iGaming Wrap-Up of CW 14-15
#iGaming News of the week
0.??????BeyondPlay secures €5m funding from Bettor Capital and leading iGaming entrepreneurs
B2B gaming streaming start-up BeyondPlay has secured a further €5m in funding from a range of industry investors. BeyondPlay aims to make the online casino experience more social, through jackpot and multiplayer products designed to create shared experiences among players.
Its latest funding round was led by US-based early-stage venture capital fund Bettor Capital, which holds investments in a variety of iGaming businesses, including data and AI provider Future Anthem, online lottery ticket platform Jackpot.com, and payment infrastructure provider Interchecks.
In addition to Bettor Capital, BeyondPlay has secured further backing from Tigrim Capital and Winforton Investments, as well as from several influential individuals within the iGaming industry.
Those include KaFe Rocks co-founder Feda Mecan, Sportingbet founder Mark Blandford and Alea founder and CEO Alexandre Tomic.
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#Breaking News
1.??????Online sports betting in Brazil to be taxed at 15% and licenses to require an investment of nearly $6M
The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has outlined, in a draft sent to the Office of Attorney General of the National Treasury (PGFN), the taxation model for online gambling.
According to Poder 360, the Executive Branch proposes a 15% tax on GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue, or gross revenue minus prizes paid), and the value of the license, valid for five years, will be BRL30 million ($5.92 million).
The idea of the economic team follows the model of the United Kingdom, which defined the same percentage and reached 90% of companies acting legally.
According to the report, the Ministry of Finance has already closed the initial text and sent the project to the PGFN, which analyzes its constitutionality.
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2.??????Spelinspektionen bolsters 2023 budget to tackle black market threats
Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s Gambling Inspectorate, has welcomed the news that it will receive extra funding towards combating illegal gambling activities.
Authorised by the Riksdag, the Inspectorate will receive a further SEK 2.4m (€200,000) to its 2023 budget, allocated towards safeguarding Sweden’s regulated online gambling marketplace.
The Inspectorate had requested additional funds to bolster resources, in a year in which it “handle both a large influx of permit applications and important supervisory tasks.”
“We welcome these extra funds which enable further strengthened measures in the fight against unlicensed gambling, money laundering and match-fixing,” said Director General Camilla Rosenberg.
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3.??????India amends Tech Rules to identify real money games
Introduced in February 2021 by the Indian government, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021 are standards and requirements to regulate online content and platforms, including social media intermediaries, messaging services, and digital media publishers.
Framed under the Information Technology Act 2000, the regulations aim to address the challenges of the country’s evolving digital landscape and user rights to ensure safe and secure online environments are provided by digital platforms.
The 2021 Rules initially classified online gambling as harmful content “inconsistent with or contrary to the laws in force”.
The new amendments now recognise online real money games as those “where users deposit cash or other valuables with the expectation of winning”, as well as “those offered on the internet and accessible by users through a computer resource or intermediary”.
The new regulations are part of the Indian government’s goal to regulate online content and provide protection from harmful or illegal material.
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4.??????Jesper K?rrbrink’s Green Jade Group shuts down
Green Jade Group has ceased operations after the game developer led by industry veteran Jesper K?rrbrink was unable to achieve the necessary level of profitability. Benedict McDonagh, co-founder of the company, made the announcement in a LinkedIn post on 8 April.
He said the company never found its hit and did not “luck out” with a perfect recipe of timing, math, features, and front-end.
The company, founded as Green Jade Games in 2017 by former Mr Green CEO Jesper K?rrbrink and McDonagh, merged with Las Vegas-headquartered iGaming supplier GameCo in October 2022.
McDonagh shared a touching account of the inception of Green Jade Group, sparked by K?rrbrink’s desire to “change the face of gambling content”.
“New game ideas came from everywhere and we killed more concepts than we incubated,” McDonagh recounted.
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5.??????Everi: $59m Video King acquisition offers ‘another lever for growth’
The supplier said it hopes to achieve a new level of growth through the acquisition.
Everi Holdings has entered a deal to purchase certain assets of VKGS LLC (Video King), a company that provides video gaming content, instant win games and integrated electronic bingo gaming tablets. The two have agreed to a purchase price of nearly $59m to be paid at closing.
