German poker superstar unveiled as latest GGPoker brand ambassador
Toronto, Canada – May 4, 2020: GGPoker today reveals that it has partnered with Pokercode, the world-renowned poker training site and community. Pokercode players will now have access to the best and fastest growing online poker platform in the world.
The Pokercode community is led by poker superstars Fedor Holz and Matthias Eibinger, who have lifetime live and online poker earnings of more than $42 million and $13 million respectively. Holz also becomes a full GGPoker ambassador, joining an elite team that includes Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.
Members of the community, known as Team Pokercode, can access elite-level poker training materials, designed to drive their game to the highest levels.
Fifth U.S. license for player-centric affiliate in a year and just two weeks since Colorado approval
4th May, 2020 – BonusFinder.com has been granted a license to operate in West Virginia – its fifth U.S. affiliate license in less than a year, and just two weeks since Colorado regulators gave the rapidly growing brand its stamp of approval.
Founded in 2019 with a vision to transform how the affiliate sector creates, captures, and converts traffic into profitable returning customers, with a player-centric and brand-driven approach, BonusFinder.com has made huge in-roads in the rapidly growing U.S. market.
The company’s new West Virginia license marks a quintet of U.S. state approvals for the company in less than a year with existing licenses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana and most recently in Colorado, with each market showing rapid growth since launch.
NetEnt continues to make headway into regulated markets. Now players in Croatia can enjoy NetEnt’s portfolio of renowned slot games and marketing tools with market leading operators SuperSport, Germania and Arena Casino.
With the entries into both Switzerland and Colombia last month, Croatia is the latest regulated market where NetEnt games are now available. The first operators to go live with NetEnt games are SuperSport, Germania and Arena Casino, leading operators in the Croatian online gaming market. Now their players can enjoy NetEnt award-winning slots as well as marketing tools to help them grow their business.
“We’ve been eying the Croatian market for a while and we are of course happy to make this market entry. Growing our business in regulated markets is part of the core strategy for the NetEnt group. We are excited to put our portfolio of slot games in front of players and I’m certain they will enjoy them,” says Henrik Fagerlund, Managing Director of NetEnt Malta.
NetEnt is scheduled to go live with other Croatian operators in the coming months.
DENVER, CO (May 1, 2020) — Five-time NBA All-Star and NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups once again made history in the state of Colorado Friday morning.
On the same day Rush Street Interactive (RSI) launched BetRivers.com, the first online sportsbook in the state of Colorado, the legendary former University of Colorado star became the first resident to place a legal bet, placing $100 on Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year at +2000.
Billups, a three-time high school “Mr. Basketball” in the state of Colorado and 1997 consensus All-American for the Buffs, spent six of his 20 NBA seasons with the Denver Nuggets, including a 2009 trip to the Western Conference Finals. Billups also led the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances, ultimately winning the title and earning NBA Finals MVP honors in 2007.
“This is huge for the state of Colorado, both the economy and for avid sports fans in the state,” said NBA Legend Chauncey Billups. “Betting has become such a big part of the daily sports conversation and this move is a huge step in the right direction for the industry and the sports world.”
Operator group contributes funds to charity in aid of vulnerable families
Cyprus, 30th April 2020 – Casino and sportsbook group Soft2Bet is proud to announce its support for the Malta Together – A Festival of Gratitude and Inspiration.
The casino and sportsbook provider donated funds to the Malta Trust Foundation which provides food and supplies for the poorest and most vulnerable families in the country.
The virtual festival takes place on Sunday 3rd May in support of health care workers, those working on the front line, and volunteers helping in the fight against Covid-19.
This weekend’s first Exo-Tennis event will be streamed live on Tennis Channel’s new OTT app – Tennis Channel International
THURSDAY 30 APRIL, LONDON, UK – As live sport starts to slowly return, Sportradar, the global provider of sports content and intelligence, today announced partnerships with PlaySight Interactive and Base Tennis Academy to launch the Tennis Point Exhibition Series, a three date series of events starting in Germany this Friday, 1 May.
The four day event, featuring eight top men’s players from the ATP ranks, will be streamed live via Tennis Channel’s new Over-the-Top (OTT) platform – Tennis Channel International. Utilising Sportradar’s market leading OTT platform, Tennis Channel International is available as a paid for app to tennis fans in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and was launched this week with a one month free trial. The service is also available on Tennis Channel’s www.tennischanneleverywhere.com website.
