Tag: Casino & games

The man who revitalised Fremont Street

Downtown Las Vegas was once associated with Sin City’s Rat Pack era, but the Fremont Street experience is – quite literally – very different today. Enter Circa Sports’ Derek Stevens, an industry outsider who is playing a huge role revitalising the area by bringing a brand new casino and sports betting experience.

Derek Stevens of Circa Sports is a gambling industry outsider. He built up a successful auto parts business in his native Michigan before moving into the casino business, purchasing the Golden Gate in 2008. He’s honest about what attracted him to the city.

“The key thing that brought me to Vegas was the fact there’s no income tax in the state of Nevada,” he says, bluntly. “I run an investment portfolio, so that was helpful.”

Derek Stevens poses next to Vegas Vickie, an iconic symbol of ‘Old Vegas’

“But,” he adds, “I’m more of an operator.” He’s also someone who likes a challenge, acquiring a casino on the cusp of the Great Recession. Stevens “really fell in love with downt..

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Kahnawàke council launches legal challenge against Ontario igaming laws

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke (MCK) has launched a constitutional challenge against iGaming Ontario and the attorney-general of Ontario, arguing that the province’s regulation of gambling is unconstitutional.

The Council – which runs its own gambling licensing regime – said that the Ontario regime did not meet the requirements for gambling outlined in Canada’s constitution.

As a result, it has filed a motion in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to challenge the legality of Ontario’s igaming framework, which it said was “illegal and unconstitutional”.

Ontario igaming legal status

Commercial betting and gaming are legal in Canada only if it is “conducted and managed” by a provincial government. While in most provinces that offer online gambling, the government runs a monopoly, Ontario instead launched a licensed regime this year, with more than 30 different licensed operators so far.

While a specific definition of conducting and managing is not provided, the Mohawk Council of ..

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New Jersey betting revenue down as challengers struggle in October

Sports betting revenue in New Jersey declined by 7.4% year-on-year to $77.9m, as revenue for its leading brands increased but challengers in the market struggled.

This figure came as players bet $1.06bn on sports, down by 18.1% from October 2021’s record-high $1.30bn. Of this total, $987.6m was placed online, with the remaining $72.6m placed in person.

The Meadowlands, with a FanDuel betting skin, continued to easily lead the market with $45.4m in sports betting revenue, up 3.0%. In second place was Resorts Digital, which has partnered with DraftKings and brought in $17.2m, up 8.0%

BetMGM partner the Borgata was the only other operator to crack even a 3% market share, bringing in $9.5m, up by 18.7%.

Read the full story on iGB North America

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Codere Q3 revenue hits pre-pandemic levels thanks to strong LatAm growth

Spain, Italy and Latin America-facing gaming business Nueva Codere’s Q3 revenue increased 47.2% year-on-year to €343.4m (£300.7m/$357.8m), recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

The robust revenue growth is mainly due to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in venues, ensuring a rebound for Codere in almost all markets.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 74.8% to €57.4m from €24.6m in the same period the previous year. Codere’s potent performance in Argentina and other Latin American countries is one important factor in this result.

The company’s adjusted EBITDA margin also rose 2.6% to 16.7% in the three months leading to 30 September compared to the same period of 2021.

Codere country totals

Revenue jumped for Codere in all Latin American markets – most dramatically in Argentina where it increased 146% year-on-year to €98.6m, 122% of the pre-pandemic total. One important factor is that average player spend per visit has incre..

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Peru igaming regulations ban free bets, mandate supplier registration

Peru will ban free bets and demos, as well as mandating registration for suppliers, as part of its effort to regulate online gambling.

The detail comes as part of Peru’s efforts to regulate online betting and igaming. The country’s Congress unanimously voted for a bill to regulate the sectors in July, which was then signed into law in August, coming into effect 60 days later.

The law names the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (Mincetur) as the country’s official gambling regulator.

As regulator, the body established a number of rules that will apply to operators in the market, including a ban on free bets and supplier registration requirements.

These rules are subject to a consultation, with stakeholders able to submit their opinions until 2 December.

Free bet ban

The regulations state that operators may not offer any type of remote betting or gaming for free, whether this is for promotional purposes or for education such as through a demo of a game.

If an operator ..

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AGA: Q3 US gaming revenue hits record $15bn

US gaming revenue reached a record $15.17bn (£13.31bn/€15.1bn) in Q3, an all-time quarterly high, according to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker.

This is a 2% increase on the previous record of $14.81bn reached in the preceding quarter. Subsequently, 2022 is set to surpass 2021 as the highest grossing year of gaming revenue, already at 14.7% ahead of the same period the previous year. The total for the first nine months of the year is also ahead of 2019’s full-year revenue.

“While business challenges remain, high consumer demand continues to fuel our industry’s record success,” said AGA president and CEO Bill Miller. “Our sustained momentum in the face of broader economic volatility points to gaming’s overall health today and provides confidence as we look to the future.”

The industry’s year-on-year Q3 growth rate of 8.8% outperformed the broader US economy’s 2.6% growth rate in the same period.

