The traffic at the top of the English Premier League is worse than Washington Airport on Christmas Eve if your name is John McClane. From giants of the game such as Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool to less-fancied sides such as West Ham and Leicester, just four points separate the top seven sides in the 20-team division.  

This weekend sees Gameweek #11 take place and with local clashes and top vs. bottom match-ups, it could be another weekend of surprises. Due to a COVID-19 outbreak at St. James’ Park, the game between Aston Villa and Newcastle United has been postponed, but with nine matches going ahead, there are some great betting opportunities for the shrewd punter.  

West Ham United vs. Manchester United (Saturday, 5.30pm)  

The Hammers welcome The Red Devils with the home side in the unlikely position of 5th place in the English Premier League, a point ahead of their visitors, albeit after playing one game more. With former Manchester United coach David Moyes now in the home dugout after a period of transition that lasted from his exit at United virtually until last season, the East London side will be gunning for three points against a United side who lost 3-1 at home to Paris St. Germain in the Champions League in midweek.  

Each week here on Calvin Ayre, we catch up with The Secret Coach. Last week, we spoke to them about how players have maintained fitness levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and as ever, they were as outspoken as they were revealing.  

The Secret Coach is a professional football coach in English football… who will remain anonymous. The Secret Coach has worked with some of the biggest names in the game, been through the coaching badges and is currently part of the coaching team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. As ever, this week, The Secret Coach pulls no punches!  

This week, we’re looking at the current futures markets and putting the coach in the know to the test on who’ll win some of the biggest sportsbetting markets out there. Let’s start with the Champions League since last night saw some major drama as Manchester United lost att home to Paris St. Germain. Who would be TSC’s favourites to win and why?  

“To win the Champions League, I can’t look further than Bayern Munich (10/3),” says TSC. “They’re so good to watch; German organisation with proven world class talent and good mix of young players. It could be Real Madrid (22/1) to miss out on the latter stages. I think they’ve been poor for some reason and despite good players, they’re playing as individuals and not a team. If there are some outsiders to win it, then Liverpool (13/2) would be my pick, purely because despite so many setbacks, they are still hanging in there – just like a boxer losing on points – battered but hanging in there knowing one punch could win it.”  

Sports betting operator SportPesa’s future in its home market Kenya remains up in the air as a new online betting rival enters the fray. 

On Thursday, SportPesa execs were scheduled to meet with Kenya’s Betting Control & Licensing Board (BCLB) to discuss whether the company would be able to continue operating in Kenya under a license issued to Milestone Games Ltd, a firm majority controlled by SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri. 

Word has yet to leak out as to what occurred during the meeting, nor whether any of the participants survived. Such is the bad blood that has built up between the regulator and SportPesa/Milestone in the month or so since the tandem attempted to revive the dormant SportPesa brand in Kenya. 

Before the hearing, Kenyan media reported a heretofore unknown tidbit regarding ownership of the SportPesa brand, which is at the heart of the dispute. A UK corporate filing – signed on September 15 but backdated to June 2 – indicates that the SportPesa trademark was transferred from Kenyan firm Pevans East Africa to SportPesa Global Holdings Ltd (SPGH) for £100k. 

Some Gibraltar-licensed online gambling operators have agreed to pay £2.5m as penance for their shoddy anti-money laundering (AML) controls. 

On Wednesday, the Gibraltar government’s Gambling Division announced the completion of a 12-month ‘thematic review’ of its customer-facing online gambling licensees’ AML risk assessment processes and controls with respect to the companies’ non-UK international customers. 

The review identified “a number of historical control weaknesses,” including risk tolerances that were “too great” as well as “slow or ineffective” timing on interventions. “Several” operators were found to have accepted deposits from an individual who’d stolen the sums from their employer, then forged documents and provided bogus information to explain the source of their wealth.

