Sports betting – Page 23

July 30, 2024

Caesars’ Big Brazil and Sportingbet apply for Brazil licences

Sportingbet and Caesars Sportsbook’s Big Brazil have submitted their licence applications in Brazil, becoming the fourth and fifth operators to do so.
Sportingbet applied for a Brazil sports betting and igaming licence on Thursday (25 July). The following day, Caesars Sportsbook’s licensee Big Brazil joined Sportingbet, Betano, Superbet and Rei do Pitaco in submitting its application.

In applying during the initial 90-day window of preference, Sportingbet and Big Brazil have ensured their applications will be prioritised by the ministry of finance’s Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA).

The SPA guarantees that operators who submit their applications by the 20 August deadline will have their applications processed by 1 January 2025, the anticipated launch date of the legal market.

Licences will last for five years and will cost BRL30m (£4.6m/€5.4m/$5.9m) in fees. Those who receive a licence will be able to offer gambling via three skins. Meanwhile, operators who fail to secure a lice..

July 30, 2024

Insider who tried to wager $100,000 on Alabama baseball sentenced

The Indiana businessman who attempted to wager $100,000 on an Alabama-LSU college baseball game last year was sentenced on Monday (28 July) to eight months in prison and three and a half years of supervised probation.
Bert Neff, who received a text from former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohanan saying that Alabama had pulled its starting pitcher, walked into an MGM casino in Ohio on 28 April 2023 and attempted to place a $100,000 bet based on the information.

MGM employees refused the bet, but allowed Neff to lay down $15,000 on LSU to win. The attempt to wager $100,000 and the ensuing $15,000 bet were considered suspicious by MGM employees. The bets were quickly flagged and, within days, markets on LSU-Alabama baseball were suspended. Within a week, Bohanan was fired.

Bohanan has not been charged. But the NCAA sanctioned him for 15 years.

Neff, whose son played baseball at Cincinnati when the bet was placed, wasn’t charged for wagering with inside information. Federal authorit..

July 29, 2024

Weekend Report: Kayshon Boutte’s “dumb decision” and Betway partner Man City

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB covers the news you may have missed over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This week we’ve got news of Betway partnering with Premier League champions Manchester City, a bill to restrict online gambling advertising in New York and more.
NFL’s Kayshon Boutte glad to be back
New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte spoke of his delight at being back to playing football after charges against him for gambling were dropped earlier this month.

Boutte was arrested in January over accusations he had placed over 8,900 bets while under the legal gambling age of 21 in his native Louisiana. However, the Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division dropped those charges in July.

Speaking to reporters after the fourth day of Patriots’ training camp, Boutte labelled his actions as a “dumb decision”. He also said he was glad to be focusing on football again, admitting he needs to “stay away” from gambling.

Betway becomes global betting partner of ..

July 29, 2024

France records 24% increase in H1 bets despite underwhelming Euros

Sports betting in France grew 24% as €5bn (£4.2bn/$5.4bn) was wagered on sports in the country during the first half of 2024, according to new data from the l'Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ).
France took €5.2bn in bets during H1, marking a 24% year-on-year increase, while gross gaming revenue (GGR) rose by 16% when compared to the same period of 2023, reaching €871m.

Online continues to flourish in France, with the online market up 10% year-on-year over H1 and accounting for over €1.3bn in GGR. Online active player accounts (APAs) were up 13% compared to H1 2023, powered by a particularly strong month of June, which included the early stages of Euro 2024. There were over two million APAs in June, up from 1.25 million in the same month last year.

Despite growth across active players and the increased betting amount in the period, the amount bet on the Euros fell short of the ANJ’s €1bn expectations, coming in at €650m. In France, the 2022 tournament generated €900m in total s..

July 29, 2024

Investment year paying off for BetMGM as H1 NGR hits $1bn

With revenue reaching $1bn in the first half of 2024, BetMGM expects growth to accelerate in H2, underpinned by Angstrom’s product capabilities and leveraging its omnichannel opportunities through MGM Resorts.
In a trading update published today (29 July), BetMGM chief executive Adam Greenblatt described 2024 as an investment year, focused on improving customer acquisition and enhancing player experiences.

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, iconic quarterback Tom Brady and Hollywood star Vince Vaughn starred in BetMGM’s Super Bowl commercial
Net gaming revenue (NGR) for the six months to 30 June grew 6% year-on-year. Despite no new state launches revenue grew 9% year-on-year in Q2, following a slower first quarter.

This showed the strategy of investing in players gain momentum, Greenblatt said, with BetMGM exceeding its acquisition and retention targets for the six-month period. This was helped by a successful Super Bowl campaign featuring Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky and Vince Vaughn and a ..

July 29, 2024

Pagcor dismisses fake memo ordering imminent POGO closures

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) has dimissed a fake memo for local government units to immediately terminate the operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).
Picked up by Pagcor, the fake memo states all POGOs must be shut down by the first week of August. The memo features Pagcor logos and was fraudulently signed by Jessa Mariz Fernandez, head of the regulator’s offshore gaming licensing department.

The memo refers to Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr announcing the decision to ban all POGOs during his State of the Nation address on 22 July. During the address, he said all POGOs should close by the end of the year.