[Read full story on iGaming Business]

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Flutter revenue up 31% in Q3 as US becomes largest market

Flutter Entertainment forecast a 31% year-on-year increase in revenue for the third quarter of its 2022 financial year, primarily due to growth within its US and international businesses.

In a trading update, Flutter said that revenue for the three months to the end of September is expected to amount to £1.89bn (€2.17bn/$2.18bn), which would be a significant increase from £1.44bn in the corresponding period last year.

On a constant currency basis, revenue is forecast to increase by 82%.

Flutter said it expects this to be driven by growth within the US, where its revenue is forecast to rise 114% year-on-year, or 82% on a constant currency basis, to $598m, making it Flutter’s largest market.

This, the group said, was down to a 106% rise in sports revenue – comprising sportsbook, exchange, daily fantasy sports, advance deposit wagering and B2B product verticals – driven by customer acquisition across existing states as the new NFL season began.

US igaming revenue is also expected t..

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Laila Mintas announces new venture, PlayEngine

Former PlayUp US chief executive Laila Mintas has co-founded a new venture, PlayEngine, and joined as chief executive.

The new business is a “microservices-based” B2B sports betting and igaming platform. The business said that it will “provide its customers with a tailor-made, individual solution that is reliable, scalable, fast and secure”.

Its sportsbook offering will allow clients to accept payments from cryptocurrency as well as fiat money and will include a “travelling wallet” to allow players to use the same wallet in different jurisdictions.

PlayEngine was initially created through the Berkeley Skydeck startup incubator.

“I am very excited about being a co-founder and the CEO of PlayEngine,” Laila Mintas said. “The sports betting and igaming market is just too competitive to work off legacy tech.

“There is a huge need for agile and modern technology and I truly believe that we have the most automated and data-driven product in the market, which will enable the sportsbettin..

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The 2022 US midterm elections: What we are watching

As the US goes to the polls for the midterm elections, there are plenty of races that could affect the progress of sports betting regulation and gaming expansion. Paul Girvan picks out the states to watch.

The 2022 US midterm elections, while important in so many ways, contain few issues directly related to gambling regulation.

Rather, they represent an opportunity to extract a thorn that has irritated the body politic and coloured the consideration and adoption of more gaming legislation, whether it be sports betting legislation or casino regulation.

Only in two states does gaming appear directly, or indirectly, on the ballot: California and Georgia.

Register now for this special webinar on 10 November

California

In California, a statewide ballot measures voter approval for constitutional changes, through Propositions 26 and 27.

Polling suggests both the tribal and commercial sports betting ballot measures are doomed to fail.

Prop 26 permits Native American casinos and four..

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World Series of Politics episode 7: Election preview special

The World Series of Politics returns just in time for the 2022 US midterm elections, with analysis of a number of key races across the US.

Ahead of the elections, Brendan and Brandt take a look across the US, including a final examination of whether there’s any hope of the people of California voting to legalise sports betting.

In Texas, there may be less clarity as the industry may have to consider whether to prioritise betting or casinos, while Brandt is “optimistic” that sports betting legislation could be passed in Georgia once a new legislature is elected.

There’s also a look at Washington DC’s efforts to fix what has been a struggling sports wagering regime, and at efforts to get legal betting up and running in Massachusetts.

The pair look further afield as well, pondering the impact of Lula da Silva defeating Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential election while, in the UK, Brandt throws his name into the ring as a prime ministerial candidate, but Brendan has other ideas.
..

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EU ups money laundering risk from online gambling to highest level

The European Commission has raised the threat level for money laundering in online gambling to its highest possible rating, and called for lower thresholds for due diligence checks to prevent criminal activity.

The European Commission carries out periodic supra-national risk assessments, determining the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing across the European Union in various sectors. The 2022 edition is the third such risk assessment, after previous versions in 2017 and 2019.

“As with the previous reports, this third edition analyses the present ML/TF risks and proposes comprehensive action to address them,” the European Commission said. “It also assesses the degree to which the Commission’s recommendations for mitigating measures in the 2019 report have been implemented and evaluates the remaining risks.”

One area of particular focus in the report was gambling, with each gambling vertical receiving its own risk assessment.

Online gambling was found to be especially vu..

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UK gaming tax intake rises in H1 of 2022-23, but remote duty down

UK provisional betting and gaming tax intake for the six months to 30 September has risen 11.0% from £1.46bn to £1.62bn ($1.85bn/ €1.88bn) compared to the same period the previous year.

The largest contributors to this figure is the Lottery Duty, which represents 30% of the total, and the Remote Gaming Duty which contributes 28% of the total. However, both the duties declined both in absolute terms and percentage of the total from same period the previous year.

The 2022 figures had a high degree of variability month to month, demonstrating both seasonal variation and a decreased month-to-month stability in the figures post-pandemic – as commented on by HRMC.

“Since the 2020-21 financial year, monthly receipts have been more unpredictable and, instead, receipts across each quarter are now more representative,” it said.

As a result, the figures had a large range. At the high end, almost £500m of the total was gathered in April alone – while in September, just £93m was received by th..

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