Blockchain allows opening new business models and monetization methods. But during the preparation for an ICO you can not prepare for everything – something just won’t go according to plan. That’s why a strong team is needed, thinks Arwen Smit, the co-founder & CMO at DOVU blockchain platform for mobility ecosystem. In an interview with Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Gibraltar, where she is going deliver a presentation, Arwen shared her opinion on the role of blockchain in people’s lives, and spoke about the difficulties in preparing for the ICO.

– Hello, Arwen! Why did you choose ICO as a tool for raising money for the DOVU project development?

– Rule no 1: If you can realize your business model with a centralized database, use a decentralized database. However, if your business model can benefit from decentralization and tokenized incentivisation, it’s worth to consider a token sale.

New ecosystems are based on value. DOVU uses tokenized incentivisation mechanisms to align stakeholder incentives to stimulate value-adding behavior. For example, you could earn DOV tokens by sharing data or through responsible driving behavior. In turn, you can spend your DOV token on services within the mobility ecosystem, such as parking or EV charging. With blockchain technology, you can leverage micro-transactions and micro-rewards to monetize previously unmonetizable assets, opening up new business models.

Programme for Germany-facing daily fantasy sports brand will be managed by Income Access in-house using company affiliate software and network   

Montreal, QC. 26th January 2018 – SPORT.Guru, the Germany-facing daily fantasy sports (DFS) brand operated by zero seven gaming Limited, has launched an affiliate programme with Income Access, Paysafe’s marketing technology and services provider. The programme will be managed by Income Access affiliate managers, who will use the company’s software and the Income Access Network, iGaming’s longest-serving independent affiliate network, to maximise customer acquisition.

Regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority, SPORT.Guru allows customers to compete in day-long fantasy sports contests for real-money prizes, based on different contest types and scheduled around real-life sporting events in Europe’s top football leagues. The brand is one of the few DFS sites to include the German Bundesliga in its offering. In 2018, the brand plans to add a range of contests for North American sports leagues, including the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL), as well as Formula 1 racing.

SPORT.Guru is offering all new players a 100% match on their first deposit, as well as running a weekly free roll with guaranteed prizes on English Premier League and Bundesliga contests from now until 13th March 2018.

The technology partner BtoBet is delighted to announce that it is a finalist for the 2018 Global Gaming Awards London, in the category Online Sports Betting Supplier. The success gained in 2017 is going to proceed also into this year for the company which is ready to showcase its advanced Neuron Sports platform at ICE Totally Gaming, booth S1-320 from the 6th to the 8th February.

After months of deliberation, the finalists in each of the 16 categories have been chosen by a globally recognised Nomination Panel composed of some of the most influential and knowledgeable individuals in this industry. The winners of the 10 finalists in the category will be announced on the eve of ICE Totally Gaming. At ICE, BtoBet will bring its technology, meeting all bookmakers and operators willing to discover how to empower their sports-betting brands and provide the ultimate betting experience to their bettors.

Commenting on the awards, BtoBet’s Chairman Alessandro Fried highlighted:

“Throughout the years BtoBet established itself as a pioneer in the Sports betting industry and with this mindset continues to develop its advanced products, always up to date with the contemporary and future technologies. After the Las Vegas awards, we are delighted to have been selected also in the European session of the Global Gaming Awards for the Online Sports Betting Supplier category. Our aim is to help bookmakers tackle the opportunities offered by new and exciting technologies, providing a best-in-class, robust platform that is constantly evolving and improving.  It is a recognition of our cutting-edge platform and for us, as a trusted technology partner in the sports betting industry.”

After long weeks of preparation, Vivo Gaming´s Team will be stepping up their game with their presence at the 2018 ICE Totally Gaming event at the Excel in London, the largest event of the year dedicating to the gaming industry.

We are excited to join partners and clients in this year’s event Ice Totally Gaming Stand #N7-120 this February. The commercial team is preparing not only to continue the business expansion and innovation work for Live Gaming Solutions they usually deliver, but also, we are happy to introduce the new members of the Global Sales Team, including account managers and software developers with whom we are increasing our company’s capacity to provide better services at all levels.

We have expanded our product portfolio and upgraded all platforms too with full HTML5 versions to give players a more satisfying gaming experience. Exciting new Roulette Mobile Technology, new gaming analytics services and more RNG and Sports options are just a few of the new products Vivo brings up to show to ICE.

“We want to get closer to our existing partners, get to know the nature of their companies and their players closely, to reach markets that we haven’t reached yet and deliver a technology that works not only for to make available a unique Live Dealer Environment, but to also offer a complete platform of solutions that is convenient, robust and fully supported to operators and aggregators where ever their services are offered” says Yuval Shochat, CCO at Vivo Gaming.

