Tag Archives: igaming

EEG CTO John Brackens on the future of esports

Esports Entertainment Group (EEG) CTO John Brackens has made a name for esports industry. Brackens has built a reputation as a passionate advocate of the benefits of esports for the gambling industry. He took some time out to sit down with our very own Becky Liggero Fontana to talk about how the esports is leading the revival for the gambling industry.

The last 12 months have been a watershed moment for the esports industry with professional sports leagues going into hiatus because of the pandemic. While some gaming operators saw a crisis, Brackens saw this as an opportunity for the esports industry to step into the spotlight. “With COVID pretty much shutting down a huge percentage of the world and most traditional sports, esports was the only game in town from a betting perspective.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z0R_EdWkisVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: EEG CTO John Brackens on the future of esports (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z0R_EdWkis)

There’s been a surge in interest in the esports industry. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in traffic and people visiting our site learning more about the different games that we offer in different markets,” Brackens said.

Tribal Chief arrested over casino bribery charges

Criminal charges have been filed against Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell. The Chairman is accused of accepting bribes related to the coustruction of a Tribal Casino in Taunton, Massachusetts.

Cromwell was arrested on November 13 on two counts of accepting or paying bribes. He also faces four counts of extortion, with a fifth count of conspiring to commit extortion.

“The charges allege that Mr. Cromwell violated the trust he owed the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe by committing extortion, accepting bribes and otherwise abusing his position,” said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. “Many American Indians face a host of difficult financial and social issues. They require – and deserve – real leadership. But it appears that Cromwell’s priority was not to serve his people, but to line his own pockets. We will continue to aggressively investigate public corruption, including by those who purport to serve our American Indian tribes.”

In the charges, its alleged that David Dequattro’s, owner of an architecture firm, lined Cromwell’s pockets with as much as $57,549 between 2014 and 2017. Dequattro’s company was paid nearly $5 million to work on the Taunton resort and casino the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Gaming Authority was working on.

Singapore stands out as another island of investment safety

Does anyone remember Michael Fay? He was that American kid who got caned 4 times in the butt in 1994 for vandalizing cars in Singapore. He says he only stole road signs though. At the time, there was this whole uproar in the United States because everyone thought that being caned for stealing road signs was harsh. It was on 60 Minutes, and I remember as a kid wondering why President Clinton himself had to take time out of his busy day to ask that some kid not be spanked. After the ordeal, to the dismay of Americans who like to sit, Fay had said it was hard to sit for a few days after the corporal punishment. Everyone oohed and ahhed and owwed. I remember thinking that Singapore must be a safe country if they’re going to punish theft like that. “That’s Singapore,” was my impression as a kid. Harsh, but takes things seriously.

The last we heard of Fay, he was a slots manager in Cincinnati, and so we’ve come full circle.

Turns out Singapore still takes things quite seriously, in ways that Westerners still find harsh and distasteful. They’ve been draconian in their management of the pandemic within their borders. You wouldn’t know it from the dry case chart though, which looks like this:

Here’s the same chart though, disaggregated by the BBC between “community” and “dorms”, which basically means Singaporeans and foreign workers.

The Bears lose in more ways than one in Monday Night Football

The Chicago Bears are second in the NFC North, just slightly ahead of the Minnesota Vikings. As these two teams met last night in Monday Night Football (MNF), the Bears were setting themselves up to make a solid run on the playoffs, but ran into some late-game trouble that is now going to cost them big time. With NFL Week 10 now in the bag and only seven more weeks of regular season football to go, teams not already in the top spots in their divisions can’t afford any losses. 

Last night’s game looked like the Bears were going to add another win to their record. On the opening kickoff of the second half, wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson took it all the way back to the end zone for a touchdown, covering 104 yards in the process. That broke Chicago’s longest kickoff return record, which had sat at 103 since Gale Sayers ran it back in 1967. Using that TD as momentum, the Bears moved on to take a 13-7 lead and threaten to give the Vikings another loss on the season. 

