Nordic online gambling operator Betsson AB closed out 2020 with a solid showing in the final quarter, resulting in a more than one-quarter rise in annual profit. 

Figures released Tuesday show the Stockholm-listed Betsson generated revenue of SEK1.76b (US$211m) in the three months ending December 31, 37% higher than in Q4 2019. Earnings jumped 40% to SEK410.5m and net income rose 36% to SEK277.8m. 

Online casino remained Betsson’s bread and butter in Q4, as gaming revenue rose one-third to SEK1.28b, although sports betting revenue spiked 47% to SEK459m as a half-point rise in betting margins added fuel to a 23% rise in turnover. 

On a geographic basis, all four regional segments reported solid growth in Q4, with the biggest percentage gain coming from the ‘Rest of World’, which nearly tripled to SEK215.6m. The gains reflect Betsson’s 2019 acquisition of Brazilian race betting operator Suaposta and a 70% stake in Colombia-licensed Colbet, as well as the December launch of its Betsafe brand in Kenya. The RoW gains doubled the segment’s share of Betsson’s overall Q4 revenue to 12%. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

After a weekend pit stop in the Phoenix area for the Waste Management Open won Sunday by former world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, the PGA Tour returns to California for this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, at arguably the most picturesque course in the United States: Pebble Beach Golf Links. Hey, it’s a public course so any hacker can play there, but be prepared to pay up big-time.

There are a couple of changes with this tournament in 2021. Because of the COVID pandemic, no fans will be allowed to attend, the pro-am portion has been eliminated and the tournament will be played over Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill only; Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore course is out of the rotation this year.

So instead of a 54-hole cut, it’s back to a usual 36 holes. Players will split their first two rounds at Pebble and Spyglass Hill (both are par 72s) and then play only Pebble on the weekend. That historic track has hosted six U.S. Opens, last in 2019 and won by Gary Woodland.

In the fast-moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements from the gambling industry. Our Press Release section is updated constantly, and we publish roundups of the latest partnerships twice a week.

Greentube acquires esports platform provider Hero

In a move that will see Greentube enter the esports sphere, the NOVOMATIC Interactive division has acquired esports betting provider and blockchain pioneer HERO.

In Las Vegas, rumors are a part of everyday life. However, some have more validity than others. The latest to surface in Sin City is the prospect that Caesars Entertainment might be ready to ditch its Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip. If it’s true and if Caesars moves forward with the sale, it could potentially mean a huge windfall of cash for the casino operator, despite the slower market caused by COVID-19.

The rumor was announced by Vital Vegas, which apparently has bugs on all the important walls around the city. It always seems to know what’s happening before anyone else, and stated recently, “Rumors about a potential sale of Planet Hollywood have circulated for some time now. But a source who asked to stay anonymous says he was recently laid off and an impending sale was given as the reason.”

The new-and-improved Caesars, born of the marriage between the old Caesars and Eldorado Resorts, had discussed reducing some of its Vegas operations as the two operators combined forces. A sale of Planet Hollywood, according to some industry analysts, could save Caesars as much as $1 billion, as well as help it fulfill its Vegas plans. Prior to purchasing Caesars, Eldorado had mentioned that one or two Strip properties previously owned by Caesars could be put on the market.

If the property does become available, it probably won’t be hard to find someone willing to snatch it up. One potential candidate might be Hard Rock International (HRI), already looking for somewhere in Vegas to make a return. HRI purchased the Intellectual Property rights for Vegas from Hard Rock Las Vegas in May of last year and has indicated that it is anxious to get something going in the city. After losing a chance to introduce a Hard Rock-themed venue to Greece last year, the company has a little extra spending money to use on any Vegas ambitions.

When you wagered on the Super Bowl, we’re betting that it was only you and a few friends who knew if you’d win or lose. Perhaps only close family members knew that those sweats you were getting during the game weren’t the meat sweats but whether Tom Brady could lead the Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl in 19 years.

