Category: News

The rules aim to prevent under-18s from being exposed to gambling advertisements online.

They prohibit clubs from including calls to action or links to gambling websites on non-promoted social media posts. Bonus offers and odds are also prohibited. 

Promoted posts are exempted, however, as these can be targeted specifically at adults.

The BGC has written to both the Premier League and the English Football League to make clubs aware of the rules.

“Football clubs are an important part of the sporting fabric of this country, followed by millions of all ages on social media,” BGC chairman Brigid Simmonds explained.

“Our members rightly have a zero tolerance approach to gambling by under-18s, so as an industry we are understandably concerned that children may be exposed to betting adverts on social media platforms.

“Our new guidelines make clear the standards expected of football clubs when they post gambling promotions on social media, and I look forward to them being put into practice as soon as possible.”

The clubs will also be encouraged to apply the same controls to partnerships with operators that are not BGC members.

Furthermore, the association has requested Twitter and Facebook implement age-gating for all gambling ads on their platforms.

The BGC’s new rules follow a series of new marketing standards that were introduced last year.

These look to have social media ads for gambling targeted only at those aged 25 and above where possible.

The standards were first agreed by a working group formed by the Gambling Commission and led by Sky Betting & Gaming in April 2020.

Quayle previously served as head of UK operations for Kindred Group, having joined the Unibet operator through its £175.6m (€201.9m/$226.4m) acquisition of 32Red. 

He in turn joined 32Red following its 2006 acquisition of Betdirect, where he had worked since 2003. 

BGO’s previous chief executive, Andrew Bentley, left the role late in 2019. It is unclear whether the position has been filled since. 

The operator’s co-founder Alex Holt said Quayle’s appointment would help drive BGO’s future growth. 

“Mark was an integral and valued part of the management team who successfully grew the 32Red brand and we’re confident his experience with such a large casino operator will be a huge asset to BGO,” Holt explained. 

Quayle added that he was sad to leave 32Red, but felt the time was right for a new challenge. 

“I can’t wait to start this new chapter in my career,” he said. “BGO is a successful brand with a great team and, importantly, huge untapped potential. 

One of his first duties in the role will be to set up a new office in Gibraltar, which he said would allow BGO to take advantage of the territory’s “outstanding” local gaming talent as it seeks to grow the business.

The loss was mostly due to a steep drop in revenue, by 68.5% year-on-year to KRW478.58bn.

Despite expenditure falling 26.1% year-on-year, costs of sales totalling KRW544.5bn still exceeded revenue.

Of this total, KRW294.5bn came from casinos, down 36.2%, while KRW119.3bn came from hotels, down 17.3%. The operator generated a further KRW55.6bn from condo rentals, and KRW350.0m from its High1 ski resort.

This led to a gross loss of KRW65.9bn, compared to a KRW 783.4bn gross profit in 2019.

After paying general management fees of KRW140.7bn, plus KRW225.0bn towards developing abandoned mines into new resorts, Kangwon Land’s operating loss came to KRW431.58bn. This compared with a KRW501.15bn profit in 2019.

The business reported a further KRW1.7bn in non-operating income and KRW56.6bn in financial income, but paid KRW47.6bn in non-operating costs for a pre-tax loss of KRW404.5bn.
After receiving a KRW128.6bn income tax benefit, Kangwon land made a net loss of KRW275.86bn. This was down from a KRW334.66bn profit a year prior.

Looking only at the fourth quarter of the year, Kangwon Land’s revenue totalled KRW131.3bn, down 64.8%.

Of this total, KRW117.2bn came from casino gaming, a 64.7% decline, with the remaining KRW14.1bn from other sources, down 65.7%.

This KRW117.2bn in casino revenue was made up of KRW48.0bn in slot revenue; KRW45.8bn in general table game revenue and KRW32.6bn in VIP room revenue, minus KRW9.2bn in bonus funds.

In total, 122,532 players staked a combined KRW528.6bn at Kangwon’s casinos in Q4, down from 696,121 players in Q4 2019. Foreign customer traffic remained low, with just 566 players coming from abroad, compared to 8,124 in 2019.

Breaking down the KRW14.1bn in non-casino sales, the majority, at KRW9.0bn, came from hotels, while KRW2.3bn came from condos, KRW1.5bn from golf and KRW1.1bn from ski resorts.