The deal is subject to “customary working capital adjustments.” However, Everi said it anticipates the transaction will be completed within 60 days, pending customary closing conditions.?
Everi CEO Randy Taylor commented: "Over the past several years, we have had great success with executing on acquisitions that grow our product capabilities and the markets we serve. During this time, we have established a track record of successfully scaling up acquisitions that have delivered an attractive return on investment and helped drive strong cash flow.
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6.??????Premier League clubs agree to end betting shirt sponsorships
Premier League clubs have taken a significant step to reduce the coverage of gambling sponsorships by unanimously agreeing to remove gambling brands from the front of their matchday shirts.
The anticipated move makes the Premier League the first UK professional sports league to voluntarily implement such a measure phasing out betting sponsorships.
The decision comes after an extensive consultation process involving the League, its clubs, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS),as part of the Government’s ongoing review of UK gambling laws.
“The vast majority of adults gamble safely but we have to recognise that footballers are role models who have enormous influence on young people. We want to work with institutions like the Premier League to do the right thing for young fans.
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7.??????New York sports betting shatters its previous record with all-time high monthly revenue of $163.6M in March
New York sports betting operators experienced a record-breaking month in March, with the New York State Gaming Commission reporting an all-time high of $163.6 million in adjusted sports wagering gross revenue. This surpasses the previous record of $149.4 million set in January, as the Empire State finally broke the $150 million mark.
The impressive revenue figures were driven by a 9.1% hold in March, with a total handle of $1.79 billion, just shy of the all-time record of $1.8 billion set in January. New York now ranks third nationally in post-PASPA monthly revenue totals, trailing only Ohio, which reported $209 million in revenue during its January launch.
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Mobile betting played a significant role in the record-breaking month, with $162.8 million in mobile revenue contributing to a national record for monthly state tax revenue.
New York collected $83.1 million in tax receipts from sports wagering in March, pushing the state's overall total to over $900 million. The first quarter of 2023 saw $214.6 million in tax receipts, an increase of $50.8 million compared to the same period in 2022.
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#US / Canada
8.??????Massachusetts regulators to discuss penalties for illegal sports wagers at MGM Springfield, Encore
In-person betting has been live statewide for the past month. Since opening the market, Massachusetts' three casinos have reported that patrons were able to place illegal bets while visiting the venues. The recent reports prompted an investigation by members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
According to the investigation, more than $1,200 in bets were placed at the casino on two Harvard University basketball games during the month of February. Because the university “was incorrectly listed as an out-of-state institution,” the commission will consider whether the casino should be fined for the activity.
MGC Senior Enforcement Counsel Kathleen Kramer told Mass Live: “When Harvard was originally added to a ‘blacklist document’ under another state’s requirement of ‘no collegiate sports,’ it was incorrectly designated as being located in Connecticut.”
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9.??????DC criticized after problem gambling funding stripped from 2024 budget
Washington DC authorities have stripped problem gambling services funding from the proposed budget for 2024 despite an obligation to dedicate betting industry revenue towards addiction prevention.
The proposed 2024 Department of Behavioral Health budget shows that no money has been requested for preventing and combating gambling addiction. In the previous three years, $200,000 was approved for services although no money was ever actually spent.
Under the Sports Wagering Lottery Amendment Act of 2018, the first $200,000 in revenue collected from the sports betting industry “shall be used to fund programs through the Department of Behavioral Health to prevent, treat, and research gambling addiction”. Anything more than $200,000 raised annually is to be divided equally between the early childhood development and neighbourhood safety and engagement funds.
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10.??Sportradar extends with college sport’s Big Ten Network
Sportradar has renewed its partnership with Big Ten Network to power its OTT platform B1G+ until the end of the 2024-25 college athletics season.
The two-season extension will see Sportradar collaborate with Big Ten Network to enhance the user experience for fans of one of the premier collegiate conferences in the US through additional front-end experiences that also include the integration and visualisation of sports data.
Additionally, Sportradar is continuing to provide Big Ten Network its technology and data-driven OTT solutions to manage the B1G+’s OTT backend and frontend – including web, mobile and connected TV apps – UX/UI design, as well as third-party integration.
