This Week's Sports Betting Update

Hello, we’ve taken a look at what’s new, trending and being talked about in the sports betting world this week. Grab a coffee, take five minutes and we’ll fill you in on everything you need to know.

One big story?

Entain enters Dutch market with BetCity acquisition

Entain has secured a route into the newly regulated Dutch iGaming market following its acquisition of Dutch operator BetEnt, trading under the name of BetCity. Entain has agreed on a deal worth €300m in cash, which includes a deferred contingent consideration worth up to €550m.

BetCity obtained an iGaming and online sports betting licence from the Netherlands’ gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) last October and launched in the same month.

Entain believes BetCity’s services will be complementary to its existing Party and Bwin brands, both of which are awaiting KSA licences to serve the Dutch market.

Click here to get the thoughts of Entain chief executive, Jette Nygaard-Andersen, on the BetCity buyout and the opportunities it presents.

What you need to know

Commercial

• ???? PokerStars and Casumo are the latest operators to become licensees in the regulated Ontario iGaming market. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) approved their licences to be effective from June 8, 2022. More
• ???? Spotlight Sports Group took home the In-Play Betting Software award at the recent EGR B2B Awards 2022. Spotlight’s Superfeed In-play product, which provides state-of-the-art in-play sports betting content and analysis, bagged its first industry award since its launch in 2021. More
• ???? Lachlan Murdoch’s News Corp and digital betting pioneer Matthew Tripp have had an AUD 220m offer for the Australian division of PointsBet rebuffed by the bookmaker’s board. News Corp is looking to launch its own sports betting platform in 2022, and its speculative move for PointsBet was seemingly an attempt to acquire a ready-made portal. More
• ?? Allwyn has posted rapid growth in Q1 2022. The firm’s CEO, Robert Chvatal, noted persisting inflationary pressures but that the firm had safely negotiated this challenge in recent months. Its gross gaming revenue was up 65% year-on-year to €869m. More

Regulation

The Indian government is taking steps to limit the number of online betting advertisements to its citizens. An advisory statement was published to print and digital media, asking them to refrain from publishing ads on behalf of online betting brands. The ads, the statement noted, were promoting an activity that was prohibited in most circumstances. More

Technology

Self-exclusion iGaming software provider BetBlocker has teamed up with DraftKings in a new responsible gambling collaboration. DraftKings is endeavouring to raise awareness of the BetBlocker technology, which enables bettors to anonymously set restrictions on their iGaming activities across their devices. More

People news

888AFRICA extends its senior team with new VP of performance marketing

888 Holdings’ bold iGaming venture into Africa, 888AFRICA, continues to gather momentum with a further addition to its senior team. Sorin Nichita arrives as vice president of performance marketing for the new brand.

Nichita arrives from Goat Interactive, where 888AFRICA’s new CEO, Christopher Coyne, also served until earlier this year.

During his two-year spell at Goat Interactive, Nichita was Head of Online Marketing at the Malta-based firm, which supplied management and technology services to iGaming firms throughout Africa.

Click here to get the thoughts of Coyne and Nichita on the newest appointment.

This week's talking point

UK horseracing needs to get back to being a sport that entertains, says Racing Post's Lee Mottershead

Will British horseracing ever change? That’s the question asked by Racing Post’s Lee Mottershead during the week of Royal Ascot 2022.

Mottershead says that although Royal Ascot entertains the viewing audiences and punters with a competitive and compelling product, the fare that British racing serves up is too often inadequate.

With record-low field sizes, slashed race programmes and prize money, Mottershead believes the sport desperately needs a powerful organisation to take it forward. He adds that the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is the only option as the sport's gatekeeper.

Click here to learn why Mottershead believes racing must be treated first and foremost as a sport rather than an industry for it to be the best it can possibly be.

This week's insight

Hope abounds that new German regulator can reshape Germany’s iGaming market once and for all

Inbound regulator Glücksspielbeh?rde (GGL) is set to oversee the German iGaming landscape in the coming months. GGL will attempt to overhaul the iGaming market devised by the Fourth Interstate Treaty on Gambling regime.

Mathias Dahms, president of Deutscher Sportwettenverband (DSWV), said German iGaming stakeholders had suffered a tough transition phase, due largely to lawmakers' interventions and the general application of the laws.

Although Dahms accepts the limitations of the regime on a commercial level, he insists the German iGaming scene is in better shape because of the treaty.

Many stakeholders in Germany’s iGaming market accept it as a work in progress. Dahms says the arrival of GGL will give the sector a new and open learning authority that prevents the industry from becoming a closed shop.

Click here to see the value of the grey German iGaming market and what it could be worth when turned to white.

The global horseracing opportunity

Converting existing UK and Ireland racing bettors to international racing is critical for operators

Spotlight Sports Group has released a new white paper detailing the opportunity for operators in the UK and Irish markets to grow their horseracing revenue on a global scale.

The paper investigates the size of the horseracing industry, the importance of actionable betting content and the opportunity within horseracing on a day-to-day basis.?

Click here to download the free full white paper.?

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