Strategy Archives - Bookiecity

FansUnite expects to save $7.1m from DragonBet migration

FansUnite Entertainment has reached an agreement with UK-based sportsbook DragonBet to migrate off its Chameleon Gaming platform as part of a strategy to streamline its business operations.

DragonBet will migrate off the white label betting platform on or around 3 September. This is despite the Welsh-facing brand having only joined the platform last year under a deal with FansUnite.

The migration comes after FansUnite in May agreed to sell the Chameleon source code to Betr. Under the deal, Betr is paying a total of $7.4 to take ownership of the platform.

FansUnite said the combined impact of the sale and DragonBet migration will result in approximately $7.1m (£5.6m/€6.6m) in annualised cost savings.

These savings include reductions in salary and selling, general and administrative costs. The business said these will be reflected in its financial results once the wind-up of operations of the Chameleon platform completes.

FansUnite added that it expects to generate positive cash flo..

August 11, 2023

Dearth of igaming legislation prompts major WynnBet roll-back

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Wynn Resorts blames a dearth of igaming legislation and marketing costs for a major reduction in its online brand WynnBet’s US footprint.

Wynn will cease operations in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virgina as soon as possible.

Operations in New York and Michigan remain under review. Only Nevada and Massachusetts operations are guaranteed to continue – states where it operates land-based properties.

“Better uses of capital deployment”

There are better uses of capital deployment for Wynn shareholders than the high levels of marketing spend required for online sports betting, chief financial officer Julie Cameron-Doe explained.

“While we believe in the long-term prospects of igaming, the dearth of igaming legislation and the presence of numerous other investment opportunities available to us around the globe have led us to the decision to curtail our capital investment in WynnBet to focus primarily on those states where we maintain..

August 9, 2023

ESPN Bet to launch in November

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Jay Snowden, president and CEO of Penn Entertainment, confirmed that ESPN Bet will go live in November this year.

Penn and sports broadcaster ESPN’s transformative $1.5bn deal will consist of Penn relaunching its existing Barstool Sportsbook as ESPN Bet.

Off the back of the deal Penn is divesting its Barstool Sports sportsbook brand and selling it back to Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool.

Snowden confirmed the month for launch on Penn’s earnings call today, following the publication of its second quarter results.

When the deal was announced yesterday, Penn said the launch had been set for “the fall”, with no specific details as to when.

On the earnings call, Snowden skipped around the month with “sometime this fall” and “certainly before Thanksgiving” before landing on November.

Snowden defended the timing of the launch amid claims it would come too late in the NFL season.

“I think our launch in November is good, because it won’t get lost at the beginning of football season,”..

May 24, 2023

International growth offsets NA decline in Super Group Q1

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Growth in Betway-operator Super Group’s African, Middle Eastern and European operations partially offset the decline in revenue experienced in the company’s North American division.

Super Group chief executive Neal Menashe praised the “solid” result in Q1 and emphasised that the company remained focused on profit and revenue growth.

“During the month of March, net gaming revenue was a record high, along with the operational EBITDA margin of over 20% and this is a strong reminder of the value of operating leverage in our business,” he said.

“We are confident that we will continue to build on another strong quarter across igaming and sports betting across the world.”

Regulation in Ontario throttles North American segment

Super Group reported €338.5m for the first three months of 2023, a 1% rise from the €334.5m the company achieved in the same period of the previous year.

Overall, Super Group’s Betway sports betting and gaming business generated €198.2m of the total, while the op..

May 24, 2023

Fanatics’ Matt King brings new thinking to US sports betting

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

As CEO of FanDuel, Matt King took a daily fantasy sports brand to the top of the US sports betting industry, and in the top job at Fanatics Betting and Gaming he’s looking to do it all over again. Not that he’s looking to emulate his former employers in leading the ecommerce giant; it’s Spotify that inspires him.

For Fanatics Betting and Gaming chief executive Matt King, the challenge he is taking on isn’t building a market leader. He’s already done that during his tenure at FanDuel, which is currently sitting with a seemingly unassailable market share across the US. Revenue there grew from $200m to over $1bn on his watch.

And his core goal isn’t to build an entity capable of taking on a behemoth he created. Instead the billion-dollar question is: how do you create something capable of providing a genuine alternative to consumers?

In a market dominated by iTunes, he’s looking to build Spotify.

