Month: May 2023

Flutter will partner with the 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions of the event, each of which will seek to raise £1m (€1.1m/$1.2m) for the charity.

The Tour 21 features a team of 20 amateur cyclists aiming to complete all 21 stages of the Tour de France professional cycling race. The 2023 event will cover 3,000km and take place from 24 June to 16 July.

All funds raised are invested into the Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) network. This covers a catchment area of over 20 million people and provides access to treatments not available through standard care. 

A team of specialist research nurses and other clinical roles require funding of over £1m each year to facilitate the treatments for blood cancer.

“It is an exciting partnership that brings together our passion for sport with our commitment to ‘Do More’ to support the communities in which we operate,” Flutter’s group head of communities Kerry McNally said.

“Cure Leukaemia is undertaking transformational trials to help treat blood cancer patients around the world. We could not be prouder to play a role in helping them to eradicate this devastating illness.”

Cure Leukaemia chief executive James McLaughlin added: “Flutter as the headline partner of the event takes The Tour 21 to a whole new level. They will work alongside our strategic partnerships to further raise the profile of the event and the charity.

“It makes a significant difference to the event’s fundraising total and the global impact we can make.”

The extension will allow Inspired to continue providing Paddy Power’s retail venues across the UK and Ireland with its products.

“We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Paddy Power in supporting their retail venues across the UK and Ireland, as we have done for the past 12 years,” said Brooks Pierce, president and chief executive officer of Inspired. “We will continue to provide Paddy Power with our latest products and technology giving them the advantage of our leading content for their virtual sports offerings.”

Vince Bateson, head of retail gaming at Paddy Power, said the deal would allow Paddy Power to continue offering quality virtual sports products.

“We are pleased to extend our relationship with Inspired for virtual sports products in all our retail betting shops in the UK and Ireland,” said Bateson. “Our customers enjoy virtual products and our ongoing partnership with the Inspired team ensures we continue to provide the best possible experience in our retail shops.”

Inspired has extended this deal multiple times, including in 2016.

Earlier this month, Inspired reported a 8.9% rise in revenue for the first quarter of the year.

DraftKings self-reported itself to the Commission after discovering it offered bets on the tennis UTR pro-series, which is not an approved betting event in the state.

The MGC’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau (IEB) looked into the case. The wagering took place over a 12-day period from March 10 to March 22.

During this time, players placed 864 bets on three events for a total handle of $7,867. DraftKings said the reason the error took place was because of a “miscommunication” between its trading and trading compliance teams.

The fault occurred after the operator copied a list of tennis offerings from a different jurisdiction without verifying if the event was approved in Massachusetts.

After discovering the issue, the DraftKings returned stakes to the players who had placed a bet, as well as removed any winnings and returned any losses.

The operator also removed the UTR pro-series markets from its platform and relayed to its trading team that all new market requests must be submitted first to the compliance team.

[Read full story on iGB North America]

Appealing to journalists, media practitioners and media enterprises, MCK chief executive and secretary David Omwoyo Omwoyo reiterated that gambling advertising is limited to licensed activities.

The Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) is responsible for licensing operators to offer gambling such as lotteries, betting and gambling. 

However, the MCK regulates and monitors the media sector, including ensuring journalists and media entities write fair, accurate and unbiased stories of matters of public interest.

As such, in line with the Media Council Act 2013, Omwoyo said media organisations must ensure any promotion or advertising for gambling on their platforms only promotes licensed activities.

“This advisory is issued in public interest to protect investor and to ensure the highest standards of media practice in relation to advertisement of gaming activities on media platforms,” Omwoyo said.

This was revealed in the Australia Offshore Wagering Market Analysis 2023, a report that was developed on behalf of RWA by betting and gaming consultancy H2 Gambling Capital.

H2 estimated that between 2022 and 2027, black market activities could cause a loss of $3.35bn in taxes. Coupled with the estimated grey market tax loss of $3.31bn, this could total at a combined $6.67bn potential loss.

RWA said that offshore operators are more appealing to customers as they offer more competitive pricing, and do not provide as stringent consumer protection rules as licensed operators would.

Kai Cantwell, CEO of RWA, said that future consideration of reforms in Australia must focus on eradicating the offshore market and removing it as an option for players.