The Vikings weren’t going to have any of it, though. Kirk Cousins came out and connected for 292 yards, tacking on two touchdowns, destroying the Bears defense in the process. It was the first time he has ever won a game in MNF after having made ten appearances. After Cousins and the Vikings scored their last touchdown heading into the fourth quarter, the defense went to work on the Bears and made their lives impossible. Bears quarterback Nick Foles, who has been up and down this season, couldn’t find any decent targets and, adding insult to injury, took a shot from Vikings defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo in the last minute of the game that resulted in a cart being brought onto the field to carry him away. He is now being evaluated, but the initial indications are that he may have suffered injuries to his leg and hip, and possibly even his throwing arm, as he landed on his right side following the hit. 

Trailing 19-13 and with less than a minute left, the Bears would bring in backup QB Tyler Bray to try to save the day. His first pass gave the impression that he was on the right path, as he connected with running back Ryan Nall to pick up 18 yards and push the team down the field. However, Bray doesn’t appear to be ready for a leading role yet, as his next five passes were incomplete and the chances of a Bears come-from-behind win were suddenly wiped out. 

GAN acquires Coolbet for US sports betting push

Online gambling technology suppliers GAN have made a bold step to bolster their US market opportunities with the acquisition of customer-facing online operator Coolbet.

On Monday, the Nasdaq-listed GAN announced that it had struck a €149.1m deal for Vincent Group plc, the parent company of Malta-based online gambling operator Coolbet. Assuming regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in Q1 2021.

GAN said the deal involves €80m (US$95m) in cash and the balance in an exchange of GAN ordinary shares. GAN had US$57.5m (€48.5m) in cash and equivalents as of September 30 but the company said it will “seek new capital in the coming weeks” to shore up its balance sheet.

Coolbet generated revenue of €26m last year, with revenue of €18.6m – split roughly 50/50 between sports betting and casino – and earnings of €500k over the first three quarters of 2020. Coolbet, which boasts gaming licenses in Estonia, Sweden and Malta, currently has around 175 staff, mostly based in Tallinn, Estonia.

BetConstruct’s core technology receives 3 awards at MiGEA

Malta’s Gaming Excellence Awards 2020 has rolled out the results and the online gaming and sports betting software supplier BetConstruct has successfully taken three titles – Best Technology Provider, Best Online Sports Betting Supplier and Best Gaming and Online Betting Platform.

The company always placed emphasis on the product scope that Spring Platform contains. From multilingual Sportsbook with 120+ sporting events to dozens of revenue-booster games – any partner operator of BetConstruct can find a product that is right for their audience via the robust all-inclusive platform with a single backoffice.

While the sports betting scene lagged behind due to the lack of events this year, BetConstruct managed to fill in the gap with much needed betting markets providing the rapidly growing Esports and the exclusive in-house managed Archery Shooting sport type. 

Gaming-wise, from the start of the year the developer managed to launch 12 new gaming solutions which immediately started gaining favour with players and, of course, bringing higher engagement and bigger profits to operators.

EvenBet Gaming to host poker tournament at SiGMA Europe Virtual Expo

Platform provider’s popular competition returns with €1,000 prize pool. 

Monday 16th November 2020 – Leading online gaming software developer, EvenBet Gaming, will be hosting an exclusive poker tournament for delegates at the upcoming SiGMA Europe Virtual Expo, as well as promoting its full product suite.

Following successful competitions at several digital trade events this year, the company is returning with its popular tournament format including a prize pool consisting of €1,000 worth of Amazon vouchers.

The competition powered by the EvenBet Gaming poker platform takes place on the opening day of the Virtual Expo, Tuesday 24th November, after the last conference session and is free to enter for all summit attendees.

Crown Resorts won’t resume junket ties without casino regulators’ permission

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is swearing off all junket operators in an apparent Hail Mary bid to save its Sydney gaming license.

On Tuesday, Crown announced an update to its late-September decision to suspend all activity with junket operators – the middlemen who help steer (predominantly) Asian VIP gamblers to casinos – until June 30, 2021 in order for Crown to conduct “a comprehensive review of its processes related to junket operators.”  

Crown said Tuesday that it will “permanently cease dealing with all junket operators, subject to consultation with gaming regulators in Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales.” This consultation “has commenced” and Crown will only resume business with junkets if they were “licensed or otherwise approved or sanctioned by all gaming regulators in the states in which Crown operates.”

