iGaming

iGaming

• Looking Into Sports Betting Projections in NJ – It won’t be $9 Billion, but the state could drive upwards of $21m in tax revenue. Article takes a look.
• EA, Activision Blizzard, Valve Found in Breach of Belgian Gambling Laws – Loot boxes in FIFA18, Overwatch, and CS:GO violate gambling legislation, says gaming commission.
• Online Activities Boost Greek Gambling Revenue Taxes – The regulated iGaming market recorded an increase in revenue to $806.1m in 2017.
• The 90 Day Window For PA Casinos To Petition for iGaming Licenses is Open – Current licensees may now petition for their license.
• Breaking Down the PA iGaming Market: Nemacolin – The latest installment in the series from OPR.

iGaming

• Connecticut Chaos Hurts Online Gaming Chances – Article opining on the success of iGaming passing in CT this session, given all of the other issues at play. Another article entitled “Connecticut’s East Windsor Hold Up Delaying Online Gaming Progress” also appeared.
• Pariplay and Tom Horn Sign Deal – Tom Horn Gaming content will be available through Pariplay’s RGS.
• William Hill Stock Tumbles 12% – Government will back a FOBT cut, which is a blow to retailers in the UK.
• PA iGaming is Coming Soon – The market will be the largest live iGaming market in the country once it goes launches.
• Lightning Box Games Inks Deal With Penn Interactive – Games will appear across Penn’s social portfolio.
• CT Looks to Cash In On Sports Betting – Al Leiter and Cedric Maxwell lobby on behalf of the leagues, in Hartford.
• CasinoCoin Adopts Ripple Codebase To Further iGaming – Gaming industry experts behind CasinoCoin are making moves. This article is a high level piece on how cryptocurrencies are impacting the iGaming industry.
• Tencent to Invest $15m in Fortnite in China – Tencent has acquired the exclusive distribution rights to popular battle royale game Fortine, and will invest over $15m on esports, marketing, and infrastructure in China.
• Indiana Supreme Court Set to Hear Fantasy Sports Case – Consent of Real-World athletes at issue.
• FanDuel Rolls out NASCAR Fantasy Contests – Former Fanduel CEO says “it resembles sports betting.”
• Illinois Lottery in Hot Water – Players and consumer advocacy groups feel duped over IL policy on scratch-offs that might be considered misleading advertising tactics.

iGaming

• Two More Live Dealer Studios Coming to NJ – Evolution Gaming and GVC ink deal to offer live dealer in NJ.
• NIGA Passes Resolution to Support Sports Betting Repeal, With Caveats – Short recap and list of caveats in article.
• Lottoland Rolls Out Hourly Jackpot Games – Will allow players to win jackpots, hourly, as large as $224m.
• If PA Joins Interstate Poker, The Player Pool Would Double – The regulations have liquidity sharing built in, and it’s likely PA operators will find themselves in the market.
• FanDuel Set To Launch First Fantasy NASCAR Game – Will be salary cap style, based on 5 drivers. Will debut this weekend at Talladega with $25k in prizes.
• NY Lawmaker: MLB, NBA Stance on Sports Betting ‘A Little Disingenuous” – NY Assemblyman Gary Pretlow said his long-awaited sports betting bill is coming next month, and other comments about the current political discourse.
• GAN Establishes Marketing Agency in Israel – Will be headed by Meir Deutsch, from William Hill’s online division.
• WSOP.com Offering $15m in Guarantees From May Through September – Will celebrate player pooling with a lot of money up for grabs.