“It is crucial that any future reforms are balanced and prevent Australian players from being driven offshore, where player protections are limited,” said Cantwell.

“Additionally, failure to maintain a sustainably regulated sports betting market could result in a significant loss of economic benefits to the Australian economy, as well as to the sporting, racing, and broadcasting industries.”

Report findings

The report also found that Australia’s offshore illegal gambling market is now worth over $1.1bn, which is an estimated 15% of the total gambling market in the country.

H2 estimates that 92% of the online market was onshore in 2022. This has grown steadily since 2017, when the onshore market was estimated at 82%.

The consultancy put the number of onshore racing operations at 96% for 2022, compared to sports at 78% for the year.

H2 also estimated that the total GGR for 2022 was $7.71bn, and projected that the GGR for 2023 grow further to $7.85bn

It is also estimated that black market activities generated $571m in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2022. For the grey market, GGR was $560m.

The outlines the Commission’s plans to undertake evidence-based on several key areas, including gateway gambling products, the variation of gambling experiences and the impact of gambling harms.

It also focuses on operator practices, characteristics and risk and crime.

Tim Miller, executive director of research and policy at the Gambling Commission, said that evidence forms a large part of what the Commission does in terms of industry regulation.

“At the Gambling Commission we are a people focused and evidence-led regulator,” said Miller “That means we recognise that better data, better research and better evidence will lead to better gambling regulation and better outcomes for consumers who gamble, their communities and the gambling sector itself.”

Miller emphasised that the paper is not only centred on what the Commission can do, but also what challenges may be upcoming for the industry.

“This paper is about highlighting the challenges ahead and asking the questions that need answering,” Miller continued. “Answering those questions is something we can all play a part in.”

Evidence-based research

Beginning with gateway gambling products, the Commission will look at the gambling behaviours exhibited by people under the age of 16, between the ages of 16 and 17 and young adults aged between 18 to 24 years old.

Specifically, evidence will be gathered on how young people begin gambling, and how gambling behaviours change over time as children become older.

To address the issue, the Commission will continue working with young people and expand their reach to include 17 year olds.

In relation to variations of gambling experiences the Commission will utilise the new Gambling Survey for Great Britain to increase its knowledge of national gambling participation, and will add to certain aspects of its Path to Play framework.

Gambling-related harms

To address gambling-related harms the Commission will look to understand how players can experience harms in different ways, and improve its ways to identify those at risk of gambling harm. Again, it will utilise the Gambling Survey for Great Britain, this time to analyse what groups are experiencing gambling harm.

It will also conduct qualitative research on the topic.

The Commission will also assess how operator practices influence customer behaviour, looking at whether operators could do more to enforce safer gambling practices and conducting consumer research.

Investigating product characteristics and risk will see the Commission analyse how certain products can have a greater risk of harm for certain customers. The Commission will gain further access to account-level data in order to investigate this.

When looking at illegal gambling and crime, research will be undertaken to assess consumers’ knowledge on illegal gambling operations. Research questions will centre on why consumers might bet on the illegal market, and how consumers are able to tell if they are betting with an unlicensed operator.

Earlier today (23 May) the Commission ordered SkillOnNet to pay £305,150 (€350,351/$378,299) in relation to several anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.

Paf will pay an initial €24.0m in cash up front upon completion for 888’s business. A further €4.3m will be due in 2024 following the conclusion of 2023 audited financials.

The Latvian business operates with a local licence under both the William Hill and Mr Green brands. 888 will provide a brand licence to continue the usage of these brands within Latvia for a limited period.

888 owns 90% of the entity. However, the business operates largely as an independent entity, with its own management team and on a separate technology platform. As such, 888 does not expect the transaction to have any impact on the ongoing operations.

Completion of the deal is subject to a number of closing conditions. These include the carving out of the Latvian subsidiary from 888’s supplier contracts and incorporation of the Latvian subsidiary into Paf’s contracts.

888 expects to finalise the deal in the coming weeks and will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.

Maximise value for 888 shareholders

“We continually review our asset base to ensure that we are only holding assets that both contribute to our long-term strategy and will maximise value for our shareholders,” 888’s executive chair Lord Mendelsohn said.

