Monthly Archives: January 2019

Netherlands’ online gambling participation up 20% in two years

Online gambling participation in the Netherlands has grown by 20% over the past two years, despite the government denying its citizens a legal gambling opportunity.

New figures released by independent research and consultancy agency Motivaction International show that an estimated 1.86m Dutch citizens – in a population of only 17m – had engaged in some form of unauthorized online gambling for money at some point in 2018.

The 2018 figure represents a more than 300k increase in the number of online gamblers since Motivaction last surveyed the market in 2016. Motivaction estimates that the total unauthorized online market was worth €592m last year, essentially flat from 2016’s figure, and from which the Dutch government earns exactly nothing.

The survey, which queried over 15k respondents between the ages of 18 and 80 last November, was commissioned by state-owned land-based casino monopoly Holland Casino. Roughly 38% of these respondents copped to gambling of some form, while 18% admitted gambling online.

Nate Silver Compares President Trump’s Strategic Approach to a ‘Terrible Poker Player’

As the recent government shutdown began to draw to a close, President Donald Trump didn’t seem to be left with many great options, politically speaking. According to FiveThirtyEight.com’s Nate Silver, […]

The post Nate Silver Compares President Trump’s Strategic Approach to a ‘Terrible Poker Player’ appeared first on .

Kindred Group gambling brands Sweden’s 2nd biggest advertiser

The Kindred Group’s online gambling brands were Sweden’s second-largest advertisers in 2018, according to new market research.

On Monday, Swedish newspaper Dagens Media reported new advertising statistics that show Kindred Group brands such as Unibet and MariaCasino spent a total of SEK985m (US$108.7m) raising their local awareness in 2018, ranking second on the overall chart behind Sweden’s largest grocer Ica, which spent SEK1.06b.

The stats, compiled by local social researchers Sifo, showed a significant rise in spending by Kindred brands, which ranked ninth in terms of overall spending in 2017. Kindred even surpassed Procter & Gamble, which was relegated to third place with a mere SEK678m marketing outlay.

Gaming companies accounted for six of 2018’s top-20 advertisers, with the state-run former monopoly Svenska Spel in sixth place (up from seventh in 2017) with SEK562m. The other four gaming firms were Cherry AB’s new Snabbare (Faster) brand in 16th place with SEK357m, just ahead of Global Gaming (17th, SEK348m), state-run horse betting monopoly ATG (19th, SEK327m) and LeoVegas (20th, SEK322m).

Denmark mulls UK-style gambling ad ban during live sports

Denmark’s licensed gambling operators could soon lose their ability to promote their products during live sports broadcasts as the government mulls a UK-style ban.

This week, Niels Folmann, director of the state-run former gambling monopoly Danske Spil, told local media that the Danish government should follow the UK’s lead and enact a blanket prohibition on gambling advertising during televised live sports events.

Folmann said the current marriage of televised sports and betting promos had “reached a point where it makes sense to discuss whether we should let viewers watch the match in peace, and promote our commercial messages at other times.”

In December, the UK’s Industry Group for Responsible Gambling announced new rules prohibiting betting adverts from five minutes before kickoff of a live sports event and extending to five minutes after the match has ended. Adverts are similarly off limits for non-live sports broadcasts airing before the 9pm watershed.

DraftKings and Genius Tech Group strike Super Bowl partnership

Melbourne, Australia, 29 January 2019: Technology and data provider Genius Tech Group (GTG) is excited to announce it has partnered with DraftKings to launch the world’s largest-ever Squares game ahead of Super Bowl LIII.

The free-to-play game is based on the Squares game concept familiar to American Football parties with contestants not requiring any betting knowledge to participate.

Contestants pick squares from a grid randomly numbered from 0-9 whereby the numbers relate to the last digit of the score for each team at the end of each quarter. If the numbers of a cell match the final digit of a team’s score at the end of a quarter, that is the winning square.

GTG has been working with the DraftKings sportsbook since August when the operator began offering GTG’s flagship iSport Genius data product.

NASCAR intros tough new Sports Betting Policy for members

NASCAR has banned its members from wagering on its races as more US states authorize legal wagering within their borders.

On Monday, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) announced its new Sports Betting Policy, which bans team owners, drivers, crew members and officials from gambling on NASCAR events. The policy also prohibits sharing inside information with third parties that could be used for betting purposes.

NASCAR members are also required to fink on anyone they suspect of involvement in any of the transgressions listed above “without undue delay.” Failure to comply with the new policy could result in fines ranging from $150k-$250k, along with the possible indefinite suspension or even termination of one’s membership.

NASCAR members who violate the new policy will receive a written communication detailing the steps they need to take to get back into the body’s good books. Only after completing these requirements will a member be eligible to be even considered for reinstatement.