Gambling Insider Jul/Aug 2021

Jul/Aug 2021

The Swedish invasion We investigate how and why Sweden’s finest have made such a huge impact on international gaming BIG QUESTION The potential of a regulated Indian market?

GGA LONDON The 2021 winners revealed ITALY FOCUS Did the gaming industry cry wolf over advertising?

don

2021

Lead partner

EDITOR’S LETTER COO, EDITOR IN CHIEF Julian Perry SENIOR STAFF WRITER Tim Poole Tim.Poole@gamblinginsider.com STAFF WRITER Peter Lynch Peter.lynch@gamblinginsider.com JUNIOR STAFF WRITER Isabella Aslam Isabella.aslam@gamblinginsider.com LEAD DESIGNER Brendan Morrell

W

Julian Perry, COO, Editor in Chief

Tim Poole, Senior Staff Writer

hen I moved home earlier this year, the brand that first popped into my head – before even planning my first Starbucks coffee or Amazon delivery – was Ikea. You don’t buy furniture anymore, you go to Ikea: that’s how powerful the Swedish brand has become.

But it’s not just furniture, of course, that's seeing Swedish business excel. Spotify has gone worldwide, while Trustly (featured in this magazine) has carved out a strong position within payments. And, given the success of Evolution, Kindred Group, Kambi, Betsson, LeoVegas and many more, gaming is enjoying a Swedish invasion of its own at present.

In this edition's cover feature, we channel our inner Wallander to investigate exactly how and why Sweden’s gambling companies have done so well. In a coincidental nod to Line of Duty’s ‘H,’ the two ‘detectives’ helping us explore what makes these organisations tick are Gustaf Hoffstedt and Christian Hellman.

Elsewhere, Paul Sculpher provides a fascinating insight into table game pricing, Rio Broadfoot introduces the team at Trust Payments and Nick Hill extols the virtues of blockchain. Our payments-themed GI Huddle section, meanwhile, recaps interviews with Nuvei, VallettaPay and Neosurf. The latter’s CCO, Andrea McGeachin, provides particular food for thought with her assertion that ‘payments are boring…’

As we aim to produce the most balanced and insightful content in the industry, veering away from PR fluff and corporate sales copy, Gambling Insider never shies away from covering the moral and legal issues surrounding gambling. In this edition we once again hope that shines through, firstly in Jason Chess’s convincing defence of the freedom to gamble in the UK. At the same time, however, Anders Bergman ponders: why do so few ask what games developers are doing to combat problem gambling?

Our Big Question this issue focuses on the potential of a regulated Indian market, with contributions led by Ranjana Adhikari and Delasport's Shir Kogan, while our jurisdictions Roundtable features Alderney’s Susan O’Leary. Data lovers can turn to the early pages of our magazine, where Fantini Research focuses on US revenue, Facing Facts tackles the myriad of Q1 reports from the last couple of months, and GBGC provides bespoke data exclusively to this magazine. In our Insiders section, Rebecca Barbaro Sant is a welcome addition.

So we feel there’s something for everyone in this issue, all in all. Even if, admittedly, it’s the Vikings of gaming that are taking centre stage right now…

TP, Senior Staff Writer

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE

DESIGNERS Olesya Adamska, Laura Fogar DESIGN ASSISTANTS Radostina Mihaylova, Aleksandra Cakikj, Inna Shtereva MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER Mariya Savova FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANT Dalia Ambrazaite IT MANAGER Tom Powling COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Deepak Malkani Deepak.Malkani@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7729 6279 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Warren Wilkinson Warren.wilkinson@gamblinginsider.com +44 (0) 207 613 5863 ACCOUNT MANAGERS Michael Juqula Michael.Juqula@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 3487 0498 William Aderele William.Aderele@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 2062 Clive Waite Clive.Waite@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7729 0643 Martin Dilleigh Martin.Dilleigh@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0) 203 435 5628 SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Sam Ford Samuel.Ford@GamblingInsider.com Tel: +44 (0) 207 739 9918 US BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Aaron Harvey Aaron.Harvey@playerspublishing.com Tel: +1 702 425 7818 CREDIT MANAGER Rachel Voit WITH THANKS TO: Christian Hellman, Gustaf Hoffstedt, Neil Erlick, David Zammit, Andrea McGeachin, Ranjana Adhikari, Shir Kogan, Sem Moioli, Martin Clarke, Paul Sculpher, Anders Bergman, Jason Chess, Kevin Dodson, Rio Broadfoot, Alexander Kamenetskyi, Dotan Lazar, Sebastian Jarosch, Nick Hill, Carl Selby, Liam Colclough, Mikael Lijtenstein, Rebecca Barbaro Sant, Danny Hook, Yahale Meltzer, Michael Maokhamphiou Gambling Insider magazine ISSN 2043-9466 Produced and published

by Players Publishing Ltd

DAVID NEWTON CEO, Paddy Power Retail

8

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

RANJANA ADHIKARI Partner at IndusLaw

All material is strictly copyrighted and all rights reserved.

Reproduction without permission is forbidden. Every care is taken in compiling the contents of Gambling Insider but we assume no responsibility for the effects arising therefrom. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher.

CONTENTS 22

46

ISSUES

GGA AWARDS FEATURES

12 Facing facts Gambling Insider takes a close statistical look at various results from the first quarter of 2021

22 Global Gaming Awards London We walk you through the winners at this year's GGA London, with our esteemed Judging Panel crowning the sector's most successful firms – during the ceremony's fourth edition

14 In numbers A gaming snapshot by Fantini Research 18 The global outlook Global Betting & Gaming Consultants, the global gaming data expert, provides exclusive data to Gambling Insider 20 Taking stock We track operator and supplier stock prices across a six-month period

COVER FEATURE 34 The Swedish invasion With the help of industry analysts, Tim Poole provides a deep dive into the international success of Swedish gambling firms. What makes them tick?

56

40 GI Huddle Gambling Insider provides a recap of our recent payments-themed GI Huddle interviews, featuring Nuvei, VallettaPay and Neosurf 46 Big Question How much potential would a regulated Indian market have?

52 Back to the grind Regular Gambling Insider contributor Paul Sculpher assesses the return of land -based casinos in the UK 56 Gambling's forgotten responsibility Anders Bergman, Founder of QuitGamble.com, asks why so little emphasis is placed on the responsibility of games developers?

58 The moral issues Jason Chess, Gambling Insider contributor and Founding Partner at law firm Wiggin, discusses two consultations being carried out in the UK market

72

62 Meet the team Trust Payments' Kevin Dodson and Rio Broadfoot discuss the firm's ambitions in Europe and the US 64 The view from the top How would a potential European Super League affect the gambling industry?

72 Did the industry cry wolf over Italy?

Tim Poole looks back at the dramatic quotes of late 2018, and wonders if the success of the market since has undermined arguments against the country's advertising ban 74 Driving a digital future Nick Hill, Gambling Insider contributor and consultant, on how blockchain can take cashless casinos forward 76 Held to ransom Carl Selby, Partner at Royds Withy King, on why no sector is secure from cyber crime, least of all gaming

82

98

INSIDERS

PRODUCT REVIEWS

82 Liam Colclough Trustly 83 Mikael Lijtenstein AstroPay 84 Rebecca Barbaro Sant The Authentic Brief 85 Danny Hook Gibtelecom 86 Yahale Meltzer GrooveGaming

88 What's new?

The land-based gaming industry is slowly but surely getting back on its feet, and Gambling Insider takes a closer look at some of the hottest products on the market

FINAL WORD 98 Slotting in Michael Maokhamphiou, Lightning Box Operations Manager, tells Gambling Insider what game developers can expect during a transitional summer

75%

100%

US & America

400

100%

300

75%

200

0% Poker

Swedish operator revenue

1,500

100

250,000 r2021 r revenue r for four major r ch ne July ust Q1 ay Comparing Q1 ril be obe be be M Ju ua rua Mar 0Ap ug tem (Revenue n ct Italyvem cem€ 1,000 million) EMEA (excluding Aplayers UK p Spain US & Rest of the Ja Feb O e o e 0 America world D UK, Italy & Spain) N S Source: Company reports ry ry ch ay une July ust ber ber ber ber ril M g J ua rua Mar Ap o 500 m m n Au pte Oct vem ce Ja Feb 500No De Se ry

LeoVegas

Svenska Spel

197.54 400

410.13 Kindred leads the way with €410.13m ($490.8m) in Q1 revenue State-owned Svenska Spel generated €197.54m, operating only in 1.700 1.650 300 96.7 the Swedish market

Revenue € million Revenue (US) $ million

Kindred

LeoVegas 1500

197.54

157.4

0

DraftKings

1000

Comparing Q1 2021 revenue for six major players Betsson Kindred LeoVegas Svenska Spel 753.3 (Revenue US$ million)

0

500

MGM Resorts

DraftKings

Revenue (US) $ million

2000

MGM Resorts

1500

753.3

753.3

725.8

500

MGM Resorts

312.3

Flutter Entertainment

DraftKingsPenn Caesars MGM Resorts Boyd Penn Wynn NationalResorts Boyd Gaming Caesars National Gaming Corporation Gaming Entertainment Corporation Gaming Entertainment

Entain

47

Wynn Resorts

41

50 Caesars Entertainment reported the highest revenue with $1,700m ($1.7bn) MGM Resorts,47though, generated more than Boyd Gaming and Wynn 33 Resorts combined 43 40

• • Year-on-year % charge

41

20

10 0

Entain 12

47 43

ar-on-year % charge

Sports

30

23

18 Entain

Flutter Entertainment

0200

Gaming

-10

Betsson

300

DraftKings

8

200

MGM Resorts

Sports

23

41 Gaming 18

Total Online

Caesars Penn National -27 Gaming Entertainment

Boyd Gaming Corporation

Wynn Resorts -6

-24

259 MGM Resorts

259

175

Caesars Penn National Gaming Entertainment

Boyd Gaming Corporation

175

100

11 11

0

-27 2020

2021 -6

-27

DraftKings

DraftKings 20,000

22,126

MGM Resorts

Caesars

Penn National

-6

-24

Boyd Gaming

Wynn Resorts

MGM ResortsEntertainment Penn National Caesars Gaming Corporation Boyd Gaming 2020 2021 Gaming Corporation Entertainment

-24

Wynn Resorts

25,000259% year-on-year increase Caesars again leads with a staggering Three operators reported positive year-on-year changes, while three reported negative 15,000

10,000

20,000

22,126

15,000 2020

2021 7,312

8,024

25,000

0

11

Svenska Spel

DraftKings

020,000

33

LeoVegas

-100

100 0

11

Source: Company reports

Kindred 0

300

200

259

200

Kindred LeoVegas Svenska Spel Comparing year-on-year revenue change for Q1 2021 and 175 -3 Q1 2020 for six major US operators 100 -27 -24 -6

-100

41

30

20

Betsson

0

0

18

Total Online

-3

175

23

43 40GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

10

259

5,00025,000 47 Flutter Entertainment

-3

Svenska Spel

300

20

-100 -10025,000

• •

LeoVegas

Kindred

-10

33

50

20

Betsson

Flutter Entertainment

43

30

725.8

8

Betsson Kindred in Q1 LeoVegas 40 again leads with a4141% year-on-year Kindred increase revenue Svenska Spel 10300 Spel12 Svenska is the only operator to report a year-on-year decrease in 30 Q1 revenue (-3%) 8

Caesars Penn National Boyd Gaming Wynn Resorts Gaming Corporation Entertainment

1.275

1000

50

-10

1.700

1.650 1.275

Entain 0

40

725.8

-3

0

20

01.700

1.650

312.3

Company CaesarsSource: Penn National Boydreports Gaming Wynn Resorts Gaming Corporation Entertainment 312.3

12 Q4

US operator 100 10year-on-year 12

725.8 1.275

8

41 10

Q3

Year-on-year % charge

312.3

753.3 96.7

20

-10

• •

1.700

1.275 1.650 Svenska Spel

US operator Revenue 100 500

Q2

2000

200

12

30

(MOP) million

1500

10

41

30

Year-on-year % charge

Kindred

20

50

0 Q1

Q4

Q4

40

(MOP) million

Betsson

500

Q3

40

0

0 Kindred LeoVegas Svenska Spel r h y y er ber ber ay une July ust be96.7 ril ar uar arc M g J ob Ap r m m nu M Au pte Oct vem ce Ja0 Feb e No D Se

• •

Q3

50

30

500

197.54

96.7 157.4

Source: Company reports

Q2

Year-on-year % charge

1,000

200

Betsson

racing

41

Year-on-year % charge

197.54

100

2000 157.4

Year-on-year % charge

Q2

1,500

Year-on-year % charge

157.4

Q1

300

500,000

0

DraftKings 50

betting

Q1

40

410.13 250,000

Betsson 1000

0

50

20%

Comparing year-on-year revenue changes for Q1 2021 and Q1 Q3 Q4 0% 2020 for four major Swedish operators Sports Horse Poker

0

Year-on-year % charge

100

40%

Q2

0%

Year-on-year % charge

Revenue € million

200

.5

0

ry300 ch er ber ne July ust ber ber b410.13 ay 1,000,000 ril M g Ju 400 ua Mar Ap m cto em em u e A pt c O ov De N Se 750,000

br Fe

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500

500 410.13 1,250,000

400

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(MOP) million

ry

80%

Swedish operator year-on-year

25%

0

0

1

1,000

50%

500

500,000

250,000

Revenue € million

Horse racing

1,250,000

500,000

Revenue (US) $ million

Sports betting

Rest of the world

Poker

Gambling Insider takes a close statistical look at various results from the first 1,500 1,000,000 quarter of 2021, with many operators and different verticals showing signs of 1,500 recovery after a difficult period 1,000 750,000

750,000

Year-on-year % charge

0

0

0%

Horse20% racing

Sports betting

Ha N m ew ps hi re Je rs ey Or eg on Pe nn sy lv an Rh i

Spain

2,000

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America

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Italy

20%

Poker

Ne va da

.25 Rest of the world

Horse racing 0

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1,000,000

ry

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Facing facts 25%US &

0

ua

Sports betting

ip pi on ta na

Spain

UK

0% 40%

4,000

.5 0

iss

Italy

.25

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M

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25%

60%

20%

ich ig an

2,000 0

US & America

.5

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iss

Spain

50%

80%

40%

M

Italy

.75

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UK

EMEA (excluding UK, Italy & Spain)

(excluding 1,250,000 aly & Spain)

.25

80%

60%

6,000

.75

NUMBER CRUNCHING 50%0%

8,000

M

EMEA (excluding UK, Italy & Spain)

21,538

25%

4,000 ISSUES 100

0

75%

.5

75%

200

100

1

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1

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300

200

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400

300

22,126

January

8,306 5,257

10,000

20203,104

5,000

2021

February

15,000

20,00010,000

8,306

7,312

8,024

March

5,257

3,104

0 22,126

January 7,312

February 8,306

March

Wynn Resorts

Revenue (US) $ million

YearYear-o

1212 88

300 300

0 0

-10-10 753.3753.3

725.8725.8

500 500 312.3312.3

0

1000 Entain

1.700 1.700 1.650 1.650 DraftKings DraftKings MGMMGM Resorts ResortsCaesars Caesars PennPenn National National BoydBoyd Gaming Gaming WynnWynn Resorts Resorts Gaming Corporation Corporation Entertainment Entertainment Gaming

0

1.275

v Flutter

300 300

1.275

753.3 753.3

725.8 725.8

Comparing year-on-year percentage changes in revenue for Entain 312.3 312.3 and Flutter Entertainment across different verticals 0 500

Source: Company reports

DraftKings MGM Resorts Caesars Penn National Boyd Gaming Wynn Resorts DraftKings MGM Resorts GamingBoyd Gaming Corporation Caesars Penn National Wynn Resorts Entertainment Gaming Corporation Entertainment

Entain Entain

200 200

Year-on-year % charge

Year-on-year % charge

1.2751.275

Year-on-year % charge Year-on-year % charge

Revenue (US) $ million

1010

1.7001.700

10001000

1500

0

1.6501.650

15001500

2000

1500

96.7 96.7

-3 -3 259 259

Betsson Betsson KindredKindredLeoVegas Spel Spel LeoVegasSvenska Svenska

Revenue (US) $ million

Revenue (US) $ million

0

2000

500

157.4

100 20002000

0

1000

197.54

157.4

100

200 200

Betsson Betsson

LeoVegas LeoVegas

Svenska Spel Spel

NUMBER CRUNCHING 11

0

0

-27 -27

-100-100

-6

11

ISSUES

-24 -24

-6

259 259 DraftKings DraftKings MGMMGM Resorts Resorts Caesars Caesars PennPenn National National BoydBoyd Gaming GamingWynnWynn Resorts Resorts Gaming Corporation Corporation Entertainment EntertainmentGaming

Macau revenue 175 175

100 100

0

175 175 Kindred Kindred

100 100

11 Comparing Macau gross gaming 11 revenue for Q1 2021 MOP million) -27 and Q1 2020 (Revenue -24 -6

0

-27

-100 -100

-24

-6 Source: Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau

DraftKings MGM Resorts Caesars Penn National Boyd Gaming Gaming Corporation DraftKings MGM Resorts Entertainment Caesars Penn National Boyd Gaming Corporation 2020 2020 Gaming 2021 2021 Entertainment

Flutter Flutter Entertainment Entertainment

50 50

Wynn Resorts Wynn Resorts

25,000 25,000 47 47 43 43

Year-on-year % charge

43

41

Sports Sports

Gaming Gaming

30

33

TotalTotal Online Online

33

* Entain Q1 2021, only percentage changes 20 did not release figures for23

20

• •

18

23growth than Flutter in both sports and gaming Entain recorded higher 10 18 Arkansas Arkansas Flutter recorded Colorado Colorado a higher total online revenue increase

Delaware Delaware 0 of Columbia District District of Columbia Florida Florida Sports Gaming Illinois Illinois 0 Indiana Indiana Sports Gaming Lowa Lowa US Q1 state performance Kansas Kansas Louisiana Louisiana Maine ArkansasMaine Maryland Maryland Colorado Massachusetts Massachusetts Delaware Michigan Michigan Arkansas District of Columbia Mississippi Mississippi Colorado Florida Missouri Missouri Delaware Illinois Montana Montana District of ColumbiaIndiana Nevada Nevada Florida Lowa NewKansas New Hampshire Hampshire Illinois NewNew Jersey Jersey Louisiana Indiana New Mexico Mexico Maine Lowa New NewNew YorkYork Maryland Kansas MassachusettsOhioOhio Louisiana Oklahoma Oklahoma Michigan Maine Oregon Oregon Mississippi Maryland Missouri Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Massachusetts Montana Rhode Island Island MichiganRhode Nevada South South Dakota Dakota Mississippi New Hampshire Tennessee Tennessee Missouri New Jersey Virginia Virginia Montana NewWest Mexico West Virginia Virginia Nevada New York New Hampshire Ohio 0 0 New Jersey Oklahoma New MexicoOregon NewPennsylvania York Ohio Island Rhode Oklahoma South Dakota Oregon Tennessee PennsylvaniaVirginia Rhode Island West Virginia 2,500 2,500 South Dakota 0 Tennessee Virginia West Virginia 2,000 2,000

10

(MOP) million

2020 2020

2021 2021 8,3068,306

7,3127,312

8,0248,024

5,2575,257

5,000 22,126 20,000 5,000

41

0

15,000 15,000

25,000

43

0

30

22,126 22,126

10,000 25,000 10,000

23 23

47

47

40 Year-on-year % charge

Flutter Entertainment Flutter Entertainment 18 18

10 10

40

33 33

Entain Entain

20 20

(MOP) million

30 30

20,000 20,000

41 41

(MOP) million (MOP) million

50

50

Year-on-year % charge

Year-on-year % charge

40 40

15,000

15,000 10,000

•

10,000 5,000

•

5,000

Total Online

3,1043,104

22,126

20,000

0

0 January January

February February

March March

Both February (+136%) & March (58%) recorded positive year-on-year 8,306 7,312 8,024 percentage changes 5,257 8,306 7,312 8,024a negative year-on-year January had percentage change of -64% 5,257

3,104

0

0

Total Online

January

January

3,104 February

March

February

March

Comparing Q1 2021 commercial gaming revenue for each active US state (Revenue US$ million) Source: American Gaming Association •

10001000

Commercial gaming revenue nationwide reached $11.13bn for Q1 2021 • Nevada is by far still the US gaming capital; notably, however, Pennsylvania outperformed New Jersey during the period • 30003000 In total, Nevada revenue accounted for approximately one quarter (25%) of US commercial Q1 gaming revenue

20002000

Revenue Revenue (US)$(US)$ million million

1000

2000

3000

Revenue (US) $ million

Revenue (US) $ million

2,1422,142

0

Revenue (US)$ million

1000

2,500

Revenue (US) $ million

2,000

1,500

Revenue (US) $ million

2,000

Nevada gaming revenue for Q1 2021 for each region (Revenue US$ million)

2,142

500 500

62,4 62,4

0

2,142

91.1 91.1

31.1 31.1

222.3222.3

0 ClarkClark County CountySouth South Lake Lake Tahoe Tahoe Area Area

1,000

Elko Elko

Source: Nevada Gaming Control Board

52.1 52.1

Carson Carson ValleyValley Washoe Washoe County CountyAll others All others Area Area

1,500

•

500

1,000

91.1

62,4

31.1

222.3

0

500

3000

Revenue (US)$ million

Nevada revenue 1,000 1,000 2,500

2000

1,500 1,500

Clark County

South Lake Tahoe Area

62,4

Elko

91.1

Carson Valley Area

31.1

0 Clark County

South Lake Tahoe Area

Elko

Carson Valley Area

Washoe County

222.3 Washoe County

52.1 All others

52.1

•

Total win in Nevada, the home state of Las Vegas, for Q1 2021 reached $2.6bn when combining all six regions in this graph Clark County’s total comprised $1.4bn from slot machines and $700m from table, counter and card games (Las Vegas is situated in Clark County)

All others

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

13

ISSUES FANTINI APRIL 2021 REVENUERESEARCH (M) VS. APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE)

SLOTS

REVENUE (M)

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE)

Mardi Gras (Del North)

$5.840

+ 4.32

$0.558

- 0.17

MotorCity

$40.338

- 7.20

Greektown (PENN)

$24.840

- 15.09

Greenbrier

MGM Grand (MGM)

$43.806

- 16.33

Mountaineer (CNTY)

$10.089

- 6.56

$108.984

- 12.86

Charles Town (PENN)

$25.936

- 10.71

Total

APRIL 2021 REVENUE (M) VS. APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) MotorCity BUT SURELY, $39.918 SLOWLY STATES ON THE- 8.16RISE $24.323

Greektown (PENN)

- 16.86

APRIL 2021 REVENUE (M) VS. APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) - 24.81 Wheeling Island (Del North) $8.862 APRIL 2021 REVENUE (M) VS. APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) Total Slots MotorCity

$51.285 $40.338

MotorCity Greektown (PENN)

$40.338 $24.840

TABLE GAMES Greektown (PENN) MGM Grand (MGM)

REVENUE $24.840(M) $43.806

- 11.25 - 7.20 - 7.20 - 15.09

VS. -2019 15.09(% CHANGE) - 16.33

APRIL 2021 REVENUE VS.except APRIL CHANGE) Fantini Research partners with Gambling May 4,(M) 2019, for 2019 online (% gaming revenue. comparisons MGM Grand (MGM) $43.806 - 16.33 MGM Grand (MGM) $43.201 as well as month-on-month - 17.48 $0.624 + 5.28 Wheeling Island (Del North) - 12.86 Total $108.984 Insider to provide gaming revenue data The data shows US markets are still catching for retail sports betting revenue. for the US market. In this edition, we look up with 2019$108.984 levels following the Covid-19 In Illinois, meanwhile, sports - 12.86 Total betting - 14.10 Total Casino $107.441 $1.452 + Mardi Gras 2021 REVENUE (% CHANGE) SLOTS REVENUE (M) However, VS. 2019 (% $40.338 - 7.20 MotorCity at APRIL April gaming revenue in(M) the VS. stateAPRIL 2019 related shutdowns of 2020. many of3.24 revenue rose 25.21% month-on-month for (Del North) CHANGE) APRILfor 2021 (M) VS. 2019as(% CHANGE) of Michigan for a comparison between the results canAPRIL be viewed impressive and March, while we also look at revenue the REVENUE Mountaineer (CNTY) $1.143 2021 data accounts - 18.80 April 2021 and April 2019VS. (where Detroit’s encouraging, five weeks ending May 1 in Greektown West Virginia. $24.840 - 15.09 (PENN) APRIL 2021 REVENUE (M) VS.considering APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) APRIL MARCH (% CHANGE) $40.338 - 7.20 $5.840 + 4.32 MotorCity Mardi Gras (Del North) casinos were limited to 30% capacity), for restricted capacities.

