Retail sports betting Archives - Page 11 of 13

Californians to vote on legalising online betting this year

A proposition to allow online sports betting in California – but with licence fees of up to $100m – will to appear on the state’s ballot this November.

Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson confirmed that the measure – backed by Flutter’s FanDuel brand, as well as DraftKings and BetMGM – was set to appear on the ballot this November, having gained more than the required 997,139 signatures.

“We’re very excited abut the Californian situation,” he said. “Clearly getting to this stage was not straightforward but we’re very, very happy to be on the ballot.”

These signatures must still be verified, though the measure reportedly has enough signatures that this is expected to be a formality. If it appears on the ballot and is approved by a majority of voters, it will become law.

The measure is titled the California Legalize Sports Betting and Revenue for Homelessness Prevention Fund Initiative (2022), as 85% of tax proceeds will gowards reducing homelessness. Sports wagering will be taxed ..

May 3, 2022

Brazil publishes sports betting rules

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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..

April 29, 2022

888 shareholders to vote on WIlliam Hill acquisition on 16 May

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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 28, 2022

Churchill Downs revenue hits record $364.1m in Q1

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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 22, 2022

Regulator calls on Norsk Tipping to launch betting loss limits

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Norwegian regulator Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet has called on monopoly operator Norsk Tipping to reduce the availability and number of casino games on its site, and for the introduction of loss limits for sports betting.

In the regulator’s 2021 annual report, it found that both customer and turnover numbers reached a record high for Norsk Tipping, one of the country’s two monopolies alongside racing operator Norsk Rikstoto.

“There may be several reasons for the growth,” the regulator said. “One of the reasons may be that people through the corona pandemic have had more free time due to restrictions in leisure activities.”

This came despite the operator reducing its monthly loss limit for “high-risk” games from NOK10,000 (£869/€1,037/$1,117) to NOK7,500 in December 2020, before cutting it further, to NOK5,000, in September 2021.

While it noted that this represents a success for channelisation, the regulator added that it had asked the operator to strengthen its player protection ..

April 7, 2022

Betfan turns profit in third year of operation

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Polish bookmaker Betfan reported sales of €77m (£64.2m/$83.9m) for 2021, while its profit came to €760,000.

The business – which started taking bets in April 2019 – noted that its sales were up 90% from 2020. This, it said, was due to an 85% year-on-year increase in customers. The number of markets it offered, meanwhile, was up by 20%.
In addition, it said it achieved profitability in “record time” as no previous Polish bookmaker had made a profit within three years.
“When we started our business three years ago, we had very ambitious plans and we have been consistently pursuing our objectives ever since,” Betfan co-owner and chairman Łukasz Łazarewicz said. “We benefit from the fact that the betting market has grown by around 50% last year and this year it is expected to grow by between 15% and 20%.
“However, Betfan has been growing much faster than the industry itself and we will aim to maintain this trend in the coming years as well. At the same time, we have a strong advantage in ..

April 6, 2022

Caesars to open in-stadium sportsbook through New York Mets partnership

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Caesars Entertainment has agreed a multi-year partnership with the New York Mets, which includes plans to open a sportsbook at the Mets’ Citi Field.

Caesars will become an official sports betting partner of the team, which will allow for integrations with the operator’s VIP programme as well as marketing opportunities at Mets games.

In addition, the operator will open a new 13,000 square-foot sportsbook at Citi Field at some point during the 2022 season. The sportsbook will include a multi-tiered dining room and outdoor patio seating.

The deal comes soon after New York launched its online sports betting market, with Caesars being one of only nine operators permitted to do business.

“New York is a key state for us following the successful launch of our Caesars Sportsbook app in January,” said Chris Holdren, co-president of Caesars Digital. “The Mets’ fanbase is one of the most loyal in baseball and this partnership offers us the chance to treat those passionate fans like Caesars.

April 4, 2022

DraftKings to offer sports betting in Puerto Rico with Foxwoods deal

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DraftKings and Foxwoods operator the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation have expanded their partnership in order to allow the online betting giant to take bets in Puerto Rico through a sportsbook at Foxwoods El San Juan Casino.

Subject to receiving licences and approvals, DraftKings will host a retail sportsbook at the tribe’s casino in Puerto Rico’s capital. The sportsbook is expected to open “in the coming weeks”.

The two operators already partnered to allow the DraftKings brand access to the Connecticut market. In Connecticut the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is one of only two permitted online gaming operators and three permitted sportsbook operators.

“We have made tremendous strides in the sports betting space in our relationship with DraftKings, who has continued to be a valuable partner, through our online and retail experiences in the state of Connecticut,” said Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation chairman Rodney Butler. “As we expand our partnership with DraftKings to the ..

March 23, 2022

Stoixman deal helps OPAP revenue grow to €1.54bn

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Greek operator OPAP recorded €1.53bn (£1.28bn/$1.69bn) in revenue in 2021, a 36.2% year-on-year increase, as the acquisition of the remainder of Stoiximan helped the business diversify its operations with greater focus on online betting and gaming.

Breaking down this revenue total by game type, lotteries were the largest contributor, bringing in €549.2m, which was 5.9% more than in 2020.

This was followed by retail betting, which brought in €283.0m, up 5.6%, as pandemic-related restrictions continued to have an impact.

“Our retail business demonstrated high resilience, with recovery ramping up, even though our stores had to suspend operations for several months and adjust to strict healthcare restrictions after reopening,” OPAP chief executive Jan Karas said. “Our comprehensive commercial plan and well-accepted loyalty programs played a key role to this end.”
Online betting, meanwhile, experienced a sharp increase in revenue, by nearly 500% to €238.4m. Similarly, revenue from online..

March 21, 2022

Louisiana online betting draws $211m in wagers in first full month

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Players in Louisiana staked $211.0m (£160.4m/€190.7m) during the first full month of legal online sports betting in the US state.

Louisiana opened its regulated market on January 28 following the launch of retail sports wagering in October of last year.

Penn National Gaming and its Barstool Sportsbook, Caesars, DraftKings, Rush Street Interactive and its BetRivers Sportsbook, and Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group in partnership with Boyd Gaming all went live with online sports betting on opening day.

A total of $40.5m was wagered by consumers during the first four days of regulated online betting in the state in January.

Revenue from the first full month of online sports wagering amounted to $16.7m, though this included $11.7m in revenue from promotional wagers. Excluding these offers, revenue was $2.7m.

Football betting was the main source of revenue for online operators, generating $9.8m, ahead of basketball on $5.1m and parlay betting at $4.4m.

Looking at retail bettin..

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