Tag Archives: Product & technology

Metric partners Racebook HQ for trading services

Metric partners Racebook HQ for trading services

Sports betting supplier Metric Gaming has partnered with Racebook HQ to offer managed trading services to horse racing operators.

Through the partnership, Racebook HQ will use automated decision makers to offer pricing “on products that are notoriously difficult to trade” across horse racing, greyhound racing and trotting.

“We are extremely excited to announce this partnership and could not have found a better partner in Metric Gaming,” Racebook HQ chief executive Sam Ford said. “Technology is at the core of what we do at Racebook HQ, and Metric Gaming clearly hold the same aspirations to create premium products and services for the global betting and gaming industry.”

Metric Gaming and Racebook HQ: similar outlook

Metric Gaming CEO Keith Hayes said that Metric and Racebook – which is backed by professional racing bettor Zeljko Ranogajec – shared a similar outlook on the global betting landscape.

“RBHQ is the dominant racing provider globally and from our very first conversations,..

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The man who revitalised Fremont Street

The man who revitalised Fremont Street

Downtown Las Vegas was once associated with Sin City’s Rat Pack era, but the Fremont Street experience is – quite literally – very different today. Enter Circa Sports’ Derek Stevens, an industry outsider who is playing a huge role revitalising the area by bringing a brand new casino and sports betting experience.

Derek Stevens of Circa Sports is a gambling industry outsider. He built up a successful auto parts business in his native Michigan before moving into the casino business, purchasing the Golden Gate in 2008. He’s honest about what attracted him to the city.

“The key thing that brought me to Vegas was the fact there’s no income tax in the state of Nevada,” he says, bluntly. “I run an investment portfolio, so that was helpful.”

Derek Stevens poses next to Vegas Vickie, an iconic symbol of ‘Old Vegas’

“But,” he adds, “I’m more of an operator.” He’s also someone who likes a challenge, acquiring a casino on the cusp of the Great Recession. Stevens “really fell in love with downt..

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Waterhouse VC: Crunch time in the US

Waterhouse VC: Crunch time in the US

In his latest column, which goes live first on iGB, Tom Waterhouse of Waterhouse VC scrutinises the gambling stock performance in the US, and the variable of customer acquisition costs.

As discussed in our June newsletter, investors in US online wagering operators are growing impatient with the losses recorded for the sake of gaining market share.

One reason we focus primarily on suppliers over operators is because operators rely heavily on their customer acquisition cost (CAC).

In mature, highly taxed, regulated markets, a handful of operators earn the majority of profits because they have the lowest CAC and the best operational efficiencies.

ONE-Year Performance of Operators with Exposure to US Online Wagering.

Sportsbet take 2

Flutter’s third quarter results demonstrated FanDuel’s (Flutter’s US brand) clear market leadership. It has a 42% gross gaming revenue (GGR) market share in mobile sports betting and 18% market share in igaming.

As shown above, Flutter is the only opera..

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Sportradar raises guidance after US segment turns Q3 profit

Sportradar raises guidance after US segment turns Q3 profit

Sportradar raised its full-year guidance after it reported a 30.7% revenue increase to €178.8m and said its US segment turned a profit in Q3.

Sportradar reported that revenue from the United States was up by 61.2% to €31.6m.

“This growth was driven by a strong increase of US betting services, driven by cross-selling non-data products to betting operators as well as benefiting from our customers’ growth as a result of a development in the underlying market and new states legalising betting,” the group said.

Rest-of-world betting services was the largest segment of the business, with revenue up 28.4% from Q3 of 2021.

This, Sportradar said, was mostly due to clients using more products in which Sportradar receives a higher revenue share, such as as managed betting services.

“This growth was driven primarily by increased sales of our higher value-add offerings including managed betting services, which increased 84% to €38.2 million, and live odds services, which increased 12% to €27..

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Peru igaming regulations ban free bets, mandate supplier registration

Peru igaming regulations ban free bets, mandate supplier registration

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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STS launches “real-time” personalisation products with Future Anthem

STS launches “real-time” personalisation products with Future Anthem

Polish operator STS and AI supplier Future Anthem have together launched a new real-time personalisation product for sports betting.

Through a new agreement, STS will use “real-time exit prediction to fully automate their bonusing and player communications the moment a player’s bet settles”.

Future Anthem said that the new product was delivered within 12 weeks of receiving the necessary data.

Future Anthem CPO Ian Tibot said that lots of businesses in the sports betting space have discussed personalisation, but none had developed products that truly offered personalisation.

“Personalisation in the sports betting industry is a word that has been used for a long time but has never become a reality,” he said. “As a part of our successful Series A funding round this year we were clear in our ambition to lead the industry’s evolution towards delivering personalised player experiences.

“Our vision has been perfectly complemented by the ambition of STS to commit to a real-time personalis..

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Laila Mintas announces new venture, PlayEngine

Laila Mintas announces new venture, PlayEngine

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

888’s Howard Mittman on Betting 2.0

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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A natural evolution for player props

A natural evolution for player props

It makes sense that increased availability of player prop bets and integration of insights into betting would converge. Daniel O’Boyle speaks to Henry Newman, CEO of Sporting Risk, about his business’ combined pricing and facts tool for player props.

Two rising forces in sports betting lately have been – in terms of purely trading and markets – an effort to include more player proposition bets and, from a more user-experience-led perspective, a greater effort to integrate insights into the product.

So it only makes sense that these two products would converge.

Henry Newman, CEO, Sporting Risk

Still, it may be surprising to see who has brought a product combining player prop trading and facts for consumers to market first. It wasn’t from one of the data giants or a widely known sportsbook provider, though it was from a group that has made its living from bookmakers for some time.

Henry Newman, chief executive of Sporting Risk, notes that his company’s history in running a successfu..

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Metric Gaming to launch B2C sportsbook Bhet

Metric Gaming to launch B2C sportsbook Bhet

Sports betting supplier Metric Gaming has announced it will launch a B2C sportsbook offering through its wholly owned Bhet subsidiary.

The sportsbook will build on Metric’s previously announced partnership with Lacerta Sports. Lacerta was founded by a team from London-based data betting syndicate and consultancy Starlizard, whose data solution will power the sportsbook’s pricing, risk management and player profiling.

“The pricing will be among the most player-friendly in the industry, and the scope and availability of live in-game wagering will be significantly more innovative and engaging than competitor brands,” said Metric CEO Keith Hayes.

The new venture will be funded through Metric’s latest debt financing round, during which it had raised $15m. Metric said it has received strong “indication of interest” from an unnamed “high-net worth” strategic investor who is seeking to increase the size of the round to $30m and close it out entirely.

“Metric has made significant progress ..

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