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BB116-p01-news_09/10 01/05/2014 15:57 Page 1

SPONSORSHIP: 32Red CEO Ed Ware explains why his firm is teaming up with Rangers

SPORTSBOOK: The latest trends just ahead of this summer’s World Cup extravanganza

ANALYSIS: How bookmakers can benefit from taking the long view when it comes to data

IGAMING NEWS 6

ESSENTIAL GUIDE 16

COMMENT 32

£5.20 (€8.30) • ISSUE:116 • MAY 2014 • www.betting-business.co.uk

One million signatures fail to stop more LBO restrictions While the government has introduced new restrictions for the UK’s bookmakers, and betting shops in particular, the final announcement was less harsh than feared.

INFRASTRUCTURE

fire at a Gibraltar power station, caused by the explosion of a generator, saw a number of major operators go offline as it led to a blackout across much of the online gaming jurisdiction. William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betfred all had periods of downtime as the island tackled the incident. Whilst no one was injured, evacuations were made to surrounding buildings including the William Hill offices, with residents located nearby advised to keep windows and doors shut to prevent smoke inhalation. Emergency services on Gibraltar moved quickly to control the blaze and the operators had all resumed normal services by Monday afternoon. William Hill’s Graeme Sharpe was pragmatic about the disruption to service: “It’s just one of those freak events nobody could have predicted. There will be those who will claim they would have backed a winner but there will be others who have been saved from backing a loser.” In a statement Ladbrokes apologised to customers affected by the loss of services and went on to include: “None of our staff were affected by the incident, and no customer data was compromised during that period.” The head of Gibraltar’s government, chief minister Fabian Picardo, accepted that the power outage was too long and that the island’s new plans must reflect the lessons of such incidents so they are not repeated. Given that 26 operators are based on Gibraltar, and the government is currently concerned at retaining them given the point of consumption licensing laws due to be implemented in the UK later this year, the blackout was the last thing the government needed. Aside from there being no loss of life, it was fortunate that the downtime happened during a Sunday evening and not one of the busier times of the week.

PLANNING

he government has announced new restrictions on planning permission for betting shops and the operation of B2 gaming machines, although a late rally from the betting industry appears to have staved off more punitive measures. A petition from the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) entitled ‘Enough’s Enough’ generated one million signatures over the course of a weekend and was delivered to 10 Downing Street the week of the announcement. Coupled with the launch of a report showing that the most deprived areas have the lowest share of betting shops, it seems the petition was enough to downgrade the government’s bullishness over the changes. What was once feared to be a Prime Ministerial decree to cut B2 stakes down instead became a written statement from gambling minister Helen Grant slipped out during a session of PMQs. The new changes will see betting shops placed in a planning class of their own, rather than the A2 Retail classification, meaning that any new betting shop will have to go through the local planning process. Meanwhile, the recent FOBT code introduced by the ABB will be mandatory and customers who want to bet over £50 in one play will have to open an account or pay over the counter before they can begin to play, meaning that they have to interact with staff.

Gibraltar vows to learn from blackout

BETTING SHOP STAFF DELIVER 1M SIGNATURES TO DOWNING STREET

Even so, the new restrictions have been met with annoyance by the industry. The ABB said that discussions need to be based on facts, not scaremongering. Chief executive Dirk Vennix commented: “The proposed changes to the way customers are able to stake more than £50 will impose extra costs on the industry whilst there is no evidence to show that restricting B2 stakes will do anything to minimise problem gambling. Limiting access to one product just means the vast majority of responsible gamblers will be inconvenienced and problem gamblers will gamble on other products. “The industry’s new Code of Conduct for Player Protection has already had a significant impact with breaks in play, increased customer interaction and more self-exclusions. We look forward to seeing the results of the independent research into problem gambling which are being carried out by Nat Cen, because regula-

tory decisions have to be based on empirical evidence.” Despite this, William Hill and Ladbrokes both saw a 10 per cent jump in share price after the announcement, with Hills chief executive Ralph Topping describing the changes as a ‘balanced response to concerns about clustering and fixed-odds games’. Paddy Power, one of the few big bookmakers still opening scores of betting shops, was less pleased. Andy McCue, head of retail at Paddy Power, commented: “In a market where the Big 4 incumbents control 90pc of the market and openly welcome planning restrictions, challenger brands like Paddy Power will be prevented from offering choice and value to consumers. The proposed planning changes are a fudge not a fix and pre-empt an evidence based approach to addressing concerns about fixed odds betting terminals.”

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News Commission’s disclosure requirements unsettles some operators The process of getting licensed in the UK might not only be expensive, but could well be more rigorous than the industry was expecting. LICENSING

he Gambling Commission’s approach to the new point of consumption licensing regime has caused consternation among some offshore operators expecting a slightly easier process than the one they have encountered. The latest guidance from the Commission about the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill has seen the regulator reveal it has detailed information requirements for customer facing businesses. It explained: “The Commission will be asking B2C businesses to tell us about any market where they get 3 per cent or more of their total revenue from players or in the case of operators with total revenue of less

have been concerned that they would be refused a UK licence because of these income streams. However, it seems there is some wriggle room for lawyers, with one Commission spokesperson emphasising the sentence: “The percentage applies to the entity seeking a licence.” The Commission said that its unexpected information request is to ensure probity and responsible behaviour from its licensees. It added: “We would expect a responsible operator to assess the consequences of their continuing to receive a noticeable stream of income from any jurisdiction where there are real doubts about the legality of their providing gambling services to its pop-

the disclosure will help the regulator determine the attitude of the operator and whether they are suitable licensees. It added: “The key for us, whether or not levels of business fall below the thresholds or an operator is actively targeting growth in that market, is that due care is undertaken. We would expect operators to have a reasonably coherent rationale for what they are doing. Operators are expected to keep the licensing objectives in mind when making business decisions. “It will not be acceptable to hide behind wilful ignorance or implausible assumptions or arguments at the application stage or subsequently, but at application stage we will only

MGD causes W to close 109 s TAXATION

than £5m per annum - any markets they are targeting where the revenue is more than 10 per cent of their total revenue. The percentage applies to the entity seeking a licence. “For each of these markets, the Commission will ask operators why they think provision of gambling facilities is not illegal either because they are licensed to operate in that jurisdiction or because they have satisfied themselves that it is not illegal for them to provide gambling facilities to those players.” Given the number of large grey gambling markets still serviced by the industry, and the markets which ostensibly ban online gambling but are contrary to European Law, it has caused panic with some operators who 2

ulation. We would not expect the operator to continue to supply those services without considering the applicability and enforceability of such laws to both operator and player. “Where no justifiable arguments exist to continue with such activities, we would expect the operator to make reasonable attempts to stop such access. Clearly in such circumstances should an operator not take reasonable steps to stop such access it may reflect on their integrity and therefore continuing suitability. We accept there will always be some players who deliberately flout domestic legislation but responsible operators could be expected to take reasonable steps to discourage this.” The Commission said that

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

seek the assurances and information detailed above, unless of course the responses raise concerns which need following up.” The Commission has also suggested that B2B suppliers may have to come under the same rationale. It also noted that gambling software suppliers who also run or operate the software for B2C or other B2B operators, for example those providing platforms or networks, are likely to be providing facilities for gambling and so will need to get an operating licence to continue doing so when the Act goes live. If already operating legally in the British market in reliance on their own or someone else’s EEA/White List authorisation, they will be eligible for a continuation licence.

The increased costs of taxation are likely to have unintended consequences away from the gambling industry, Ralph Topping has warned. he increase in Machine Games Duty (MGD) from 20% to 25% has seen the country’s biggest bookmaker move swiftly to rationalise these extra costs - and close over 100 of its shops. William Hill announced in its Q1 results that the Treasury’s tax increase has seen the firm complete ‘a wideranging review of shop profitability trends’ and adapt its usual policy in order to maintain its bottom line. Chief executive Ralph Topping commented: “Whilst historically we have taken a measured ‘wait and see’ approach to loss-making shops, the impact of the announced increase in MGD makes it less likely that the performance of current and expected lossmaking shops can realistically be turned around, and as a result, we intend to close a portfolio of 109 shops before the end of the year.

“As a result of the closure of this lossmaking portfolio, the Group currently estimates it will incur around £23-24m of exceptional costs, of which it expects c£6m non-cash asset write-offs and up to £17-18m against future cash expenses, including rent, rates and redundancies. There are c420 affected employees in this portfolio and whilst every effort will be made to redeploy individuals this may not be possible in every location.” It was a tough quarter for William Hill’s retail estate - while staking was up 3 per cent, there was an adverse 3.1 percentage point swing in the gross win margin against Q1 2013 to 17.6 per cent. This was due to two weekends of football that saw most of the favourites win, leading to a 25 per cent drop in operating profit for the firm’s retail business and a 6 per cent drop in its online sportsbook. This was despite online sportsbook turnover jumping 39 per cent with

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Italian exchange for Betfair Betfair Group has launched a betting exchange in Italy, following the conclusion of an extensive testing process with the regulator ADM and SOGEI. The Italian Exchange will operate with ring-fenced national liquidity and will be taxed at a rate of 20 per cent on commission. Commenting on the launch, Betfair CEO Breon Corcoran said: “We are pleased to be the first fully regulated Exchange operator in Italy and look forward to bringing the advantages of our innovative betting platform to Italian customers, including the ability to Cash Out their bets. We believe this launch marks an important step in our drive to grow sustainable revenues.”

GVC revels in turning around Sportingbet CONSOLIDATION

VC Holdings chairman Lee Feldman has hailed the way his firm has handled the step-change in its size, complexity, and profitability, following the acquisition of Sportingbet plc just over 12 months ago. Feldman commented: “GVC undertook its acquisition of Sportingbet: to mitigate the earn-out payments arising from the November 2011 Superbahis transaction with Sportingbet to: acquire market-leading software; and acquire customers in over 20 additional markets. GVC has a proven track record of executing acquisitions and now GVC has the platform, scale and infrastructure to pursue further transactions, along with being able to utilise economies of scale to further drive organic growth.” He added: “GVC significantly restructured Sportingbet and its balance sheet, which not only had a deficit in working capital of 50m euro at acquisition, but also, was substantially loss-making and cash-burning. In the nine and half months since acquisition, a financial turnaround has been achieved resulting in a Clean EBITDA for Sportingbet of 4.7m euro with 3.8m euro being generated in Q42013 alone.” The complex acquisition done in partnership with William Hill, which took on Sportingbet’s Australian and Spanish operations, was partially paid for by an the issue of additional 29m shares to existing Sportingbet shareholders at a “roll-over” price per share of £2.48. Feldman is aiming to make this even better value:

WILLIAM HILL IS TO CLOSE 109 SHOPS

es William Hill 9 shops mobile up 78 per cent. The hit from football affected William Hill’s bottom line; group net revenue grew 5 per cent in Q1, the operating profit was down 14 per cent. Unlike the sportsbooks, total gaming net revenue was up 16 per cent and casino net revenue was up 22 per cent. Topping commented: “Our focus on combining a broad and deep product range with outstanding user experiences and scale investment in marketing continues to deliver tangible benefits across the Group: Sportsbook betting continues to grow rapidly, mobile gaming is much improved and we’re seeing positive trends in the key performance indicators for Australia and the US. “Whilst the outstanding gross win margin in Q1 2013 sets a very high bar, meaning we are facing tough comparative figures, two substantial loss making weeks in this quarter (weeks 2 and 12) with major wins for the football punters - impacted profit progression despite good growth in wagering in both Online and Retail and significantly improved gaming performance in both channels. As ever, it is important to look through short-term sporting results to the under-

lying strength of the business. Mobile, for instance, continues to go from strength to strength, increasing to 45 per cent of Online Sportsbook amounts wagered and 27 per cent of Online gaming net revenue in the period.” The firm said it is also progressing successful diversification of the business both online and internationally, including delivering further good growth in Italy, Spain and the US and plenty of developments in the pipeline for Australia. Topping added: “Looking ahead to the rest of 2014, it is positive to note online had recouped much of its shortfall against internal expectations following week 2 before we were hit again in week 12. While there is no guarantee we can make up the difference, we continue to believe the increased customer confidence from such wins should be good for business, especially in this World Cup year. We are very well placed to take advantage of the World Cup opportunity, coming in the second quarter, with an unrivalled football product range, the most downloaded sportsbook app in the UK and a leading mobile gaming offer for cross-sell.”

ANALYSIS Ralph Topping has warned the government about the ‘law of unintended consequences’ and suggested that the current pressing of betting shops will ‘make it very hard for the horseracing industry, and almost impossible for the greyhound industry to thrive’. He added: “The greyhound industry could very easily be devastated. Track closures, 7,000 jobs at risk, and it could even mean higher problem gambling levels and higher crime in the UK; both prime objectives under our licence to operate… “The industry is doing a great job of tackling problem gambling and we keep improving. We’re already driving up the number and quality and responsible gambling interactions under the Code, so how does closing betting shops help problem gambling?”

“GVC’s strategy is to increase shareholder returns through a combination of: generating high levels of cash and distributing this by way of dividends; increasing the markets in which the Group trades to diversify geographic risk; and improving the quality of the Group’s earnings through acquisitions and joint ventures. “In the next 12 months, the Group will seek to: accelerate its penetration in Brazil, the host nation of the FIFA World Cup; drive further synergies from the Sportingbet acquisition; improve the product offering, particularly mobile; continue growing the many markets in which GVC operates; and devote more executive time to non-dilutive investment and acquisition opportunities.” The company pinpointed strong 2013 sports betting performance as a key driver for its results, which saw a 69 per cent increase in revenues to 180.6m euro. The group’s sports betting brands contributed 1.2bn euro in wagers and managed to maintain a 9.5 per cent operating margin on its sports betting operations. Kenneth Alexander, chief executive of GVC Holdings, said: “Executing the complex acquisition and turnaround of Sportingbet has been a milestone for GVC and has led to greater geographical diversification and a significant increase in profits and dividends. We are now ready for the next stage in our corporate development and further geographic expansion through organic growth and acquisitions.”

KENNETH ALEXANDER: ‘TURNAROUND OF SPORTINGBET HAS BEEN A MILESTONE’

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

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iGaming PokerStars goes Tribal for California lobbying POKER

Poker giant PokerStars is positioning itself for the opening of the Californian online gaming market by securing a deal with one of the state’s existing gaming operators. he Rational Group, owner and operator of PokerStars, is stepping up its lobbying for the legalisation of online poker in California after signing a partnership deal with The Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California’s three largest card clubs. The deal states that once California enacts legislation authorising intrastate online poker, PokerStars will serve as the subcontractor providing the online poker platform and related services for a real-money online poker website to be licensed, owned and operated by an entity owned by the Tribe and the card clubs. The organisations have agreed to work together to advocate for legislation that extends California’s tough, long-established gaming regulations to include intrastate online poker and ‘thus ensure stringent consumer protection, consumer choice and maximum revenue’ for the state. Guy Templer, group director of strategy and business develop-

ment for the Rational Group, said: “PokerStars has a great history with California poker players, who want us in the market. We are the worldwide leader in regulated online poker and hold more national licences than any other operator. We look forward to bringing our best practices in responsible gaming, online security, e-commerce, protection of players’ funds and game integrity to the California market.” Morongo Band of Mission Indians Tribal chairman Robert Martin said: “We’re pleased to announce our agreement with these established and proven organisations that represent millions of California poker players. We’re confident that, together, we can offer a safe, secure, highquality online poker experience that brings financial benefits to California while providing the highest level of accountability, choice, service and protection for consumers.” He also took a dig at the current Ban Internet Gaming lobbying efforts of Las Vegas Sands’

THE BICYCLE CASINO HAS TEAMED UP WITH POKERSTARS

Sheldon Adelson: “Efforts by a select few interests to rewrite longstanding and effective policy in order to gain a competitive market advantage or to lock out specific companies is not in the best interests of consumers or the state and will be vigorously opposed by our coalition, online poker players and many others.” In announcing the agreement, the coalition established a set of guiding principles that it considers essential elements of any legislation to authorise intrastate online poker: • Extend California’s strict consumer protections and high standards of accountability to intrastate real-money online poker • Ensure that California and Californians benefit from stateauthorised online poker • Require stringent regulatory vetting of operators and subcontractors before authorising licenses, using the same proven statutory suitability criteria that have served California well for nearly two decades

• Reject attempts by special interests to use the legislature to restrict competition and pick “winners and losers” Speaking on behalf of the three card clubs - the Commerce Club, the Hawaiian Gardens Casino and the Bicycle Casino - attorney Keith Sharp added: “As operators of the world’s largest card clubs, we are excited to join Morongo and PokerStars to provide California players with familiar brands to choose from in a well-regulated online poker experience. California has a long history and deep expertise in regulating live poker and we look forward to working with legislators and our industry colleagues to pass a bill that enhances competition and consumer protection, while providing the state Gambling Control Commission and state Department of Justice with the regulatory tools, staff and other resources needed to apply their expertise in vetting and assessing the suitability of prospective operators and subcontractors, and providing strict ongoing regulatory oversight.”

ANALYSIS The potential for the California online poker market is huge and with the state’s finances seemingly in eternal turmoil, the tax dollars that online gaming could unearth would undoubtedly help. Given that California’s three biggest poker clubs - the Commerce Club, the Hawaiian Gardens Casino and the Bicycle Casino are the three biggest in the world, the demand for the game is clear. PokerStars has played a good hand getting Morongo Band of Mission Indians on side early and lobbying for change as deregulation almost always favours the incumbents. While other suppliers have been waiting for any law changes, PokerStars has been making deals regardless and pushing for changes.

