March 2022 - Page 4 of 6

Americans expected to bet $1.3bn on March Madness 2022

More than 17% of all American adults plan to bet on March Madness 2022, with a total of $3.1bn (£2.4bn/€2.8bn) expected to be wagered on games, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA).

A survey of 2,210 adults across a range of ages, races, ethnicities, education and locations found that 45 million adults are planning to wager on the NCAA college basketball tournament, which officially began yesterday (March 13) with Selection Sunday and will run through to April 4.

Of those that plan to bet, 20.9 million said they expect to wager on the tournament outside of bracket contests, meaning they will place bets either at an online or retail sportsbook, a bookie or with friends.

The AGA also found that 36.5 million people plan to bet via a bracket contest or similar pool.

In addition, 17% of consumers named Gonzaga as their pick to win the tournament, ahead of Duke on 12% and Kentucky with 11%.

Since last year’s tournament, 29 million more American adults are now able to legal..

March 11, 2022

ATG and Swedish Equestrian Federation extend 50-year partnership

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Swedish operator AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) has extended its sponsorship agreement with the Swedish Equestrian Federation, continuing to build on a partnership that will now extend past 50 years.

The partnership has been extended for a further four years, and will continue to focus on para-dressage, equestrian development and ATG’s jumping series, the ATG Riders League.

“We want to be involved in developing Swedish equestrian sports, and together with the Swedish Equestrian Federation we have found a good way forward,” said Maria Guggenberger, sustainability manager at ATG. “Therefore, we will continue to focus on para-dressage and equestrian development through ATG Talang.”

“We have also ensured a continuation of the national jumping series ATG Riders League for the next four years.”

Camilla Sand, communications and marketing manager at the Swedish Equestrian Federation, praised the longevity of the partnership.

“The long collaboration with ATG is something we are incredibly proud ..

March 11, 2022

Inspired revenue grows in Q4 but business swings to loss

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Inspired brought in $67.0m (£51.2m/€61.0m) in revenue in Q4 of 2021 as all business segments experienced growth of more than 25%, but the supplier swung to a loss after a VAT rebate helped its 2020 bottom line.

This revenue figure was up 70.9% from 2020’s ordinary revenue from operations, but was down by 6.6% if the VAT rebate during the comparable period is included.

The gaming segment – made up of land-based slot machines – was the largest contributor to revenue, bringing in $26.8m, up 49.3%.

However, its leisure segment experienced the most rapid growth, with revenue up 183.4% to $23.5m.

Virtual sports revenue, meanwhile, was up 26.1% to $11.0m, while interactive gaming revenue grew by 35.8% to $5.7m.

During Q4 of 2020, the gaming division of the business also received a one-off $32.5m value-added tax (VAT) rebate after a court ruling determined that operators did not have to pay VAT on top of gaming taxes for machines, though this was not counted as revenue for that quarter. I..

March 11, 2022

FanDuel expands sports betting into Wyoming

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group has extended the reach of its sports betting offering by launching its mobile sportsbook product in Wyoming.

Players in the state can place a range of wagers on professional and college sports such as football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, mixed martial arts, boxing, soccer and tennis.

Other features on the FanDuel Sportsbook app include Same Game Parlay Plus, where players can combine Same Game Parlay bets from one game with bets from other games.

Wyoming becomes the 15th US state in which the FanDuel Sportsbook app has gone live, following launches in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Sports betting was legalised in Wyoming in April last year after Governor Mark Gordon signed House Bill 0133 into law. Its market then launched on September 1.

FanDuel’s Wyoming launch comes after the brand last week launched a new ..

March 11, 2022

Scout CEO orders cost review after “unsatisfactory” Q4

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Andreas Ternström, chief executive of fantasy gaming provider Scout Gaming Group, said the business would initiate a cost review after he was “not at all satisfied” with the supplier’s slow growth and rising expenses in Q4.

Revenue ticked slightly upward to SEK17.1m, after revenue of SEK16.9m in Q4 of 2020.

Expenses, meanwhile, more than doubled to SEK51.0m.

Personnel expenses grew to SEK13.7m, but most of the growth was in other external expenses, which were up 148.5% to SEK34.3m. Ternström said the increase in other costs was mostly related to marketing, plus a one-off SEK18m cost after expenses for tournament participation tickets had been “wrongly accounted for” in prior periods.

If the errors had been attributed to these previous quarters instead, expenses would have come to SEK33.1m.

Depreciation and amortisation also grew, by 50.2% to SEK3.1m.

As a result, the business made an operating loss of SEK33.9m, which was more than five times its operating loss in 2020.

After a ..

