Monthly Archives: April 2015

Daniel Negreanu Joins The Poker Central Team and Declares His Intent to Play in the $500k Super High Roller Bowl

PokerStars Team Pro, Daniel Negreanu, has agreed to help promote the forthcoming 24/7-poker channel, Poker Central, whilst finalizing plans to compete in the $500,000 buy-in event.

Daniel Negreanu has agreed to join forces with Poker Central. The PokerStars Team Pro will help promote the impending 24/7-poker news channel, and in particular the beating heart: $500,000 buy-in The Super High Roller Bowl.

Negreanu also took to Twitter to confirm that he will be playing in the $500,000 buy-in event when it takes place at The Aria Resort & Casino: July 2-4. The event slots in perfectly in between the biennial World Series of Poker $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop. Negreanu finished second to Daniel Colman in the 2014 event, winning $8.2m.

In light of the @PokerCentral_ press release: https://t.co/0zwcooJS86 I can also announce that I will be playing in the $500k SHR Bowl

FA Officials Considering Rebranding the FA Cup in £30m Deal With Emirates

News reports suggest that Football Association officials are considering rebranding the FA Cup to the Emirates FA Cup in a sponsorship deal worth a purported £30m over three years.

“Look at this.” My Mum said, pointing to the back page of The Sun, “Nobody gives a shit about football these days. I give up.”

I looked.

The FA Cup was going to rebranded as the Emirates FA Cup.

Wynn Plummeted Following 'Downright Ugly' Earnings; Here's What Analysts Think

After catching the market off guard with its 67 percent dividend cut and top and bottom-line earnings misses, shares of Wynn Resorts, Limited crashed more than 16 percent following its Q1 earnings report . Analysts certainly noted the importance of the earnings miss and the surprise dividend cut, but they were also blindsided by Wynn’s outlook for Las Vegas.

Defense Lawyers Request Dismissal of Paul Phua Case

Paul Phua may be just one more ruling away from winning his freedom. Defense lawyers for Phua have made a request to the judge presiding over his case that the charges against him be tossed, a move that comes in response to a previous ruling that tossed much of the evidence that was to be […]

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UK advertising watchdog says gambling can be a “positive experience”

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has declared that gambling can be “a positive experience.”

The ASA made this pronouncement in its ruling on a complaint filed against UK bookies William Hill. The kerfuffle kicked off when some killjoy received an email from William Hill Casino regarding a first-deposit bonus.

The email’s subject header read: “You were born to be happy,” which the recipient suggested was irresponsible. Specifically, Mr. Miserable felt that Hills was suggesting that gambling could provide an escape from an individual’s personal problems.

Hills’ parent company WHG (International) Ltd. responded by saying the subject header wasn’t related to the specifics of the offer contained therein. Moreover, they rejected the notion that the ‘cheer up, you miserable git’ sentiments expressed in the subject was in any way socially irresponsible, as it didn’t imply that gambling was the cure for personal, professional or educational problems such as loneliness, depression or a tendency to pick fights with one’s in-box.

California Online Poker Bill Passes Committee Vote

Online poker in California has sometimes seemed like one big tease to proponents of Internet gaming. Year after year, legislators and activists have said that online poker was just around the corner in the Golden State, only to watch as bills languished in the legislature. It showed absolutely no movement while various interest groups argued over […]

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Ryan Jones Takes Down WSOP-C Harrah’s In Style

Ryan Jones has set up the perfect run-in for the World Series of Poker with victory in the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina. With a career-best win of $235,804, the 24-year-old pro even managed to hit the big one in his back yard. NC is Jones’s home state. As well as […]

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Gambling in the Sports Digital Space with Chris Russo

By Joe Favorito @JoeFav @TheDailyPayoff

As we enter perhaps the busiest sports gambling weekend in some time, there are few who understand the convergence of digital, fantasy and sport better than Chris Russo.
Russo has been ahead of the curve in his time at the NFL, in his time as the founder of what was Fantasy Sports Ventures and became The Big Lead, and now is back in the business with Fifth Generation Sports, a boutique agency with capabilities in marketing, research, digital and social media with access to investment capital that will again look to be ahead of the curve in the highly fluid and volatile world of sports and digital.

94AE3405CA33487F91B4EF5BFE56E370.ashxThe Daily Payoff caught up with Russo to ask him about his new venture, where the opportunities, and more importantly where the misconceptions are in the digital sports business.

TDP: You have been involved in a number of startups in sports and digital, what will your latest project now be doing?

CR: Fifth Generation Sports will be focusing on the business of sports and technology. We’ll provide a range of consulting and intelligence services. I’ve also completed a relationship with MESA Global, a boutique investment bank, and I’m excited about helping build a sports M&A practice at MESA.

TDP: Fantasy Sports ventures was ahead of the curve when it launched. Are you surprised with the way the business of pay fantasy has now exploded?

CR: I am not really surprised that pay fantasy has become a huge business. The leading companies in the space have done a great job with their products and marketing. Also, the fantasy business was becoming stale and needed some type of major innovation. Daily fantasy is the perfect formula because it brings in new audiences and also makes daily sports like basketball, baseball, and hockey attractive, while football continues to be very popular.

TDP: What is the key to success in any fantasy opportunity going forward?

