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Kansas to consider new sports betting bill

The Kansas House of Representatives is to run the rule over a new bill that seeks to legalise online and retail sports betting in the US state, with operators entering into contracts with the state lottery.

Sponsored by the state’s House Federal and State Affairs Committee, House Bill 2740 sets out proposals to expand the existing lottery act to allow for online sports wagering.

The bill states that the Kansas Lottery would be able to offer sports betting through one or more lottery gaming facility managers that have entered into a contract with the lottery.

Each lottery gaming facility manager would be limited to operating three interactive sports wagering platforms, while they would also be permitted to agree a deal with an approved interactive sports betting platform, subject to clearance by the Kansas Lottery.

Sports wagering supplier licences would run for a period of two years, though the lottery may award provisional licences for up to one year. The bill said that fee for th..

March 16, 2022

STS adds horse racing to UK site

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Poland-based operator STS has announced its expansion into the horse racing vertical in the UK.

The operator has announced its expansion into horseracing on the week of Cheltenham Festival. STS’s portfolio of services already includes sports betting, virtual sports, online casino and esports betting.

It will be increasing its offering across a range of horse and greyhound racing content in the UK, providing live streaming from international and domestic racecourses throughout the year. Customers will also be able to watch the races and bet via mobile devices.

STS will receive risk-managed odds, data and live-streamed video, all provided by At the Races (ATR) Markets.

“We are going to work with ATR Markets over the coming months to enhance the product further by adding additional features plus adding to the available content, including international racing from other territories” said STSBet managing director, Filip Sosnowski.

“We will offer regular horse racing promotions, special..

March 16, 2022

Betsson to reshuffle board with three new appointments

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Betsson’s nomination committee has proposed Eva de Falck, Louise Nylén and Tristan Sjöberg as new board members.

In addition, the committee proposed Johan Lundburg as chairman, as previously announced, as well as the re-election of Eva Leach, Peter Hamberg and chief executive Pontus Lindwall to the board.

Tristan Sjöberg had previously served on Betsson’s board for six months in 2018. However, he stepped down at the time because he was “in a legal dispute with Swedish tax authorities regarding tax liability”.

Tristan Sjöberg

He is vice chairman of the TCSJohnHuxley Group and co-owner of Knutsson Holdings. He is considered an “active owner” of Betsson, as Knutsson is the operator’s fourth-largest shareholder, and so he will represent these interests on the board.

Eva de Falck

Eva de Falck and Louise Nylén were both proposed as independent directors. De Falck is a senior consultant, advisor and board member of Skandiabanken, and has also served as general counsel and a member of..

March 15, 2022

LeoVegas closes in on Ontario igaming approval

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LeoVegas Group has become the latest online gambling operator to secure approval from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to launch in the Canadian province’s regulated market.

The AGCO notified LeoVegas that while it had not yet received a licence, it had been registered as an igaming operator, which all but cleared the way for it to launch in the province.

LeoVegas will now be required to enter into an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario, the subsidiary of AGCO that will oversee the market, in order to launch when the market opens on April 4.

Should LeoVegas secure final approval as expected, it will offer online casino, live casino and betting under its LeoVegas and Royal Panda brands.

LeoVegas said that launching in Ontario would be in line with its strategy to grow in locally regulated markets and soon-to-be regulated markets, with plans also in place to go live in the US later this year, beginning with New Jersey.

“Over recent years, the LeoVegas brand h..

March 14, 2022

Iowa sports wagers climb 50.4% YoY to $215.9m in February

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Iowa’s sports betting handle increased 50.4% year-on-year to $215.9m (£165.3,/€197.0m) in February, while the state also experienced an 11.7% rise in revenue.

The amount bet by players was comfortably higher than the $143.6m spent in February of 2021, but this total was 28.8% lower than the $303.3m wagered in January of this year.

Once again, the majority of bets were placed over the internet, with mobile wagers for the month amounting to $195.0m, up 55.8% year-on-year.

In contrast, retail bets totalled $20.9m, though this was 13.6% more than in February last year.

Revenue for the month across all channels amounted to $8.6m, up from $7.7m in the same month in 2021.

Online revenue was 33.3% higher than 2021 at $8.0m, while retail revenue continued to lag behind on $589,920, which was down 68.8% year-on-year from $529,920 last year.

Looking at individual operator performance for February, Diamond Jo Casino in Worth, which is partnered with FanDuel, ranked first with $1.5m in combin..

March 14, 2022

Americans expected to bet $1.3bn on March Madness 2022

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 ..

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