The review warned all licensees to conduct enhanced due diligence on their high-rolling customers “irrespective of whether or not their losses are high.” Operators must also have tools to identify “sudden and significant increases in the velocity of transactions” and to ensure that management is made aware of these increases to determine whether further action is required.

UK gambling giant Flutter Entertainment is swallowing nearly all the bits of FanDuel that it doesn’t already own ahead of a likely US initial public offering. 

On Thursday, the UK-listed Flutter announced plans to acquire a 37.2% stake in the FanDuel Group from Fastball Holdings, a consortium of investors led by private equity group KKR. The deal will boost Flutter’s FanDuel stake from 57.8% to 95%, with the remaining 5% held by regional casino operator Boyd Gaming.

The US$4.175b (£3.13b) deal will be funded with just under $2.1b in cash and 11.7m new Flutter shares. For the cash portion, Flutter will use a combination of cash on hand and £1.1b via a new equity placing. Investors will get to weigh in on the proposed acquisition at an extraordinary general meeting before year’s end.  

Flutter said the deal “removes considerable uncertainty with respect to buyout obligations of Fastball’s stake” and eliminates Fastball’s economic interest in the FOX Bet brand. (The latter was recently referred to as a “subscale competitor” in the US sports betting market by Flutter CEO Peter Jackson during his company’s Q3 earnings call.) 

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. Our Press Release section is updated constantly.

Red Rake Gaming partners with Rivalo in Colombia

The industry’s well-known games development company, Red Rake Gaming, has agreed a new content deal with Rivalo for the Colombian market which will see it broaden its presence in the growing Latin American online gaming market.

Christmas came a little early for MGM Resorts this year. The casino operator just wrapped another round of unit placement with its real estate investment trust (REIT), MGM Growth Properties (MGP), allowing it to collect $700 million. The transaction was part of an existing agreement between the two entities that stipulates that MGM could redeem $1.4 billion-worth of its stake in MGP, and the companies already completed one $700-million transaction per the agreement this past May.

MGM plans on using the money for “general corporate purposes,” which, this time of year, means Christmas bonuses and lavish parties for some companies. However, MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle expects the injection of money to give the company greater “financial flexibility” to reverse the damage caused by COVID-19. Some of the money might also need to be used to cover recent fines MGM received for allegedly violating health protocols, as well as for consideration toward the possible purchase of one of the Las Vegas Sands properties in Sin City that might be coming to market.

MGM doesn’t really need to have the extra cash, but it can’t hurt, either. The company reportedly now has liquidity of $5.9 billion, making it, on paper, one of the strongest companies in the casino industry today. However, if it feels like it needs to have more cash at some point, it has almost immediate access to additional funds.

The MGP purchase completes the previously-agreed arrangement for the REIT to buy MGM’s equity stake. As a result, the casino operator now only owns 53% of the REIT, down from the previous 56.7% it has held since May. If MGM wants to pick up some more money, it can always knock on MGP’s door once again and offer to put all or part of the remaining 53% on the table. MGP already owns all the real estate underneath the MGM name in Vegas, with the exception of the Bellagio, and would most likely never turn down an offer to be more in control.

Day 2 of Betting On Sports America – Digital started off with a heavyweight guest. Bill Hornbuckle, CEO of MGM Resorts, sat down ESPN’s David Purdum and offered plenty of opinions and insights into the state of the gambling industry today.

Partnerships between gambling operators and sports teams have become all the rage. Pardum wondered if this might lead to a company like MGM taking a direct stake in a team. “I don’t believe it would be good for the sport or the industry because obviously it’s still a competition and you do not ever want to intertwine those two,” he said. “I would be hard pressed to believe they would want to cross over that line. I just think it gets a bit difficult for the commissioners and for the teams to then regulate what does and doesn’t happen.”

Similarly, partnering with media companies has increasingly become the obvious move, as companies like Penn National have proven with their acquisition of Barstool Sports. Others have resorted to partnerships, and Hornbuckle thinks it’s the right move. “For the media companies it’s being able to participate in the space without having to do it – if you will – basically as a large-scale affiliate for lack of a better definition. So there’s pure economics, there’s exposure, there’s engagement most notably.

