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New shareholder Corvex urges Kindred board to consider sale

Investment fund Corvex Management has urged Kindred’s board to look into sale or merger opportunities, soon after announcing that the fund now owns 10% of the operator.

The business led by Keith Arlyn Meister issued a statement last week disclosing that it now owns more than 10% of Kindred’s shares and voting rights, in accordance with Swedish regulations.

Now the New York-based hedge fund has outlined what it sees as the best goals for Kindred’s future.

“We are excited to be large shareholders of Kindred. To date, we have had constructive conversations with both the chairman of the board and senior management of Kindred,” Corvex said. “We believe Kindred has built a strategic position in the rapidly growing global online gaming space.

Corvex outlined that the business should retain an advisor to look at possible sale opportunities.

“Given recent developments, we believe the Kindred Board should immediately retain a leading, global financial advisor to evaluate strategic alternati..

May 4, 2022

Feeding the marketing furnace

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

As Q1 results season gets underway, US sportsbook operators are increasingly looking to refine their customer acquisition approaches.

In the US, sports betting is everywhere. Morning commute billboards, YouTube interstitials, TV commercials, influencer posts…marketing channels are saturated with imagery and copy encouraging new bettors to join the fray.

It should be no surprise, considering the ongoing mass expansion of sportsbooks and online betting sites in the US. With every newly regulated market comes new advertising and marketing campaigns.

Ad channels are brimming with attempts to bring sports fans, curious bettors, or other newcomers into the fold. It takes a careful, well-researched touch to succeed in marketing a sports betting site, especially in the piecemeal and sometimes chaotic US geographies with varying regulatory and legal requirements.

By this point, many big-name operators have staked their claim and continue to market to potential long-term customers. There’s s..

May 3, 2022

Brazil publishes sports betting rules

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Brazil’s Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery (SECAP) has published its rules for sports betting in the country, which include a BRL22.2m (£3.6m/€4.2m/$4.4m) licence fee.

The Ministry of the Economy will act as the regulator and will establish a deadline – which will fall within the next six months – for operators already doing business in Brazil to comply with these rules.

There will be no limit on the number of licences that can be issued, with licences lasting five years. However, operators must pay a BRL22.2m (£3.6m/€4.2m/$4.4m) licence fee.

In addition, operators based abroad must set up a subsidiary in Brazil and must have “sufficient capital and economic and financial capacity” to operate.

The bill said whether a business’ financial capacity was “sufficient” would be determined by the relationship between its share capital and the volume of bets it takes, rather than setting a specific minimum amount of capital.

Operators will be permitted to offer bets o..

May 3, 2022

Mohegan to launch Kambi-powered PlayFallsview sportsbook in Ontario

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Kambi will provide Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment’s PlayFallsview brand with its online sportsbook technology when it launches in Ontario.

Mohegan will launch a betting and gaming brand in Ontario, named after its Fallsview casino resort. The sportsbook for this brand will be provided by Kambi, featuring its ice hockey and bet builder products.

“The Canadian market, and Ontario in particular, is full of potential for Kambi and our partners so I am pleased to have agreed this partnership with Mohegan and its Fallsview online mobile brand.” Kambi chief executive Kristian Nylén said. “I look forward to the combination of our industry-leading mobile sportsbook and the prominent Fallsview name as together we bring players in Ontario all the excitement of single and in-game wagering along with the unrivalled bet combinability our sportsbook offers.”

Rich Roberts, president of Mohegan Digital for Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment, said he was excited to launch an online product outside of..

April 29, 2022

888 shareholders to vote on WIlliam Hill acquisition on 16 May

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

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

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

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

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

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

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

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

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

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.

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