Betting News – Page 203

August 1, 2022

Holding back the tide

René Jansen, chair of Dutch regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), speaks to Daniel O’Boyle about the challenges involved in fighting on two fronts since the country launched its regulated online gambling market. On one hand he’s keeping the unlicensed market at bay, on the other he’s working to ensure the licensed sector moderates its advertising

After eight years of anticipation, it could have been difficult for the launch of the Netherlands’ online gambling market to fulfil expectations.

For Jansen, chair of regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the launch did indeed live up to what he anticipated.

“It’s been a success in several aspects,” he says.

But going as expected is only a good thing if the predictions are optimistic. And it’s hard to miss the fact that one aspect of the market launch went exactly as Jansen predicted, in exactly the wrong way.

Advertising turmoil

In May 2021, the KSA chair warned of an advertising “bombardment” when the legal market opened.

Looking at..

August 1, 2022

AGTech secures further terminal tenders in China

Beijing AGTech GOT Technology, the Chinese arm of lottery solutions platform AGTech Holdings, has secured a series of tenders to provide more sports lottery terminals across the country.

AGTech GOT will supply terminals in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, as well as in the Yunnan, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Hainan and Hubei provinces.

The latest tender wins expand AGTech GOT’s presence in the Chinese sports lottery terminal market, with the business having in place a wide range of similar deals.

These included agreements signed in January this year to supply technology and services in the Gansu, Zhejiang, Henan, Hebei and Jiangsu provinces, as well as the Shanghai and Tianjin municipalities.

“AGTech GOT has won many tenders in various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China, which reaffirmed the hardware division’s continued dedication to and leading position in China’s sports lottery terminal marke..

August 1, 2022

Tab NZ misses June revenue and turnover budgets

New Zealand’s Tab NZ fell short of both revenue and turnover budgets in June as a result of ongoing “softening economic conditions” in the country as consumers continued to adjust to the rising cost of living.

Wagering turnover for the month reached NZ$197.3m (£102.0m/€121.5m/US$124.2m), which was 3.9% or $8.1m below budget.

Net profit amounted to $11.0m, some $1.7m below a budget of $12.7m, with betting profit $1.5m under budget at $9.3m and gaming profit also $200,000 off budget at $1.7m.

However, Tab NZ did note that operating expenses for the month were $200,000 below an initial budget of $10.0m, amounting to $9.6m, while code distributions and other payments were $100,000 above budget at $13.2m.

Analysing its monthly performance, Tab NZ said the primary reason for it missing budgets was due to consumers not spending as much as initially anticipated amid the rising cost of living in New Zealand.

Retail and hospitality was able to operate without capacity restrictions despite t..

July 29, 2022

Entain takes 1.5 million online bets on Women’s Euro 2022

Entain revealed it has processed 1.5 million online bets on the Women’s Euro 2022 national football team competition, with 14% of these wagers being placed by female customers.

Of the bets placed across Entain’s brands, 46% have been from punters in the UK, ahead of 22% by German customers and 16% Brazil.

In the UK specifically, Ladbrokes and Coral have experienced a five-fold increase in the total number of bets placed on the tournament, up to and including the semi-final, compared to the Women’s Euro 2017. Entain also noted a six-fold increase in bets placed by women.

Almost 60% of outright bets from the UK have been on host England to win the tournament, with this figure being the same for outright bets from Germany.

England will face Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium on 31 July, with 72% of bets placed with Ladbrokes Digital UK being for England to win the match in 90 minutes.

Entain said the increase in betting rates on the Women’s Euro 2022 comes amid an increase in wa..

July 29, 2022

Churchill Downs considers turning TwinSpires into B2B product

US gaming business Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has announced plans for its online betting platform TwinSpires to offer B2B support for sportsbooks wishing to add a horse racing vertical, following the Q1 announcement that CDI would be exiting the online sports betting and casino businesses.

