Monthly Archives: April 2018

Mr Green goes live with Pragmatic Play content

Provider’s reach expands with leading operator

Malta, 25 April 2018: Multi-award-winning casino games developer Pragmatic Play has taken its content live with leading online operator Mr Green.

Building on its reach with another significant operator integration, Pragmatic Play games including Wolf Gold, Diamond Strike, Gold Rush, Hot Safari and more are now available to Mr Green’s casino players.

Melissa Summerfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Pragmatic Play, said: “We are delighted to take our growing portfolio of casino games live with Mr Green, an operator that shares our passion for bringing players an online casino experience dedicated to quality and innovation.

Dylan Wilkerson defeats Erick Lindgren to win WSOPC gold ring #2 in Cherokee

Dylan Wilkerson has captured his second gold ring after defeating Erick Lindgren in heads-up action in the Harrah’s Cherokee World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event.

For the second year on the tamp, Dylan Wilkerson has won a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) gold ring after taking down a $1,675 buy-in Main Event.

Last year, Wilkerson battered 705 entrants, including the Aussie Millions Main Event winner Toby Lewis in heads-up action, to claim the $216,790 first prize, and unlike his good friend, Joseph Cheong, he never lost it.

Wilkerson only travelled to Cherokee, North Carolina to ride shotgun with Cheong as the former November Niner chased qualifying points for the Global Casino Championships held in Cherokee August 7-9.

How not to fix a novelty betting market (UK football edition)

A UK football player has been banned from the sport for six years following evidence linking him to efforts to manipulate a novelty betting market with UK bookmakers.

On Monday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) revealed that information reported by one of its betting licensees had led the Football Association (FA) to issue a six-year ban against former Lincoln City FC defender Bradley Wood. The ban stemmed from 25 breaches of the FA’s Integrity and Betting Rules involving Lincoln City’s matches against Burnley and Ipswich Town FC during the 2017 FA Cup.

According to the formal investigation report, in both matches, Wood (pictured) was issued yellow cards for deliberate fouls very late in the proceedings (in the 90th minute of the Ipswitch match). The FA determined that Wood intentionally sought to be cautioned in order to influence betting markets on whether or not he’d receive a yellow card.

The UKGC forwarded the information it received from its licensee to the FA. The bettors apparently failed to grasp the concept of discretion, as of the seven individuals who placed wagers on Wood being cautioned in the two matches, none of them had previously wagered on any caution betting markets. In fact, four of the bettors were using their accounts for the very first time.

NetEnt’s Q1 thrives despite former CEO’s severance package

Online casino technology supplier NetEnt turned in another strong performance in the first quarter of 2018 despite having to pay a hefty severance package to its former CEO.

On Tuesday, the Stockholm-listed NetEnt issued an interim report detailing revenue of SEK430m (US$50.5m) in the three months ending March 31, 9.4% higher than the same period last year. Operating profit rose 5.5% to SEK134m and after-tax profits shot up nearly 27% to SEK146m.

NetEnt said the operating profit figure would have been SEK6m higher were it not for the need to pay severance to Per Eriksson, the former CEO that NetEnt abruptly kicked to the curb in late March. Eriksson was shown the door after NetEnt’s board decided that the company’s performance to date hadn’t lived up to expectations and new leadership was needed to ensure the company’s long-term growth.

Eriksson’s acting replacement, Therese Hillman, said the company is keeping a closer eye on expenses after withdrawing its services last year from operators who lacked licenses in the regulated markets of Australia, Poland and the Czech Republic. The net effect of these withdrawals was around two percentage points on royalty revenue growth.

SportPesa renews Kenya football deals amid promise of tax break

Kenyan sports betting operator SportPesa has reopened its sponsorship wallet following the government’s proposal to amend its controversial gambling tax hikes.

On Monday, SportPesa announced a flurry of local sponsorship deals, including resuming its longtime relationship with the Kenyan Premier League (KPL), two top KPL clubs (Gor Mahia FC and AFC Leopards), and the Football Kenya Federation (FKF). The total value of the sponsorships reportedly equals Sh682m (US$6.8m) over three years.

Speaking on Monday, SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri celebrated his company’s new sponsorship deals, saying “our brand is associated with sports; it is time to come back to where we belong.” FKF president Nick Mwendwa wished SportPesa’s contribution was larger than it was, but acknowledged that “it will still go a long way to help us in many areas.”

The KPL title sponsorship alone cost SportPesa Sh85m per year, roughly Sh5m per year less than SportPesa had been paying prior to scrapping all its local sports sponsorships in January after the government hiked the company’s betting revenue tax rate from its former 7.5% to 35%.

Dylan Wilkerson Beats Erick Lindgren to Win WSOPC Harrah’s Cherokee for Gold Ring, $294K

Tournament grinder pro Dylan Wilkerson defeated poker boom era golden boy Erick Lindgren heads-up Monday night for the WSOP Circuit Main Event title at Harrah’s in Cherokee, North Carolina, scooping […]

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Norway to further restrict payments to int’l gambling sites

Norway’s government is proposing new methods of curbing competition of the state-owned Norsk Tipping gambling monopoly, including stricter monitoring of online gambling payment processing.

Last week, the Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet (Norwegian Gaming Authority) began a consultation on its proposals to further restrict internationally licensed online gambling operators’ access to Norwegian gamblers. The consultation will be open until August 15.

Among the NGA’s proposals are making it crystal clear that the law already requires local financial institutions to block transactions involving unauthorized online gambling operators (aka all of them except Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto). Despite this requirement, the NGA claims that Norwegians collectively make up to 40k daily transactions with international gambling sites.

The NGA has previously ordered banks to stop processing online gambling payments using certain accounts, but some affected processors simply changed account numbers. The NGA now wants to be able to order banks to stop dealing with certain companies by name, rather than account number.