Spanish gambling operator Codere reported a nine-figure loss in the first half of 2020 amid general uncertainty about the company’s financial future.

On Wednesday, Codere reported operating revenue of €317.6m in the six months ending June 30, down 54.7% from the same period last year. Adjusted earnings fell 89.5% to €16.6m while the company booked a net loss of €177.6m versus a loss of €24m in H1 2019.

The company noted that its retail operations around the globe were closed for most of the second quarter, and while online operations remained active, the suspension of major sports league activity meant their revenue was also in the red compared to H1 2019.

During Q2, all of Codere’s regional operations reported negative growth, with absolutely zero revenue from Argentina and Panama. Argentina was doubly impacted by a 51.7% devaluation of the local peso versus the Euro, resulting in negative earnings of €7.7m.

The British racing sector is being forced back ‘behind closed doors’ as the nation struggles to get its COVID-19 infection rate under control.

On Wednesday, the British government announced plans to reintroduce rules barring individuals from assembling in groups larger than six people, regardless of whether that group assembles indoors or outdoors. The restrictions will take effect on Monday (14) and will apply for “the foreseeable future,” possibly until after Christmas.

The so-called ‘rule of six’ has a few exemption s but racetracks aren’t among them. The Arena Racing Company’s Doncaster Racecourse welcomed over 2,500 guests to its grounds on Wednesday, the first day of the four-day St. Leger Festival, but the rest of the meeting will now take place with only essential personnel on hand.

Wednesday’s meeting was the first time racing fans had been let in to witness the action in person since the UK’s original pandemic lockdown took effect in March. Racing was allowed to resume on a spectator-free basis in June but the sector had hoped the Donacaster test would lead to more tracks being granted permission to resume normal activity.

The last bracelet is perhaps the sweetest to win of the World Series of Poker, and that honour fell to Connor Drinan last night as he wrapped up the WSOP Super MILLION$ bracelet win.

With just the final nine remaining, there was a lot on the line, including a very interesting poker celebrity side-bet, but there was mainly the matter of the majority of the $8.7 million prizepool to fight for first.

It took just 150 minutes to find a winner in the end as Connor Drinan outlasted the eight opponents who stood between him and a WSOP result of $1.4 million that more than equated to all the money he’d made in WSOP events before the final.

Drinan’s route to glory was not an easy one, but it was the worst possible start for the short-stacked Kenneth Smaron, who lasted just one hand. All-in from the big blind with queen-jack, he flopped top pair, but Christopher Kruk had a straight and flush draw, which came in with instant service on the turn.

Slots just aren’t innovating as fast as some people would like. While everyone in the industry bangs their head on a few key ideas, Savvas Fellas, founder of Lindar Media, suggests they might want to look to games like Call of Duty: Warzone for inspiration.

During a panel at the SBC Digital Summit Berclona, Fellas bemoaned the lack of new features in slots gaming. “Innovation, our bar is too low,” he said, citing a lack of progress specifically in skill features in gaming.

But one of the hottest video games this year, Warzone has lots of features slots could borrow from, increasing social aspects that could do wonders during a time of pandemic.

Things like customized guns, blinged out name tags and spray paints are not new features in video games, having existed for years now. While they provide no tangible advantage to the player, people pay and work to get the ones they want, and that encourages others to do the same. That could hold lessons for the slot industry, Fellas said, as so many crave a more social experience while locked at home.

Online gambling operator 500.com has finally won permission to relaunch its Swedish-licensed MultiLotto brand, which accounts for nearly all of the struggling company’s current revenue.

On Wednesday, the New York-listed 500.com announced that Sweden’s Spelinspektionen regulatory body had reinstated the online gambling and betting license of Multi Brand Gaming Ltd, an offshoot of 500.com’s Malta-licensed The Multi Group (TMG) that operates the Multilotto.com and Multilotto.se domains (the latter of which remains offline at present). 

Spelinspektionen suspended Multi Brand’s license in January after 500.com somehow failed to complete the license renewal process by the stated deadline. 500.com initially said it hoped to resume Swedish operations by “mid-February” but that timeline came and went without any hint that Sweden was preparing to allow the company back into the local market.

Sweden’s issues with 500.com’s petition for reinstatement remains unknown, but the delay coincided with the company’s involvement in a Japanese political corruption scandal related to 500.com’s pursuit of an integrated resort license. Just this week, the Japanese lawmaker at the center of these bribery allegations was arrested for a fourth time as more details became known.

It might sound like an old cliché, but a social media presence can make or break your brand in the world of iGaming. Finding the right social media platform to reach your audience is crucial, not just for operators, but also affiliates. The right choice will drive traffic and players to all the right places.

The reality is that you’ll be targeting a large audience across multiple platforms with different types of content. While this may seem relatively painless for a ten-year-old, targeted social media planning can become a major time drain across the office when you are creating content for Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter – and that’s only the planning.

Not all platforms are the best choice for every business and you need to identify your audience and objective. Are you talking to players or are you promoting a new slot or a payment method, or do you have a B2B business?

Each platform reaches a different type of audience, and we’ll walk you through some tips to find the right fit for your brand.

A hugely successful World Series of Poker took place over the second half of the summer on GGPoker and the WSOP.com official website. So what it made it so successful?

In terms of sheer numbers, the Series awarded $147,789,550 in prizes, with 54 gold bracelets given out on GGPoker and another 31 awarded via WSOP.com during the month of July.

Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, was passionate to a fault about the series in the following statement:

“Obviously the events of 2020 have been unprecedented, and hosting the WSOP Online series at GGPoker wasn’t in our plans at the start of the year, but going online has been a wonderful experience, with tens of thousands of new players all over the world able to experience some of WSOP magic that they might have been otherwise unable to – we’re delighted that the series has been such a resounding success!”