They did, of course, because Tom Brady is the GOAT and he did what Tom Brady always seems to do in the Super Bowl. Tampa Bay Buccaneers took down the first Super Bowl title to be won in the winner’s home stadium in history.

https://youtu.be/Gz5-NQROQGwVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Chiefs vs. Buccaneers | Super Bowl LV Game Highlights (https://youtu.be/Gz5-NQROQGw)

It goes without saying, then, that as a sportsbettor, you wanted to have Brady and the Bucs in general on your ticket, but no-one had them bigger than ‘Mattress Mack’. So-called due to the Houston-based betting legend giving away offers on his matteresses in conjunction with his massive sports wagers, Mack took The Buccaneers to the tune of $3.46 million after travelling to Colorado to bet on the DraftKings mobile app in the newly-legalised state.

The anti-gambling stance that runs deep in the heart of Texas might be softening. There is apparently a push to get the state to approve casino gambling that has been percolating for some time, but which began to boil more quickly late last year. There are also rumors now that legal sports gambling could come to Texas, which, although not confirmed, has already created a flurry of activity. Part of that is coming from the state’s professional sports teams, which are reportedly completely supportive of the idea of legalized gambling in the Lone Star State.

The Dallas Morning News (paywall) explains that the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas Mavericks and the Texas Rangers – the MLB team, not the law enforcement body – are all showing their support for sports gambling in Texas. They are expected to sign up to join a legislative effort backed by Representative Dan Huberty to introduce sports gambling legislation, which could potentially be approved before the end of the year.

It’s curious how quickly some people are able to change their minds on certain topics. Before the U.S. Supreme Court bashed pro sports leagues and a handful of lawmakers when it dropped the ax on PASPA, many professional sports teams were adamantly against sports gambling, arguing that it would only foster integrity issues in the game. However, with PASPA’s demise and the revelation that states are making millions of dollars from legal sports gambling activity, more leagues and teams are now rallying to see more expansion.

Despite having its name prominently featured in a gambling game (Texas Hold’em poker), Texas is not very friendly when it comes to gambling. It has repeated fought efforts to allow any type of casino or sportsbook, even though it doesn’t have a problem with lotteries. The times are changing, though, and Texas is trying to change with them; however, finding enough support for sports gambling isn’t going to be easy. The chair of the Travis County Republican Party, Matt Mackowiak, told The Dallas Morning News, “My view is that Texas is going to be one of the ten last states to allow [casino] gambling. I do think [sports gambling is] is a lighter lift, and it may be where they end up.”

Social media can be a power tool. However, like the old saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Some have been willing to exploit social media’s power for nefarious means, but Sportradar is going to use it as a productive tool. It has announced a new Social Media Integrity Education Service (SMIES), designed to give athletes and others in the industry the means by which they can identify and report integrity risks found on social media platforms.

The initiative is already underway, according to SBC News, with the Penny Del ice hockey league in Germany becoming one of the first league’s to take advantage of the new service. SMIES offers a library of webinars and workshops, as well as a number of tutorials, that give athletes, their teams and league personnel the means to receive education on integrity issues. In addition, they can learn how to better protect themselves and their organizations from becoming victims of integrity concerns.

Explains Sportradar’s Head of Education Integrity Services, Andrew Whittingham, “The integrity and reputational risks which can arise when using social media are far-reaching. Not only can failing to act with integrity online put individual users at risk of harm, it can also pose threats to the integrity of teams or clubs, leagues or competitions, or sport as a whole.”

In addition to the aforementioned tools that are now available to sports clubs everywhere, Sportradar is also providing additional resources. Organizations and athletes can become educated on identifying potentially inappropriate or damaging online content and behavior, as well as spotting potential offenses related to insider trading or match-fixing. They can also take advantage of other tools that will provide guidance on betting corruption and leagues’ views of drugs and other prohibited substances.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It was arguably the best action movie ever made. The death scene of the T-1000, never have I breathed such a heavy sigh of relief as when the disfigured T-800 comes riding up that giant gear thing and shoots that final shell into the T1000, and that hunk of liquid metal evil falls backwards, squealing, into that tub of molten glop. What happens then is freaky. The T-1000 writhes and screams, transforming, one by one, into each one of the people it had terminated along the murderous course of its existence. (And by the way, when there are two Sarah Connors on screen, it’s not a trick. Linda Hamilton has an identical twin sister named Leslie.)

