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Codere Online losses widen despite revenue growth
November 17, 2022

Codere Online losses widen despite revenue growth

Bookiecity

Online gaming operator Codere Online has announced that losses increased 73% quarter-on-quarter from €6.7m (£5.8m/ $7.0m) to €11.6m in Q3 despite revenue growth on both a sequential and annual basis.

Much of the increased losses can be explained by increased marketing spend. Codere spent €5m more on marketing in Q3 than it did in Q2, with an increase from €19.3m to €24.3m. Other costs remained largely static quarter-on-quarter.

Total revenue increased to €28.9m in Q3 2022, a 51% year-on-year increase, while net gaming revenue increased 54% to €30.6m. This compares with the €27.4m in total revenue and €29.2m in net revenue the company received in the preceding quarter. The increased losses can be explained by revenue not increasing at the same speed as marketing spend.

Moshe Edree, CEO of Codere Online, said this growth was driven primarily by the company’s continued expansion in its critical markets of Mexico and Spain, which make up the majority of the business’ total revenue.

..

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MaximBet ceases operations amid “challenging” macroeconomic conditions
November 17, 2022

MaximBet ceases operations amid “challenging” macroeconomic conditions

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Online gambling operator MaximBet has ceased all operations with immediate effect citing “challenging macroeconomic conditions” and an “increasingly cost prohibitive marketplace”.

MaximBet announced the decision in a message to customers, saying they will have until December 15 to withdraw any funds in their accounts. After this date, any remaining balances will be refunded via check sent to the address on the account.

Players are no longer able to deposit more funds or place net bets, but MaximBet said that it would settle any existing bets in line with its MaximBet House Rules until December 15. At this point, MaximBet said bets will be cashed out at “current fair value market pricing” and player balances will be returned via check.

MaximBet was founded in April of 2021 through a collaboration between sports betting operator Carousel Group and media brand Maxim, supported by a $50m investment from the xSigma subsidiary of Chinese engineering business ZK International.

At the time..

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Peru igaming regulations ban free bets, mandate supplier registration
November 15, 2022

Peru igaming regulations ban free bets, mandate supplier registration

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Peru will ban free bets and demos, as well as mandating registration for suppliers, as part of its effort to regulate online gambling.

The detail comes as part of Peru’s efforts to regulate online betting and igaming. The country’s Congress unanimously voted for a bill to regulate the sectors in July, which was then signed into law in August, coming into effect 60 days later.

The law names the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (Mincetur) as the country’s official gambling regulator.

As regulator, the body established a number of rules that will apply to operators in the market, including a ban on free bets and supplier registration requirements.

These rules are subject to a consultation, with stakeholders able to submit their opinions until 2 December.

Free bet ban

The regulations state that operators may not offer any type of remote betting or gaming for free, whether this is for promotional purposes or for education such as through a demo of a game.

If an operator ..

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Laila Mintas announces new venture, PlayEngine
November 7, 2022

Laila Mintas announces new venture, PlayEngine

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Former PlayUp US chief executive Laila Mintas has co-founded a new venture, PlayEngine, and joined as chief executive.

The new business is a “microservices-based” B2B sports betting and igaming platform. The business said that it will “provide its customers with a tailor-made, individual solution that is reliable, scalable, fast and secure”.

Its sportsbook offering will allow clients to accept payments from cryptocurrency as well as fiat money and will include a “travelling wallet” to allow players to use the same wallet in different jurisdictions.

PlayEngine was initially created through the Berkeley Skydeck startup incubator.

“I am very excited about being a co-founder and the CEO of PlayEngine,” Laila Mintas said. “The sports betting and igaming market is just too competitive to work off legacy tech.

“There is a huge need for agile and modern technology and I truly believe that we have the most automated and data-driven product in the market, which will enable the sportsbettin..

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888’s Howard Mittman on Betting 2.0
November 1, 2022

888’s Howard Mittman on Betting 2.0

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Sports betting 1.0 was all about acquisition and, as it moves into sports betting 2.0, product is the key differentiator for sportsbook operators, according to 888 Holdings’ US president Howard Mittman. Robin Harrison hears how Mittman is developing a media-led, content-driven offering that leverages the power of the Sports Illustrated brand.

888 Holdings’ Howard Mittman sees sports betting as a “cultural phenomenon” in the US, sitting at the centre of sports, media technology and betting.