Betsson buys boost bottom line ACQUISITION

etsson president and CEO Magnus Silfverberg has revealed that the firm’s recent acquisitions have hit the ground running. In the one month since purchase, Class One Holding Ltd, which operates the brands Oranje and Kroon Casino, has contributed to the group’s revenues with SEK23.4m (£2.1m) and to the company’s operating income by SEK14.4m (£1.3m). Revenues for the group

amounted to SEK686.0m (£62.0m) for the first quarter and organic growth adjusted for exchange rate effects amounted to 10 per cent, which is explained by Betsson’s highest underlying activity ever. Silfverberg commented: “An organic growth of 12 percent in casino, as well as a good growth in sportsbook, means that Betsson is gaining market share. At the same time, the mobile penetration has increased from 12 percent to 15 percent over

the previous quarter. This shows that the ongoing initiatives in personalised realtime communications, digital marketing, search engine optimisation and mobile development is taking effect. At the same time, the acquisition of Oranje and Kroon had a positive effect on the result and both brands are showing a strong growth throughout the quarter. It is clear that the company, with its initiatives and its multibrand strategy, is well posi-

tioned both for continued growth and for future potential acquisitions.” Gross turnover in sportsbook amounted to SEK372.0m (£33.6m) representing a growth, adjusted for exchange rate and acquisition effects, of 12 per cent. Customer deposits in all of Betsson’s gaming solutions amounted to SEK 2.2bn (£200m), although this was impacted by SEK111.6m (£10.1m) because of ‘disadvantageous exchange rate fluctuations’.

MAGNUS SILFVERBERG

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BB116-p04-08-iGaming_09/10 01/05/2014 12:54 Page 2

Maria players gets 2.9m euro jackpot

iGaming

A Swedish player has scooped a 2.9m euro (£2.4m) jackpot playing a progressive slot on Unibet owned Maria.com. For a stake of only 70 cents, the player from Jönköping in Sweden landing the huge prize playing the Net Entertainment game Mega Fortune. The win is Net Entertainment’s second largest payout in 2014 following a 3.3m euro payout to a Finnish player in March. Simon Hammon, chief product officer of Net Entertainment, commented: “This has been an astonishing start to the year.”

RANGERS WILL BE SPONSORED BY 32RED NEXT SEASON

Drop in profits for social gaming giant Zynga SOCIAL

ocial games developer Zynga has seen a 36 per cent decrease in revenue compared to the same period last year, according to its Q1 results. The firm, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, and is famed for Facebook game FarmVille, recorded returns of $168m (£100m) to 31 March, down from $263.6m (£156.7m) in 2013. While online game revenue also fell by 42 per cent, average daily bookings per average daily active user increased by 28 per cent year-over-year. The company also saw sequential growth for the first time in two years, across bookings, mobile bookings mix and audience. Commenting on recent business and product highlights, CEO Don Mattrick said: “In Q1 our teams delivered a solid start to the year against our strategic frame of growing and sustaining our franchises, creating new hits and driving efficiencies. We have established a strong base for 2014 and believe we are pacing well for a year of growth. “For the first time in two years, our teams delivered sequential growth across our key performance metrics including bookings, Adjusted EBITDA, mobile bookings mix and audience. We believe these indicators demonstrate our strategy is

ACTION IMAGES / JASON CAIRNDUFF EDITORIAL

Rangers sponsorship fits 32Red strategy well Online gaming operator 32Red has had several successes when it comes to football shirt sponsorship and CEO Ed Ware believes that his firm is on to another winner with its three-year deal with Scotland’s fallen giants Rangers FC. MARKETING

bviously with Rangers just one season away from potentially being in the SPL and another from Europe, was it a no-brainer to sign such a long contract? The management team at Rangers are clearly focused on taking the club back to where it belongs and we decided we would like to be part of that journey. There will be challenges along the way for sure but the opportunity to partner with Rangers and get the level of exposure afforded by only a handful of teams in Europe fits our strategy well.

fans in region. We have seen similar results in South Wales (Swansea City) and Birmingham (Aston Villa) in the past with club sponsorships.

Given that the Rangers/Celtic thing is so polarising, there has been a trend in recent years for the same brand to sponsor both teams in order not to alienate the other’s fanbase. Was this something you considered? We realise that there is a very clear competitive element (and some!) between the two Glasgow clubs. However, we have to put these views into business perspective and acknowledge what our objectives What is your market penetration in are; the main one being increasing Scotland? our profile. We have no particular geographical bias but Scotland is very much part of This is your fifth major shirt sponsorour UK target audience. Whilst the ship deal. How effective is it as a means sponsorship reaches beyond Scot- of recruiting gaming partners? land due to Rangers’ international I don’t believe this activity works for profile we expect to see sign ups from all operators. We have been at it for a

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

while now and I think we have a reasonable approach to maximising such partnerships. Two important things for me to consider when making this type of commitment: do you have a footprint in the UK already and is it supported through all marketing channels; and secondly, do you have a brand and identity that works in this environment with the distinctive character to make it memorable. What are the main differences (culturewise) between British clubs for shirt sponsorship and Italian? Or are all clubs different? I believe there is a huge difference in culture between Italian clubs and probably clubs anywhere else in Europe. The UK clubs we have dealt with are all highly protective of their reputation and revenue streams, which is only good business sense and fits with our long terms business philosophy too.

working and the focus, rigour and discipline of our teams is showing up in our results.” That said it seems the firm, which still operates one of the biggest poker networks in the world (albeit free to play), is relying on one of its biggest hits - last month saw the worldwide launch of FarmVille 2: Country Escape. Mattrick added: “Since the launch, we have seen more than 4m installs of the game and received great feedback from our players. We are pleased with the team’s execution and encouraged by the early indicators we are seeing.” Zynga did, however, see progress within its product offering and franchise, with Zynga Poker growing its mobile audience by 19 per cent, and the Words With Friends franchise increasing bookings by 43 per cent year-on-year. Revenue is projected to be between $140m and $160m (£83 and £95m) for the second quarter, while bookings are estimated to reach between $770 and $810m (£458 and £482m) by year’s end. The company, announcing several creative and technical additions, said its games have been played by more than 1bn people around the world, with 253m average monthly active users in 175 countries. WILL FARMVILLE 2 TAKE OFF FOR ZYNGA?

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BB116-p04-08-iGaming_09/10 01/05/2014 12:59 Page 3

Gold promotion is rewarding

iGaming

Mobile gaming operator Locus is to extend its Gold-Rush themed promotion for its Jack Gold Casino into a fully-fledged loyalty scheme. Ed Andrewes, CEO of Locus Gaming, said: “We ran a promotion for new customers around the adverts to win a smaller gold bar, but really wanted to reward our loyal members too. It’s great that one of our regulars has won it and we hope the incentives available in the extended Gold Dust Rewards scheme will appeal.”

Bwin board blocks activist investor

iGAMINGBRIEFS WEIL STEPS DOWN

Lorne Weil has abruptly tendered his resignation from the board of football gaming company Sportech with immediate effect. The company said that he will remain affiliated with the company in an ongoing advisory capacity rather than directly through his nonexecutive directorship. Commenting on the developments, chairman Roger Withers said: “Lorne has been an important contributor to the Board and, as a leading figure over many years in the gaming and technology industries in the United States, we look forward to his continued involvement as a consultant.”

After years of challenging restrictive regulatory regimes, Bwin.party is now fighting a battle in its own board room. CORPORATE

win.party’s activist investor Jason Adler is living up to his billing by going head to head with the gaming group’s management board. Adler’s SpringOwl investment vehicle, which has a significant shareholding in Bwin.party, has written to shareholders proposing four new directors to join the board Reputation.com’s Michael Fertik, lawyer Francis Grady, venture capitalist Kalendu Patel and The Innovation Group’s Steven Rittvo. The existing board has advised shareholders not to support SpringOwl’s proposals at this month’s AGM, claiming that SpringOwl is seeking to by-pass normal appointment process, putting at risk the ability of the board to operate as a unified and effective forum in the best interests of all shareholders and depositary interest holders. It added that it does not believe that it is in best interests of company and its shareholders and depositary interest holders for a

minority shareholder, holding only 5.25 per cent of company’s voting share capital, to nominate up to five directors onto board. Adler, quoted on the newly launched savebwinparty website, said: “We believe Bwin.party requires change now, as it has suffered from failed execution, a failed merger and failed oversight under the current board of directors. The Case for Change is clear and we are convinced that these four Highly-Qualified Independent Director candidates will make a major improvement at Bwin.party. In establishing www.savebwinparty.com, we hope to make information readily available to investors and seek to empower our fellow Bwin.party shareholders who have borne the economic cost of this value destruction, as the Board has implemented illadvised compensation schemes for management.” All in all, it probably wasn’t the best time for the existing management to be announcing a 9 per cent fall in net revenue for Q1. The firm attributed this to the

shift from ‘volume to value’ corporate strategy of only operating in regulated markets, ISP blocking in Greece since August last, and a challenging European poker market environment. CEO Norbert Teufelberger said: “The business has continued to deliver sequential growth since Q3 2013 that we predicted would be the low point in terms of revenue performance. Whilst we are investing in growing our share in nationally regulated markets, the 20m euro of additional cost savings should help to drive higher Clean EBITDA margins in 2014.” Further savings are expected next year, with platform integrations, most notably in Italy and France. However, mobile and touch represented 17 per cent of total gross gaming revenue, compared with 8 per cent in 2013, and the group anticipates new product development, mobile extensions and World Cup promotions. Bwin.party also expanded its mobile offering with the launch and introduction of specialised apps in Belgium and Spain,

MICHAEL FERTIK IS ONE OF THE PROPOSED NEW DIRECTORS

REGULATOR TARGETS ILLEGAL DANISH SITES

ANALYSIS While Jason Adler may have a point looking at the drop in share price over the past few years, the current board’s achievements in being accepted back into the US market should not be overlooked from a long term perspective, considering many in the country still consider the group to be a previous ‘bad actor’ who should not be allowed to operate. Norbert Teufelberger almost underplays the potential: “We remain optimistic about new market opportunities in the United States with online poker bills currently being reviewed in California and New York. On the back of our early success in New Jersey, together with our partners, we are determined to secure leading positions in all eligible states that represent a significant business opportunity.”

and a new sports product in Spain. While mobile and touch returns grew by a massive 58 per cent yearon-year, overall net revenue declined by 3 per cent annually, to £53.06m vs. £54.95m in 2013. Mobile casino and live dealer have also been added to the company’s portfolio,

despite decreases in amounts wagered and new player sign-ups, down 5 and 18 per cent respectively. More than 100 new casino/other games will be added in the coming months, as the firm seeks to improve its poker performance, with slots and progressive jackpots featuring.

NetPlay TV to build on successful 2013 GAMING

roadcast gaming specialist NetPlay TV saw a 31 per cent increase in net revenue to £28.5m last year and a 15 per cent increase in profit to £4.1m as the operator successfully leveraged its marketing drives. Last year the firm extended its deal with ITV until 2016 and increased the number of broadcast nights from four to six per week, while its SuperCasino.com brand was the headline sponsor of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother. The firm also made ‘significant investment’ in pure online digital marketing and

acquired the Vernons.com business from Sportech. Chief executive Charles Butler said: “This has been a great year for NetPlay TV, delivering our third consecutive year of net revenue growth in excess of 20 per cent and increasing EBITDA by 21 per cent to a record £5.2m. We have continued to

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

be highly cash generative during the year and are pleased to announce a 42 per cent increase in the final dividend to 0.32 pence per ordinary share. “ T h e group continues its significant investment CHARLES BUTLER: ‘SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT IN MARKETING AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT’

in marketing and product development which has resulted in an impressive 25 per cent increase in new depositing players. The acquisition of the Vernons.com e-gaming business towards the end of the year presents new growth opportunities with the addition of sportsbetting and bingo to the existing core casino offering. This acquisition highlights our strategy for growth both organically and via strategic acquisitions. The group is well positioned in its current markets, and looks forward to building upon the success of 2013.”

Chairman Clive Jones added: “While TV is core to our business, we believe it is important to diversify our business: We have substantially increased marketing and customer recruitment from pure online digital marketing initiatives, and continue to evaluate complimentary M&A opportunities. “The 2013 results show that the group has now firmly established itself and is now a well-positioned and integrated business. 2014 has started with a strong increase in the core KPIs that drive the growth of the business.”

The Danish Gambling Authority has ordered local ISPs to block a number of websites that contravene Danish law. The websites are 7red.com, 7red.dk, quasargaming.com, wintrillions.com and trillonario.com. The regulator commented that it contacts illegal operators in order to get them to stop, explaining: “A large number of these websites have corrected their gambling offers so that they no longer contravene the Danish gambling legislation. However, some websites continue to offer gambling activities without a licence.” The Danish Gambling Authority obtained a court order telling ISP ‘3’ to block the sites and expects other ISPs to follow the court’s decision and enable further blocking measures. RUSSIA BLOCKS FORCING FIRMS OUT

Betclic Everest has withdrawn from the Russian igaming market ahead of a further crackdown in the shape of enhanced ISP blocking to foreign gaming websites. Russian ISP blocks have affected a number of igaming operators including Unibet, Pokerstars and Bwin. The blocks have been undertaken by Russian internet watchdog Roskomnadzor. BetClic, which only recently withdrew from the Belgian market, has been joined by betting exchange Betfair which has also announced that it would no longer take customers from the Russian Federation.

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BB116-p10-12-Betting_09/10 01/05/2014 13:03 Page 1

Betting Unibet wants to get racing ahead MARKETING

nline sportsbook Unibet is putting further investment into racing by becoming ARC’s official starting stall sponsor for 2014. The deal will see Unibet branded starting stalls at ARC’s portfolio of racecourses across the length and breadth of the country. In addition, over 90 stall handlers will also wear Unibet branded clothing throughout the year. This sponsorship will run alongside Unibet’s freshly announced official betting and gaming partnership with Royal Windsor Racecourse. This significant sponsorship will see Unibet’s logo prominently displayed on front and rear of the starting stalls at Royal Windsor, Wolverhampton, Lingfield, Ffos Las, Bath, Yarmouth, Newcastle, Brighton, Chepstow and Southwell throughout the flat season. Ed Nicholson, head of Unibet’s UK marketing operations, said: “This sponsorship is an extremely simple but effective way of informing those who like to bet on horse racing that Unibet now offers a fully comprehensive horse racing offering. “Unibet’s sole racing product aim in 2014 is to ensure that those who like to bet on horse racing are aware that Unibet have launched a new racing odds line and have a comprehensive product that matches and exceeds our competi-

Coral hopes customers will Connect Coral has become the latest bookmaker to launch a loyalty card, but this one goes further than any of the others. CRM

igh street bookmaker Coral has plunged both feet into the loyalty card market, hoping that its multi-channel approach will help it stand out from the competition. Coral Connect is a single wallet card that can be used across all channels, including gaming machines and over the counter. Using contactless technology and a PIN number, the card arrives in time for this summer’s World Cup when games will be played either before or after the shops close. Coral claims that the new loyalty card system signifies its commitment to driving the industry forward and expanding its multichannel offering, which will be supported by a robust marketing campaign. The launch comes following significant investment by its gaming division with the purchase of Cool Games and the signing of bespoke partnership agreements with social gaming special-

ists all with the aim of delivering exclusive content across all channels. The card is promoted to punters as ‘Your Card, Your Rules’, offering them the flexibility to decide what use they want to make of it, while also allowing Coral to step in if a customer starts to exhibit unusual behaviour. Punters are allowed to take out up to £500 in cash in-shop, and no bank account is required to sign up for the card. A successful pilot scheme ran during January, followed by a full roll-out in time for Cheltenham and feedback from staff and customers has been positive. Although not a loyalty card in the traditional sense, it is more of a gaming account cashcard, down the line Coral intends to offer incentives to reward use. Coral marketing director Olly Raeburn commented: “Our customers want choice and Coral Connect delivers this across all channels - in-shop, online and mobile. The card allows

faster and more flexible access to cash, but can give customers use of, say a shop win, to bet on-line back home with us - and we see this as being particularly useful during the World Cup with kick off times fairly evenly split before and after shops close for the night.” Machine customers who usually pay by debit card have to wait up to three days for any winnings to appear in their account - with Connect it can be transferred immediately. Even if customers win a big amount, rather than have to wait 15 minutes to be paid, Coral will put it straight onto the card. “Coral Connect will help differentiate the Coral brand - its ease of use will encourage loyalty and repeat business”, added Raeburn. “With the industry focus on ‘set your limits, know your limits’ the card works hand-in-hand as it gives customers greater transparency as to what they have in their account and what they’ve used.”

ANALYSIS While technically not a loyalty card in the sense that it doesn’t offer points such as Tesco Clubcard and Nectar, Coral is no doubt hoping that the card will drive loyalty to its brand by tying up all its gaming channels in one handy piece of plastic. While the loyalty card system has been much derided from within the industry in the past, it appears that the wealth of knowledge of player behaviour will not only be useful for marketing purposes, but also in the fight against problem gambling. The real skill is balancing the loyalty card with what is perceived as the customer’s general desire for privacy.