Organised and hosted by Base Tennis Academy at their sports complex in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Sportradar is delivering a range of live tennis content solutions directly from the event. This includes data production, using data collection software which the umpires will use to score matches and transmit data back to Sportradar.
As consumer behaviour changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, time is running out for land-based lottery operators who are yet to adapt.
The landscape of the lottery industry is set to undergo a permanent shift as more and more operators look to move online before consumer behaviours are forced to adapt to new circumstances.
Lockdown has spelled disaster for all non-essential retail businesses, leaving land-based operators without a vendor to sell their tickets. This has hit developing nations particularly hard. In Costa Rica, Lottery draws were suspended on 24 March, with estimated losses around the $8.5million to date. For now, the government has announced it will financially support around 2,000 vendors, with up to $342,000 per month available for each entity. However, this scheme will only run until June.
By then, vendors will have been closed for 68 days, and may still have to close for much longer. Many expect the lockdown to last at least six months, which could see land-based lottery operators closed for well over 150 days. But consumer behaviours, if forced to change, will adapt to new habits in 60 to 90 days. While retail vendors are closed, online third party operators remain open for business, and are already beginning to win the loyalty of land-based players that have been forced to move online.
ISLE OF MAN – This month marks the second anniversary of a staff-led charitable initiative set up under Microgaming PlayItForward that has generated more than £120,000 in donations since inception.
Now in its sixth year, and aiming to change the game for people, place and planet, PlayItForward is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme of world-leading software supplier, Microgaming.
Driving employee engagement with PlayItForward, the initiative provides a dedicated space at Microgaming’s headquarters in the Isle of Man for employees and guests to put forward suggestions and vote for the causes which they would like to see receive support from PlayItForward.
Since it officially launched in April 2018, the initiative has attracted over 7,800 votes and more than 55 staff suggestions. In 2019 alone, 12 charitable initiatives were voted for by staff to receive support from PlayItForward. In addition, over 30 worthy causes were put forward by staff, resulting in over £50,000 in donations, along with guidance, volunteer opportunities and practical support.
UK-based digital marketing agency ICS-digital is launching a new services package specifically designed for emerging iGaming brands in LATAM.
The agency has designed packages bespoke to the countries in the LATAM region that hold the most opportunity when it comes to acquisition. ICS-digital offer a broad range of marketing and digital services from their base in Leeds, including SEO, outreach, and content creation.
The agency launched its Digital PR department last year, specialising in gaining access to top-tier publications for iGaming brands, in English-speaking territories and internationally.
In addition, the agency has the ability to translate content into 71 languages, and also boasts the ability to create video and audio content in-house thanks to state-of-the-art studios.
Stats Perform’s Watch&Bet Service adds BLAST CS:GO esports live streams, as well as live streams from PDC Darts Home Tour
London/Chicago – April 29, 2020 – Stats Perform, the SportsTech leader in data and AI technology, today announced partnerships for innovative new live sports and esports video streams that have been eagerly received by the licensed global sportsbooks who are customers of its Watch&Bet service.
The new partnership is set to deliver hundreds of high quality live CS:GO streams across the next few months and joins the Professional Darts Corporation Darts Home Tour (PDC Darts Home Tour) as another recent addition to Stats Perform’s to global betting streaming service.
• The PDC Darts Home Tour is about to reach its halfway stage and has captured global betting attention, due to its novel approach to handling the challenge of social distancing by displaying the talents of the world’s best players competing live from their homes every evening.
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana – April 28, 2020 – The rescheduled UFC 249 has retained its main event, added some fights and produced a strong betting card for its May 9 event in Jacksonville, Florida.
Tony Ferguson remains the favorite against Justin Gaethje in the main event at BetRivers.com and PlaySugarHouse.com sites, although the line has tightened somewhat.
Ferguson is -167 and Gaethje is +155 for this fight, a battle for the interim lightweight title. Top-ranked Ferguson had been -190 and fourth-ranked Gaethje +155 for the original April 18 match-up, which was canceled because of coronavirus concerns.
With 17 combined post-fight performance bonuses, Ferguson and Gaethje have thrilled fans like no other duo over the last several years, defeating the likes of Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis and Edson Barboza.
New online casino affiliate combines the successes of MTV, Top Gear and Late-Night Talk Shows with casino games entertainment.
29th April 2020 – Isle of Man (Press Release): Online casino fans now have the perfect platform for their interests in slot machines, blackjack, baccarat and roulette. Casino Hacks.com is launching the world’s first TV show for online casino players.
