April 2022 - Bookiecity

888 shareholders to vote on WIlliam Hill acquisition on 16 May

888 shareholders are set to vote on 16 May to approve the business’ acquisition of William Hill’s non-US assets from Caesars.

As the William Hill assets are larger than the current 888 business, the merger – agreed in September 2021 – is considered a reverse takeover, and so must be approved by shareholders of 888. In a prospectus to shareholders, 888’s board outlined why it backed the deal, and provided more information about both William Hill and the effect of the Gambling Act review on the combined business.

Shareholders will meet at 10:00 am on 16 May in London to consider the deal. Those who cannot attend in person may apply for a proxy vote by 11 May.

The prospectus comes less than a month after 888 and Caesars agreed to reduce the purchase price to acquire the assets by £250m (€297.9m/$315.0m), with the cash portion of the deal now set at £584.9m instead of £834.9m.

This, it said, was due to a “change in the macro-economic and regulatory environment”. Most notably, it said t..

April 29, 2022

Nevada gaming revenue rises 21.7% in March

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Gaming revenue in Nevada came to $1.35bn (£1.7m/€1.2m) in March, a rise of 21.7% from February.

This was also up by 27% compared to March 2021.

Slots accounted for a majority of the revenue, totaling at $903.0m. This was an increase of 18.1% month-on-month and 16.9% year-on-year.

Multi-denomination slots were the most lucrative form of slots, with revenue if $444.3m. This was a rise of 17.7% from February and 26.3% year-on-year.

Penny slots brought in $341.1m, up by 20.8% monthly. This was followed by one dollar slots, which generated $65.5m – a rise of 17.2%..

Table games brought in $452.1m, up 29.6% from the previous month and 53.3% from March 2021.

Baccarat was the largest contributor, with revenue of $131.7m. This was up significantly from February, rising 109.2%, and also year-on-year, where it increased by 93.1%.

Twenty one was the second most popular table game this month, coming to $104.5m. This was 8.2% lower than in February, but 46.4% higher than the previous march.

April 28, 2022

Churchill Downs revenue hits record $364.1m in Q1

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Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has opened 2021 with a record-breaking performance over the three months to 31 March.

Group revenue for the first quarter of 2022 increased 12.3% year-on-year to $364.1m (£290.4m/€345.9m), a new record for the business.

Gaming was the top performer over Q1 with revenue of $179.2m, up 16.4% year-on-year, aided by capacity restrictions at its Oxford Casino Hotel in Maine, Flordia’s Calder Casino and Presque Isle in Pennsylvania.

The gaming division is set to expand further through the acquisition of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, which adds properties in New York, Virginia and Iowa to CDI’s portfolio.

The operator’s advance deposit wagering business Twinspires followed with revenue of $101.4m, down marginally year-on-year, after a decline in horse racing revenue was partially offset by growth from its sport and casino business. That operation is being wound down, however.

CDI’s live and historical horse racing business reported a 34.8% jump in r..

April 27, 2022

Rivalry revenue grows 640% in 2021

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Esports-focused betting operator Rivalry’s revenue grew by 640.0% to $11.1m for 2021, in what chief executive Steven Salz hailed as “a tremendous year by nearly all measures”.

The rapid growth in revenue came as betting handle grew to $78.2m, up 202.0% year-on-year.
The business’s costs of revenues also rose quickly, growing more than ten times over to $8.9m.
However, this still left a gross profit of $2.2m, which was up 216.8%.
The business then paid a further $26.9m in operating costs, though, up 258.7%.
The largest of these costs were share-based compensation expenses, at $10.5m, after these costs were only $67,111 in 2020. Other operating costs included $6.2m in general and amortisation costs, $6.1m in marketing expenses, $1.5m in bad debt expenses and $1.3m in technology and content costs.
As a result of these costs, Rivalry made an operating loss of $24.7m, compared to a $6.8m operating loss in 2020.
After minimal interest and investment costs, Rivalry’s net loss was also $24.7m..

April 27, 2022

ATG revenue stable in Q1 as casino helps offset racing decline

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Net profit for Aktiebolaget Trav och Galopp (ATG) declined slightly in Q1 of 2022, which the business said was mostly due to a greater focus on higher-cost verticals of non-racing sports and gaming.