Esports

• Esports Companies Have Raised $2b in Disclosed Funding Investments in 2018 – Over half of the industry’s total comes from one company, Tencent.

iGaming

• Stars Group Buys Sky Betting & Gaming For $4.7b – Stars group most recently purchased William Hill and Crownbet in Australia, and now buys SB&G, one of the best iGaming operators in the market. This will become the world’s largest publicly traded gambling company.
• MLB, NBA to Ditch Equity Stakes in Fantasy Sports Co’s – Leagues will remain partners, but will no longer be owners.
• iGaming Revenue Surpasses Land Based Revenue in Denmark – Danish regulators revealed in their annual report that the Danish iGaming market is stronger than the land-based market.
• Global Daily Fantasy Sports Awarded Malta License – The technology supplier now boasts a license that gives them more flexibility in the EU market.
• Formula One Moves Into Fantasy Sports – Acquires a $42m equity stake in PlayOn as the company ramps up. This is the first investment F1 has ever made.
• Did New Jersey State Reps Accidentally Invent the Integrity Fee for Sports Betting? – Apparently two state representatives wrote about this in a memo to Adam Silver in 2014.
• Tons of M&A in Northeast In Casino Arms Race – NJ and PA are hot markets as the US gaming market continues to change.
• Anti iGaming Opponent Charlie Dent Resigning From Congress Early – Will part ways in the coming weeks.
• Oregon Lottery Makes Public Statement on Sports Betting – Chief Gaming Operations Officer says Oregon does not need new law to introduce sports betting since the state lottery’s mandate allows it to introduce new games.
• Online Poker Bill Gains Strong Support… and Quickly – A new online poker bill in NY has gained strong official support from a number of legislators as the state tries to get something through in this session.
• Breaking Down the PA iGaming Market – Presque Isle Downs and Casino is the latest in the series from OPR.
• Kambi Pens Deal With StanleyBet – Romanian operator and Kambi join forces for online and retail supply deal.
• LeoVegas Sets Nearly $850m Revenue Target By 2020 – The company says that target figure is a result of their acquisitions and continued growth in the market.
• 80 Gambling Companies Apply for Italian iGaming License – Application fee of 200EUR means the regulators collected nearly 16m EUR in application fees.

• Four Game Publishers Must Change Game For Dutch Market– Dutch study determines randomized items, or loot boxes, violate Dutch gambling law.
• Twitch Locks Up NBA 2K Streaming Rights – Exclusive deal will see league events streamed on Twitch.
• Poker Entrepreneur Raises $27m For New Esports Project – Alex Dreyfus puts esports and blockchain together to launch ChiliZ project.
• FC Bayern Munich Enters Esports – But through NBA2K, not soccer.
• High School Esports Competitions to Begin This Year – Varsity programs are popping up across the country.

• Yahoo Set to Exit DFS Market in UK– Platform never gained traction in the market.
• Delaware iGaming Market Declines 6% in Q1 – Total revenue for the market was under $600k in Q118, in the poorly structured market.
• Sugarhouse & Rush Street Add Wyrz Payment Solution – Innovative payment solution is first to market in New Jersey.
• Sale of Tropicana AC Will Have a Big Impact on Online Gambling– Eldorado’s purchase of Tropicana raises an eyebrow about the regional operator’s intentions in the iGaming market.
• Draftkings to Launch in Australia– Has the go-ahead to enter the market in Q2.
• GAN Extends iGaming Deal with Paddy Power Betfair– Will continue to work with Betfair in NJ.

• Millennial Esports Unveils Proprietary Racing Game – Gear.Club unveiled at their dedicated esports arena in downtown Las Vegas.
• Activision Blizzard Partners With Nielsen – Will track esports brands.
• Mountain Dew Enters Esports – Partners with Immortals gaming.

• Mastercard Patents Blockchain Tech to Combat Fake Identities – System would score and verify identity data.
• US Tech Group Releases Playbook to Help Government Understand If It Needs Blockchain– Playbook aims to cut through the noise and work out if any blockchain solutions could solve problems.

iGaming

• 3 State Online Poker Pool to Debut May 1 – WSOP.com and 888Poker.com plan to go live in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
• Anti-Mafia Probe Leads To Three iGaming Companies Ending Their Own Licenses – The Malta Gaming Authority lead an investigation concerning mob activity that involves its Italian license holders. As a result, three companies unilaterally terminated their own licenses.
• NBA Playoffs Bracket Challenge Skirts “Gambling” Designation – Bracket challenge awards a grand prize of $1m to anyone who can correctly ID the winning team of each upcoming playoff series, and the number of games they’ll clinch the series in.
• Online Poker Could Be Better Than a Bailout For New York Casinos – Projections say iPoker in New York would generate around $50m in revenue.
• Eldorado Buys Tropicana Entertainment – Picks up 7 casinos in 6 states for $1.85b, and also buys the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, IL from MGM. All of a sudden, Eldorado joins Penn National as one of the most interesting organizations for iGaming.
• Scientific Games Conducts “Product Review Sessions” With NJ Regulators – No surprise, as NJ prepares for sports betting.

