Monthly Archives: April 2020

SBC Digital Summit analyzes esports, free to play and Spain

The first day of the SBC Digital Summit is almost in the books, and this has been an incredibly successful launch. From the moment the virtual doors opened this morning, attendance has been extremely high, with the entire gaming industry coming together to work toward a post-coronavirus world. A lot of time and effort went into making sure that the conference would go off without a hitch, given the number of people that needed to connect, and the hard work has paid off. The afternoon schedule for the first day continued to supply an endless supply of data and information for the gaming ecosystem, covering a wide variety of topics that prove how resilient the space is, and how it plans on bouncing back once things are able to return to normal.

Getting things going for the afternoon presentations was Cillian Barry, managing director of Sportcaller. The company, which offers free-to-play (FTP) solutions for existing gaming companies such as William Hill, the Kindred Group and more, made the most of the coronavirus-forced downtime to review the market segment and determine what is, and what isn’t working. All evidence points to the fact that FTP offerings can help an operator both retain its customer base, as well as attract new users. The current downtime is allowing the company to refine its solutions, which will enable operators to even better service customers after COVID-19 is brought under control.

When that happens, there will be three stages of recovery for the industry. Things like esports and online gaming offerings will be able to get going first in stage one, followed by limited live sports activity in stage two. This could include Germany’s Bundesliga soccer in May and the PGA in June, which are currently in the works. Stage three will include a fully-blown relaunch of sports, but when this might happen is still uncertain. With a little bit of luck, this could perhaps take place within the next three months, with NFL football following its normal schedule beginning in September.

One of the biggest winners of the coronavirus pandemic has been esports. Unlike all other sports activity, esports has the unique advantage of being able to almost seamlessly transition to an online gaming sector with little downtime. Many esports tournaments are held in front of live audiences, but are still played over virtual connections, and these events can still take place while the majority of the world’s sports are on lockdown.

Swiss casinos say online gambling revenue no COVID-19 panacea

Switzerland’s casino operators say their new online gambling businesses can’t hope to compensate for the pandemic-related loss of their land-based revenue.

On Monday, certain segments of Switzerland’s retail sector began reopening after the mass shutdown of non-essential businesses to limit further spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Businesses ranging from hair salons to garden centers were first in the reopening queue, while compulsory schools and other stores will follow on May 11.

But the ‘entertainment’ sector of the economy reportedly won’t get the nod to reopen until June 8, so Switzerland’s 21 land-based casinos – which were ordered to shut their doors in mid-March – will have to sweat it out a little longer.

To date, only five Swiss casinos have availed themselves of the option to launch online casinos under the new rules that took effect in January 2019. Casino Interlaken was the most recent online participant following the launch of StarVegas.ch in February.

Is now the right moment to join the Esports betting business?

This is a guest contribution by Paul Brel of LOOT.BET. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Opinion: The Right Moment to Join the Esports Betting Business

For several years now, experts have been saying esports and esports betting are promising fields for investment. But despite this, many investors and entrepreneurs have remained passive, perhaps assuming the industry still needed time to mature, stabilize, and become more predictable. Today, it seems many are waiting for the COVID-19 crisis to pass before committing to action. Of course, this hesitation is perfectly understandable given the terrible impact the crisis is having on many sectors, but waiting could be a mistake. Why? Because esports has found itself in a very unusual position, and there are plenty of indicators that despite the turmoil the world is witnessing, now is an opportune time to enter the esports betting business, whether as an investor or a startup.

Accelerated growth

Woohoo Games: three more operators integrate suite

After only a few short months since launch, Woohoo’s ascendancy in the world of RNG games continues to rise. Happy Luke, Live Casino House and Empire 777 have added the increasingly popular game suite to their sites.

With a studious attention to state-of-the-art graphics, engaging game play and competitive commercial rates, Woohoo Games have quickly established themselves as a ‘must have’ portfolio. In the past few weeks, Woohoo added three new games to the RNG market with Cyberpunk Wars, Racer Babes and Caesars Conquest and have more in the pipeline over the coming year. Already one of the biggest players in India, these latest inclusions highlight a more international footprint for the new games provider.

Woohoo Games, Head of Business Development, Ed Whittington comments: “The creation of our games is never rushed as we need to make sure each release is, not only unique, but also interesting enough to create loyalty and fun for the end user. In this hugely competitive landscape we also need to, and believe we have, taken the user experience and game graphics to another level. However, proof is in the pudding of operator adoption, and, to be taken up by established industry brands like Happy Luke, Live Casino House and Empire 777 is very exciting.”

About Woohoo:

5 reasons to attend the Mare Balticum Gaming Summit

Online casino software provider and content aggregator Slotegrator will be attending the virtual edition of the Mare Balticum Gaming Summit, held on May 7, where the company’s Head of Sales, Vadim Potapenko, will speak on a panel addressing the effects that the disruption of sports betting is having on online casinos.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancelation of a number of iGaming expos, trade shows, and conferences. Some organizers, however, are taking their events online. While the live edition of the Mare Balticum Gaming Summit has been postponed to August 6, a virtual edition will go ahead on May 7. The goal of the summit is suited to its virtual format. Instead of being centered around a particular region or market, the topics will focus on how different sectors of the iGaming industry are adapting to the effects of COVID-19.

Several of the summit’s panels will focus on how the pandemic is affecting the sports betting industry. Speakers will address the explosion of esports betting and other sports betting alternatives, as well as taking a look at how the betting sector will restart after the crisis is over. There will also be a panel of marketing experts offering advice won through a successful career, as well as a discussion of how marketers are navigating the uncertain and unstable landscape. There will also be panels addressing the effects that the crisis is having on the payments industry. Slotegrator Head of Sales Vadim Potapenko will be part of a panel discussing whether the online casino business is benefiting from the disruption of the live sports betting industry.

