This Week's Sports Betting Update

One big story?

Caesars Digital reaches EBITDA-positive territory in Q2 2023

Caesars Entertainment has revealed its first positive adjusted EBITDA in Q2 2023 since the rebrand to Caesars Sportsbook two years ago.

Caesars Entertainment spent ￡2.9 billion in acquiring William Hill in the summer of 2021 and within months rebranded to Caesars Sportsbook, with a rollout of retail and online sports betting in 20 US states.

Despite growing its reach with William Hill’s assets, Q2 2023 was the first time EBITDA turned positive, hitting ￡15 million, with bold plans to post a digital EBITDA of ￡395m in the next two years.

Click here to hear from Eric Hession, president of Caesars Sports and Online Gaming, on the milestone and the firm’s quartet of underlying tech improvements which will sustain the growth of Caesars Sportsbook.

Can't miss webinar

Customizing the user experience: Making your platform stand out to sports bettors and sports fans for the NFL season

The NFL season is quickly approaching and the importance of the season for companies within the sports betting and fantasy sports industry cannot be understated.

Our SVP of B2B Operations, Ed Bunnell, and Eliot Crist, the CEO of Matthew Berry's Fantasy Life, recently connected and discussed unique ways in which companies can engage their audiences. Sports Illustrated's Fantasy and Senior Betting Analyst Jennifer Piacenti moderated the discussion and asked the hard-hitting questions.

Click here to watch the webinar on-demand and learn the importance of creating a custom experience for your audience.

What you need to know

Commercial

• ???? Fox Bet, the joint sportsbook venture between Fox Corporation and Flutter Entertainment, is to cease trading from 31 August 2023. A phased closure was announced on 31 July 2023. The venture has been far from plain sailing, with a string of issues between both sides, including an arbitration suit issued by Fox against Flutter over Fox’s option to invest in Flutter-owned FanDuel. More
• ???? Unibet has agreed to sponsor Racing Post’s ‘Morning Dash’ preview shows during this year’s Qatar Goodwood Festival. As part of the arrangement, Unibet will be releasing special offers and odds boosts for selected races across the festival. More
• ?? 888Africa has acquired BetLion to facilitate its African sports betting expansion. The sportsbook has been purchased from BVGroup, as 888Africa seeks to increase its exposure in the East African region. BetLion offers mobile-first sports betting and iGaming, powered by FSB’s underlying sportsbook solution. More
• ???? Barcelona has been named as Clarion Gaming’s new host city for ICE and iGB Affiliate from 2025. After a lengthy six-month bidding process, Barcelona was hand-picked over Madrid, Paris and the existing home of ICE, London. ICE will depart ExCeL London and move to the 240,000 sq. metre Fira de Barcelona for a minimum of five years. More

Regulation

Gamstop has revealed a 12% year-on-year rise in new registrations to its self-exclusion scheme through H1 2023. Over 48,000 users signed up to Gamstop, with the scheme banning them from all iGaming and sports betting websites licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). More than a fifth (21%) of new registrations were from users aged between 16 and 24. More

Technology

BetConstruct’s Bahamut platform, which allows users to access a diverse library of iGaming titles to play using its native cryptocurrency, completed a token swap between xFTN to FTN. xFTN tokens were acquired at presale stage and have since been swapped for FTN tokens on the Fastex exchange. More

People news

NeoGames appoints Robert Wesley as vice-president of North American customer development

NeoGames has confirmed the appointment of Robert Wesley to oversee its North American customer development. Wesley’s remit will be to work closely with US and Canadian lotteries to support their digital services.

Wesley, who has more than a quarter of a century of experience working for the Virginia Lottery, led a 23% rise in lottery sales in 2022.

Click here to get the thoughts of Wesley and NeoGames’ CEO, Moti Malul, on this hire, as well as its prospective buyout by Aristocrat Leisure.

This week's talking point

How to respond to the UKGC’s consultation on affordability checks

Last week, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) launched a 12-week consultation into the prospect of financial risk checks across the UK gambling industry.

Within these proposals, the government is suggesting a two-tier process for affordability checks. The first would be an unintrusive check after a ￡125 net loss over a 30-day period for bettors, or ￡500 in a rolling 365-day period.

The second would be after a ￡1,000 net loss within a rolling 24-hour period, or ￡2,000 within a 90-day period.

The UKGC is asking executives within the UK gambling industry and anyone else with an interest in providing their opinion, to respond to the consultation and provide feedback.

Click here for our step-by-step guide to completing the UKGC’s online survey on affordability checks.

This week's insight

Why the green light for sports betting in Brazil could light the industry’s blue touch paper

When Brazilian president Lula da Silva signed provisional measure No.1182 into law, launching regulated sports betting in Brazil, it’s no surprise that many operators rushed to a market which has a potential to be worth upwards of ￡790 million.

According to Jhuana Lamas, business development manager in Brazil for sportsbook platform provider Sportingtech, suppliers have been working hard to keep a keen eye on regulatory developments to hit the ground running when the green light comes in H2 2023.

Lamas believes the general sentiment within the Brazilian market is buoyant. That’s despite moderate tweaks to the government’s legislation, including a rise from 16% to 18% on taxes for gambling revenues. Licence fees are also expected to rise to ￡4.94m per operator, which are also available to overseas operators looking to enter the Brazilian market.

Click here to learn more from Lamas about the factors which could foster a thriving sports betting market in Brazil.

The BetTech Ecosystem 2023

Investigating the global landscape of sports betting and iGaming suppliers

The BetTech Ecosystem Report provides key insight into the global market of suppliers for sports betting and iGaming operators. Meanwhile, the visual offers an overarching view of the key suppliers across the 42 subsections that make up the BetTech Ecosystem.

Click here to read the BetTech Ecosystem Report.

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