Monthly Archives: May 2019

NBA delivers official betting data ultimatum to US sportsbooks

Sports betting operators are officially being strong-armed into paying the National Basketball Association a fee for official data or losing the opportunity to offer a proper roster of in-play wagering markets to bettors.

On Friday, EPSN scribe David Payne Purdum broke the news that US sportsbooks had received a de facto data ultimatum from Sportradar, an official supplier of NBA data to US sports betting operators in states where such activity is legal.

The letter, since obtained by Legal Sports Report, informs Sportradar’s customers that “only Authorized Gaming Operators of the NBA are eligible to receive the NBA Official Data Feed” for wagering in betting-friendly states. As of 11:59pm EST on May 28, “all Authorized Data Distributors must cease providing to you NBA Official Data” unless operators prove that they know the NBA’s secret handshake.

Earlier this month, rumors circulated to the effect that both the NBA and Major League Baseball were threatening to cut off the official data spigot unless sportsbook operators paid the price – supposedly 0.25% of betting handle on their respective sports – of becoming official league partners (the NBA’s ranks of which include FanDuel, The Stars Group and MGM Resorts).

DraftKings, FanDuel pull sports betting ads from Illinois airwaves

Sports betting operators DraftKings and FanDuel have pulled ads targeting an Illinois casino operator at the request of the state’s governor.

On Thursday, a new DraftKings- and FanDuel-supported advocacy group calling itself Bet On Illinois (BOI) launched a video ad campaign calling for equal opportunity to apply for the state’s proposed sports betting licenses.

On Friday, BOI announced it was suspending its ad campaign, which had pledged to spend $1m in the remaining week or so that the Illinois legislature has to pass its proposed gambling legislation. BOI spokesman Marc LaVorgna said the ad was “suspended for the time being” at Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s request “while we engage in productive discussions to deliver smart sports betting legislation” before the current session concludes.

While the video never mentioned his name, the ads targeted Rivers Casino Des Plaines operator Neil Bluhm (Rush Street Gaming) for supporting amendments to the betting legislation that would put ‘bad actors’ such as DraftKings and FanDuel in a three-year betting ‘penalty box.’ The sites stand accused of offering daily fantasy sports in the state despite the attorney general’s 2015 opinion that DFS was illegal gambling.

Report: Uganda gov’t seeks to nationalize gambling operations

Uganda’s government is mounting a state-run takeover of the nation’s gambling industry, according to local media.

On Friday, the Daily Monitor reported that Uganda’s finance minister Matia Kasaija (pictured) had written a letter to the National Gaming Board Uganda (NGBU) affirming the government’s January statement that it would issue no new gambling licenses while letting existing licenses expire without being renewed.

The government subsequently clarified that its new policy applied only to international operators who’d set up shop in Uganda but repatriated the bulk of their revenue to their home territories. But in a letter dated April 24, NGBU chairman Manzi Tumubweine sought further guidance from the government as to the specifics of its plans.

Tumubweine’s letter noted that the NGBU had received 60 applications from gambling operators for licensing in 2019 and that the NGBU had “evaluated them accordingly.” Kasaija’s May 14 letter appears to have brushed aside these concerns, instructing the NGBU to “stop licensing of gaming and betting with immediate effect.”

Finland latest market to crack down on gambling advertising

Finland is the latest market taking an extremely dim view of gambling advertising, particularly when it competes with the local monopoly.

On Friday, Finnish news outlet YLE quoted local police and the Traficom telecom watchdog saying they’d teamed up to eliminate ‘illegal’ gambling advertising on local television and radio. Traficom warned media outlets that they could face cancellation of their broadcast licenses should they be found guilty of ‘repeatedly’ violating the advertising norms.

The ability to promote gambling products and services is limited to the state-run Veikkaus gambling monopoly. Earlier this month, Veikkaus warned that its future revenue was under threat from “tightening digital competition, where gaming is shifting strongly towards the digital channel.”

The government’s interest in restricting gambling ads comes just weeks after Finland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) publicly urged tighter regulations on gambling marketing. However, THL also called on Veikkaus’ marketing to be reined in, saying the firm’s slogans were “at odds with public health communication.” THL said gambling ads “should be consistent” and subject to rules governing “other harmful products” like tobacco and alcohol.

AMGO iGaming AB signs purchase agreement to acquire Jetbull, the EveryMatrix B2C brand

Friday, May 24th, 2019, Malta

EveryMatrix announces that a purchase agreement of €2 million for the acquisition of Jetbull, the EveryMatrix B2C brand, was recently signed with AMGO iGaming AB. Starting 1st of July 2019, AMGO will get full ownership of Jetbull and has already started the transition phase to operate and manage the brand.

Operating on the EveryMatrix white label platform, Jetbull is a strong gaming brand that offers competitive casino and sportsbook. With more than 600,000 registered customers, Jetbull has experienced substantial growth over the last 24 months. Jetbull will continue to be operated under EveryMatrix’s Maltese, UK and Danish licenses.

Ebbe Groes, Founder and Group CEO of EveryMatrix, commented: ”Some B2B companies have their own B2C brands competing with their B2B clients. This has always been against our strategy, and with this transaction, we now completely shut down own brands and we can focus exclusively on our role as a software service supplier for casino, sports, payments, and platform.