Monthly Archives: April 2020

This year’s NFL Draft to produce the largest handle ever

It was already expected that this year’s NFL Draft would attract a lot of attention from sports gamblers. The coronavirus pandemic has temporarily shut down virtually all athletic competitions, leaving gamblers without much direction. As a result, they’re going to channel their energy (and money) into the draft, and most sports gambling analysts predict that this year will see the most activity ever witnessed in a draft. The handle taken by sportsbooks could be at least five times what was received last year or as much as 20 times higher.

Bet-NJ expects that $5 million will be wagered on the NFL Draft, which will get underway today and run through Saturday. Last year, the handle was just $1 million and, combined revenue for states where the practice is allowed will be about $500,000. Not much compared to what sportsbooks had been hoping for with sports contests, but it’s better than nothing and a step toward recovery. Fox Bet predicts an even greater amount, asserting that the market might reach as high as $20 million.

William Hill’s director of trading, Nick Bogdanovich, discussed the draft with Forbes magazine a couple of weeks ago, asserting, “This year’s draft will be by far the biggest handle we’ve seen. As an isolated event, there is more interest. Had the NFL Draft been held in Las Vegas as originally scheduled, there’s no telling how much would have been bet but we would have written an insane amount of money.”

William Hill US CEO Joe Asher is just as convinced as Bogdanovich, telling The Associated Press, “There’s no doubt this will be the biggest-bet draft ever. The draft is a time of renewal, and I think people are looking forward to a bit of fun after all of the tough news we’ve had recently. Betting on the draft is small in context, so this is no silver bullet, but it’s something positive for sure.”

How could AI change PPC advertising in the gaming industry

This is a guest contribution by Paul Torzel of Newbettingsites.uk. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

When Google first introduced their AdWords program to us in 2000, all processes were completed manually. That has changed over time, with Google layering automated processes over the top.

Google AdWords, in some ways, were the invention of online advertising as we know it and these early steps paved the way for a successful future. It was an announcement in 2016 when Google CEO Sundar Pichai first announced that the world we live in would soon be known as an AI-first world.

Taking steps to ensure his company kept up to date with where we were heading, he said that Google would become an AI-first company.

Becky’s Affiliated: Innovation in digital event organizing with Pierre Lindh

Coming up May 4-6, iGaming NEXT will be launching their very own digital event, “The Big Reset”, addressing how iGaming professionals are adapting to a new digital norm, both from a personal and professional perspective.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jchpns58GQc?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

Pierre Lindh, Co-founder and Managing Director of iGaming NEXT, views digital events as an opportunity for innovation and change for an industry that has been stuck in time for several decades.

Due to the nature of digital events, tickets are much less expensive than in-person events and without a travel commitment, many more people are able to attend. For this reason, Lindh decided to do things a little differently for the upcoming digital installment of iGaming NEXT.

Las Vegas Sands loses $55m in Q1 but Adelson doesn’t lose heart

Casino operator Las Vegas Sands reported a rare net loss in the first quarter of 2020 but the company’s braintrust insists things are nowhere near as bad as they seem.

Figures released Wednesday show Sands generated revenue of $1.78b in the three months ending March 31, a 51.1% decline from the same period last year. Adjusted earnings were down 70% to $437m, operating income fell 94.3% to $55m and the company booked a net loss of $51m versus a $744m profit in Q1 2019.

The figures reflect the 15-day COVID-19 shutdown of all Macau casinos in mid-February and the market’s glacially slow recovery ever since. Sands China’s revenue was down 65% to $814m while the unit posted a net loss of $166m versus a $557m profit last year.

Sands’ Macau properties all posted significant declines in VIP gambling turnover, including a nearly 70% downturn at the company’s flagship Venetian Macao.

Goa’s casinos get yet another six-month stay of execution

Casinos in the Indian state of Goa are starting to treat the local government like a dentist, in that they’re constantly told to come back and see them in six months.

On Wednesday, Goa’s state government approved yet another six-month extension of the six floating casinos’ right to operate on the Mandovi river. The previous six-month stay of execution expired on March 31 and the casinos now have until September 30 to find somewhere else to ply their trade.

Various versions of Goa’s government have been trying to find an alternate waterway for the floating casinos for the better part of a decade but every proposal meets with opposition from local residents. The casinos are supposed to eventually relocate to a designated land-based gaming zone, although those plans are similarly ill-defined.

The situation took a left-turn last October, when the City of Panaji announced that inaction was no longer an option and it wouldn’t renew the floating casinos’ business licenses when they expired in March. The City has yet to comment on Wednesday’s news, but Panaji MLA Antanasio Monserrate said he would continue to press for the casinos’ relocation “as was promised to the people of Panajji.”

BC casino cities want cut of PlayNow online gambling revenue

British Columbia’s gambling monopoly is being asked to share its online gambling riches with local municipalities now that the province’s casinos have all been closed by COVID-19.

On Tuesday, Arjun Singh, a councillor in the city of Kamloops, told his fellow councillors that an unidentified source at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) had told him that the Crown corporation’s online gambling site PlayNow.com had seen its business ‘increase significantly’ following the pandemic-related closures of BCLC’s casinos.

On March 16, BCLC ordered all casinos, community gaming centers and bingo halls in the province to close following directives issued by the provincial health authority. BCLC controls virtually all gambling in the province, although it farms out day-to-day operational control to third parties.

That closure has negatively impacted the finances of casino host cities like Kamloops, which has two shuttered gaming venues – Cascades Casino Kamloops and Chances Casino Kamloops – both of which are managed by Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Ltd.

Virginia pols okay amended casino, sports betting legislation

Virginia’s casino and sports betting proposals appear good to go after both chambers of the state legislature approved their governor’s last-minute amendments.

Wednesday saw both the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates approve multiple amendments to the state’s casino and sports betting legislation, which authorizes mobile sports betting and the construction of up to five casinos, none of which is presently legal in the state.

The original legislation arrived on Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk last month, but Northam added several amendments to (a) hike gambling license fees, (b) ensure gambling tax revenue was allocated to education funding, and (c) include the state’s two NASCAR racetracks in the list of entities allowed to partner with bookmakers on a mobile sportsbook offering.

Casinos will pay 18% on their first $200m of annual gaming revenue, rising to 23% on revenue between $200m and $400m, topping out at 30% for revenue over $400m. Sports wagering revenue would be taxed at 15%.

NetEnt leans on Red Tiger, UK & US to offset Swedish decline

Online gambling technology supplier NetEnt is weathering the COVID-19 pandemic just fine thanks to UK and US market growth.

In a first-quarter earnings preview released Wednesday, the Stockholm-listed NetEnt said its revenue totaled SEK518m (US$51.2m) in the three months ending March 31, nearly 24% higher than the company reported in the same period last year.

Earnings were up nearly 17% to SEK229m and would have risen higher were it not for SEK26m in restructuring costs associated with the integration of software provider Red Tiger Gaming, which NetEnt acquired last September. Those costs, as well as earn-out obligations related to the acquisition, pushed after-tax earnings down by nearly one-third to SEK82m.

NetEnt CEO Therese Hillman said most of Q1’s growth came from the US and UK markets, which offset continued “negative” results in Sweden and Norway. Sweden’s share of NetEnt’s overall revenue has fallen to just 6%, while the US now accounts for 7% thanks to strong growth in New Jersey’s online casino market and the launch of regulated online casino in Pennsylvania.