Costs of sales, however, declined 35.2% to KRW153.2bn. These costs included KRW67.7bn in salary, down 25.7%, KRW12.6bn toward the Tourism Promotion Development Fund and KRW6.6bn in sales taxes.

This led to a gross loss of KRW21.8bn. After management fees, Kangwon Land’s operating loss was KRW76.1bn.

The operator made KRW19.6bn in financial income and KRW8.7bn in non-operating income, but paid KRW8.8bn in non-operating expenses for a pre-tax loss of KRW56.6bn. Kangwon Land’s net loss, after a KRW23.3bn tax benefit, came to KRW33.3bn.

The operator’s flagship venue in Jeongseong first closed on 23 February and though it reopened in July, it closed again less than two months later. Though this closure was initially meant to last for just two days, it ended up lasting almost two months.

It then closed again on 8 December.

Image: Laserland / CC BY-SA

The month saw 26,171 unique active players place 1.1m bets, and 3,504 new customers register with the operator.

Basketball was the most popular betting market recorded, accounting for 46% of all bets placed. American football was the second most popular sport, bringing in 31% of bets, followed by soccer, ice hockey and mixed martial arts, accounting for 8.5%, 3.9% and 3.3% of bets respectively.

The average bet amount placed was $32.30 across all sports.

66% of bets placed were single or teaser bets, while the remaining 34% were combo and systems bets. Pre-match wagers also accounted for 66% of the total bets placed, while 34% were placed in-play.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Gross gaming revenue from sports betting amounted to $3.3m (£2.4m/€2.7m) in January, up from $1.9m in the corresponding month last year and 43.4% higher than $2.3m, in the final month of 2020.

Rush Street’s Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady retained top spot in New York with $1.4m in revenue, up 79.7% from $778,997 last year.

The del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo and its DraftKings sportsbook was close behind in second with $1.3m, more than double the $610,250 posted in January 2020.

Resorts World Catskills ranked third with $479,557, up by 21.2% year-on-year, while Tioga Downs Casino in the Fingerlakes, which runs a FanDuel sportsbook, followed with $390,346, up 59.4% on last year.

For the financial year to date, sports wagering revenue in the 10 months through to the end of January was $3.3m.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

20Shots said Fantasy5 is currently the fastest growing free-to-play football game in the UK industry, allowing customers to pick a fantasy team of five Premier League players. If all five players exceed their fantasy points targets, the customer can win a jackpot of £10,000 (€11,500/$13,900).

Fantasy5 is now live and available on Generation Web’s platform, as an integrated product featuring its own branding as part of each partner sportsbook’s offering.

The deal is 20Shots’ first with a third party platform, and will see operators drive traffic to the free-play weekly jackpot game for the first time, which the supplier said will accelerate Fantasy5’s organic growth.

Customers playing via Australian sportsbooks will enter the same global pool of players, currently over 46,000, with the jackpot for an Australian sportsbook entrant set at AUD$20,000 (£11,200).

The agreement will see 20Shots underwrite the full liability for any jackpot, with operators paying a fixed fee per entrant per round.

“Following a smooth and swift integration the Fantasy5 product is now live on our platform and available for all partner sportsbooks to offer their soccer customers a free shot at the $20,000 jackpot,” said Hamish Davidson, chief executive of Generation Web.

“The agreement demonstrates our commitment to offer our sportsbook partners the best and most innovative recruitment and retention products with free-to-play representing a key growth area.”

“We’re delighted to be the first platform to make Fantasy5 available to Premier League fans in Australia and based on their UK growth we look forward to celebrating Australia’s first jackpot winner soon.”

20Shots co-founder Jacob Kalms added: “Our partnership with GenWeb is now complete and active meaning for the first time, their operators can integrate and utilise Fantasy5 to recruit, retain and engage football sportsbook customers on the world’s most popular football betting medium, the Premier League.”

“Our organic growth and retention rates suggest that operators will benefit from the stickiness of the product when introduced to their audience at scale. Strategic partnerships with operators and platforms represent the next phase of our growth beyond organic customer acquisition and we are delighted to sign a major agreement just months after soft-launching our flagship product.”

Running until the end of March, the campaign will promote treatment and support for gambling harm, drive awareness of support and signpost women to the National Gambling Treatment Service.

The campaign will run across radio, magazines and in digital media, and target women aged between 18 and 54.

