Strategy – Page 9 – FairOdds Network

October 26, 2022

Ontario report

iGB’s new report on Ontario offers exclusive insight into Canada’s most populous province – the first to regulate betting and igaming.

When the Ontario market opened in April this year, it wasn’t quite brand new ground.

Anyone in the industry could tell you that the grey market in Canada’s largest province had been thriving for quite some time.

Still, bringing the province from grey to white offers certainty and new opportunities for many.

Six months on, we have a sense of the spoils available. Operators – excluding the lottery – brought in a combined CA$267m in the three months ended 30 September.

The biggest challenge in the province, however, may be marketing rules. Operators can offer bonuses, but may not promote them. As Marese O’Hagan writes in our progress report, that’s been difficult, but it hasn’t seriously dampened excitement about the jurisdiction.

And for now, those complying with the rules still need to compete with some unlicensed brands, which continue to do busin..

October 25, 2022

American Gaming Association CEO on the rebirth and renewal of US gambling

Bill Miller could argue that his tenure has seen the most transformative period for the gaming industry since the American Gaming Association was established in 1995. He talks to Robin Harrison about sports betting, gaming expansion, Covid-19, safer gambling and the illegal market in this exclusive interview.

When Bill Miller took charge of the American Gaming Association (AGA) in January 2019, the US commercial gaming industry was poised for a period of explosive growth.

Legal sports betting, thanks to the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), was rapidly spreading across the US.

The industry as a whole posted its fifth consecutive year of revenue growth for that year, with 2019’s total breaking records at $43.6bn.

The industry generated $10.2bn in gaming taxes for state and local governments with 21 of 25 commercial gaming states posting year-on-year revenue growth. This sum covers annual education costs for 832,000 elementary and secondary scho..

October 13, 2022

Nygaard-Andersen: Interest rates won’t stop Entain from acquiring

Entain chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen has said high interest rates will not stop the business from making new acquisitions, and may even “open up new doors”.

Nygaard-Andersen spoke on an earnings call after Entain published a third-quarter earnings update. Revenue was up 2% year-on-year for the group, thanks to both record customer numbers and a favourable impact from currency movements.

When asked whether the new macroeconomic environment and high interest rates would make acquisitions difficult due to the costs of borrowing money, Nygaard-Andersen said that this was not necessarily the case.

“We of course remain vigilant and very prudent,” she said. “But the health of the business remains good. We still have a strong pipeline on M&A and we have opportunities that we will continue to pursue.”

The results came after a busy period of acquiring for the business, with Nygaard-Anderson noting the business agreed nine acquisitions in the past 18 months, including those of Unikrn..

September 30, 2022

Light & Wonder completes $800m OpenBet sale

Light & Wonder has completed the sale of its OpenBet sports betting platform to Endeavor, three months after the initial planned closing date and for $400m less than was first agreed.

Endeavor – a sports media business that owns IMG Arena – will pay $750m in cash for OpenBet, plus 2.3 million Class A shares, worth $50m.

The sale forms part of a general streamlining of the Light & Wonder business, formerly known as Scientific Games. It also sold its lottery arm – which retained the Scientific Games name – in October of last year to private equity group Brookfield Business Partners.

The sale also follows the exit of Barry Cottle as Light & Wonder chief executive, with Matt Wilson serving in the role on a temporary basis until a full-time replacement is found.

Wilson said the new business can now focus on growth, now that it has a more clear focus on gaming, whether land-based, online or social.

“With the completion of the OpenBet divestiture and our now streamlined organisation, Li..

September 30, 2022

Dutch market an early success, but true battles are ahead

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle says that the first year following the Dutch market launch has been an overwhelming success in channelisation terms, but tinkering with the formula could put all of that at risk.

In terms of the actual act of getting sites online and ready to take customers’ bets, the launch of the Dutch online market was a bit of a mess.

A technical hitch with self-exclusion scheme Cruks meant that sites were not permitted to launch on 1 October as expected, going live a day later instead. This, of course, followed a number of other delays for a variety of reasons.

But if we’re talking about the general performance in the months after opening up, the Dutch market looks to have been a success.

The country exceeded its three-year channelisation target within year one. Figures released today by regulator de Kansspelautoriteit – one day before the first anniversary of that launch – reveal that 85% of Dutch players are gambling within the licensed market.

Much of the reason f..

September 22, 2022

Playtech moves away from plans to sell Snai amid good trading

Playtech will put aside any plans to sell off its B2C Snaitech business – at least temporarily – after the business determined that its recent success meant it could deliver more value by remaining part of the group.

Comments on the subject came from Playtech leadership following the business announcing its H1 results, in which revenue was up 73% year-on-year to €792.3m. Revenue from Snaitech specifically almost tripled to €446.0m.

The supplier had reportedly been considering a break-up of its business, including a sale of the Snaitech arm it acquired in 2018, after plans to sell the entire business fell through. The Playtech board approved an offer from land-based slots giant Aristocrat, but shareholders ultimately rejected this deal.

A group called TTB Partners then announced that it was considering a bid of its own, and received support from Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer (pictured). However, amid changing market conditions, TTB ultimately declined to submit a bid for the ga..