This is compared to the five weeks ending $39.918 8.16 MotorCity - 22.03 Charles (PENN) $4.933 MGM GrandTown (MGM) $43.806 - -16.33 $24.840 -- 15.09 $0.558 - 0.17 Greektown (PENN) Greenbrier $39.918 - 8.16 MotorCity 30.18 MGM GrandAPRIL (MGM) MICHIGAN 2021 VS APRIL $604,701 2019 CASINO $24.323 - 12.86 16.86 Greektown (PENN) - 33.30 Greenbrier $0.484 Total $108.984 ALL-SOURCES REVENUE MGM Grand (MGM) Mountaineer (CNTY) $43.806 - 16.33 $10.089 - 6.56 $24.323 - 16.86 Greektown (PENN) $517,224 - 37.34 Greektown (PENN) MGM Grand (MGM) $43.201 - 17.48 Total Table Games $8.637 - 17.43 - 12.86 Total $108.984 APRIL 2021 REVENUE (M) VS. APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) MotorCity $420,605 - 67.05 - 48.03 Total Sports Betting $1.543M APRIL 2021 REVENUE (M) VS. $40.338 APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) - 7.20 MotorCity

Greektown (PENN) ALL-SOURCES MotorCity REVENUE MGM Grand (MGM) Greektown (PENN) Greenbrier Total MGM Grand (MGM) Mardi Gras (Del North)

$24.840 REVENUE (M) $39.918 $43.806 $24.323 $4.304 $108.984 $43.201 $7.468

VS.- -15.09 2019 8.16 (% CHANGE) - 16.33 - 16.86 + 231.81 - 12.86 - 17.48 + 7.34

- 14.10 Total Casino APRIL 2021(PENN) REVENUE (M) VS.$107.441 APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) Charles Town $34.642 - 4.19 RETAIL SPORTS BETTING REVENUE Mountaineer (CNTY) $11.656 APRIL VS. MARCH$39.918 (% CHANGE) MotorCity Wheeling Island (Del North) Greektown (PENN) MGM Grand (MGM) Total MGM Grand (MGM) Greektown (PENN) Same Store* Total Casino MotorCity

$9.526 $24.323 $604,701 $67.595 $43.201 $517,224 $59.922 $107.441 $420,605

- 6.45 - 8.16 - 22.75 - 16.86 - 30.18 - 2.32 - 17.48 - 37.34 - 12.20 - 14.10 - 67.05

MULTIPLE REVENUE (M) (% CHANGE) - 48.03 Total Sports Betting $1.543M PROPERTIESAPRIL VS. MARCH (% CHANGE) $16.779 Delaware North ALL-SOURCES REVENUE (M) $604,701 MGM Grand (MGM) RETAIL SPORTS BETTING HANDLE

REVENUE

Greektown HANDLE (PENN) Greenbrier MotorCity Mardi Gras (Del North) Greektown (PENN) Total Sports Betting Charles Town (PENN) MotorCity Mountaineer (CNTY) ALL-SOURCES MGM Grand (MGM)

REVENUE

$517,224 - 37.34 APRIL (M) VS. MARCH (% CHANGE) $4.304 + 231.81 $420,605 $7.468 $11.264 $1.543M $34.642 $6.760

- 67.05 7.34 ++18.94 - 48.03 - 4.19 - 7.18

$11.656 REVENUE (M) $6.313

-2019 6.45 VS.- 15.69 (% CHANGE)

Wheeling Island (Del North) Total Handle Greenbrier Total Mardi Gras (Del North) Same Store* 14 GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM Charles Town (PENN) Mountaineer MULTIPLE (CNTY)

PROPERTIES

13.44 VS.-- 30.18 2019 (% CHANGE)

$9.526 $24.338 $4.304 $67.595 $7.468 $59.922 $34.642

-+22.75 0.40 + 231.81 - 2.32 + 7.34 - 12.20 - 4.19

$11.656 REVENUE (M)

- 6.45 (% CHANGE)

$9.526

- 22.75

Wheeling Island (Del North)

- 10.71 Charles Town (PENN) (M)REVENUE $25.936 SLOTS (M) VS. -2019 (% APRIL 2021 REVENUE VS. $43.201 APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) MGM Grand (MGM) 17.48 - 14.10 Total Casino $107.441 CHANGE) - 24.81 Wheeling Island (Del North)REVENUE $8.862 - 14.10 Total CasinoBETTING $107.441 SPORTS (M) VS. 2019 $5.840 + 4.32 $39.918 - 8.16 Mardi Gras (Del North) MotorCity REVENUE (% CHANGE) CHANGE) Total Slots APRIL VS. MARCH (% $51.285 - 11.25 $0.558 - 0.17 - 16.86 Greenbrier Greektown (PENN) + 6,355.35 APRIL VS. MARCH$24.323 (%$0.762 CHANGE) $604,701 - 30.18 MGM Grand (MGM) Mountaineer (CNTY) $10.089 - 6.56 MGM Grand (MGM) $43.201 17.48 TABLE GAMES REVENUE (M) VS.+-2019 (% $1.698 116.12 Charles Town (PENN) CHANGE) $604,701 - 30.18 MGM Grand (MGM) $517,224 37.34 Greektown (PENN) - 10.71 Charles Town (PENN) ---14.10 Total Casino $25.936 $107.441 $0.168 33.70 Mountaineer (CNTY) $0.624 + 5.28 Wheeling(PENN) Island (Del North) $517,224 - 37.34 Greektown MotorCity - 67.05 -N/A 24.81 Wheeling Island (Del North) $420,605 $8.862 $0.039 APRIL VS. MARCH (% CHANGE) MotorCity $420,605 67.05 $1.452 + 3.24 Mardi Gras (Del North) WEST FIVE WEEKS ENDING - 48.03 Total VIRGINIA: Sports Betting $1.543M - 11.25 - 33.70 Mardi Gras (Del North) MAYTotal 1 VSSlots FIVE WEEKS ENDING MAY$51.285 4$0.176 2019 Mountaineer (CNTY) $1.143 - 18.80 - 48.03 Total Sports Betting $1.543M $604,701 30.18 MGM Grand (MGM) $2.844 + -197.44 Total Revenue ALL-SOURCES (M) VS. 2019 - 22.03 Charles Town (PENN) REVENUE $4.933 TABLE GAMES REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 (% REVENUE (% CHANGE) $517,224 - 2019 37.34 Greektown (PENN) CHANGE) ALL-SOURCES REVENUE (M) VS. REVENUE (% CHANGE) - 33.30 Greenbrier $0.484 $4.304 + 231.81 Greenbrier MotorCity $420,605 67.05 $0.624 + 5.28 Wheeling HANDLE Island (Del North)REVENUE (M) VS. -2019 (% $4.304 +CHANGE) 231.81 Greenbrier Total Table Games $8.637 - 17.43 $7.468 7.34 Mardi Gras (Del North) - +48.03 Total Sports $1.543M $1.452 + 3.24 Mardi GrasBetting (Del North) $15.436 ++4,792.72 Greenbrier $7.468 7.34 Mardi Gras (Del North) Charles Town (PENN) $34.642 - 4.19 Mountaineer (CNTY) $1.143 - 18.80 SPORTS BETTING REVENUE (M) VS. ALL-SOURCES (M) VS. -2019 2019 Charles Town (PENN) $34.642 $14.406 +4.19 51.69 Charles Town (PENN) REVENUE REVENUE (% CHANGE) 6.45 Mountaineer (CNTY) $11.656 REVENUE (% CHANGE) - 22.03 Charles Town (PENN) $4.933 - 6.45 Mountaineer (CNTY) Mountaineer (CNTY) $2.859 + 1.44 $11.656 Greenbrier $0.762 + +6,355.35 $9.526 -231.81 22.75 Wheeling Island (Del North) $4.304 Greenbrier - 33.30 Greenbrier $0.484 Wheeling Island (Del North) $0.514 $9.526 22.75N/A Wheeling Island (Del North) $1.698 + -116.12 Charles Town (PENN) Total $67.595 $7.468 +- 2.32 Mardi Gras (DelGames North) Total Table $8.637 -7.34 17.43 N/A Total Mardi Gras (Del North) $67.595 2.32 $1.234 $0.168 Mountaineer (CNTY) --12.20 Same Store* $59.922 Charles Town (PENN) $34.642 -33.70 4.19 Total Handle $34.450 Same Store* $59.922 $0.039 Wheeling Island SPORTS BETTING (M) Mountaineer (CNTY)(Del North)REVENUE $11.656

REVENUE MULTIPLE

REVENUE (M)

$0.176 Mardi Gras (Del North) PROPERTIES $9.526 Wheeling Island (Del North)REVENUE MULTIPLE (M) Greenbrier $0.762 PROPERTIES $2.844 Total Revenue $16.779 Delaware North Total $67.595 $1.698 CharlesNorth Town (PENN) $16.779 Delaware Same Store* $59.922 $0.168 Mountaineer (CNTY)

172.74 - +12.20

N/A VS. -2019 6.45 (% CHANGE) CHANGE) (% - 33.70

- 22.75 (% CHANGE) + 6,355.35

+ 197.44 - -13.44 2.32 + -116.12 13.44 - 12.20 - 33.70

HANDLE REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 (% HANDLE APRIL (M) VS. MARCH (% CHANGE) CHANGE) $0.039 N/A Wheeling Island (Del North) MULTIPLE REVENUE (M) (% CHANGE) PROPERTIES $15.436 + 4,792.72 Greenbrier Mardi Gras (Del North) Greektown (PENN) Delaware North Charles Town (PENN) Total Revenue MotorCity

$0.176 $11.264 $16.779 $14.406 $2.844 $6.760

33.70 +-18.94 - 13.44 + 51.69 + 197.44 - 7.18

SLOTS SLOTS

Mardi G

Mardi G Greenbr

Greenbr Mounta

SLOTS Mounta Charles

Charles Wheelin Mardi G Wheelin Total Slo Greenbr Total Slo Mounta

TABLE G Charles TABLE G

Wheelin Wheelin Wheelin Mardi G Total Slo

PARTNERS Mardi G

Mounta

TABLE MountaG

Charles FLTR Charles Greenbr PENN Wheelin Greenbr Total Ta WMH (CZR) Mardi G Total Ta IGT Mounta

SPORTS IGT Charles REVENU SPORTS REVENU N/A

Greenbr

Greenbr Total Ta Charles Charles Mounta

SPORTS Mounta Wheelin REVENU

Wheelin

Mardi G PARTNERS Greenbr

Mardi G Total Re Charles FLTR Total Re Mounta PENN HANDL Wheelin WMH (CZR) HANDL Mardi G Greenbr IGT PARTNERS Greenbr Total Re Charles IGT FLTR Charles Mounta N/A PENN HANDL Mounta Wheelin WMH (CZR) Wheelin Mardi G Greenbr IGT Mardi G Total Ha Charles TotalIGT Ha Mounta N/A Wheelin

ALL-SOURCES $5.840 Mardi Gras (Del North) REVENUE (M) REVENUE ) VS. APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) SLOTS - 7.20

- 15.09

Greenbrier Greenbrier

$40.338 - 16.33

- 7.20 Mountaineer (CNTY) Mardi Gras (Del North) - 15.09 Charles Town (PENN) Charles Town (PENN)

$24.840 - 12.86

VS. 2019 + 4.32 (% CHANGE) REVENUE (M)

$0.558 $4.304

- 0.17 + 231.81

Mardi Gras (Del North) $10.089 $7.468

$5.840 - 6.56 + 7.34

Greenbrier $25.936 $34.642

$0.558 - 10.71 - 4.19

Mountaineer 16.33 $10.089 - 24.81 Wheeling-Island $8.862(CNTY) - 6.45 Mountaineer (CNTY)(Del North) $11.656 NGE) - 12.86 Charles$51.285 Town (PENN) $108.984 $25.936 Total Slots - 11.25 $9.526 - 22.75 Wheeling Island (Del North) - 8.16 Wheeling Island (Del North) $8.862 Total $67.595 - 2.32 ) VS. APRIL 2019 (% CHANGE) TABLE GAMES REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 (% Total Slots $51.285 - 16.86 CHANGE) - 12.20 Same Store* $59.922 $39.918 - 8.16 - 17.48 $0.624 + 5.28 Wheeling Island (Del North) $43.806

Greenbrier

$0.762 Charles Town (PENN)

+ 6,355.35 $2.076

FLTR + 20.58

ONLINE GAMING

REVENUE (

$0.168 - 33.70 Mountaineer +(CNTY) Charles$0.255 Town (PENN) 4.32 Mountaineer (CNTY) $0.039 N/A Wheeling Island (Del North) Greenbrier - 0.17 Total FANTINI RESEARCH $4.829 ISSUES

WMH (CZR)$2.0 N/A

VS. 2019 (% Charles Town (PENN) CHANGE) Greenbrier

$1.698

+ 116.12 $2.499

Mardi Gras (Del North) - 6.56

$0.176

- 33.70 Mountaineer (CNTY)

Total Revenue - 10.71

$2.844

+ 197.44 Total MARCH

ILLINOIS

HANDLE

- 11.25

Aurora (PENN) REVENUE (M)

IGT $2.4 + 22.35

IGT$0.2 N/A

$4.8 MONTHLY CHANGE (%)

REVENUE (M)

- 24.81

PENN + 12.27

VS.$11.663 2019 (% ILLINOIS CHANGE)

+ 6,355.35

MA

REVENUE $0.193 + 16.53 DraftKings at Casino Queen $15.436 + 4,792.72 Greenbrier Aurora (PENN) $4.010 + 11.28$11 TABLE GAMES REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 (% Hawthorne REVENUE (M) (% CHANGE) $24.323 MULTIPLE - 16.86 - 14.10 CHANGE) $14.406 + 51.69 Charles Town (PENN) $1.452 + 3.24 Mardi Gras (Del North) PROPERTIES DraftKings at Casino Queen+ 10.45 $0 $7.471 Rivers $43.201 - 17.48 $0.624 + 5.28 Wheeling Island (Del North) Mountaineer (CNTY) $2.859 + 1.44 Mountaineer $1.143 - 18.80 $16.779 - 13.44 Delaware North (CNTY) Hawthorne $0.427 - 0.68 $4 Alton (PENN) - 14.10 $107.441 $1.452 Wheeling Island + 3.24 Mardi Gras (Del North) N/A (Del North) $0.514 - 22.03 Charles Town (PENN) $4.933 Rivers $10.873 - 42.26 $7 Joliet (PENN) - 30.18 Mountaineer (CNTY) $1.143 18.80 N/A Mardi Gras (Del North) $1.234 - 33.30 Greenbrier $0.484 ARCH (% CHANGE) Alton (PENN) $0.753 Elgin (CZR) - 86.09 $0 - 37.34 22.03 Charles Town (PENN) $4.933 Total Handle $34.450 + 172.74 Total Table Games $8.637 - 17.43 Joliet (PENN) $0.001 - 98.40$10 Par-A-Dice $604,701 30.18 - 67.05 - 33.30 Greenbrier $0.484 Elgin (CZR) $1.753 N/A $0 Fairmount Park $517,224 - 37.34 SPORTS BETTING REVENUE VS. 2019 $8.637PARTNERS - 17.43 - 48.03 Total Table(M) Games REVENUE (% CHANGE) Par-A-Dice $44.318 + 25.21 $0 Total $420,605 - 67.05 FLTR Greenbrier $0.762 + 6,355.35 S. 2019 $1 Fairmount Park PARTNERS SPORTS BETTING REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 - 48.03 $1.543M HANGE) REVENUE (% CHANGE) $1.698 + 116.12 PENN Charles Town (PENN) $44 Total MULTIPLE REVENUE (M) (% CHANGE) + 231.81 PROPERTIES FLTR Greenbrier + 6,355.35 $0.168 - 33.70 $0.762WMH (CZR) EVENUE (M) VS. 2019 Mountaineer (CNTY) (% CHANGE) + 7.34 $5.894 + 845.19 Penn National PENN $0.039(PENN) N/A $1.698 IGT + 116.12 Wheeling Island (Del North)Charles Town MULTIPLE REVENU $4.304 + 231.81 PROPERTIES - 4.19 WMH (CZR) Mountaineer $0.176(CNTY) - 33.70 $0.168 IGT - 33.70 Mardi Gras (Del North) $7.468 + 7.34 $ Penn National HANDLE MARCH MONTHLY - 6.45 N/A IGT Wheeling Island (Del North) HANDLE (M) CHANGE (%) $2.844 + 197.44 $0.039 N/A Total Revenue $34.642 - 4.19 - 22.75 $48.874 + 5,872.37 $0.176 - 33.70 Aurora Hollywood IGT (PENN) Mardi Gras (Del North) HANDLE MA - 6.45 $11.656 - 2.32 HANDLE $2.844 + 197.44 Alton (PENN)N/A Total Revenue $4.071 + 49.40 HANDLE REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 (% CHANGE) $9.526 - 22.75 - 12.20 (PENN) + 45.84 $48 $1.239 Joliet Hollywood (PENN) Aurora Hollywood $15.436 + 4,792.72 Greenbrier- 2.32 $67.595 $4 Alton (PENN) HANDLE REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 (% Elgin (CZR) $14.166 + 40.83 HANGE) CHANGE) $14.406 + 51.69 Charles Town (PENN) - 12.20 $59.922 $1 Joliet Hollywood $54.964 (PENN) + 36.39 Hawthorne $15.436 + 4,792.72 Greenbrier Mountaineer (CNTY) $2.859 + 1.44 - 13.44 $14 Elgin (CZR) REVENUE (M) NGE) (M) SLOTS REVENUE (M)(% VS. 2019 (% ONLINE GAMING ONLINE VS. FOUR WEEKS VS. FOUR WEEKS $106.860 + 10.83 RiversREVENUE desGAMING Plaines(M) SLOTS REVENUE (M) VS. 2019 EVENUE (% CHANGE) $14.406 + 51.69 Town ENDING MARCH 27 CHANGE) ENDING MARCH 27 N/A Wheeling Island (Del North)CharlesCHANGE) $0.514(PENN) $54 $207.621 DraftKings at Casino QueenHawthorne + 3.94 Mountaineer (CNTY) $2.859 Charles Town (PENN) + 1.44Charles Town (PENN) $2.076 + 20.58 - 7.20 $5.840 + 4.32 Mardi (Del North) $2.076 + 20.58 + 4.32 Mardi Gras (Del North) N/A Mardi Gras Gras- 13.44 (Del $5.840 North) $1.234 $16.779 $106 Rivers des Plaines $0.628 - 99.60 Par-A-Dice (BYD) N/AGreenbrier $2.499 Wheeling Island $0.514 Greenbrier $2.499 + 12.27 - 15.09 $0.558 - 0.17 + 12.27 Greenbrier Total Handle $0.558 $34.450 - 0.17(Del North)+ 172.74 Greenbrier $207 DraftKings at Casino Queen $195.191 N/A Fairmount Park N/AMountaineer (CNTY) Mardi Gras North) $1.234 Mountaineer (CNTY) $0.255 N/A N/A - 16.33 $10.089 - 6.56 $0.255 Mountaineer (CNTY)Mountaineer (CNTY) $10.089 -(Del 6.56 $0 Par-A-Dice (BYD) $633.615 + 24.29 Total Total Handle $34.450 Total + 172.74Total + 22.35 $4.829 - 12.86Town (PENN) - 10.71 Charles Town (PENN) + 22.35 $25.936 $4.829 - 10.71 Charles $25.936 $195 Fairmount Park - 24.81 Wheeling (Del North) $8.862 - 24.81 Wheeling Island (Del North) Island$8.862 MULTIPLE REVENUE (M) (% CHANGE) NGE) $633 Total *Same store excludes sports betting and online gaming.

PROPERTIES Total Slots $51.285 $51.285 - 11.25 Total Slots - 11.25 ILLINOIS MARCH MONTHLY OPERATORS ILLINOIS MARCH MONTHLY REVENUE (M)

- 8.16

TABLE GAMES - 16.86

TABLE REVENUE GAMES (M)

REVENUE (M)(% VS. 2019 CHANGE)

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE)

- 17.48 Island (Del Wheeling (Del North) Wheeling North) Island$0.624

$0.624 + 5.28

+ 5.28

- 14.10 Mardi Gras (Del $1.452 North) Mardi Gras (Del North)

$1.452 + 3.24

+ 3.24

Mountaineer (CNTY)Mountaineer (CNTY) $1.143

$1.143 - 18.80

- 18.80

Charles Town (PENN) Charles Town (PENN) $4.933

$4.933 - 22.03

- 22.03

- 30.18 Greenbrier

$0.484

$0.484 - 33.30

- 33.30

- 37.34 Total Table Games Total Table Games $8.637

$8.637 - 17.43

- 17.43

Greenbrier

Aurora (PENN)

Penn National Aurora (PENN) $11.663

REVENUE CHANGE(M) (%)

CHANGE (%)

$6.393 MULTIPLE + $11.663 6,355.35

+ 747.48 REVENU +Barstool 6,355.35

PROPERTIES

$0.193 Queen $0.193 + 16.53 DraftKings at CasinoDraftKings Queen at Casino Penn National

+DKNG 16.53

Hawthorne

Hawthorne

$4.010

$4.010 + 11.28

+ 11.28 PBH

Rivers

Rivers

$7.471

+$7.471 10.45

+ 10.45 RSI

Alton (PENN)

Alton (PENN)

$0.427

$0.427 - 0.68

Joliet (PENN)

Joliet (PENN) $10.873

$10.873 - 42.26

- 42.26 Barstool

Elgin (CZR)

Elgin (CZR)

$0.753 - 86.09

-WMH 86.09

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

$0.753

15

- 0.68 Barstool

$

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE)

PARTNERS

$0.762

+ 6,355.35

FLTR

$1.698

+ 116.12

$0.168

- 33.70

WMH (CZR)

$0.039

N/A

IGT

$0.176

- 33.70

IGT

$2.844

+ 197.44

N/A

UE (M)

ISSUES

Par-A-Dice

$0.001

- 98.40

FLTR

Fairmount Park

$1.753

N/A

N/A

$44.318

+ 25.21

N/A

Total

FANTINI RESEARCH PENN

MULTIPLE PROPERTIES

REVENUE (M)

(% CHANGE)

$5.894

+ 845.19

MARCH HANDLE (M)

MONTHLY CHANGE (%)

$48.874

+ 5,872.37

Alton (PENN)

$4.071

+ 49.40

Joliet Hollywood (PENN)

$1.239

+ 45.84

Elgin (CZR)

$14.166

+ 40.83

Hawthorne

$54.964

+ 36.39

$106.860

+ 10.83

Penn National SPORTS BETTING HANDLE

HANDLE Aurora Hollywood (PENN)

UE (M)

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE)

15.436

+ 4,792.72

14.406

+ 51.69

$2.859

+ 1.44

$0.514

N/A

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE) $1.234

34.450

Rivers des Plaines

ONLINEDraftKings GAMINGat Casino REVENUE VS. FOUR WEEKS Queen (M) $207.621 ENDING MARCH 27 + 3.94

N/A

$0.628

+ 4.32 + 172.74

Par-A-Dice Charles Town (PENN)(BYD)

$2.076

- 0.17

Fairmount Park Greenbrier

$2.499 $195.191

- 6.56

Total(CNTY) Mountaineer

$0.255$633.615

Penn National ILLINOIS

- 11.25

N/A+ 24.29

OPERATORS MARCH $6.393 MONTHLY + 747.48 REVENUE (M) CHANGE (%) $11.663

+ 6,355.35

Barstool

DraftKings at Casino Queen

$0.193

+ 16.53

DKNG

Hawthorne

$4.010

+ 11.28

PBH

Rivers

$7.471

+ 10.45

RSI

Alton (PENN)

$0.427

- 0.68

Barstool

Joliet (PENN)

$10.873

- 42.26

Barstool

Elgin (CZR)

$0.753

- 86.09

WMH

Par-A-Dice

$0.001

- 98.40

FLTR

Fairmount Park

$1.753

N/A

N/A

$44.318

+ 25.21

N/A

Aurora (PENN)

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE) + 5.28 + 3.24 - 18.80 - 22.03 - 33.30 - 17.43

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE)

PARTNERS

+ 6,355.35

FLTR

+ 116.12

PENN

- 33.70

WMH (CZR)

Total

N/A

IGT

- 33.70

IGT

+ 197.44

N/A

MULTIPLE PROPERTIES

REVENUE (M)

Penn National

$5.894

HANDLE

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

(% CHANGE)

fantiniresearch.com + 845.19

MARCH HANDLE (M)

MONTHLY CHANGE (%)

$48.874

+ 5,872.37

Alton (PENN)

$4.071

+ 49.40

Joliet Hollywood (PENN)

$1.239

+ 45.84

$14.166

+ 40.83

Aurora Hollywood (PENN)

+ 51.69

N/A

PROPERTIES

- 24.81

+ 4,792.72

+ 12.27

+ 22.35 Total $4.829 MULTIPLE REVENUE (M) (% CHANGE) ILLINOIS: SPORTS BETTING MARCH – MONTH-ON-MONTH

- 10.71

VS. 2019 (% CHANGE) 16

+ 20.58 - 99.60

Elgin (CZR)

Global online gross gambling yield by product in 2020 (%)

FEATURES

GBGC DATA

State Lotteries 11%

Casino 30%

THE GLOBAL OUTLOOK PokerPoker 4% 4%

Skill & Other Gaming 2%

Bingo 4%

Sports Betting 49%

US sportsConsultants betting handle and gross gaming yield 2016gaming - 2020 Global Betting & Gaming (GBGC), the(US$bn) global data expert, provides exclusive statistical data to Gambling Insider on markets from around the world; visit www.gbgc.com for more

British betting shop decline (1994 - 2020) Number of LBOs in Great Britain (licensed betting offices) 10,000 9,500 9,000 8,500 8,000 7,500 7,000 1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Year (1994 - 2020) Due to new laws and regulations from the UK Government and its regulator, the Gambling Commisison, the amount of betting shops has declined significantly over a 26-year period. From having 9,670 betting shops in 1994. Great Britain had 7,681 in operation in 2020. The biggest drops came in the mid-1990s and 2019. Between 2010 and 2012, the total number of shops actually increased, though the trend has only been a downward one since 2014.

