Strategy – Bookielink

Weekend Report: Paddy Power customers turning to NFL betting, Evolution edges closer to Galaxy Gaming acquisition

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB looks at the news that you may have missed across Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This week: NFL popularity on the rise among Paddy Power customers, Evolutions moves closer to Galaxy Gaming acquisition and Victoria launches Gambling Harm Awareness Week.

NFL betting popularity on the rise with Paddy Power

First, Paddy Power has revealed increasing interest in NFL betting. American football is now the third most popular of all sports among customers in the UK and Ireland.

Data from the operator shows only football and horse racing have been more popular than the NFL in 2024. This is in contrast to 2021 when NFL ranked seventh in popularity, also behind golf, boxing, rugby union and darts.

In the past year, the NFL jumped from fifth to third on the most popular sports list at Paddy Power. The operator puts this down to several reasons including better coverage on television and an improved offering on its own sportsbook.

“Organic growth in NFL i..

3 days ago

LatAm Q3 results round-up: Brazil betting launch dominates discussions

With the majority of the gambling industry having published their Q3 results, iGB looks at how operators fared in the region and their plans for the future there.

Brazil will launch its legal betting market on 1 January 2025 and one operator that is hoping to make a real dent in the market is the giant Flutter Entertainment.

Back in September, Flutter announced it had agreed to acquire an initial 56% stake in NSX Group, which operates the Brazil-facing Betnacional brand. The deal is worth $350 million (£266.5 million/€316.0 million).

For the nine months ending 30 September, Flutter reported year-on-year revenue growth in Brazil of 4%. In its earnings call following the Q3 results release, CFO Rob Coldrake spoke of the operator’s excitement for the market opening.

“We’re very confident about our approach in Brazil,” Coldrake told reporters. “We’ve grown with our brands that we’ve got there already. We’re very excited about the NSX acquisition.”

The NSX acquisition will create a new..

November 6, 2024

Flashscore founder Livesport acquires Spain’s BeSoccer

Livesport, the Czech technology company behind Flashscore, has completed the acquisition of Spanish-facing football live scores, stats and news provider BeSoccer for an undisclosed amount.

BeSoccer will now join the wider Livesport, running alongside Flashscore, another live score provider. The strategic acquisition, Livesport said, will add approximately 25 million monthly users to its total user base.

The deal encompasses three business entities in BeSoccer, BeSoccer Pro and Resultados de Fútbol.

BeSoccer is the core brand, delivering football-only live scores brand in English, with over 100 million downloads worldwide. Resultados de Fútbol offers live scores in Spanish, while BeSoccer Pro is an additional service focusing on football data analysis.

Livesport said the triple addition will allow it to deliver more comprehensive coverage of football to fans around the world.

Historic acquisition for Livesport

Commenting on the deal, Livesport chairman Martin Hájek said the acquis..

October 23, 2024

BetMGM launches in Sweden as European expansion continues

LeoVegas has launched its BetMGM brand in Sweden, marking its third market launch outside North America.

BetMGM joins sister brands LeoVegas, GoGoCasino and the sports betting brand nya expekt in LeoVegas’ home market of Sweden.

The brand was initially developed for the US market via a joint venture between MGM Resorts and Entain. MGM snapped up LeoVegas in a $604 million deal in 2022 and subsequently bought Tipico’s US betting platform in June to support its entry into Brazil and bring LeoVegas’ sports betting tech in house.

LeoVegas CEO and founder Gustaf Hagman told iGB in September 2023 that MGM’s intention was to grow internationally in the digital space, with LeoVegas as the powerhouse.

Setting BetMGM live in the UK was its first point of call in September last year. This was followed by the Netherlands in April as the operator sought to replicate its initial success in the UK market elsewhere in Europe.

What BetMGM products are available in Sweden?

The same offering w..

October 23, 2024

What could the future hold for Kambi and OpenBet as platform consolidation slows?

In September a rumour that Genius Sports was eyeing a takeover of Kambi Group surfaced, resulting in both parties publicly dismissing the suggestion of ongoing talks. The chatter caused both share prices to dip briefly as the market considered what such a deal might look like.

One source at the time told iGB it wasn’t a good time for Kambi to get caught up in a buyout as it was navigating a transition period and ushering in new CEO Werner Becher. But analysts at Swedish investment bank ABG Sundal Collier have suggested that Kambi has been up for sale for a while.

When MGM announced on 24 June that it was acquiring Tipico’s US betting platform to help it move into Brazil and bring its LeoVegas European betting offering onto an in-house tech stack, ABG Sundal Coll..

October 23, 2024

What could the future hold for Kambi and OpenBet as platform consolidation slows?

Betting platform consolidation has slowed and as operators are turning to smaller, specialist technologies to bolster their sportsbooks, what does the M&A opportunity for incumbents like Kambi and OpenBet look like today?
In September a rumour that Genius Sports was eyeing a takeover of Kambi Group surfaced, resulting in both parties publicly dismissing the suggestion of ongoing talks. The chatter caused both share prices to dip briefly as the market considered what such a deal might look like.

October 22, 2024

How are personalisation and technology driving NBA in-play betting?

The NBA regular season tips off on Tuesday (22 October) with the reigning champion Boston Celtics hosting the New York Knicks. There’s sure to be fast-paced excitement on the court and operators will look to tap into that with their in-play offerings, which have surged in popularity of late.

