This Week's Sports Betting Update
Spotlight Sports Group
Evolved from the Racing Post, we deliver distinctive sports betting experiences
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 sees net gaming revenues rise 12% year-on-year in 2022
Entain, the parent company of Ladbrokes and Coral, posted a 12% year-on-year increase in net gaming revenue (NGR) for its full 2022 trading year. The firm cited the men’s football World Cup and an expansion within its retail arm as its key drivers.
Entain said it had “seen a record number of customers in the final three months of 2022”, which was an increase of 14% year-on-year.
As for retail, NGR was up 66% year-on-year, across its operations in the UK, Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Croatia. Its bullish trading update also suggested the group's NGR in 2023 was likely to be up on the previous year, but no firm figures were disclosed.
Entain’s online NGR was only down 1% year-on-year in 2022, which was viewed as a win by the company given the result of regulatory tweaks in the British and German markets.
?Click here to delve deeper into Entain’s trading figures, including its joint US-based venture with MGM Resorts International, BetMGM.
What you need to know
Commercial
Regulation
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has confirmed a 14% year-on-year rise in alerts for suspicious sports betting worldwide. In 2022, 268 alerts were raised, up from the average of 230 alerts raised between 2019 and 2021. The IBIA says this rise could be due to the growth of its monitoring network. In addition, the IBIA stated 15 professional teams, players or officials were hit with sporting or criminal sanctions after being suspected of suspicious betting activity. More
Technology
Multi-national sportsbooks have an added layer of complexity when it comes to providing premium-quality live streams for customers. That’s the view of nanocosmos’s CEO, Oliver Lietz, who says operators must focus on device and delivery first and foremost. Live streaming interfaces should be fully responsive and reliable to support in-play bettors. Similarly, the delivery of live streams must also be flexible to deal with the variety of internet speeds, spanning 3G to 5G. More
People news
Sportradar welcomes Severine Riviere as its new chief people officer
Sportradar has confirmed the appointment of Severine Riviere as its new chief people officer. Riviere, who has 20 years of expertise in global HR management and business culture, will be given full oversight of the company’s HR strategy, spanning workplace culture through to talent management.
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Carsten Koerl, CEO of Sportradar, said Riviere’s passion will take the company’s people services division to greater heights, as it embarks on a journey to “reimagine the way the world experiences sport”.
Click here to get the thoughts of Riviere on her move, as well as a recap on Sportradar’s latest financial trading update.
This week's talking point
BGC opposes the implementation of a statutory problem gambling levy
Although affordability checks have been front and centre of discussions in the UK iGaming industry of late, statutory levies were another talking point at the Betting and Gaming Council’s (BGC) annual meeting.
Problem gambling campaigners have demanded a statutory levy be applied to operators, raising funds for research, education and treatment. It’s still up in the air whether ministers have included a statutory problem gambling levy in the long-awaited gambling review white paper.
Brigid Simmonds, chair of the BGC, said at the meeting that any such levy wouldn’t drive additional funds but would instead dismantle the voluntary-funded charity sector that’s been tackling problem gambling for the last two decades.
Click here to get the thoughts of the BGC’s chief executive, Michael Dugher, on the right way to improve RET funding throughout the UK gambling industry.
This week's insight
Why sportsbooks need to put themselves on the side of bettors in the cost-of-living crisis
Charles Cohen, founder and CEO of DoTrust, says the volatile economic climate makes it essential for gambling operators to support customers with their budgeting and spending. Although the last recession of 2008/09 saw gambling revenues surge 50% between 2008 and 2015, rising living costs and declining real incomes are unlikely to push people towards gambling this time around.
With many UK operators reporting falling revenues and profits, it’s clear that bettors may already be cutting back on their wagering. DoTrust, which developed a self-help tool to encourage individuals to manage their gambling budgeting, is finding that those punters who do struggle to manage their spending find it hard to keep track of their betting.
Cohen says he fears the gambling industry could magnify the consequences of the cost-of-living crisis rather than create it. Cohen says operators should be proactive in their interventions to coax and encourage customers to keep track of their spending in the current climate.
Click here to get the full interview with Cohen on the need for constructive dialogue between operators and bettors as the cost-of-living crisis bites.
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