Global online casino and sports betting gross gaming yield (US$m) by region 2019 vs 2020 Region

Casino 2019

Europe

8,646

Asia

1,672

Central & South America

324

North America

3,440

Africa

258

Oceania

164

US gambling industry vs 2019 Casino 2020 make-up 2001 Sports betting 2019 0.1%

4%

22%

10,043

12,021

2,001

9,413

340

363

4,622

4,544

12,448 7,954 292

270

798

176

2,499

25%

0.3%

Sports betting 2020

2%

20%

4,458 600

18%

2,977

*North American data here also includes the offshore market, as well as revenue from Canada and Mexico, rather than just the US. Europe leads the way in the online market, although Asia was not12% far behind in 2019. Africa and Central & South America's low 16%tallies show why they are generally regarded as emerging markets.

18

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

34%

3%

39%

5%

0.23

0.41

0.23

0.00

Number of States with Fully-Fledged Sports Betting

2016

2017

2018

2019

2

2

4

8

GBGC DATA

US sports betting handle and gross gaming yield (US$bn) 2016 - 2020

Handle (Total Wagereed)

FEATURES

Top five lottery markets by gross gaming yield (US$bn) for 2019 (US$bn)

Handle (Total Wagered (US$bn)) 18.00

35

17.04

16.00

30

14.00

30.22

29.97

25

12.00

US sports betting

10.88

20

10.00 8.00

15

6.39

6.00

4.58

4.56

British be

10

6.22Number of LBOs in Great Britain 5.26 5.18 (licensed betting offices)

4.00 2.00

0.23

1.21

0.72

0.41

0.23

5

10,000

0

0.00

Number of States with Fully-Fledged Sports Betting

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2

2

4

8

18

Handle (Total Wagereed)

US

China

As the number of states with legalised sports betting has increased, so too has overall Topmost fivedramatic lottery markets by gross handle, with the increase coming between 2019 and 2020. However, gaming (US$bn) forgross 2019gaming yield and revenue is very low for all the fanfare aroundyield US sports betting, compared to other verticals. So when states discuss the amount of handle generated, (US$bn) revenue – and thereby also tax revenue – is considerably smaller than total bets.

Germany

9,000

GGY

*This data represents only the regulated market with local licences – and not the offshore market

Italy 9,500France

8,500

The US shows how considerable its lottery 8,000 market is, being almost double European lotteries in Italy, France and Germany combined. For a country7,500 where gambling is considered illegal, however, China's interpretation of lottery being different to other forms 7,000 of gambling has allowed it to also develop a thriving lottery sector.

1994

1996

1998

2000

2

35 30

30.22

29.97

Global online gross gambling yield by product in 2020 (%)

25 20

US g

15 10

6.22

5

5.26

5.18

Casino 30%

0.1%

State Lotteries 11%

4%

Poker 4% 22%

Skill & Other Gaming 2%

0 US

China

Italy

France

Bingo 4%

Germany

Sports Betting 49% 34%

US sports betting handle and gross gaming yield (US$bn) 2016 - 2020 Sports betting accounted for almost half of all online gaming revenue in 2020, while casino accounted for 30%. State lotteries generated 11% of all gross gambling yield, with poker making 4%. In the 'other' category, bingo was also worth 4% of the total market, with skill and other gaming generating 2%.

British betting shop decline (1994 - 2020) Number of LBOs in Great Britain (licensed betting offices) 10,000

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

19

ISSUES

TAKING STOCK

Gambling Insider tracks operator and supplier stock prices across a six-month period (January to June 2021). The stock price is taken from the first day of each month and last date available at press time Las vegas sands

caesars entertainment Currency (USD)

Currency (USD) 80

125

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75 40

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0

Six-month high – 63.05 (Mar) Six-month low – 49.07 (Feb) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $45.01bn

Six-month high – 103.82 (Jun) Six-month low – 70.80 (Feb) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $22.86bn

flutter entertainment

888 holdings

Currency (GBP)

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20,000

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Six-month high – 420.00 (May) Six-month low – 295.50 (Jan) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $2.12bn

ar y

0

0

Six-month high – 15,500 (Jan) Six-month low – 13,630 (Jun) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $14.90bn

ISSUES

TAKING STOCK

scientific games

elys game technology Currency (USD)

Currency (USD) 80

8

60

ne Ju

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2

ril

20

ch

4

y

40

ch

6

Six-month high – 76.08 (Jun) Six-month low – 39.47 (Jan) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $7.12bn

Six-month high – 6.62 (Mar) Six-month low – 4.17 (Jun) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $110m

kambi group

Evolution gaming group Currency (SEK)

Currency (SEK) 500

2000

400 1500

300 1000

200 500

100

0

Six-month high – 493.40 (Apr) Six-month low – 395.00 (Jan) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $1.55bn

ne Ju

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Ja

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0

Six-month high – 1659.40 (May) Six-month low – 816.20 (Jan) Market capitalisation at close (June) - $38.57bn

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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FEATURES

GGA LONDON 2021 ndon

2021

Lead partner

GLOBAL GAMING AWARDS LONDON 2021: THE RESULTS ARE IN The winners of the Global Gaming Awards London 2021 have been revealed.

After a lengthy voting process, including a self-nomination window and input from our Nominations Panel and the Gambling Insider team, our esteemed judges voted to crown this year’s winners.

Votes were made online by leading CEOs and executives from across the industry, before being adjudicated by KPMG. In this winners section, we break down 2021’s champions, including their reaction on our live After Show.

This year’s big winners include bet365 and Kambi, who secured two Awards each. bet365 clinched the Online Sports Betting Operator Award, with bet365 Partners winning the Affiliate Program Award. Kambi, meanwhile, picked up the Retail Supplier

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and Online Sports Betting Supplier Awards.

Evolution was another big winner at GGA London 2021. While Evolution itself won the Online Casino Supplier Award, Evolution-owned brands won three Awards in total, with NetEnt – Divine Fortune MegaWays scooping the Product Launch Award, and Red Tiger – Gonzo’s Quest MegaWays winning the Casino Product Award. It is the second time in a row Red Tiger has claimed the Award.

Another company that has defended its title is LeoVegas, with the Swedish-based group winning the Online Casino category for the fourth time in a row.

And after a number of near-misses over the years, IGT has returned to winning ways, clinching success in the Casino Supplier category.

Industry titans Paddy Power won the Betting Shop Operator Award, with Trustly

taking top spot in the Payment Solution category. Sportradar secured victory in the Services Provider category, while Kindred Group won the Social Responsibility Award.

In a hugely competitive Chief Executive category, it was Casino Cosmopol’s Per Jaldung who came out on top.

“A massive congratulations to all the winners of this year’s Awards, and a big thanks to everyone who has taken part,” said Julian Perry, Gambling Insider COO. “It has been a trying time for the industry, but many companies have shown their resilience and determination to remain positive, and to put their customers and employees first. Congratulations must also go to the rest of the nominees, who we are sure will be back to clinch the top spot next time around.”

GGA LONDON 2021 ndon

FEATURES

2021

Lead partner

THE AFTER VIEW It was an honour and a pleasure to once again host the live After Show at the Global Gaming Awards. This was our first such live call-in during the London Awards and, although we dearly missed the presence of interviewees at the Hippodrome Casino, it was fantastic to see so many high-ranking industry representatives join us as best they could virtually. On the retail side, it was enthusing to see so many executives from land-based casinos and companies offer their thoughts on how they navigated the Covid-19 pandemic – as well as their hopes of moving forward.

On the digital side, meanwhile, it was fascinating to speak to the very best in the industry – who stood out enough to be voted winners at a time when online competition was fierce.

As the leading Awards show in the global gaming sector, it was extremely rewarding to see how much victory meant to the

triumphant nominees. Our Awards ceremony has a limited number of categories that we feel best represent the industry as a whole, with a

rigorous voting system in place to ensure only the rightful winners are objectively crowned.

That much was clear to see as we spoke to winners from around Europe, all elated with their victories. It is our privilege to present Awards to only the very best organisations in our industry – picked by a Judging Panel of their industry peers – but it is also our duty to ensure this prestigious Awards ceremony is not influenced by any bias or subjectivity.

A huge congratulations to all the winners from our team, and a personal thank you from me to all those who spoke to us live in the aftermath of being crowned winners.

I extend my gratitude to our sponsors, KPMG, Lead Partner BetConstruct and all the nominees we have worked with. Finally, a huge thank you to the wonderful team here at Gambling Insider, who worked tirelessly to ensure these Awards happened – even during this most unprecedented time.

FEATURES

GGA LONDON 2021 ndon

2021

Lead partner

PRESENTING THE AWARDS

GARY ROUDETTE CEO, Gambling Insider & Global Gaming Awards

MARIYA SAVOVA Event Manager, Global Gaming Awards

MICKY SWINDALE COO, KPMG Islands Group

JULIAN PERRY Editor-In-Chief & COO Gambling Insider

SHUK MANUKYAN Head of B2B Marketing & PR, BetConstruct

SIMON THOMAS Chairman & CEO, Hippodrome Casino

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FEATURES

GGA LONDON 2021 l

don

2021

Lead partner

BETTING SHOP OPERATOR great effect, helping the wider community by championing charitable causes. It also managed to retain a high percentage of its customers despite the inevitable switch to online.

William Hill took second place, with Tipico coming third. Also nominated for the Betting Shop Operator of the Year Award were Fortuna Entertainment Group, Snaitech, Sazka, Betfred, Ladbrokes, FDJ and Soccabet.

Picking up the Betting Shop Operator of the Year Award for the second successive year was Paddy Power. Retail was impacted massively over the last 12 months due to the restrictions in place amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with betting shops hit particularly hard. Paddy Power faced closures like every other bookmaker, but it used the time to

“I’m absolutely thrilled and delighted. I humbly accept this Award on behalf of the thousands of employees we have. They’ve had a very tough 12-18 months, so we’re extremely grateful and we’re in great shape going forward” - David Newton, CEO, Paddy Power Retail

Sponsored by

PADDY POWER Runner Up - William Hill Third - Tipico

SHORTLIST

Paddy Power William Hill Tipico Fortuna Entertainment Group Snaitech Sazka Betfred Ladbrokes FDJ Soccabet

ONLINE SPORTS BETTING OPERATOR Winning the Online Sports Betting Operator of the Year Award was bet365, another company defending its title, with the operator

holding a complete monopoly on the Award with four wins out of four. The postponement of most forms of sport across the globe brought huge frustration to sports betting operators everywhere, but its return has been welcomed with open arms, both by those

Sponsored by

bet365 claimed its fourth Online Sports Betting Operator of the Year Award in a row

BET365

operators and by sports fans worldwide.

Bet365 continued to innovate even in the times of turmoil the world was undergoing, with the operator’s 12-month period data showing in-play betting opportunities for over 550,000 events, 250,000 of which were live-streamed.

Narrowly missing out in second was Betsson, with Parimatch clinching third. Completing the nominations were Unibet, Interwetten, 1xBet, 888, Oddset, Betfair and Bwin.

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Runner Up - Betsson Third - Parimatch

SHORTLIST bet365 Betsson Parimatch Unibet Interwetten 1xBet 888 Oddset Betfair Bwin

FEATURES

GGA LONDON 2021 don

2021

Lead partner

RETAIL SUPPLIER As previously mentioned, the retail sector was hit hard at the height of the pandemic, with current restrictions meaning there is still a long way to go to get back to normality.

The industry has, however, rallied to ensure this happens sooner rather than later.

Kambi has been at the forefront of such determination, with its Bring Your Own Device platform enabling bettors to build and place wagers in a contactless manner central to the survival and indeed progression of its land-based offering.

Runner up was Intralot, with Inspired Entertainment securing third. Also nominated for the Retail Supplier of the Year Award were Golden Race, FDJ Gaming Solutions, Singular, Pronet Gaming, DS Virtual Gaming, BetGames.

TV and BETB2B.

KAMBI Runner Up - Intralot Third - Inspired Entertainment

SHORTLIST

Kambi Inspired Entertainment Intralot Golden Race FDJ Gaming Solutions Singular Pronet Gaming DS Virtual Gaming BetGames.TV BETB2B

“We’re absolutely thrilled receiving two Awards. That’s such fantastic news and really important Awards for us, so it really means a lot” - Cecilia Wachtmeister, EVP of Business and Group Functions, Kambi

ONLINE SPORTS BETTING SUPPLIER

“It's been like day and night for everyone in the industry who are connected to sports. Basically, we didn't have much sport last year. But I think we did a good job collectively to survive and get the most out of this situation” - Cecilia Wachtmeister, EVP of Business and Group Functions, Kambi

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The pandemic unsurprisingly caused an industry-wide dip for online sports betting, but this was soon followed by the return of players eager for a first-class experience.

The overwhelming demand from customers put stress on operators, which in turn put stress on suppliers, who had to be at the top of their game. Kambi was one such company that did just that, with its wealth of regulatory experience crucial in this uncertain time.

The supplier recorded its best-ever financial performance in 2020, capping off a successful year by signing partnerships with Belgium’s Loterie Nationale and JVH Group.

Scientific Games clinched second, with IGT PlaySports finishing third. Also nominated in this category were EveryMatrix, BetConstruct, Sporting Solutions, Digitain, Altenar, Elys Game Technology and BtoBet.

Sponsored by

KAMBI Runner Up - Scientific Games Third - IGT PlaySports

SHORTLIST

Kambi Scientific Games IGT PlaySports EveryMatrix BetConstruct Sporting Solutions Digitain Altenar Elys Game Technology BtoBet

GGA LONDON 2021 ndon

FEATURES

2021

Lead partner

ONLINE CASINO Given the restrictions put in place all over the globe, land-based casinos were ultimately forced to make the transition to online in a bid to survive. LeoVegas, despite the saturated market, managed to stand out from the crowd, with its smart product innovations and new exclusives supported by a record customer base. The operator now enjoys strong partnerships with both well-established and relatively new providers, with LeoVegas’ determination to survive and thrive online helping it claim top spot in this highly competitive category.

Mr Green clinched second spot, with 888casino taking third. Also nominated for the Online Casino category were BitStarz, Megaways Casino, Paf, Optibet, Lucky Casino, VideoSlots and Cherry Casino.

LEOVEGAS Runner Up - Mr Green Third – 888casino

SHORTLIST

LeoVegas Mr Green 888casino BitStarz Megaways Casino Paf Optibet Lucky Casino VideoSlots Cherry Casino

“We are very pleased to win the Online Casino of the Year category again.

It’s the fourth consecutive year we have done that so we are extremely happy, of course. We’ve done a lot of things over the last year when it comes to our tech and product platform. Thank you everyone" - Gustaf Hagman, Group CEO and Co-Founder, LeoVegas

CASINO SUPPLIER Casino suppliers were not exempt from the continuous changing of safety measures and restrictions inside and outside of casinos, with these companies forced to be quick on their feet in ensuring both partner and customer service remained at the very best level possible. IGT was one such company, growing product verticals like Electronic Table Games and PlayDigital despite the challenges. Furthermore, the supplier grew its VLT footprint, positioned itself for the emerging Ukrainian market, and launched four new cabinets, all of which helped it maintain its position as a leading global casino supplier.

Runner up in the Casino Supplier category was Scientific Games, with Aristocrat finishing in third. Also shortlisted were Zitro, DR Gaming Technology, Merkur Gaming, Interblock, Novomatic, SuzoHapp and Alfastreet.

IGT Runner Up - Scientific Games Third - Aristocrat

SHORTLIST

IGT Scientific Games Aristocrat Zitro DR Gaming Technology Merkur Gaming Interblock Novomatic SuzoHapp Alfastreet

“Truly honoured to accept the Global Gaming Award for Casino Supplier of the Year on behalf of the whole team at IGT. I think it’s particularly special as it demonstrates the partnership and support we’ve shown our customers during what’s been a very tough time” - Mark MacCombie, SVP Sales – EMEA, IGT

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FEATURES

GGA LONDON 2021 don

2021

Lead partner

ONLINE CASINO SUPPLIER The winner of the Online Casino Supplier Award was Evolution, which means the company has now claimed this title for three years in a row. Recent years have proven to be quite successful for the supplier, as last year its casino platform had more players than ever.

In its 2021 Interim Report, the company showed that its live casino business had a year-over-year growth of 60% in the first quarter.

Coming in second place was Yggdrasil Gaming. Just behind it was Pragmatic Play; despite the company dedicating a newly built art gaming studio for its live casino products, the brand was unable to clinch top spot. It also recently announced a deal with Betplay in Colombia to open its live casino games in a new jurisdiction.

The rest of the nominees included several big names that were outside of the top three, like Pariplay, Relax Gaming, Play’N GO, Lightning Box Games, Big Time Gaming, Kalamba Games and Habanero.

Sponsored by

EVOLUTION Runner Up - Yggdrasil Gaming Third - Pragmatic Play

SHORTLIST

Evolution Yggdrasil Gaming Pragmatic Play Pariplay Play’N GO Relax Gaming Lightning Box Games Big Time Gaming Kalamba Games Habanero

“We are delighted winning the category. We’ve been going for 15 years and you get just more nervous every year, so we’re super thrilled” - Fredrik Bjurle, Director of Products, Evolution

CASINO PRODUCT

“Red Tiger has become a bit of a powerhouse, making 40-50 games a year. It’s high pace and what we’ve done this year is tried to leverage our different brands” - Fredrik Bjurle, Director of Products, Evolution

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The Casino Product of the Year was Red Tiger’s Gonzo’s Quest MegaWays; it seems the collaboration with NetEnt has paid off for Red Tiger. Gonzo’s Quest Megaways is one of NetEnt’s best-ever performers and the video slot was the first to use avalanche symbols in place of a conventional reel.

The Runner Up was Playtech’s Adventures Beyond Wonderland, the game was launched in 2020 and offered a unique concept in live casino gaming.

Meanwhile, in third place was BetGames.

TV’s War of Bets, the game is quick and efficient; it can display 25 different outcomes each 60 seconds.

Making up the rest of the Shortlist were games from Relax Gaming, Lightning Box Games, IGT PlayDigital, Zitro, BGaming, Panthera and Scientific Games.

Sponsored by

RED TIGER– GONZO’S QUEST MEGAWAYS Runner Up - Playtech – Adventures Beyond Wonderland Third - BetGames.TV – War of Bets

SHORTLIST Red Tiger – Gonzo’s Quest MegaWays Playtech – Adventures Beyond Wonderland BetGames.TV – War of Bets Relax Gaming - Money Train 2 Lightning Box Games - Chicken Fox5x Skillstar IGT PlayDigital - Fortune Coin Zitro - 88 Link Wild Duels BGaming - Fruit Million Novomatic – Panthera Scientific Games - Money Link series

GGA LONDON 2021 ndon

FEATURES

2021

Lead partner

PAYMENT SOLUTION The winner in the Payment Solution category was Trustly, the Swedish fintech business that launched the industry’s first cashless deposit and withdrawal system. The company offers its services to industries like e-commerce, financial services, travel and iGaming.

What sets it apart from the rest is the ability to handle the entire payment journey for merchants across the globe.

In second place was Paysafe, a veteran in comparison to others as it has been around since 1996. By working within the industry for more than 20 years, Paysafe is a trusted option which is reflected by its deals with big brands like Microsoft and Google.

Taking third spot was Nuvei; recently the company has been making moves within the gaming industry by gaining approval to process sports betting and Igaming payments in Michigan, joining the Canadian Gaming Assocation and acquiring the US-focused Mazooma. With the North American market continuing to grow rapidly, who knows what the future holds for Nuvei?

The rest of the Shortlist included IGTPay,

SERVICES PROVIDER

The Servies Provider of 2021 was Sportradar; the multinational business is an industry leader in collecting and analysing sports data. The company has more than 7,000 data journalists, 250 IT experts and 1,000 clients.

“This Award consolidates another 12 months of really hard work by the global Trustly team. Thanks to Global Gaming Awards London 2021, Gambling Insider, KPMG, all the CEOs and the gamers for making Trustly their first choice for secure payments" - The Trustly team

TRUSTLY Runner Up - Paysafe Third - Nuvei

SHORTLIST

Worldpay from FIS, AstroPay, BetWallet

by BetConstruct, ConnectPay, Passport Technology and GlobalNetInt.

Trustly Paysafe Nuvei IGTPay Worldpay from FIS AstroPay BetWallet by BetConstruct ConnectPay Passport Technology GlobalNetInt

“It’s one we’re extremely proud of. It’s certainly been an eventful time, and this is a great recognition of a lot of hard-working and talented people involved in this from Sportradar’s side” - Adam Azor, Global Head of Marketing, Sportradar It has also partnered with popular leagues and sporting brands across the world like the NBA, ITF, Nascar and FIFA, making it the ideal candidate to take the Award home.

The runner up was Fast Track; even though the company is a well-known name within the industry, having partnerships with Kindred and Gaming Innovation Group, the brand was unable to take top spot off Sportradar.

In third place was Continent 8 Technologies; the company has been around for more than 20 years and has grown to create a global network with data centres and strategic points of presence in four continents.

The rest of the Shortlist included Omega Systems, CSB Group, Enteractive, Internet Vikings, Bayes Esports, VAIX and Wiggin.

SPORTRADAR Runner Up - Fast Track Third - Continent 8 Technologies

SHORTLIST

Sportradar Fast Track Continent 8 Technologies Omega Systems CSB Group Enteractive Internet Vikings Bayes Esports VAIX Wiggin

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GGA LONDON 2021 don

2021

Lead partner

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Sponsored by

the first 30 days, with an RTP of 96.09%.

Microgaming spun straight into second place as a runner up with the progressive jackpot WowPot, which has already awarded a total of $23.6m with 880,000 jackpots. On average it has paid £13,389 ($18,480) per win and is won every three weeks. Last but not least; Greentube’s 12 years of business and over 400

NetEnt swooped up the newest category at the Global Gaming Awards; Product Launch of the Year. Similarly to the innovation of the launch, Divine Fortune Megaways' ancient hero and mythical monster theme has been one of the supplier's top game launches in terms of gross revenue and turnover within

“Old games never die and in this case we had old games in a new format. We’ve combined great games with new features that bring them back to life again” - Fredrik Bjurle, Director of Products, Evolution popular games proved to be a success, as its launch of Dusk Till Dawn 10 took third place with its 100-win line gameplay proving to be a success with players, especially resonating with the UK and Germany. Also nominated for

NETENT – DIVINE FORTUNE MEGAWAYS Runner Up - Microgaming – WowPot Third - Greentube – From Dusk Till Dawn 10

SHORTLIST

NetEnt – Divine Fortune MegaWays Microgaming – WowPot Greentube – From Dusk Till Dawn 10 WorldMatch - Candy Bar SoftSwiss - Sportsbook Microgaming - WowPot Greentube - From Dusk Till Dawn 10 Connective Games - Poker Tournament Live Stream Swintt - SwinttLive Gaming Group - Esports NSoft - Virtual Penalty Shootout TCSJOHNHUXLEY - Chipper Champ UV The Product Launch of the Year were; WorldMatch, SoftSwiss, Connective Games, Swintt, Gaming Group, NSoft and TCSJOHNHUXLEY.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Sponsored by

BET365 PARTNERS Runner Up - Kindred Affiliates Third - Betsson Group Affiliates

SHORTLIST

Kindred Affiliates bet365 Partners LeoVegas Affiliates 7Stars Partners PlayAttack Betsson Group Affiliates Campeón Gaming Partners 1xBet Affiliates Hollywood Bets Affiliates ActiveWins

“On behalf of the whole business, we want to say a special mention to the whole team involved in the bet365 Partners rebrand. We’ve always placed a lot of importance on the industry recognition and we’re delighted to receive the acknowledgement for the continued efforts” - Neil Fairweather, Head of Performance Marketing, bet365

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Can anyone knock bet365 off the top spot for the Affiliate Program Award? The answer is, not this year! Once again the online sports betting company stole the show, for the fourth time running since 2018.

Coming in at a very worthy second place was one of Europe’s most trusted brands; Kindred Affiliates. With one of the highest conversion rates in the business and up to a 40% revenue share with no negative carry over, the iGaming affiliate program stands proud as runner up for the Award.

Another affiliate program that enjoyed success was Betsson Group Affiliates. With years of experience in responsible gambling, the exclusive online program took the core of its traditional business and rivalled in third place for the Affiliate Program Award.

Other nominees included: LeoVegas, 7Stars, PlayAttack, Campeón Gaming Partners, 1xBet Affiliates, Active Wins and Hollywood Bets Affiliates.

GGA LONDON 2021 don

FEATURES

2021

Lead partner

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Sponsored by

“It’s really great to win this Award. Many thanks for organising this great event, thanks to the sponsors and the wise Judges. And of course a big shout out to all the Kindred staff who went the extra mile” - Anne-Jaap Snijders, CCO, Kindred Group KINDRED GROUP Given the risks that are associated with gambling, social responsibility plays a huge factor in maintaining responsible gaming.