#M&A & Finance
11.??Prophet Exchange secures $10m funding injection as it prepares for multi-state rollout
Prophet Exchange, the first fully regulated, peer-to-peer high-frequency sports betting exchange in the United States, has proudly announced a new line of funding to the tune of over $10 million. This announcement comes on the heels of the company’s official launch in August of 2022 and a successful Super Bowl where the company saw over $1 million traded on the event.
“At Prophet, we win only when the user wins. As the first pro-consumer betting exchange in the country, we believe it’s time for the house to lose a few hands.”
Founded by Dean Sisun and Jake Benzaquen in 2018, Prophet Exchange is an entirely peer-to-peer sports betting platform that matches users’ potential bets with others from across New Jersey. The benefits of a betting exchange are that each user wins more or loses less on every single bet, there are no limits on the amount of money they’d like to wager, and they can trade in and out of positions on tight margin. Additionally, users can make offers on outcomes at their desired prices, similar to financial exchanges.
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12.??Online Gambling Quarterly: DraftKings best performing gambling stock in Q1
Once a quarter, the Online Gambling Quarterly provides an overview of the best-performing shares of online gambling operators and service providers.
The biggest leap among the analysed “pure” online gambling companies was taken by US giant DraftKings, with an increase of +75% over the past three months
The average share price in the industry saw an increase of +10% in Q1 2023. Below are the key results of the analyses. More insights are available here.
Winner: The biggest leap in the sample of online gambling-focused companies was taken by DraftKings with an increase of +75% over the past three months; followed by Catena Media (+58%). Interestingly, DraftKings and Catena Media were the two worst-performing company stocks last quarter.
Loser: 888 and PointsBet had the worst three-month performance in the analysis, with decreases of -41% and -19% as previously discussed by iGaming NEXT.
#Legal & Regulation:
13.??Albania proposes AML stringent law to end gambling prohibition
Albania is making progress on ending its five-year prohibition on sports betting and gambling as a ‘draft law’ is placed under review by the government of the Balkans nation.
Since 2018, Albania has outlawed gambling except within state-sanctioned casinos. However, at the close of 2022, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that the prohibition would be lifted as its measures had failed to reduce organised crime.
Composed by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Draft Law aims to establish a?regulated online gambling marketplace to be serviced by licensed businesses adhering to stringent AML and customer compliance requirements.
As such the Draft Law recommends that operators be limited to accepting only digital payments via ‘authorised agents’, registering players, and keeping their personal data for a minimum of three years.
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14.??Paf lowers mandatory loss limit
The Nordic gaming company Paf has once again chosen to lower the mandatory loss limit. At the same time, Paf is introducing a new loss limit for young people aged 18–19. The measures are estimated to cost about 7 million euros annually. The loss limit for the youngest customers at Paf will be lowered from the current 10,000 euros to 1,800 euros per year, an 82% reduction. The reduction applies to all customers aged 18–19.
Paf is lowering the annual mandatory loss limit from 20,000 euros to 17,500 euros, which means that no customer can lose more than that maximum limit on Paf’s online games. The loss limit will apply to all game categories and all gaming sites owned by Paf.
“Paf is making its biggest investment in responsible gaming ever. We are adjusting a number of different limits and the overall impact of our measures will make a noticeable difference in our numbers and customer segments,” says Christer Fahlstedt, CEO.
15.??iGameMedia and THEO Technologies partner to launch ultra low latency streaming solution with Bet365
iGameMedia, the leading sports broadcaster with an extensive history in B2B ultra-low latency, is proud to announce a new multi-year partnership with THEO Technologies to deliver ultra-low latency sports streaming to the sportsbook market as standard, phasing out HLS.
iGameMedia, together with THEO Technologies, will launch its new solution in May 2023, going live exclusively on the world’s largest sports betting site, bet365, along with Rights agency partner Infront Bettor, delivering its entire content portfolio in ultra-low latency as standard across the iGame One Platform. The platform is a single API that is integrated with all leading Sports Rights holders which maps multiple vendor event IDs into one singular ID in One integration.
Until now, the industry standard for sports streaming latency has averaged between seven to eight seconds using HLS in the last ten years – with pricing data feeds moving markets in 1-2 seconds, the usefulness of the video relative to the markets has diminished.