Net gaming revenue was exactly stable year-on-year, at SEK1.27bn (£102.6m/€121.9m/$128.9m).

Almost all of this net gaming revenue, at SEK1.06bn, came from online operations, up by 3.5%.

Retail revenue, on the other hand, was down 14.7% to SEK208m.

Looking at net gaming revenue by product type instead, horse racing brought in SEK970m, down 7.4%.

“Despite the decline, the figure is historically high,” ATG chief executive Hasse Lord Skarplöth said.

Sports betting revenue was up 27.3% to SEK177m and casino revenue grew 47.6% to SEK121m.

“We continue to gain market share in Sweden and consolidate our position in sports betting,” Skarplöth said.

Explaining the rapid increase in casino revenue, Skarplöth said that a key factor was the removal of Sweden’s SEK5,000 deposit cap for online ca..

April 26, 2022

Bally’s Interactive pens partnership with the Cleveland Browns

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Bally’s Interactive, a division of Bally’s Corporation, has entered into a long-term partnership with American football team the Cleveland Browns.

The partnership, which will see Bally’s named as an official sports betting partner of the team, comes before the official launch of sports betting in Ohio.

The Buckeye State is set to offer online and mobile sports betting before January 1, 2023, after Governor Mike deWine set this as the deadline to launch an official sports betting market.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

April 26, 2022

New Yorkers using multiple mobile betting apps, research suggests

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Mobile sports betting players in New York use an average of 3.3 apps to place bets, suggesting a lack of operator loyalty, according to research from mobile gaming customer acquisition company Betting Hero.

The research took place over March 2022 and assessed the answers of 215 respondents aged 21-64.

Most of the respondents (83%) were male.

The research revealed a number of key facts about New York’s mobile sports betting market, which opened on 10 January 2022.

Respondents reported using an average of 3.3 apps to place mobile sports bets. This is more than in New Jersey where an average of 2.8 apps are used.

A total of 23% of respondents stated they used four apps, while 19% used two apps. Using three apps was the third most popular choice, at 18%.

Six percent of respondents reported using six apps, while 4% reported using seven.

Turning to operators, 63% of sports bettors included DraftKings in their lists when asked to name as many real-money online sportsbooks as they could..

April 25, 2022

South Carolina sports betting bill introduced

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A bill that would permit sports wagering in South Carolina has been introduced and referred to the state Committee on Judiciary.

House Bill 5277 was first introduced in the state House on 21 April. It is sponsored by representatives William Herbkersman and Tom Rutherford.

If passed, it would add new provisions to the Code of Laws on South Carolina 1976, allowing interactive sports betting in the state.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

April 22, 2022

ComeOn approved for Ontario licence

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ComeOn has secured approval for an Ontario sports betting licence, becoming the 31st operator to do so.

The operator’s registration by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) as a sports betting operator was effective yesterday (21 April).

The operator’s licence will expire in two years, in April 2024. This would make ComeOn only the 12th operator to be approved for a two-year licence, with most operators approved for only one year. Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, the provincial lottery operator, has a licence running until 2052.

Ontario launched its regulated market on 4 April of this year. Operators such as Unibet, theScore, BetRivers, 888, PointsBet, LeoVegas, Bwin, Bet365, FanDuel, BetMGM and Caesars all secured licences on launch day, April 4, while more recent licensees include Betway and North Star.

This market launch followed almost three years of work to open up the market, after the government revealed plans to end the lottery’s online gambling monopo..

April 22, 2022

Regulator calls on Norsk Tipping to launch betting loss limits

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Norwegian regulator Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet has called on monopoly operator Norsk Tipping to reduce the availability and number of casino games on its site, and for the introduction of loss limits for sports betting.

In the regulator’s 2021 annual report, it found that both customer and turnover numbers reached a record high for Norsk Tipping, one of the country’s two monopolies alongside racing operator Norsk Rikstoto.

“There may be several reasons for the growth,” the regulator said. “One of the reasons may be that people through the corona pandemic have had more free time due to restrictions in leisure activities.”

This came despite the operator reducing its monthly loss limit for “high-risk” games from NOK10,000 (£869/€1,037/$1,117) to NOK7,500 in December 2020, before cutting it further, to NOK5,000, in September 2021.

While it noted that this represents a success for channelisation, the regulator added that it had asked the operator to strengthen its player protection ..

Month: April 2022