“As a business, our relatively limited exposure in the Baltic region means that the region is not one of our core or growth markets where we prioritise our investments.

“The Latvian business is a high-quality, locally regulated business, with an excellent team that has built a strong market position. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the team for their dedication during their time with the group and I am highly confident that under new ownership with Paf, the business will continue to flourish.”

Paf chief executive Christer Fahlstedt added: “We are thrilled to get the opportunity to continue to build on a great Latvian success story. With a long-term perspective, we are convinced that the Latvian market is moving in the direction of increased player protection and thereby a great strategic fit for Paf.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it was confirmed that iTech Labs will now operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of GLI Australia.

iTech Labs will continue to operate its global network of testing laboratories independently while coordinating efforts with GLI’s larger sales and back-office staff globally. 

GLI added that the arrangement will also allow iTech Labs clients to benefit from its global network laboratories and relationships with regulators.

“We are pleased iTech will continue to be branded as iTech and will operate as they have over the past 19 years,” GLI president James Maida said. “We are pleased that the entire management, testing and sales teams will continue to operate and be licensed in the jurisdictions they serve.”

iTech Labs chief executive Kiren Sreekumar added: “The GLI Group shares our values and deep commitment to providing our customers best-in-class service and are exceedingly pleased with this investment. 

“While iTech has achieved great success over the past many years, with the GLI Group’s support we are confident that iTech’s growth will be enhanced and thereby benefiting our customers.”

The arrangement will allow TalkBanStop to continue providing free tools and support for people struggling with their gambling behaviour.

Launched in late 2020, TalkBanStop brings together free tools and support from the three responsible gambling organisations. This includes access to GamCare’s advisers, free access to Gamban blocking software via the National Gambling Helpline, and signposting to the Gamstop self-exclusion scheme. 

The renewed funding means TalkBanStop will be able to continue providing free blocking software licences from Gamban. In addition, TalkBanStop will maintain its messaging on the benefits all three layers of support offer to users.

To date, TalkBanStop said it has helped contribute to over 12,000 people installing blocking software from Gamban for free.  

Reducing gambling harm

“We’re delighted to secure long-term, sustainable funding for the TalkBanStop partnership and to continue delivering towards our shared aspiration of reducing gambling-related harms,” GamCare chief executive Anna Hemmings said.

“Since we started the partnership there has been great value in combining our expertise as organisations and we look forward to collaborating even closer in the years ahead. 

“What we’ve seen over the past few years is that people are giving themselves the best possible chance to stop gambling when they use all three steps of TalkBanStop, which is why it’s so vital there is no pause in the free availability of these tools and support.”

GambleAware’s chief commission officer Anna Hargrave added: “Enabling people to access help to reduce or stop their gambling is essential. As commissioners of the National Gambling Support Network, we understand the importance of making sure people have access to the tools, helps and support they need. 

“This is why we’re delighted to announce our continued funding of TalkBanStop and its providers as they continue to do this. 

“Since its launch, the TalkBanStop partnership has provided vital support to thousands of people experiencing gambling harms, with its layered approach offering a range of tools to help tackle the often complex needs of those who need help most.” 

The app was developed by the group’s Checkd Dev division, the in-house platform and technology development department.

Incorporated within the app from launch are FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, Bet365, PointsBet and BetMGM. Users will be able to select the best odds and lines for their chosen selections from these operators and will be able to subscribe to real-time notifications for match and score updates.

The group developed the app based on the Smart Acca technology in the UK, which utilises historical data to provide betting indications.

Adam Patton, managing director of Checkd Dev believes that the app was the next “logical step” in the journey for the brand and will help the user in decision-making.

“The FlashPicks app provides users with all the information they need to make knowledgeable, informed selections and with a host of leading operators on board we believe it will in time have a major impact on the overall sports betting ecosystem.”

Callum Broxton, head of US operations at Checkd Group, says that the profile of the FlashPicks brand has grown since its launch in 2022.

“Following the launch of the FlashPicks brand last year, we have seen its profile increase month by month and that will only continue as more states and provinces adopt regulation,” said Broxton.

“The launch of the FlashPicks app is a major landmark for us and it’s a development we are all very excited about.”

Players in Ontario and all US states where online sports betting is regulated can download the app.