Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, is this Saturday, November 14. Gambling is a huge part of the holiday, and with the state trying to crack down on unlicensed gambling, lots of Indians will be going online to get their gambling fix.

Baazi Games, Stickpool and Pocket 52 look like they will be doing big business over the holiday weekend. “The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to stay at home and rethink their lives and has thereby affected the way they choose to entertain themselves,” Baazi Games CEO Navkiran Singh told Financial Express. “This has just accelerated the growth we were already projecting for the industry. We expect and encourage people to maintain social distancing norms and enjoy gaming online this festive season.”

Although poker is the main product of Pocket52, they make sure to target those who want to keep their Diwali routines going. “Apart from a regular poker player, some occasional and recreational poker players come and play during Diwali,” said Pocket52 CEO and founder Nitesh Salvi. “We have Diwali Freerolls with guaranteed real cash prize pools worth Rs 3 lakh up for action this Diwali.”

Stickpool is seeing a huge increase in its user base ahead of Diwali, and Pocket52 expects as much as a 45% increase in its own user base. “People want to experience the game of poker around this time and therefore the engagement and average time spent per user has also gone up from regular days,” said Stickpool co-founder Vivek Singh.

What makes Millenials and Gen-Z gamblers different? That was the driving question or a day 2 panel at iGaming NEXT ONLINE: Adventure of Change, as Pierre Lindh, Co-Founder and Managing Director of iGaming Next, lead a panel of C-level guests to figure out how the gambling industry must adapt if it’s to win over this new audience.

As Lindh joked, Mikael Hansson, Founder and CEO of Enteractive, was the stats guru of the panel, bringing relevant statistics that might help paint a picture. “When it comes to communication, what we have seen when we talk to players is that everyone, no matter old or young wants to somehow communicate, either via email or SMS or via phone,” he said. “90% say they want to be updated and get updates or offers from their operator.”

That’s a number that doesn’t change no matter the generation. But Their quickly finding that regardless of age, people want to hear from the service they use. “12% want to get information and updates weekly. When we started this company, people were worried ‘Do people even want to be contacted?’”

So what makes the youth of today different? “What we have seen with Millenials and Gen-Z is that they actually want you to adjust to them,” Hansson said. “They wanted to be contacted the way they want to be contacted, and if you don’t do it their way, they might not be so happy about it.”

The third and final day of iGaming NEXT ONLINE: Adventure for Change is underway. This flagship event now turns to Human matters, with many HR experts analyzing how organizations can be better run in the future.

The day starts with a keynote speech on “Optimize communication in your workplace,” delivered by Alexander Grabner-Jarlung, TED Speaking Coach, Director, Partner Consultant & PowerPoint Specialist from David JP Phillips Int. Business.

Figuring out how to keep everyone happy around the world will be a panel moderated by Marie Louise Theobald, CPO of Hero Gaming, which will look at “Handling your remote, cross-cultural team.” She’s joined by Tinatin Bonney, Head of HR Latvia, Romania, Malta, Belgium, Spain & Engineering Hubs of Evolution Gaming and Mikael Ångman, Chief HR Officer (interim) of NetEnt.

Another talk of interest, for those looking to hire in the new year perhaps, will be a Fireside Chat between Lena Nordin, Chief HR Officer of the Betsson Group and Scott Dodson, CMO of Hero Gaming, on “Succeeding in remote onboarding.”

This past August, International Game Technology (IGT) provided its financial status for the second quarter of the year, indicating that revenue had dropped by 48% compared to a year earlier. It wasn’t surprising, given the fact that the entire gaming industry has taken one on the chin from COVID-19, but the gaming company felt it had plans in place that would help it bounce back quickly. Based on a new update from IGT covering its third-quarter performance, those plans may have worked. 

IGT revealed that its third-quarter revenue had jumped 54% quarter-over-quarter as it took in almost $981.5 million. That is a substantial improvement for the year, but there’s still more to be done. Compared to what was seen in the same period last year, it’s still off by almost 15%. Most of the gains came from increased lottery sales, which saw their best turnout in the past seven months for the company. After making all of the necessary calculations, adjusted net income came in at $54 million.