“For us it’s a way into Yahoo! Fantasy Sports,” Hornbuckle noted, referencing the partnership they’ve had since 2019. “They’ve got 60 million viewers – they’ve got about five million daily fantasy participants. Getting access to them – because they obviously enjoy sports, they’re passionate about it – getting them to switch over to live gaming is a pretty easy link. And so that’s how we benefit and ultimately how they benefit but for them it’s all about engagement. It’s about growing their database and giving people more content and more reasons to come back and to stay longer while they’re there.”

Global gaming technology and operations company Playtech may be feeling a little homesick. When it first went live in 2006, Playtech was registered in the U.K. However, it then decided to relocate to the Isle of Man eight years ago. It wasn’t a major jump, given the island’s position halfway between the U.K. and Northern Ireland, but it might now be time to head back home. Playtech’s board of directors has reportedly floated the idea to investors of relocating its official residency to the U.K.

The move to the Isle of Man was made, at that time, because of the “suitable tax regime” Playtech saw in the territory. It set up shop in the town of Douglas on the eastern coast, surrounded by Thai restaurants, Starbucks and the Manx Museum. However, times change and the company sees better financial reasons to now move back to the U.K. If investors sign off on the idea, Playtech would move its tax residency to its former home sometime early next year, but explains that this won’t have any impact on its effective tax rate expenses. 

In addition to possible financial benefits, there are reportedly logistical advantages linked to the relocation, and Playtech believes its global operations can be enhanced if it is stationed in the U.K. A statement released by the company explains, “The Board now believes that given the evolution of the Company and to better align it with its expected future operational substance, there would be an overall benefit to migrating the Company’s tax residency to the UK with effect from early 2021. This would allow board meetings and board decisions to take place in the UK and, in addition, the Company would be able to hold shareholder meetings in the UK as a matter of course, which should encourage greater shareholder participation.”

Like most gaming companies, Playtech has had a rough year because of COVID-19, although it hasn’t explicitly indicated that the potential move is because of any financial fallout. However, the company backed off its operations in Italy this past March because of the global pandemic and reported a loss of $22.16 million. It later revealed that its profits had plunged by 85% in the first half of 2020 because of the retraction in Italy, as well as in the Asian market, and that its final profit for the half was just $5.57 million, down considerably from the $30 million it saw a year earlier. 

Las Vegas has been working on a revitalization plan targeting the Downtown Vegas area, hoping to bring back to life what was once the heart of the city. Downtown Las Vegas, in the city’s humble beginnings, was full of excitement as the desert gambling mecca began to unfold, with no shortage of thrill-seekers hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the many gangsters that reportedly backed the up-and-coming casinos. Things have fallen off since then, but Vegas is certain it can breathe new life into the area. It just got another boost, as the Plaza Hotel and Casino announced that it will expand through the development of a new entertainment venue as soon as it can get a few buses out of the way. 

There’s an old Greyhound bus terminal that sits on Main Street, right next to the Plaza. The last buses are scheduled to roll out of the parking lot sometime around mid-2021, after which the casino resort will take over the property and turn the 48,500-square-foot terminal into a multipurpose space that offers entertainment, dining and retail outlets. Jonathan Jossel, CEO of the Plaza, calls the upcoming development “arguably one of the most important in decades” in a tweet from Tuesday.

The Plaza has a history of converting public transportation facilities into attractions. Its primary location, which opened in 1971, was built on a former Union Pacific train depot and the tracks can still be found in their same spot behind the venue. The Greyhound terminal-turned-entertainment property will add an additional element of historic value to the resort’s environment.