ACTION IMAGES / JULIAN HERBERT LIVEPIC

tors offering. We would like this group to consider opening an account with us, and then to enjoy placing their horse racing bets with us on a regular basis.” ARC group sponsorship manager Jo Mapletoft said: “ARC is delighted to be working with Unibet to develop its racing proposition. The exposure and reach that Unibet will gain through the brand being seen on Sky Sports At The Races and from the thousands of visitors at the ARC courses will be sure to gain positive results.” Unibet has only recently revealed plans to embark on a programme of horse racing associations and marketing initiatives in the coming months, and the Wimbledon based company has announced sponsorships at Chepstow, Royal Windsor and this new starting stall initiative. The online sportsbook’s UK and Irish racing offer was introduced as recently as June 2013, with a considerable upgrade in January 2014, so Unibet has been promoting the sport more than most. During the last three months, Unibet has seen a record number of depositing customers, racing turnover and active player levels, and the firm anticipates this trend to continue as it develops its racing offering and enters into even more marketing partnerships during the year.

UNIBET HAS TEAMED UP WITH WINDSOR RACECOURSE

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10 BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

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BB116-p10-12-Betting_09/10 01/05/2014 13:06 Page 2

Licence revoked

Betting

Social sportsbook solution Bodugi has had its operating licence revoked by the UK Gambling Commission. The licence had been suspended since late February over concerns about the withdrawal of funds and the lack of response to official communications. The regulator is also reportedly looking into BetButler, which acquired Bodugi’s customer list, after a spate of complaints over slow pay outs.

LBOs just ahead of online betting

HOLGER KRISTIANSEN: REGULATED DANISH MARKET NOW ‘AN OLIGOPOLY’

Bet24 founder wants to get one up with his new Danish brand

RESEARCH

Bet24 founder Holger Kristiansen discusses his new venture Bet25, with which he plans to take on the established players in the Danish igaming market. DENMARK

hy have you chosen to return to the Danish igaming market, and what you hope to achieve with new brand Bet25.dk? As Bet24 was the first real challenge to the Danish monopoly back in the 00’s I feel that my crew and I played a big part in the deregulation process. We feel that we owe ourselves to give it a go one more time. At the same time, I feel that the Danish igaming market misses a strong Danish/local competitor to Oddset/Danske Spil.

Well the deregulation actually has changed the market in the opposite direction of what people expected. Because before the deregulation there actually was ‘full competition’ in real life (and not the monopoly as most ‘think’) while you now could talk about an oligopoly, with Danske Spil as the big market leader and only a handful of strong competitors. Luckily for us we are the only other Danish offer to market - so if we can be part of the five or six sports betting companies that the Danish market can bear, then we actually have a stronger platform to You have been away for two grow from than before the years from the Danish deregulation. igaming scene, apart from regulation what has You have partnered with changed in the market, and Danish telecoms operators how do you wish to - TDC, what does this partapproach these new chal- nership bring to your operations and how do you plan lenges?

to maximise it? Our three biggest competitors in Denmark are Oddset, Bet365 and Unibet. All of these firms are huge and very strong. A Bet25 without TDC would have had less muscle. Although we still want to be the new, fresh and young ‘boy in the hood’ - it is always good to have back up from your strong big brother. Besides this TDC deal obviously gives us a number of big opportunities. They are the biggest TV distributor and the biggest mobile company in Denmark - and everyone knows how important Sports TV and Mobile are for the sports betting industry.

survey of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by online payments company Skrill found that high-street bookmakers are still the preferred place for betting, with 57 per cent happy to bet in an LBO. However, betting online or via a mobile app was very close behind, with 56 per cent also placing their bets via the remote channel. Almost a fifth (19 per cent) of the UK will bet on just one sporting event this year and the English Grand National proved to be the odds on favourite. Despite being less likely to bet on a sporting event throughout the year, 52 per cent of women who will do so are likely to pick the Grand National, spending an average of £6 per bet. This is compared to the 58 per cent of UK adult males who will place £14 on the race. Paul Barclay, VP Gambling and FX at Skrill, commented: “Year on year we’re seeing continued growth in online and mobile betting for the gambling operators with which we work. This is due in part to how the operators are making it easier and more convenient for their customers, using digital wallets, to have a cheeky flutter on sporting events like the Grand National. There will always be a place on the UK high-street for the bookmakers but as our lives become increasingly more mobile, we predict online and mobile gambling will continue to grow.”

these sponsorships, would you look to football sponsorship coverage to promote new venture? Our best results in Leeds and Blackburn were actually by connecting with the supporters. And the connection to ‘sports interested groups’ are definitely something we want to continue. However, instead of sponsoring one club or one sport we have built a feature where all 9,300 Danish sports clubs can be supported. We allocate 25 per cent of the gross gaming from sports betting directly to Danish sport hence Bet25. When signing up at Bet25, players can decide which sport and which club that they Regarding marketing, in support. If they lose money your past experience as on the sportsbook, then we founder of Bet24, you pro- send 25 per cent of that moted your brand via foot- amount to the chosen club. ball sponsorship. Do you That’s why our payoff is feel there is still value in Vind eller Vind (win or win)

… either you win on your bet or ‘your’ club wins. You have launched Bet25.dk in a World Cup year, unfortunately the Danish national team will not be participating, how will you promote the event to your customers and how does an operator sustain momentum without national involvement in the event? We run a group of media channels as well at Ecosys (www.ecosys.dk) and amongst these is a TVchannel called ‘Kanal Sport’ (Channel Sport). Although we haven’t designed our Bet25 World Cup campaign yet, I am sure that we will try to talk to the most World Cup interested people in Denmark. For instance, by making a number of strong programs and content features on Kanal Sport.

Easter closures not harming Irish Grand National IRELAND

rish jockey Barry Geraghty fulfilled a childhood dream onboard 8/1 favourite Shutthefrontdoor, winning a keenly contested Irish Grand National on Easter Monday, which also proved popular with the punters. However, with the Irish legislation still requiring LBOs to shut on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, there is a growing opinion that the race could have been even bigger. Stan James CEO Denis Kelly is not convinced: “We took just over 10,000 bets and total wagered was £154,000. We would not feel that the Easter closures have a massive effect on the Grand National

12 BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

POPULAR JOCKEY BARRY GERAGHTY

ACTION IMAGES / JULIAN HERBERT LIVEPIC

turnover especially that you now are able to bet online and on mobile. Anyway we take 90 per cent of the turnover on major races on the day of the race so those punters who want to have a bet will not be put off by not having the ‘shops’ open over those two days.” Meanwhile, head of racing and PR at Boylesports, Alan Reilly, said: “The legislation that disables retail trading on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday did not impact turnover on the big race itself but it severely reduces potential stakes on both days, especially so on Good Friday now that UK has relaxed the law so that racing can take place.” Reilly also praised the appoint-

ment and popularity of local jockey Barry Geraghty in what was a record Irish Grand National for the company. “Boylesports are absolutely thrilled with our first year of sponsoring Ireland’s greatest jump race. The coverage throughout the days building up to the race centred around our exclusive refunding of stakes on any ante post singles on all horses which did not run. With the field reducing to 26 on the day meant that we returned stakes to our customers of well into six figures. “This offer increased our ante post book turnover to the highest it has been in recent years. In fact, turnover on race day was greater than expected and reached such a

level that it was our highest on the IGN on record. Last year’s turnover level was reached an hour before the race at 4.00pm.” Reilly said that the decision to appoint Barry Geraghty as Boylesports ambassador ‘undoubtedly contributed’ to this achievement. While Geraghty’s ride was by far the most popular horse in the bookmaker’s ledger, Reilly said that stakes were widespread on what was one the most competitive renewals of the race in recent history. He added: “We would like to thank Barry for his ambassadorial role and extend our congratulations to both he and his family on a wonderful success.”

info@kironinteractive.com www.kironinteractive.com

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Politics Gambling Act starts to show its teeth The Gambling Commission is helping to train local authorities to help them police the illegal gambling market. TRAINING

he Gambling Commission is providing training on how to identify and manage the siting of illegal gaming machines to local councils across the country. Westminster City Training in partnership with the Gambling Commission’s Local Authority Liaison Unit (LALU) is holding many of the courses in casino premises to provide participants with first-hand experience of a live gambling environment after the training has been completed. The first course at Bristol’s Grosvenor Casino was fully booked, as are a number of the other sessions. It follows the success of seven workshops held around the country last year which were attended by almost 400 council and police officers and demonstrated a need by local councils for practical training on

how to effectively identify and take action relating to illegal gaming machines. Rob Burkitt of the Commission’s LALU team said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Westminster City Training to develop and deliver this course around the country, and we are also grateful to the Rank Group and Aspers for the use of their casinos at many of the venues. “Issues around suspected illegal gaming machines are one of the main compliance referrals we make to licensing authorities. With the fast moving nature of technical advances in gaming machines, these workshops are a great opportunity for police and council officers to find out what they need to look for when dealing with illegal gaming machines.” Supplying gaming machines or making them available to the public

without the appropriate licence or permission is a criminal offence. LALU regularly supports councils and police forces across the country on joint operations to remove illegal gaming machines. Steve Harrison, Westminster City Council’s operational director of Premises Management, said: “The licensing, deployment and policing of gaming machines present real challenges and the fact that our first workshop course in Bristol sold out speaks volumes about the need for quality training. “I believe that Westminster City Council’s team offers the best training available. Crucially, our officers come to the classroom with years of on-theground experience and we share the Gambling Commission’s ambition for best practice to be shared across the country.”

NICK TOFILUCK: ‘ACTION CAN AND WILL BE TAKEN’

It seems that the Gambling Act is starting to show some teeth as last month Enfield Council became the first local authority in the UK to successfully prosecute a person for money laundering in relation with the running of an illegal poker den. Ahmet Melin, 33, was found guilty of five offences of money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 at Wood Green Crown Court on 10 April. He will be sentenced later this month and money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. Melin was prosecuted after Enfield Council enforcement officers found the Big Bluff Private Members Club in Green Lanes; Palmers Green was actually a front for an illegal

Javid in as culture secretary as Miller resigns

poker club and not a nonprofit making private members club in line with its Club Gaming Permit. The club was raided in September 2012 by Enfield Council’s Licensing Enforcement and Trading Standards Teams, the Gambling Commission and the Metropolitan Police. The Big Bluff Private Members Club has since stopped operating. Nick Tofiluk, the Commission’s director of regulatory operations, said: “This is an excellent example of how a local authority with Gambling Commission support is dealing with illegal gambling in whatever guise it is presented. The message is simple - if you offer poker in a club and are breaking the law, action can and will be taken.”

14 BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

ossendale and Darwen MP Jake Berry has introduced a bill to Parliament to ban gambling adverts before the 9pm watershed. Jake brought the 10 Minute Rule Bill on the Regulation of Gambling Advertising before the House of Commons early last month. Berry said: “Young people today are the first generation to grow up with gambling being seen by society as an acceptable form of entertainment and leisure activity. Constant adverts for gambling condition young people into believing gambling is a fun and glamorous activity. Adverts are endorsed by celebrities and we must restrict such adverts to adults who are able to weigh odds, understand the risks and deal with the consequence of the losses.” He added: “I hope we will

GOVERNMENT

cial media organisations from BBC expansionism and champion private investment in the arts.’ Unfortunately for the industry lobbyists, there is little indication of his approach to the gambling industry to go on from his short stint as MP for Bromsgrove and general professional involvement in politics. There is a feeling a lot of the current gambling policy is being prescribed from Downing Street at the moment, and Miller’s profession to take an evidence based approach on gambling legislation has been wobbling under constant media pressure with an election on the horizon. Although a background in banking might not be the obvious choice for Culture

The part of the Gambling Act that deals with illegal gambling rather than licensing law-abiding operators is finally gaining traction, and not before time considering that large premiums in licensing fees that kosher business have had to make over the past seven years. It must be hoped that the enforcement mechanism for the incoming point of consumption licensing will hit the ground running, although there does not appear to be enough clear thinking at the moment over how UK-based players will be discouraged or even prevented from using offshore operators.

MP attempts to get pre-watershed ad ban ADVERTISING

ust as the gambling sector is entering a crucial political juncture, it has found itself having to adapt to a new culture secretary after the resignation of Maria Miller due to an expenses scandal. The new MP in charge is the Conservative MP for Bromsgrove Sajid Javid, who has joined the DCMS from the Treasury. It’s been a rapid rise to the Cabinet for Javid, who only became an MP in 2010, following executive roles in the Chase Manhattan and Deutsche banks. Tim Montgomerie, a Times columnist who attended the Conservative Association with Javid at Exeter University, states ‘he is likely to use his new portfolio to uphold press freedom, protect commer-

ANALYSIS

NEW CULTURE SECRETARY SAJID JAVID

Secretary, it might work in the gambling industry’s favour to have a secretary au fait with figures and able to divine the actual quality of research presented to him as ‘fact’ from lobbyists. On the flip side, the Treasury hasn’t exactly been overly kind or indeed communicative with the betting

industry of late. However, considering Helen Grant has only had seven months under her belt as minister for gambling, Javid’s arrival as her boss with little gambling regulation experience should be enough to ring alarm bells at the industry’s various trade associations.

look back in years to come on gambling adverts before the watershed with the same incredulity that we now view tobacco advertising, smoking in restaurants or driving without seatbelts.” Conservative MP for Shipley Philip Davies somewhat skewered Berry intentions by commenting: “It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to enter a betting shop or place a bet there, or to place a bet online. If his contention is that people are breaking the law, he should surely introduce a measure to try to ensure that the law as it stands is enforced. That, rather than nanny-state measures such as this, is the way in which to solve the problem.” Davies also suggested that one way to stop children gambling was to stop 16 year olds from being allowed to play on the National Lottery.

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

2 B

May 2014

Sportsbook

$70bn market by 2016

Big in Japan

According to figures from the GBGC, global online sports betting market was worth $58bn in gross gaming revenue (‘GGY’) in 2012, and expected to rise to $70bn by 2016.

Japan is the largest betting market, where it is legal to bet on horses, cycling, motor boating and motor biking. However, GBGC says the most competitive market is the UK.

Europe out ahead Europe is the largest sports betting region with 41 per cent of global GGY. Asia is close behind with 39 per cent, whereas North America has just 6 per cent of global GGY.

RULES

Make sure the customer knows what they are betting on John Samuels of IBAS highlights one area of concern for sportsbooks this summer and suggests that they need to be clear on what markets they are offering. Only months after the floods and gales of the worse winter on record, the betting world is focusing on how searing heat and 90 per cent humidity will affect players in the FIFA World Cup, which is sure to become the biggest betting event in history. In the last edition of Betting Business, I explained how there are generally four main areas of dispute when it comes to football betting; and that football is the sport that creates most disputes for IBAS. However, when a major football tournament comes along, such as the upcoming World Cup, the Top Goal Scorer market is always one that causes disputes and controversy. It is reported that some operators are now considering taking bets on the ‘Golden Boot’ winner of FIFA/UEFA organised competitions. There is logic to that move, considering the feedback in 2012 when Top Goal Scorer settlements resulted in an unsatisfactory six way dead heat, but the industry must be careful to not make a knee-jerk reaction. In a dead-heat situation, if a player wins the Golden Boot due to assists and time spent on the field of play, some customers, whose top goal scorer bet is on a player who scored the same amount of goals as the FIFA/UEFA winner but did not notch up as many assists, would feel aggrieved that the bet was settled as a loser. In 2012, most complaints arose because it was popular pre-tournament selection Fernando Torres who won the ‘official’ Golden Boot. None of those punters would have complained had one of the lesser known players in the six-way tie collected the trophy.

“

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26 Unibet is to cut Kambi loose and make it an independent supplier

FERNANDO TORRES – GOLDEN BOOT WINNER THANKS TO ASSISTS

ACTION IMAGES / CARL RECINE

Betting Business Interactive Edition

Essential guide to ...

Operators could consider making both markets available (presumably at the same prices) and settling bets on the Top Goal scorer, with a dead heat rule, unless ‘Golden Boot’ is specifically requested. As ever the secret to avoiding disputes is a combination of how the market is advertised and then operated in practice, and how clued up and efficient front line staff are. The most important point - which is relevant to head office and front line staff alike - is that the two terms, ‘Golden Boot’ and ‘Top Goalscorer’ are not necessarily interchangeable.

28 Judge Dredd hits the slots for the first time thanks to NextGen

30 Paddy Power renews its ID software deal with Call Credit

VIEWPOINT

Andrew McCarron

t’s going to be a big year for sportsTaxing Imakers books, in the UK especially, as bookface the prospect of enjoying poproblem for tentially the biggest betting event in the world before being frozen out if they can’t bookmakers afford a UK licence. While the UK’s new licensing (and tax) regime is nowhere near as onerous as some of the other European states, the market is far, far more competitive and the margins already

low. Given the 15 per cent gross profits tax rate is being implemented on firms which are based in low-tax, but white-listed, regimes, it is a huge chunk out of the revenues. It is true that many firms will have to make a hard and fast decision about whether it’s worth the expense of coming to the UK, or whether they can operate in the 20 per cent black market that the UK Treasury accepts will be created with its high taxation rate. It all depends on how the licensing laws will be policed, if at all.

