Category Archives: In The Biz

PA Casino Launches Everi Online Games

ParxOnline.com, the online arm of Pennsylvania’s Parx Casino, has launched five of Everi Holdings’ popular stepper titles, including Double Jackpot, Meltdown, Smokin’ 777, Tiger 7s and Vortex. Everi’s Remote Gaming System (RGS) currently supports a library of more than 30 titles, which the company expects to continue to expand on an annual basis. Everi designed… Read more »

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PA Casino Launches Everi Online Games

ParxOnline.com, the online arm of Pennsylvania’s Parx Casino, has launched five of Everi Holdings’ popular stepper titles, including Double Jackpot, Meltdown, Smokin’ 777, Tiger 7s and Vortex. Everi’s Remote Gaming System (RGS) currently supports a library of more than 30 titles, which the company expects to continue to expand on an annual basis. Everi designed… Read more »

The post PA Casino Launches Everi Online Games appeared first on GGB Magazine.

Greenwood Names Hausler CEO

Longtime gaming executive Eric Hausler has joined Greenwood Racing, Inc., parent company of Parx Casino in Pennsylvania, as the company’s new CEO. He assumed the post in January, replacing former CEO Anthony Ricci, who retired in April 2019. Hausler previously was a director of VICI Properties, the real estate investment trust controlled by Caesars Entertainment.… Read more »

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Former Aristocrat Execs Join SG

Global gaming supplier Scientific Games has beefed up its management team, recruiting several executives from rival Aristocrat Technologies. Former Aristocrat Technologies President and Managing Director Matt Wilson has joined the company as executive vice president and group chief executive, gaming. Siobhan Lane, formerly senior vice president of marketing and gaming operations at Aristocrat, joined in… Read more »

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Minsk iGaming Affiliate Conference 2020: Afterparty with CPA.BY and Poker Tournament from Gagarin.Partners

On March 5, Minsk iGaming Affiliate Conference 2020 will address the key CPA marketing trends in the gambling niche. Event will feature 11 presentations and 2 panel discussions with experts from Georgia, Greece, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Israel, Malta and Bulgaria, in addition to speed dating and meeting cards. And that’s not all!

MiAC 2020 Afterparty with CPA.BY

This year, MiAC 2020 can boast an awesome collaboration with its friends and media partners – CPA.BY. It is the largest Belarusian community of arbitrage specialists that organizes meetings, educative meetups and get-together with never-ending conversations about traffic.

Joint party will take place after the conference at Klumba Cocktail Bar at 6 Zybitskaya str., Minsk. Enjoy lots of hookahs, a standing buffet, wine, whiskey, shots and classic cocktails.

ZenSports Closes Additional $770K+ in Seed Funding

It’s been a busy 12 months for ZenSports, the mobile peer-to-peer sports betting marketplace where anyone can create and accept sports bets with anyone else in the world without the need for a centralized bookmaker.

After launching its sports betting app in March 2019, the fast-growing startup closed $675K in October 2019 as part of a broader $1M+ Seed Round. With its continued rapid growth, the startup started receiving inbound interest from additional angel investors in December 2019, and decided to open up a new round of funding to accommodate those interested investors. In just 10 weeks since then, the company syndicated and closed an additional $770K+ in funding across multiple angel investors.

Here’s how this new funding round played out according to ZenSports Co-Founder & CEO, Mark Thomas, “After officially closing our $1M+ Seed Round in October 2019, we felt more than comfortable that we had enough funding to execute on our growth strategy for 2020. However, we had numerous angel investors who approached us about putting more money into our company. We decided to offer a time-boxed raise without a target amount for these investors who approached us and shared our vision of how decentralized, peer-to-peer sports betting using cryptocurrencies was the future. We were fortunate to have a lot of choices in the investors we decided to ultimately bring on board, and we’re thrilled to be working with them as we continue to grow and scale ZenSports.”

ZenSports

The new funding will be heavily invested into paid customer acquisition channels. According to Thomas, “Up to this point, we haven’t spent any money on paid marketing to acquire new customers. Instead, we’ve focused on optimizing the post-customer acquisition and retention funnel through constant product iteration and via our SPORTS Rewards Program. We’ve got incredibly loyal customers who are very active on a daily basis in placing bets in our app. It’s now time to get very aggressive in growing our overall customer base via paid marketing.”

To help accomplish this, the company recently hired an experienced marketer, Mark Saldana, to become the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer. Mark brings a wealth of digital marketing experience to technology and consumer brands and will be an integral piece to the company’s revenue and growth plans.

