Monthly Archives: February 2015

Deutsche Telekom acquires Tipp3, targets German punters using Austrian license

German telecom firm Deutsche Telekom (DT) has taken a controlling interest in sports betting operator Deutsche Sportwetten (DSW) with an eye toward immediately becoming a player in the German online sports betting market.

On Monday, DT announced it had acquired a 64% stake in DSW, which operates the Tipp3.at sports betting site under an Austrian gaming license. Tipp3’s former majority owners Austrian Sportswetten – which is majority owned by Austrian Lotteries and Casinos Austria – will retain a minority stake in DSW. No information was released as to the value of the deal.

DT has expressed an interest in joining the German sports betting party since September 2013 when it announced it would seek one of the 20 online sports betting licenses the German federal government was preparing to issue. A year later, DT was announcing plans to acquire a chunk of DSW, which was one of the lucky recipients of the 20 federal betting licenses.

Those 20 licenses have yet to be formally issued due to legal challenges launched by betting firms that were left out in the cold. But DT told German media outlet Die Welt that it plans to begin accepting German wagers before the end of March, relying on its Austrian license to justify its activity. DSW says its new Tipp3.de site has no intention of ‘reinventing’ sports betting, but will focus – at least, initially – on a limited diet of football, basketball and Formula 1 racing.

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN LICENSES GET THEIR DAY IN COURT

Meanwhile, the fate of the rival licensing regime in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein (SH) is currently being decided by the country’s Federal Court of Justice, the Bundesgerichtshof.

Depending how the Bundesgerichtshof rules, operators holding SH licenses could win the right to legally offer services to gamblers in the other German states. The SH regime is far more expansive than the federal scheme, allowing not just sports betting but casino and poker verticals as well. The SH regime also offers a far more favorable tax system for operators: 20% of gross gaming revenue vs. 5% of betting turnover under the federal plan.

CambridgeNews published Postcode lottery of 999 police response times in Cambridge and…

And the fresh data has shown the force is off target by 40 minutes for one area of the city – which is a five-minute drive from Parkside police station. Residents living in the CB1 area covering the city put in a total of 2,279 emergency calls in 2013/14 and had an average police response time of 14 minutes for the 1,433 calls deemed to be in the “immediate grade” status, meaning the force aims to respond within 20 minutes.

Lock Poker Balances Probably Have Vanished, Says Former Employee

Shane Bridges, a former spokesperson for disgraced online poker site Lock, has opened up about a culture of mismanagement and excess within the company. In an interview with Pokerfuse this week, Bridges also said that he feels it’s now unlikely that Lock’s players will be reunited with their funds. It’s estimated that the offshore, unregulated […]

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Nevada / Delaware Player Pool Sharing is “Four to Six Weeks Away”

An online poker compact between Nevada and Delaware that will allow the two states to pool player liquidity is to go live in “four to six weeks,” according to Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval. Sandoval told Steve Tetreault at the Las Vegas Review Journal that “technical glitches” had prevented the scheme from being rolled out last […]

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Monmouth Park inks DFS marketing deal; DFS endgame is real-money sports betting

New Jersey’s Monmouth Park racetrack has struck a marketing partnership with the Fantasy Sports Network (FNTSY) to promote the track’s new daily fantasy sports product.

Monmouth biz-dev VP Bill Knauf said the partnership encompassed brand cross-promotion and development of an on-site presence at the track. Louis Malone, chief strategy officer of FNTSY parent company Anthem Media Group, said his firm would work with Monmouth to select a website game vendor to develop and operate all new games.

Monmouth announced plans to launch a fantasy product in November after its real-money sports beting plans were thwarted by US District Judge Michael Shipp. Monmouth originally planned to launch its fantasy offering in time for the Super Bowl but later revised that timeline to target the start of the NCAA March Madness tournament. The latest timeline is to be up and running by opening day of the 2015 Major League Baseball season.

DFS OPERATORS ENDGAME IS REAL-MONEY SPORTS BETTING?

Meanwhile, speculation is mounting that DFS operators are ultimately planning to convert their fantasy operations to real-money single-game sports betting.

University of Indianapolis sports marketing professor Laurence DeGaris told Bloomberg that DFS “delivers a similar fan experience to gambling, so I expect the current database of customers would provide a good foundation for sports gamblers.”

Market researchers Nielsen’s annual Year in Sports report said the number of DFS players rose five-fold last year to 5.1m, most of whom are men in their mid-30s or early 40s. The number of DFS players who play via mobile devices rose 847% to 3m.

Spain eyes restrictions on gambling ads; Italy’s “insignificant” ad revisions slammed

Online gambling operators in Spain’s regulated market will likely face increased restrictions on advertising following a joint motion in the country’s Senate.

Officials from all parties in the Senate put forward the motion calling on the government to impose tougher rules on the promotion of online gambling. The proposed changes include a UK-style watershed hour before which online gambling advertisements could not be aired as well as bans on ads aired via media specifically directed at minors, including mobile apps.

A more contentious proposal involves restricting sponsorship deals between online gambling firms and Spanish sports clubs. For six years, the Bwin half of online gambling operator Bwin.party had its logo emblazoned across the chests of Real Madrid players but the cash-strapped company walked away from the sponsorship in 2013. Real Madrid subsequently inked a partnership with Bwin.party’s Sportster Bet and Win social betting product, until Bwin.party shut down the money-losing social gaming product last month.

The Spanish government has six months in which to respond to the joint motion. The intervening period should feature some heated debate as operators seek to ease some of the motion’s more punitive elements.

ITALIAN OPPOSITION PARTY WANTS TOTAL GAMBLING AD BAN

A little further east, Italy is considering revisions to its own gambling ad rules but one politician says the proposals don’t go nearly far enough. On Monday, Beppe Grillo, who heads the Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Star Movement) party, wrote on his personal blog that Italy should impose an “absolute” ban on all gambling ads similar to prohibitions on advertising tobacco products.

Grillo’s statement was prompted by news that gambling operators have been given a sneak peek at the government’s revised ad rules while parliamentarians have been left in the dark. Grillo said his party had “unmask[ed] a government dominated by the gambling lobby.”

Kasich called on to negotiate $500,000 payment from Austintown racino operator

Representative Michelle Lepore-Hagan is calling on Ohio Governor John Kasich immediately enter into negotiations to secure $500,000 payments for Austintown and five other Ohio communities hosting racinos. Lepore-Hagan says the Governor signed two bills mandating that he and the State Racing Commission negotiate an agreement to provide $500,000 per year to the host communities.