LAS VEGAS, January 26, 2018 – PlayAGS, Inc. (“AGS” or the “Company”), a leading designer and supplier of electronic gaming machines and other products and services for the gaming industry, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 10,250,000 shares of its common stock at an initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions. The Company has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,537,500 shares of its common stock at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. AGS’s existing shareholders will not sell any shares in the offering.

The shares are expected to begin trading on The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “AGS” on January 26, 2018. The offering is expected to close on January 30, 2018 subject to customary closing conditions.

AGS expects to receive gross proceeds of approximately $164.0 million from the offering, or approximately $188.6 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full. AGS intends to use the gross proceeds from the offering to redeem in full its PIK notes, and pay fees and expenses in connection with the offering.

Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies and Macquarie Capital are acting as joint book-running managers and as representatives of the underwriters for the offering. BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Nomura, Stifel and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Roth Capital Partners, Union Gaming, The Williams Capital Group, L.P. and Apollo Global Securities are acting as co-managers for the offering.

26 January, 2018 (Madrid, Spain) – R. Franco Group will showcase a full set of global gaming products at ICE Totally Gaming 2018, held at the ExCeL London between 6-8 February.

The supplier, which has been attending ICE for more than 20 years, will display its complete offering, including its largest portfolio of games, products, solutions and content for AWP, bingos, hotels, arcades and casinos, both for the land-based and online sectors. R. Franco Group is the only Spanish exhibitor offering truly global solutions.

Under the banner of ‘Global Gaming Solutions’, the Group will present its successes of the past 12 months, alongside its new products, at stand S6-210.

Present at the stand this year will be Mr. Jesús Franco (President) as well as R. Franco’s complete commercial and technical teams.

The acquisition establishes Gambling.com Group Plc (“Gambling.com Group”) as one of the leading players for mobile performance marketing.

The developers, Sabin Brooks and Mike Webb, have spent the past four years developing websites & mobile apps that specialize in gambling content for mobile users in a variety of jurisdictions. The network focuses primarily on online casino and sports betting operators and drives more revenue from the United Kingdom than any other market. With this acquisition, Gambling.com Group opens up an entirely new and quickly growing channel through which it can grow its performance marketing business.

The acquired assets are expected to generate sales of approx. EUR 400,000 with a pre-tax profit margin of more than 90% during the first quarter of 2018. The acquisition is being consolidated from January 1st, 2018.

The developers will join Gambling.com Group and share their knowledge of mobile development and App Store Optimization (ASO) with the rest of the organization, assisting an internal team with the mobile strategy for Gambling.com. The arrangement will last through at least March 31st, 2019.

25th January 2018 – Omni-channel slots specialist Play’n GO will rocket players into space in its retro-futuristic new title, Planet Fortune.

The five-reel, 40-payline slot transports players to a planet inspired by the science-fiction of the 1960s, where they’ll come across heroic astronauts on the hunt for out-of-this-world treasures.

Assisted on their intergalactic quest by the wild robot symbol and stackable game characters, players will be gifted regular chances of winning big cash prizes.

The robot will be key to securing big wins, with players granted ten free spins when three or more of the symbols appear on the grid sparking the Robot Revolution feature. In this mode, wilds become sticky and ‘walk’ across the grid from left to right before falling away.

A panel debate at the upcoming international ICE Totally Gaming event is set to tackle one of the industry’s most important issues of 2018. The role that data and technology play in the quest to identify problematic gamblers and manage risk, to ensure operators are Gambling Commission compliant.

It is set to bring a raft of regulatory changes for gaming operators as the Gambling Commission recently announced its three-year strategy, which is widely seen as a crackdown on the industry. As a result, a special panel debate will take place at the industry leading event, ICE Totally Gaming 2018, at London, Excel. It will look at how emerging and dynamic customer and identity data can be combined with more traditional data and technology to identify problematic behaviour and enable responsible gambling.

Peter Murray, Head of Gaming at identity data intelligence specialist, GBG, and chair of the panel debate, said: “Responsible gambling is firmly at the top of the Commission’s agenda for the foreseeable future. It’s crucial that operators have full visibility and understanding of the tools that are available to them and how they can be combined to help support compliance with new, evolving regulations.

“One of the aspects of the industry I am most critical of is the unwillingness or inability of stakeholders to share customer data. This will be propelled to the forefront of operators’ minds and I’m looking forward to putting it to the panel on the day.