This year, the Social Responsibility Award was given to one of the largest gambling companies worldwide; Kindred Group, which aims for 0% revenue from harmful gambling by 2023. Previous winner in this category, Mr Green, took a step down and claimed its place as runner up with the Green Gaming Predictive Tool; a tool using an algorithm analyses a player's gaming pattern determining any negative

PER JALDUNG – CASINO COSMOPOL Runner Up - Jesper Svensson – Betsson Group Joint Third - Martin Carlesund - Evolution and Peter Jackson - Flutter Entertainment A chief executive indicates leadership and leadership is the authoritative band that holds an organisation together. Senior management plays a huge part in the evolution of any gaming company and over the past year during the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, leadership, knowledge and experienced management has been crucial. The winner of this year's Chief Executive Award went to Casino Cosmopol CEO and Chairman of the

gaming behaviours or potential signs.

Great.com landed third place with the mission to redefine the gambling industry while supporting global climate change using effective altruism. With 100% of the online casino affiliate's revenue donated to environmental charities, and hopes for expansion in 2021, it affirmed a rightful spot for the Social Responsibility Award.

Other nominees for this Award were; IGT, BBIN, Hippodrome Casino, Casino de Monte-Carlo, Global Players Network, Bojoko and NetBet.

Runner up - Mr Green Third - Great.com

SHORTLIST

Great.com Kindred Group IGT BBIN Hippodrome Casino Mr Green Casino de Monte-Carlo Global Players Network Bojoko NetBet

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

SHORTLIST

Sponsored by

Jesper Svensson (Betsson Group) Renato Ascoli (IGT) Gustaf Hagman (LeoVegas Group) Martin Carlesund (Evolution) Jordan Levin (SG Digital) Robert Chvatal (Sazka Group) Stephane Pallez (FDJ) Mark Locke (Genius Sports) Itai Pazner (888 Holdings) Henrik Tjärnström (Kindred Group) Richard Brown (GiG) Jesper Søgaard (Better Collective) Per Jaldung (Casino Cosmopol) Ebbe Groes (EveryMatrix) Tjaša Luin Peric (Alfastreet) Kristian Nylén (Kambi) Mor Weizer (Playtech) Nik Robinson (Big Time Gaming) Tsachi Maimon (Aspire Global) Peter Causley (Lightning Box Games) Carsten Koerl (Sportradar) Vigen Badalyan (BetConstruct) Peter Jackson (Flutter Entertainment) Dmitry Starostenkov (EvenBet Gaming) Fredrik Elmqvist (Yggdrasil)

“It’s an honour to win this category, for sure. I’m a bit surprised but very thankful and grateful to the Judges, and whoever nominated me. It’s a great Award and I’m very thankful” - Per Jaldung, CEO, Casino Cosmopol European Casino Association, Per Jaldung. With 13 years' industry experience, starting in 2002 as Secretary Manager of Casino Cosmopol Stockholm, he reigns in first place in the industry with his respected orchestration and influence alongside his initiatives in responsible gambling and social responsibility of the sector. Runner up was Betsson Group CEO Jesper Svensson, an integral member of the gaming industry; leading Betsson Group for over three and a half years, following four years with Betsson Malta. The last place for the Chief Executive category was a shared affair as Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund and Peter Jackson, CEO of Flutter Entertainment, took joint third.

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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COVER FEATURE

FEATURES

THE SWEDISH INVASION With the help of industry analysts, Tim Poole provides a deep dive into the international success of Swedish gambling firms. Why Sweden? What makes Swedish companies tick? How have they scaled such heights and what does the future hold for them? biggest Swedish names are progressing to a similar stature within our industry.

They are perhaps not there yet but, as regulated markets like that of the US and Latin America heat up, Swedish expansion is continual in gambling. The region’s gaming history is, of course, already extremely rich – with the Gambling Insider office once being sent a whole book dedicated to the topic. But as the years go by, Swedish firms are truly making their mark on an international scale.

Comparably, the domestic Swedish market has been very much on the wane since is re-regulation in 2019; even the Swedish Government is in chaos right now.

So why is it that Swedish firms at the same time continue to gain so much market share around the globe? Gambling Insider decided to channel its inner Wallander, investigating how and why. You can call them the Vikings of gaming, if you will; and given their achievements in gaming to this point, it’s already a case of how far they can go – and whether they can end up dominating online gambling.

Christian Hellman Look through Swedish history, and certain iconic names and concepts are bound to come to mind. Museums and history books are filled with Vikings. In pop culture, Abba is synonymous with Swedish music.

In industry, Sweden is famous for its labour policies – where social benefits to employees are considered among the most generous in the world. And in retail, anyone outside Sweden will immediately think of Ikea.

Like ‘Googling’ something, this Swedish brand is so powerful a furniture shopper will think of ‘going to Ikea’ before ‘going to buy furniture.’

As the modern online gambling market develops further and further, however, we are morphing into a stage where the

THE ONES TO WATCH For an independent view of Sweden’s finest gaming exports, we sought analysis from representatives who do not work for any of these firms. Our first contributor, Christian Hellman, is CEO of investment company Estrada, and has analysed Swedish gaming for several years. When Gambling Insider asks him which brands stand out, he responds: “They are all successes already in their own right, I would say; but looking ahead I think that as competition heats up internationally the Nordic names need to step up and bring something unique to the table. Evolution is obviously doing that and there is no reason to believe its innovation pace will grind to a halt anytime soon.

CPO Todd Haushalter is certainly at the top of his game right now.”

But Hellman is keen to single out two further brands, one provider and one operator: “Kambi is a top-class supplier as its clients continue to dominate in local marketplaces, both in the Nordics and elsewhere such as the US. Long term, I believe the Nordic suppliers, perhaps more so than the operators, have a very long runway of growth ahead of them; and perhaps that runway comes at a lower incremental cost. That said, I am very impressed by Kindred Group’s performance in the US; it surely is one of the best operators on a worldwide scale.”

The Q1 2021 performance of all three highlights the substantial progress the trio are making. Evolution’s is such we will revisit it later – with a section dedicated purely to the live casino supplier and acquirer of NetEnt and Big Time Gaming.

A look at Kambi’s, though, is still extremely impressive, given the fact a few doomsday predictions surfaced when DraftKings bought rival supplier SBTech. Kambi was previously a chief partner of DraftKings’ in the US, yet lost that business when the operator decided to become a public corporation, acquiring its own technology stack via SBTech. Despite this, Kambi grew its Q1 2021 revenue by 55% year-on-year to €43.2m ($52.2m).

Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic – and subsequent lockdowns that forced many consumers to pursue digital forms of entertainment, and thereby saw online gambling surge – is a factor that has immensely benefited online gaming firms the world across. Those hailing from Sweden can certainly see this as an acceleration of an already apparent trend.

Kindred’s Q1 revenue was up 41%, to £352.6m ($489.2m), while fellow Nordic brand Betsson Group reported SEK 1.59bn ($190.2m) in Q1 revenue, a 12% rise. Staying on the operator side, Gustaf Hagman’s LeoVegas

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recently signed a huge US-facing deal with Caesars Entertainment, having generated €96.7m in Q1 revenue, an 8% increase.

It then claimed its fourth Online Casino of the Year Award at the Global Gaming Awards London. Four out of four.

Away from the operator side, examples of Swedish triumphs can be found across the industry, with supplier NetEnt performing so well Evolution simply purchased its live casino rival. Outside of live casino, though, NetEnt’s slots continue to perform excellently, while the company’s purchase of Red Tiger Gaming in September 2019 proved a masterstroke. To this day, Red Tiger’s games are flying off the shelves, so to speak, now backed by Evolution’s resources on a wider scale. Look to affiliates, meanwhile, and you will see market-leading organisations such as Catena Media and Better Collective.

Online gaming and Sweden appear to be a match made in heaven.

THE EVOLUTION OF SWEDISH GAMING As promised, the size and success of Evolution warrants a whole section of its own. For Q1 2021, the industry giant’s revenue shot up by 105% to €235.8m, while operating profit was up 147% to €141.6m. EBITDA rose to €160.1m, up 150%.

And it is Evolution’s speed of growth that has characterised its rise more than anything.

For context, the company’s Q1 2019 revenue was only €79.3m – yet it was already on a high-growth trajectory, as even this represented a 54% increase. With its acquisition of NetEnt and planned purchase of Big Time Gaming adding further to the pile, Evolution’s share price sat at SEK 1,578 in early June 2021; the June prior, it was SEK 593.20; a year before that, it was just SEK 190.20.

This success has led to three Evolution-owned brands (one of which was the Evolution brand itself) winning Global Gaming Awards at the 2021 London ceremony.

Many internationally have wondered what exactly Evolution is doing to set it apart to such an extent. What is its secret?

When Gambling Insider puts the question to Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary General of Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS – the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling ), he concedes: “I wish I had the recipe to the secret sauce, but I don't.”

Looking from the outside in, it’s difficult to overstate how successful Evolution has been in terms of company efficiency and, quite simply, the quality of its product.

Countless companies will say they have a market-leading offering, while several can genuinely back this claim up to some degree. But no one can do so quite at the same level as Evolution.

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“I believe it's the employees and the culture,” Hellman muses. “I have met people from the entire organisation at numerous occasions over the last six years, even before the IPO [in March 2015], and everyone really enjoys working at Evolution, from the croupiers up to the CPO and CEO. I must really give it to Jens [Von Bahr], Fredrik [Österberg] and Richard [Hadida], the Founders of Evolution, as they have created not only a great working environment but also a winning mentality. What sets Evolution

“There is no reason to believe Evolution's innovation pace will grind to a halt anytime soon. CPO Todd Haushalter is at the top of his game right now” - Christian Hellman apart is that they are not competing with anyone else but with themselves – they are constantly trying to better themselves and become a little bit better than they were yesterday. It’s fantastic to see.”

It is additionally worth noting that what Evolution has done exceptionally well is ensure players must click onto the Evolution lobby, even when on an operator's site.

A RICH HERITAGE Whether it’s Evolution, Better Collective or another innovative Swedish supplier in Yggdrasil, it’s clear Swedish gaming firms have not just built such an international position out of thin air. Any competing nations wanting to replicate this must look to Sweden’s rich history in gaming – and in fact more broadly. According to Hoffstedt, it is “important to emphasise gambling is only part of the success story.”

He adds that skilled employees in Sweden have been able to choose between not only gambling firms but also companies with related activities, such as payments services (Trustly – heavily involved in gambling – and Klarna), video gaming (Minecraft’s Mojang) and music streaming (Spotify).

“Success breeds success,” Hoffstedt beams.

“Those who have already reached success invest their capital in new talents. In terms of share of GDP invested in venture capital,

Sweden is only behind Luxembourg within the EU, according to consultancy firm Copenhagen Economics. And Stockholm, with its 0.8 unicorns – i.e. start-up company with a value of at least $1bn – per 100,000 inhabitants, is globally only behind the San Francisco Bay Area with its 1.4 unicorns per 100,000 inhabitants.”

While Sweden’s population may perceive its own country as small, in reality the country is one of a dozen EU members with a population of at least 10 million.

But Hoffstedt believes this perception of a lack of size has created several beneficial characteristics for the Swedish people – and its businesses. He explains: 1. First, there are no free lunches.

Sweden has no self-written command height, but every position must be fought for.

2. Secondly, Swedes believe, as previously mentioned, that Sweden is far too small.

International scalability is therefore a must from day one.

3. Thirdly, Sweden has a consistently low degree of hierarchy in Swedish society, which benefits job satisfaction, meaning everyone's ideas are taken advantage of.

4. Fourth, access to qualified employee skills. The most common professional category in the Stockholm region is not a nurse or a teacher – but a programmer.

PIONEERS OF THE MARKET While the mantra of Swedish business as a collective has become well established over the years, there have naturally been key individuals along the way who have elevated Swedish gaming. When you think of great art, you immediately think of Pablo Picasso and Leonardo Da Vinci; when you think of great music, you think of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Johann Sebastian Bach. The same concept can be applied to anything from sport and cinema to large-scale business – Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk etc.

Though this will apply on a smaller scale here, Swedish gaming equally has its own forefathers and role models, according to Hellman.

“Sweden was fast to adopt the internet and in general the Swedish people enjoy tech and are curious about new inventions,” the Estrada CEO tells Gambling Insider.

“Sweden has created fantastic companies in other fields because of this; such as Klarna, Spotify and Trustly. That said I must give credit to Anders Ström and Pontus Lindwall, just to mention two people (there are of course more), that helped pioneer this market and have helped pave the way for others. It’s all about role models, and Anders and Pontus have been that for many I believe.”

Ström founded both Kindred and Kambi, and remains on the board of Kambi today.

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Lindwall, meanwhile, is President and CEO of Betsson AB, but perhaps more importantly founded NetEnt in 1996.

Alongside this influential duo, there are swathes of Swedish entrepreneurs that helped form the gaming market in its current form. These include the aforementioned Founders of Evolution, LeoVegas Founder and CEO Hagman, Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Therese Hillman, former NetEnt CEO, Erik Bergman, Founder of Catena Media, Jesper Kärrbrink, former CEO of Mr Green, Kambi CEO Kristian Nylén, Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund, Haushalter and many, many more. Here, the will of the individual has truly helped fuel the progress of the collective.

THE US OUTLOOK Swedish growth to date has left both Hellman and Hoffstedt confident of high performance in a pivotal region within gambling: the US. Online gaming is only just opening up across North America, and sports betting has either been or is being legalised across dozens of states since the overturning of PASPA in June 2018. At this early time, Swedish firms have built themselves a solid base from which to wrestle US market share.

Global competition is stiff, with mammoth operators such as MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, Flutter Entertainment and Entain in the mix, and suppliers like Scientific Games, IGT and others already holding a strong foothold in the US. But recent launches for Betsson and LeoVegas have continued a trend of Swedish entries into key US states. Kambi, Kindred and Evolution, meanwhile, have already built strong positions in North America. Asked if he can envisage Swedish firms competing at the highest level in the US long term, Hellman responds: “Certainly I can. Just as Volvo is a top brand in the US and globally, as is Ericsson and Ikea – and now also Spotify and Klarna. It’s about the product and not where it comes from – and Evolution, Kambi and Kindred bring a top product.”

He reiterates: “If consumers like the product, and they do, they don't care where it's from.”

Hoffstedt draws a similar conclusion, noting that Swedish gambling companies are signing new business agreements in the US “almost daily.” The BOS Secretary General observes that cooperation with US domestic companies is the main strategy moving forward. “Whether Evolution, Kambi, Kindred, LeoVegas or any other Swedish gambling company will be as successful in the US as other Swedish enterprises such

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Gustaf Hoffstedt as Spotify remains to be seen, but there is a tradition in Sweden to lean against; USA is Sweden's third-most important trading partner measured in export value.”

CLOSER TO HOME It is perhaps with some irony, then, that any conversation about Sweden’s domestic gambling market leads down a totally different path. For all the worldwide strength of the Evolutions, Kambis, Kindreds and Betssons, the comparative struggles of the regulated market in Sweden itself have been well documented. Hoffstedt has been one of the foremost critics of what he sees as excessive Government intervention since re-regulation in 2019.

Previously within the pages of Gambling Insider, he has lamented the role of the regulator, a lack of dialogue between regulator and operators, and questioned the regulator’s treatment of state-owned brands Svenska Spel and Casino Cosmopol.

Responsible gambling proponents, along with anti-gambling critics, may hold up the Swedish Gambling Authority as the archetypal regulator – one that takes a firm line against any wrongdoing.

However, from an investor’s point of view, this has so far translated to a shrinking of the market and even a deterrent to gaining a Swedish licence. It has prompted what Hoffstedt believes would be a “sense of sadness” from Swedish corporations

excelling internationally. He explains: “Everyone in Sweden can note how representatives of the Government travel around the world to promote the export of military equipment, that our Government since the end of the 1990s awards a music export prize and that the Government repeatedly highlights the Swedish gaming industry as an international success story – nota bene: gaming, not gambling.

The actions of a Government are important.

In addition to opening to international business, positive recognition from the Government creates pride in the industry.

There is significant potential for improvement here, for any minister who breaks the Government’s hitherto taboo and dares to highlight gambling and its important contribution to Sweden.”

Additional uncertainty in Sweden now stems from the fact its Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, became the first PM in the country's history to lose a vote of no confidence. He subsequently resigned.

And yet dwindling gross gaming revenue in Sweden may actually act as the final sign of how far Sweden’s biggest gambling companies have come. As Hellman concludes, the Swedish market has been “tough” since re-regulation – but it is no longer that much of a focus for its highest-achieving exports. “It's a small source of revenues for the names mentioned in this article,” he says. “It's the market where these companies come from but in terms of group revenue, it's rather small nowadays.” Even if the Swedish domestic market was f lying, therefore, it might have only been a dot on the radar for its top graduates. Swedish expansion has been such that gambling revenue now comes from all over Europe and is beginning to pour in from both the US and Latin America.

Where next for Swedish gambling, considering the heights it has already scaled? Evolution, Kindred, Kambi, Betsson, LeoVegas, Yggdrasil, Better Collective, Catena Media and the nation’s other success stories are unlikely to rest on their laurels. Besides, given the competition across some of Europe’s more mature markets, and f ledgling online gambling marketplaces like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, they simply wouldn’t be able to without falling behind. Much like the staggering growth of Evolution’s share price in recent years, Swedish gambling’s stock is only likely to get higher. How high will likely depend on market penetration in the US; but a steady foundation has already been built on American soil – supported by a smorgasbord of online gambling growth worldwide.

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THE HUDDLE

A local marketplace Gambling Insider provides a recap of our recent payments-themed GI Huddle interviews. First up is Nuvei’s Chief Corporate Development Officer, Neil Erlick

Can you give us an insight into Nuvei’s history and what you do as an organisation?

Nuvei is a large, global payment technology company. We operate in over 200 markets around the world and offer over 455 alternative payment types, and 150 currencies. We recently launched 40 additional cryptocurrencies. And really our goal is to make the world a local marketplace. We do that by connecting our customers with their customers, allowing them to pay and get paid anywhere they are around the world – in a timely manner and obviously in a very safe environment.

market – Covid has expedited the process but we don’t see it coming and going as in other industries. If you look at people now buying their groceries online, some of them will probably go back to the stores once they open up. But if you look at people doing their workouts, are they going to go back to the gym or continue working out digitally? In gaming, specifically in North America you’ve seen an acceleration of states opening as they need those tax dollars. And casinos have had no choice but to move to a cashless option, so we’ve definitely seen an increase.

You’ve personally got a wealth of experience in the payments sector. What does your role with Nuvei cover?

I always sound old when I say this but I’ve been in the industry for close to 21 years now. I’ve definitely seen a lot – the evolution of digital payments. My role is I’m the Chief Corporate Development Officer, I oversee all of our strategic partnerships and work very closely on our M&A and strategy.

Given my experience in gaming, I set up the infrastructure and the strategy as it relates to our North American initiative.

Do you see this as more of a permanent shift to cashless?

I do. There’s obviously tremendous momentum.

If you look around the world, our business is global and it continues to grow globally.

I thought it was incredible to hear that gaming revenues in Nevada for March and April were the highest that they’ve been since 2013. I think

Looking at payments in gaming specifically, what trends have you witnessed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?

As a whole, we didn’t see the same blip a lot of companies did with Covid. If you look at the industries we operate in, gaming being one, they always have three main criteria in terms of where we focus. It’s an industry that has inherent growth and tailwinds, it has longevity and it has the propensity to operate globally. So when you look at that, the industries we’ve been in, we started seeing growth before the pandemic.

Specifically relating to gaming, the progress has continued. An area we’ve seen an increase in is the cashless aspect in brick-and-mortar.

But really we look at the total addressable

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this is just the beginning; people are hungry for entertainment as it’s been a tough year for millions of people around the world. So this is an acceleration, I don’t think it’s going anywhere; we’re very bullish on the gaming industry. We’ve been working in gaming for close to 15 years and we think it’s only going to continue to grow.

Can you talk us through Nuvei’s M&A strategy?

Our goal is to provide the operator with any way that the consumer wants to pay and get paid. We want to give them that ability, not just in the US but globally. We look at three things when we’re doing M&A: does it help us from a product capability standpoint? Does it help us enter new territories around the world? And is there an opportunity for scale or something that’s transformational? As examples, we’re very, very excited with our recent acquisitions of Simplex and Mazooma.

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THE HUDDLE

Client-focused In the second of our series of payments-themed GI Huddles, Gambling Insider spoke to VallettaPay Founder & CEO, David Zammit Can you tell us about your role and what VallettaPay is about as a company?

I started working as an accountant way back at the age of 17, working at Deloitte. After that, I graduated as an accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants at the age of 21. I spent the following 15 years working as an accountant, gaining invaluable experience from different industries. Later on, I was approached by a friend of mine who was working on a project. After a couple of months, we realised we had good synergies working together and we thought it would be a good idea to do something together. This is how VallettaPay started way back in 2016. I am the CEO and focus most of my energy on business development, human resources and also strategic planning.

What would you say you learned the most during your time as an accountant?

First of all, it was a good experience for me because I didn’t have the opportunity to experience business firsthand. As an accountant, you can get a lot of information about the business itself, and the financials. I was always interested to learn more about different challenges faced by different businesses. One of the main problems I encountered was the debtor book. You will find a number of companies having to collect a lot of money from others, which has a direct impact on cash flow.

The other big lesson I got was funding. Funding is always a big challenge when you have an idea and want to make it commercially viable; funding plays a very important part in this process.

Could you walk us through your journey from founding VallettaPay in 2016 to today?

Yes, VallettaPay was founded by myself and my good childhood friend, Colin Jones. Like many other start-ups, we had to invest most of our savings to employ the first six people.

We had to spare some money for laptops and other equipment, as well. Originally, we started as a card processing company, so we had a payment gateway that was connected to a number of acquiring banks. Our clients would be selling products or services online; we would

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connect them to our gateway and the clients would process mainly Visa and Mastercard products. The acquiring bank would then make the settlement to the online merchant. So our background was always related to companies that sell products and services online.

We were lucky to break even in the first months of our existence, and this gave us the courage and opportunity to focus on our product, ensuring we offer a better product, and it was working well. Except for the fact we had a number of clients that had funds sitting at acquiring banks, and were facing difficulty to receive these funds because of the general problem arising from the banking industry.

So we had a number of banks that did not understand or were not willing to open accounts for clients selling products and services online.

We thought this was our opportunity to tap into this particular market. Colin had a good connection with a financial institution and we thought it would be a good idea to partner with

this institution, which would complement our product offering. This is how it all started and how we shifted from card processing to banking.

Moving forward, we understand you prefer to work with niche clients in niche sectors, rather than a more general, overarching approach. Can you tell us more about exactly what this strategy means?

The online industry is quite big. But it is serviced by a number of banks and institutions.

We understand this very well, so strategically it was always important for us to grow organically.

This means good clients and clients who fall within our risk appetite. Also, we always wanted to compete on the service. To compete on the service, you need to have a limited number of clients. You cannot offer the product to everybody, because otherwise the quality of the service will start to deteriorate. So it was natural for us to remain focused on clients that have good volumes and good history.

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THE HUDDLE

Payments are personal In the final interview of our payments-themed GI Huddle recap, Gambling Insider interviews Neosurf CCO Andrea McGeachin

The floor is yours for an introduction into Neosurf and what the company does.

Neosurf have been around since 2004, in the same space as paysafecard and what was Ukash.

A number of us in the team here used to be at Ukash, including myself. Our own payment method is an alternative payment method,

in the gambling industry’s terminology.

Local payment is something people use more now, which I’d much prefer. We produce prepaid vouchers essentially but we have our own technology and we’re across 58 countries. We reach customers that want to use Neosurf securely or even hiding – in a legitimate manner, not an illegal one – transactions of gambling on their bank account, sometimes from their spouses.

We also reach into areas across 38 countries in Africa, where banking isn’t that easy, and we connect to wallets. We reach a local payment method and we deliver that into a number of sectors – the gambling sector is a significant one for us.

I come from Ukash; in between Ukash and Neosurf, I worked in lending at Wonga.

At the end of 2015, Paysafe had bought and killed the brand Ukash. And Nicolas [Saubié], who is the President of the company, saw an opportunity and realised we needed to put some real effort behind the commercial side. So we brought in a few Ukash people and lots of others – the business has grown exponentially. We now have a team of about 30 people in the UK, people in the US and Israel; France is still our headquarters.

We’ve got people in Australia and we have a few offices in different countries, as well.

We’re a very, very strong team, getting out there pushing as the alternative to paysafecard, doing really well and enjoying ourselves.

Can you tell us about the work you do with the esports sector?

It’s interesting because we’re talking about gambling here but one of the sectors we’re growing in is games. We went into esports sponsorship and I can’t begin to tell you how much we’ve learnt. We started with a UK team that became a bit too expensive as it’s a premier team – Excel. In January 2020, we did a Neosurf Cup for League of Legends.

The December before that, I was introduced to what the esports arena is, at the League of

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Legends World Championship in Paris, and I was blown away with the enthusiasm and the quantity of people. We now sponsor teams called the Dire Wolves in Australia. That’s been an amazing success for us; they’ve got teams across different esports. We’re looking forward to the FIFAe World Cup that they’ll be taking part in. We’ve learned about the enthusiasm, the size of the audience, the involvement the audience gets. I now can follow a League of Legends battle but back in December I had no idea what I was watching! Then we’ve got the team K1CK, that’s got a Portuguese element with five different teams, and a League of Legends team in Poland. There is a growing crossover with esports and betting.

Payments are boring. We are a payments service but payments itself is boring.

The only way we can really improve and help our clients is by understanding how to convert.

So our payment mechanism has to be something that will convert into a deposit. By working with the esports side, it’s really helped us cross over to the gambling side in terms of understanding the consumer.