September 20, 2022

FDJ opens talks over ZEturf Group acquisition

French national lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) has entered into exclusive negotiations over the acquisition of online horse racing and sports betting brand ZEturf Group.

Details of the talks or financial terms of the potential deal were not disclosed, but FDJ did state that the purchase would form part of wider plans to expand its presence in France’s online gambling market.

Founded in 2001, ZEturf employs approximately 100 staff and processed almost €800.0m (£701.6m/$802.5m) in wagers, including more than €100.0m in pool bets, in 2021.

According to FDJ, online horse racing betting accounts for more than 50% of ZEturf bets. This makes the business France’s second largest operator in this segment with a market share of around 20%.

In addition to its activities in France, ZEturf operates in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.

Should the acquisition proceed to the next stage, the deal would be subject to approval by competition and regulatory authorities

The talks come a..

September 14, 2022

Amelco to launch in South Africa with new operator LulaBet

Sports betting platform provider Amelco is set to launch in South Africa, through a partnership with new operator LulaBet.

LulaBet is set to launch in the market this month, with an aim of being “South Africa’s premium sports betting and entertainment website”.

Amelco head of business development Brandon Walker said he expects the launch of Amelco’s product to have a major impact on the South African market.

“Our launch in South Africa is going to be a true gamechanger – we have the insight on exactly what the market needs, and with our market-leading tech, we’re ready to bring the first true end-to-end tier-one platform and sportsbook to local players,” he said. “Amelco has been servicing the industry’s best for 15 years and, having prepared to enter South Africa for 12 months, we have finally found the right partner in LulaBet to bring local players the best of breed.

“Together, we genuinely believe we can transform this market and we can’t wait to get started.”

Ian Gutteridge,..

September 7, 2022

Betegy to ramp up US push following Yolo investment

Betegy has closed an investment round led by Yolo Investments – the venture capital arm of the Yolo Group, which operates the Sportsbet.io brand.

Betegy – which provides data visualisations, automated on-air and retail graphics, and casino marketing assets to operators – intends to use the funds to continue its scaling in the US. The announcement follows a previous funding round led by JKR Investment Group, which was announced in 2020.

iGB spoke to both Betegy founder and chief executive Alex Kornilov, and Yolo Investments founder and GP Tim Heath to discuss the deal and how Betegy plans to further adapt its products for the US market, and the startup funding sector as a whole.

What encouraged you to invest in the business; what do you think that Betegy brings to the market that wasn’t on offer before?

TH: Betegy’s great innovation is to automate the previously time-consuming process of turning reams of data into world-class content. We know the product works because it’s been succ..

August 26, 2022

Cost of living represents looming crisis

iGB op-ed: Zak Thomas-Akoo argues the gaming sector should brace for a squeeze as macroeconomic conditions start to bite.

“Now is the winter of our discontent,” burbled Richard III, in the famous warning of what happens when a clever clogs lets ambition outstrip means. More prosaically, winter is certainly on the mind of those in the UK as the country braces for a potential triple threat of recession, energy price shocks and generalised inflation, all of which have direct industry implications.

A combination of supply constraints, fiscal and monetary policy, and energy disruptions have made inflation a worldwide phenomenon but it is most ferocious in the UK. In August, annualised inflation reached 8.5% in the US, 8.6% in Eurozone, just 6.5% in France – and 10.1% in Britain.

As our long, hot and doomed summer recedes into the middle distance, from Middlesbrough to Downing Street, Britain is blowing off its dusty old picture books of 1978 as it braces for the squeeze, and it’s not muc..

August 23, 2022

Rush Street Interactive: the exception that proves the rule

At a time when US sports betting operators are shifting focus to profitability rather than expansion, Rush Street Interactive believes it is a step ahead of the competition. Chief executive Richard Schwartz explains how a disciplined approach, online casino and its pan-American ambitions, will achieve this.

The early stages of the US betting and igaming market have been typified by a race to build as big a customer database as possible, at whatever cost. Each state that launches experiences advertising shock and awe, as operators bankroll vast campaigns to use each rollout as a land-grab for new sign-ups.

Rush Street Interactive (RSI), the business that listed on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2020, has looked to take a different approach. At a time when there is greater scrutiny of company spending, and investors query how long hefty losses can be sustained, it has managed to keep its spending in check.

While the push for profitability is still relatively new to the wide..

August 22, 2022

Dazn Bet goes live with UK “soft launch”

Dazn Bet – a new betting venture from streaming giant DAZN – has launched its beta product in the UK, the first market in which it is live.

The streaming business announced the launch of a new betting brand in April, which would be powered by technology from Pragmatic Play and named Dazn Bet.

Later that month, Dazn announced that Mark Kemp, who at the time was chief executive of BoyleSports, would lead the new betting brand.

The operator will do business under a Great Britain Gambling Commission licence held by One Click Limited. One Click had operated a number of B2C brands in Great Britain such as Casinoland and Royal Slots, before withdrawing from the market earlier this year.

Kemp said the the ultimate goal of Dazn Bet was to create a product that fully integrates betting into streaming. The business said it hoped to also integrate news updates, non-fungible tokens, tickets, and merchandise – as well as betting – into its streaming product in the near future.

“The initial laun..

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Tag: Strategy