familiar with the company’s products, customers, businesses and people and was therefore “well equipped” to lead the organisation.

Prior to working at the casino provider, Fisk held a number of senior positions within several global gaming brands through his 24-year career.

Microgaming said that following Fisk’s appointment, the business is ready to take “further strides” with its platform systems and services, sports betting software and licensing and regulatory compliance.

New strategic direction

Fisk said he was “thrilled” with his new role.

“Our technology is cutting edge, our experience second to none and we absolutely have the best team in the business,” said Fisk. “This provides a strong foundation from which we can continue to drive forwards and achieve even greater things for Microgaming and our customers.

“Andrew’s strong strategic steer has been crucial to the company’s ongoing success, and I thank him for his invaluable contributions. He has embedded a culture of change, all the while maintaining a sense of unity and integrity at Microgaming – which I intend to carry forward.”

Microgaming said that Clucas would take on new opportunities in the industry.  

“It has been an honour to have worked at Microgaming over the past 14 years and especially in recent years with the organisation having opened the next chapter of its incredible story,” said Clucas.  

“I have had the privilege of working closely with Stephen and there really is no more qualified candidate for the job than him. I leave Microgaming in very good hands and have no doubt that Stephen and the team will go on to achieve great things.”