This Week's Sports Betting Update

Hello, this week's edition of our newsletter is sponsored by ICE 2024, which returns to ExCel London February 6-8, 2024. Grab a coffee, take five minutes and we’ll fill you in on everything you need to know from this week.

One big story?

Seminole Tribe relaunches mobile sports betting in Florida

Florida has seen mobile sports betting resume after the Seminole Tribe relaunched its services through the Hard Rock Bet app.

Early access has already been given to citizens who held previous mobile sportsbook accounts with the tribe, as well as members of the Unity by Hard Rock loyalty program.

The relaunch is a matter of days after the tribe confirmed it would be restoring sports betting services in December, along with roulette and craps table games in six of its land-based casinos.

The Seminole Tribe had previously launched Hard Rock Bet in Florida back in 2021 after Governor Ron DeSantis gave the green light to a new gaming compact.

However, the District of Columbia ruled the compact violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which saw things grind to a halt by the end of that year.

Learn more about the Seminole Tribe’s long-running battle to bring regulated sports betting to the Sunshine State.

What you need to know

Commercial

• ???? Spreadex has acquired one of its main spread betting competitors, Sporting Index. A spokesperson for Spreadex confirmed the deal, with France-based gambling organisation Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) happy to offload the Sporting Index brand. Sporting Index has changed hands multiple times since launching in 1992, but the terms of their latest sale remain tight-lipped. More
• ???? Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has forked out €35 million to acquire iGaming affiliate KaFe Rocks. With GiG keen to cement its position as a market leader in North America, the acquisition of KaFe Rocks’ affiliate assets should drive further growth for the wider group. The deal includes US-facing brands USCasino.com and Time2Play.com. More
• ?? Better Collective has purchased Playmaker Capital, firmly establishing its position in the South American market. The €176m purchase is expected to close in Q1 2024, with its sports media assets moving under the Better Collective umbrella. These include Yardbarker, Futbolsites.net and The Nation Network. More
• ?? American mutual fund Dodge & Cox has become Entain’s second-largest single shareholder after increasing its stake in the iGaming behemoth to over 10% from 5%. Only the Capital Group Companies hold more shares than Dodge & Cox with 15%. It’s been a substantial investment play by the San Francisco-based fund, given that it first invested in Entain just over 12 months ago. More

Regulation

Six leading affiliate companies with US-based brands have established the Responsible Gambling Affiliate Association. The organisation has been founded by Better Collective, Catena Media, Gambling.com Group, Oddschecker Global Media, Spotlight Sports Group, and XLMedia to to regulate and advocate for the industry in the US. More

Technology

Credit card transactions could be no more in Sweden’s iGaming industry if its regulator, Spelinspektionen, has its own way. The regulator’s director-general, Camilla Rosenberg, believes the country should follow the lead of the British and Norwegian iGaming markets in banning the use of credit cards for gambling. More

People news

Martin Graham Arthur named director of product operations at Hard Rock Digital

Martin Graham Arthur has been appointed director of product operations at Hard Rock Digital, the iGaming and sports betting subsidiary of Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming.

Arthur formally started his new role in October, but only recently announced his job switch on his LinkedIn profile. Arthur moves from Flutter International, the global subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment, where he worked as vice-president of its US-based product and programme management.

Arthur also served as an associate director for product and programme management of sports at The Stars Group prior to its buyout by Flutter.

Click here to get Arthur's thoughts on his new challenge with a brand that’s live in well-established US iGaming markets, namely New Jersey, Arizona and will soon be in Florida.

This week's talking point

Three key takeaways from Entain’s latest strategy update

Entain’s senior management recently presented an update to its corporate strategy, with the parent company of Coral and Ladbrokes keen to shrug off a challenging 2023 and look forward with renewed optimism into 2024 and beyond.

Chief financial officer Rob Wood acknowledged the significant regulatory transformation occurring in multiple gambling markets, not least the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Australia.

Wood admitted the impact of increasing regulation hasn’t yet dampened down, but a level playing field should be found by the end of 2024.

Entain’s joint venture with MGM Resorts International, BetMGM, continues to go from strength to strength. CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen insists growing BetMGM’s US market share remains a top priority.

The firm also intimated its spate of company acquisitions could be over for the time being, instead focusing on its capital and delivering organic growth.

Read more insights from Nygaard-Andersen and co. on the trajectory for Entain in the next 12 months.

This week's insight

How the BHA aims to breathe new life into betting on UK horseracing

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has made a host of alterations to its fixture list for the 2024 British horseracing calendar in a bid to halt the decline in betting on UK-based races.

To ensure that the success or failure of these adjustments will not be based solely on the benchmarks, there will be a wide-ranging series of quantitative and qualitative measures through 2024.

Earlier this week, the BHA set out a dozen key performance indicators (KPIs) to judge the success of the changes, which included increasing the total betting turnover on the 33 Saturdays with only three fixtures in the new, protected, 2pm to 4pm window outperforming the remaining 19 Saturdays by six to seven per cent.

There is also a KPI focused on reversing the fall in attendance and raising the figure by as much as ten per cent by the end of 2025 at Premier meetings.

Learn more about the BHA’s vision for the future of UK horseracing and the other KPIs they have created to track the success of their adjustments.

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