Crown’s newfound deference to regulatory authorities comes after a truly embarrassing month or so at the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) inquiry into Crown’s suitability to hold a gaming license for its Crown Sydney property, which is scheduled to soft-launch in December.

MMA global superstar Fabricio Werdum joins the Professional Fighters League for upcoming 2021 season

One of the sports all-time great heavyweights will make his PFL

debut in April.

NEW YORK (November 16, 2020) – Today, the Professional Fighters League announced the signing of Fabricio Werdum, one of the greatest heavyweight fighters MMA has ever seen. The charismatic Brazilian is a former UFC heavyweight champion who holds notable wins over fellow heavyweight all-time greats Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Alistair Overeem and Cain Velasquez, who he defeated to win the UFC heavyweight title.

Werdum, a consensus top-3 and arguably the greatest heavyweight fighter in the history of MMA, entered free agency after a Performance of the Night showing on UFC’s Fight Island which saw him submit Alexander Gustafsson by armbar in the first round. Werdum and the PFL came to terms on an exclusive deal that will have the Brazilian competing for the 2021 PFL Heavyweight Championship beginning in the Spring.

Which Premier League teams are favourites to be relegated?

The Premier League is almost a quarter of the way through this truncated season which began in September and will end next May with a side crowned as champions. Last year, Liverpool had the title all but sealed by Boxing Day, when their 4-0 defeat of Leicester City separated them from the chasing pack.

A lot of the focus, both in terms of interest and sportsbetting, moved to which teams would be relegated from the Premier League and this season is no different. There are half a dozen teams who could easily drop. Where is the betting value and who should you be betting on to lose their top flight status by season end? Let’s take a look.

Favourites for the Drop

Just two sides are odds-on to go down, but both came up from the Championship last season and are already struggling. With just one win, Fulham (4/9) currently sit just outside the relegation zone, but blew a late, late chance for another point at West Ham last time out. With seconds remaining, The Cottagers won a penalty, but the West London side’s summer signing from RB Leipzig, Ademola Lookman, chipped the tamest Panenka in history into the grateful grasp of Hammers ‘keeper Lucasz Fabianski and Fulham lost again.

Illinois sports betting’s September surge as online options expand

Illinois sports betting handle more than doubled from August to September although wagering revenue failed to match this torrid pace.

Figures released Friday by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) show the state’s sports betting licensees handled wagers worth $305m in September, more than twice August’s $139.8m as the NFL’s return brought bettors out of pandemic hibernation.  

Nearly 93% of handle was wagered digitally, up from 88.4% in August thanks to full month contributions from both DraftKings and FanDuel. The state also welcomed PointsBet and William Hill in mid-September, further adding to bettors’ digital options.

Rush Street Gaming’s BetRivers brand maintained its spot atop the betting handle rankings with $112.6m in combined retail and digital wagers, good for a 36.9% share of the overall. However, this was a serious step down from the over 84% share BetRivers enjoyed in August as DraftKings reported handle of $98.2m in September while FanDuel wasn’t far back with $82.5m.

2020 NBA Draft betting preview

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Just like essentially every other sporting event on the planet this year, the 2020 NBA Draft did not go off as scheduled (late June) due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also because of COVID-19, there will be no in-person draft at Wednesday’s event but held virtually from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.

The late date isn’t the only reason this draft will be unusual – NBA teams didn’t get to see any top prospects play in postseason games in the 2019-20 college basketball season. More than a few players have jumped up draft boards after a huge NCAA Tournament, for example. In addition, there is no clear-cut top prospect this year like there was in 2019 with Zion Williamson.

Thus, it’s truly up in the air whom the Minnesota Timberwolves might pick at No. 1 – although they reportedly would like to trade back and get a win-now asset as they are eager to return to the playoffs and make superstar Karl-Anthony Towns happy.

Fintan Hand leads EPT online main event as 351 make the cut

The opening day of a European Poker Tour Main Event always sends a trickle of excitement down the spines of any player taking part. For many years, of course, that excitement would come in a far-flung European City, be it in Barcelona, London or… that famous European outpost of The Bahamas. At this time of year, it feels like EPT Prague should be happening and the entire cardroom should smell of Trdelník.