CR: I believe that many new opportunities to be developed in the coming years will be tied to the daily fantasy ecosystem. I expect that there will be a number of new products and services that provide some type of value to the daily player. Also, products that best leverage mobile consumption will be more likely to succeed.

TDP: How important is mobile activation?

CR: Mobile is critically important to any digital sports property. In many cases, more than half of the digital usage is driven via mobile. Unfortunately, the monetization of mobile sports is lagging, as it is in other sectors, but I do believe that the dollars will ultimately follow the eyeballs.

TDP: Who are some of the people you follow in the business and why?

CR: I don’t necessarily follow specific people but keep an eye on areas of innovation in digital sports. There are many interesting developments in OTT (Over The Top) , for example. We’ve already discussed the amazing growth of daily fantasy. Also, there has been a lot of excitement in the youth and high school sports space.

TDP: The NFLt announced their long-awaited YouTube deal. How important is that partnership for the YouTube brand?

CR: YouTube brings an enormous audience, and I think it makes sense for the NFL and other sports leagues to leverage that platform for fan development purposes. While the audience has been there for many years, my sense is that the monetization opportunity for the leagues in this context, and in social media generally, is increasing, which is why we see renewed focus on these types of deals.

TDP: How important is it for a digital sports brand to be global? Is hyper-local content enough?

CR: I believe that being a global brand is important for many sports properties and businesses, but not necessarily for all. Digital gives virtually every sports property a low cost way of creating a global footprint, but making money overseas may only be viable in the short run for certain properties. Regarding local content, I think the most important trend is the creation of new software and publishing tools that enable the local sports entities to efficiently create their own content. This allows a bottom up approach to local sports vs. the top down approach was which used in the early days of the internet.

TDP: What’s the biggest misconception people have about the fantasy space?

CR: The biggest misconception is that it’s very easy to make a lot of money in fantasy sports. While it’s true that several of the companies are doing very well, the space is extremely competitive and there are many companies that need to work hard simply to keep afloat. While I would encourage new companies to pursue their fantasy sports initiatives, it’s not an easy road.

Chris Russo Bio:
Chris Russo is a recognized industry leader and innovator in digital sports media. Mr. Russo’s diverse experience in digital sports includes his tenure as head of digital media for the NFL, his entrepreneurial success as CEO of Big Lead Sports, and his current roles as President of consultancy Fifth Generation Sports, Senior Advisor at MESA Global and adjunct professor at NYU’s Tisch Institute for Sports Management, Business and Media. Highlights of his career include:
NFL
Mr. Russo served as Senior Vice President, New Media for the National Football League. In that role, he had broad P&L responsibility for the digital media business unit and oversaw all day-to-day operations, including content, advertising sales, marketing, and business development. He completed digital media transactions with total value in excess of $1 billion, including arrangements with Sprint, eBay, Yahoo, CBS Sports, AOL, and Sirius Radio. He launched the NFL’s first-ever fantasy football products and also played a critical role in the creation of the “NFL Internet Network” business model, aggregating NFL.com and 32 team sites into a unified property. Mr. Russo received the Sports Business Journal 40 under 40 Award for 3 consecutive years and is a member of the Sports Business Journal Hall of Fame.
Big Lead Sports (aka Fantasy Sports Ventures)
Mr. Russo served as Chairman and CEO of Big Lead Sports (aka Fantasy Sports Ventures), the largest independent online sports property in the U.S., reaching more than 20 million unique users and consistently ranking in the top 5 among all online sports properties. At Big Lead Sports, Mr. Russo aggregated 500+ sports sites via strategic acquisitions and business arrangements. He completed innovative ad programs with brands such as Coke, Sprint, Coors, and Gillette/P&G. Big Lead Sports was nominated for a “Best in Digital Media” award by the Sports Business Journal. In 2012, Mr. Russo sold the company to USA TODAY.
NYU
Mr. Russo currently serves as Adjunct Instructor for the Tisch Institute for Sports Management, Business and Media. In that role, he teaches NYU’s Digital Media course to graduate students. In 2013, Mr. Russo received the NYU Sports Business Society Media Award for career accomplishments.
Mr. Russo received his BA from Northwestern University and his MBA from Harvard University.

Marketing costs blunt Unibet profits; Kambi Sports Solutions revenue up 29%

Malta-licensed online gambling operator Unibet says profit fell nearly one-third in Q1 due to a combination of increased marketing costs and unfavorable currency exchange rates.

Unibet reported profit before tax falling 32% to £11.3m in the three months ending March 31, while earnings were down a similar percentage to £14.4m. Revenue was essentially flat at £76.1m although the company says that if those pesky currency fluctuations were eliminated, revenue would have risen over 15% despite “strong comparatives” with the same period last year.

Unibet acknowledged that its 18% rise in marketing costs – spent primarily in its UK and Australian markets – had depressed Q1 margins but assured investors that the benefits of these promos were already being felt. The company said active customer ranks had risen nearly 11% to 612k, an all-time high that surpassed the levels seen during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, while customer deposits were up 12% (25% in constant currency).

Sports betting was Unibet’s star performer in Q1, with revenue up 8% to £35.5m despite free bet offers eating away at margins. Betting turnover rose 17% (30% in constant currency) and the vertical’s share of the overall revenue pie rose eight points to 47%. In-play wagers accounted for 52.4% of total bets, up from 45.1% a year ago.