BB116-p16-22-Essential_Layout 1 01/05/2014 16:30 Page 2

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UNIBET

Providing a challenge via in-play betting Unibet head of sportsbook Erik Bäcklund examines the emergence and evolution of in-play betting and the efforts to combine social and mobile. portsbook has become the lifeblood of every successful online bookmaker, but how important is in-running betting, given that 122 million bets were placed pre-games or live with Unibet last year? In 2014 Unibet will offer over 100,000 live betting events and more than 28,000 streamed matches to our customers. The in-running betting has definitely transformed sports betting into a 24/7 experience for our customers. Together with the mobile channel explosion, which has meant that the customer can reach us anytime and anywhere, it has revolutionised the industry. It has also evolved the

types of bets offered by bookmakers, as there is a much higher demand on being able to place bets on events with a short life-span (for example next try scorer, first to X points, next corner etc). What strengths and weaknesses do punters associate with the product, and is it affected by age demographics? In the customer research we have done around in-play betting, our customers tell us that they really appreciate the ability to place short-term bets, the quick settlements of their bets, and to be able to change opinions during a match. Furthermore, they love the challenge to be up against an odds complier during a live event and they feel it’s a battle of who interprets what happens during the match the best. Unlike the more traditional pre-game wagering, where most of the information is already known and it might be tougher to ‘beat the bookie’. In regards to mobile and tablet, of course we see a bigger uptake in the new genera-

tions. In regards to in-play vs. pre-game the difference is less between age demographics, but the in-play percentage of turnover among the 18 - late 30s is higher than the +40 segment. How has Unibet changed in-play betting, what differentiates it from other competitors in the UK and Europe? Unibet has had cash-in of live bets almost since the start. It has been a key product feature and has always been mentioned by our customers as one of the strong points of the product experience. We have focused on developing a really strong tennis live betting experience, and have game betting and next point open during play. This together with a strong live streaming tennis offer on web and mobile/tablet has helped to create an interesting and fun in-play tennis experience for our customers. We are, of course, focusing on quantitative improvements like number of live matches and number of bet offers, but we believe that strong focus on quality and short live delays and limited suspension times (in many sports

we strive towards none at all) are much more important for the end-user. If the customer wants to place a bet, the ‘shop’ should be open and the majority of bet offers can’t be suspended for minutes just because a goal has been scored, a red card has been awarded or a break of serve has occurred in a tennis match. Where do you envisage sportsbook and live betting in the near future, what developments do you expect or are you working on? I expect the bet offers to have an even shorter time span in the future, with more bet types adopted or invented to create tailormade in-play betting products per sport, especially around the American sports and smaller betting sports such as golf, athletics and winter-sports. People talk about social and betting and who will ‘crack the nut’. I can see someone having a serious stab on combining in-play, social and mobile to create something new and exciting that will potentially capture the betting customer in a different way than today.

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BB116-p16-22-Essential_Layout 1 01/05/2014 16:28 Page 3

B2B

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

Essential Guide to ... Sportsbook IN-PLAY

MARKETING

Shaking up the affiliate sector

Reaching the audience via wi-fi Winner of the Best Support Technology for Fans at London’s Sports Technology Awards, Sports Revolution’s commercial director Simon Hills, discusses why bookmakers need to bet big on stadium wi-fi, and how massive demand for connectivity is odds-on to change the game of football for fans and sportsbook operators. etting and football have always been close teammates, but a recent trend promises to take this partnership to a new level. Or rather the convergence of several trends: first, the rise of in-play betting; second, the boom in betting via smartphones and tablets; third, an explosion in fanbased social media; and fourth, the rise of a new phenomenon in British football: the connected stadium. The last is the most recent and the one that makes all the others possible. The installation of high-density wi-fi into football stadia provides the bandwidth and connectivity that football fans crave. If, like me, you have jabbed in frustration at your phone in a football ground, seeing the mobile signal fade as the game starts, you will know what I mean. The concentration of bodies, concrete and steel in a packed stadium makes for a mobile no-go zone. You are lucky to be able to send a text, let alone upload a photo or, heaven forbid, place a bet. But all this is now changing. Sports Revolution recently installed the UK’s first fully functioning football stadium wi-fi network at Celtic FC’s 60,000-seater stadium. We also developed a bespoke fan app, CelticLIVE, that provides exclusive up-to-the-minute match-day content, including text commentary, stats, video, photos, voting and social media comment. It’s been a big hit with the fans, with the app downloaded over 38,000 times since its launch at the Celtic v Ajax Champions League game last October. The industry has also applauded it, recently winning ‘Best Support Technology for Fans’ at the recent Sports Technology Awards. So, what does this all mean for betting? Well, by solving the age-old problem of connectivity in a top-flight football stadium, we can see what fans want to do with their smartphones and betting is high on the list. At each game, we see an average of around 14,000 requests to access betting sites. At the Ajax Champions League launch game, there were a staggering 38,000 requests - over half the entire crowd. It’s clear that fans want to bet live at a game. The demand is there. We just need to find a way to meet it - and stadium wi-fi points the way. It’s not a surprise we are seeing this appetite. Bringing in the other trends I mentioned earlier, we know that mobile and in-play betting are huge. Over 70% of all in-play betting is via mo-

bile - but one of the few places you can’t do it is in a football stadium, where it could be at its most engaging and relevant. Being able to serve live odds, or close a position, during a live game in the stadium would allow bookmakers to transform their offering. It catches the fans in the moment and excitement of the game. It is also so much better than using the stadium kiosks that currently offer the closest alternative. Fans use them to lay a bet before the game, but few go back once it has started. We also know that social media plays a big part in the attraction of the connected stadium: fans love nothing more than joining a social conversation about what’s happening on the pitch, sharing banter, pictures and opinion. A big part of our work with CelticLIVE has been to serve tailored and relevant content via our social media partner Snack Media, the power behind over 80 sports fan sites in football, boxing and F1. Knowing how to talk to fans credibly and relevantly is essential, and betting can be a natural part of this conversation. But, like everything else, you need the bandwidth to bring all of this to life. In an age where we expect wi-fi connectivity in hotels, cafes, on the train and even on the London Underground, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect it in the sports stadium. After all, we’re paying enough for the tickets. We are talking to many more top-flight clubs and also a wide range of brands - including in the betting industry - about bringing the connected stadium to more fans next season. It’s my guess that clubs will increasingly have to act, as fans and brands demand connectivity as a standard feature of the modern matchday experience.

Matthew Stubbs is one of the brains behind Beatthebookie.TV, a brash, fun affiliate site which aims to provide young men with entertainment and the opportunity to get. hat makes Beat The Bookie a different proposition than other affiliate sites? Beatthebookie.TV is a product in evolution. But already we have an environment that marks us out as different. We are targeting a youthful market 18/30. That’s why it’s bright and tabloidy, football focused and, yes, we have pretty girls on it. All to attract that market and all we believe adding interest and excitement to the betting market generally. My background is in PR and I have worked outside the betting sector as well as within it. So, I’ve worked with brands such as Stella, Citibank, BT, Mirror Group, as well as with Bet Direct and BetFred. Jonathan Richards, a director of the business, comes from a publishing background and has worked with a wide range of print and online brands from Penthouse to OK, as well as football publishing with Liverpool and Arsenal and men’s lifestyle brands. So we both have an understanding of how to reach certain market sectors and we are bringing many of those skills to Beatthebookie.TV. We have to be straight-out honest and state that our target market is young men and primarily first-time gamblers on football products. We are in the business of selling gambling accounts and consequently we celebrate the punt, but we advise caution. What we are doing is acknowledged as different and dynamic and we are currently talking to Gamcrowd about investment opportunities moving forward.

How do you balance content with advertising? That’s not hard. Our focus is to provide an entertaining and fun environment for users. As our community grows advertisers of brands that are a logical fit to ours are emerging. We are in talks with a number of non-betting consumer products which appeal to our market. The likes of Lynx, Pot Noodle and Sky TV are all on our radar. We have also had an enquiry from a drinks company, but we will tread carefully with this for obvious reasons. Content will always be king. It will never be subordinate to advertising. As a successful affiliate our revenue will in the main come from affiliate relationships but there is room for relevant advertisers and brands on our banner spaces. We are currently considering adding in live odds, which relate to the main events we cover such as live televised footie matches. Where do you get your traffic from? We are driving traffic across all social media platforms and make full use of Twitter and Facebook. Our experience with SEO thus far has been less than stellar. It promises a lot but delivers little. The site is well maintained so we hover around the top of Google search and other search engines like Bing. We are approaching the market in a style which has not been done before. We are looking to ruffle a few media feathers as we force our message out there through managed PR initiatives, which will consolidate and enhance traffic. As a former PR consultant I am preparing for this and think that our market will respond to the approach. What changes do you think are needed in the affiliate sector? We think the market needs to be livened up. So many sites deliver the same cold, fairly clinical process. Our objective is to make the betting process more fun - celebrate the punt! Also there a lot of them! Too many. Real care and investment has gone into beatthebookie.tv and the feedback from our bookmaker partners has been very positive. Affiliate sites largely amount to a page of stats and they are approved by the same bookmakers, which can’t be right. We are aiming to take the gambling affiliate site to another level.

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

ACTION IMAGES / CARL RECINE LIVEPIC

Essential Guide to ... Sportsbook BETCONSTRUCT

Be careful on customer acquisition George Voyatzis, sales director at BetConstruct, believes bookmakers need to be careful when offering World Cup bonuses. Based in the company’s central London office, he is responsible for business development and leading the company’s commercial efforts. s a global sporting spectacle, you can’t beat the World Cup but the competition won’t just be fierce on the pitch; almost every online sportsbetting brand compete with one another across various promotions, offers and bonuses in order to attract new customers. Operators, however, are finding it increasingly difficult and expensive to acquire new customers. Operators spend vast sums on advertising, affiliate marketing, branding and PR. Those that are the most successful, however, do not necessarily spend the largest amounts; they are the ones who get the most value from their outlay. Using an event they have had ample time to prepare for, B2C brands have a great opportunity to differentiate themselves and grow their businesses; yet so many miss out. A number of major affiliate websites, for example, often receive fresh content for the weekend’s sporting fixtures at 4:55pm on a Friday. The

same thing happens during World Cups and European Championship tournaments. If, as an operator, you spend huge sums on advertising and affiliates, getting the most out of this expense should be a priority, particularly in the current landscape of new tax regimes and frameworks. Operators need to make sure they correctly choose offers in terms of risk and reward. A great offer can leave operators exposed to bonus abuse, and any clampdown by bookmakers into player accounts often results in forums being filled with unfavourable posts. The best and most popular bookmakers tend to be the ones that are seen favourably in the main online bookmaker forums. UK operators are well versed in offering cash-back and reload bonus offers. During previous World Cups they have seen great success in terms of new player acquisitions with bookies offering cash back or enhanced odds on the out-

right winner of the tournament. Many new sports betting tools that were not available four years ago will be available at this tournament including cashout, advanced in-play markets and an array of mobile apps. Promotions around these for the World Cup will do particularly well. Operators should also not exclude their valuable, existing customers from any offers and promotions. They should remember that all their competitors are after their customers. CRM is key and making punters feel welcome and rewarded enhances loyalty. This World Cup we will see record levels of online activity and any operator worth his salt needs to be prepared to maximise the betting opportunities it will present.

Vastly improve your sportsbook with GPS Outsourcing of odds provision has been an area of immense growth within the industry in recent years and this trend shows little sign of abating. riginating prices can be an expensive and time-consuming business and rightly, or wrongly, firms are now reaching out to wholesale providers for pricing - this is especially true of niche markets such as goalscorers. Super Soccer Oddsfeed, long-standing and trusted supplier to a host of big and small bookmaking concerns, and Abelson Info, highly regarded fixture and resulting specialist, have joined forces to create the increasingly successful Goalscorer Prices & Settlement service (GPS). GPS alleviates much of the labour intensive work needed to first compile goalscorer prices and then to subsequently settle them. The JSON API feed provides Super Soccer Oddsfeed pricing with real-time settlement from Abelson Info. The accuracy and scope of the product combined with settlement speed (typically less than two minutes after a goal is scored) and efficiency really sets this system apart. These are all reasons why GPS is now utilised by

ACTION IMAGES / ANDREW COULDRIDGE LIVEPIC

DARREN BENT: COSTING BOOKMAKERS MONEY

some of the biggest sports betting firms in the world. Super Soccer Oddsfeed’s coverage is extensive and, thanks to its dedicated team of compilers, the latest injury, suspension and team news is factored in. Keeping upto-date with the latest information is important to profitability in what can be a high margin product. For example, last

Three digital marketing tips for a successful World Cup Jack Finlay, account manager at Latitude Digital Marketing, provides some tips ahead of Brazil 2014.

GOALSCORER PRICES & SETTLEMENT

MARKETING

month saw several non-GPS subscribed firms quoting Darren Bent against his parent club when Premier League rules state that loan players cannot feature against the club holding their registration. Not only does this make the Sportsbook look unprofessional to knowledgeable punters but it also impacts the profitability of the market. Bent was taking out around 18 per cent of the book and any money wagered on him would have been tied up. GPS helps ensure that instances like this are eradicated through its partial settlement - which means any players not included in the match-day squad are voided pre-match, allowing the GPS client to refund punters and recycle their funds. Ladbrokes are the latest firm to sign up for the GPS service but it is not just a system for the larger firms. Bespoke packages are available to suit any progressive thinking sportsbook and the costs are less than you might imagine for an enhancement this impressive.

nce every four years sportsbook operators get to revel in the glory of the World Cup and increased demand. The media frenzy around predicting which team will win the tournament, who will take the golden boot and, in some cases, how far will the England team will progress, is a truly global affair. More importantly, however, it gives sportsbook operators the chance to maximise revenues during a time of year that would otherwise have been seen as a lull in activity (with the football season ending in May). So what do operators need to consider when looking to target the sportsbook ‘punter’ during this time? The focus of Latitude Digital Marketing will be on the following three key points: 1) The Importance of Mobile: You only have to have read an article or a blog post from the industry to know that mobile is key for the 2014 World Cup. Even just between January 2013 and March 2014 Latitude Digital Marketing has seen mobile impressions and clicks within the egaming space grow by 61 per cent and 37 per cent respectively, highlighting the vital importance for Sportsbook operators to adopt the right mobile strategy during the event. 2) Embrace the App: 2013 saw $10bn spent on Apple apps. With Apple celebrating 50bn app downloads in May, the importance of applications cannot be ignored. Accessible, user friendly apps that allow easy use ‘on the go’ will be crucial during the World Cup. With the World Cup games taking place later at night in the UK (10-11pm), numerous people will be in bars (or even at home) looking to use ‘in-play’ opportunities easily accessible to them through their mobile phones. Your use of and visibility across marketing channels such as Facebook, Google/Bing search and display inventory is critical to maximise the opportunity to acquire these customers. 3) Pay to play: Recent changes to social media algorithms (particularly Facebook) has led to companies needing to ‘pay to play’ in order to gain exposure and reach across the channel. With the majority of users now accessing their social networks through their mobile (Adobe suggesting 71 per cent), this is a prime opportunity for operators to get users to download their apps or direct them to a fully optimised mobile site. In summary, if you are not thinking mobile and social….. you should be!

Tool up for the CUP! Be prepared for the biggest soccer tournament in the world.

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Essential Guide to ... Sportsbook MKODO ACTION IMAGES / JOHN SIBLEY LIVEPIC

BETRADAR

All angles covered for World Cup The 2014 World Cup in Brazil will be the most social, interactive and shareable sporting event there has ever been and Betradar wants to make the most of it. he World Cup has always given bookmakers a major boost and gives them the perfect opportunity to gain a more in depth understanding of their target audience. Four years is a long time in technological terms, so the changes that have taken place since the last tournament in South Africa have been immense. Betradar, a major supplier of sports and betting-related data, has put together a sophisticated portfolio of World Cup related products giving bookmakers the opportunity to take a new approach to driving interactive betting revenues. No matter if a business requires betting, sports data content or gaming solutions, the firm believes that its portfolio offers the matching tools for all types of sportsbook operations. Betradar’s WC2014 Live Match Centre represents what it calls the ‘ultimate’ live experience for all 64 matches to cover multiple media platforms thanks to its responsive design. The compact solution includes an enormous amount of prematch and in-play statistics and impresses with its live visualisation of all the on pitch action, including positional data and ball spotting features. The WC2014 Live Match Centre is fully customisable and all modules can independently be used across the bookmakers’ online platform. With regards to live betting opportunities, providing odds on as many markets as possible is taken as a given. Betradar

provides its market leading live betting services for all 64 matches and thereby offers two services: the ‘Live Odds Service’ via XML feeds is a fully automated and integrated in-running trading service for direct use requiring only very limited resources, while Betradar’s ‘Live Scouting Service’ is an ideal information source enabling bookmakers to run their own inrunning trading. Increasing the entertainment factor of the sportsbook and being attractive to new customers will be key to stand well above the competition. Betradar’s new In-Play Betting Games ‘Soccer Roulette’ and ‘NextUp: Soccer’ enable sportsbooks to provide up to 30+ betting chances per match based on 19 unique key events. In-Play Minigames is an innovative series of live soccer gaming concepts, enabling punters to engage in new, immersive and fun betting activities. “The new mobile, social world opens up completely new opportunities to bookmakers. Many consumers who don’t normally bet are likely to do so during the World Cup. This means successful bookmakers will need to develop the right campaigns and provide consumers with a new level of high entertainment value throughout all channels and media platforms. With our solutions, we are convinced to provide our clients the perfect tools for a successful World Cup”, says Erik Lorenz, Sportradar’s managing director sales.