Global gaming revenue dropped 31.4% year-on-year, coming in at $412 million for the quarter. This was driven by the continued threat of the coronavirus pandemic but, as casinos have begun to reopen around the world, IGT is beginning to see more positive movement to help it continue to recover. IGT CEO Marco Sala adds, “The resilience of our portfolio, particularly in lottery, and benefits from our swift cost reduction initiatives are on full display in our third quarter results. Strong player demand and a host of compelling new games, systems, and digital solutions led to a sharp, sequential improvement in our most important markets. We continue to monitor the evolution and impact of the pandemic around the world. With a simplified organization firmly in place, we are creating a leaner, stronger IGT.”

EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) also saw a nice jump. The quarter produced positive EBITDA of $354.1 million – more than twice what it was in the second quarter. As should be expected, however, it is still lower than what IGT reported for the third quarter of last year and the company will work on trying to recover the 13% quarterly comparative difference. 

2020 will be known for a lot of things, some good and some bad. However, it will always stand out as the year a pesky little virus took virtual control of the globe. COVID-19 has taken its toll on a number of economies, and the global gaming industry has suffered tremendously. Macau has received a substantial portion of the blow, and the latest figures coming out of the government’s accountants shows exactly how much. Since the beginning of this year through October, Macau has only taken in one-quarter of the tax revenue it received during the same period last year. 

There are only two months left in the year, so any chance of even a nominal rebound is now off the table for Macau. The city’s Financial Services Bureau reported yesterday that it had received $3 billion in gaming taxes since the beginning of the year, right around 74% less than it received across the first ten months of 2019. The previous estimates had forecast the amount to be around $6.255 billion, but casino gross gaming revenue of $5.73 billion for the period, a year-on-year drop of 81.4%, is causing further damage. 

Plagued by continuing issues from the coronavirus pandemic, Macau’s casino industry hasn’t been able to support the local government like it normally would. The city’s overall revenue take for the period stands at $4.51 billion, 66.5% less than last year. Adding capital revenue, Macau was able to collect $10.1 billion, but this still represents a shortage of 27% against last year’s numbers. It’s also not even close to the $13.71 billion the city had expected to receive across the ten-month period. 

There is a little bit of good news, though, as October was apparently the best month for Macau since the pandemic began. The city’s gaming regulator reported last week that casino gaming revenue for the month was $914 million and, while this was a year-on-year drop of 72.5%, it was the best month since January. Despite the overall declines, it could be that Macau is heading in the right direction, and even some analysts are predicting that a rebound could happen sooner than previously expected.

The New South Wales (NSW) government has realized that it may not have completely considered all possible scenarios when it signed an agreement with Crown Resorts in 2014. The casino operator has come under fire from all sides recently for everything from rigging gaming machines to money-laundering claims, and its value as a licensed operator has come into question. Some have asserted that it is unsuitable to continue to hold a license, but Crown has an exit strategy should the worst come to pass. It has the right to potentially claim billions of dollars in damages from the government under the current language in its agreement with NSW, a clause that, perhaps, the government never thought would need to be used. Now, lawmakers are working to plug the loophole and prevent Crown from being able to trigger any massive payouts.

When the government and Crown sat down at the negotiating table in 2014, the casino operator managed to get included in their agreement a clause that provides compensation of up to 10.5 times the value of any operating segment that is altered by the government. If the company earned, for example, $300 million in its most recent year and could no longer operate, the government could be on the hook for as much as $3.15 billion, in theory. 

Now, MP Justin Field wants to make sure NSW’s assets are covered. He has submitted a bill that would strip the agreement, which had been agreed to by former NSW Premier Mike Baird, in hopes that the government can protect itself if Crown loses its license. That determination is expected to happen by next February, following the lengthy and still-ongoing inquiry into the company’s activities.

Field says of the new initiative to break free from the indemnification clause, “The agreement between Crown and the government suggests any action taken as a result of this inquiry to prevent organized crime and money laundering at a future Barangaroo casino could trigger a compensation claim by Crown. That’s outrageous. The parliament and the regulator should never have had its ability to regulate in the public interest undermined as a result of a commercial agreement.”

Thanks to iGaming NEXT Online, on Tuesday I had the opportunity to interview Jason Ader, CEO and Co-Founder of SpringOwl Asset Management, one of the biggest investors in the gambling space. This event is now in its 3rd day with a focus on HR, yesterday’s Day 2 with a focus on Marketing and Day 1’s focus on Business. 

If you have not already, I invite you to sign up for today’s iGaming NEXT Online sessions (including a keynote from my father Dr. Samuel Liggero!) and you can watch the outstanding content from Day 1 and Day 2 on demand, all free of charge.