Targeting millions of online casino fans worldwide, and having already partnered with some of the major online casino operators and casino games suppliers, Swedish-owned Casino Hacks has been created by a tight team of former gaming operators, producers, marketing & SEO experts, including former executives at MTV, Mr Green, Bethard, Raketech, Pokerstars and Metal Casino who are also passionate online casino lovers.
Casino Hacks Founder Clas Dahlén was named ‘Sweden’s Best Marketer’ in 2014 when heading up Mr Green in Sweden, and is also the former Founder and Brand Strategist behind Metal Casino. The host of the show, Jonas Lutteman, who worked in the editing rooms of MTV in London will lead the entertainment and competitions in the CASINO HACKS show as well as manage Casino Hacks’ Twitch Program.
Until now, ZenSports has built its entire peer-to-peer sports betting business by selling directly to consumers. With the launch of its new ZenSports for Businesses product suite, the company is expanding into a new enterprise offering that will give sports industry organizations the ability to harness the power of ZenSports’ peer-to-peer sports betting and cryptocurrency technologies.
ZenSports’ consumer product is a mobile peer-to-peer sports betting marketplace where anyone can create and accept sports bets with anyone else in the world, without the need for a centralized bookmaker. Consumers can quickly and easily create their own bets with their own odds and terms or accept bets that others in the marketplace have created, all at a fraction of the cost that traditional bookmakers charge and all right from their phone. As a decentralized marketplace for sports betting, ZenSports is eliminating the need for a bookmaker altogether, and giving bettors a cheaper, faster, and more trustworthy process for wagering on sports.
ZenSports has also created its own cryptocurrency utility token called SPORTS, which consumers can use for placing bets, earning discounted betting fees, and getting cash back, bonuses, and other rewards. Betting with SPORTS tokens gives customers a more exciting and rewards-driven experience for wagering on sports than what traditional bookmakers offer. Since launching its SPORTS token in July 2019, almost 100% of all bets within the app have been made using SPORTS, even though the company also offers the ability to bet in dollars or Bitcoin.
According to ZenSports co-founder and CEO Mark Thomas, it is now ZenSports’ goal to also give other sports ecosystem partners access to its peer-to-peer sports betting platform, as well as its SPORTS cryptocurrency token. “There are numerous enterprises within the sports industry that are looking for a white-label solution for betting on sports. While other traditional bookmaking software solutions exist, none offer the same peer-to-peer, decentralized marketplace for sports betting like ZenSports does. In addition, the loyalty and rewards programs at many of these companies need to be revamped or are non-existent. Our SPORTS token and cryptocurrency/blockchain technology offer a perfect solution to drive loyalty and engagement with the audiences of these partners, just like it does for ZenSports.”
Thomas is especially bullish on the integration of SPORTS tokens into the payments and rewards programs of other sports ecosystem partners. “We’ve seen first-hand how exciting a cryptocurrency-based rewards platform is for consumers and how it creates deep loyalty and engagement. Our customer churn at ZenSports is almost zero because of the loyalty and rewards that we’ve built around our SPORTS token. Now think about integrating SPORTS tokens into other access points within the sports ecosystem, such as online merchandise, media/content, event ticketing, in-game food and beverage, and professional sports teams/leagues, thereby creating an entire payment and rewards system from beginning to end for sports enthusiasts.”
Bingo players are being invited to join a huge 52 game charity event on Thursday 30th April run by Gala Bingo, to raise money for kindness charity, 52 Lives.
GalaBingo.com, the U.K.’s favourite online bingo site, is continuing its kindness initiatives during the lockdown by running the event to support its charity partner, 52 Lives. It is inviting players to support the cause by taking part in the 52 special games, where 100% of the proceeds go directly to the charity. Four games will run every hour from 10am-11.45pm and players will be able to play as many games as they want. Gala Bingo is also donating a further £52,000 to ensure more people can be helped.
The company has been a charity partner to 52 Lives for three years raising in excess of £350,000 through hosting special charity bingo games and giving donations. The organisation, which changes someone’s life for the better every week of the year with a focus on kindness, has increased its support of various causes in recent weeks, including elderly care homes and people struggling with self-isolation.
The increased funds will enable the charity to help 20 families across the U.K. over the next month who have a child with a rare terminal illness called Batten disease. Children with Batten lose the ability to walk, talk, see and eat and rarely live past their teenage years. Their care needs are hugely demanding and lockdown has made life even harder for these families. The charity is helping to provide every family with essential items, such as white goods and care packages, as well as toys and sensory equipment, to make this time a bit more enjoyable for the children and their siblings.