PLAYTECH

Betting via every channel The ability to integrate online betting with retail has arrived in every Coral shop thanks to Playtech’s multi-channel offering. laytech, the international designer, developer and licensor of software for the online, mobile, TV and landbased gaming industry has announced the successful launch of its groundbreaking ‘multi-channel’ solution. Multi-channel is already fully operational across the entire Coral betting shop estate in the UK, 1,800 shops. The aptly named ‘Coral Connect’ programme is the first time online and retail systems have been totally unified, allowing players to use one account across all platforms, wherever and whenever they are playing. Prospective customers can now open a multi-channel account in a betting shop and further utilise the same account to place bets online or on mobile. In the retail environment, the multichannel account can be used to place bets over the counter (OTC), play casino

games on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) and deposit or withdraw funds. The online-to-retail integration has allowed Playtech’s advanced IMS back office system to be synchronised with retail operations, giving operators a full customer view. An operator can now view a player’s activity in its entirety; whether they are playing online, on their mobile phone or in a betting in a shop. The integration of the complete online and retail system extends Playtech’s multi-channel and multiproduct vision, where players are able to use one account and enjoy a seamless user experience across all platforms and products. This creates numerous cross-sale opportunities for Playtech licensees, who can significantly increase a player’s gameplay, longevity and strengthen brand loyalty. A licensee can now promote shop players to utilise

their multi-channel account to play similar products online, whilst also encouraging online players to play in a retail outlet. Playtech COO Shay Segev declared: “We are extremely proud of our new multi-channel solution, which strengthens Playtech’s position as an innovation leader in the betting and gaming industry. The synchronisation of online and retail systems is a significant technological achievement. It illustrates our commitment to providing a complete multichannel experience to Playtech licensees, who can in turn provide their customers with the ultimate player experience across all platforms.” Andy Hornby, chief executive of Coral, added: “Multi-channel is a key focus of our development. With Playtech’s help we have made a real step forward.”

Mobile becoming the primary channel As the World Cup approaches, Mark Gibson, business development director at mobile specialist Mkodo, comments on the importance of providing mobile sportsbook customers with a rounded entertainment package. This summer, as a World Cup one, is a summer with heightened focus for sports betting operators. Mobile is now truly established in sportsbook and, for some operators where mobile is delivering 50% + of revenue, is now considered the primary channel for both distribution and revenue. There are still many options for growing mobile interactivity and revenues. One such avenue that is potentially very important and profitable is enabling the easy movement of players between product sets. Sportsbook is, amongst its myriad values, an excellent acquisition channel and conversion of sportsbook players to slots and table games (amongst others) can provide a substantial benefit to volume and win figures. The main consideration here is the establishment of a smooth transition back and forth between the product sets within the mobile site or App. It is possible, and probable, that there will be different suppliers providing different products and that these may be hosted from different platforms. The maintenance of a smooth and seamless flow to the customer journey may therefore be tricky to implement in practicality - it’s often relatively easy to develop a great product in Photoshop only to find it a little harder to implement in a real-world environment. At mkodo, we manage this using our own abstraction technology to keep the client side communications consistent irrespective of the backend platform communication. What is also vital to the success of such ‘upselling’ of products is to offer only those products that are available on the device in question. A simple example would be to ensure that players engaging on a tablet device can see content that is available not just for ‘tablet’ generically but for their particular tablet. For an end user, it is frustrating, and also impersonal, to see a promotion motivating enough to click-through only to be told that their device isn’t right/good enough. However, if you do manage your device recognition well (and keep it updated) then there are significant upsides. For example, promoting tablet-only live dealer games to sportsbook users can generate a very significant line in revenue. This type of mobile device and operating system version recognition can be especially useful for non-iOS content in slots and games, which may have limitations with regards to support on BlackBerry, Windows and older Android OSs.

“

PRESENTS…

WHO ARE WE? The Sports Betting Community (SBC) is a news, events and consultancy organisation which boasts a network of almost 5,000 sports betting professionals through four years of international networking events.

WHAT DO WE DO? We provide news and resources at SBCnews.co.uk and industry events in Europe and Asia, such as the Betting on Football Conference on 8 May at Stamford Bridge. We also provide consultancy services to ﬁrms targeting the sports betting industry.

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU? Are you dizzied by the array of software choices and need an expert’s eye? Does your website require engaging content to keep customers on-site? Do you need help identifying and targeting your market? We can help with these problems and more.

GET IN TOUCH Andy McCarron | +44 (0) 1457 867 683 | andy@sbcnews.co.uk | www.sbcnews.co.uk

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

Retail B2B Retail Listings

B2B content R et ai l

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Racecourse operator ARC is making a significant investment in all-weather racing surfaces in Great Britain by commissioning Tapeta Footings to replace the existing allweather surface at Wolverhampton with its own unique Tapeta surface.

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Key greyhound dates agreed Dog racing continues to be a betting shop staple and the sport continues to offer an alternative to horseracing and football. BO broadcaster SIS has worked closely with TV schedulers and greyhound authorities to roll out a new set of fixtures for Sky Sports’ coverage for the second half of this year. Production partner SIS, which is responsible for the filming, outside broadcast and delivery of the high-profile programming, and BAGS, as programme commissioner, sat down with Sky, sponsors and the Greyhound Board of Great Britain to launch a 15-fixture line-up of top-class action which is simulcast into betting shops and on television. The first of the Sky fixtures in July will be the Betfred Select Stakes at Nottingham on Tuesday 8 July, and the cameras will then head north to Sunderland on Wednesday 16 July for the William Hill UK Festival. The Coral Sussex Cup takes place at Hove on Tuesday 29 July, when a bumper crowd and quality supporting card is expected for this category one event over 515 metres, worth £10,000 to the winner. There are two fixtures in August, the TV Trophy (venue to be confirmed) on Wednes-

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day 6, followed by a new showcase of action for Sky greyhound fans, the Ladbrokes Gold Cup at Monmore on Thursday 21. September is set to get off to flyer with the prestigious Champion Stakes at Romford on Tuesday 9, followed by the final of East Anglian Derby, which returns to our screens at Yarmouth on Wednesday 17. The Steel City Cup at Sheffield, won by Elaine Parker last year with Pay Freeze, the trainer’s third success in the race, takes place on Tuesday 30. There are also three live-on-Sky fixtures in October, the William Hill All England Festival at Newcastle on Thursday 9, the second at a venue to be confirmed on Wednesday 15, before the Sky spotlight focuses on the best of British breeding with the final of the British Breeders’ Stakes at Nottingham on Tuesday 28. Stamina is to the fore in November for the final of the William Hill St Leger on Tuesday 11, won last year in emphatic fashion by Farloe Tango, the enigmatic 2013 Greyhound of the Year. The Sky cameras then return to Nottingham for the final of the Betfred Eclipse on Tuesday 18, won

last year by Mark Wallis’ Bridge Hondo in a vintage renewal. The Coral Essex Vase reaches its conclusion at Romford on Tuesday, 2 December, before the Laurels and Oaks double-header finals night brings the 2014 Sky coverage curtain down at Belle Vue on Wednesday 10. Commenting on the new schedule, BAGS chairman Tom Kelly said: “The coverage continues to be well received throughout the industry and we are all looking forward to an even better second half. Everyone has pulled together again to help make this happen, with the Select Stakes at Nottingham a welcome addition to the schedule.” George Irvine, managing director, SIS Betting, who has been involved in the Sky coverage since SIS stepped in to take over at the start of 2013, said: “The coverage goes from strength to strength and has proved popular with our high street customers, as well as helping maintain and raise greyhound racing’s profile via Sky Sports. It’s proving a great year so far and we’ve now got another cracking set of fixtures to look forward to.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

MACHINES

SG Gaming boosts Cat C jackpots ROAD HOG

Following the triennial jackpot increase to £100 on Category C machines, SG Gaming, has announced upgrades to some of its best performing games to offer the additional £30 jackpot. Director of content development Rick Mountney said: “We have been working hard behind the scenes over the last few months to get content ready for the triennial announcement. Ten games have been adapted to the new jackpot limit, including classic community games like Money Mad Martians and Rainbow Riches Party.” Group managing director Phil Horne added: “It was important for us to support our customers with the widest range of £100 jackpot games as soon as the new regulations came into effect. We are offering both our classic games, including our successful community games, and a choice of new games to customers across Triple 7 terminals. They have been well re-

ceived by both operators and players. Our games have a track record of driving cashbox revenue, and we expect the £30 increase in the jackpot to add to their popularity.” SG Gaming’s full range of game updates are supported by the availability of top box artwork and a marketing kit to help customers launch the new games and jackpot. The games and supporting artwork are available through SG Gaming’s distributors Crown Direct and Deith Leisure. SG Gaming’s after sales department can also provide customers with relevant support and information. In addition to the updates, SG Gaming has launched Super Repeater, a new £100 community game available as part of a three player Triple 7 package. The package includes three Triple 7 terminals, themed artwork, and a choice of six Category C titles from a range of classic titles such as Money Mad Martians and Rainbow Riches.

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RACING Talksport to cover horseracing acecourse Media Group has signed a deal with Talksport, the world’s biggest sports radio station, to broadcast live coverage of the biggest events in both the flat and jump racing calendar including the Investec Derby and Oaks, the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot. Talksport’s regular racing correspondent Rupert Bell will bring listeners every furlong of the world’s most iconic horse race on Saturday afternoon live from Aintree. Richard FitzGerald, CEO of Racecourse Media Group, said: “We are delighted that Talksport and Racecourse Media Group have agreed this partnership, which will give the sport a fantastic shop window. All the major meetings throughout the year will benefit from quality airtime on Talksport, which is great news for racing’s profile.”

ideo slot producer Quickspin has entered the UK retail market through a signed agreement with Gala Coral Group. Daniel Lindberg, CEO at Quickspin, said: “With our mobile games going live in the next few months we will be one of the first providers to offer games across multiple channels: web, mobile and retail.” The first game is currently being adapted for the UK retail market and is expected to go live during the fourth quarter 2014.Lindberg added: “This is yet another proof that our strategy of developing high quality and innovative video slots is right. We can’t wait to see the games being live in a live environment.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

Sportsbook

“” We are delighted with our new headquarters in the heart of Rome which assures us presence and visibility for our brand.

Vitaliano Casalone Presidente, Inspired Italia

Virtual sports and VLT supplier Inspired Gaming Group has opened a new corporate office in Rome downtown in zona Prati. Inspired’s Italian business is growing rapidly and can now report 7,000 VLTs, 7,000 venues with Inspired’s Virtual Sports, and the successful launch of the game Merlin for the Comma 6a. We are delighted with our new headquarters in the heart of Rome which assures us presence and visibility for our brand.

LISTING

Kambi to go it alone The sportsbetting software supplier Kambi will be a listed company in its own right in a couple of months.

nline operator Unibet is to cut its B2B arm loose after its Board of Directors proposed that all of the shares owned by Unibet in its subsidiary, Kambi Group Limited (to be renamed Kambi Group plc) will be distributed to Unibet shareholders during June 2014. Subject to shareholder approval at the AGM, Kambi will apply for its shares to be listed on the NASDAQ OMX First North exchange in Stockholm during June 2014. Unibet will distribute all of its shareholding with the result that Unibet will not have any shareholding in Kambi after the separation. The distribution of shares in Kambi is intended to be made under the so called ‘Lex Asea’ provisions and should therefore not result in any immediate tax consequences for Swedish resident taxpayers. Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Unibet, commented: “The proposal to distribute Kambi to Unibet shareholders is the logical conclusion of the separation process that has been developed over the last couple of years. In that period, Unibet has focused its business on excellence in customer relationship management, while Kambi has been able to concentrate on development

of its market-leading sports betting services. While Kambi has an excellent offering, its opportunity to maximise the value of those services is limited while it is under the ownership of Unibet. Separation will make it easier for Kambi to access wider markets.” The decision to develop Kambi as a separate B2B business within the Group was taken in 2010, but not fully executed until 2011 because of the complexities of ensuring full separation. As part of the separation, Unibet’s Sportsbook operations and related intellectual property assets were transferred to Kambi and a fully separate corporate and operational structure was put in place. Kambi provides a premium fully-managed sports betting service to Unibet and to eight other B2B clients across Europe and internationally. Kambi is 95 per cent owned by Unibet, with the remaining 5 per cent owned by certain Kambi management employees. The shares that will, subject to approval by the AGM, be distributed to Unibet shareholders, therefore represent 95 per cent of the equity in Kambi. Kambi holds B2B operating licences in Malta, Alderney and Spain and apart from

HENRIK TJÄRNSTRÖM

Unibet its clients include 888, Paf, Napoleon Games, Naga World as well as a number of clients in the licensed Spanish market. Kambi reported in 2013 total revenues of 21.2m euro with EBITDA -900,000 euro. During the fourth quarter of 2013, Kambi revenues were 6.2m euro with EBITDA of

300,000 euro. Kristian Nylen has been CEO of Kambi since its formation and was previously head of Sportsbook and member of the management team in Unibet since 2003. Kambi intends to publish a full Company Description in accordance with rules of the First North market on 29 April 2014.

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DATA

TECHNOLOGY

wedish giant Svenska Spel has deployed Betradar’s Live Odds Service for its betting offer. Betradar’s Live Odds Service is a fully automated and integrated in-running trading service to offer a broad variety of live betting sports and markets. In total the Betradar live betting portfolio covers 15 different sports with over 12,000 matches per month. Svenska Spel began the search for an experienced live odds partner via a public tender in March 2013 with Betradar selected in May 2013 due to its experience as a leading sports and betting-related data service provider. Svenska Spel follows Veikkaus and Norsk Tipping as the latest Scandinavian state lottery to use Betradar’s Live Odds Service. In total, Betradar serves over 35 state lotteries worldwide with its extensive product and service portfolio.

Racing Post gets Push off he Racing Post has turned to Push Technology’s Diffusion solution in order to help it move data in real-time between its website, bookkeeper kiosks and mobile apps. To meet its customers’ demands for ‘live’ data performance without a huge impact on IT infrastructure cost and complexity, Racing Post needed an enterprise - class data distribution platform for its online services and turned to Diffusion. “Our customers don’t accept anything less than real-time, reliable access to the latest racing information and betting prices,” explained Paul Carse, IT director at Racing Post. “Previously during major events such as Cheltenham or the Grand National we had to limit performance - sometimes by up to 20 seconds at the busiest times to maintain online services.”

asino games and software developer CG Technology, formerly Cantor Gaming, has penned a licensing agreement with theLogrand Group, Mexico’s leading entertainment and gaming operator. The move sees CG Technology authorise the use of its sportsbook system, which includes mobile sports wagering and wallet functions, at eight Logrand Group casinos in Mexico, including Jubilee casino in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, the country’s largest casino. Commenting on CG Technology’s first technology licensing deal in Latin America, president and CEO Lee Amaitis, said: “CG Technology estimates it has in excess of 25 per cent of the Nevada sports wagering market and that over half of these wagers are conducted on mobile devices in Nevada. Our

applications that operators bolt on to their existing websites, but the firm has now built a spread betting site for Star Sports from scratch. Grand Parade CTO Dominic Hawken commented: “Ben Keith at Star is a great inspiration, and this new platform opens up a whole host of future potential the first of many great products. Live trails at Cheltenham went down a storm.” Grand Parade has also been working on the development of a new betting website for Sportech in the USA, the launch of Betway’s new horseracing pages in time for Cheltenham and Betfair’s new racing adverts on Channel 4.

STANDARDS

elevision and digital content creator Vermantia has been certified with ISO27001:2013 on the Information Security Management System. The accreditation is an international standard for the management of information security, which allows companies worldwide to develop, implement, maintain and improve the processes and controls for security within organisations. The business produces virtual, mobile and social games, and has contracts in the UK and Italy, as well as offices in Athens, Rome and Nicosia. John Aligizakis, senior manager of Information & Communication Technologies, said: “Vermantia is one of the first certified companies worldwide according to the new edition of the standard ISO 27001:2013. The company, which was also certified with ISO 9001 last year, proves its commitment to excellence and its willingness to make every effort in this direction.”

Grand Parade for Star Sports’ spread reative studio Grand Parade has built a complete betting site for the first time. The studio is renowned for its

B2B betting platform S po rt sb

oo k

LEE AMAITIS

Vermantia accredited

DESIGN

B2B Sportsbook Listings

Mexican casino group gets betting solution

Svenska Spel implements live odds

leading expertise in this area means we are perfectly positioned to elevate Logrand Group’s entertainment offering, especially as we introduce customers to the ease, convenience and excitement of mobile sports wagering applications, a phenomenon we are delighted to bring to the Logrand Group.” Logrand Group director of sportsbook and online operations Julian Symaniw added: “Working with CG Technology, we are well placed to respond to recent changes in gaming regulation that require account-based sports wagering, an area CG Technology is reputed in. In addition, we chose CG Technology to heighten our customer experience, by offering mobile sports wagering for the first time. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with CG Technology and to welcoming in a new era of gaming technology at our casinos.”

MARKETING New supporters of TipTV ipTV.co.uk, the internet sports betting and finance internet TV station, has announced a raft of new advertisers in Sporting Index, Admiral Markets, ETX, FootballBettingData.co.uk and SpreadEx. An innovative web-based TV programme offering advice to punters playing the financial and burgeoning sports gaming markets, TipTV was launched by two City executives back in February. Devised by Square Mile veterans Nick ‘The Moose’ Batsford, a former trader and analyst; and financial and football industry PR David Bick, TipTV.co.uk is envisioned as a free to view, daily two-hour programme broadcast at 10am Monday to Friday, live from studios in the City of London.