You’ve achieved growth in the area of cash payments. But this is an intriguing topic, because cashless is on the rise and a lot of commentators say cash is dead. What’s your take on this view, especially given the growth you’ve seen?

We’ve got some very interesting stats on it.

Cash, at the end of the day, was our core proposition. It’s true that in certain countries cashless and more digitised is taking over.

We’ve seen the growth go with that. We’ve seen a massive rise in online sales of our vouchers. We’ve done some data to analyse whether that is purely Covid-driven or whether it’s a pattern. You can see with gamers and the pattern of timing that it’s not just to do with Covid. Even in the UK, and France which is our first country, cash vouchers are still being bought. Whether people are using their cashless card in the

THE HUDDLE

convenience store during Covid, we haven’t got the full answer to that.

But in some countries cash is the only way.

Most of us who sit in this industry and talk about it live in a country where we’ve got a card that can be tapped. The other day I needed to tip someone and didn’t have any cash on me – it made me giggle considering the business we’re in. But there are other countries that aren’t like that, so cash is still important.

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We’re building our position in the US – some people say we’re late to the game but I say no, we wanted to wait and see how things panned out. Someone told me cash isn’t really important in the US – but I think that’s wrong. It costs you a dollar to breathe in New York.

I think PayNearMe are doing a really good service out there. We did a bit of research about prepaid cards – people are spending cash on gambling in America. But they’re going out

and buying a prepaid card and then using that to deposit. It triggered to me when DraftKings decided to go into getting a prepaid card. It is still important – cash isn’t disappearing.

However, there is a massive transition – about a third of our vouchers are issued digitally.

But cash definitely hasn’t died.

We certainly take your point about cash.

But you have mentioned the trend of growth in digital, so how do you compete in this space given the heavy competition?

We bring two things here. We have more and more strength within our own digital service, so participating with the online distributors has really supported our position. It’s also our use of our Myneosurf wallet, by making that the best user experience and really learning how to make sure the consumer is looked after. I keep saying this but payments are boring and you’ve just got to get it right. You’ve got a whole lot of regulations and a whole process to go through.

Less is more: simplicity.

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BIG QUESTION

How much potential would a regulated Indian market have?

Shir Kogan, Business Developer at Delasport

Shir Kogan

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To innately connect the current Indian market with sufficient regulation and then a working industry format will take substantial investment, both monetarily and ambitiously. Attracting strong business backing from established companies will be essential to bring forth a working addition to the industry.

The attraction that India presents as a market is the continued growth of its internet infrastructure, most notable is the rise in mobile use with tens of millions added yearly. This usage will expand at pace as only close to 50% of the populace is consistently accessing the web. Combined with the influx of young users projected to reach platforms globally, this makes a sustainable vast market forecast intuitive to all perspective interest.

Regulation has shown to highlight its great benefits of structure to already busy unregulated betting scenes, just as it will do for India. The market will see an ample change not only in taxation benefit to its nation, but briskly add to the cumulative expansion of the entire sports and casino sectors that currently exist in one form or another.

What this means for industry leaders will translate into how well their current technology can be applied to a heightened demand, in the initial output India will offer.

Covering target markets for the region is a challenge to perfect with the sheer amount of high to low-popularity leagues, hosted

events and general sport fanaticism seen in current trend speculations. The tech sector has seen a substantial rise in regulated sites that offer gaming for India, so an initial structure to procure will have a blanket template to apply in terms of player to platform interactional preference.

Connecting an eager player base to European and American-built products will see a gradual shift to mobile heavy and mobile-exclusive platforms being released.

With any newly regulated region we expect to see market share initially split between key providers heavily, and during its ongoing stabilisation to have fluctuation towards its lower percentile market holders continuously.

Carving a piece of the giant potential market will come easier to established brands engaging a targeted geographical approach, engaging the interest of advanced solutions and platforms refined for audience need. While the approach to the market has been a long-time discussion for the industry, new advancements that came about only recently should be abundant in giving even smaller providers a leg up on the competition.

Brands will and should look to apply the currently booming new verticals that peaked during the last few years with virtual sports, fantasy betting, casino technology and many others that have established a bigger foothold in player interest due to the current

BIG QUESTION

global adjustment.

Realising India’s market as a fully regulated working addition to our industry will be a swift process possible only through the adaptability of the initial approach from industry frontrunners. While market profitability is close to unheard of for the gaming industry, a large demographical boom and huge market variance will see evolution of service and product industry-wide within the first years.

With every new challenge the market will bring steady progress and a plethora of solutions will arise. This has held true for

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our entire history as an industry and, without a doubt, the Indian market will progress us further and faster into advancement than ever before. We have high expectations on every front for the regulated gaming scene that India will someday enter, and the opportunity will be abundant for all who seek to develop our technology and industry prestige to new heights through this grand challenge.

Shir Kogan is Business Developer at Delasport, with more than ten years of experience in sales and business development.

Ranjana Adhikari, Partner Media Entertainment & Gaming Industry, Mumbai, Induslaw

Ranjana Adhikari A recent study carried out by the Internet and Mobile Association of India throws light on some interesting developing facts in India. In the next couple of years, the estimated number of active internet users is pegged to around 900 million, with an astounding 96% consuming internet for entertainment. However, when you are trying to assess the potential of the Indian market, you need to appreciate not just the volumes, but also the demography and diversity it can offer. For instance, the male to female ratio of active internet users in urban India is nearly evenly poised at approximately 57:43 (and 58:42

in rural areas). What’s even more alluring is that the growth in the Indian rural market is clocking at 13% and there is plenty of room left for digital adoption in the years to come. While some of these may be commonplace in certain developed nations, when you view this against the larger realities of Indian society, including its illiteracy levels and a history of misogynistic practices, these numbers are refreshing and promising for any digital-age business.

India has intensely worked on improving digital infrastructure, including providing regulated and multiple digital payment options. A combination of cheap costs for data, improving infrastructure and a remarkably sizable internet-savvy population makes India a “must consider” destination for any gaming operator today. There is mammoth scope to offer a wide variety in gaming content given that, based on demographics like age, gender, state, community etc, there are still significant volumes in numbers, each having a different allure towards content.

For instance, there is a growing demand for vernacular gaming content in the non-metro regions in India, in particular.

Winzo, a leading social gaming platform, is a classic example of a successful Indian story capitalising on non-English vernacular content amongst its users.

But the elephant in the room we must discuss is that there is a growing volatility in government policy against online gaming; and despite the constant efforts of the industry, in the last 18

months, they have been hit by multiple legal “bullets”. The gaming laws in India are not central but state-wide. Inevitably, this has led to states taking different approaches for real money online gaming, ranging from strict bans to offering licences to online operators. The religious and motivated parts of the public have looked upon this as a moral vice and have filed plenty of public interest litigations, calling upon the state and centre to take action against the “offensive” gaming operators. This has unsettled the ambitious business plans for the industry and ridden it with uncertainty. Despite this, the industry has come together and has been resilient to fight for its legitimacy.

History will speak for itself that in any economy, by making something inaccessible, you inevitably increase the allure towards and demand for it. In India, the State of Telangana banned all forms of online gaming a few years ago. Recently, the state reported a massive illegal online gambling operation by a Chinese firm running into millions of Indian rupees (reportedly INR 1200 crore). Experts believe the Indian gaming industry is a sunrise industry with a couple of the companies like Dream 11 already a part of the unicorn club. If nurtured well through regulation, it has the opportunity of giving back to the economy by increasing investments, taxation revenues and creating employment. Gaming has the potential to spread its wings even beyond mainstream entertainment, with the use of gamification for causes like education, awareness building

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and social impact. An interesting example of this was a game called ‘Survive COVID’, developed by Chennai-based NGO Yein Udaan, where the game tried to make people in India understand the plight of migrants during lockdown.

While the industry has achieved much

through self-regulation, it needs the final stamp and tag of regulation to protect itself and thrive.

Undoubtedly, it will be in the best interests of the Indian economy to sit up and take notice of the value this industry can add to the future of Digital India.

Based in Mumbai, Ranjana Adhikari is a Partner - Media Entertainment & Gaming with the Technology Media & Telecom Practice group of IndusLaw, a multi-speciality Indian law firm with offices across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad. She has been inducted into the prestigious International Masters of Gaming Laws.

Invited as a regular speaker to a number of international conferences, she is also an author of many publications covering the Indian landscape. She has been ranked as a leading lawyer in Asia Pacific for Gaming Gambling by Chambers & Partners.

Sem Moioli, Group CEO, WeAreCasino

The iGaming market has been evolving over the years and creating its space across maps while supporting the global economy. More and more people are deriving motivation to join iGaming and increase their overall income by several folds. iGaming, more commonly known as online gambling, is a market spread over multiple continents; however, India is not a part of the list. iGaming is not recognised as a legal sport or market, considering the country faces various challenges concerning finances. Ironically, India is still a global contributor to the gambling market. If one were to look at numbers, one would observe how some statistics show that 40% of the internet users who gamble are Indians. It is witnessing an upward spiral of monetary growth to the extent that experts say it might surpass the United Kingdom in the number of gamblers per capita.

The industry blending various verticals from poker and roulette to sports betting and casino gambling, despite the restraints and surveillance of the Government, is flourishing. This in itself reflects the scope of iGaming in India. If the sector was to be legalised and regulated by the Government with proper organisation, India will not only be able to secure a mark in the global league but also boost its economy with structural guidelines and norms being instated. With the growing passion for sports and the reach of the internet expanding over time, it is expected to add to the numbers of online gambling in the coming years; some are bold enough to speculate that the figures, which were $1.1bn in 2019, will shoot up to nearly $3bn shortly.

Legally abandoning the iGaming industry is not only proving to be a regressive approach but also reflecting as an enormous setback to the country financially. Ethically establishing the iGaming market, lawfully implementing the structure and propagating fair treatment to all online gamblers is becoming a significant step for India to monetise henceforward. Ensuring safe online gambling and organising the sector as per

well-thought strategies will aid our country in laying the foundation of a profitable sector that is mutually beneficial to the players, as well as a much-needed push to the Indian economy.

With factors such as a huge population (the majority of them being the youth), free Wi-Fi hotspots, widespread access to the internet, the growing manufacturing of smartphones and the evolution of casinos that attract even the younger audience – the potential of the regulated Indian market is bound to skyrocket.

The emerging gambling startups, too, are looking forward to manifesting the highest potential of the country and setting a new scale for competitors in the field.

Regulating the market will help the country bank upon the rapidly sprouting market and simultaneously support the country's youth in setting up their businesses, thus contributing to campaigns such as "Vocal for Local."

People are eventually understanding the scope of the industry and stepping into it to increase their business profitability; however, the ban in the country is only acting as a restraint that disrupts the lucrative wave. States such as Sikkim have already legalised online sports gambling and opened doors to new opportunities, and the rest of the country awaits the nod of authorities to unleash its true potential in the iGaming market. It's about time we understand how regulation will help in setting up local gambling legislation and proper codes and charter, establishing an online gambling jurisdiction that will further lead to national economic expansion. Calibrating the risks and resolving the necessary concerns to set up a pre-approved structure will regulate the market and unbridle its chasmic potential.

Sem Moioli

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Sem Moioli is the Group CEO of WeAreCasino.With his multimedia expertise, Sem’s career spans online and interactive media projects for high-profile companies, as well as a series of online gaming and television projects across the globe. Today, he leads WeAreCasino towards providing the most comprehensive and optimal solutions to iGaming operations worldwide.

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BIG QUESTION

Martin Clarke, Director of Product, FIM

Martin Clarke

It’s no secret that the Indian economy has been having a hard time in recent years, so you don’t need to be an industry guru to recognise the enormous potential and benefits of regulating the gambling market in India. With a nation so fanatical about cricket, betting on the sport takes place in just about every neighbourhood in the country. However, as it stands, it’s all performed in an unregulated manner and away from the pockets of state bodies.

The perception that gambling is bad is a norm in many parts of the world. However, it’s far more compounded in India due to outdated laws and an underground network of gambling rings. Popular segments such as online poker, rummy and lotteries are still not governed by any dedicated law. Trust is a common problem.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though.

Smartphone usage is rapidly increasing, fantasy sports is growing in popularity and the emergence of esports is attracting younger crowds, in large numbers. Sound familiar?

It will be to every strategy team reading this article as this is exactly the demographic and cohort of customer they are targeting.

If India finally decides to set out a regulatory framework for gambling, the states, people and companies who choose to play there will flourish, in an area being dubbed the next sunrise sector.

It won’t all be plain sailing, though. Here’s a snapshot of how things could pan out: THE ECONOMY First and foremost, it will generate a new form of tax revenue for the state.

Schools, healthcare and travel, to name but a few, can expect heavy investment to develop their infrastructure. New jobs and careers will be forged, in areas such as marketing, design and technology, potentially spawning a second software and digital revolution for India.

Who knows, we may even see popular websites like CricBuzz, CricTracker or TOI replicate Spanish sports news outlet, Marca, which entered into the betting market back in 2012, shortly after Spain regulated online gambling.

THE OPERATOR Few would contest the conventional wisdom that knowing your customer is key to success in business. In India, sports bettors are unique to anywhere else on the globe. As a few high-profile and costly examples have proven in recent years, trying to shoehorn a generic one-size-fits-no-one product into every jurisdiction no longer works.

India will be no different.

Their fascination with binary betting

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enables betting exchanges like FIM to take advantage of regulation, along with other suppliers like CricTech, who are marrying customer data and sports modelling to produce state-of-the-art cricket products.

Those offering a truly localised and compliant proposition can reap the rewards.

THE CUSTOMER A fair criticism levelled at unregulated markets is the distinct lack of player protection. For a large part, gambling is not conducted in a fair and responsible way.

KYC and AML screenings go out the window, betting and loss limits are overlooked and the less said about customer monitoring the better!

It’s a rat race to grab as much cash as possible.

With state bodies working together with operators and other regulatory bodies, to define policy and procedures and impose rules of engagement, regulation plugs many problems riddling the unregulated market in India today; and provides a safer environment and higher protection for customers to play in.

Well thought out and well-executed journeys that immerse customers more deeply in the activity, in a responsible way, are finally making their way up product backlogs, with gambling organisations recognising that building and maintaining emotional loyalty with customers is key to retention. Other entertainment industries with a foothold in India are doing this today so it will be expected as a norm from customers if gambling regulation comes in. Those who create friction points for customers and detract from the quality of their experience will face an uphill battle to get them back.

To wrap things up, here are a few hard-hitting stats on the importance of engaging with customers in a responsible way: Across the UK and Europe, many organisations are reporting that 33% of those who engage with customer engagement initiatives around safer gambling go on to use a responsible gambling tool, and that 40% of their overall revenues are coming from customers who have a deposit limit in place.

Regulating the gambling market in India works for the economy, the operators and most importantly the people. Food for thought for the state bodies and all those watching on in anticipation.

Martin Clarke has over 30 years’ experience in gambling based roles and played a pivotal part in the successful launch and evolution of the Betfair Sportsbook. Today he works for FIM, a B2B Sports Betting platform provider, where he oversees all product, technology, marketing and strategic activities related to the business.

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PAUL SCULPHER

BACK TO THE GRIND Regular Gambling Insider contributor Paul Sculpher assesses the return of land-based casinos in the UK – but asks: is there a step change coming to table gaming pricing?

As I type, UK casinos have finally been given the green light to re-open on a somewhat limited basis, and casinos around the world are creaking into action at varying speeds, with some still completely closed, and some open without restrictions. The initial results are in for UK casinos at least, and seem to be reasonably consistent – pleasing early levels of business, generally with a slightly lower attendance than expected, but higher spend per visit.

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There’s cautious optimism, although in the unique situation we’re in, there is of course plenty of uncertainty as to what happens in the summer. Is the fabled huge pot of new household savings going to be partially diverted into drop boxes, or will it get spent on staycations, longed-for other nights out, or simply stashed in case of future life-changing events?

One thing that does seem to have popped up as a bit of a game changer is

consideration of price of play. For many years, UK operators have aspired to divert lower spenders (and, critically, slower spenders) in the direction of electronic gaming, both slots and more importantly (given we’re allowed unlimited numbers) onto electronic table games. Electronic Roulette is particularly key, given Roulette is the dominant table game in the UK. The gaming floor yield specialist’s dream is to get bigger players on the live

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PAUL SCULPHER

tables; receiving exceptional customer service in a nice, fast, three or four player game while the “I’ve got £50 ($70.62) and I want two hours’ entertainment from it” merchants are happy on the terminals, with a cocktail/coffee valet not too far away. The advantages of offering electronic play are obvious, with far lower annual cost per position, no sick days (well, that’s if your tech team are on the case) and, if you want to insist on it or are obliged to provide it, an easy route to 100% carded play.

The interesting element has evolved out of early lockdown restrictions, however.

In an environment where only three players were allowed per table, and in some cases social distancing plus restricted space meant operators couldn’t offer as many tables as usual, available playing positions were drastically reduced. As any A-level economics student can tell you, when demand remains constant but supply is restricted, price goes up – and in many cases that’s what happened. In the steady state pre-Covid, most operators were at least somewhat hesitant to go on the attack with minimum stakes, especially in a competitive landscape where most of your players are regulars; and can play down the road at your rival’s casino if they want, say, a £5 Blackjack game where you’ve jacked it to £10.

However, those decisions became a lot easier when you’ve got the excuse/reason that you only have 12 playing positions where you’d normally have 30, even to the extent of leaning on saying exactly that to players. “We’ve done it to help you get a seat” sounds a lot better than “we’ve done it because a £5 Blackjack game with five skilled players playing to 0.8% and ignoring the side bets – after 30% gaming duty, and running slow because we have to rely on trainee dealers – barely pays for the dealer and a piece of the other staff ’s hourly rates, and we’re not a charity”.

As a side note, I’m always surprised how heavily UK operators rely on spend per visit as a key metric when looking at individual player value, especially at the lower end. Modelling everything in granular detail is tough – even for the operators who use the top of the line yield management software (not much of which is really designed with UK-sized business in mind). However, there’s a key stat that I don’t really see anyone looking at, and that’s speed of play.

In a world where you’re mostly limited to 20 slots, and maybe now a lower than usual number of table gaming positions, how fast people play is just as important as how much they play. Obviously decisions

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Paul Sculpher

“Covid-19 and restrictions of available player positions, now exacerbated by lack of staff to operate them, may hurry operators down the line of catching up with other countries” per hour and stake per round are part of the theoretical win calculation, but that’s generally just used in terms of Average Daily Theo or theo per day/year – theo per hour as a measure of speed of loss is also important in a world of limited supply.

The truth is that, at busy periods, you really can’t afford to have someone taking up a valuable slot seat (and maybe now table seat) if they’re only playing 50p a spin, at a glacial pace. Seats are for gamers only!

Since re-opening in the UK there’s the additional incentive to trade players up the cost curve because, as predicted by many, staffing is an issue. A cursory look at LinkedIn or any operator’s website

will see them all hiring gaming staff, or trying to; and with plenty of staff having hoovered up furlough payments with no intention of returning to work (or returning to the country), the cupboard is pretty bare.

The normal route of laying on a ton of training schools will be tough too – the dearth of staff in all hospitality roles may well mean a rise in wages. And not too many 20-year-olds looking for a job will actively seek the one which needs six weeks of training and working through the night; rather than the bar or waiting job with a couple of days to get up to speed and knocking off nightly at 11pm.

The UK has always been relatively timid on pricing for table games. Part of this may be the neighbourhood-type style of many smaller sites. Using my not-particularly-scientific indexing method of comparing minimum Blackjack bet to price of a beer, in most UK casinos outside London you’ve always been able to get a game for around the price of a pint, often less.

There are plenty of countries where that wouldn’t be true, and while dealer wages in the UK are proportionately lower than many countries, it seems to me that a rebalancing is due.

The Covid-19 outbreak and restrictions of available player positions, now exacerbated by lack of staff to operate them, may hurry operators down the line of catching up with other countries – and making table gaming an option only for those prepared to level up their play.

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PROBLEM GAMBLING

GAMBLING'S FORGOTTEN RESPONSIBILITY Anders Bergman, Founder of QuitGamble.com, asks why there is so much focus on the responsibility of operators – yet so little emphasis on the responsibility of game developers

Anders Bergman In 2021, we've seen casino after casino getting fined for “not caring enough” about the regulations regarding responsible gambling.

But haven’t we forgotten the responsibility of one part of the gambling industry?

If gambling is addictive, then isn’t it the games that are addictive? So why is nobody talking about the responsibility of game developers?

How do you build a successful game?

I don’t claim to be an expert, but here are three elements I’d incorporate: 1. Very near wins 2. Creating visual illusions 3. Using false wins Let me explain these elements further.

Have you ever bought a scratch ticket? I’ve done it many times, and I’ve been so close to winning millions (or was I?) yet I’ve never won. Statistically, I should have won. But the game is designed so it looks like I am close to winning. For example, I needed three icons to win a million, and I got multiple twos.

Developers have taken “very near wins” to the next level on slot machines by adding sound effects. To make it extra effective,

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they use the same sound effect as when a person actually wins.

Another way to add excitement to a game is the use of visual illusions. Jackpot wheels are a typical example. The player has reached the jackpot wheel and, visually, there is a 1:20 chance to win. But that’s not the case. In reality, the game is rigged, so the real chance of winning is perhaps 1:1,000,000.

Players quickly get bored when they don't win. To solve that problem, developers can add "false wins." What is a false win? Let's say you bet €5 ($6.12) and win €2. The screen is blinking, and remember the sound effects?

Yes, those are also at full effect, screaming to the player 'YOU WON!' Some might call that a win, but I don’t, and if anybody wants to exchange a €5 bill with me for a €2 coin, let me know.

These elements create excitement, and the players have fun. So what is the problem?

One problem games exploit is that our brain can’t separate wins and near wins.

The dopamine rush is not created by the win.

Instead, it’s the excitement leading up to the win. If the build-up ends in a loss, it does not

matter. Using near wins, visual illusions and false wins, the games trigger these dopamine rushes X times (depending on which game) more often than if it only happened when the player truly won.

It does not matter if you believe a compulsive gambler uses gambling to escape pain or is addicted to these dopamine rushes. A game that exploits how our brain works by flooding it with extra dopamine isn't out of liability when it comes to responsible gambling and gambling addiction. So is it fair to place all responsibility for problem gambling on operators?

One could argue the casinos put the games on their platforms. The casinos contact the customers, and it's the casinos who try to keep them for as long as possible. But who is really using whom?

Few casinos create their own games.

Instead, they rely on game developers to supply them with slots, bingo and live games. These games even run on the developers' servers. The biggest jackpots, so-called network jackpots, the casinos have no control over at all. It's the game developers who collect the money and pay out the jackpots.

Don't get me wrong; I don't say that online casinos aren't partly responsible for helping people stay safe while gambling. But they are not alone; the game developers also have a responsibility to ensure people aren't negatively affected by their games.

With this article, I want to shed light on one part of the gambling industry that so far has flown under the radar of the regulatory authorities. Perhaps it's time for regulators to take a closer look at how games are developed, to ensure the safety of the players?

Anders Bergman, enthusiastic high-fiver, motivational speaker, and padel nerd. Founder of QuitGamble.com, a platform directed to help people with gambling problems.

After five years as an affiliate, I wanted to do something different. Challenging the status quo of addiction felt like the perfect way to make the world a better place. Today, 2.5 years later, I’m proud to present QuitGamble.com to you.

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WIGGIN

THE MORAL ISSUES Jason Chess, Gambling Insider contributor and Founding Partner at law firm Wiggin, discusses two consultations being carried out in the UK market; the first on affordability by the Gambling Commission, the second on the Gambling Act 2005 by the DCMS

Gambling Insider always carries extensive coverage of the regulatory and legal issues affecting the industry but at the present time the major issues are not so much regulatory as political. Gambling has always been an industry that has attracted the attention of the authorities. It is one of those annoying activities where ordinary folks exercise the personal freedom to do something of which the elite disapproves. The first significant statute dealing with gambling was enacted in 1541, albeit that convictions for using loaded dice are recorded as far back as 1311.

Other major instruments were passed by Parliament in the form of the Gaming Act 1710 and the Gaming Act 1845. The rhythm or pattern of the relationship between the legislature and the gambling industry takes the form of Parliament re-evaluating its attitude to gambling about every generation or so. The Gaming Act 1968 was replaced in 2005 and now, some 19 years or so after the Budd Report 2003, the debate is being had once more.

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At the present time the debate takes the ‘official’ form of two major public ‘consultations’ which are currently in progress relating to gambling. The first of these was launched by the Gambling Commission in November of 2020 in relation to the subject of ‘affordability.’ In simple terms, this is the extent to which a gambling business should assume responsibility for deciding what each of its customers can afford to gamble, and stopping them from gambling once this limit is reached. The second consultation is much broader and of a more strategic nature – launched by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). In broad terms this consultation is taking a look at the present system of regulation and the work of the regulator, based on the 2003 Budd Report, the consequent Government White Paper ‘A Safe Bet for Success’ and their child, the Gambling Act 2005.

This regime – the current one under which all participants in the British market must operate – is based on the need to achieve a

balance between two imperatives. The first is the imperative to permit and encourage gambling for the purposes of economic growth, and to allow persons who wish to gamble the freedom of choice to do so in a lawful and well-regulated environment.

The second imperative is the need to ensure the protection of children and ‘the vulnerable’ (in the words of statute), i.e. persons who may be at risk of developing harmful patterns of gambling. Whether this balance is broadly being achieved and whether the regulator is doing a proper job is the more strategic matter being investigated by the Government.

