FunFair Games COO Lloyd Purser has one eye on the future when it comes to audience engagement. Purser is keen to engage generation Y & Z as the next level of customers for the future and he believes that building community could pay off in the long term for operators. Purser took some time out to explain his strategy to our CalvinAyre.com lead reporter Becky Liggero Fontana. 

Purser has been leading the charge in new audience engagement by embracing blockchain technology. Purser explained why FunFair continues to play the long game with the blockchain revolution and why this resonates with a younger demographic.

“FunFair started in in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, building a casino platform that operated purely on the Ethereum blockchain,” he said. “Throughout that, we’ve also seen in the crypto space, that there’s a certain different style of content which has been performing very well. We knew from our own data that in excess of 85 of all of our customers were under the age of 40 and the majority of those under the age of 30.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQCw-nxCxUM?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360]

Wynn Resorts hopes to be a major player in the U.S. online sports betting industry by 2022 through WynnBET, and a new approval gets them 1 step closer to that goal. Tennessee has given conditional approval for the operator to allow sports gambling.

The Sports Wagering Committee of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation’s Board of Directors approved WynnBET, assuming they fulfill all the statutory and regulatory requirements.

Tennessee is the ninth state to give some sort of approval to WynnBET. The operator is already live in New Jersey, Colorado and Michigan, but also has plans to start in Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Ohio.

Wynn’s overall plan is to become a major sports betting operator by the next Super Bowl. While analysts expect sports-betting to reach as many as 12 new states this year, reaching 35 total, Wynn president and chief financial officer Craig Billings recently noted the company only expects to expand where it makes sense. “Our focus there is making sure that we can achieve market parity in order to do that,” Billings said. “I would say that’s our number one focus. And it consumes 40% of our time on Wynn Interactive.”

Nevada and New Jersey provide two very different stories of how the Super Bowl went this year. One state reported their first drop in volume in several years, while the other more than doubled its volume, and the difference could have been having an online option.

You’d probably guess the state that didn’t fair as well is Nevada, and you’d be right. The state’s 184 sports books saw $136.1 million in wagers, their lowest volume since 2016’s $132.5 million. Based on Tampa Bay’s 31-9 win over Kansas City, the books did well enough, taking in $12.6 million in profit.

“If there was no COVID, we would’ve broke the all-time record,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “People love coming to the Super Bowl parties here in Nevada. COVID knocked it out. It’s that simple.”

NGCB senior research analyst Michael Lawton also blamed Covid restrictions for the drop:

Nevada and New Jersey provide two very different stories of how the Super Bowl went this year. One state reported their first drop in volume in several years, while the other more than doubled its volume, and the difference could have been having an online option.

You’d probably guess the state that didn’t fair as well is Nevada, and you’d be right. The state’s 184 sports books saw $136.1 million in wagers, their lowest volume since 2016’s $132.5 million. Based on Tampa Bay’s 31-9 win over Kansas City, the books did well enough, taking in $12.6 million in profit.

“If there was no COVID, we would’ve broke the all-time record,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “People love coming to the Super Bowl parties here in Nevada. COVID knocked it out. It’s that simple.”

NGCB senior research analyst Michael Lawton also blamed Covid restrictions for the drop:

With vaccines yet to roll out, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is turning to creative solutions to get people back to the poker table. The regulator has published a new memo, allowing an increase of players allowed seated at a poker table.

The February 8 memo amends the Health and Safety Standards for Resumption of Operations of Gaming Sites.

Philippines gaming regulator PAGCOR has issued new guidelines to operators across the Philippines that allow for an increase in the number of players allowed to be seated at poker tables. While no new maximum is stated, the memo sets out a handful of steps operators can take to get as many people at the table as they can.

Most of these would be shocking to someone following what other territories, namely American operators, have bene implementing. Players still must be at least 1 meter apart and wear Personal Protective Equipment, namely masks and face shields, but operators can now install acrylic walls and barriers between each seating position.

With vaccines yet to roll out, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is turning to creative solutions to get people back to the poker table. The regulator has published a new memo, allowing an increase of players allowed seated at a poker table.

The February 8 memo amends the Health and Safety Standards for Resumption of Operations of Gaming Sites.

Philippines gaming regulator PAGCOR has issued new guidelines to operators across the Philippines that allow for an increase in the number of players allowed to be seated at poker tables. While no new maximum is stated, the memo sets out a handful of steps operators can take to get as many people at the table as they can.

Most of these would be shocking to someone following what other territories, namely American operators, have bene implementing. Players still must be at least 1 meter apart and wear Personal Protective Equipment, namely masks and face shields, but operators can now install acrylic walls and barriers between each seating position.

Online casino sites need to stay on top of the hottest slot offerings to keep up with the competition. We’ve got the newest slots released in the past week, so you can check them out and decide if you want them on your site.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements. Our Press Release section is updated constantly. We also roundup the latest slot game releases for you every Wednesday.

Gift yourself a chance to win with Cupid!