It isn’t clear how long it will take the Plaza to complete the renovation of the property or how much it plans on spending. However, it’s only one of the improvements it is helping to bring to Downtown Vegas. The casino has also agreed to work with the city in order to build a four-block pedestrian walkway that will link the resort to a new bridge over those Union Pacific railroad tracks. That bridge is going to be funded by Las Vegas and is designed to give visitors access to residential and commercial development that is taking place in Symphony Park. The expansion will not only help to revitalize the Downtown area, but it will also give the Plaza extra amenities that will allow it to be more attractive as competition in the area increases. The Circa just opened and offers an array of attractions for Vegas visitors. In addition to the casino, there are six restaurants, five bars, six swimming pools and a mammoth sportsbook with a video screen that every guy wishes he could put in his man cave.

There’s no better way to end 2020 than to look ahead to 2021, and try to figure out the best way forward in a post-Covid world. That will be the purpose of the World Gaming Executive Summit (WGES), and CalvinAyre.com’s Becky Liggero Fontana will be there hosting three important panel discussions.

On December 8, Day 1 of the Summit, Liggero Fontana will be asking “What should companies be wary of when getting into the blockchain based gaming space” and “What is stopping the mass adoption of crypto in gambling?” Joining her will be Matthew Dickson, Co-Founder & CEO of BitBoss, a Bitcoin SV (BSV) based service provider, as well as Lloyd Purser, COO of Funfair Games, and Phillip Runyan, Founder & CEO of Hold Gaming. We may just get to the bottom of why the gambling industry has yet to take advantage of the cost savings and benefits of the BSV blockchain, and what it will take to get there. The panel starts at 2:30 PM GMT.

A little later in the afternoon, she’ll be focusing on the customer with Gil Rotem, Former Group Director of Gaming Strategy of Bet365 and Matevž Mazij, Manaing Director of Oryx Gaming. They will be discussing “How do you know whether you are giving customers what they need” between 4:15 PM and 5:00 PM GMT.

Liggero Fontana returns on Day 2, December 9 to look inward, moderating a panel on “Assessing internal corporate communications under these unprecedented times.” She’ll be joined by Daria Isakova, Deputy CCO of Parimatch, Emily Haruko Leeb, Transformational Coaching & Consulting and Yevgeniya Golovina, PR & Communications officer of JKR Investment Group. The panel will run between 4:00 PM and 4:45 PM GMT.

FuboTV set out to be the go-to sports streaming channel when it was launched and has found a significant following in the past five years. After getting its feet wet with soccer, it began offering all types of sports coverage in 2017 and has continued to expand ever since. The platform is ready to take its services to the next level, though, and, in a trend that only promises to grow larger, wants to become part of the sports gambling scene in the U.S. The company announced Monday that it is in the process of purchasing Balto Sports as a stepping stone toward greater sports betting integration.

Balto Sports was co-founded in 2018 by Nick Montana, son of former NFL quarterback Joe Montana, as a platform to allow users to set up fantasy sports contests. It has received significant financial support over the years, which has allowed it to build up its software development, automation and marketing. FuboTV plans on leveraging that innovation to launch free-to-play games and to, eventually, maybe even become a full-blown sportsbook. 

According to a statement, FuboTV co-founder and CEO David Gandler explains that the launch of a real-money sportsbook would ultimately be the “natural progression” for the company, adding, “As we said in our third quarter earnings announcement last month, FuboTV sees the online wagering space as complementary to our sports-first live TV streaming platform. We believe there are significant synergies between consumers who enjoy wagering and our subscribers who enjoy streaming live sports, creating a flywheel opportunity.” 

He expects FuboTV to take a methodic and pragmatic approach to development, saying, “We will be strategic in our approach to wagering as we consider and evaluate different opportunities and will adjust our plans accordingly. We’re excited to launch sports wagering, integrate it into our core offerings and deliver what we believe will be a truly groundbreaking live TV streaming platform to consumers.” 