When I look at stocks today, I picture that scene. The capital markets are really nothing more than a dying T-1000 killing machine morphing into each sector it has inflated and destroyed over the decades, as the trillions in monetary fuel keeping it all going slide into different sectors completely erratically, jerking around faster and faster in a frightening spin. It started out slow after interest rates peaked in 1980. In the 1980s it was junk bonds. Then in the late 1990s, tech stocks. Then in the 2000s housing. Then BTC, FANG stocks, the short squeeze mania led by GameStop that died off in just days, and now the unpredictable herd has descended on penny stocks generally. See Google trends for “penny stocks”, below:

Well, if that’s how the game is played and you want to gamble, then let’s gamble. I can’t call any of this investment. All it is, is people out of jobs, flush with unemployment checks and direct payment cash and mortgage moratoria, or state/municipal workers who haven’t missed a paycheck but still get to benefit from all this anyway besides, looking for something to do because everything else is closed.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say “If you can’t beat’em, join’em,” because this is all going to end badly soon. But it may be worth putting a few 0 bets on the roulette table and seeing if you can win the 35:1 payout. The herd is running around, looking for new targets every day. We saw what they did with GameStop. We’re seeing what they’re still doing with BTC. Let’s see how far they can push the microcap complex before they morph into and ravage the next thing. If you can’t gamble in casinos anymore, why not gamble on them? Just don’t put in what you can’t afford to lose. This is like placing a bet on what you think the writhing T-1000 is going to morph into next in its death thralls. It’s not investing, let me just make that very clear.

The Asian mafia network is not enjoying 2021 so far. A greater focus on illegal gambling operations with ties to triads has been put in motion throughout the region and has already found several big targets. There is likely more to come, as well, as investigations continue. Those investigations just got some additional data sources after police in Hong Kong busted 14 gambling dens reportedly linked to triads, arresting 81 people in the process.

The arrests occurred in Wan Chai and Hong Kong’s Eastern District, according to The South China Morning Post. There were 51 men and 30 women nabbed during the exercises, with all those taken into custody between 21 and 77 years old. The illegal gambling shops were most likely run by the same people, as the media outlet reports that the “mastermind and core members of the group” were arrested. 

It isn’t clear how the locations were uncovered, other than the fact that some police had infiltrated some of the locations, but news reports indicate the raids took place on Wednesday of last week and this past Sunday. There were over 100 police officers involved in the crackdown, which led to charges of “managing a gambling establishment, money laundering, drug trafficking and possession of “offensive weapons.” To sweeten the pot a little, 62 of those arrested were also charged with violating anti-COVID-19 laws that prohibit gatherings of more than two people. 

The patrons were reportedly lured by the offer of cheap illegal drugs and were easy targets after local arcade gaming centers had been shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. The head of the Hong Kong Island regional anti-triad squad, Chief Inspector Tse Tsz-kwan, explained in a press conference, “The gang also provided free low-quality crystal meth and drug paraphernalia to their customers on the premises. They also helped their clients buy high-quality meth and cannabis.”

After closing out 2020 on a high note, Wynn Resorts is helping it can use its positive momentum to attract more interest. The casino operator reported a positive adjusted property EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the period of $39.4 million, which made investors happy, and the company is playing on that temporary state of euphoria to offer some more shares to investors. As many as 6.32 million are being made available by Wynn, with the hopes that it can raise up to $5.5 million.

In an announcement from yesterday, Wynn said that it had begun an “underwritten public offering of 5,500,000 shares of its common stock” that will be followed by a 30-day window for an additional 825,000 shares to be purchased. The proceeds will be used for “general corporate purposes,” and Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and BofA Securities, Inc. are overseeing the exercise as its lead book-running managers. 

The timing is good for the stock sale, as Wynn is on the rise. It hit a 2021 low of $99.53 on January 29, but has only improved since then. At the end of last week, the stock was trading at $116.99 and, when the announcement of the sale was made yesterday, it moved up a little more before settling at $117.41. That’s not as high as the $136.82 the stock saw a year ago before COVID-19, but the general consensus from analysts is that Wynn is on track to continue to push upward. Several have already given it support by changing their take to “sell” from “neutral” or by confirming previous “buy” positions. 