Scientific Games and Golden Nugget Expand iGaming Partnership, add Sports Betting

Wikimedia/ tboard

Scientific Games Corporation and Golden Nugget, LLC, a leading US casino operator, have agreed to expand their iGaming partnerships in a new multi-state, multi-product, multi-channel agreement. Building on a long-term partnership, Scientific Games will provide its solutions to Golden Nugget across multiple states through 2024 and potentially beyond.

Scientific Games will supply Golden Nugget with its OpenGaming™ in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and, as regulations allow, potentially other states that legalize iGaming in the future. Golden Nugget will benefit from the Open Gaming System™ content aggregation platform, portal, and player account management solution to enhance its iGaming presence.

Golden Nugget has also selected to utilize the full OpenSports™ product suite and world-class managed trading services from Don Best Sports. The deployment of OpenSports™ will start with mobile sports betting in New Jersey with additional states included as new states launch. There is also an option to roll out OpenSports™ in retail locations across multiple states including New Jersey, Mississippi and Nevada.

Thomas Winter, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Online Gaming for Golden Nugget, said, “We have a long history with Scientific Games, and their technology is a cornerstone of our sports betting and iGaming strategy. We’re thrilled to continue working with them to bring a consistent and best-in-class experience to our players across multiple products, nationwide.”

Jordan Levin, Group Chief Executive, Digital for Scientific Games, said, “Following Golden Nugget’s transition to our solutions, we look forward to launching Sports on top of our long-standing player account and iGaming relationship. Golden Nugget has a wide player base across the U.S., having pioneered the iGaming space in New Jersey from its earliest days, and we’re excited to power their sports betting and iGaming presence, providing a seamless and reliable end-to-end betting experience.”

Scientific Games has provided sports betting solutions since the late 1990s and currently serves a total of 35 sports betting customers in 16 countries. Scientific Games is among the first to be certified by the World Lottery Association as a responsible gaming supplier and is the first sports betting supplier to join the Global Lottery Monitoring System, which ensures the integrity of sports betting worldwide.

Momentum of Pennsylvania Sportsbooks Grows with $348 Million January, According to PlayPennsylvania.com

PlayPennsylvania.com

A record-setting January pushed Pennsylvania’s online and retail sportsbooks to the brink of $100 million in lifetime revenue. But even with a strong start to the New Year, Pennsylvania still has much ground to gain to catch New Jersey and Nevada, according to PlayPennsylvania.com.

“Pennsylvania’s momentum is growing, and January shows that the state’s sportsbooks can sustain it even as the NFL season winds down,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “Pennsylvania will likely remain the nation’s No. 3 market for the foreseeable future. But it is becoming clearer that it will one day challenge Nevada and New Jersey as the largest legal sports betting market in the U.S.”

Pennsylvania’s sportsbooks accepted a record $348.4 million in wagers in January, breaking the $342.6 million record set in December up dramatically from $32 million in January 2019, according to official data released Wednesday. $308.6 million, or 88.6%, of the state’s January handle came online.

January’s bets produced a record $31.6 million in gross revenue — up from $17.5 million in December. That produced $7.78 million in state taxes. With January’s gains, Pennsylvania’s sportsbooks have now generated $116.4 million in gross revenue since launching in November 2018.

“The opportunities for growth are abundant for Pennsylvania,” Gouker said. “It’s population base is a huge advantage. Infrastructure issues have slowed the state’s development. But the industry is unquestionably getting past its growing pains.”

FanDuel Sportsbook at Valley Forge Casino remains the market leader with $153.1 million January bets, down from $154.5 million in December. That yielded $8.1 million in taxable revenue, up from $7 million. But DraftKings at The Meadows grew to $58.7 million in January from $35.9 million in December. That produced $2.8 million in taxable revenue, up from $732,883.

The online market could soon get a shakeup. Penn National Gaming is acquiring a stake in Barstool Sports and with it, a recognizable brand for its online casino and sportsbook, which will presumably launch later this year.

“DraftKings has been aggressively marketing itself in Pennsylvania, and it is making some headway in its attempt to catch up with FanDuel. But it still has a long way to go,” Gouker said. “Meanwhile, the expected launch later this year of the Barstool-branded online casino and sportsbook will add intrigue to a market that has been predictably controlled by the two most recognizable brands in online sports betting.”