Since the company’s foundation in 2012, Slotegrator has been one of the iGaming industry’s leading software solution providers and aggregators for online casinos and sportsbooks. Headquartered in Europe with a strong presence in the CIS market, Slotegrator is consistently expanding its product offering, which includes online casino platform and white label solutions, a vast portfolio of casino games from the world’s best slot game developers, live dealer games and virtual sports, payment processors for online gambling projects, licensing services, and much more. The mission of the company is to facilitate the growth of the iGaming industry ecosystem through acting as an intermediary to bring together various pillars of the industry.

paysafecard continues expansion in South America with launch in Paraguay

Prepaid voucher solution from Paysafe now available in 50 countries

Asunción, Paraguay, April 27, 2020 – paysafecard, a market leader in online prepaid payment solutions and part of specialized payments platform, Paysafe, continues to strengthen its presence in South America by launching in Paraguay.

paysafecard enables consumers to shop for goods and services online, simply and securely, using a 16-digit PIN to complete the payment transaction. It opens up significant possibilities for online shopping for millions of consumers who were previously excluded – either because they don’t have a bank account or credit card, or because they don’t want to share their bank account details on the internet, often for security reasons.

Out of Paraguay’s seven million inhabitants, about 65% have internet access while mobile phone penetration is relatively high at 96.6%. As of 2017, only 31% of the population had bank accounts and just 6.5% of the adult population had credit cards. As such, paysafecard provides an ideal solution for Paraguayans to use prepaid vouchers to make online purchases conveniently and without the need for bank accounts or credit card information.

British Horseracing Authority backs CEO after calls for ouster

The UK racing industry is fending off calls for the ouster of Nick Rust, CEO of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), over his alleged failures to safeguard the industry during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Over the weekend, reports emerged that trainers Ralph Beckett and Mark Johnston had sent emails to BHA chair Annamarie Phelps calling for Rust’s immediate removal. The pair accused Rust (pictured) of failing to prioritize live racing’s resumption following its mid-March suspension by the BHA in response to the pandemic.

The BHA originally planned to lift the suspension on May 1 but extended that timeline after the UK government extended its own lockdown of non-essential businesses. The BHA said it hoped to resume racing ‘behind closed doors’ sometime in May but believed racing with crowds in the stands wouldn’t resume “until June at the earliest.”

The two trainers argued that Rust, who in January announced his intention to leave the BHA by the end of the year, is a lame duck leader who is looking to his own future, not racing’s. Beckett urged the BHA not to wait for the government’s approval to resume racing, noting that it was “a BHA decision to stop and it needs to be a BHA decision to restart.”

Alexandros Kolonias wins 2020 Poker Masters Online Championship

After a mammoth weekend at the virtual felt, Alexandros Kolonias won the 2020 Poker Masters Online Championship Series, and in doing so clinched a bonus $50,000 payday. The final ten events were set up for a fantastic finish and that was exactly what they got as some of the biggest names in the world of poker put down some eye-watering buy-ins and loaded up the Poker Masters Online Championship lobby. Here’s how the final straight produced a champion.

Event #21

The $25,000 buy-in saw Dan Smith win the day and take home a massive $511,875 top prize when he beat Artur Martirosyan in the heads-up. With the tournament having 77 entries in total, elsewhere at the final table where eight players cashed, Steve O’Dwyer was edged into 6th place for a result of $86,625, while Alex Foxen snuck into 4th place for $141,750. Timothy Adams outlasted Foxen to sneak into 3rd place for $228,375.

Event #22

NFL Futures: AFC Conference odds update

The 2020 NFL Draft is in the rearview mirror, meaning that for the most part teams now know what their rosters will look like entering training camp – if there are training camps. There could still be a few big names on the move via free agency (Cam Newton, for example) or players being released (Andy Dalton). The next major date on the offseason slate is the release of the 2020 schedule, which is likely to be sometime the week of May 4. Then it’s quiet until camps hopefully start later this summer.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Futures odds generally don’t change too much following the draft because the bad teams are likely to start plenty of rookies, while the good teams for the most part have all their key starters already in place. The Cincinnati Bengals had the first overall pick in the 2020 draft and are +5000 to win the conference this season. Burrow could be Dan Marino as a rookie, but the Bengals aren’t winning the AFC. Just too many holes.

One very interesting team is the New England Patriots at +1000 – they never had such long conference odds since Tom Brady took over as the full-time starter early in the 2001 season. Of course, Brady is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coach Bill Belichick might have had the worst quarterback room in the NFL entering the draft with unproven second-year Jarrett Stidham and veteran journeyman Brian Hoyer.

Sweden’s restrictive gambling rules handing market to int’l sites

Sweden’s regulated online gambling market is losing ground to internationally licensed rivals due to its increasingly restrictive rules, according to a local industry group.

On Sunday, the Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) online gambling industry group published an op-ed slamming the Swedish government’s proposal for strict limits on online gambling deposits and losses, while limiting bonus offers to SEK100 (US$10) and requiring gamblers to set mandatory time limits for online casino play.

BOS secretary-general Gusaf Hoffstedt noted that online gambling operators holding licenses issued by Sweden’s Spelinspektionen regulatory body were already subject to strict marketing rules, a ban on VIP bonuses, limiting bonuses to first-time customers and ensuring customers haven’t registered with the national Spelpaus self-exclusion program.

Hoffstedt added that since internationally licensed gambling sites aren’t subject to Sweden’s rules or its tax regime, they can offer “very competitive prices” and attractive bonuses. As such, Hoffstedt believes the government’s newly proposed limits will be “largely ineffective” in achieving their aims of protecting Swedish consumers.