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World Cup mini-site launched ffiliate Freebets.com has launched a Brazil 2014 micro-site full of previews, stats and betting offers. The site provides a comprehensive preview of the hotly-anticipated football showpiece with expert analysis from the Freebets team on all 32 sides competing, with qualifying journeys, the manager, key players, World Cup history and betting tips all listed. Managing director Iain Coward said: “The World Cup in Brazil will be the biggest betting event of all time and we wanted to offer fans and bettors a comprehensive resource for the tournament, on everything from stats on the likes of Algeria and Honduras, to which bookmaker has the best odds and promotions.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

iGaming Football mad

Promotional work

Microgaming’s Football Star has been released to coincide with the World Cup and joins Microgaming’s existing collection of football-themed games such as Shoot! and Soccer Safari.

To support the launch, Microgaming is hosting a promotion whereby operators on the network can give their players the opportunity to win a real-life Football Star experience, in Rio, in July.

Timely offering Microgaming’s Mike Hebden commented: “We know it’s important to offer timely and relevant games to our operators’ players and that’s why we’re releasing Football Star in May.”

Retro slot Also released is Cool Wolf, a lighthearted, retro-themed game bringing a shiny pink Cadillac, a smiling hero and a set of cheerleaders to the pack. Cool Wolf goes live on Microgaming’s Flash, download and Quickfire platforms on the 8 May.

LICENSING

NextGen to provide Dredd feeling One of the UK’s most enduring comic book characters is to feature in a slot game by NextGen Gaming. extGen Gaming, the Sydney-based slots studio of NYX Gaming Group, has revealed the signing of an exclusive licensing deal which allows for the creation of slot games featuring 2000 AD’s Judge Dredd character. Judge Dredd stories have for over 37 years generated millions of fans worldwide through comic books, graphic novels, role-playing games, video games and movies. Summer 2014 will see the legendary comic icon begin a new chapter as he enters the world of online gaming, with the first Judge Dredd slot title developed by NextGen Gaming and available exclusively first via NYX OGS. The partnership covers the licensing of online and mobile slots and bingo games in all formats for worldwide distribution. Scott Smith, SVP product at NYX Gaming Group, said: “We’re proud to be working with one of the greatest comic characters of all time in bringing a multifeatured, richly branded gaming experience online with Judge Dredd.” David Johnson, commercial director at NYX Gaming Group, said: “Judge Dredd’s infamous no-nonsense style of

law and order married with NextGen’s proven premium, repeat play slots expertise will make for quite the summer blockbuster title. The initial slot game will be available across our industry’s widest distribution network, and initially to our NYX OGS partners.” Meanwhile, NYX Interactive has announced that NYX OGS has passed the certification process for launch in the regulated market of Denmark. David Flynn, SVP of NYX Gaming Group, said: “Gaining confirmation from Nmi that OGS is now certified for Denmark is further testament to the continuing progress of NYX OGS. Since going live 18 months ago, NYX OGS has grown at an astonishing rate delivering great games for PC and mobile from several suppliers. In the past 12 months alone, OGS has grown at a rate of 700 per cent. With a focus on great content, OGS continues to deliver for our existing and new clients alike. I’m looking forward to further expansion into new regulated markets and the release of further chart toppers like Extra Cash, Queen of the Nile 2, Blackjack Dealers Choice and Dragon Drop.” The system is continuing to attract new custom as well

with Latvian regulated operator Optibet.lv the latest partner. Flynn commented: “I am delighted to welcome Optibet to our growing portfolio of OGS clients. Optibet are a proven leader in the online casino market in Latvia, always looking for the most efficient methods to increase market share, including speed to market with new content.” Flynn added: “Entering the regulated market of Latvia with Optibet is yet another feather in the cap for NYX OGS. Optibet are now live with chart toppers from both Aristocrat and Nextgen Gaming delivered via OGS. The way in which we seamlessly deliver new games through OGS ensures our clients are first to market with new games content from several providers. I’m looking forward to delivering further chart toppers to the Optibet team.” Aigars Zviedris, CEO of Optibet Ltd, said: “It is real pleasure to add to our online offering Aristocrat and Nextgen Gaming games delivered via OGS by NYX Interactive. It makes game selection to our customers even wider than before. We are looking forward to great cooperation with NYX in the future in order to deliver to our customers the most entertaining customer experience on our market.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

BINGO

6 Appeal and Jackpot Cherries will be no different.”

SLOTS ANDY HARRIS

Mecca extends Virtue Fusion partnership

GameAccount to supply Osage Casinos

ecca Bingo, part of the Rank Group, has extended is agreement to partner with Playtech’s dedicated bingo subsidiary Virtue Fusion. The three year deal allows the continuation of what has been a long and mutually beneficial relationship between the two companies. Rank group chairman Ian Burke said: “This has been an important partnership for Mecca since 2006 and we are pleased that an agreement has been reached to develop this further over the next three years.” Virtue Fusion COO Daniel Phillips added: “Mecca were one of Virtue Fusion’s first ever Bingo customers and the further re-signing of a marquee Bingo brand like this shows the strength of the partnership.”

ameAccount Network, developer and supplier of enterprise-level B2B gaming software and online gaming content, has sealed a partnership with Osage Casinos to launch a promotional play online casino. The Osage Online Casino will include Osage Casinos’ land-based casino games accessible in a pure ‘Promotional Play’ format. Dermot Smurfit, CEO of GameAccount Network, commented: “There is a significant opportunity within Oklahoma State and throughout the U.S. to grow the Osage Casino brand online. We are delighted to partner with Osage Casino who will be our first Konami customer. This partnership follows our successful launch of the first ever simulated online casino in the US in February 2014.”

B2B iGaming Listings

Bwin.party takes Williams Interactive games

B2B casino iG am in

www.greentube.com

B2B publications iG am in

IAN BURKE ORRIN EDIDIN

New Mirrorball game ocial gaming firm Plumbee has launched its second flagship game under the Mirrorball brand: Mirrorball Bingo. Roy Avinash, product manager for Mirrorball Bingo, said: “We’re very excited about this launch. We worked really hard to launch a product with very high production value and fun and engaging features. And this is just the beginning. We have lots of new rooms and features ready to launch in the next few weeks and months.” Raf Keustermanns, co-founder and CEO of Plumbee, added: “It was very important for us to launch this game early in the year. We have very ambitious plans for Plumbee this year and this is our first step in proving that we are a multi-product, multi-platform company.”

Alien development et Entertainment has launched its latest branded slot Aliens for desktop and Touch portfolio. This 5-reel, 3-row, 15line video slot joins Net Entertainment’s standout branded content portfolio that features Creature from the Black Lagoon, South Park, Scarface and Frankenstein. Simon Hammon, chief product officer at Net Entertainment, commented: “Following on from the successful Aliens unveiling at ICE, it’s a pleasure to announce players can now enjoy this epic game on desktop and mobile. Real-time 3D graphics and rich sound help deliver a truly innovative slot that continues our mission to drive the online casino market through better games.”

LIVE DEALER CASINO

Bwin takes Evolution solution

New slots from Realistic

ritish slots and table games supplier Realistic Games has unveiled two innovative new slot games; the five-reel 6 Appeal and the three-reel Jackpot Cherries. Realistic Games’ commercial director, Andy Harris, said it was important to both operators and players to provide fresh and creative content on a regular basis. He added: “In a congested market it is more important than ever to provide new and genuinely innovative games to operators and their customers, who are looking for something different. Many of our games are among the top-performers on whatever device they’re played on, and we’re confident

illiams Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scientific Games Corporation, has announced agreements to provide its vast library of authentic Las Vegas-style slot games to many of the gaming sites run by Bwin.party. Williams Interactive will integrate its Remote Game Server into the Bwin.party platform, providing players on sites run on the Bwin.party gaming platform with access to slot titles and game engines currently popular with online players across Europe on desktop, tablets and smart phones. Williams Interactive slot games will be available to the customers of Bwin.party gaming sites, including those playing at bwin.com, partypoker.com/casino, partycasino.com and nj.partypoker.com and to players in other regulated gaming jurisdictions. Golan Shaked, director of games at Bwin.party, said: “Providing players with access to the leading online casino games provided by Williams Interactive furthers our focus on delivering leading digital entertainment. The Williams Interactive library will prove an excellent addition to our online casinos. Williams Interactive is an exceptional content provider and we look forward to working with them in existing and emerging online gaming markets.” Orrin J. Edidin, group chief executive for Williams Interactive, added: “The selection of Williams Interactive by Bwin.party, one of the world’s top providers of casino gaming, to integrate our authentic Vegas-style casino content into their premium online casino brands is a testament to the worldwide appeal of our game library. We believe that players on bwin.party gaming sites in Europe and New Jersey will enjoy the exciting slot games we’re known for, from our classic themes like Gold Fish and The Wizard Of Oz Ruby Slippers, to more recent launches like Kiss: Shout it Out Loud! Our relationship with Bwin.party will significantly expand the reach of our award-winning game library, and is a key step forward in our mission to provide the world’s most compelling iGaming experiences.”

ports betting and online gaming company bwin.es has launched Evolution Gaming’s live roulette service, Ruleta En Vivo, from its Casino Rincon de Pepe studio in Murcia.Low limit, standard, and high limit tables will be available. Fredrik Osterberg, chief commercial officer at Evolution, said: “Initially, Bwin.party integrated localised Evolution Live Casino services into the .it websites of its Gioco Digitale and bwin brands to serve customers in the Italian market. Then in December 2012 bwin.com added Evolution Live Casino to its global site. We are proud of our close and long-standing relationship with bwin and look forward to further exciting launches in the months ahead.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

Back office

“”

B2B Back Office Listings

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PUNTER PENS 17,280

(120 GROSS) BLACK INK FOR

£180 DELIVERED + VAT CONTACT: SALES AT HAINENKO LIMITED Tel: 020 8882 8734 Email: sales@hainenko.com EST. 30 YEARS

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The Bookmakers’ Trade Fair 2014 October 9th 2014 at Wolverhampton Racecourse organised by

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B2B publications

This announcement significantly strengthens our position in the global market and reinforces our position at the forefront of the cash handling industry. Tony Morrison Sales director, Innovative Technology

Note validation firm Innovative Technology has seen its NV200 and SMART Payout products granted UL approval - a globally recognised standard, but of particular importance in North America. By achieving this rating Innovative Technology can take steps to further improve their market share in the US. The products comply with all of UL’s strict requirements including; casualty, fire & shock risks and other UL regulatory codes.

CRM

Paddy Power identifies quality in Callcredit package

SADIE GUYMER: ‘ID VERIFICATION TOOLS ARE THE PERFECT SOLUTION’

A two year renewal demonstrates Paddy Power’s satisfaction with Callcredit’s CallValiadate solution.

ffi ce B ac k O

ookmaker Paddy Power has extended its contract with Callcredit Information Group to use its ID verification package for a further two years. The Irish bookmaker will continue to use Callcredit’s CallValidate in order to check the identity of players signing up to its online betting service. The solution provides validation of a customers’ name, address and date of birth details, whilst conducting a real-time check against bank providers’ records. This not only confirms that the person’s identity actually exists, but also that the bank account being used for payment is also linked to the correct name and address, therefore making it much easier to identify potential fraudulent activity. The implementation of the solution has enabled Paddy Power to verify customers in both the UK and internationally, without the need to request documentation, thus improving customer experience, reducing administration costs and increasing match rates enabling greater numbers of customers to be verified each month. Andy Ryan, customer security manager with Paddy Power, commented: “Paddy Power is delighted to extend its partnership with Callcredit for another two years. To be

making sense of the gaming industry

risk B2B management ffi ce B ac k O

,ĞůƉŝŶŐ ďŽƚŚ ŽŶůŝŶĞ ĂŶĚ ƐŚŽƉͲďĂƐĞĚ ďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐĞƐ ƚŽ͗ x ŵĞĞƚ ƌĞŐƵůĂƚŽƌǇ ĂŶĚ ŵŽŶĞǇ ůĂƵŶĚĞƌŝŶŐ ƌĞƋƵŝƌĞŵĞŶƚƐ x ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞ ŽŶͲďŽĂƌĚŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ ƌĞƚĞŶƚŝŽŶ ƐƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĞƐ x ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƉůĂǇĞƌ ĂĐƋƵŝƐŝƚŝŽŶ x ĨŝŶĚ ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƉƌŽĨŝƚĂďůĞ ƉůĂǇĞƌƐ x ŐĞƚ ŝŶƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŵŝŶĚƐĞƚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƉůĂǇĞƌ͕ x ƚĂƌŐĞƚ ƚŚĞŵ ŵŽƌĞ ĞĨĨĞĐƚŝǀĞůǇ͘ Ăůů ƵƐ ŽŶ Ϭϭϭϯ ϯϴϴ ϰϯϬϬ Žƌ ĞŵĂŝů ŝŶĨŽΛĐĂůůĐƌĞĚŝƚŵĂƌŬĞƚŝŶŐ͘ĐŽŵ ǁǁǁ͘ĐĂůůĐƌĞĚŝƚ͘ĐŽ͘ƵŬ

honest it wasn’t a difficult decision. When you combine an effective and efficient technology solution for customer age and identify verification, a highly proactive and supportive account management team and a cost effective pricing model, it has all the ingredients for a successful partnership. By working collaboratively we have overcome challenges and obstacles, and enhanced the benefits of the products we utilise. We believe that the next two years will bring even greater benefits and we look forward to working with the Callcredit team.” Sadie Guymer, e-business sales manager at Callcredit, added: “Our ID verification tools are the perfect solution for businesses, such as Paddy Power, who need to verify the ID of their customers quickly and efficiently both in the UK and internationally. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue working with Paddy Power for a further two years, building upon our existing relationship and continuing to support them in their future success.” Callcredit has also underlined its commitment to growth outside of the United Kingdom by recruiting Lee Birch as a new senior business development manager responsible for international channels. Birch has worked within business devel-

opment and account management roles across Callcredit for four years. Most recently he operated within Callcredit’s public sector division Coactiva where he helped recruit new clients including the Scottish Legal Aid Board, Sandwell Council and Neath Port Talbot Council. Birch will form a key part of Callcredit’s new international team headed up by Chris Savage, managing director of international & corporate development. He will be responsible for the promotion of Callcredit’s global CAMEO classification and segmentation system which enables organisations to profile and analyse customers and markets across 41 countries. International client services director Martin Bradbury said: “I am delighted to welcome Lee to Callcredit’s international division. His experience across Callcredit’s Credit and Marketing Solutions divisions will allow him to help global brands make more intelligent decisions using our powerful CAMEO intelligence.” Birch added: “I am looking forward to continuing Callcredit’s strong recent growth outside of the UK by helping new and existing clients maximise their return on investment in our unrivalled global data intelligence.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014 Editor: Andrew McCarron Email: am@sjc.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1457 867 683 Managing editor: Ken Scott Email: ks@sjc.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1273 699 900

Advertising sales: Neil Judson, Email: njudson@gbmedia.eu Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748 Ad Production: Dave Roderick Email: gdk@sjc.co.uk

Contributors: John Samuels, James Walker, Joseph Ewens

RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING Maltco gets WLA Responsible Gaming Certification altese National Lottery operator Maltco Lotteries has been accredited with the highest level of Responsible Gaming Certification from both the World Lottery Association and the European Lotteries Association. The company supplies numeric and sports games, instant lotteries, and bingo. Commenting on the firm’s recent success, CEO Ioannis Katakis, said: “We are very proud in Maltco to achieve this double certification. This is a great achievement for our company, being the first ever local company to achieve such prestigious certifications, while it is also a distinction for the whole country. With such an important accreditation, Malta through Maltco Lotteries will make a global impact and will gain an excellent reputation on an international scale.”

Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748 Subscriptions: Sarah Haworth, Email: shaworth@gbmedia.eu Editorial & Production: Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 20 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UF, UK Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748 Tel: +44 (0) 1273 699 900 Advertising & Subscriptions: Publishing Director: GB Media Corporation Ltd John Sullivan Bolton Technology Exchange Email: jsullivan@gbmedia.eu 33 Queensbrook, Bolton BL1 4AY, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748

Opinions expressed in this publication should not be regarded as the official view of GB Media Corporation Ltd, except where stated. Views, opinions and recommendations contained in this publication are put forward for consideration only. No action should be taken in reliance upon any such views, opinions or recommendations. Neither GB Media Corporation Ltd nor contributors accept any responsibility for any loss occasioned to any person howsoever caused or arising as a result of or in consequence of action taken or refrained from in realiance on the contents of this publication.

Notes for contributors: BBi welcomes the submission of articles for consideration by the editor with a view to publication. Submission of an article will be held to imply that the article contains original unpublished work which GB Media Corporation Ltd may lawfully publish. All submissions are made at the owner’s risk. © GB Media Corporation Ltd, 2014 All rights strictly reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission given, full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given.

RESEARCH

GiGse to survey New Jersey gamers he results produced by the online gambling launch in New Jersey prompted mixed industry reviews resulting in many industry experts, like Morgan Stanley, downgrading their predictions and estimates. With regulatory hurdles largely overcome, the industry recognises that it now needs to focus more on the player to adjust its propositions to the demand and increase the customer uptake. New Jersey, being the first significant state to allow online gambling, is considered to be a test bed for the iGaming efforts in the country. It is the first time that online gambling is offered on a large scale to consumers, and the results are watched closely as they will provide significant information on consumer behaviour that should drive the iGaming strategies forward.