The retail market was led by Rivers Philadelphia’s $7.4 million handle, down from $7.7 million in December. That yielded $1.1 million in revenue, up from $590,177.

Online casinos
The retail market was led by Rivers Philadelphia’s $7.4 million handle, down from $7.7 million in December. That yielded $1.1 million in revenue, up from $590,177. Rivers-Philadelphia led the way with $3.5 million in revenue on $146.4 million in wagers.

The roster of online casinos grew to seven in January. FanDuel Casino debuted on Jan. 24, generating $2.1 million. FanDuel was followed by the launch of BetAmerica less than a week later.

“The online casino market should get a real jolt from FanDuel’s entrance,” Gouker said. “Integrated within FanDuel’s market-leading sportsbook app, the FanDuel Casino is ideally positioned to leverage its success as a sportsbook into success as an online casino.”

UFC Fight Night New Mexico betting preview

One has to credit the UFC for trying to grow the popularity of its sport. It’s a no-brainer to stage an event in New York City or Los Angeles or London, but this Saturday’s Fight Night card is being held in the metropolis of … Rio Rancho, New Mexico. It’s the second time in the state for the UFC but first in the state’s third-largest city that is basically a suburb of Albuquerque.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The main card at the Santa Ana Star Center begins at 8 p.m. ET and is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Corey Anderson and Jan Blachowicz in a rematch. Interesting that a light heavyweight bout is the headliner as that was the case last week when pound-for-pound king Jon Jones retained his title with a win over Dominick Reyes.

Anderson (13-4), a 30-year-old American, is ranked No. 5 in the division. “Overtime” has won four in a row since back-to-back losses to Ovince St. Preux and Jimi Manuwa. Anderson was most recently in the Octagon in November 2019 and beat Johnny Walker by first-round TKO (punches). Only five of Anderson’s 13 wins are by KO or TKO, while the other eight are by decision.

XFL Bets On The Action Network

XFL/Guardians

The XFL and The Action Network have announced a sports betting content partnership. As part of the collaboration, The Action Network becomes a preferred source of XFL betting analysis and information and will provide sports betting content for the league’s website at XFL.com.

All season long, The Action Network will develop multiple content features – including daily news from across the league, analysis of games and player performances, as well as expert picks and projections for both The Action Network and XFL platforms. The Action Network’s talent will also appear in XFL’s betting-related content.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the XFL and introduce in-depth betting coverage to a new legion of fans,” said Ari Borod, Chief Commercial Officer of The Action Network. “We remain committed to bringing our audience best-in-class coverage with innovative leagues and rights holders as the sports betting landscape continues to rapidly evolve.”

“Our strategy is to embrace the spread and partnering with The Action Network helps us provide our fans with timely sports betting news and information,” said Jeffrey Pollack, President and COO of the XFL. “We want what our fans want and millions of football fans have an interest in betting on sports, so we’re answering the call and gearing up to be fully responsive.”

The Action Network will provide branded content on the XFL website and have rights to use certain league IP to promote the partnership across its platforms.

PointsBet, NBA Announce Partnership Including New Win Probability Metric

PointsBet, a top-tier global sportsbook operator, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced a new multiyear partnership, making PointsBet an Authorized Sports Betting Operator of the NBA.  The partnership marks PointsBet’s first with a professional sports league in the U.S.

As part of the partnership, PointsBet will integrate the first-ever Win Probability Metric across certain NBA platforms, including on NBA.com and NBA social media channels.  Powered by PointsBet, the Win Probability Metric will provide fans with real-time insight toward projected outcomes utilizing the same analytics and statistics that fuel the PointsBet sportsbook.

Additionally, PointsBet will have access to official NBA betting data and league marks across PointsBet digital betting platforms.

“As a tech company at heart, the PointsBet team is excited to work with a league as savvy and forward-thinking as the NBA,” noted Johnny Aitken, CEO of PointsBet USA. “We’re certainly aligned in looking to present fans with the best experience possible, and we look forward to enhancing the sports betting aspect via the Win Probability Metric Powered by PointsBet.”

“We are thrilled to partner with PointsBet on its first U.S. sports league betting partnership, as they continue to grow their business throughout the U.S.,” said Scott Kaufman-Ross, Senior Vice President, Head of Fantasy & Gaming, NBA. “PointsBet has a unique offering in the marketplace and we are excited to find new ways to engage with fans together.”

PointsBet and the NBA will also work together on best-in-class practices to protect the integrity of NBA games.