GambleAware said it developed the campaign in response to recent research on women and gambling harms, with a YouGov report backed by the charity finding that 10% of women in Great Britain experience some level of gambling harm.

“Following the success of the previous campaign, we are continuing with our targeted approach to make sure women are not overlooked in the drive to raise awareness of gambling treatment and support,” GambleAware communications and engagement director Zoë Osmond said.

“These findings highlight an increase in women suffering from gambling harm, and we hope this campaign will help to signpost those experiencing harms to the help that is available.”

The launch of the new campaign comes after GambleAware last week partnered with research organisation Expert Link on a initiative to co-design and deliver a nationwide network of people with lived experience of gambling harms.

Expert Link will design an independent network that will operate across Britain and be representative of the entire British community, focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion.

Pires Investments, an Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed investor that backs next generation technology businesses, in December subscribed for 6,667 ordinary shares in Low6 at £30 each for a total consideration of £200,010 (€229,019/$277,967).

Low6 in Q4 of last year also closed a pre-IPO round, raising £3.3m in convertible notes. Two prominent Australian institutional investors participated in the raise, with the issue being over-subscribed.

The provider, which has raised over £8.0m to date, has now proposed extending the pre-IPO round to allow further investment from an unnamed leading gaming industry player, with any additional funds to provide further working capital.

“We are delighted to see Low6’s progression since our recent investment in December 2020 with a significant increase in users as it continues to roll out new apps in partnership with globally renown sporting brands and work with new influencer partners,” Pires chairman Peter Redmond said.

“Its plans to IPO in Q2 2021 remain on track and we look forward to updating the market on this investment in due course.”

Last month, Low6 launched its UFC Picks mobile app as part of its partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, with more than 8,000 fans using the app.

Low6 also has a partnership in place with the Professional Darts Corporation.

The two-year deal will see 188Bet’s logo appear on the sleeves of players’ shirts during all Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal cup matches.

188Bet will also work with Werder Bremen’s to engage with Asian fans, with this to include the creation of branded digital content using the club’s crest, players and the team’s Weserstadion home ground.

In addition, the 188Bet logo will appear on LED boards inside Weserstadion, as well as on match day interview backdrops and social media channels in Asia.

“188Bet are a well-established and forward thinking company, which is an important addition to our partnership roster,” Werder Bremen chief executive Klaus Filbry said.

“They are an exciting brand that aims to bring together the sports betting audience in Asia and we are tremendously proud to be part of this journey.”

188Bet managing director Nigel Singer added: “At 188Bet, we recognise the importance of football to our customers, in particular interest in the Bundesliga. Over the next two years, 188Bet looks forward to a successful partnership with Werder Bremen.”

Yolo’s new sub-fund is focused on seed-stage and A-stage investment opportunities in the gaming and fintech spaces.

“We have already assembled a diverse portfolio of high-growth companies across gaming and fintech and are now looking to build specialised sub-funds to specifically focus on these verticals,” Tim Heath, general partner of Yolo Investments, said.

“As well as capital, we are now in a position to provide significant upside to our investments via our network. With more than €200 million AUM, we are actively searching for disruptive businesses to which we can add value and open for investment from Limited Partners.”

Yolo Investments manages assets across more than 50 companies, with a combined value of over €200m (£174.5m/$242.7m). The investment fund succeeded Vereeni Investments, assuming all the assets and holdings of the previous fund.

“These new sub-funds in Yolo Investments will continue the fantastic work of Vereeni Investments over the last couple of years,” Heath added.

The fund’s previous investments include casino content studios OneTouch and Green Jade Games, fintech companies coins.io, Credis Bank and Yeahka, and new live casino concept the Bombay Club.

Heath, who served as chief executive of Coingaming Group until last year, had spent the last two years gradually stepping away from the operational management of the group to fully dedicate his time and effort to setting up Yolo Investments as a licensed venture capital entity.

Alongside Heath, co-founder of RB Capital Julian Buhagiar, Coingaming Group chief commercial officer Steve Tsao and director of mobile casino developer OneTouch Ragnar Toompere will be general partners in the fund.

Coingaming Group’s chief operating officer, Maarja Pärt and the group’s chief investment officer, Jaan Lainurm, will also sit on the fund’s management board.

Yolo recently announced its first successful exit, with a 6x return on its investment in Estonia-based gaming operator Coolbet, which was acquired by GAN for $175.9m in cash and stock in December.