For Mittman, this makes his role at the operator, where he has served as president of US operations since April, a perfect fit.

“Throughout my career, the experiences I have enjoyed the most are ones where I found myself at interesting cross-sections,” he says. “Whether it was technology and culture, fashion and culture, or sports and culture.

Howard Mittman has served as president, US for 888 Holdings since April 2022

“This creates an interesting opportunity to have a perch and a purview tha..

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Kindred set for strong Q4 as Netherlands “exceeds expectations” in Q3
October 27, 2022

Kindred set for strong Q4 as Netherlands “exceeds expectations” in Q3

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Kindred said it is “exceeding expectations” in the Netherlands and expects rapid revenue growth in the final months of the year, after reporting its first quarter of revenue since reentering the market.

In Q3 of 2021, Kindred reported revenue of £277.8m, which was down by 6.9% year-on-year. Almost all of this revenue came from B2C operations, at £271.9m, while B2B revenue – from Relax Gaming – was £5.9m.

The decline in revenue continued to be down to the operator withdrawing from the Netherlands at the start of Q4 2021. While the operator returned to the country during the quarter, generating revenue again, the amount Kindred took in was less than before the country regulated, as was expected.

Kindred said it was “exceeding expectations” with 137,000 active Dutch customers, and brought in around £400,000 per day since launching on 11 July. Chief executive Henrik Tjärnström added that the business had around a 15% market share in the country.

“Thanks to our strong brand awareness, u..

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Ontario report
October 26, 2022

Ontario report

Bookiecity

iGB’s new report on Ontario offers exclusive insight into Canada’s most populous province – and the first to regulate betting and igaming.

When the Ontario market opened in April this year, it wasn’t quite brand new ground.

Anyone in the industry could tell you that the grey market in Canada’s largest province had been thriving for quite some time.

Still, bringing the province from grey to white offers certainty and new opportunities for many.

Six months on, we have a sense of the spoils available. Operators – excluding the lottery – brought in a combined CA$267m in the three months ended 30 September.

The biggest challenge in the province, however, may be marketing rules. Operators can offer bonuses, but may not promote them. As Marese O’Hagan writes in our progress report, that’s been difficult, but it hasn’t seriously dampened excitement about the jurisdiction.

And for now, those complying with the rules still need to compete with some unlicensed brands, which continue to do b..

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Gibraltar to replace one-size-fits-all licence fees with tiered system
October 20, 2022

Gibraltar to replace one-size-fits-all licence fees with tiered system

Bookiecity

Gibraltar is set to implement a new, tiered system for gambling licence fees, meaning that larger operators will pay more and smaller ones less, as part of a package of reforms for the point-of-supply market.

The British Overseas Territory launched a consultation on new licence fees, following its earlier proposal for a new Gambling Act.

Previously, operators of remote betting, remote gaming, other remote products, land-based gaming and retail betting each had to pay a £100,000 licence fee every year. B2B suppliers, meanwhile, were required to pay an £85,000 annual fee.

However, in its consultation, the government said that “licensing fees for startup operators and small operators who are building for growth can be a disproportionate cost in the early stages of the life cycle of the business”.

As a result, it opted for a new, tiered system for remote betting and gaming licences, based on annual gross gambling yield (GGY).

As operators need to apply for a separate licence for each..

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Nygaard-Andersen: Interest rates won’t stop Entain from acquiring
October 13, 2022

Nygaard-Andersen: Interest rates won’t stop Entain from acquiring

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Entain chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen has said high interest rates will not stop the business from making new acquisitions, and may even “open up new doors”.

Nygaard-Andersen spoke on an earnings call after Entain published a third-quarter earnings update. Revenue was up 2% year-on-year for the group, thanks to both record customer numbers and a favourable impact from currency movements.

When asked whether the new macroeconomic environment and high interest rates would make acquisitions difficult due to the costs of borrowing money, Nygaard-Andersen said that this was not necessarily the case.

“We of course remain vigilant and very prudent,” she said. “But the health of the business remains good. We still have a strong pipeline on M&A and we have opportunities that we will continue to pursue.”

The results came after a busy period of acquiring for the business, with Nygaard-Anderson noting the business agreed nine acquisitions in the past 18 months, including those of Unikrn..

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