Fanatics: Officially licensed everything

What separates Fanatics Betting and Gaming f..

May 4, 2023

Genius strikes deal with Chinese Taipei Football Association

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Genius Sports has entered into a long-term data, streaming and integrity partnership with the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), which is the official data rights holder of Taiwan football.

The partnership will cover the CTFA’s premier competitions, including the Taiwan Football Premier League, the Taiwan Mulan Football League and the Second Division Taiwan Football League.

As part of the partnership Genius will provide its data insights and technology to the CTFA with the aim of bolstering fan experiences. Genius will also help the CTFA to commercialise its sports data and promote their streaming content.

“We’re proud to enter this wide-ranging partnership with the Chinese Taipei Football Association, providing our proven official data, streaming, competition management and integrity solutions,” said Jagdish Singh, head of customer success, APAC at Genius. “Our technology will be central to their strategy to drive new revenues, engage fans and protect their competitions.”
..

April 28, 2023

PointsBet confirms North American sales talks

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Australian gaming operator PointsBet confirmed that the business is “currently in discussion with multiple parties” regarding the sale of its North American business.

The company also said that it has terminated previously reported talks to sell its Australian business to the News Corp-backed gaming venture behind the Betr brand. Despite this, PointsBet said it remains in discussion with “other third parties” who have expressed interest in acquiring the business.

“Consistent with commentary previously provided to our investors and the market more generally, PointsBet continues to engage in discussions regarding strategic transactions that offer the potential to add value for our shareholders,” said the company.

pointsbet also confirmed that it had terminated the talks to sell its Australian business to a news Corp-backed venture

Losses mount despite revenue growth

For the three-month period ending 31 March, the business recorded gross gaming revenue of AU$106.6m (£56.4m/€63.9m/US..

April 25, 2023

Yahoo acquires sports betting app Wagr

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Yahoo has announced the acquisition of peer-to-peer sports betting app Wagr, bolstering its fantasy and gaming offerings.

While the terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, Yahoo did make clear that, as part of the deal, Wagr will be fully integrated into Yahoo Sports.

The betting platform has previously attracted a number of high-level investments, including support from Seven Seven Six – spearheaded by Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder – the Kraft Group and the owners of the New England Patriots.

Wagr was also the first social sports betting operator to receive a licence in the United States.

Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo, said that the acquisition represents the future of Yahoo’s gaming products.

“The acquisition of Wagr is an exciting step in the development of the next generation of Yahoo Sports’ gaming portfolio,” said Lanzone.

“Wagr stands out for their innovative emphasis on community and social engagement in sports gaming, which aligns perfectly with the Yahoo award-wi..

March 22, 2023

GiG banks on the power of two

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Richard Brown’s tenure as Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) chief executive began with a major change of direction, with the sale of its B2C assets to Betsson. Almost four years on, and with business booming for the B2B supplier, he’s poised to make another huge call with plans to split the business into media and platform suppliers.

When he was confirmed as permanent CEO of Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) in November 2019, Richard Brown pledged a focus “on delivery, execution and optimisation, putting us on a path for great focus and renewed growth”.

The business reported revenue of €43.0m for 2019, at a time it encompassed B2C operations; a platform business, and affiliate marketing operations under the GiG Media banner. Brown then divested the B2C operations to Betsson early in 2020.

This, he’s explained previously, created a focused business, with staff putting all efforts into the B2B platform and media operations.

In 2022, Brown’s third full year as GiG CEO, revenue hit €90.1m, ..

March 1, 2023

Better Collective signs media partnership with Goal

Sports Betting News Bookiecity

Denmark-based affiliate Better Collective has announced a global media partnership with Goal, the online football brand, to create sports betting content.

The deal will see Better Collective running the sports betting section of Goal across all the brand’s domains, which is featured in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Better Collective will also provide Goal with sports betting content, as well as technology and data insights.

Jesper Søgaard, Better Collective CEO and co-founder, said that the deal is the start of bigger things to come from the affiliate.

“Partnering with such a well-recognised and renowned media like Goal perfectly aligns with our media partnership strategy and our overall strategy of becoming the leading digital sports media group,” said Søgaard. “There is no doubt in my mind that we will be able to benefit from each other’s expertise.”

Goal is owned by FootballCo, which operates other sports brands including Mundial, Spox and Voetbalzone.

James Lamon, Football..

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