That isn’t happening, of course, but what is going on in its place is very special in its own way. The EPT Online Series has reached the Main Event stage and it’s still the bumper price of $5,200 to enter. Taking place in an 8-Max format, it was ‘Stars own Fintan Hand who led the way at the conclusion of the 15th and final level of the night.

With seven and a half hours of action taking place – each blind level lasting 30 minutes – there were 1,182 entries, with just 351 surviving so far. The prizepool has almost made its guarantee and then some, currently sitting at $5.9 million, and it may well tip past $6 million, with registration open until five minutes before the start of play on Day 2. 

The Day 1 field comprised just 870 unique players and it was Hand who stacked up the biggest pile, with the Irish PokerStars ambassador coming back for Day 2 with 2,899,772 chips.

Russian bookmakers protest new ‘unified’ gambling regulator, tax hikes

Russian sports betting operators may soon find themselves under the watchful eye of a new gambling regulator, whose chief responsibility appears to be ensuring collection of controversial new taxes.

Last Friday, two deputies of the ruling United Russia party submitted new draft legislation to the Duma that aims to amend gambling laws to create a ‘Unified Gambling Regulator’ under the control of the Ministry of Finance. On Monday, Bill No. 1055657-7 was forwarded to the Committee on Economic, Policy, Industry, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship for further discussion.  

The new regulator will be tasked with getting even tougher with unauthorized gambling operators, particularly internationally licensed sites that offer products currently prohibited in Russia, including online casino and poker games. But the regulator will also be responsible for ensuring Russian-licensed bookmakers pay increased contributions to local sports bodies.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for a proposal to increase bookmakers’ sports funding by “at least twice” from its current 5% of revenue, with each bookie responsible for a minimum payment of RUB30m (US$394k) per quarter. The Ministry of Finance has introduced legislation to achieve this result but the 1055657-7 bill proposes a tax rate of 1% of betting turnover, with each bookie responsible for a minimum payment of RUB5m per sports league.

Bert Stevens wins second EPT Event to make early history

After winning the EPT Online Event #8 for $87,984, Bert Stevens has become the first player to win two EPT Online events in history after triumphing in Event #15 too.

Just a couple of days ago, Stevens, also known by his online name ‘girafganger7’, took down the $2,100-entry Event #8, which took place in no limit hold’em, and while Event #15 was also no limit hold’em, it was quite different. First of all, it cost $10,300, which turns it from a high roller ticket event to a super high roller in online poker terms. Secondly, the prize for winning it – apart from the honour of becoming the first player to win two EPT Online titles – was more than double its predecessor, totalling $186,238.

The standard at the final table was as high as you might expect from a five-figure buy-in event, with all the action coming thick and fast in the Turbo and 6-Max format.

Vyacheslav Buldygin is a name that is well known among the high roller set, but the Russian busted first at the final table, earning $32,882 when he crashed out in 7th place. That min-cash, worth “three stacks of high society” as Mike McDermott might have called it, was followed in the payouts by the $43,901 that British player Conor Beresford won by coming 6th.

Seven Poker Quotes from Old School Legends to Inspire You

Monday morning is tough for some, but if you can rise above the hardship of another week at work, then there will soon be time for poker.

If that’s the case and you have enjoyed our seven quotes from modern poker legends, then you might fancy taking it old school to inspire your session at the felt.

Let’s take it right back and start with the ‘Godfather of Poker’. 

“A man with money is no match against a man on a mission.” – Doyle Brunson

Tips for the ambiguous future of iGaming from Dr. Samuel H. Liggero

The gambling industry always needs leadership that’s looking ahead, and that’s never truer than in 2020, as we try to find a way forward during the Covid-19 pandemic. At iGaming NEXT ONLINE: Adventure of Change, Dr. Samuel H. Liggero, Professor at the Tufts Gordon Institute, delivered his tips on how to be a leader in a time of ambiguity.

