Tag Archives: Sports betting

GAN debuts sports betting in US with Island View Casino launch

GAN debuts sports betting in US with Island View Casino launch

GAN has launched sports betting with Island View Casino in Mississippi, marking the first US deployment of GAN Sports since its acquisition of Coolbet in January 2021.

Consumers at the casino will be able to place sports bets at 20 internet-connected kiosks, while GAN will also roll out a “Bet the V” branded mobile sportsbook to complement the retail offering.

The mobile solution will be enabled by GAN’s GameSTACK Player Account Management (PAM) system for omnichannel sports betting via retail kiosks or mobile devices while on location at the casino.

GAN will also provide supporting marketing and customer services, while the deal will allow for the state-wide roll out of mobile sports betting, should Mississippi pass the relevant laws to expand wagering in the future. At present, consumers are only permitted to place mobile bets while on-site at a licensed casino.

The launch was made possible after GAN acquired Vincent Group, the parent company of operator Coolbet, for $175.9m in J..

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Elys granted approval for DC nightclub sportsbook

Elys granted approval for DC nightclub sportsbook

Gaming technology provider Elys Game Technology has been granted approval by Washington DC local government for a white-label joint venture with the Ozio Lounge, a Mediterranean-themed nightclub.

The business formerly known as Newgioco has agreed to launch a joint venture with District Hospitality, the club’s operator, and will trade under the BetDupont LLC name. The agreement has an initial term of three years from the date the licence is issued – with inbuilt provisions for two anticipated extensions of two years each.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval from the DC Office of Lottery and Gaming (DCOLG) – and would be the third white label retail sportsbook opened by the business in the city, having engaged in similar deals with the Grand Central Restaurant and Sportsbook, which has been completed and the Cloakroom Gentlemen’s Club, which is awaiting regulatory confirmation.

Elys executive chairman Michele Ciavarella placed the deal in the context of the business’ wider US s..

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DAZN eyes betting expansion with Eleven deal

DAZN eyes betting expansion with Eleven deal

Worldwide sports platform DAZN Group has entered an agreement to acquire the global sports media businesses of Eleven Group to support its betting expansion plans.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but DAZN said the purchase would expand its live sports streaming capabilities in markets around the world and add approximately $300.0m (£281.5m/$314.1m) in revenue per year to its business.

DAZN said that should the acquisition go ahead, the addition of Eleven to its business would support its wider plans to grow its betting operations.

In recent months, DAZN has made a series of announcements supporting its betting business. Last month, the company soft launched the beta product of the DAZN Bet sports betting venture in the UK.

First revealed in April, DAZN Bet is powered by technology from Pragmatic Play, and is being led by Mark Kemp, formerly chief executive of BoyleSports.

The move into the world of betting came after DAZN last year hired Shay Segev – formerly chief..

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Dutch minister defends sponsorship transition timeline

Dutch minister defends sponsorship transition timeline

Dutch minister for legal protection, Franc Weerwind, has defended the timeline of the country’s sponsorship ban, amid further questioning on the subject from MPs.

In July, the Dutch government announced a number of measures to curb gambling advertising, following severe pressure from MPs. Many forms of ads will be banned from the start of next year, while gambling sponsorships in football will be banned from 2025.

When asked about the upcoming sponsorship ban, Weerwind said that the two-year adjustment period set out for the ban is a “reasonable” length of time.

“That is why a period of two years has been provided for the entry into force of a ban on sports sponsorship,” he said.

“In view of the serious importance of addiction prevention and the special importance of sport, I consider this a short, but reasonable period of time.”

He was questioned in parliament last week (23 September) by Mirjam Bikker, a member of political party ChristenUnie.

The questions mostly dealt with foo..

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Best perspective: emerging sports and integrity

Best perspective: emerging sports and integrity

Integrity has long been a major issue in sports betting. While this is a problem for even the most established of sports, emerging sports can be blindsided by the scale of the problem. Marese O’Hagan speaks to Steve Hall, commissioner of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), about how emerging sports are approaching the issue of integrity.

In its second quarter 2022 report, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) received a total of 88 suspicious alerts pertaining to sports betting worldwide. Football was the subject of 32 of these, while tennis and horseracing followed at 27 and 12 respectively.

But virtually every sport has been touched by match-fixing and betting corruption. Routinely, headlines appear that detail a variety of penalties across a number of sports for engaging in the practice.

For sports in their infancy, the issue of betting corruption can be difficult to grapple with. Time and resources are needed to tackle the problem, both of which some emerg..