The stock improvements and subsequent share follow the latest financial update provided by Wynn last week. In it, CEO Matt Maddox indicated that things are looking up for the company’s global operations, specifically pointing to a rebound in Macau as a driver for improvement. He added, “One of the positives of 2020 was that we’ve been able to spend a lot of time thinking about the future of Macau and really what the growth drivers are going to be going forward. And it’s crystal clear that the growth drivers for Macau are really the sweet spot of our company, and that’s the premium segment – premium mass, in particular.”

The light shining on Crown Resorts just dimmed a little more. The results of the Bergin inquiry, launched to determine whether the casino operator is worthy of a license in New South Wales (NSW), are in and the verdict is official. Crown doesn’t deserve to run a casino at its new resort in Sydney, putting in jeopardy the future of the $1.7-billion property, as well as the company. 

The ruling wasn’t a surprise to anyone, as even last November there were already indications that Crown might be determined unfit to hold a casino license. Crown has been the subject of regulatory scrutiny that has increased over the past couple of years, but which spans many more. It has been involved in money-laundering activity (either as a willing or an incompetent participant, depending on who you ask), has welcomed warlords into its casinos, has rigged gaming machines and much more. After executives admitted during the Bergin inquiry that Crown had been complacent in providing anti-money-laundering protection, the company’s fate was all but sealed. Crown is not a “suitable person” to be tied to gaming licenses and the subsidiary in charge of the Sydney resort, Crown Sydney Gaming, is not a “suitable person” to hold a license.

The findings were revealed in an extensive report yesterday; however, there is still a chance Crown might be able to redeem itself. The Bergin inquiry is named for Commissioner Patricia Bergin, who previously served as a judge on NSW’s Supreme Court and who led the inquiry. She said in her response, “If Crown is to survive this turmoil and convert itself into a company that can be regarded as a suitable person … there is little doubt that it could achieve a fresh start and emerge a very much stronger and better organization.”

In order to turn things around, Crown will need to clamp down on its internal operations and keep its nose clean, without a single breach or questionable blip on the regulatory radar. In addition, Bergin wants to rewrite the casino laws in NSW to include language that no single shareholder can attain, hold or transfer more than 10% of a casino licensee without prior approval. She wants to create an independent casino regulator and prevent casino operators in NSW from dealing with all junket operators.

North Dakota has had legalized electronic pull tab gambling since 2017. The vertical’s been growing steadily, and tribal leaders see it as a way to chip away at their future.

“It just seems like there’s all these little hits to our gaming compacts and the exclusivity. You know, the reason gaming compacts with put in place,” Turtle Mountain Chairman Jamie Azure explained to local outlet KXNET.

Azure mentioned the several gambling bills that now seem to be going through the legislative pipeline. “It just seems like every two years there are eight or more little bills that come through.”

With the casinos seen as a major job creator for the tribes, having customers no longer required to visit the reservation to play has meant less jobs. “We had 450 jobs,” said MHA Nation Chairman Mark Fox. “Now, we’re going to be down to 150 jobs.”

The Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump begins today, February 9, 2021. Accused of “incitement of insurrection,” the 100 senators will hear arguments from Democratic House Managers and a Republican Congessional defense, with a brand new team of lawyers to defend Trump. How many senators will vote to convict?

The trial itself is interesting in a way, because nearly everyone involved would have been in the Capitol when insurrectionists stormed the building on January 6; the crime that led to this impeachment. So the senators being asked to pass judgement are victims of the crime. But the popular debate has not so much been around whether Trump is guilty, but rather whether America should heal and move on.

To convince Republicans, Democrats are expected to show plenty of video evidence, reminding the senate of what it felt like on that tumultuous day. Trump’s defense is expected to argue that, with Trump already out of office, the impeachment is unconstitutional. However, it’s been rumored that Trump fired his first legal team for refusing to push the 2020 election hoax angle he preferred.

In Trump’s first impeachment trial, Utah Senator Mitt Romney was the sole Republican to vote to convict, and he’s likely to do the same again, making the “50 or fewer” betting option such a long shot. But who will join him?