To respond to that demand for players’ insights, GiGse, North America’s largest and most established event fully focused on regulated iGaming (14-16 July, San Francisco, CA), is announcing the addition of a dedicated consumer focus to its planning. The team behind GiGse has teamed up with Commercial Intelligence, the market research arm of Clarion Events in joint-venture with an independent market research specialists Vivid Interface, to conduct surveys of New Jersey players that will analyse players’ patterns, game preferences, brand loyalty, correlation between their land-based and online play and attitudes towards licensing. Geoffrey Dixon, head of insights for Commercial Intelligence and chairman of the GiGse Consumer Insights Group, commented: “The GiGse approach that places the consumer at the centre of the industry dis-

important such sectors of society can be to the global economy and how hitherto, they have largely been ignored by the online payments industry. In this regard, Ukash is a genuine game-changer.”

social slots under the Coral brand, with a view to creating a network of social gaming customers and followers for the operator’s gaming brands. Ruby Seven chief executive Michael Carpenter said: “We look forward to collaborating to bring a fun and engaging free-to-play slots experience to mobile and Facebook platforms.”

cussions is very unique and sets it apart from other events in the market. We are excited to be bringing the players’ insight to the industry so it can shape their products and marketing according to the actual demand rather than intuition or competitive intelligence. As the first report conducted in the third week of January amongst over 500 NJ online players, there is a lot of significant information coming out on the players’ gaming patterns and impact of licensing, so we are looking forward to sharing the findings for a wider industry discussion.”

PAYMENTS Ukash picks up fourth Queen’s Award kash, the online cash payment provider, is celebrating being one of a select few companies who have receivesd four consecutive Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. “We don’t manufacture anything - but we do make it possible for manufacturers, retailers and service providers to sell online to the global population of cash preferring consumers,” explained David Hunter, chief executive of Ukash. “And our phenomenal DAVID HUNTER growth reflects just how

SOCIAL GAMING Coral finds Ruby for social slots ala Coral has agreed a strategic partnership with San Francisco-based mobile and social games developer Ruby Seven Studios to develop and launch a range of new social slots. The partnership will see Coral and Ruby Seven create new

DATA Sportradar to supply data from Belarus portradar, a major supplier of sports related data, has signed a five-year deal with commercial rights holder Sport Tube

LLC to become official ‘Sports Data Partner of the Football Federation of Belarus’. Sportradar understands the needs of sports federations to provide sophisticated solutions for data collection and distribution and is therefore, teaming up with Sport Tube to build up a professional live scout network in Belarus. Carsten Koerl, group chief executive officer at Sportradar, said: “We are very pleased to co-operate with The Football Federation of Belarus. Our market leading betting and sports data services will engage fans throughout Europe in new ways and across all platforms.”

www.continent8.com

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Comment Regulation with minimum prescription During an address to the Singapore academy of law and casino regulatory authority, UK Gambling Commission chairman Philip Graf explained the approach that the body takes to its wide ranging role. e license operators - and, recognising that it is people that make judgements/ culture/mistakes -we also license key individuals within an organisation and hold them accountable for upholding the licensing objectives. In pursuit of those licensing objectives we develop policy using a principlesbased approach - that is, we subscribe to the Hampton principles of good regulation: proportionality, accountability, consistency, transparency and targeting principles established as the basic tests of whether any regulation is fit for purpose. These were established in the UK following a review by Sir Philip Hampton in 2005 on how to reduce unnecessary administration in business without compromising the UK’s regulatory regime. We have licence conditions and codes of practice (known as LCCP) which are expressed in terms of policies and procedures. Our aim is to achieve an outcome with minimal prescription - something that some licensees found difficult during the early days of the Act, as under previous legislation requirements were much more rigid. So, while we are always

willing to discuss proposed innovations with operators and indicate the considerations we would have in mind, we do not want to get sucked into becoming their R and D department and helping them work out just how close to the boundary they can get. On the other hand, for smaller companies that are not trying to be cutting edge, we are happy to provide plain vanilla guidance. As far as compliance and enforcement are concerned, we have gradually moved away from yearly or more frequent inspections to less predictable thematic or corporate assessments combined with event driven mini assessments. For example, last year we carried out themed visits on under age gambling, working closely with licensing authorities and focusing on seaside and high street arcades and smaller betting shops to ensure that they have the right procedures in place to prevent young people from entering their premises and gambling. When things go wrong we expect the operator to tell us straight away. That doesn’t guarantee absolution as we have to mark any serious non-compliance or irresponsible behaviour and create a deterrent for the

future by imposing a suitable sanction. However, in such circumstances we expect to work closely with the operator to ensure that the learning from any wrongdoing can be shared with the rest of the industry. For example, early in 2013 a statement was released by ourselves and two of our major operators about a technical fault, reported to us by the operators and subsequently remedied. While individual customers were unlikely to have been significantly disadvantaged, it was recognised by both parties that there had been a breach of the technical standards. As a result the two operators made an ex-gratia payment to the Responsible Gambling Trust, the organisation that fundraises for research, education and treatment issues relating to gambling. While cooperation and working together with operators to put things right is our preferred approach, we do have prosecution powers - but we only use these as a last resort. And we work closely with the police, who are often better placed to bring a case to court, and with trading standards and other bodies as well as with our coregulators, and licensing authorities.

Time to d the Schr A

andrew mccarron viewpoint

32 BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

s we approach the World Cup, online bookies are preparing their big marketing campaigns in anticipation of another vast swathe of sign-ups. The huge upturn in betting interests over the course of the world’s most popular sporting contest can transform some sportsbooks into a going concern. This summer promises to be more competitive than others as operators of all creeds and sizes look to increase UK market share ahead of the new licensing restrictions coming in this November. Given the Treasury’s tacit admission that a sizeable ‘black market’ will open under the new taxation system, and very few concrete plans for enforcement, then the offshore bookmakers with no plans of getting a UK licence could be forgiven for using the World Cup as a last big push to attract British custom with an eye on long-term retention regardless of the local laws. Given that they should be more competitive than UK based bookmakers, then they could find retention a simple process. Much to the chagrin of the bookmakers who have played the

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“I’ve never even had a place. I was once told to back Oxo in 1959 but I didn’t place a bet on it – it won and I’ve regretted it for 55 years.” Luckless 103-year-old George Atkinson, who has now gone 71 years without picking a Grand National winner.

Long term approach needed for stats analysis Blake Wooster, co-founder and CEO of 21st Club, discusses how bookmakers can benefit from taking the long view when it comes to data and analytics. You’re only as good as your last game’, is one of football’s great clichés, yet a mentality that many within the game still readily subscribe to. Yet a calmer, more objective- and datadriven approach can be designed to benefit stakeholders at all levels, from professional clubs to armchair fans. Our background is in using data with elite football teams, where tradition and resistance to change often rule because decisionmakers have historically replied on gut instinct and intuition: people do what they do in football because that’s the way it’s always been. Professional teams use data to help them achieve competitive edge and the opportunity is essentially the same in the betting market: bookmakers can learn to mitigate risk and become more profitable. There’s a great deal of luck and intangibles in football and some of the most important things are the hardest to measure, such as mentality, hunger, gameintelligence. And some statisticians will tell you that results are determined by at least 50 per cent luck. So a fixture is a chance event, with a lot of unknowns, from referee decisions to the bounce of the ball. It is important to allow for some of this inevitable unpredictability and focus on using data to predict the outcome of the events that are more foreseeable. In other words: ‘control the controllables’. Rather than saying this will definitely happen, it is a case of providing probabilities that an event could occur. For example, we have created a World Cup prediction tool that gives the probabilities of each country progress-

‘

to dispense with chrödinger bonus game and taken the hit to the bottom line. The tried and tested route for attracting new customers is of course the sign up bonus. Appealing to the base instinct for big bonuses has left the industry in a bit of a quandary. Obviously the bigger the sign-up bonus, the more attractive the offer and the more customers firms will attract from the competition. At least superficially. Unfortunately, the bigger the bonus, the bigger the expense and the more hoops and hurdles customers have to go through in order to be able to actually take their bonus out. Years ago the mobile industry got rapped across the knuckles for its increasingly bizarre and complicated cash back offers for new contracts. The headline amounts would be split into multiple sums that could only be retained by sending the exact piece of paper to the exact address with the exact wording at the exact time, which tending to be every third full moon unless it clashed with Evensong. And if you

missed one cashback claim, then the whole deal was kaput. It was so bad that the regulators had to step in and impose some standards, although there remain some questionable practices. Unfortunately, the online betting industry has reached this level. It’s getting to the point where it’s only virtual money. Theoretical money. Schrödinger’s Money, where it simultaneously exists and doesn’t exist. It’s observable in a betting wallet, but not a bank account. In the end, the industry is queering its own pitch. After all, what is a sign-up bonus for? To engender goodwill with a new customer by rewarding them for choosing to do business with a brand. If that new customer feels ripped off that his matched bonus is ultimately inaccessible, then where’s the goodwill? The lifetime business from that customer is certainly curtailed. Of course, the obstacles to take out money were not put there as a cynical ploy (at least not initially). They were to protect operators from bonus hunters who were just

around to hoover up any perceived free cash. Without this layer of cynical ‘customer’ - the operators would probably still be offering simple sign-up bonuses. But with the Gambling Commission and ASA looking at the sign-up bonuses, among the general level of advertising jargon from the gambling industry, it is time for the industry to move on from the signup bonus. In fairness, most have tried. A new development is enhanced prices, some of which are limited to brand new customers only, which appear to be gaining in popularity among bookmakers (and potential arbers). But by far the most popular is the money back special, which has the advantage of generating goodwill with all customers, not just new ones. Paddy Power has led (and continues to lead) the way with this, but many other bookies are seeing the potential. It’s just a case of balancing the right cash back offer on the right market with the right appeal. And if nothing else if provides a regularly refreshing marketing message with which to hit customers.

ing based on team attributes, and the strength of the group. We have Brazil as favourites, with a 13.4 per cent chance of winning, which is perhaps not a shock, considering the ability of their squad and home advantage. But it may surprise some of the naysayers who think that England have the ‘group of death’ to know that we make them favourites to win pool D ahead of Uruguay and Italy. Given the inherent variability (luck factor) that pervades in football, it is important for bookmakers to adopt a long-term approach. Anything can happen on the weekend, but over the course of a season there’s a better chance you’ll get what you deserve. Even more so when trends develop over multiple years. In other words, look at the underlying performance, not the last result. But it’s also important to not get too carried away. We’re data savvy - not data obsessed. Only relying on data can be equally shortsighted, and without context then data can be dangerous. At 21st Club we created the phrase ‘Contextual Intelligence’ (CQ) to help our clients find the balance between intuition (EQ) and facts (IQ). Clever decision-making is about balance, but there’s more to the game than meets the eye. A hidden narrative that data can help to reveal.

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014 33

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Business Turf TV highlights US racing acquisition CONTENT

anaging director of Turf TV Adrian Ford believes the company’s addition of US racing will prove popular with UK punters. Ford has had a successful 2013, penning new longterm deals with leading bookmakers, Coral, William Hill, BetFred and Ladbrokes, as well as an agreement with the Stronach Group to provide US racing for the UK market. He said: “This has been another year of significant achievement for Turf TV, reflected in our strong performance. British racing continues to be the most popular over-the-counter product in British LBOs and our high quality content has proved popular with our customers and punters alike. In keeping with this commitment to quality, in June we were delighted to enter an agreement with the Stronach Group to provide US racing coverage from more than 20 of the top US tracks.” The move sees Turf TV broadcasting from 10:30am to 10:00pm every day, and means the channel enters 2014 licensing more than 50 per cent of all British horse racing fixtures, and 90 per cent of all British Group and Graded races, including festival meetings from Ascot, Newbury, York, Sandown Park, Cheltenham and Epsom. Independent bookmakers continue to sign up Chisholm Bookmakers, with 48 licensed betting offices, committed to Turf TV in January 2013, this being a 2013 highlight, according to the report.

Ford added: “We begin 2014 in an excellent position, broadcasting 90 per cent of all British Group and Graded races and, with the addition of US racing and following our deal with William Hill, broadcasting seven days a week, morning till night.” Figures from the horseracing broadcaster show that it now has an 85 per cent share of the LBO market. The firm also reached its highest level of subscribers last year, with more than 98 per cent of the 10,450 British and Irish LBO market taking the service. £45m was reinvested in the racecourses, representing more than 65 per cent revenue, reflecting the 50 per cent ownership of the business by racing interests. Chairman Simon Ellen said he expects returns to racing to continue for 2014, with estimates that £76.6m will be contributed via the 52nd Levy Scheme for 2013/14: “Turf TV has driven significant growth since it entered the market in 2007 and has successfully consolidated its position, helping to ensure that quality horse racing remains at the heart of the British LBO. “Against a challenging backdrop, Turf TV has developed both a strong product offering and established market share. We have also significantly increased the returns to racing, which the Turf TV directors expect will increase in 2014. With the security of long-term deals with all our major customers, combined with new and innovative content offerings such as US racing, we are wellpositioned going forward.”

888 well positioned for US changes 888 is on a roll at the moment with positive vibes coming over the Atlantic around its US gaming offer. CASINO

nline gaming operator 888 H o l d i n g s r e c o r d e d another positive financial announcement with its Q1 results, coming quickly on the back of the firm’s already positive full year figures. Group quarterly revenue reached a record of US$114m and an increase of 11 per cent year on year and a 7 per cent increase compared to the strong Q4 2013. B2C Casino revenues were up 14 per cent to US$54m, leveraging strong customer acquisition in Q4 2013. Meanwhile, poker and bingo both recorded modest increases of 4 and 2 per cent respectively in competitive markets. Chief executive officer Brian Mattingley said: “I am pleased to report that Q1 was another strong quarter for 888, resulting in record quarterly revenue for the Group. Our market-leading brands and excellent

product offering, underpinned by our innovative marketing and CRM capabilities, has driven further growth in our core markets. Furthermore, 888 continues to be well positioned to capitalise on positive regulatory developments.” For the full year, 888 had reported gains across its B2C Casino and Poker franchises and a 7 per cent rise in revenue in its annual report and accounts for 2013. The games, bingo and betting operator, which has a team of 1,600 staff and customers in more than 100 countries, also saw a 19 per cent jump in the number of casino, poker and sport real money registered accounts, up 2.4m on 2012, to 15.5m last year. Revenue reached $401m (£239m), a record high, of which 88 per cent came from B2C operations. Chairman Richard Kilsby believes the ability to innovate in mobile and develop

strategic partnerships were significant markers in a landmark year for the business. He said: “In particular we continued to innovate in mobile with significant increases in revenue and new depositors achieved through this rapidly growing channel. We have entered newly regulated markets in the US and continued to develop our successful operations in Spain and Italy. During 2013 we completed a number of strategic partnerships which position us strongly in the emerging US regulated market. Our distinct approach gives us signifi-

cant financial firepower to take advantage of this opportunity and we are encouraged by progress to date in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.” The World Series of Poker (WSOP) brand, powered by 888’s gaming platform and technology, launched in Nevada in September, while iGaming opened in Delaware two months later, with poker, casino table games and slots also driven by 888. Regulation notes reveal that challenges to the ‘point of consumption’ tax-the requirement for foreign operators offering services to UK residents, to obtain a

Net Entertainment prepared fo CASINO

nline casino games supplier Net Entertainment has seen sales and revenues up almost 20 percent and significant growth in gaming transactions for 2013. The company cites expansion of its casino portfolio, new customer agreements and extensive mobile games development, as major factors and influence in its continued success and uptake across UK, EuroPER ERIKSSON pean, and global markets. Games are now available in 25 different languages, and the firm secured a record providers, including the number of new customer likes of 888, Ladbrokes, agreements with leading William Hill and Bet365. bookmaker and sportsbook President and CEO Per

34 BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

Eriksson said although last terms of gaining market year was a fantastic one, share and regulation in 2014 offers stern, but Spain and the Netherlands. welcome challenges in He said: “The company

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Debt changes for Gala Coral Gala Coral Group has announced that it has received approval from lenders for certain amendments under its Senior Facilities Agreement, following the request made on 21 March 2014. The firm said that its amendments will provide additional flexibility for the business to facilitate a range of potential future sale, most likely the bingo division, and other strategic options.

appointments

William Hill Online CEO Henry Birch has replaced Ian Burke as Fman.ormer CEO of Rank Group. Burke has taken the role of non-executive chairPrior to working at William Hill Online, Birch was the chief executive officer of Leisure & Gaming plc, an AIM-listed company that owned and operated a number of online and retail betting and gaming subsidiaries. In a statement, Rank said: “With his track record in the online betting and gaming sector, the Rank board believes that Henry is well-equipped to lead Rank’s continued exploitation of growth opportunities in the gaming and leisure markets. The board would like to thank Ian for his commitment and hard work over the past eight years and is delighted that, after consultation with a number of its shareholders, the company will continue to benefit from his significant experience in his role HENRY BIRCH as non-executive chairman of Rank.” eanwhile John Hill is the latest member of the M Coral PR team after signing for the bookmaker earlier this month. Hill joins Coral having previ-

UK Gambling Licence and pay UK gaming duty on revenues generated from UK residents, are expected. “Various challenges to the new law are anticipated, including by the Gibraltar Betting and Gambling Association (of which the Group is a member). Notwithstanding, the Group is presently assessing the legal impact of the upcoming reform on its interaction with customers in the UK, has supplied comments to the UK authorities in the context of consultations conducted with regard to the proposed reform, and is preparing to apply for licensure in the UK if and when

required to do so,” stated the report. “Formal statements by the UK Gambling Commission indicate that holders of Gibraltar online gaming licences will be subject to a “transitional” regime allowing them to seamlessly continue operations under a UK licence and avail themselves of a “continuing licence” process. Whilst the Group anticipates that the upcoming reform will have a definite impact on the manner in which it conducts its UK-facing business, it expects such business to continue uninterrupted despite the upcoming reform.”