The news that U.K. officials have approved a COVID-19 vaccine has had positive results on the gaming industry. While casinos everywhere are still closed or barely limping by, gaming stocks are starting to see a little more support after the U.K.’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced that it will start distributing the vaccine as early as next week. Macau, whose economy greatly relies on gaming, could reportedly receive the vaccine by the end of the year, as well. 

The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) sent a letter of recommendation to the DHSC for the COVID-19 vaccine created through a collaboration between U.S.-based Pfizer and Germany-based BioNTech. The health agency accepted the recommendation, stating later through a spokesperson, “This follows months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA who have concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. The joint committee on vaccination and immunization will shortly also publish its latest advice for the priority groups to receive the vaccine, including care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and the clinically extremely vulnerable. The vaccine will be made available across the U.K. from next week.”

Following the news, a number of casino stocks jumped. For example, Wynn Resorts has been pushed up by 2.77% and MGM Resorts has added 1.87%, while Las Vegas Sands improved by 1.75%, all at the time of this writing compared to yesterday’s figures. The Asian arms of those three operators also saw increases, with MGM China moving 4.16% higher, Sands China jumping 1.11% and Wynn Macau adding 1.16%. Caesars Entertainment has only seen a slight uptick, at 0.97%, and Melco Resorts and Entertainment has barely budged, adding just 0.11%. 

As the U.K. looks to begin introducing the vaccine next week, halfway around the world, in Macau, health officials are getting everything prepared so the city can begin vaccinating its residents. Ao Ieong U, Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, expects the first batch of the vaccine to arrive before the end of this month, and it will then be administered first to frontline health industry workers. Then, a second batch, said to contain 1.4 million vaccines, will be administered to city residents. That is more than enough to cover the roughly 650,000 residents of Macau. 

Here we are, December of 2020 and we’re about to finish off a year that unfolded in a way that no one ever could have predicted. COVID’s introduction into our lives may have turned our world upside down, but the population has already made so much progress with adapting to the unprecedented situation.

While most people refer to our current reality as the “new normal”, Zoltan Tundik, Co-Founder at Hipther Agency, refers to it in another way. 

“I hate the term new normal which is something that should not be adopted”, he said.

“I think its just a temporary abnormal which leaves room for innovation and also gives us an opportunity to upgrade our consciousness and this is what happened all throughout 2020 until now and I think it will go on in 2021 as well”, Tundik shared.

Sweden’s gambling regulator is not so gently reminding its online betting licensees to be on the lookout for match-fixing efforts as four local athletes face charges of monkeying with match results.

This week, Swedish prosecutors brought formal charges against four individuals – including a former member of Sweden’s national Under-21 football team and two former members of the national futsal team – who either offered or received cash payments to bring about certain results on the field of play to ensure bets paid off.

Prosecutor Staffan Edlund told SVT Sport that the unnamed U21 national received SEK300k after a 2019 Allsvenskan match in which he deliberately committed a foul to earn a yellow card. Another of the individuals is said to be a goalkeeper who presumably let in a few softies to ensure a particular result appeared on the scoreboard.

Edlund reportedly plans to present a significant volume of evidence to support the charges, including bank statements, money transfers, online betting account registrations and betting patterns. All of the accused have denied their guilt.

South Korea’s casino operators can’t seem to get their engines out of reverse as the country struggles with its pandemic third wave.

This week, Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) announced that it was closing its Seven Luck Casino in Busan due to a local surge in COVID-19 infections. The shutdown took effect on Tuesday (2) and will extend until the morning of Monday, December 15.

GKL’s announcement follows last week’s closure of its two other Seven Luck casinos in the capital Seoul as the region shifted to ‘Level 2’ of the country’s pandemic mitigation strategy. GKL’s casinos were already restricted to operating at just 20% of normal capacity when Seoul moved to Level 1.5 in mid-November.

The Seoul casinos are currently scheduled to reopen on December 8, but that appears doubtful. The country’s third wave is unlike the first two, which were largely based around concentrated hotspots rather than the widespread infection growth currently on display across the country.