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World Series of Politics: The NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil

World Series of Politics: The NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil

It's a busy episode this week, with Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden looking at the NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil's election.

The dynamic duo kick off by discussing sports betting activity around the National Football League’s kickoff on 8 September. This season is set to be the biggest ever for sports betting; 46.6 million Americans plan to place a bet during the season.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

However, there are some issues emerging on where bets can be placed – the league is trying to prevent betting on match days.

There’s also some intrigue around the Wire Act, in the wake of a Rhode Island District Court judge ruling that the Department of Justice must formally state that it only applies to sports betting. Could this provide much-needed clarity after an attempt to enforce the act across all forms of gambling?

Does this mean the issue is dead and buried? Brandt is confident, but Brendan is not so sure.

Further afield, Brazil is preparing to go to the polls in a ..

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DC sports betting bounces back in August as handle reaches $13.1m

DC sports betting bounces back in August as handle reaches $13.1m

Washington DC recorded its first month-on-month rise in sports wagering handle for two months in August, while gross gaming revenue also increased.

Player spending for the month amounted to $13.1m (£11.9m/€13.4m), which was 15.9% higher than $11.3m in July and also 5.7% up from $12.4m in August of last year.

Gross gaming revenue from sports betting during the month reached $1.8m, comfortably surpassing the $1.2m generated in July this year by 50.0%, while this was also 20.0% higher than $1.5m in August 2021.

In terms of individual operator performances, Caesars once again claimed top spot in the DC market with $683,326 off a handle of $5.7m.

Gambet, which is operated by the DC Lottery and powered by Intralot, ranked second with $557,987 in revenue from $3.4m in player spending. BetMGM, which operates in DC in partnership with MLB team the Washington Nationals, was next with revenue of $362,462 from a $2.5m handle.

Next, Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel, which opened a FanDuel-brand..

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English football must distance itself from the Pogos

English football must distance itself from the Pogos

iGB op-ed: Zak Thomas-Akoo argues that in the wake of criminal scandals regarding offshore operators based in the Philippines, the continued association by English football clubs with the sector could be a ticking time-bomb for scandal.

Most fans of Premier League clubs probably couldn’t tell you much about the Pogo sector, but it has become deeply embedded in top-flight English football.

A Philippines Offshore Gambling Operation, or Pogo, is a Philippines-based gambling site that broadcasts games of chance to other jurisdictions – usually elsewhere in Asia. Almost by definition, this comes without approval by local authorities in the operator’s target markets. While China has been the highest-profile target, a number of Pogos also specialise in the Korean or Vietnamese markets.

The sector is also widely believed to be infiltrated by criminal organisations and has been linked to crimes such as human trafficking, slavery and prostitution, with the situation getting so bad that a sena..

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Mississippi player spending reaches $21.2m in August

Mississippi player spending reaches $21.2m in August

Consumers in Mississippi spent $21.2m (£18.9m/€21.7m) wagering on sports in August, halting a four-month consecutive decline in the US state.

Sports betting handle for the month was 15.9% higher than $18.3m in July, but 0.9% down from $21.4m in August of last year.

Revenue also increased month-on-month, with the $2.7m generated in August being 8.0% higher than $2.5m in July, while this total was also 42.1% up from $1.9m in August 2021.

Coastal casinos were again most popular with consumers in Mississippi, with these venues drawing $14.2m in bets and turning $1.7m in total revenue for the month.

Spending at central casinos amounted to $4.2m, with revenue at $618,375, while northern casinos processed $2.2m in bets and generated $1.7m in revenue.

Baseball was the sport of choice for consumers during the month, with players wagering $8.5m at coastal casinos, $1.4m at central casinos and $1.3m at northern casinos.

The Mississippi Gaming Commission also noted that percentage for the mo..

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German municipalities now unable to tax betting shops

German municipalities now unable to tax betting shops

The German supreme court for administrative matters, the Federal Administrative Court, has ruled that municipalities will no longer be able to levy a betting shop tax.

A lawsuit had been originally brought about by the bookmakers that operated betting shops in the German city of Dortmund. Since 2014, the city had been levying a municipal tax based on the dimensions of the physical area of the betting shop – which was defined as areas where bets were processed and monitored. The tax was designed to be passed directly onto consumers.

However, in 2017 the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the tax could not be based on the area of the shop, leading to the city rewriting the statute as a 3% stake tax – this was in addition to the federally imposed 5% stake tax for sports betting.

Following this, the Münster Higher Administrative Court allowed an appeal about whether this tax by multiple levels of government was inadmissible due to similarities with taxes imposed under the Lottery A..

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