The insights delivered by Ader during our Day 1 interview were golden and its rare to have an entire 30 minutes to discuss the global iGaming landscape with someone who has so much experience (20+ years) in this space. Here is the session in its entirety:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CapfVZH_btk]

This is a guest contribution by Natalya Zheltukhina, Head of Growth: iGaming Domain at Sigma Software. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

PwC predicts that AI could add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. With AI transforming virtually every industry, this prediction is easy to believe. The iGaming industry, which deals with poker, online casinos, sports betting, and other online games, is no exception. AI solutions can improve user experience, recommend games based on user behavior and similar users’ preferences, detect fraud and bots. Let’s discuss in more detail some of possible AI applications in iGaming.

Online Gaming Chatbots for Customer Support and Small Talk

Either when encountering a problem or having a few seconds to wait, online game players will need a chatbot. In terms of customer support, AI chatbots can handle up to 75% of issues, providing quicker responses and saving operators costs. As to small talk, the level of conversation an AI chatbot is capable of sustaining can surprise you.

This is a guest contribution by Dr. Darina Goldin, Director of Data Science at Bayes Esports in Berlin. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Making mistakes at work sucks! In the best case, it’s just a blow on your ego, in the worst case you might take your company with you. Just recently we had to give up a beloved project because of all the mistakes we had made developing it. It felt terrible! And yet here we are, advocating that we don’t just embrace mistakes but want to build our entire culture around them.

Because, frankly, what other options are there? Mistakes will happen, regardless of if you want them to or not. If you focus on avoiding them at any cost, you will over-engineer your products and have development times so long, they themselves will become mistakes. So instead let’s treat mistakes as a part of everyday life.

It’s less scary than it sounds – you just need to have a plan for when a mistake happens and execute it. It can be as simple as four points: communicate, understand, fix, and prevent from happening again. This plan works for both individual (“I put a bug in the code”, “I emailed the wrong person”) and company level (“We took too long to develop a product”, “Nobody wants to use it”) mistakes.

South Korea’s largest casino operator Kangwon Land posted another quarter of losses in the double-digit millions although it was a slightly smaller loss than the previous quarter.

On Tuesday, Kangwon Land released its financial report for the three months ending September 30, during which the casino operator booked a net loss of KRW40.9b (US$36.6m) versus a profit of KRW128.6b in the same period last year (and KRW4.6b better than Q2’s loss).

Of course, last year didn’t feature a global pandemic that resulted in South Korea’s largest casino – and the only one legally permitted to welcome local residents on its gaming floor – shutting down not once, but twice due to the country’s struggles to lower its COVID-19 infection rate.

Revenue totaled KRW76.6b in Q3, down more than four-fifths from Q3 2019 but more than twice the sum generated in Q2, during which it was forced to close on August 23. For the first nine months of 2020, sales are off nearly 70% to KRW347.3b, while net losses totaled KRW242.5b versus a KRW282b profit in the first three quarters of 2019.

US sports betting records continue to fall like Donald Trump’s hopes of avoiding prison come the new year.

Figures released by the Indiana Gaming Commission show the state’s licensed sportsbooks handled nearly $231m in wagers in the month of October, up from $207.5m in September and the second straight month the state has set a new handle record. October’s revenue of $21.1m was also in record territory as well as being a 50% rise from September.

Digital wagering accounted for $193m (83.6%) of October’s handle. DraftKings was once again the market leader with $90.5m, well ahead of runner-up FanDuel ($63.6m) and third-place finisher BetMGM ($20.1m).

In Iowa, the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission reported its betting licensees handling a record $81.9m in October, around $9m better than September’s total. Retail wagering was up 21.6% to $25m while digital bets more than doubled to nearly $57m.

Canadian casino operator Great Canadian Gaming Corp (GCG) has found itself a private equity takeover target, but some shareholders are holding out for a bigger offer.

On Tuesday, GCG announced that it had inked a definitive agreement to be acquired by funds managed by US private equity biggies Apollo Global Management. The deal, in which Apollo would acquire all GCG outstanding shares, values the casino operator at over C$3.3b (US$2.52b).

Post-acquisition, GCG said the company would maintain its Toronto HQ, “led by a Canadian management team and with Canadian board members.” Apollo claimed it was “committed to maintaining the company’s current operational footprint and anticipates Great Canadian’s properties will increase under the Apollo Funds’ ownership.”