The Commission’s November 2020 Consultation is, however, much more significant than many other routine regulatory consultations. It is significant because of its potential to harm the economic interests of the nation (in the shape not only of the gambling industry but media, horseracing and the Exchequer) and curtail freedom of choice on the part of the overwhelming majority of persons who gamble without suffering harm. All this is

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being hazarded in return for questionable gains in consumer protection, and without anything like the detailed and sophisticated research and analyses such a major change deserves.

In its 2020 ‘Enforcement Report,’ the Commission cited the Office of National Statistics figures for average British incomes.

The Commission noted that median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom is some £585 ($825).

Out of this must be deducted ‘income tax, national insurance, mortgage/rent payments, telephony contracts, travel costs, food and utilities’ to produce a figure for the ‘true level of available disposable income for that individual’ (i.e. their available leisure spend).

Even that figure should not be spent entirely on gambling – the Commission seems to regard gambling as undesirable whether affordable or not. These calculations produce an extremely low financial threshold – on the basis of these calculations, a couple of £25 bets in a single week might look unaffordable.

Accepting them without extensive financial disclosures from the consumer might well, as the Commission puts it, ‘render the operator non-compliant’ and the target of a lengthy, hostile and expensive review of its licence.

The Commission’s requirement is, effectively, that consumers must be stopped from gambling at these financial levels and the following process should occur: ‘Customers wishing to spend more than the national average should be asked to provide information to support a higher affordability trigger such as three months’ payslips, P60s, tax returns or bank statements, which will both inform the affordability level the customer may believe appropriate with objective evidence, whilst enabling the licensee to have better insight into the source of those funds and whether they are legitimate or not’.

So the prospect is that 100% of gamblers – quite regardless of whether they are showing any other signs of difficulty or harm – must be stopped from gambling and required to make extensive disclosure of private financial information to a gambling business, to be able to wager at an extremely low level of spend. The Commission’s previous interim CEO, Sarah Gardner, acknowledged recently that the rate of problem gambling has fallen from 0.6% to 0.4%, the rate of moderate risk gambling from 1.5% to 0.6% and low-risk gambling from 2.7% to 1.9%. So the first question here is why on earth do the overwhelming majority of gamblers have to undergo this exercise when they are clearly at no risk of harm?

The follow-on question is why rates of problem gambling appear to be declining, and declining significantly, at that? How do we know a measure as blunt and indiscriminate

as this affordability regime is needed without any understanding of how effective, say, the updated July 2019 customer interaction guidance has been? Or the tightened VIP regulations? Or the ban on credit cards and reverse withdrawals? Or the Commission’s vigorous programme of enforcement actions and financial sanctions? Or the Commission’s Covid-19 guidance?

It must surely be crucial to this debate for everyone to understand how and why these reductions are already occurring. What

"This Review is about using the evidence to assess whether we have the balance of regulation right.

Gambling is a fun leisure activity for many people, with nearly half of adults gambling each month" has driven them? Which bits of the current regulatory regime have caused this decline?

How can we best capitalise upon whatever it is that is working within the current body of regulations, and seek to turbocharge them in a way that focuses on the problem and hones in on those persons who are genuinely at risk?

The Commission received some 12,000 responses to the ‘short survey’ that formed part of this consultation. It is to be hoped that as many as possible of these responses will be from the overwhelming majority of customers who enjoy a harmless bet from time to time and who balk at the idea of having to respond to intrusive and disproportionate financial enquiries when they are in absolutely no danger of ‘harm.’ The Commission declares it has taken on board issues of evidence and objectivity: in the latest press release it takes pains to signpost that ‘we have carefully considered the responses’ and notes widespread concerns around proportionality, the need for a targeted approach, freedom of choice and privacy.

The Commission comments, in response to all of these responses, ‘we take that seriously.’ Let us hope this is so. A renewed commitment by the regulator to the balance demanded by statute – between the right to provide and enjoy gambling and the need to uphold the licensing objectives – would be very welcome, and a return to the sort of objectivity the Commission’s own ‘Statement of Principles’ (not to mention the Gambling

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Act itself) clearly expects from the regulator.

The conclusion to all of this currently seems to be that the Commission will, this summer, put forward proposals in two areas.

Firstly, in relation to taking action where customers ‘are known to be in a vulnerable situation.’ Secondly, in relation to ‘thresholds for operators to take action and guidance on what those actions should be.’ How these two concepts will work out in practice remains to be seen.

But there is at least some nuance in the Commission’s latest statements that gives hope it may be rowing back somewhat – from the rather Soviet idea that gambling companies must calculate everyone’s household budget and decide on their behalves how much each individual should be spending on gambling.

The Commission also refers to ‘broader public policy questions’ being the prerogative of the DCMS. The hope must be that mandatory low-level affordability enquiries, whereby huge numbers of customers at no risk of harm would see their accounts suspended for no reason, has now been put into this basket. That would be entirely appropriate because any regulation along these lines risks such harm to both the consumer and industry, it should properly be the preserve of the legislature.

Turning to the DCMS review, this is of a more strategic nature. Unlike the Commission’s consultation, the DCMS is totally ‘on-point’ and obviously acutely aware of the need to achieve a balance. As the department puts it in its ‘terms of reference’: ‘This Review is about using the evidence to assess whether we have the balance of regulation right. Gambling is a fun leisure activity for many people, with nearly half of adults gambling each month. We respect the freedom of adults to choose how they spend their money and the value of a responsible industry which protects players, provides jobs and pays taxes. But it is essential that we prevent exploitation of vulnerable people…’

This is extremely encouraging because it stays true to the spirit of the existing law and regulation. Crucially, it does not say that everyone needs to be rationed or limited in their free personal choice on whether, and if so how much, to spend on gambling – rather it seems to acknowledge that vulnerable persons should be targeted – as indeed they should and are.

One of the points made by the industry to the Commission and indeed the DCMS in this regard was that the concept of ‘unaffordability’ itself needs to be understood before there is major alteration to this balanced approach. How does ‘unaffordability’ relate to ‘vulnerability’ and how do either of them relate to or translate into ‘harm’? These things are currently not really clear. For example, the Commission’s claim that unaffordable gambling is a major issue rests in large part

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on findings from the Health Survey for England in 2018. These showed that 21% of those who had gambled online (slot-style games, online casino, online bingo and National Lottery instants) provided a positive response (i.e. ‘sometimes’, ‘most of the time’ or ‘almost always’) to the question ‘How often have you bet more than you could really afford to lose?’

However ‘bet more than afford’ is not a very good test of affordability in that most of the people who answered positively also stated they ‘never’ experienced financial problems.

Of this 21%, only 4% considered that they gambled unaffordably ’most of the time’ or ‘almost always;’ only 1% of past-year gamblers stated that their gambling had resulted in ‘financial problems’ with 0.7% responding ‘sometimes’ and 0.4% responding ‘most of the time’ or ‘almost always.’ The point seems to be that ‘harm’ is more connected with ‘unsustainable’ spend over time, rather than people losing more than they bargained on an occasional basis but who might then, for example, not gamble for a time afterwards, or set their own budgets and so on. So the question arises as to whether one is in fact looking at financial patterns rather than the crossing of a threshold and whether that, as seems logical, is a better way of anticipating real ‘harm.’

The issue feeds into a more philosophical one. The draftsmen of the Gambling Act 2005 had a fairly clear idea of what the word ‘vulnerable’ meant. It referred to persons who cannot control the temptation to gamble to excess. Excess gambling can be monitored and appropriate customer interactions can be instigated. However, some of the Commission’s comments on the issue seem to envisage a far wider group of people. In its Consultation, the Commission offered as one of several categories of vulnerability the following: ‘If the individual is experiencing financial difficulties, is homeless, is suffering from domestic or financial abuse, has caring responsibilities, experiences a life change or sudden change in circumstances such as divorce or bereavement, job loss.’

The question here is to what extent it is fair or reasonable to expect any commercial business to identify and diagnose these sorts of issues on the part of its customers. It is fair enough to expect a gambling business to use the data available to identify what are called the ‘proxies for harm’ and it is true that some businesses, particularly historically, have not been quick enough to raise a flag on what is clearly excess spend by their customers in extremely short periods of time. But the question has to be asked whether these issues are better addressed by the current, ongoing improvements in process and analytics, rather than making gambling businesses liable to enquire about things that only the customer’s

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Jason Chess GP might otherwise know. It is difficult to think of any entertainment industry where customers have to undergo such levels of disclosure.

As the reader will spot, there is of course a latent moral issue at the root of all this.

In fact, there are two moral issues, one where society is in agreement and one where society is in disagreement. The first issue is whether children and persons at risk of harm should be protected by the regulations imposed upon gambling by the state. The answer to this is obviously and clearly affirmative, from all sides. It is beyond question, barring some sense of proportion and common sense as to who are the ‘vulnerable’ who need this protection. Contrary to what some politicians and newspapers believe, gambling companies see themselves as suppliers of digital entertainment and don’t want customers to suffer harm.

The second question is really the question that is powering the current social debate and it is nothing other than the age-old issue of the morality of gambling itself; and the fact there will always be people in society who regard any money lost at gambling as ‘harmful.’ The current legislation, very deliberately, treats gambling as a morally neutral activity and it was the clear intention of the Blair Government at the time to consign to history the ‘moral’ debate around gambling. Few other nineteenth-century moral attitudes survive.

The old prohibitions and restrictions imposed upon gambling from time immemorial were all deliberately revoked in 2005. However, instances where consumers have experienced harm can be extremely sad and compelling

stories. They engage everyone’s empathy and make it very easy to lose sight of the size and trend of the problem, and the fact prohibition never makes anything better – especially when people have the vast power of the internet at their fingertips. It is also easy to lose sight of the huge upside of the current regime. The industry contributes millions to sport, broadcasting and the Exchequer, and provides numerous high-quality digital-sector jobs.

One has to try to be objective and point to the success of the current regulatory regime, as reflected not just in economic terms but in the direction of travel of the statistics evidencing problem gambling. Believe it or not, there is something of a success story to be told.

The current arrangements have the clear potential, and are already having the clear effect, of achieving the balance Parliament envisaged in 2005. If we take Gardner’s numbers, a 0.4% rate of problem gambling certainly doesn’t allow anyone to be complacent, because no one wishes that even a single individual should suffer harm.

But is it such a figure that the whole statutory balance, along with all the upsides, should be sacrificed? The issue is that this is clearly not enough for the voices for whom gambling businesses are on a par with drug dealers.

It is for this reason that it is encouraging the DCMS has involved itself in the debate: public sector regulation must be objective and evidence-based. The hope is that not only will the DCMS take in-house the Gambling Commission’s shaky proposals on affordability, but that it will also restate the principles of balance and moral neutrality that underpin the existing regime.

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TRUST PAYMENTS

MEET THE TEAM: TRUST PAYMENTS Kevin Dodson, Head of Direct Sales, Gaming, and Rio Broadfoot, Gaming Vertical Director, speak to Gambling Insider about Trust Payments' ambitions in Europe and the US Trust Payments has a small but expanding team based in Atlanta, USA, focused on creating the best experience for gaming customers. Gambling Insider caught up with two key members of its team: Kevin Dodson, Head of Direct Sales, Gaming, and Rio Broadfoot, Gaming Vertical Director.

KEVIN DODSON What presence does Trust Payments have in the US? Trust Payments has been operating out of the US supporting our gaming merchants since 2008.

The company saw an opportunity to help European and UK businesses become more global and take advantage of the golden opportunities offered by growth into the largest consumer

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market on the planet. The company has initially focused on supporting online gaming companies, offering payment and payment-related compliance services.

Later, we have expanded into other emerging verticals such as CBD and cryptocurrencies.

We have been supporting several online casino, poker and sports betting companies to expand their offering into the US market for seven years now. We’re successful because we understand that all players need to get the VIP treatment they deserve when they sign up or at checkout.

We focus on a smooth and trusted payment experience including instant deposits, withdrawals and subscriptions.

We target operators who turn over anything from $300k/ month to upwards of millions of dollars per month. We can facilitate payments and compliance services in all US states where online gambling is legal, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado and Nevada. We plan

to apply for licences in other states as our merchants expand their solution.

What is the compliance challenge with gaming in the US and how is Trust Payments supporting businesses in this area?

The main pain point experienced by gaming operators expanding into the US is finding an easy, non-intrusive and inexpensive way to manage the KYC process, including checks for the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) and Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).

As well as our payments technology, we offer a very competitively priced fully managed service to handle these customer compliance checks, taking the hassle out of it for our gaming clients. Often when we explain this offering to our customers, they are delighted. We have even had one gaming operator get on the phone to their current KYC provider, to cancel their existing arrangement in favour of signing up for our service there and then – that was an amazing and humbling moment.

How is Trust Payments tackling security for gaming customers?

It is logical that, due to all the new digital payments methods now widely used around the world, operators will need to have an even more vigilant focus on anti-fraud, anti-money laundering and compliance, to avoid chargebacks and operational costs.

Chargebacks are of course an important and useful fraud protection mechanism.

Unfortunately, operators do not have the same protections. Consumer chargebacks often end up being used as a tool to commit fraud, rather than recover from it. This fast move to digital requires stronger security, advanced authentication and better transaction decisioning across the entire industry.

Fortunately, there are ways to manage this.

It is important to keep in mind that how you

TRUST PAYMENTS

manage risk and fraud in your online gaming and digital entertainment business can affect your customer conversion rates by up to 50%. We believe there are two strong new frictionless emerging technologies which will help: anti-fraud software such as TRU Fraud Check, our AI-based software which detects fraud and cyber threats through continuous behavioral authentication, and 3D Secure.

RIO BROADFOOT What is your role and what experience do you bring to Trust Payments?

As Gaming Vertical Director, I manage the European Gaming Sales and Account Management divisions within the business.

I have been in payments for the last 10 years, specialising in gaming for the last five.

What presence does Trust Payments have in Europe?

At Trust Payments our mission is to help gaming operators optimise their sales and customer experience through facilitating speedy and seamless payments, loyalty and data management. Trust Payments has a full unified payments offering, including a cloud-based payments platform and merchant acquiring. The entire holistic customer experience is a growing area for us and last year we acquired a mobile loyalty company to start us on our journey with this. We have 11 global offices, with main hubs in London and Malta.

We are regulated by the MFSA in Malta as a Payment Institution and by the FCA as an Authorised Payments Institution in the UK. Gaming is one of our key verticals and an area we specialise in.

We work with EU incorporated gaming operators, helping them with pay-in and pay-out options. We can process payments via the major cards as well as offer a multitude of local payment methods, bank transfers, eWallets, cash and vouchers. When a player wins, we can process the pay-out in real-time, allowing for the best customer experience for players across Europe and worldwide.

What are the biggest payments-related challenges facing gaming companies today?

The refusal of many high street banks to process gaming payments presents continuous challenges for gaming operators who are seeking both merchant services and settlement bank accounts.

Even once they find a payment provider, it is not uncommon that the provider sees the risk as too high and suddenly stops accepting gaming business models. The operator would then need to deal with the inconvenience of terminated or suspended accounts.

As we all know too well, changing market trends, laws and regulations are a common

challenge as the gaming industry is so highly regulated. Across Europe there are ever-changing regulations to stay on top of in each country. For instance, the Gambling Commission (GC) banned the use of credit cards for gambling for UK licence holders last year. However, to date they are the only gambling regulator to have mandated this.

Fraud and chargebacks will always be a challenge for gaming operators and gaming is often a target industry for fraudsters, which can in turn cause reputational damage and incur large costs for the operator. The industry also has strict anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) requirements.

Merchants need to work with payment platforms that make it easy to identify every player for potential risk.

Multiple form factors for mobile payments, and catering for web and mobile markets, is another common challenge as the offerings can differ vastly between payment providers.

How does Trust Payments help firms overcome these challenges?

Trust Payments is an acquirer with 15 years’ experience in the gaming industry.

The gaming team consists of experienced professionals who monitor gambling regulation, and can provide advice and assistance to merchants about each jurisdiction they wish to expand in.

We block jurisdictions or card types where gambling is illegal or unregulated so the merchant doesn’t have to.

Trust Payments offers advanced fraud prevention tools to monitor consumer behaviour and prevent fraudulent activity.

We have internal Risk, Fraud and Chargebacks teams to manage our individual clients, identify current risks and patterns, and provide comprehensive support to our merchants in managing their fraud and chargebacks ratios. We also support 3D Secure version 2.2 to provide the latest Secure Customer Authentication (SCA) for further protection against fraud and chargebacks.

We offer relationships and integrations with a range of relevant service providers and platforms such as Visa Verifi, Mastercard Ethoca and Chargebacks911, to identify and eliminate chargebacks earlier and at source, as well as Financial and Electronic Money Institutions who can provide banking services and accounts

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for gaming operators. Trust Payments offers multiple integrations for both web and app processing, using SDKs to support a diverse range of payment factors such as Apple and Google Pay; as well as local payment methods with a single integration.

How can payments companies help the transition to cashless gaming?

In the online world, cashless gaming has been around for years and is easily offered by seamless integration methods, through hosted systems and APIs, Mobile SDKs for native apps, pay-in and pay-out functionality, bank transfer, eWallet and voucher local payment methods and one click deposits. For land-based casinos, on track racecourses and high street bookmakers, especially in the wake of Covid-19, there has been an increased demand and focus on options for cashless gambling, especially considering paying for just about anything else in life can be done electronically.

Payments companies are focusing on new innovative technology to assist the transition to cashless gaming, such as prepaid and loyalty cards and wallet top up systems, all accessible from a mobile device; which would not only pay for the bets themselves but also any hospitality provided within the casino or event.

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EURO SUPER LEAGUE

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP How would a potential European Super League affect the gambling industry? SoftSwiss, LSports and Betsson Group spoke exclusively to Tim Poole

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EURO SUPER LEAGUE

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– and their responses provided quite a variation in thinking.

Alexander Kamenetskyi With hindsight, the European Super League seems like a nightmare. When the idea was officially proposed by several of the continent’s super clubs in April 2021 – indeed they even went as far as legally founding it – the outpouring of criticism was almost universal. Some football fans literally did have nightmares about it.

And yet it all, in the short term, seemed to go away so quickly after a barrage of negativity from broadcast and social media – as well as physical protests from football supporters.

Many suspect, though, that the concept is far from dead in the long term. While some disagree – including one of our contributors later in this article – there is a fear the biggest clubs in the sport will find a way to make this happen, guaranteeing huge revenue increases for the few and ultimately jeopardising the current revenue structures of the many. If it ever happens, and if it hypothetically didn’t fail earlier this year, how would a European Super League affect the gambling industry?

With many schools of thought here, key issues to consider are: sponsorships – gambling companies are unlikely to sponsor the shirt of a gigantic football club already, but would the reach and value of existing betting sponsorships outside the Super League dramatically fall?

Betting volumes – could a European Super League match generate more global betting demand than a regular English Premier League, German Bundesliga or Italian Serie A match, for example? If the football ecosystem was negatively affected overall, could betting revenues equally fall overall?

It may well be that the gambling industry would, in fact, remain completely unaffected by a European Super League.

But considering the possibility of just some of the issues raised above, this is no certainty. We spoke to several companies from our sector to see what they thought

Sportsbook Product Owner Alexander Kamenetskyi, SoftSwiss (Full interview on GamblingInsider.com) Great question. If this happened, it would change the entire world of football! Top clubs have been discussing this idea for more than 10 years and now it is quite an interesting idea in terms of further development as they want to concentrate on broadcasting. Now, this is the main source of income for them. And of course, we love to watch the greats of European football fight. But will the world of football benefit from this? Maybe we love these matches for their exclusivity?

For example, Real Madrid and Juventus played together three years ago, everyone was interested in watching them confront one another. Will it be so interesting if they play every month? I don’t think there will be the same intensity. Although, I can say that it is a matter of time. The only thing is that it shouldn't run counter to UEFA and FIFA. A compromise solution must be sought that satisfies the wishes of the top clubs, the UEFA rules and the interests of the fans.

Perhaps it is worth turning our attention to the League of Nations, which offered us an interesting gradation by group. The only thing I would like to add is that the teams from the top group have about 40% of their games with teams from the lower groups. There is something to think about and something to work with. I believe UEFA will offer a solution suitable for everyone. In general, I think bookmakers would not benefit from the creation of a Super League, because this could have a negative impact on the world of football in general. Especially for companies that only focus on football.

Sebastian Jarosch

Dotan Lazar LSports CEO Dotan Lazar (Full interview on GamblingInsider.com) Basically, I don’t think it will have any long-term effect in my opinion. It’s just another league to bet on, an alternative to other leagues. Maybe the leagues teams are kicked out of will be slightly less popular.

But I don’t see any long-term effect; maybe a short-term one.

Sebastian Jarosch, Head of Affiliates, Betsson Group (Full interview in Trafficology June) The European Super League was a hot topic when the idea was first introduced and it upset a lot of fans, football clubs, UEFA, FIFA and even Boris Johnson.

The tournament was aimed at providing financial relief to the major football clubs suffering from restrictions during the pandemic.

The ESL wanted to provide the founding teams with guaranteed spots in the competition, which goes against a long-standing tradition in European football.

Eventually UEFA and FIFA threatened to ban the players from participating in their competitions, including the World Cup, should they be involved in the Super League – putting the project on hold.

The European Super League was meant to exist alongside current football competitions and would have created additional high-profile games with some of the best teams battling it out against each other. We would have seen a lot of media coverage and content on affiliate sites around these games. From our perspective as a betting company, we would have invested a lot of budget into advertising and we would have seen a spike in betting during these events.

However, with all the negative PR and the outcry in the football community, the Super League is unlikely to ever see the light of day again.

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ROUNDTABLE

HOW HAVE JURISDICTIONS HANDLED RECORD GROWTH DURING THE PANDEMIC? Susan O’Leary – CEO Alderney eGambling

David Black – Managing Director EMEA, Continent 8 Technologies

Tony Ure – Head of eGaming, Digital Isle of Man

Andrew Lyman – Commissioner and Executive director at Government of Gibraltar

DAVID BLACK:

I would say jurisdictions have done a great job at helping providers roll out the necessary infrastructure to support the shift to online we have seen. This is certainly the case in the US where we have launched in over 10 states over the past 12 months, directly responding to regulation. At Continent 8, we have a first-to-market strategy in the US to enable our customers to capitalise on this fast-growing and rewarding market. This expansion was in part achieved through taking a robust approach to vendor selection and management; this is easier said than done, giving differing regulations and guidelines regarding work policies. But with the land-based gambling sector pretty much shut for much of last year, it presented an opportunity for US states to focus attention to online, fast-tracking regulation in some states.

SUSAN O’LEARY:

While the past 12 months have definitely seen an increase in demand, it’s the way that the Alderney eGambling team are able to assist businesses that has set us apart. The well-known global businesses who come to us do so not only for our regulatory expertise, but for our knowledge, experience and network of connections across the entire eGaming ecosystem globally.

Much of the work for the past 12 months has centred around businesses who are choosing to relocate, with Alderney eGambling advising on the licensing element as well as strategising and planning the logistics of the move. For some, relocation has meant a satellite office to support offices in other established jurisdictions. For others, it’s a relocation of the entire operation to the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The jurisdiction boasts a supportive Government, welcoming of new tech businesses and providing expertise on the ground through a network of agencies to enable seamless relocations. In the past 12 months, Locate Guernsey, the Bailiwick’s first port of call for relocations, has advised many new businesses looking to take advantage of the Bailiwick Islands’ Covid-free situation.

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TONY URE:

The Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) has employed more staff for a start. The increased applications and workloads have been resource heavy, and at a time when many businesses and the regulator were working from home, it did present some challenges.

That said, there has been no slowing in application processing and we at Digital Isle of Man have bolstered our Strategic Partnerships team to support with incoming queries and leads. Managing the business needs of companies wanting to set up in the Isle of Man has also been a challenge. There has also been a lot of workers who have secured jobs in the Isle of Man and have needed to be assisted in being able to relocate here. We are continuing to work closely with the immigration office to make this transition as smooth as possible.

HOW HAVE DIFFERENT JURISDICTIONS COPED WITH RECORD-BREAKING DEMAND OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS IN THE ONLINE GAMING SECTOR?

ANDREW LYMAN

The Gibraltar Gambling Division worked very hard during lockdown to support both industry continuity arrangements and in the approval of new suppliers. This has served to cement Gibraltar as a business supportive jurisdiction which values the gambling industry as a major economic contributor.

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DAVID BLACK:

The global pandemic has affected us all to one extent or another. The loss of life and economic harm this virus has created will remain with families and society for time to come. How we collectively respond will be key to the speed of recovery. For Continent 8 Technologies we have had different experiences of the pandemic depending on the jurisdiction in which we live and work. While jurisdictions have taken their own approach to managing the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact, I think it is safe to say it has been a challenging time for businesses and individuals no matter where they are located. There has been a seismic shift to online – driven by mandated remote working, retail services being shut down, and so on – and that has brought complexities and complications. Sadly, what we have seen is a significant increase in cyber security events perpetrated by bad actors. This has been reflected in Continent 8’s experience through the volume and sophistication of cyber attacks such as DDoS and Ransomware, since the onset of the pandemic.

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TONY URE:

We were extremely fortunate to have a short period of lockdown from March to June 2020 as we closed our borders quickly. We then enjoyed business as usual from June 2020 to January 2021, where restaurants and bars were operating normally with no social distancing.

