Online gambling operator LeoVegas reported a healthy boost to its operations during the first quarter of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic turned customers’ attentions away from sports betting.

Figures released Wednesday by the Stockholm-listed LeoVegas show the company generated revenue of €89.4m in the three months ending March 31, a 4% rise over the same period last year. Earnings jumped by one-quarter to €9m despite roughly €1.4m in unfavorable currency movements from “turbulence in our operating environment.”

The number of depositing customers was up 6% year-on-year to 413k during Q1 – 11% growth from Q4 2019 – as both new and returning depositing customers hit record highs. The company’s share of revenue from regulated markets rose three points year-on-year to 53%.

LeoVegas, the self-described ‘king of mobile casino,’ said it has “taken market shares from the land-based gambling industry” due to the pandemic-related shutdown of gaming venues. The company is also poaching share from “competitors with primary focus on sports betting,” as sports accounted for only 9% of LeoVegas revenue pre-pandemic.

UK gambling operators need to mind their white-label partners’ activity unless they want to make six-figure financial settlements with the local regulator.

On Wednesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that online gambling technology provider FSB Technology had agreed to pay £600k to atone for “advertising, money laundering and social responsibility failings” on behalf of three of FSB’s third-party licensees, whose identity the UKGC didn’t disclose “for legal reasons.”

Last August, the UKGC announced that it had put FSB’s license under review based on suspected shenanigans by its Blackbet white-label partner. FSB subsequently announced that the UKGC had “expressed concern over the levels of due diligence performed on a small number of our white label partners.”

UKGC executive director Richard Watson said Wednesday that FSB’s offending licensees had committed “blatant breaches of rules we have put in place to ensure gambling is fair, safe and crime-free.” Watson further warned that the UKGC would “hold all licensees fully responsible for third-party relationships” and licensees “that do not manage third parties appropriately” should expect a trip to the regulatory woodshed.

This is a guest contribution by Eli Afram, a long time Bitcoin advocate. He explains how blockchain has been misunderstood, why it’s been perfected by Bitcoin SV, and how it can help enterprises, like those in the iGaming industry, thrive. This article first appeared on CoinGeek.com.

Remember the hype of the “blockchain” buzzword in 2017? Do you recall all the promises from countless ICOs, start-ups and ‘projects’ that scammed billions from people all around the world? The promises they all gave concerning blockchain were just that, promises.

The promise of blockchain wasn’t itself fraudulent. It’s all very real. But the opportunity, brought scammers opportunity also, and the word was hijacked by people all over the world, somehow selling you some ‘new’ blockchain idea. We had some coin that was supposed to work with mechanics, some other that was supposed to help the dentist industry… and so on. Money doesn’t work like that. To truly be liquid, as cash likes to be, it needs to be operable everywhere. Then we had projects that claimed to be even better than blockchain—only they ended falling on their own swords.

In the end billions were scammed on failed projects. And they all promised blockchain break-throughs of one nature or another, to unsuspecting victims.

The last day of the iGaming Next Online conference has come to a close, and it gave two more unique looks at how the iGaming industry can not only battle through this COVID-19 pandemic, but thrive coming out of it. The day featured an opening message from Sam Barrett, Director of Trustly, and talks from Dr. Adgne Matulaite and Tamara Babits, Deputy CMO of Parimatch, along with a closing message from iGaming Next Co-Founder and Managing Director, Pierre Lindh.

Barrett started things off by talking about the challenges the iGaming industry will see ahead. Changing consumer behaviors may become the new normal, and the industry will have to adapt to be stronger than before.

But it’s in a great place to do so with the lessons now being learned. A recent study has shown total esports viewership has reached half a billion people. That’s a great chance for suppliers and operators to enter the space and thrive.

Speaking to the ongoing battle between locally licensed operators and those based internationally, Barrett hoped that domestically regulated operators could come out of this crisis even stronger, educating players better, hopefully shifting customers to their sites.

With live poker out of the picture in the short-term, Johnnie Vibes took time out from lockdown to take on ‘15 Bigs’ of a different kind. The hugely popular YouTuber, whose video blogs are a sensation in the industry with thousands of subscribers, is admired by many other players.

We go from aspiration to perspiration with our questions for Johnnie here, however. Will he be able to cope with one book on a desert island, and which song would he listen to on repeat? Let’s push those chips over the line.

If you were to be shot at dawn, what would be your last meal/drink?

I would say my biggest fear is death, so I’d probably drink a magic mushroom tea. Ease the anxiety of my pending doom. I want to go out thinking deeply about the world and hopefully with a smile on my face.