GCG operates 25 properties across four Canadian provinces, most of which are in Ontario (including Casino Woodbine) and British Columbia (including River Rock Resort). COVID-19 forced the closure of casinos nationwide this spring and while Ontario briefly allowed its casinos to reopen on a limited basis, they were recently ordered back into lockdown. BC has yet to authorize any casinos reopening, even on a limited basis.

This week, it’s Greg Clarke who has paid for saying the wrong thing with his job. Within the game of football, however, it is often the professional footballer whose life is under scrutiny, to a huge degree now compared to years ago. We asked The Secret Coach their opinion on how and what players and those within football say and how much it needs to improve.

The Secret Coach knows plenty about saying the right thing and in the right way, being a professional football coach in English football… who will remain anonymous. They’ve 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! 

“Football has evolved so much and is a global business,” says The Secret Coach. “Players and officials are in the spotlight so much more than in years gone by and in positions of responsibility whether they like it or not. With this comes greater scrutiny. This is harder for young stars, being exposed early with success they have from playing the game. Being young, they are making their mistakes the same as we did growing up, but they are doing it in the public eye. With the introduction of camera phones and social media, no-one is safe from prying eyes. Unfortunately, if you want to be in that position you have to make those sacrifices.” 

UK-listed online gambling giant Flutter Entertainment reported strong growth in the third quarter despite a middling performance by its PokerStars brand.  

In a trading update issued Wednesday, Flutter said its overall revenue in the three months ending September 30 totaled £1.325b, up 27% from the same period last year. The company boosted its full-year earnings projection from £1.175b-£1.325b to £1.275b -£1.35b, although that’s not counting an expected loss of £160m-£180m in its US-facing operations.

The Q3 stats assume that The Stars Group, which officially became part of the Flutter family this spring, was fully contributing to both the most recent quarter and Q3 2019. The PokerStars unit was by far the least impressive component of Flutter’s Q3, with revenue of £262m, down roughly £1m year-on-year (although up 5% on a constant currency basis).

PokerStars’ problems stem in part from its abrupt late-August decision to exit Chinese-language markets, which came just days after Flutter announced plans to improve Stars’ anti-money laundering and responsible gambling compliance.

Curacao-licensed online casinos could soon find themselves on a much shorter leash after the Netherlands applied financial pressure on the local government.

Last week, the Dutch government announced that it had reached an agreement with its Curacao counterparts regarding “measures and structural reforms” intended to make the constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands “financially, economically and administratively resilient.”

The Netherlands has been providing Curacao with “liquidity support” since April to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the island nation, which is heavily dependent on tourism. But Curacao also has an online gambling licensing regime that irks the Dutch government due to operators targeting Dutch punters.

In July, the Netherlands declared that its pandemic bailout was “no longer without obligation,” and Curacao’s failure to agree to certain conditions meant the third tranche of the bailout cash was withheld. In October, Curacao agreed to “comply with all requests” made by the Netherlands, including those “aimed at strengthening the rule of law of Curacao.”

Irish betting operator Boylesports has learned the hard way that its UK market expansion comes with some pretty serious compliance strings attached.

On Wednesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that it had imposed a £2.8m fine and additional license conditions on Boylesports Enterprises after an investigation revealed “a series of money laundering failures” at the operator’s UK-facing online sports betting and casino sites.

Specifically, Boylesports was determined to have “failed to have an appropriate money laundering risk assessment in place” and its anti-money laundering (AML) policies, procedures and controls “were unsuitable and therefore could not be implemented effectively.” Boylesports also “failed to comply with elements of the Money Laundering Regulations.”

In addition to the financial penalty, the UKGC has instructed Boylesports to ‘maintain the appointment’ of an “appropriately qualified” Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO), who will be required to hold a Personal Management License (PML).

With the 2020 U.S. Presidential election now behind us, it appears that Joe Biden has become the President-elect and will take office in January. Of course, that isn’t entirely certain as President Donald Trump continues to raise legal concerns around the counting of votes, and makes personnel changes in the military that worry some over a potential coup.

Regardless, assuming the U.S. sticks to a democracy, there will be another U.S. Presidential election in 2024. And thanks to BetOnline.AG, we already have odds for who is favored to win it all. America is nothing without a perpetual speculation around who the next Commander in Chief will be, so let’s dig through the odds, shall we?

The Favorites

I’m grouping the first four candidates here because they make the most conventional sense for the next Chief Executive of the country. Despite Biden having won, the favorite to win in 2024 is now….