ANALYSIS While regulatory reform may be causing a few palpitations for 888’s bean counters in the UK, it is the change in laws in the US which are most eye catching for the gaming operator. The firm has carved itself a potentially huge B2B niche in the US, which has only now been strengthened with the states of Delaware and Nevada signing an interstate compact allowing poker liquidity can be pooled, strongly positioning 888 to gain from increased liquidity.

ed for stern challenges signed 27 licence agreements with new customers, including some of the largest operators in the world. Our recipe for success is simple - our games, our platform and our ability to adapt to different market circumstances outstrip competitors’. “Last - but absolutely not least - we have made an exceptional breakthrough into the UK, Europe’s biggest gaming market, in a very short time. With just a few exceptions, we have signed contracts with all major British operators in the past year, providing a stable basis for future

growth. This has already had some effect on our revenue, and we see major long-term potential.” Net Entertainment’s casino product range includes live casino, roulette, blackjack, slot games and lotteries. A breakdown of revenue by game shows that slot machines are by far the biggest generator, with 81 percent, followed by roulette on 8 percent. Commenting on where Net Entertainment’s future lies, Eriksson added: “Spain and the Netherlands are interesting countries, in which regulation of the online gaming market is

close at hand. The Netherlands will be next up. It is introducing new legislation in January 2015 and Net Entertainment is preparing to step into that market. “However, our cost base is expanding in line with growth as we reinforce the organisation in areas such as sales, product management, development and operations, while at the same time we are continuing to develop more games, improve the platform and adapt the company to newly regulated markets. In light of this, the ambition is for the operating margin in 2014 to remain at around the same level as in 2013.”

ously worked for Betfred since 2012 where he was at the forefront of Betfred TV which launched in March 2013. He also assisted their in-house media team, including representation on talkSPORT during their partnership with the national radio station. Hill said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining the team at Coral ahead of what should be a fantastic summer of sport, and am looking forward to playing my part in what is sure to be an exciting future for the company.”

JOHN HILL

amblingCompliance is expanding its London operation by hiring David G Roberts as marketing and events director. Roberts will head up the global marketing function from the London head office, coordinating all marketing activity in an effort to expand the company’s market share and look at new possibilities to further strengthen the GamblingCompliance brand. David Morgan, CEO and founder of GamblingCompliance, said: “I first worked with David back in 2002 at Complinet (now Thomson Reuters Accelus) where he built up a very successful range of own-brand events. I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with him again to build a similar model here at GamblingCompliance.” ameAccount Network has appointed Seamus McGill as an independG ent, non-executive director with immediate effect. McGill has 18 years’ experience in the gaming and technology industries and is currently president of Joingo, a mobile software company in San Jose, California. Prior to Joingo, McGill spent five years at Aristocrat Technologies, and held senior positions at Cyberview Technology, WMS Gaming Inc. and Mikohn Gaming Corporation. Dermot Smurfit, CEO of GameAccount Network, commented: “Seamus McGill will bring valuable expertise to GameAccount Network and we are delighted to announce his appointment to the Board. Seamus’ extensive experience and unique knowledge of the gaming industry, particularly in the US, will be extremely beneficial as we continue to expand our business in the US market.” innplay, the gaming software provider, which specialises in customised Fsales. gaming solutions, has appointed Erkki Nikunen as vice president of Prior to joining Finnplay, Nikunen served in various management roles in Paf an association governed by public law on the Finnish island of Åland and whose role is to use gaming to raise money for good causes. During his tenure with Paf, Nikunen led a team responsible for player intelligence, analysing player behaviour and development with the introduction of operational loyalty programs. lex Garden has been hired as president of A Zynga Studios, joining from Microsoft Corporation, while Henry LaBounta as and Jennifer Nuckles fulfill the roles of chief visual officer and chief marketing officer, respectively. “Alex Garden is an exciting hire for us as we focus on growing and sustaining our franchises, creating groundbreaking new entertainment experiences and developing a more creative culture across Zynga,” said CEO Don Mattrick.

ALEX GARDEN

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014 35

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Agenda

Ante Post: What the bookies say

ACTION IMAGES / PAUL HARDING LIVEPIC

LISTINGS

The football season is ending, but it will be hard to escape the sport this summer. However, there is some brief respite for other sports. yes are beginning to glance towards Brazil, but there is still plenty of action to come before the World Cup. Domestic football ends in May and both Premier League and La Liga look to be going down to the wire. The league play-offs will soon follow and Arsenal will be hoping to end their trophy drought by lifting the FA Cup at Hull’s expense. Europe’s elite will also be battling it out in the Europa League and Champions League finals. Horse racing’s flat season begins to get into full swing with the Lockinge, Yorkshire Cup and Temple Stakes. There will also be some great racing to enjoy during Epsom’s 2-day Derby festival in June. Finally, we have the second tennis major of the year to look forward to at Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal, the ‘king of the clay’, will be hoping to win his ninth French Open.

JASON TROST CEO & founder Smarkets.com

ing England coach Peter Moores and French Open tennis on the clay of Roland Garros, and we’ll hardly have time to enjoy a Pimms An action packed period, with or two! plenty for punters to get stuck into, with the culmination of a DAVID STEVENS thrilling Premier League season, Head of PR the Champions League climax in Coral Racing Lisbon, the FA Cup Final and the Football League play-offs ensur- May is Finals month. In football, ing football is never far from the the winners of the Europa Cup, spotlight ahead of what will be a the FA Cup, and the Champions League are to be decided and massive World Cup summer. Horseracing fans have lots to Unibet expect to see high live look forward to as well, with betting activity in all three teleYork’s ever popular Dante vised events. And we’ll find out meeting sure to provide Classic who the 2013-14 Premier League clues on the road to Epsom’s Champions are as well. Not to be outdone, rugby union Investec Derby Festival. We’ll know by now if Triple Crown have three finals. Saracens take dreams for the highly-touted Aus- on Toulon in the Heineken Cup tralia are still alive following the Final at the Millennium Stadium Qipco 2,000 Guineas, while the on 24 May, while Bath and colt’s trainer Aidan O’Brien is Northampton go head to head in sure to have a strong hand in the the Amlin European Challenge Cup Final the day before. A week Investec Oaks 24 hours earlier. Add in the first international later, on the 31 May, the Aviva Precricket of the summer for return- miership Champions will also be

crowned at Twickenham. Watch out for our new television adverts featuring our 2014 ambassador’s Graeme Swann and Gavin Hastings during the advert breaks in all these rugby finals. Here at Unibet we are particularly looking forward to the flat racing season gathering momentum during May. We are the official betting partner to Royal Windsor racecourse and we are also sponsoring the starting stalls at eighteen separate race meetings during the month. The first classics of the year also take place at Newmarket in the form of the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas. Unibet are sponsoring a number of races during May as we continue to make those who like betting on horse racing aware that Unibet now offer a full UK and Irish horse racing betting product. ED NICHOLSON Head of UK marketing operations Unibet

EiG moves to Berlin he recently formed EiG Advisory Board has welcomed the decision to move the 2014 edition of EiG to the German capital Berlin, widely recognised as a world leading centre for media, technology and cutting-edge creative industries. Organisers Clarion Events have confirmed that the 2014 edition of EiG will be held across 21-23 October at the iconic, river-fronted Arena Berlin, the city’s leading venue which has played host to a range of business and cultural events including Disrupt Europe 2013 - TechCrunch and Bestseller Fashion Fair. Ben Dale, international development director at Ladbrokes, said: “Clarion’s decision to form an Advisory Board is to be commended and I believe that it will help to ensure EiG remains relevant and topical in what is an extremely dynamic market place. There is an

36 BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

BEN DALE: ‘GOODWILL FOR EIG TO REMAIN SUCCESSFUL’

enormous amount of goodwill for EiG to remain successful and I am delighted that Clarion is drawing on the experience and insight of what is a very knowledgeable board. The decision to move to Berlin is, I believe, a good one and I am sure the world of IGaming will enjoy their time in what is a hugely creative, hospitable and dynamic city.” Kate Chambers, portfolio director responsible for EiG, said: “We are indebted to Ben and his colleagues on the Advisory Board for their time, their knowledge and their enthusiasm which has proved invaluable. Announcing our move to Berlin, a city whose heart beat is creativity, is just the first of many groundbreaking changes and initiatives that we have developed in partnership with our Advisory Board and details of which we will be releasing shortly.”

MONTHLY BRIEFING

MAY 8 Betting on Football Conference, Stamford Bridge 8 Betting on Football Awards, Fulham 14-16 Japan Gaming Congress, Tokyo 15 mGaming Summit 2014, Dexter House, London 15-16 Online Bingo Summit, Park Plaza Victoria, London 15 3rd Annual mGaming Awards, Dickens Inn, St Katherine Dock, London 20-22 G2E Asia, The Venetian Macao 20 ‘Next steps for gambling policy: regulation, taxation and new opportunities’, Central London JUNE 4-5 Russian Gaming Week, Sokolniki, Moscow 12-13 Social Casino Summit USA, Bellagio, Las Vegas 12-13 Online Gambling Summit USA, Bellagio, Las Vegas 22-25 Sports Betting Seminar, Blue Tree Premium Fortaleza, Brazil 23-25 Canadian Gaming Summit, Vancouver Convention Centre 24-27 Igaming SuperShow, Amsterdam RAI JULY 8-10 World Gaming Executive Summit, The W Hotel, Barcelona 14-16 GiGse 2014, Hyatt Regency, San Francisco 14-16 Social Casino Summit at GiGse 2014, Hyatt Regency, San Francisco AUGUST 12-14 Australasian Gaming Expo 2014, Sydney Exhibition Centre, Glebe Island 31- 5 September European Lottery University, European Lotteries Association SEPTEMBER 8-9 eGR Mobile Power Summit 2014, South Lodge Hotel, West Sussex 9 - 12 10th European Conference on Gambling Studies and Policy Issues, Hilton Kalastajatorppa, Helsinki 16-17 eGR US Power Summit 2014, Montage Laguna Beach, California 30 – 2 October G2E 2014, Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Las Vegas

THE ONLINE BINGO SUMMIT IS AT THE PARK PLAZA VICTORIA

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Macao gets ready Macao Gaming Show (MGS) is hoping to build on the success of last year’s gaming and entertainment exhibition, which attracted 8,000 visitors in its debut show. The 2014 theme is ‘By Asia for the world’, and targets the entire gaming industry. The display is the largest gaming show in Asia, and runs from the 18-20 November at the Venetian Macao.

My Diary: Dominic Hawken Compliance As CTO at the industry’s best kept secret - Grand Parade - Dominic Hawken has a packed diary for the next month. rand Parade remains something of an industry secret, despite having products running at the core of many major bookmakers online services. We are a creative technical agency, specialising entirely in sports and betting, offering a full service from ‘ideas factory’ through content generation and journalism to technical delivery and hosting many products and services across the industry. One of our tricks at the moment is running the tech that shows live odds on the TV adverts for Betfair, Coral and Ladbrokes, and the month kicks off with meetings at YouTube after we came up with a new system to do the same for YouTube ads and videos. YouTube wants to know how we did it (it’s still a secret) and are looking to roll it out across other sectors. Grand Parade drives all of the web scoreboards and in-play data for Coral and we have just seen their successful launch on the new Coral iPad app. A trip to Malmo is in the offing to meet with Coral’s mobile provider Mobenga, to push along some new features you will hear about soon. Another 24 hour stop over comes soon this time Krakow, Poland where Grand Parade sp zo.o is based with a tech team of forty. It’s our own company - not a faceless outsourcing operation - so the guys can

concentrate 100 per cent on sports and betting. In the four years since we set it up, Krakow has become a real technology hub, and the team produce outstanding results and keep us competitive. We have a great apartment there too, so it’s more homely than a hotel room. On the flight I will work on a new ‘Flappy Bird’ based iphone game for the World Cup. We also produced Coral’s ‘Horse Generator’ for The Grand National, which took over the sports pages on The Daily Mail Online in the run up - that site has serious traffic. Projects kicking off are always super secret but suffice to say we are working on tactical apps for the World Cup, new ways to integrate social into bookmaker sites and really interesting Twitter and text based integrations based around intelligent search. The YouTube project is also extending its reach with a major financial trading outfit (which I still class as betting). Lastly, to stay ahead of our clients we always design and build our own new products to test tech and ideas - so, the GP office is now decked out with iBeacons. Can you imagine being able to show your latest odds and multiples automatically onto you customer’s phones as they walk past your window? We’re already doing it!

stream at Super Show

amblingCompliance, the leading provider of business intelligence to the global gambling industry, announced today it will be the lead partner on the new iGaming Compliance Conference taking place at the iGaming Super Show (24-27 June). The iGaming Compliance Conference is a dedicated one-day gathering that will focus on delivering a comprehensive view of compliance and regulation in Europe and North America. Conference highlights include a discussion of the looming point of consumption tax in the UK, the compliance risks presented by the ever increasing number of regulating markets in the EU, the hurdles of technical compliance, and the risks, obligations and opportunities presented by crypto currencies. “The global online gambling map continues to be redrawn, and on issues such as taxation, advertising and payments there are many lessons to be learned from the experiences of regulated markets,” commented Andrew Gellatly, the head of global research services at GamblingCompliance. “With this conference we will aim to help businesses maximise their opportunities and minimise their reputational, financial and operational risks.”

BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014 37

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Analysis

Increa gamb The gambling participation studies by the gambling Commission always throw up some interesting developments. en are almost twice as likely as women to gamble online, results from a recent Gambling Commission anthology study has found. The Gambling participation: activities and mode of access report analysed participant gaming habits, and recorded a slight increase in the number of male respondents betting online, now at 21 per cent,

TOP TEN RETAIL BETTING EVENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Horseracing - Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup Horseracing - Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Horseracing - Queen Mother Champion Chase Horseracing - World Hurdle, Cheltenham Horseracing - Coral Cup, Cheltenham Horseracing - County Hurdle, Cheltenham Horseracing - Byrne Group Plate, Cheltenham Domestic Football - Man Utd v Liverpool Domestic Football - Arsenal v Man City European Football - Man Utd v Olympiakos

Chart supplied by: Betfred. Data for March

TOP TEN MONEYBACK OFFERS BY VALUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Messi scores v Real Madrid Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Hazard scores Chelsea v Spurs Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Lukaku scores v Arsenal Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Aguero scores v Barcelona Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Rooney scores v Liverpool bet365 - Greyhounds: Sky dogs 2/1 Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Hazard scores v Arsenal Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Silva scores League Cup final Paddy Power - Football: Moneyback if Drogba scores v Chelsea Stan James - Football: Red Card Refund Manchester derby

Chart supplied by: Freebets.com . Data for March

TOP TEN UK HORSERACE POOLS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cheltenham - Gold Cup Cheltenham - Challenge Cup Cheltenham - Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle Cheltenham - Albert Bartlett Novice’s Hurdle Cheltenham - Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3) Cheltenham - Handicap Chase Cheltenham - Challenge Cup Handicap Chase Cheltenham - Mares’ Hurdle Cheltenham - Byrne Group Plate Cheltenham - Novices’ Handicap Chase

Chart supplied by: Totepool. Data for March

TOP TEN GLOBAL POOLS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Chart supplied by: Colossus Bets Calculated by biggest pools/guarantees over a week’s period during the month. One entry per bet type. Data for April

TOP TEN SPORTS SPREAD MARKETS

TOP TEN BOOKMAKERS FOR MONEYBACK OFFERS (WEB & MOBILE) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Paddy Power bet365 Stan James William Hill Winner Betfair Betfred BetVictor Betway Ladbrokes

Chart supplied by: Freebets.com. Data for March

GBR -The £10,000,000 Colossus - E12,127,100 SWE - V75 -Aby- E11,553,413 ESP - La Quinella - E7,027,870 GBR - Scoop6 - E4,698,139 GBR - Classic Pools - E3,638,130 GBR - Colossus Bets - Premier League Pick6 - E2,425,420 SWE - V86 - Solvalla - E2,302,745 GBR - GBR - Goal Millions - E1,212,710 SWE - V64 - Jagersro - E1,092,636 SWE/RUS - Stryktipset/Soccer13 - E774,849

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

International Cricket - South Africa v Australia 3rd Test Spanish Football - Real Madrid v Barcelona Domestic Football - Man Utd v Man City 5Domestic Football - Arsenal v Man City European Football - Man Utd v Olympiakos Domestic Football - Liverpool v Sunderland Domestic Football - Man Utd v Liverpool Domestic Football - Man City v Sunderland Domestic Football - Liverpool v Tottenham Domestic Football - West Ham v Man Utd

Chart supplied by: Spreadex. Calculated on volume of bets. Data for March

THE £10,000,000 COLOSSUS

ALL OTHER BETS ARE LOWER LEAGUE 38 BettingBusinessInteractive • MAY 2014

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