Tag Archives: Online sports betting

Playmaker Capital acquires World Soccer Talk

Playmaker Capital acquires World Soccer Talk

Affiliate business Playmaker Capital has acquired US-based soccer media company World Soccer Talk.

Playmaker announced the news in a press release in which it focused on the rising popularity of soccer in North America, emphasising its place as the now the fourth most popular sport in the country after American football, basketball, and baseball.

Playmaker CEO Jordan Gnat commented on the deal: “Soccer is on the rise in the US and Canada, and Playmaker is focused on becoming the preeminent voice for the sport across the Americas, from the top of Canada to the bottom of Argentina.”

“World Soccer Talk founder, Christopher Harris, exudes a true passion for sport that’s shared by the entire Playmaker team, and we’re excited to welcome him and World Soccer Talk into our family and our ecosystem as a core piece of a broader soccer strategy in advance of World Cups 2022, 2023 and 2026.”

World Soccer Talk web, social media and podcast assets will join Playmaker’s existing portfolio of digi..

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VBet partners with OGC Nice

VBet partners with OGC Nice

BetConstruct-operated sports betting and gaming brand VBet has announced a new sponsorship deal with French football club OGC Nice.

The club will be the latest French football team to make a deal with operator, following the announcement of similar deals with AS Monaco in 2020 and Paris FC the previous March. VBet branding will feature on the club’s shorts through to 2025, as well as prominently on its digital platforms.

In return, VBet will broadcast exclusive content for its partner as well as organise events and competitions to win match tickets – in addition to offering other digital content throughout the season.

VBet France president David Ozararat commented on the deal: “Aside from the symbolism of teaming up with the city where I was born and grew up, I’m very happy VBet is becoming one of the official partners of OGC Nice alongside its shareholder INEOS. Today, the club’s potential is at the highest possible level and the ambitions of its president are aligned with our bus..

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Romanian government publishes plan for 40% tax on withdrawals

Romanian government publishes plan for 40% tax on withdrawals

The Romanian government has published the country’s new draft Fiscal Code, featuring a tax hike on gambling withdrawals to as much as 40%.

The new code was published by the Ministry of Finance, and contains updates to the country’s tax laws.

Previously, gambling withdrawals in Romania of less than RON66,750 (£11,579/€13,493/$13,980) were taxed at 1%, while withdrawals of up to RON445,000 faced a 16% tax – plus an additional payment of RON667.50 and withdrawals beyond that total were taxed at 25%.

However, now withdrawals of up to RON3,000 will be taxed at 10%. Withdrawals of more than RON3,000 but no more than RON10,000 are taxed at 20%, plus a RON3000 fee. Beyond RON10,000, the tax rate will be 40%, plus a RON1,700 fee.

The tax will be applied with each withdrawal.

When the tax hike was first reported, trade body the Association of Remote Gambling Organisations (AOJND) said that it would push players towards illegal operators.

It estimated that – if the tax comes into effect – ..

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Rhode Island sports betting revenue slips to $2.3m in May

Rhode Island sports betting revenue slips to $2.3m in May

Revenue from sports betting in Rhode Island slipped to a year-low of $2.3m (£1.9m/€2.2m) in May, though the state’s handle was up month-on-month.

Player spending for the month reached $41.1m, up 45.2% from $28.3m in May of 2021 and also 2.2% higher than $40.2m in April this year.

Of this total, $25.3m was spent online, while the other $15.8m was bet at retail sportsbooks at the Twin River and Tiverton Casino locations.

Revenue was down 14.8% year-on-year from $2.7m in May last year and 11.5% lower than $2.6m in April of this year. The monthly figure was also the lowest total since $1.2m was posted in December 2021.

Some $1.9m of total revenue was attributed to online betting, with the remaining $461,059 being retail revenue split across Twin River and Tiverton Casino.

Of the two casinos, Tiverton Casino came out on top with $404,515 in revenue from $5.3m in player bets, ahead of Twin River with just $56,544 in revenue, but almost double the size handle of $10.5m.

Last week, it wa..

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Giving betting a voice

Giving betting a voice

Betting is becoming easier than ever as the industry aligns itself with technological breakthroughs. One of the most recent of these is speech technology, which allows machines to recognise spoken word and perform related commands. This has been widely integrated, with devices like Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa being a staple in many homes.

Technology company Voxbet seeks to bring automation into the sports betting world, giving bettors the opportunity to speak a bet or tip into existence. Its technology also allows bettors to type their bet for further accessibility.