After only a few short months since launch, Woohoo’s ascendancy in the world of RNG games continues to rise. Happy Luke, Live Casino House and Empire 777 have added the increasingly popular game suite to their sites.
With a studious attention to state-of-the-art graphics, engaging game play and competitive commercial rates, Woohoo Games have quickly established themselves as a ‘must have’ portfolio. In the past few weeks, Woohoo added three new games to the RNG market with Cyberpunk Wars, Racer Babes and Caesars Conquest and have more in the pipeline over the coming year. Already one of the biggest players in India, these latest inclusions highlight a more international footprint for the new games provider.
Woohoo Games, Head of Business Development, Ed Whittington comments: “The creation of our games is never rushed as we need to make sure each release is, not only unique, but also interesting enough to create loyalty and fun for the end user. In this hugely competitive landscape we also need to, and believe we have, taken the user experience and game graphics to another level. However, proof is in the pudding of operator adoption, and, to be taken up by established industry brands like Happy Luke, Live Casino House and Empire 777 is very exciting.”
Online casino software provider and content aggregator Slotegrator will be attending the virtual edition of the Mare Balticum Gaming Summit, held on May 7, where the company’s Head of Sales, Vadim Potapenko, will speak on a panel addressing the effects that the disruption of sports betting is having on online casinos.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancelation of a number of iGaming expos, trade shows, and conferences. Some organizers, however, are taking their events online. While the live edition of the Mare Balticum Gaming Summit has been postponed to August 6, a virtual edition will go ahead on May 7. The goal of the summit is suited to its virtual format. Instead of being centered around a particular region or market, the topics will focus on how different sectors of the iGaming industry are adapting to the effects of COVID-19.
Several of the summit’s panels will focus on how the pandemic is affecting the sports betting industry. Speakers will address the explosion of esports betting and other sports betting alternatives, as well as taking a look at how the betting sector will restart after the crisis is over. There will also be a panel of marketing experts offering advice won through a successful career, as well as a discussion of how marketers are navigating the uncertain and unstable landscape. There will also be panels addressing the effects that the crisis is having on the payments industry. Slotegrator Head of Sales Vadim Potapenko will be part of a panel discussing whether the online casino business is benefiting from the disruption of the live sports betting industry.
Since the company’s foundation in 2012, Slotegrator has been one of the iGaming industry’s leading software solution providers and aggregators for online casinos and sportsbooks. Headquartered in Europe with a strong presence in the CIS market, Slotegrator is consistently expanding its product offering, which includes online casino platform and white label solutions, a vast portfolio of casino games from the world’s best slot game developers, live dealer games and virtual sports, payment processors for online gambling projects, licensing services, and much more. The mission of the company is to facilitate the growth of the iGaming industry ecosystem through acting as an intermediary to bring together various pillars of the industry.
Prepaid voucher solution from Paysafe now available in 50 countries
Asunción, Paraguay, April 27, 2020 – paysafecard, a market leader in online prepaid payment solutions and part of specialized payments platform, Paysafe, continues to strengthen its presence in South America by launching in Paraguay.
paysafecard enables consumers to shop for goods and services online, simply and securely, using a 16-digit PIN to complete the payment transaction. It opens up significant possibilities for online shopping for millions of consumers who were previously excluded – either because they don’t have a bank account or credit card, or because they don’t want to share their bank account details on the internet, often for security reasons.
Out of Paraguay’s seven million inhabitants, about 65% have internet access while mobile phone penetration is relatively high at 96.6%. As of 2017, only 31% of the population had bank accounts and just 6.5% of the adult population had credit cards. As such, paysafecard provides an ideal solution for Paraguayans to use prepaid vouchers to make online purchases conveniently and without the need for bank accounts or credit card information.
The NFL Draft Round One produced record-setting handle for PlaySugarHouse.com in New Jersey and a plethora of first-round surprises. Here are some highlights:
Both handle and bet counts are already triple last year’s numbers for the full draft even though we are only a day into the 3 day event.
76% of all sports betting handle yesterday at PlaySugarHouse.com in New Jersey was bet on the NFL. The overwhelming majority was wagered on the draft, although there was some betting on futures and non-draft props.