Not the ‘new normal’ but the ‘old normal’. We then had short lockdowns in January and April and since May we have been back to working as normal, albeit with a great focus on working from home as required, and taking more meetings online. Despite the pandemic, the island saw – and continues to see – an incredibly strong pipeline of new licence applications. We have a backlog of businesses and workers looking to come to the island but we are having to carefully navigate the border issues with us and the UK for international travellers and our own security on the island.

SUSAN O’LEARY:

HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED DIFFERENT JURISDICTIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE?

In our experience of speaking to operators and suppliers, the differing ways in which governments around the world handled the pandemic left many businesses in a position of uncertainty. As a global regulator, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has been inundated with enquiries from gaming businesses seeking a licence from a recognised authority that provides them with the consistency and certainty they need to allow them to not just function, but to flourish through these times. Not only that, but many are looking to physically relocate operations to a more stable jurisdiction like Alderney which understands the industry and its needs. The Bailiwick of Guernsey (of which Alderney is the second-largest Island) as a jurisdiction has remained relatively unaffected by the effects of the pandemic. Being a small island jurisdiction with a pragmatic and proactive public health team, the disruption from Covid-19 has been minimal since the initial lockdown period in 2020 ended.

ANDREW LYMAN

The jurisdiction has been battered by the headwinds of Brexit and Covid, but appears to have emerged from both of these potentially damaging issues in good shape. Political and administrative leadership has been decisive and clear, and the vaccine rollout in Gibraltar (with the support of the UK) has been world-leading.

The vaccine rollout, including the gaming industry and the Government's Economic Liaison Committee, worked closely with the industry to ensure business continuity and support where needed. There has plainly been a shift with the loss of EU business, but the watchword is generally "co-location" not "re-location" and there is raised interest in Gibraltar as a desirable and credible non-EU international licensing location. The constitutional and political relationship with the UK has never been stronger and Gibraltar continues to be the location of choice from which to conduct UK business for a number of tier-one operators.

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ROUNDTABLE

Susan O’Leary – CEO Alderney eGambling

David Black – Managing Director EMEA, Continent 8 Technologies

Tony Ure – Head of eGaming, Digital Isle of Man

Andrew Lyman – Commissioner and Executive director at Government of Gibraltar

ANDREW LYMAN

Whilst Gibraltar will still be discerning about what and who it licenses, it does have a risk appetite for well-invested gambling businesses with a credible business plan. This includes businesses aimed at emerging Non-EU jurisdictions. Equally, it is understanding of new diversified business and technical models which have multi-jurisdictional components and outsourced elements. While the baseline requires having some key technical infrastructure in Gibraltar, there is flexibility to incorporate elements of hyper cloud and use of technology on a multi-jurisdictional basis.

HOW HAVE JURISDICTIONS ADAPTED THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE TO THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE?

SUSAN O’LEARY:

While other jurisdictions have had to adapt their working practices and even their frameworks to deal with the changes the industry is experiencing, the AGCC has a proven regime that is flexible enough to not only meet the needs of the ever-evolving sector, but also to support and nurture its licensees to really thrive. The regulator takes a risk-based approach to licensing, to streamline the process for operators and service providers. In this way, it takes a very practical approach to regulation and licensing, applying rules and requirements to businesses only if they apply to them. It’s a far more efficient process for prospective licensees; they are able to push forward without the delays or burden of over-regulation holding them back.

This has been especially relevant over the past 12 months when businesses have been operating under such unusual conditions.

TONY URE:

DAVID BLACK:

The requirements placed on us to continue to deliver our “business as usual” activity in a pandemic environment were of course demanding. With much of the Continent 8 team working from home, we had to find new ways of working that would still ensure we were able to deliver the unrivalled service our customers have come to expect.

We used the period to expediate the roll-out of additional products and services. This includes our Gibraltar Public Cloud platform, securing AWS Select Consulting Partner status and enhancing our Secure product suite. We have also expanded rapidly, despite work from home orders being in place in key jurisdictions such as the UK, Malta, Gibraltar, the US and Latin America. For example, we were also able to deploy our Colombia Cloud solution despite Gabriel Szlaifsztein, our General Manager of LatAm based in Argentina, being in lockdown.

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Not only have we seen an increase in gaming companies wanting to obtain an Isle of Man gaming licence and relocate some or all of their businesses to the island, we have also seen many of our own island companies looking to increase their on-island workforce. This seems to have been driven by the restrictions and in some cases inability of working from home in other jurisdictions, where internet and back office access is challenging, and the infrastructure is not the same as the infrastructure on the island. This past year the Isle of Man Government has committed £11.5m ($16.1m) to accelerate the rollout of ultrafast fibre broadband across the island and supported the installation of two additional subsea cables (bringing the total to seven), which is due to go live this year, and will provide direct connectivity to mainland Europe and the Americas. We have plenty of room to grow on the Isle of Man, with only 86,000 people on a 220sqm island that is 40% green and unpopulated. Having plenty of office space and accommodation makes the island an easy place to set up a business.

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ROUNDTABLE

Susan O’Leary – CEO Alderney eGambling

David Black – Managing Director EMEA, Continent 8 Technologies

Tony Ure – Head of eGaming, Digital Isle of Man

Andrew Lyman – Commissioner and Executive director at Government of Gibraltar

DAVID BLACK:

They are doing what they have always done and that is to provide a regulatory and licensing structure that ensures organisations are working to the highest possible standards when it comes to safe gaming, AML and fraud, while also giving businesses the freedom they need to innovate and grow. Malta, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man have been doing this for a long time now, which is why they continue to attract operators and suppliers. As such, these jurisdictions have emerged as iGaming hubs; the culture, the people, the collective industry experience makes them attractive to organisations in the sector. This is also why providers such as Continent 8 continue to invest in these core jurisdictions as we believe they will continue to attract licensees for many years to come. This includes our work with start-ups, running initiatives locally to support the start-up community, such as our sponsorship of the Start-up Grind chapter in the Isle of Man.

LOOKING FORWARD, WHAT ARE JURISDICTIONS DOING TO ATTRACT LICENSEES?

SUSAN O’LEARY:

In terms of attracting licensees, the advantages of Alderney as a jurisdiction have really come to the fore throughout this crisis. It has always been a beacon of stability and common sense in an industry which often experiences turbulence due to the rapid pace at which it moves; but the past 12 months especially have firmly positioned Alderney as a safe harbour for businesses facing disruption elsewhere. The level of flexibility afforded by the Alderney licence continues to attract interest from businesses globally, who have the choice to be licensed by the AGCC and be physically based in one of the Islands of the Bailiwick, or hold a licence with the AGCC and maintain a company structure elsewhere. This freedom to be based anywhere in the world provides businesses with an often unique situation, whereby they can take advantage of the prestige of an Alderney licence, but maintain their operations wherever they are globally.

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TONY URE:

Good question. We are finding that our high standards of compliance are increasingly attracting tier-one operators who want the comfort of working in a regulated environment and whose banks and PSP’s are requesting more regulatory oversight. If anything, the pandemic has encouraged us to stay the course as a responsible and careful jurisdiction that awards quality licences to quality companies – companies who know the value of stringent KYC and AML requirements and want to find a place to build their business sustainably.

We have a politically stable and supportive probusiness government in an economically low-risk jurisdiction. We continue to offer financial grants and incentives for companies and individuals to relocate to the Isle of Man, alongside our usual favourable corporate and personal tax rates.

ANDREW LYMAN

The ongoing legislative review allows the Government of Gibraltar to position itself as a jurisdiction closely aligned with the UK (for UK customers) while maintaining international competitiveness in respect of non-EU/non-UK customers; without losing its reputation for regulation which meets the highest international standards. Licence numbers are up (including incumbents taking additional licences) and there is a small queue of applicants with further expressions of interest in the jurisdiction. Developments in the international tax and transparency environment also put Gibraltar in a position to remain an attractive and stable business location for existing licensees and newcomers. In addition, there are ongoing negotiations about Gibraltar's potential Schengen status and the issue of border fluidity. There has been some delay to the progress of these negotiations at EU Level (probably due to the Northern Ireland situation), but there is still great optimism that border fluidity issues will be resolved for the long term.

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ITALY

DID THE INDUSTRY CRY WOLF OVER ITALY? Tim Poole looks back at the dramatic quotes of late 2018, when Italy decided to ban gambling advertising, and wonders if the success of the market since has undermined those who argued against the move

“It's an insane law that goes against the recommendation of the European Union” - Niklas Lindahl, 2018

In September 2018, Quirino Mancini was adamant. The gaming lawyer told a sports betting conference: “I still have nightmares when I wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about how stupid, short-sighted and biased this was, and how dangerous the precedent it sets – that could spread out across Europe – is.”

What horror was he referring to? It could have been anything, based on that description, depending on how vivid your imagination can be. Step aside Agatha Christie, the gambling

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industry has its own thriller in the works...

Yet in actual fact, Mancini was discussing the Dignity Decree, the Italian law that was to outlaw gambling advertising from 1 January 2019. And, in hindsight, you have to wonder what all the fuss was about. Advertising was duly banned in Italy: there has not been any “dangerous” spread throughout Europe since and most strikingly – as we will explore later – Italy’s gaming revenues have not suffered in the slightest. So it begs the question: did the gaming

industry cry wolf about Italian advertising?

It was not just Mancini, of course, who derided this law, although the associate at Tonucci & Partners was unequivocal in his view of it. He continued: “The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Luigi Di Maio, came up with this proposition to get the gambling threat out, because he kept talking about very desperate people that go to the nearby slot outlet every day.

The beauty is this will continue as usual. The ban hits the pure online operators because it prohibits

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“I still have nightmares when I wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about how stupid, short-sighted and biased this was, and how dangerous the precedent it sets is" - Quirino Mancini, 2018

any type of gambling advertising. But, when it comes to retail, you can continue to have your nice sign outside the door and those desperate guys can still come in and gamble at the slot machines.”

Niklas Lindahl, LeoVegas Italy's Managing Director at the time, shared similar sentiments in an August 2018 exclusive interview with Gambling Insider. “It’s an insane law that goes against the recommendation of the European Union,” he lamented, suggesting the ban will

seriously harm licensed operators and push players to the illegal sector. There is a real sense of irony, however, in these quotes being delivered by a LeoVegas executive, given the success that followed in Italy for the operator.

Indeed, during its Q4 2020 financial report, CEO Gustaf Hagman was full of praise for the company’s performance in the Italian market.

He said: "With the exceptions of Sweden and the UK, our core markets showed high double-digit growth during the quarter.

Above all I want to highlight Italy, which has now become one of our five biggest markets."

When asked how LeoVegas had done so well in spite of the advertising ban, Hagman told Gambling Insider that players have flocked to the company with the best product, in the absence of marketing or advertising.

In other words, the advertising ban hasn’t really affected Italian market performance at all. And what’s more, data from Global Betting & Gaming Consultants – exclusively provided for the May/June edition of Gambling Insider magazine – proves Italy was simply unaffected by the ad ban. As per the data, betting volumes remained constant until February 2020, with online gaming even rising still. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, betting dropped but later soared, while online gaming continued its steady rise.

The pandemic demonstrated an immediate impact on the data, whereas the advertising ban did not – nor even did the cut-off point for gambling companies' existing advertising deals at the time.

So what can we learn from this whole episode? Sure, governments will sometimes look to curb advertising, winning the popular vote and upsetting gambling companies in the process. But if gaming levels aren’t actually affected by it, why kick up a fuss?

It does appear the industry completely overreacted here just to make a point.

If, as Hagman believes, players who want to gamble are simply drawn to the brand with the best product, they will still gamble.

Perhaps it’s time for firms to step up in the development department and stop spending huge resources on marketing that doesn’t majorly boost the bottom line.

From the way Mancini, Lindahl and many others reacted to the Dignity Decree, you would have expected Italy’s gaming market to have simply plummeted since 2018. The data, however, and even the comments of company executives, has suggested the exact opposite.

The industry is constantly asking governments and regulators to use data when assessing policy.

On this occasion, it looks as though the gaming sector itself ignored those two principles.

It’s always wiser to pick your battles or, as the tale goes, you'll end up being ignored when the real wolf arrives at your doorstep.

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FEATURES

BLOCKCHAIN

DRIVING A DIGITAL FUTURE Nick Hill, Gambling Insider contributor and Executive Director, Premier Consulting, writes about how blockchain can take cashless casinos forward The days of cash are numbered. The writing has long since been on the wall for physical cash, with online and digital payment technologies marching forward at an ever-increasing pace. As with society as a whole, the gaming industry is already experiencing this shift, both online and offline, with more players than ever choosing to do so via virtual payment methods.

This trend has only accelerated with the pandemic, forcing a move towards digital money in sectors that had previously been slower on the uptake. In many ways, gaming is particularly well positioned to take advantage of this shifting landscape, to embrace the future of payment technology.

Blockchain is at the forefront of this brave new world, paving the way for cashless casinos.

With the technical advantages offered by Bitcoin SV, casino and gaming operators of all kinds are poised to benefit from a new, cashless future. Cashless casinos work by assigning players a Bitcoin wallet, pegged to USD or some other fiat currency appropriate to their gaming session.

This immediately reduces the need for handling or transacting in cash on the casino f loor, and makes for a more convenient gaming experience for player and operator.

Players sign up to the operator’s payment platform, load cash from fiat into their wallet, and immediately exchange those funds for credits on the casino floor. Players can transfer from their individual wallet to table wallets

by QR codes, for example, immediately exchanged for chips in play.

Any winnings can be returned directly to the player’s wallet via the same mechanism, or returned in coins or tokens, which can be cashed in for wallet credit, or for cash directly to the player’s bank account instead.

The added bonus here is that the player is also automatically synced into the operator’s loyalty program, providing better data for operators, as well as better access to more tailored perks and benefits for the player themselves.

Tokenisation also allows casinos and gaming

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Nick Hill operators to more effectively link their online and offline platforms. This enables physical casinos to go cashless, while providing a seamless user experience across the online realm. Players can then bet via both channels, online and offline, to the same effect, earning loyalty points in both formats as they go.

The benefits here for operators are extensive, giving them significantly more insight and control over player behaviour – not to mention the convenience, f lexibility and efficiency of a technology that does away with the need for physical cash transactions. Bitcoin SV startup BitBoss is already on the case, with the help of its proprietary ecosystem Bridge.

Bridge allows 100% proof of ownership of blockchain funds in gaming settings, without the need for third-party custodians.

This makes it easy for players to transfer money in and out of their Bitcoin SV wallets, while offering similar benefits for operators, including a reduction in the manual side of compliance with KYC/AML procedures.

The net result is a more efficient casino experience that harnesses the advantages of new payment technologies. Notably, BitBoss’s

solution also makes compliance easier, with blockchain data readily accessible to regulators and government agencies – simply providing access to blockchain records via Bridge allows regulators to see the full audit trail, with 100% transparency and trust.

Casinos and other gaming operators are already turning to blockchain solutions, and in particular those powered by Bitcoin SV, to provide the solutions for our cashless future.

With BitBoss and others already advancing the use case, it feels like only a matter of time before more in the industry switch over to a blockchain-first, cashless infrastructure.

Nick Hill is a seasoned online gaming professional, having held positions as Head of eBusiness in the UK and Ireland at Cable & Wireless Plc., COO at Interactive Gaming Holdings Plc (IGH) and Chief Commercial Officer at EveryMatrix. More recently, Nick has been involved in providing consultancy services to a number of businesses on a global basis with an emphasis on Asia. These have led him into new and innovative technologies and verticals including events, processing and utilising tokenisation and blockchain.

FEATURES

LEGAL: CYBER CRIME

HELD TO RANSOM Cyber crime is estimated to cost businesses some $10trn by 2025.

No business sector is secure, says Carl Selby, Partner at Royds Withy King – least of all gaming In July last year, the gaming activity of millions of Clubillion players around the world was leaked to the press, and in January this year the details of over 500,000 Betway customers were sold following a malicious hack. Traditional ‘heavy industries,’ meanwhile, are not immune. Hacker group DarkSide grabbed headlines in the spring this year following an attack on Colonial Pipeline, which caused gas shortages in parts of the US. Colonial Pipeline ended up paying a $4.4m ransom to get its pipeline back online.

More recently, JBS, the world’s largest meat supplier, had to shut down parts of its operations as a result of a ransomware attack, leading President Joe Biden to confirm he

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had contacted the Russian Government directly about the cyber attacks. Although ransomware and other cyber security incidents are on the rise (a recent US federal inter-agency report estimated there were over 4,000 a day in the US), a look at the most recent statistics published by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) shows 659 data breaches and 1,766 non-cyber security incidents being reported quarterly.

While cyber security incidents are more likely to have more significant consequences for both data subjects and businesses, non-cyber security-related data breaches are more likely to occur and could still lead to significant issues. The ICO data points to

676 incidents of emails being sent to the wrong person or posted to the wrong address. Information could easily end up in the hands of a competitor or, worse, being handed to cyber criminals as part of a phishing attack.

WHAT DO WE DO WHEN AN INCIDENT OCCURS? When you suffer a data breach or cyber security incident, time will not be on your side. Trying to deal with an incident on the fly will, almost inevitably, lead to mistakes.

So a plan for dealing with a data breach or cyber security incident is a crucial first step.

There is no one size fits all approach.

FEATURES

LEGAL: CYBER CRIME

Each business is unique, processing different types of personal data in different ways, using different systems and infrastructure, so will need a plan tailored to its particular needs.

However, many plans will have common components: 1. The identities of the team responsible for dealing with incidents, including any external advisers.

2. An initial triage process to establish if immediate damage limitation is needed.

Not all incidents are equal, some may require immediate action, such as temporary suspension of services or websites.

3. A further process to fully assess the extent of the incident; in particular, what personal data has been compromised (including whether it includes special category personal data) and whether it has been leaked to a third party.

4. Once the extent of the incident is known, what steps will be taken to manage it, including where third parties need to be notified. Depending on the severity of the incident, the following may need to be told: а. The ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of a personal data breach, and the data subject without undue delay. b. The Gambling Commission (or equivalent regulator) if the breach adversely affects the confidentiality of customer data, or prevents legitimate users from accessing their account for more than 12 hours, within five working days. c. Your insurer, which may refuse to pay out if not notified promptly. d. Relevant staff; in particular, any staff that might be dealing with direct enquiries about the incident, so they know what to say to affected data subjects. e. In the event of a serious incident, a PR consultant to mitigate any potential reputational damage.

When you suffer a data breach or a cyber security incident, the response should then be simple: follow the plan!

MINIMISING THE RISK AND IMPACT OF A BREACH Further, there are steps businesses can take to minimise the risk an incident will occur, or limit the impact of any potential incident: 1. Keep all software up to date, apply security patches promptly.

2. Install anti-virus and anti-malware software, and maintain it with the latest virus and malware definitions.

3. Make regular back-ups, and ensure these are kept separate from your network and systems.

4. Ensure you have adequate network security measures in place, and, increasingly given

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Carl Selby the rise in home working during the pandemic, effective security to allow staff to work at home securely.

5. Implement suitable email monitoring systems so you can track unusual activity.

6. Limit the information that staff can remove from your IT systems and consider what methods they should be allowed to use to do so.

7. Control access to sensitive documents and personal data so that only those that need to process it have access, and can only process it to do their job.

8. Train all staff on data protection and cyber security, including how they should respond if they become aware an incident has occurred in accordance with your plan.

9. Test your cyber security plan and security measures regularly, and update them to make improvements that have been identified as a result of testing them.

10. Consider specific insurance for cyber security incidents.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES? THE RISE OF NO WIN, NO FEE While the regulatory fines for failure to comply with UK GDPR (up to £8.7m/ $12.3m, or 2% of worldwide turnover, whichever is greater) are significant, the costs of dealing with a potential investigation by the ICO could also be damaging. Equally, a data subject can take direct action to recover any losses suffered as a result of the incident.

In recent months, we have seen an increase in individuals and businesses approaching us for advice; on claims for damages being made by data subjects using claims management companies

or no win, no fee law firms, for losses arising from data breaches. The firms involved tend to be the same firms that have been active in bringing claims for PPI mis-selling in recent years. While PPI mis-selling claims generally involve financial institutions with insurance cover or deep pockets, claims for data breaches can affect any business of any size – and in any sector.

A lot of these claims assert that the data subject is entitled to compensation as a result of the Court of Appeal decision in Lloyd v Google; in which the Court held that there was no need for the data subject to prove actual loss where there had been a loss of control of personal data. However, the Court also held that there was a de minimis threshold below which a claimant still has to prove actual loss, in relation to “an accidental one-off data breach that was quickly remedied.”

Many of the claims being brought by such firms will sit below the de minimis threshold, but there are traps that data controllers can fall into. For instance, settling a claim (to avoid further costs and expenses) without including the data subject’s legal costs as part of the settlement; this could then lead to a disproportionate bill for the data subject’s legal costs. Getting good advice about dealing with such claims at an early stage should prove invaluable. With cyber attacks and breaches it’s not if but when; so be prepared to avoid being held hostage.

Carl Selby is a Partner in the technology practice at Royds Withy King. He can be reached by email: carl.selby@roydswithyking.com.

Visit www.roydswithyking.com

INSIDERS

ALEX CZAJKOWSKI

In every issue, Gambling Insider commissions guest columns from people at the heart of the gaming industry to discover more about the challenges its leaders, pioneers and innovators face. These insightful columnists are The Insiders

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LIAM COLCLOUGH Trustly

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DANNY HOOK Gibtelecom

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MIKAEL LIJTENSTEIN AstroPay

REBECCA BARBARO SANT The Authentic Brief

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YAHALE MELTZER GrooveGaming

INSIDERS LIAM COLCLOUGH

The Open Banking boom Trustly’s Liam Colclough discusses the current payments landscape in the UK and beyond, and the rapid growth of Open Banking CARDS STILL DOMINATE THE PAYMENTS LANDSCAPE IN THE UK, BUT WILL THEY CONTINUE TO DO SO IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS? While most players in the UK prefer to deposit with their bank card, as more British consumers discover Open Banking, the balance is sure to shift.

Open Banking gives consumers the ability to pay merchants via account-to-account online banking transfers. The newly standardised British Open Banking APIs that make these payments possible are now some of the most robust in the world.

This means that every account holder with the major British banks now has access to consistently secure and easy-to-use Open Banking Payment options.

According to data from the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) published in January 2021, over 2.5 million UK bank customers have connected their accounts to trusted third-party payment providers like Trustly – and those numbers continue to increase every day.

HOW ARE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR STRONG CONSUMER AUTHENTICATION (SCA) IMPACTING THE GROWTH OF OPEN BANKING IN THE UK? Today’s players expect a convenient deposit experience. We believe that SCA requirements will push even more players away from cards.

SCA is now required for all online payments in the EU and UK. SCA has always been a native part of the Trustly deposit flow, so we have not needed to adjust anything.

However, players who have always deposited with cards now face new (and often unexpected) friction. First, you have to enter the card details, then you need to perform two-factor authentication (2FA).

To perform 2FA, players in the UK can now use biometrics such as fingerprint and face ID via their bank app, which is a great step forward. But if you’re making a card deposit, you need your card and your phone at hand, even if you are playing on your computer.

With Open Banking Payments like Trustly, the deposit flow is seamless, account details are entered automatically, and the 2FA can be completed in an instant. We’ve optimised the mobile-to-desktop handover, so you can

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"Today’s Players expect a convenient deposit experience.

We believe that SCA requirements will push even more players away from cards"

use the biometrics on your phone and then start playing on the computer in a flash.

While SCA compliance may still be a low priority for some merchants, implementation can’t be delayed forever. By offering and promoting Open Banking Payment options, operators can mitigate the risk of deposit abandonment and introduce players to a new, easier way to deposit.

WHAT IS THE STRATEGY BEHIND THE PARTNERSHIP WITH PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL CLUB WEST HAM? WHAT ARE YOU AIMING FOR WITH THIS DEAL, AND HOW ARE YOU BENEFITTING FROM IT? Last February, we were proud to announce that Trustly is now the Official Open Banking Partner of the West Ham United Football Club.

Throughout our multi-year partnership, the Trustly logo will be displayed on the LED perimeter advertising system that surrounds the pitch at London Stadium.

Trustly is committed to building stronger bonds with sports fans in 2021, and our partnership with this leading Premier League club is catching the attention of millions across

the UK, and the world. This increased visibility is already strengthening recognition of our logo in operators’ cashiers.

HOW MUCH POTENTIAL IS THERE FOR TRUSTLY IN THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET? Today, Trustly provides merchants access to millions of consumers across North America. The US is our fastest-growing market, and we see massive potential with the merchants we work with, not only in the online video gaming (OVG) and iGaming industries, but also with e-commerce, financial services and travel businesses.

Canada recently passed a bill legalising single-game sports betting, a very positive first step towards wider regulation of the industry.

When it comes to online iGaming in the US, the regulatory landscape is quite complex, as it is up to each state to set its own rules.

Just as we help operators across Europe with KYC, AML and other regulatory challenges, we’re focused on supporting the North American market with a flexible and future-proof solution.

MIKAEL LIJTENSTEIN INSIDERS

2021: The year of the doer Astropay CEO Mikael Lijtenstein discusses how the company is making things happen in 2021, as well as new payments trends that are shaking up the gaming ecosystem HOW MUCH HAS YOUR TYPICAL DAY AS CEO CHANGED IN 2021 COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEARS? Defying is the word that best describes 2021 and all the challenges it brought.