Dr. Liggero began by describing exactly what it is that his institution does. “Our goal at Tufts Gordon Institute is to inspire and create a worldwide community of transformative leaders with heart, and technology driven industries, just like the iGaming industry,” he said. “Transformative means high-impact step changes to your business, or more broadly, to society. Leaders with heart are those who inspire, who persuade, and lead others with deep empathy and compassion for all. And when I say inspire and create, this means one’s leadership is characterized by incisive curiosity, a bias to action and an eagerness to experiment and take measured risks.”

There are three important traits Dr. Liggero expects a leader to have. “They are technical acumen, business acumen, and emotional intelligence,” he said.

The first part can be helped by understanding the technology that we work with, and that will be relevant soon, but a Leader shouldn’t have to do everything. Instead, they should “surround themselves, or have access to, technology subject matter experts.” Dr. Liggero emphasized why this is so important:

Tri-Nations Rugby round 4 tips & preview

Argentina plays their second match of the Tri-Nations Championship as they line-up against the Wallabies at Bankwest Stadium in Sydney.

Los Pumas shocked the rugby world, defeating the All-Blacks for the first time in their history 25-15 in their opening match of the Tri-Nations. Argentina will be confident of causing a similar upset against the Wallabies at the same venue.

The historic win will see the All Blacks sink to third on the world rankings and allows Australia to claim the Tri-Nations trophy.

Australia last won the title in 2011, beating the All Blacks in Brisbane before the 2011 World Cup. Australia needs to beat Argentina over their last two matches to claim the title. The home side have lost only twice to Argentina at home in 16 games, in 1983 and most recently in 2018.

The Long Con: Rasmus Sojmark sees opportunities in the online events

The CEO and Founder of SBC Gaming, Ramus Sojmark has made a name for himself bringing the news to the industry masses. Sojmark is the man responsible for putting together the name events in the industry. The events master sat down with Becky Liggero Fontana in this week’s episode of the Long Con to share his insights.

Sojmark points out that the success of a good event will ultimately come down to the value it brings to the industry. Sojmark found that especially challenging in the first half of 2020. “It’s a lot of quick-shifting and learning on the go and trying to create something everyone appreciates and find useful.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHBysG0pu14&feature=youtu.beVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: The Long Con: Rasmus Sojmark sees opportunities in the online events (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHBysG0pu14&feature=youtu.be)

The pandemic conditions meant that Sojmark and his team were quickly forced to adapt event formats to suit the digital space. Sojmark points out that the basic guidelines for evaluating the value of the event space remain the same online:

Michigan casinos to get an involuntary break as COVID-19 cases rise

When Michigan began to test whether or not COVID-19 was under control in the state this past summer, it gave the three commercial casinos in Detroit the green light to relaunch. Having been shut down since the middle of March, they were anxious to get things going, but the strict capacity limit of just 15% put a damper on their excitement. The result was a year-on-year drop in revenue, yet they still managed to pull down in September about 80% of what they saw a year earlier. Those gains are now going to be offset after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered new COVID-19 lockdown measures as the state begins to see a new climb in the number of positive cases. 

As of this Wednesday, the casinos will need to close their doors for three weeks. There are now a total of 251,813 coronavirus cases in the state, of which 98,000 have been reported since October 15. Whitmer said when she announced the new order, If we don’t act now, thousands more will die, and our hospitals will continue to be overwhelmed. We can get through this together by listening to health experts once again and taking action right now to slow the spread of this deadly virus.”

As a result, it’s possible that the Greektown, MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity casinos will be forced to let at least some of their staff go, but no one is commenting on the possibilities yet. Other states have had to take precautionary measures in order to stem the return of COVID-19 and many casinos have reduced their hours, but Michigan becomes the first to order a complete shutdown. The measure covers not only casinos, but theaters, night clubs, bowling alleys and any other facility that might be prime spots for indoor social gatherings and, as a result, the spread of the coronavirus. One of the few exceptions will be dining, with restaurants given approval to continue outdoor operations. 

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Director Robert Gordon explains, “Indoor gatherings are the greatest source of spread, and sharply limiting them is our focus. The order is targeted and temporary, but a terrible loss of life will be forever unless we act. By coming together today, we can save thousands of lives.”