Esports

• Dubai Sets Sights on Becoming Global Capital For Esports – Announce Dubai X-Stadium, a project aimed at making the emirate the region’s first dedicated esports stadium, in an effort to become a global hub.
• How Texas’ New Esports Initiative is Shaping Gaming in the Lone Star State – Plans revealed for a $10m esports stadium.

Blockchain

• Austin Test Uses Blockchain to Improve ID For The Homeless – City is piloting a system that uses blockchain identifiers to safeguard the IDs and vital records of homeless people in a way that is more accessible for service providers.
• Blockchain Experts in Demand at Mastercard – Corporation seeks to further incorporate the technology into their company and needs skilled help to do it.
• Santander Launches Blockchain Payments Service – European financial giant has become the first bank to use blockchain technoloy for the international transfer of customer funds, via Ripple enabled technology.
• Baidu Launches Blockchain Photo Service – Chinese search engine launched its blockchain stock photo service to help protect IP in China.

iGaming

• The NJ iCasino Model Won’t Be 100% Compatible In PA – Casinos in PA are more geographically spread than in New Jersey, which will change the market a bit.
• Will PA Help Tip The Scales For Online Poker? – With this new market opening, and liquidity sharing likely, is this the start of another boom?
• New Jersey iGaming Industry Breaks Another Revenue Record – Does $25.6m in March with Golden Nugget leading the way. Good Q1 recap here.

Esports

• Kia Motors to Sponsor CLG’s Rocket League Team – Counter Logic Gaming has signed a partnership deal with Kia.

Blockchain

• Moody’s: Blockchain Could Save US Mortgage Industry $1 Billion – New report from Moody’s says Blockchain could help cut costs and redundancies in the mortgage process.
• Bitcoin Bubble Continues to Deflate – Long Blockchain, the company which pivoted from an iced tea brewing company to blockchain, was delisted by NASDAQ. Bitcoin’s value is also dropping.
• Santander to Launch Ripple Payment App This Week – Global banking giant is reportedly launching a blockchain-based application for cross-border forex.

iGaming

• Playtech to Buy Snaitech in 846m EUR Deal – Playtech has agreed to acquire a 70.6% majority stake in Italian gaming and betting giant Snaitech for roughly $1b.
• The British Bookmaker Betting Big on American Sports Gambling – William Hill’s early wager might soon pay off.
• Breaking Down the PA iGaming Market: Hollywood Casino @ Penn National – Latest in the series, forecasting the success of Penn National.
• Former MLB Commissioner on Sports Betting: “Teams Will Generate an Absolute Avalanche of Money” – Former MLB Commish Fay Vincent weighed in on the future of sports betting on the Mad Dog Show with David DeMarco, and disgraced NBA Ref Tim Donaghy was on the same program talking about legal sports betting.
• DFS Operator PlayUp Acquires Crownbet’s Draftstars – Following Crownbet’s acquisition by The Stars Group, they’ve pieced off their DFS business to another operator.
• Arena Football League Partners With Draftkings, SportRadar, Facebook, and VSIN – Draftkings to launch AFL fantasy game and stream AFL games through Draftkings app. SportRadar will be building an API for the AFL to facilitate betting on their contests.
• Players Associations Want a Seat At The Table for Sports Betting – Four groups representing players from the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL have released a joint statement announcing their intention to participate in the sports betting conversation.