CDI chief executive officer William Carstanjen made the announcement in the company’s Q2 earnings call to investors where he outlined the TwinSpires B2B horse racing strategy.

“We intend to be a leading distributor of horse racing content, either directly to convert to customers of TwinSpires or under a B2B model that enables the online distribution of horse racing content to millions of new customers who have opened online sports wagering accounts.”

Carstanjen pointed to the retail horse racing operator’s extensive institutional knowledge of pari-mutuel wagering as a key USP for the business:

“Given our expertise and extensive knowledge of pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing, we have th..

July 29, 2022

iGB op-ed: the Premier League should jump before it’s pushed

iGB op-ed: Zak Thomas-Akoo argues that the Premier League should make concessions now on gambling shirt sponsorship deals, rather than being forced into it.

This Tuesday, the barons of English football met in an undisclosed location for one of their once-in-a-while shareholders meetings – which according to reports included some rather striking ideas for “a new deal for football”.

Apparently this is some sort of grand bargain between the Premier and lower leagues, as well as more importantly a big old bash at new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s house.

Great stuff, but wasn’t there supposed to be something in there about a voluntary betting shirt sponsorship ban? Last week, it was reported that there was enough support for such a ban, subject to a transition period and certain conditions, to pass the necessary 14-vote threshold.

Kicking the can down the road

While the machinations of the big clubs are a bit of a black box, it’s probably the case that, as speculated in the press, the c..

July 28, 2022

Flutter to lay off staff in UK and Ireland

Betting and gaming giant Flutter will make a number of redundancies in the UK and Ireland, following an internal review.

The business, which operates brands including Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet in the region, did not provide details of how many redundancies there would be or which roles would be affected.

However, a spokesperson did say that it expects the majority of those whose roles are eliminated to find new positions with Flutter. As a result, there would be only a “small number” of job losses.

“These proposed changes reflect the next phase of our integration, as we look to consolidate parallel operating models and position the business to continue growing against a more challenging operating environment,” the spokesperson said.

“While we have sought to minimise the impact this will have on our colleagues, with most employees affected being redeployed into alternative or newly created roles, the proposals may lead to a small number of job losses.

“We are communicatin..

July 28, 2022

German state of Bremen shuts down all bookmakers amid AML concerns

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen – the smallest state in Germany – has announced a full closure of all bookmakers following a statewide investigation into money laundering.

The announcement affects the four operators that offer retail betting services in Bremen – Tipico, HappyBet, Tipwin and XTiP – which between them operate 32 betting shops.

A total of 24 of the operators’ franchises were “tolerated” in the state before the shutdown came into effect, according to a statement on Bremen’s state website, but were awaiting full approval.

Now, however, Bremen has issued rejection letters to all 32 betting shops after the four operators were unable to prove where their funds originated from, leading to concerns about money laundering.

Once the rejection notices were issued, it became illegal to bet in any of the bookmakers in Bremen.

The announcement came from the Bremen Landtag, after Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer conducted a press conference explaining the closures.

“Basically, it..

July 28, 2022

Bet-at-home announces layoffs as it abandons in-house platform

Bet-at-home will replace its existing proprietary platform with the EveryMatrix tech stack, while the Germany-based operator also announced up to 45 job losses as a result of the outsourcing.

The EveryMatrix solution will include a sportsbook, casino platform, player management, payments module and affiliate software, with the deal to cover all the markets in which Bet-at-home is currently present.

“Selecting EveryMatrix as our platform provider will further allow us to keep providing the best service to our 5.5 million registered players while enhancing our operations in key markets,” Bet-at-home chief executive Marco Falchetto said.

“This partnership will boost not only sports, but also casino. With this partnership, a new and exciting phase of bet-at-home development can begin.”

EveryMatrix group chief executive Ebbe Groes added: “Bet-at-home has dominated the sports betting vertical in several European markets and we’re delighted to further contribute to their success.

“This..