On Saturday (27 July) Pagcor dismissed the memo in a statement that said it was a forged version of an earlier memorandum issued by Pagcor on 23 July.

The genuine memo did not give a definitive date for POGO closures. It instead said closures were “pending finalisation of the details and process of winding down”, adding tha..

July 26, 2024

State of the Union: Texas exploratory group, a look at online gambling support in Addabbo’s district

Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.
Texas group to “explore” legal gambling
A group of North Texas business and community leaders formed a coalition to explore legalising casinos in the state. Former Dallas Mavericks majority shareholder Mark Cuban sold a portion of his shares to two families associated with Las Vegas Sands earlier this year. Should gambling be legalised, the entity plans to build a casino resort in Dallas.

The North Texas Commission “will study the implications of destination gaming and make recommendations regarding issues like economic development, workforce demands, infrastructure requirements, transportation and public safety impacts,” the Dallas Business Journal reported on Wednesday (24 July).

The commission was formed ahead of the 2025 legislative session, when lawmakers are expected to again consider the issue. Las Veg..

July 26, 2024

Active players double as Ontario online gambling revenue grows by a third in Q1

The number of active player accounts in Ontario doubled in the first quarter of the province’s 2024-25 fiscal year, as revenue from sports betting and online casino grew 34.4% year-over-year.
iGaming Ontario’s Q1 report shows a 31.4% in amounts wagered across all verticals to CA$18.4bn (£10.4bn/€12.3bn/US$13.3bn) in the three months ended 30 June. This also represents a 3.4% improvement on Q4.

This was underpinned by more players coming into the market. Active player accounts more than doubled to 1.9 million in the quarter, with 50 operators running 80 sites. This beats Q1 2023-24 by 106.5% and represents a 46.2% on the preceding quarter. Ontario’s average monthly spend per active player account also increased markedly by 44.2% year-on-year to $284.

After winnings and adjustments from promotional spend by licensees, revenue for the quarter increased 34.4% year-on-year to $726m.

To iGaming Ontario executive director Martha Otton, this shows the success of the province’s regulated on..

July 25, 2024

Arizona reports yearly sports betting revenue and handle growth in May

Sports betting revenue and handle in Arizona increased year-on-year during May as FanDuel remained the state’s leading operator by some distance.
Total spending on sports betting in May hit $568.5m (£441.3m/€523.8m), according to the Arizona Department of Gaming report. This is 25.9% more than in the state in May 2023, but 13.4% behind April’s total this year.

Of all wagers placed in Arizona, $563.2m was bet online and $4.1m with retail sportsbooks. The remaining $1.2m was wagered through limited event wagering operators during May.

Players won a total of $506.0m from sports betting in May, resulting in $61.1m adjusted gross receipts (AGR) prior to promotional deductions. This figure is 25.7% higher than last year and only marginally behind $63.3m in April despite the lower handle.

After accounting for $17.2m in free-bet and promotional deductions, AGR amounted to $43.2m. This amended figure is 27.4% ahead of last year and 0.5% behind April.

May’s $42.7m AGR came from online bet..

July 24, 2024

Study: Lower-income gamblers take more risks online

A study of more than 700,000 North American online gamblers released on Tuesday (23 July) reveals that 96% of respondents lose money and that lower-income gamblers are more “irresponsible” with their gambling spending than higher-income gamblers.
Researchers at UC-San Diego’s Rand School of Management took a comprehensive look into gambling habits and how legal online betting affects jurisdictions and individuals. States with legal online gambling get increased revenue and more money to funnel to problem gambling initiatives, per the study. And a legal market helps to limit illegal wagering.

But for consumers, gambling is a money-losing proposition with potentially life-changing consequences. And online casino, researchers wrote, caused more “irresponsible” behaviour than online sports betting.

“On the downside, increased accessibility and participation can lead to higher rates of problematic gambling behaviour,” the authors wrote.

Tracking online gambling spending habits
In part..

July 24, 2024

Igaming dashboard powered by H2

iGB’s principal data partner H2 Gambling Capital provides headline metrics on the global igaming market, with forecasts now extended to 2029.

July 24, 2024

Q2 revenue ticks up for Kambi as Nylén signs off as CEO

Revenue was up 6.5% year-on-year for Kambi in the second quarter of 2024, while the sportsbook specialist kept costs down to improve its EBITDA margin. The latest financial update also marks the end of Kristian Nylén’s tenure as CEO, with Werner Becher waiting in the wings.
Revenue for the three months to 30 June at Kambi hit €45.7m (£38.5m/$49.6m), up from Q2 last year, and an improvement on Q1 this year when revenue declined marginally.

Outgoing CEO Nylén put this increase down to a busy sports calendar, with strong performances from existing partners complemented by new launches.

Wagers placed via Kambi-powered operators increased 3.1% during the quarter, although excluding the impact of Penn Entertainment migrating to its proprietary platform, turnover would have been up 20%.

Penn has been paying Kambi transition fees after completing its migration for its ESPN Bet, theScore and Hollywood Casino brands. The operator will stop paying those fees this month, meaning Kambi is forec..

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Tag: Sports betting