As last year forced us to have a different perspective on life and business, I consider this as the year to grow and reinforce our operations with a strong focus on people.

Due to the pandemic, we have transitioned to a home-working basis where communication skills are paramount to build a sense of belonging among our co-workers. Providing clear messages, giving context to decisions, listening to people and promoting online team building instances make the difference while generating commitment.

We define ourselves as doers, and this is what 2021 has been about so far: making things happen. The company is growing at a steady pace, tripling the number of workers so far. We have grown our user base to more than two million across the world. The increasing number of merchants that partner with us, as well as the variety of payment methods we offer in the markets where we operate, is evidence we are on the right track. In reference to the search of new markets, our operations in Europe are ramping up specially in the UK, Spain and Portugal, as well as in Japan and Bangladesh, adding up to the LatAm, Indian, China and African markets.

HAS 2021 PROGRESSED IN THE WAY ASTROPAY WAS EXPECTING, AND WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR? Currently we are in the process of deploying our operations in new markets like Europe, Bangladesh and Japan. Therefore, we are hiring professionals all over the world. We have defined a new HR policy in which there are no geographical boundaries; we want the best people to work with us no matter where they are located. Another reason for employing in different parts of the world is to better understand the market’s culture where we operate. Being close to

our clients is one of our strengths.

On the other hand, we continue improving user experience to make the journey as seamless as possible, adding new functionalities to our digital wallet, One Touch. Receiving feedback from our clients and performing A/B testing gives us reliable information to provide a better environment for our consumers.

The number of merchants that rely on us has increased notoriously this year, reaching a total of over 500 and growing. Moreover, we are navigating new verticals: gaming and esports, in addition to e-commerce, where we believe we can contribute plenty.

HOW FAST IS CASHLESS GAMING NOW GROWING, AND IN WHAT AREAS IS IT GROWING FASTEST? Cashless gaming is growing at a steady pace and we strongly believe it is here to stay. This shift was going to happen one way or another, but it has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic with its urgency to avoid contact and the increasing amounts of online interactions.

However, we have observed that this trend has its nuances according to the reality of each country.

Even though developed regions have their cashless culture widely spread, emerging countries like India for example, present growing possibilities that are endless.

Millions of users are unbanked and find it really difficult to access digital money.

AstroPay provides them with the possibility to purchase a prepaid card, or to use our multicurrency digital wallet to deposit on thousands of international sites – as well as to withdraw money or transfer it.

ARE THERE ANY NEW PAYMENTS TRENDS TO LOOK OUT FOR WITHIN GAMING, AS WE LOOK AHEAD TO 2022?

All forms of digital payments are becoming popular among users, where digital wallets and cryptocurrencies stand out.

By 2022, digital wallets on mobile

devices are expected to be the dominant point-of-sale payment method in the industry. With an increasing proportion of consumers no longer using cash, operators face the challenge of how to enable digital payment systems. We are in a world in which there is less contact, and people’s habits are changing constantly.

These dynamics are creating a golden moment for payments providers that are promoting a cashless revolution, by encouraging consumers and retailers to use cards and smartphone apps.

Some studies show technological innovations will increase digital payments by up to 14% by next year, to over a trillion transactions worldwide.

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INSIDERS REBECCA BARBARO SANT

The devil is truly in the detail Rebecca Barbaro Sant, Creative Partner at the Authentic Brief, suggests what trade shows will look like when they eventually return, and explains what companies can do to attract more customers

WHEN DO YOU THINK TRADE SHOWS CAN MAKE A SAFE RETURN? As Covid-19 restrictions are being lifted, there is an immense amount of pent-up creativity and entrepreneurial spirit chomping at the bit waiting to be unleashed.

Given the fact that commerce is at the heart of every community, it seems reasonable to assume trade shows will return sooner rather than later – and that they will be back with a bang.

WHAT WILL THESE TRADE SHOWS LOOK LIKE IN TERMS OF ISSUES LIKE SOCIAL DISTANCING AND SPECIAL DESIGNS? The pandemic forced everyone to reassess how we share space and communicate with

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each other. Across generations, Covid-19 has elicited different responses, and what Generation Y views as the new normal, Generation Z knows simply as “normal.”

Catering to such diverse visions of “normality” poses many challenges for trade shows, but one thing is certain: the virtual and the physical have never been more inextricably linked than in the post-pandemic world.

The visionary, trend-setting trade shows of today have already started to straddle both the digital and the analogue, the augmented and the literal, to reach a broader swathe of audiences.

So what might this look like? Well, because we know visitors want security and comfort, astute trade show organisers could provide attendees with an app they could use to navigate the floor plan, for example.

More than just a map, it might also include vital information like a live-view number of people at each socially distant location, and designated “safe zones” for space and respite.

Imagine the potential networking opportunities an app like this could facilitate too. Discreet messaging features, meeting scheduling and timetable displays. It could also enhance the scope of marketing for the stalls, because it would provide a continuous digital point of contact throughout the customer’s journey, well before they visit the stand or stall.

IS IT ALWAYS THE COMPANY WITH THE BIGGEST OR BEST STAND THAT ATTRACTS THE MOST PEOPLE AT TRADE SHOWS? I’ve seen really tiny stands nominated for awards because of their ingenuity, use of space and immersive power. And I’ve seen massive impressive stands sit empty for most of the duration of a conference.

Stand design is, as with all branding, an exercise in storytelling. And as with every story – from the Hollywood blockbuster to the independent arthouse film – it will fail at the outset unless it has a well-rounded and

credible beginning, middle and end. If those elements are present and well-executed in your stand, then you'll have a winner.

In short, it’s not the size of your stand, but how you use it.

DO COMPANIES WITH SUCH STANDS LOOK LIKE THEY ARE OVERCOMPENSATING FOR A LACK OF SUBSTANCE? In theatre and film, the general rule for storytelling is: everything that happens on stage and screen needs to happen for a reason. Similarly, everything that tells the story of your brand needs to be authentic to your mission statement and business goals There’s absolutely no point, for example, in building a stand to promote your security or privacy services yet not offer discreet rooms within which to have important talks with visitors. Similarly, it would be comical to set up a gaming stall that includes Virtual Reality Goggles and Wii games to encourage play and interaction, only to decorate it with fragile items like glass bottles and wine glasses.

Substance is being authentic and consistent with what you represent, and your stall is one of the many points of contact for your customers.

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES TO CONSIDER WHEN WORKING ON BRANDING AND STAND DESIGN? Your stand is not a display, and it is not a stall in the market. From the dress code of your employees managing it, to the fragrance or scent pervading the space, your stand is an experience – and one that can leave a lasting impression on your customer. From the location of your merchandise, to your choice of music, the texture of your chairs, to the height of your desk, the thickness of your curtains, to the visuals on your monitors and much more – the devil is truly in the detail.

DANNY HOOK INSIDERS

Hybrid Infrastructure Danny Hook, Director of Enterprise at Gibtelecom, discusses the benefits of hybrid infrastructure

"If anything, the last 12 months has highlighted the advantages of hybrid infrastructure solutions for companies to integrate new and legacy systems" Over recent years we have seen a transition from dedicated infrastructure to what is commonly referred to as Cloud or IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), but first a little background as to how we have got to where we are today.

Historically companies in the iGaming industry were founded by a combination of technical knowledge and business entrepreneurship, a winning combination in many cases. Typically, the founders of these first entrants into the iGaming landscape were very hands-on, they wanted to manage and control their own infrastructure.

This and the establishment of gaming-friendly jurisdictions led to the rise in “offshore” data centres in places like Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Malta, Kahnawake and Curaçao. Companies were looking for regulated jurisdictions to host their infrastructure, which resulted in the boom in co-location services.

As companies and the industry matured, new entrants entered the market with predominantly business plans. These companies didn’t want to be hands-on and we witnessed

the emergence of managed services or managed infrastructure. The data centres became responsible for maintaining the equipment, hardware support, cybersecurity requirements and managing any networking, allowing gaming companies to concentrate on their core business and marketing to their customers.

At this point the data centre providers to the industry were still predominantly based in the off-shore licensing jurisdictions.

Global data centre providers often operated on a real estate model or on a scale that could not be applied in these jurisdictions, with many of them having geographic challenges. Another underlying factor preventing their entrance into the market was their ownership’s (often US-based) reluctance to get involved with the gaming industry.

With the increase in regulated markets in Europe and more recently a number of the US states, many of the Hyperscale Providers changed their policies and began to welcome the gaming industry.

In computing, hyperscale is the ability of

an architecture to scale appropriately as increased demand is added to the system.

Global providers include companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

During these regulatory changes, many of the industry’s established data centre providers developed cloud solutions that sat alongside the existing hosted infrastructure.

Some jurisdictions were slow to regulate cloud solutions, with technology outpacing regulation – a classic case of the dog wagging the tail.

What we have ended up with is a complete mixture of infrastructures: Co-location, Managed Services, Private and Public cloud. Many of these solutions are distributed across different locations to either service a market or due to regulation.

What we are seeing today is the bringing together of these infrastructures to provide a global solution, or what we today call hybrid infrastructure. Most people tend to talk about hybrid cloud, which is a combination of public and private clouds.

A hybrid infrastructure can consist of any mix of Co-location, Managed Services, Private and Public cloud in any location and from multiple service providers.

Preferably these distributed locations are connected using private connections, thereby increasing the security and service levels.

Companies are using distributed infrastructure depending on their operational requirements, legal requirements and cost benefits. Using an offshore location for product development doesn’t make sense, but keeping sensitive player data makes perfect sense to use the location where they are licensed; the latter is probably also a regulatory requirement.

Many companies will be able to offer you a selection of the services I have described, but choosing a company that can offer you an end-to-end solution makes more business sense.

If anything, the last 12 months has highlighted the advantages of hybrid infrastructure solutions for companies to integrate new and legacy systems, and bring distributed offices and home workers closer together.

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INSIDERS YAHALE MELTZER

Meltzer: The rise of the aggregator GrooveGaming Founder and COO Yahale Meltzer discusses how the aggregator is staying focused in this hugely competitive industry is our mantra; customisation. Effortless customisation that requires no technical knowledge in the operator, as we have one of the strongest technical teams in the industry to do that for you. We work hard so that the operator is able to focus on other parts of the business; as they are confident that having integrated with us they have all the content they will ever need.

And we are adding a volume of new games every week to make sure they feel on top of it. Plus we are constantly matching games to their target markets. Many operators are growing because they are integrated with us by building game portfolios for best performance, based on entertainment and financial value.

WHAT IS GROOVEGAMING DOING TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION? GrooveOne, our backend, gives you a casino in a box and all the tools that are required to run a successful operation, marketing, tournaments, promotions, free spins, business intelligence, game management, game portfolios, top games recommendations and business insights, amongst others. It’s accessible, easy to understand and gives all the back-office and capability an operator would ever need.

We are more and more focused on simpler, better, quicker across a lot of different tools.

Better UI, better user experience, better customer journey and more entertainment power for the market.

By making the right changes, by tweaking the features and tools within GrooveOne, operators are able to take full advantage of a very large database. And that, in a word,

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HAVE YOU NOTICED A CHANGE IN DEMAND FROM OPERATORS AND CASINOS THROUGHOUT THE PANDEMIC? The pandemic signalled the rise of the aggregator. Operators were looking for new content as they lost sportsbooks and studios that delivered live content.

Demand grew during the pandemic, and we also saw new trends and shifts. In some instances, new categories appeared, such as ‘Real Casino’ and blockchain-based games, which were a reaction to the sudden halt in real world gambling activities. If you are connected to an aggregator it’s easy to switch between game suppliers. We have 10 live dealers, for example, so it’s easy for an operator to switch between say India, Estonia or Costa Rica via Groove. You just switch it on. We saw a spike, especially in Asia, on live dealer. Virtual sports also became popular.

Providing an umbrella of solutions – and we are very much a solutions-driven business – was key to survival for those who had lost large parts of their business.

Studios were closed, there were no live sports, so we didn’t really sleep for weeks responding to the need for viable content alternatives for our clients. There was new traffic and new opportunities. Operators

were looking everywhere for new business and we had to get the products they needed to be competitive. Video bingo for Brazil is one that sticks with me as a notable deliverable. With these massive shifts in markets, the entire Groove team had to very rapidly support opportunities operators found around the world.

YOU WERE FOUNDED FIVE YEARS AGO. WHAT ARE THE COMPANY’S AIMS IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? To get the kind of accelerated growth we have been able to achieve, at Groove we make a one-year plan, a three-year plan and a five-year plan, and these plans remain very flexible, as we adapt to new technologies quickly and effectively. With the rapid shifts happening in the iGaming industry, our five-year plan will change in two years.

That said, we envisage that everything will be clickable and that part of the service operators will enjoy is to be a click away from everything: changing content, changing layouts, changing marketing; and that everything will be simple and quick to use through our website.

Every point of contact will be easy and intelligent. We see everything clickable moving forward. We see the need to become more innovative as a company.

Putting innovation as a key enabler of the business, automated customisation is the end goal; providing localised content and adapted to regulation. The big-data component of this should not be underestimated and we have already started implementing artificial intelligence to help clients automatically.

We also cannot forget that each player deserves a unique experience, the best fun, the highest quality entertainment. The more we are able to do that, the more casinos will profit. For Groove it’s been about shaping the industry in our field; and we envisage continuing to do that over the next five years.

FEATURES

PRODUCT REVIEWS

WHAT’S NEW ON THE MARKET The land-based gaming industry is slowly but surely getting back on its feet, and Gambling Insider takes a closer look at some of the hottest products on the market CT GAMING: DIAMOND TREE JACKPOT Diamond Tree Jackpot is a new generation progressive jackpot with three levels that can be won on any bet and is connected to 10 of the 50 games included in the new multigame series Diamond King.

The concept of the Diamond King multigames is based on giving more opportunities to the players to have a great experience. By offering 40 top games and boosting up the gameplay with the 10 titles connected to the Diamond Tree Jackpot, the new multigame is sure to keep players entertained for longer. The excitement of the game is complemented with visual effects and sounds.

Furthermore, the newest Diamond Tree Jackpot is based on the classic concept of collecting symbols, which proved to be well received by players and able to keep them

in the game longer.

When entering the bonus mode, a tree covered with diamonds appears on the second screen of the machine and is illuminated by a flash. The tree spreads sticky diamonds, allowing many hits of different jackpot levels and bonus winnings at once. The diamonds start to fall on the main screen in a grid.

There are three free spins that can be re-triggered each time a new diamond falls and sticks on the grid. If no diamond falls while all three free games are played, the bonus mode ends and the distribution of the winnings starts. Diamond Tree can be installed as a standalone progressive or linked progressive, and an unlimited number of machines can be connected to it. Diamond Tree appeals to players in any market. The mathematical depth of the game targets repeat play as multiple bonuses and jackpot winnings can be won at a time.

Diamond King

and are full of special features like scatter symbols, wild symbols or expanding wild symbols; while Rich Garden is completely different from our other games – it is a game that will draw you into the world of gardening not only with its innovative graphics, but also with easy and relaxable gameplay, which will not bore you even after hours of playing. You can take on the role of gardener and harvest

a variety of fruits with the help of two scatter symbols and expanding wild symbol.

This five-reel game with three rows and 10 winlines offers winnings already from two identical symbols on the winline. Winnings start from left to right and only the highest win from the winning combination on each winline is paid out, while the winnings from individual winlines add up. The game will surprise you with the Wild symbol, which replaces any symbol on its reel except scatter symbols, and if it is part of a winning combination, it expands on the second, third and fourth reel. The scatter symbols of the Cart and the Basket award a win regardless of their position on the reel. The win is brought by three scatter symbols anywhere in the playing field. This game will draw you into the action and will not let you go… A rich harvest is waiting in the Rich Garden!

Discover our games at one of the online casino platforms and see for yourself how playable they are – and why they are so popular.

Rich Garden E-GAMING: RICH GARDEN We have recently launched our latest hot games – Blazing Reels, Flaming Spins, Rich Garden and Triple Wild Seven 5 reels on online platforms in Czech Republic and Slovakia, and these games will be available in our VLTs as well as casinos when they fully re-open.

These exciting new games have advanced gripping graphics, a diverse scale of win lines

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ESPRESSO GAMES: #90SPINS Espresso Games is proud to present #90Spins, an unconventional slot developed for football fans to savour the excitement of championships whenever they wish! #90Spins is a unique single-player tournament slot designed to engage and retain players’ attention: 90 spins at a time, by leveraging customisable elements, the tension and volatile scores of a sports match and the satisfaction of predicting the winning team, along with the award of a personal progressive prize.

This slot pays homage to regular 90-minute football matches. Players can select their favourite teams to compete in the cup and try to predict the match result between 1 X 2: the iconic Home/Tie/Away wagers in sports betting.

The on-screen scoreboard and timer keep players captivated and motivate them to reach the end of the tournament, for a shot to win the accumulated prize.

Once a personal tournament begins, the player is transported to a virtual stadium with a six-by-four-reel configuration. Then the player is treated to an adrenaline-filled ride of free spins, mega icons, scatter wins, wild reels, and winning combinations that trigger scoring opportunities for either squad.

Each spin grows the prize accumulator.

Special symbols that appear from time to time give additional boosts to the potential personal prize. When a player successfully

#90Spins predicts the winning team after 90 spins, the full amount of the accumulated prize is awarded.

When a tied game is correctly forecasted, the lucky player wins double the amount! Even players who missed win 20% of the prize for

participation to foster maximum engagement.

Espresso’s focus on details drives the use of a hashtag as the game name to facilitate any social campaigns and promotions. Look for #90Spins to not only trend but go viral with online players!

never-before-seen functionality.

Inspired’s V-Play Soccer 3.0 offers new first scorer markets and increased goal opportunities with a max of six goals per game, up from the previous four. Featuring dynamic camera angles, V-Player Soccer provides an unparalleled player experience

and will be a benchmark product for the industry, with many features brand new in a virtual soccer game.

Inspired’s Matchday 3.0 and EURO Tournament products both leverage V-Play Soccer 3.0’s new and enhanced graphics, camera angles, animations and player models, to provide the most lifelike simulation of real sports. Matchday 3.0 offers betting opportunities across four concurrent soccer games every four minutes.

EURO Tournament is a new seven-day knock-out tournament offering with tournament markets and can be fully integrated with sportsbook platforms, which can be scheduled ahead and during the EURO soccer championships beginning 11 June 2021. In addition to offering the most popular single-match betting markets, the brand new knock-out format enables players to bet on how teams will progress through the rounds of fixtures and who will ultimately win the EURO Tournament.

Inspired’s Virtual Sports have been proven to generate 15-20% incremental revenue to existing sports betting and more Net Win than many live sports events. Unlike in most real sports, Virtual Sports allow players to place a bet and know the result after just a few minutes.

Virtual Sports INSPIRED: VIRTUAL SPORTS Inspired, the multi-award winning Virtual Sports global provider, has made three new additions to the most popular soccer series: V-Play Soccer 3.0 and Matchday 3.0, both with enhanced graphics and new features; and EURO Tournament, which offers

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NOVOMATIC: DYNAMIC™ LINK™ – STARS UP™ Stars lead the way in this amazing fruit game.

Players can win ever-bigger prizes, as the reels are getting higher and higher in the Expanding Reels Feature: each Star symbol in the active reel area activates up to three extra rows on top of the reels for the current spin, and each extra row adds 15 win lines. They can add up to a maximum of 100 win lines – thus massively increasing chances for the Golden Spins Feature for the Linked Progressives and Bonus prizes.

The highly dynamic Golden Spins Feature is triggered by at least six Ball symbols on the active reels. It is played on 40 individual reels in eight rows with at least three rows active.

The number of active rows increases with the number of collected Ball symbols, which are held in position both in the active and in the inactive areas. During the feature, special symbols can increase the number of respins, turn symbols into Ball symbols or increase prizes.

Stars Up™ is one title out of five comprised in the new DYNAMIC Link™ Progressive game-mix. This exciting collection of games featuring a 2-level Linked Progressive is all set to present fresh and dynamic gaming thrills on the international gaming floors. Bold gameplay, enflaming features and dynamic reels, as well as attractive Progressive prizes, are set to leverage excellent performance for each player position.

Each game comes with a distinct Expanding

DYNAMIC™ Link™ – Stars Up™ Reels Feature and the Golden Spins for maximum progressive wins. The dynamic reel layout of this set of titles expands in reaction to individual symbol-triggered game events, activating extra reel positions or rows,

respectively for the current spin, and thus increasing win lines and chances for the Golden Spins Progressive feature. The DYNAMIC™ Link Progressive multi-game is available for the latest NOVOMATIC curved screen cabinets.

while generating higher profits for the operator.

ETGs provide opportunities for social distancing and cleanliness, which are an increased benefit in the current pandemic time. To better address the growing demand, Spintec R&D team focused on improving the user interfaces for Roulette, Sic Bo/Craps, Baccarat, Blackjack and Multigame, and

introduced several desirable new features that provide a highly engaging gaming experience.

Spintec’s attractive Sic Bo game boasts an extremely life-like animation. The players like it so much that their feedback even puts it in the top spot compared to other live game simulations on the market. However, the latest update brings even more exciting new features and customisations, like different card squeeze options and speed possibilities.

Among them is a special new squeeze feature for VIP players and the possibility for the casino to speed up the game overall.

Baccarat is a strategic game where statistics are very important. In likeness to the live game, fresh statistics gives an overview of the trend and if the player wishes to skip a game, Spintec Baccarat provides this option. The new 3D payout animation offers complete transparency, thus increasing player engagement even further. In its multiplayer version, players can also monitor the bets other players are making and further increase the strategic overview. Additionally, nine different side bets were developed with high winnings, including four proprietary bets and the hugely popular Lucky 6. It is also possible to reach for the ultimate tool and enable the Tournament option.

ETGs SPINTEC: ETGS Spintec is one of the major players in the Electronic Table Games (ETG) market. Its innovative ETGs are well known for their cutting-edge design, user-friendly interface, and technical perfection. They provide a perfect combination for an excellent gaming experience and prolonged gaming sessions,

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FINAL WORD Slotting in Michael Maokhamphiou, Lightning Box Operations Manager, tells Gambling Insider what game developers can expect during a transitional summer, when some Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted – and some slot regulations tightened

What are Lightning Box's expectations when it comes to online gaming, as more players come out of lockdown across the globe?

Truth be told, the online casino industry hasn’t been unduly affected by the pandemic, or not in comparison to sports betting, which suffered with the cancellation of live action. If anything, it may have benefitted from an influx of newer players trying it out for the first time as an alternative. The trick now will be to retain their interest and loyalty as their everyday lives return to something like what they were before. What has been noticeable in some jurisdictions has been

“WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS THAT WE BUILD QUALITY AND ENTERTAINING GAMES THAT KEEP UP WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW” - Michael Maokhamphiou

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concern – grounded in reality, or otherwise – about the increased vulnerability of players to problem gambling during lockdown.

In some cases, like Sweden, that has led to restrictions on play and staking, etc. Time will tell if these change or remain a feature of an increasingly regulated industry. What is important is that suppliers like Lightning Box work closely with our operator partners to ensure we produce entertaining yet safe products and safeguard the interests of fans.

It is in nobody’s interests to have an exploitative relationship with them.

What about retail gaming; do you expect a surge to pre-pandemic levels, or has more of that player base now permanently switched online?

It’s probably too early to say what the longer-term implications of the pandemic will be on retail. It will certainly be a changed place in the short term, with few places able to cater for the numbers they welcomed through their doors before. I can’t see that those who enjoy betting and gaming in a retail environment will not want to return when they’re able. When they do, they may just do so with more options to enjoy a bet or the spin of a slot machine, having interacted with brands in an online environment when casinos and shops were shut.

The operators who will win out are the ones who are able to cater for their customers in a way and at a time that suits them and their lifestyles. For that reason, Lightning Box has always looked to create gaming content in multiple formats, including online, retail and social. Omni-channel is a phrase that has been bandied around for years, but never have its benefits been more obvious than now.

How can developers best adapt in markets where regulations for games and slots are tightening?

I think there needs to be a greater emphasis on requirements in markets like the UK and Sweden where regulations are tightening,

as changes are introduced every year or two to protect players. They also tend to lay the foundation for other markets to follow.

This requires slot developers to work closely with regulators and test labs. For example, having autoplay enabled in the UK will no longer be an option post October this year.

As a result, suppliers like us must continue to build games without these features or functionality and keep players entertained enough to keep playing.

It needs to be well developed, with compelling maths and engaging graphics. Clearly, it’s important for slots studios like us to comply with any regulations that are introduced to manage problem gambling, but these should just be hygiene factors. What’s important is that we build quality and entertaining games that keep up with the spirit of the law. We need to make sure our games are always fair and mindful of player safety.

How can games developers capitalise on new traffic from sports betting this summer? Can Euro 2020 bettors, for instance, also become slots players?

I don’t see why not. There are obvious hiatuses before, after and at half-time in football matches that are a great opportunity to promote slots and other non-sports betting products. Much of that will be decided by operators and how they cross-sell their products. We certainly see a big up-tick in betting on slots around popular horseracing meetings, so there is no reason why football would be any different.

Do we all need to rush out and create football-themed slots to tempt them in?

I don’t think so. There will inevitably be a few out there during the Euros, but I think the quality of a title and the levels of immersion and engagement it delivers are more important than the theme.

As we have seen during lockdown, people will try new things. It is important that they have a quality product they enjoy for them to make the change regularly.