In June the provider Simplebet, which specialises in micromarket pricing, revealed it had enjoyed a third straight NBA season of growth (up 75% year-on-year), with nearly 13 million in-play bets placed during the 2023-24 season.

Around $325m was wagered with operators using Simplebet’s microbetting products, with the company offering 86 unique in-play markets during the NBA post-season.

Following Simplebet’s third season of consecutive growth, DraftKings announced it had reached an agreement to acquire the microbetting specialist.

The landscape of sports betting in the US since the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was repealed in 2018 has been one of constant evolutio..

September 30, 2024

Weekend Report: DraftKings penalty, former deputy PM talks UK election betting, David takes over at Entain

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB looks at the news that you may have missed over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This week, DraftKings agrees to pay $200,000 over disclosure violations, former British deputy PM speaks to the regulator about election betting probe and Stella David takes the helm at Entain.
DraftKings faces $200,000 penalty
First this week, DraftKings has agreed to pay a $200,000 (£149,251/€178,756) penalty for selectively disclosing certain material non-public information on social media accounts, instead of all investors.

In July last year, DraftKings’ public relations company published posts on LinkedIn and X, formerly Twitter, about “strong growth”. This was despite DraftKings having not released its Q2 2023 financial results. DraftKings asked for the posts to be removed but did not distribute information to investors for another week.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission hit out at DraftKings. It said such information must be made available to all inves..

September 26, 2024

Flutter claims 11% Brazil market share following NSX acquisition

Flutter is among the top three betting companies in Brazil with an 11% market share, thanks to its acquisition of a 56% stake in Betnacional parent NSX Group. Its position in Brazil was outlined in some detail during the group's Capital Markets Day presentation.
Flutter said the NSX Group acquisition would provide the group with necessary local expertise in the Brazilian market. The deal is expected to close by Q2 2025 and will help establish a new ‘Flutter Brazil’ business, which will include its existing Betfair brand. NSX Group’s Pagbet, MrJack.bet and Betpix brands will also fall under the new business arm.

According to Regulus Partners and internal estimates, NSX holds 9% of the total online market in Brazil. It estimates Brazil’s net gaming revenue (NGR) for 2023 was $2.8bn. Of that figure, Flutter claims its Betfair brands, alongside those it acquired in the NSX deal, came third in revenue terms with over a tenth of the market.

Flutter’s revenue from Betfair and NSX comb..

September 26, 2024

Flutter touts global success and future growth at annual investor conference

Wednesday (25 September) was a tour de force for global wagering giant Flutter, as the company's executives touted its worldwide success to investors and detailed plans for future growth.
The company held its annual investor day presentation in New York on Wednesday. Several executives presented details in an extensive breakdown about Flutter’s tentacles around the globe. Investors heard from group CEO Peter Jackson, FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, Flutter’s UK & Ireland and international CEOs Ian Brown and Dan Taylor and more.

Overall, the executives heralded the “Flutter Edge”. This, they said, is the formula that has vaulted the company into “gold-medal positions” in several large markets, such as the US, UK, Italy and Australia. It consists of four main tenets: product, technology, expertise and scale.

This quartet was referenced ubiquitously as the key driver for the company’s success. Throughout the presentation, the company’s widespread dominance of odds pricing and parlay produ..

September 23, 2024

Grupo Silvio Santos partners OpenBet for new betting brand in Brazil

Grupo Silvio Santos has announced it will partner with OpenBet for the launch of its Todos Querem Jogar (TQJ) venture in Brazil, deploying the provider’s end-to-end betting ecosystem.
The new long-term agreement will see Grupo Silvio Santos, a conglomerate that includes the Brazilian Television Network (SBT), offer OpenBet’s responsible gambling technology, its player account management (PAM) system and its managed trading services.

Grupo Silvio Santos applied for a licence on 19 August, the day before the 20 August deadline for the initial 90-day window of preference. Operators that applied for a licence during that period will be guaranteed to have their applications processed by the legal market launch date of 1 January 2025.

The TQJ platform will aim to leverage Grupo Silvio Santos’ extensive media reach, with the conglomerate claiming its shows on SBT reach over 113 million Brazilians every month with an average per day viewership exceeding 29 million.

José Roberto Maciel, Grup..

September 11, 2024

Apuesta Total CEO: There isn’t room for everyone in Peru’s regulated market

Apuesta Total CEO Gonzalo Perez expects three or four operators will dominate the newly-regulated online market in Peru, while the remaining brands will fight for single-digit market share.
Law no 31557 came into effect in Peru on 9 February of this year as the government sought to regulate online gaming and sports betting in the country.

Operators active in Peru before the announcement had until 10 March to submit a licence application. Gambling regulator Mincetur warned those who did not comply could face a fine of up to Sol990,000 (€245,394/£212,401/$257,838) or criminal prosecution.

According to the law, Mincetur will process licence applications within 30 business days of submission. Perez said operators have a 15 November deadline to submit final certifications for their platform and content. Failing to meet that deadline could result in authorisation being revoked.

During that initial window in March, 145 licence requests were submitted. Meanwhile new entrants to Peru were g..

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Tag: Strategy