Endorphina is delighted to introduce you to the one and only Cupid. He is an ordinary guy, living his ordinary life. But just once a year, everything changes and he becomes famous with his arrows of love. Do you want to fall in love this February with this new game?

Nordic online gambling operator Betsson AB closed out 2020 with a solid showing in the final quarter, resulting in a more than one-quarter rise in annual profit. 

Figures released Tuesday show the Stockholm-listed Betsson generated revenue of SEK1.76b (US$211m) in the three months ending December 31, 37% higher than in Q4 2019. Earnings jumped 40% to SEK410.5m and net income rose 36% to SEK277.8m. 

Online casino remained Betsson’s bread and butter in Q4, as gaming revenue rose one-third to SEK1.28b, although sports betting revenue spiked 47% to SEK459m as a half-point rise in betting margins added fuel to a 23% rise in turnover. 

On a geographic basis, all four regional segments reported solid growth in Q4, with the biggest percentage gain coming from the ‘Rest of World’, which nearly tripled to SEK215.6m. The gains reflect Betsson’s 2019 acquisition of Brazilian race betting operator Suaposta and a 70% stake in Colombia-licensed Colbet, as well as the December launch of its Betsafe brand in Kenya. The RoW gains doubled the segment’s share of Betsson’s overall Q4 revenue to 12%. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

After a weekend pit stop in the Phoenix area for the Waste Management Open won Sunday by former world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, the PGA Tour returns to California for this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, at arguably the most picturesque course in the United States: Pebble Beach Golf Links. Hey, it’s a public course so any hacker can play there, but be prepared to pay up big-time.

There are a couple of changes with this tournament in 2021. Because of the COVID pandemic, no fans will be allowed to attend, the pro-am portion has been eliminated and the tournament will be played over Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill only; Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore course is out of the rotation this year.

So instead of a 54-hole cut, it’s back to a usual 36 holes. Players will split their first two rounds at Pebble and Spyglass Hill (both are par 72s) and then play only Pebble on the weekend. That historic track has hosted six U.S. Opens, last in 2019 and won by Gary Woodland.

In the fast-moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements from the gambling industry. Our Press Release section is updated constantly, and we publish roundups of the latest partnerships twice a week.

Greentube acquires esports platform provider Hero

In a move that will see Greentube enter the esports sphere, the NOVOMATIC Interactive division has acquired esports betting provider and blockchain pioneer HERO.

In Las Vegas, rumors are a part of everyday life. However, some have more validity than others. The latest to surface in Sin City is the prospect that Caesars Entertainment might be ready to ditch its Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip. If it’s true and if Caesars moves forward with the sale, it could potentially mean a huge windfall of cash for the casino operator, despite the slower market caused by COVID-19.

The rumor was announced by Vital Vegas, which apparently has bugs on all the important walls around the city. It always seems to know what’s happening before anyone else, and stated recently, “Rumors about a potential sale of Planet Hollywood have circulated for some time now. But a source who asked to stay anonymous says he was recently laid off and an impending sale was given as the reason.”

The new-and-improved Caesars, born of the marriage between the old Caesars and Eldorado Resorts, had discussed reducing some of its Vegas operations as the two operators combined forces. A sale of Planet Hollywood, according to some industry analysts, could save Caesars as much as $1 billion, as well as help it fulfill its Vegas plans. Prior to purchasing Caesars, Eldorado had mentioned that one or two Strip properties previously owned by Caesars could be put on the market.

If the property does become available, it probably won’t be hard to find someone willing to snatch it up. One potential candidate might be Hard Rock International (HRI), already looking for somewhere in Vegas to make a return. HRI purchased the Intellectual Property rights for Vegas from Hard Rock Las Vegas in May of last year and has indicated that it is anxious to get something going in the city. After losing a chance to introduce a Hard Rock-themed venue to Greece last year, the company has a little extra spending money to use on any Vegas ambitions.

When you wagered on the Super Bowl, we’re betting that it was only you and a few friends who knew if you’d win or lose. Perhaps only close family members knew that those sweats you were getting during the game weren’t the meat sweats but whether Tom Brady could lead the Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl in 19 years.

They did, of course, because Tom Brady is the GOAT and he did what Tom Brady always seems to do in the Super Bowl. Tampa Bay Buccaneers took down the first Super Bowl title to be won in the winner’s home stadium in history.

https://youtu.be/Gz5-NQROQGwVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Chiefs vs. Buccaneers | Super Bowl LV Game Highlights (https://youtu.be/Gz5-NQROQGw)

It goes without saying, then, that as a sportsbettor, you wanted to have Brady and the Bucs in general on your ticket, but no-one had them bigger than ‘Mattress Mack’. So-called due to the Houston-based betting legend giving away offers on his matteresses in conjunction with his massive sports wagers, Mack took The Buccaneers to the tune of $3.46 million after travelling to Colorado to bet on the DraftKings mobile app in the newly-legalised state.