Jonathan Power, CEO and founder of Voxbet, speaks about what the company offers and how voice technology creates a unique betting experience.

What does Voxbet offer that other providers don’t? How do these elements offer like a unique experience for players?

We’re a technology provider that simplifies the navigation of a sportsbook. So if you think about how you navigate anything else online, like Amazon or eBay, ..

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NFL hires first sports betting executive

NFL hires first sports betting executive

The NFL, the most popular sports league in the US, has hired David Highhill as vice president, general manager of sports betting; the first executive the league has had dedicated to sports betting.

Highhill will lead the league’s efforts to reduce the effects of gambling-related harm, advance the value of the NFL’s brand and reputation, support fan engagement, as well as improve the value of the NFL’s data and intellectual property.

He has been with the NFL for 10 years, and will move from the corporate strategy group, where he previously led the league’s analytics department.

The NFL already has a number of sports betting partnership agreements, most recently with 888sport, which will be the league’s official sports betting partner in both the UK and Ireland until 2025.

In the US, FOX Bet, BetMGM, PointsBet, and WynnBET were announced as official partners last year, alongside Caesars, FanDuel and DraftKings.

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Online gambling proposal confirmed for California’s November ballot

Online gambling proposal confirmed for California’s November ballot

A measure to permit online gambling in California – backed by a number of commercial operators but opposed by many tribes in the state – has been confirmed for November’s ballot.

The Secretary of State in the US’s most populous state announced on Monday that the proposed law, which is backed by major gaming groups such as BetMGM, has attracted around 1.1 million valid signatures – well above the 997,000 required to make the ballot.

The confirmation it has qualified for the ballot was met with opposition from tribal gaming groups, whose own Tribal Sports Wagering Act initiative that would legalise sports betting at limited locations, including tribal casinos, has already been accepted for November’s poll.

Tribal chairman Cody Martinez, of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, said: “We will run a vigorous campaign against this measure and are confident the voters will see through the deceptive promises being made by these out-of-state gambling corporations.”

For the full article, ..

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Towards intolerance of illegal operators

Towards intolerance of illegal operators

Illegal online gambling remains a threat to both player protection and government tax yields. Yet, as Paul Girvan explains, most regulated jurisdictions continue to tolerate operators making money outside of the regulatory environment. Could more be done to fight the unlicensed sector?

Online gambling has existed since the inception of the internet, and over time we have seen increasing concern arise from the issue of black market gambling.

Equally, nearly all countries implementing legal market controls have encountered rising rates of gambling harm and negative social consequences, the causes for many of which remain outside the licensed market.

While there is much talk about the “licensed level playing field”, it’s hard to see how any marketplace is effectively levelled to the benefit of any parties if it tolerates the presence of the illicit black market. These shadow operators reap a competitive advantage as their regulated competitors pay a licence fee and taxes and comply wi..

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Laos to mimic POGO model with new offshore licences

Laos to mimic POGO model with new offshore licences

Laos is set to regulate online gambling, setting up a regime where operators licensed in the country targeting markets elsewhere in Southeast Asia such as Thailand.

In a model similar to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), operators that receive a licence may set up an online gambling operation, but may not accept customers who are based in Laos.

Danny Too, a consultant assisting the Laotian government on the process, told iGB that the government is currently in the process of drawing up its regulations for the sector.

He said that the government had planned to publish guidelines to apply for licences in two months’ time.

According to Too, initial master licences are set to be issued to a small number of businesses, which can then contract out “sub-licences” to a wider number of businesses, similar to the model in Curaçao.

Too noted that this was due in part to the effects of Covid-19, which was devastating to Laos’ foreigner-only land-based casinos.

“During the pandemi..

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KSA chair Jansen questions whether industry is “capable of self-regulation”

KSA chair Jansen questions whether industry is “capable of self-regulation”

René Jansen, chair of Dutch regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has questioned whether self-regulation is possible within the gambling industry, as he expressed his continued frustration with operators that “look for the edges of the law”.

In a blog post, Jansen looked back on a roundtable discussion on gambling in the House of Representatives, in which he participated.

This discussion noted the success of the country’s online gambling regime in channeling players to licensed offerings since the market launched in October 2021. However, it also noted areas where there was room for improvement.

In particular, Jansen said one issue that became obvious in the discussion was “the behavior of some legal operators, who – unfortunately – did look for the edges of the law”.

As a result of this, Jansen said he had his doubts about whether it was possible for the industry to regulate itself.

“This raises the question of the extent to which the sector as a whole is capable of self-regulat..

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