The largest bet of the day was a nearly $5000 bet on the first wide receiver being drafted to be CeeDee Lamb of Oklahoma. In fact, Lamb to be the first receiver taken was the most popular bet of the entire night. He was third behind Alabama wide receivers Henry Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy. Ruggs was taken as the 12th overall pick by the Las Vegas Raiders and was a first-round surprise. Jeudy was selected 15th, by the Denver Broncos, and Lamb was taken 17th, by the Dallas Cowboys. Ruggs had the fastest time of any player in the NFL Combine. Ruggs returned +400 as the first receiver taken and combined with Jeudy and Lamb to pay bettors +650 in a unique trifecta wager. It required the bettor to select the top three receivers taken, in exact order.
The New York Giants produced the first-and largest first-round betting surprise by taking offensive tackle Andrew Thomas of Georgia as the fourth pick. He was +1000. The Giants had been expected to take either Tristan Wirfs of Iowa or Isaiah Simmons from Clemson in that spot. Both Wirfs and Simmons had been showcased in wagers to be drafted in the Top 5 overall.
Another popular prop was Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama to be the second quarterback drafted. The majority of players won on this bet. After LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was the first player selected in the draft, Tagovailoa was taken fifth by the Miami Dolphins. This also rewarded bettors who pegged him to be taken by Miami.
Another highly-popular prop was how many wide receivers were drafted in the first round. The bet was over-under 5.5. The over won as there were 6.
One bet receiving strong play was over 0.5 running backs to be taken in the first round. This bet won on the final pick in the first round with Clyde Edwards-Helaire going to the Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
Offensive linemen were quite popular in round 1. The over/under opened at 5.5, but moved to 6.5 close to draft night, with the line closing at 6.5 over -200. There were seven linemen drafted, rewarding the over bettors.
Still open: Cole Kmet of Notre Dame to be the first tight end taken is one of the 10 most popular bets PlaySugarHouse.com received, and with no tight ends off the board in the first round, this bet is still open and available to be bet.
Xavier McKinney from Alabama was the most bet safety to be the first to come off the board. With no safeties drafted in the first round, this bet is also still open.
“This was an outstanding opening night for the NFL draft,” said Mattias Stetz, C.O.O of Rush Street Interactive, which operates PlaySugarHouse.com. “We are delighted with the strong wagering action and how bettors supported many imaginative prop bets. They really prepared well for the draft and they weren’t afraid to bet heavily on some long shots.”
Today, Bitcoin Association – the global industry organization that works to advance Bitcoin SV – publishes its first annual report, covering its operations from February 2019-20. The report highlights the rapid growth and development of the Bitcoin SV ecosystem, as well as the work the Association has undertaken in its first year of operations to support the network’s underlying technical infrastructure and business expansion.
Interest in Bitcoin Association has rapidly grown as Bitcoin SV has captured the digital currency spotlight. The BSV blockchain has seen application development explode globally, as developers and businesses make use of BSV’s superior scaling, data capacity and micropayment capabilities. Growing usage – particularly at the enterprise level – has led to a rise in the number of daily transactions and average block sizes seen on the network to now regularly surpass BTC on most days and BCH every day.
This growth of the Bitcoin SV network and ecosystem is reflected in Bitcoin Association’s Year 1 annual report. Featuring a comprehensive description of the Association’s mission to accelerate the business use of Bitcoin SV – both as a blockchain and digital currency – the report illustrates the multi-faceted approach that the organization has pursued under the leadership of Founding President, Jimmy Nguyen.
BtoBet’s Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Fried will be one of the leading industry experts who will be participating at SBC’s Digital Summit. The digital summit, spanning on five days, which will have different key topics on its agenda, ranging from sports betting, to lottery, payments, and regulatory prospectives.
Widely considered as one of the prominent industry figures especially in regards to the Latin American market, Fried will be participating in a panel which will evaluate the current and prospective potential that the LatAm region keeps in hold.
The panel is also expected to discuss the impact that the current novel coronavirus pandemic has had on the local industry due to the sportsbook calendar being brought to a halt on a global level. Together with his peers who will be participating in “The Future of Latin American Sports Betting”, Fried will be opining regarding how the local operators could mitigate the current situation, whilst also giving his views regarding how the sportsbook industry will drive growth in Latin America over the coming years.
The panel experts will also discuss the region’s regulatory setup and how the market is expected to shape up in the short to medium term. From a jurisdictional perspective the panel will also discuss the region’s key differences from more mature markets, primarily Europe. Ultimately the experts will be crunching numbers and gauging the opportunities and how best to engage sports fans in LatAm’s different jurisdictions.