March 10, 2022

Staking a claim to betting: The transition from online casino to sports

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Join Champion Sports for a best-practice guide on launching sports betting to complement your online casino offering.

As the global igaming industry becomes increasingly competitive, acquisition costs are reaching unprecedented levels as operators fight for market share. At the same time, consumers remain promiscuous and operators are struggling to extract the maximum lifetime value out of the players they have acquired, often at great expense.

This means single-vertical offerings for online casino are increasingly rare. Players want more, and if products are unavailable, they could move to a competitor. Do you really want to acquire a customer who then jumps to a competitor and stays there?

A key tactic to expand beyond casino is to move into sports betting. Not only will operators be able to offer casino players the opportunity to bet on sports, they can also unlock other upsides such as additional marketing opportunities, increased cross-sell, greater stickiness and more.

But la..

March 10, 2022

Oregon online sports betting handle reaches $39.5m in February

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Players in Oregon wagered $39.5m (£30.0m/€35.8m) on sports online during February, while gross gaming revenue from sports betting reached $3.3m for the month.

The amount spent during February was 33.5% higher than in the same month last year but 7.9% behind the record $42.9m set in January of this year.

The Oregon Lottery, in partnership with DraftKings, is the only licensed operator of online sports betting in the state.

The lottery’s current Scoreboard online sportsbook, powered by DraftKings through its SBTech division, is currently being phased out in order to be replaced by the standard DraftKings sportsbook. This process began on January 18, with players able to create a new DraftKings account and move funds across.

As such, the monthly results were split in half to show activity on the DraftKings sportsbook and from any remaining players still with Scoreboard.

Spending with DraftKings in February amounted to $39.2m, while the remaining $273,328 was wagered through Scoreboar..

March 9, 2022

Annamarie Phelps steps down as BHA chair

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Annamarie Phelps CBE, the chair of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), has announced she will be stepping down when her term ends.

After a career in British rowing including an appearance at the Olympic Games, Phelps took on the role in June 2019 after working for a variety of governing bodies within the industry. The announcement comes on the eve of Cheltenham Festival.

Phelps said: “It has been a great privilege to lead the BHA during this challenging period for the sports sector, and to have recruited a fantastic CEO in Julie Harrington. I am immensely proud of what racing has achieved collectively in this time.”

She added that she was proud of the organisation for the way it handled a number of major challenges, including the COvid-19 pandemic, while she was chair.

“I want to thank the amazing BHA team for navigating the pandemic and for keeping the show on the road behind the scenes, a role that is rarely acknowledged,” she said. “It is a remarkable achievement that no fi..

March 9, 2022

Arizona falls just short of $500m sports betting handle in December

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Players in Arizona bet a record $499.2m (£379.4m/€455.1m) on sports in December 2021, though gross revenue fell 23.1% month-on-month.

Wagering was up 7.0% month-on-month from $466.7m in November, with the state’s handle split $494.5m for online bets and $4.7m at retail sportsbooks.

Consumers won a total of $454.9m from mobile betting and $4.5m from retail wagering.

As a result, despite this higher spending, gross revenue before free bets fell from $50.2m in November to $38.6m in December.

After accounting for $21.3m worth of free bets – almost all of which were distributed to online players – taxable revenue was $17.3m, down 45.6% month-on-month.

DraftKings led the way in December after taking $146.0m in total bets, followed by Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group on $128.5m, the BetMGM with $103.8m.

In terms of gross revenue, DraftKings also ranked first on $11.0m, ahead of FanDuel with $10.7m and BetMGM on $8.8m.

After taking away free bets, FanDuel was top with $7.2m in ..

March 8, 2022

Rhode Island sports betting handle hits $58.6m in January

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Consumers in Rhode Island spent $58.6m (£44.8m/€53.8m) on sports betting in January, the second-highest monthly total since legalisation in November 2018.

The January figure was 47.2% higher than the $39.8m wagered in the same month last year and 6.7% more than $58.6m in December 2021. The total was also just short of the $60.2m record set in October of last year.

Online betting accounted for $33.5m of all wagers placed in January, while the remaining $25.1m was bet at retail sportsbook facilities at the Twin River and Tiverton Casino sites.

Twin River was again the main venue of choice for players with $18.8m wagered during the month, compared to $6.3m at the Tiverton Casino.

Revenue for the month amounted to $5.2m, up 40.5% year-on-year and also 334.2% more than $1.2m in December last year.

Mobile revenue amounted to $2.9m in January, while retail revenue reached $2.3m, split $1.6m at Twin River and $756,664 at the Tiverton Casino.

Figures from the Rhode Island Lottery also rev..

Month: March 2022