Online gambling operators were once again among Sweden’s top-spending advertisers in 2019, while Sweden’s advertising watchdog has pulled a Unibet ad for misleading claims.

On Tuesday, Swedish media revealed Kantar Sifo data ranking the top-20 companies in terms of 2019 advertising spending. Five gambling operators made this list, led by online gambling operator Cherry AB, which ranked second with SEK914.2m (US$95.3m), behind only supermarket giant ICA at SEK1.07b.

Cherry’s 2019 spending marked a nearly 35% decline from 2018’s advertising outlay. Similarly, Kindred Group, which ranked third on the 2019 list with SEK912.7m, reduced its spending by 5.2% from 2018. The state-run Svenska Spel, which ranked fifth with SEK659.8m, bucked this trend, boosting its spending by 17.4% from 2018.

A similar growth phenomenon was observed with the state-run horserace betting monopoly ATG, which boosted ad spend by 21.1% to SEK395.5m (13th place), while the Postcode Lottery increased spending by 10.5% to SEK319.3m (18th place). LeoVegas, the only other gambling operator on the 2018 list, failed to make the 2019 cut.

Portugal’s regulated online gambling market closed out 2019 in style, with Q4 revenue up by more than one-half year-on-year, but new higher taxes are in the mail.

Figures released Tuesday by the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body show the state’s 12 online gambling licensees generated combined revenue of €65.4m in the three months ending December 31, 2019. That’s a 52.1% rise from Q4 2018’s total, €11.4m higher than Q3 2019 and a new market record.

There were nine active sports betting licensees at the end of Q4 2019 that combined for €33.4m in revenue, up 55% year-on-year, while betting turnover spiked by more than two-thirds to a record €185.3m. Football remains the dominant betting sport, capturing nearly three-quarters of all wagers, followed by basketball (13.3%), tennis (6.3%) and hockey (3%).

Online casino revenue, which had surpassed sports in the previous two quarters, slipped back into second-place in Q4 with €32m (+49.1%). Total casino spending hit €852.2m, up from just €275.8m in Q4 2018, with slots accounting for nearly 69% of online casino turnover, well ahead of roulette (13.6%) and blackjack (8.1%).

The case for buying Macau on a coronavirus fear trade keeps getting stronger by the day. Here we’ll go through the reasons in detail. First, we’ll briefly recap the reasons mentioned last week, then add some new ones, and finally detail what I believe will prove a safe and effective trading strategy. Opportunities like this don’t come along often, and when they do, most people are too scared to take them.

Before we begin though, let’s get the Bernie Sanders caveat from last week out of the way. The Iowa caucuses have just finished and the threat of a Bernie Sanders market plunge is pretty much off the table now. Leaving pure politics out of this, for markets at least, the results were even better than a Sanders loss. The entire Democratic party lost because there are no results, something or other crashed or whatever, and the whole thing looks like what normally happens with the election of a new US puppet government somewhere in the Middle East after the army just finished bombing it and clearing out the previous regime in its latest attempt to spread democracy and demonstrate US exceptionalism. At least this time Trump didn’t have to call in airstrikes on Iowa. There was no need, and thankfully nobody has been killed. Yet.

The Sanders campaign will blame a conspiracy to steal the election, nobody will care, and even if the sorry Iowans iron out the count at some point and Sanders technically wins, it won’t matter because everyone will too be busy laughing. As for New Hampshire on February 11, Bernie will probably win that one, but New Hampshire is weird so it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, a very quick recap on why not to freak out from last week: The fatality rate of the new coronavirus is already dropping, now at about 2% from 3%. It’ll keep dropping. The median age of those succumbing to the virus is 75 according to the China National Health Commission. Peak flu season is February, which ends in 3 weeks, and the faster this thing spreads, the faster it will burn out.

This is a guest contribution by This is a guest contribution by Dmitry Malyshev of Mascot Gaming, If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Some of the largest online casino operators are now investing heavily in their own slot development studios as they look to leverage the growing popularity of bespoke and exclusive content.

These games are hugely effective at allowing operators to stand out from their rivals and to offer their players something different and to keep coming back for.

Where once operators would rely on welcome packages, on-going bonuses and rewards schemes to do this, they are now turning to bespoke games and exclusive slot launches.

Miomni prepares for legal battle against Delaware North

Just in time for the Super Bowl, Delaware North, owner of Wheeling Island Casino and Mardi Gras Casino, partnered with International Game Technology (IGT) as their new sports book provider. Not to be forgotten though is their previous provider, Miomni Games, who are still fighting to prove their contract with the casino operator was ended unfairly.

CalvinAyre.com has learned Miomni won a January 27 decision against EnterG Software Solutions in the U.K. High Court of Justice. EnterG did not show up to defend themselves in court, and Miomni won the right to not only seek a summary judgement, but admission from the court that their license agreement is still in effect.

This means a great deal to Miomni’s relationship with Delaware North. The software provided by Miomni to the casino operator started to experience issues in March 2019, allegedly caused by EnterG by using a backdoor to shut down operations. Delaware North used this as cause to end their partnership with Miomni and go to court.

An ongoing dispute between Australia-listed Donaco International and former Thai partners involved in the Star Vegas casino in Cambodia is finally making some real headway. Mired in legal headaches for the past five years, Donaco is reportedly sitting down at the negotiating table with the Thai group in order to find an equitable resolution. It’s good news for Donaco, which is hoping the closure of the battle will help it bounce back from a poor performance in the last quarter of 2019.

Donaco had purchased the casino from the Thai group in 2015, turning around to hire it to manage the gaming operations for two years. When the group decided to build a gambling facility next door, Star Paradise, an agreement was reached to have Donaco manage that venue’s gaming operations in what would essentially amount to a quid pro quo arrangement. However, Donaco was pushed out after the deal expired, which resulted in the partners being accused of violating a non-compete agreement. From there, the long legal battle ensued.

The negotiations center on that drama, as well as other cases. Donaco has been trying to seek legal authority to be paid $190 million in damages related to the Star Vegas dispute, due to the violation of the non-compete agreement, as well as a freeze order that was put in place when the Thai group wanted to dump its 17.9% stake in Donaco. The latter was implemented as a direct result of the ongoing case in Singapore, and the sale would not be authorized until the case was resolved.

A Cambodian court, in 2018, already determined that the Thai partners could not terminate the existing lease agreement with Donaco, but that didn’t bring any closure to the battle. Donaco provided an update (in pdf) to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday, indicating that it has reached an agreement, through a memorandum of understanding, that will bring to a halt all legal battles for two months while they try to work out a proper settlement. The company explained, “The suspension applies to the Singapore arbitration claim against the Thai vendor, the lease dispute in Cambodia, and all other litigation matters in Cambodia, Thailand and Australia.”