Blockchain

• Ripple Invests $25m in Blockchain Capital’s $150m Venture Fund – Ripple, the Fintech startup known for the XRP coin, invested its own cryptocurrency into Blockchain Capital’s fourth venture fund.
• 22 European Nations Form New Blockchain Partnership – The collaboration is to avoid ‘fragmented approaches’ to blockchain technology by sharing technical and regulatory expertise among member states.

iGaming

• Optimistic Speaker Says Gaming This Session is “Complex” – CT speaker understands both the nuances of gaming issues and the gaming landscape within the state are complex. Another article references that gaming issues and legal pot are likely to wait until 2019.
• Connecticut Sports Betting a “Heavy Lift” For This Session – Speaker Joe Aresimowicz isn’t optimistic about something passing in this session.
• Virginia Governor Signs Bill to Allow Gambling Machines at Colonial Downs – May open the door for historical horse racing online as well.
• iGaming Skins in PA Are Interesting – Here’s a rundown about why it’s almost good, but not quite there yet.
• Huuuge Games, Doubledown Interactive, High 5 Games, Playtika Hit With Gambling Lawsuits in Washington State – Filed last week, the suits center around the argument that these companies have been offering “gambling” to WA state residents.
• New NY Sports Betting Bill Seeks to Establish Task Force to Study Expanded Wagering – Clyde Vanel, a first term assemblyman, is fighting for sports betting in NY. He chairs the subcommittee on Internet and New Technology.
• New “US Sports Integrity” Website Pushes Leagues’ Vision on Sports Betting Data – Genius Sports appears to be aligned with the leagues, which is no surprise as MLB and PGA Tour are both partners of Genius.

Esports

• Why SAP is Breaking Into Esports With Team Liquid Partnership – Software company SAP announced a 3 year partnership with Team Liquid, to develop software based on in-game data with the goal of helping the team analyze and improve team performance in training, scouting new talent, and during competition.
• PlayUSA.com Launches Twitch-Channel for Legal iGaming – Will include personalities that are streaming from regulated US iGaming markets.

Blockchain

• Lucidity Uses The Blockchain to Bring More Transparency to Online Ads – Aims to cut down on ad fraud.
• YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain Powered Rivals – Some say privacy concerns, censorship, and a coming ban on cryptocurrency ads are driving them away from the big names.
• Blockchain is “Going Mainstream” – Says one European Commission official.
• CasinoCoin Information – Overview of CSC, the coin aiming to serve the emerging blockchain/crypto gambling market.

iGaming

• Delaware Casinos May See Tax Cuts – Gov. Carney has agreed to discuss a proposed reform of casino taxes, which may include online gaming.
• Would Legalized Sports Betting Help States Get Out Of The Hole? – Wall Street Journal opines.
• A Lawmaker Finally Asks The Online Gambling Question We’ve Been Waiting to Hear – Missouri Rep. Peter Merideth says they should be talking about mobile gambling, in addition to sports betting.
• Litigation Possible in Data Rights Case With PGA – Could have implications on sports betting. The NY Times and WaPo argue that the leagues don’t have data property rights in the facts of a sporting event.

Esports

• DePaul Unveils New Gaming Center – Launching esports program in the Big East. Will be the 7th team.
• Esports Bookmaking is a Billion-Dollar Industry – Globally, the business is big and growing.
• Studio for Esports and Poker To Open at Aria – In partnership with Poker Central and ESP Gaming, the 10k square foot studio will feature enough space for up to 300 people, including 120 fans and event spectators.

Blockchain

• Coinbase Announces Venture Fund for Early Stage Blockchain Startups – The market’s dominant cryptocurrency wallet is investing in new blockchain businesses.
• IBM Joins Group Building a Blockchain-Based Global Identity Network – Sovrin Foundation is seeking to build a global, decentralized ID system based on blockchain technology.
• LendingCoin Seeks $79.5m to Fuel Blockchain Based Real Estate Lending Platform – LendingCoin has filed with the SEC indicating its intent to raise $69.5m to launch its platform.
• SEC Freezes $27m in Stock Trades From Longfin – Claims illicit sales were made when the company pivoted to blockchain.