Gambling Insider May/Jun 2021

Mar/Apr 2019

May/Jun 2021

RTS SPO FOCUS TINGSECTION BET L IA SPEC TARTING S

8 PG 6

Go for gold Examining the winning formula emerging markets must adopt to reach the top SHIFT’S CREEK As casinos re-open, will there be anyone to work in them?

BIG QUESTION How have state lotteries embraced mobile solutions?

NOT A SPRINT Update on progress in India’s fantasy sports sector

EDITOR’S LETTER COO, EDITOR IN CHIEF Julian Perry EDITOR Carl Friedmann Carl.Friedmann@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0) 207 739 9908 SENIOR STAFF WRITER Tim Poole Tim.Poole@gamblinginsider.com STAFF WRITERS Ezra Amacher Ezra.Amacher@gamingamerica.com Peter Lynch Peter.Lynch@gamblinginsider.com

Julian Perry, COO, Editor in Chief

Carl Friedmann, Editor

I

t’s not always straightforward to draw a line that distinguishes an emerging market from a mature one. There are innumerable variables to consider so the transition from one to the other is always going to be blurry. For our cover feature, we get expert opinion about how you know when you’ve sloughed the emerging label and what it means once you’ve arrived among the giants. Industry leaders drill down into the specifics and what you can use, or at least consider, if you find yourself in one camp or the other, or somewhere in between.

Take for example the Americas, both north and south. “There are still huge areas of the US and LatAm that have yet to legalise any kind of online gaming, and many of those could be hugely successful if the ones that have regulated so far are anything to go by,” says Bobby Longhurst, Pronet Gaming’s chief commercial officer.

Pariplay is also closely watching developments in the US. Vladimir Pavlov, the supplier’s VP of product says that an emerging market means there’s still untapped potential for people who understand local conditions, culture and regulation in order to choose the right operator partner, and recognise the needs of the end user. “Such markets often lack established brands and offer a level playing field for new entrants,” he says. “Any company looking for sustainable long-term growth must identify and execute their emerging markets strategy.”

Africa is another massive, hyper-dynamic and complex region that offers a lot of potential, especially considering it being very mobile-centric. Time will tell, though, regarding how partnerships are forged to bring out the best in the most promising markets there. We feature a roundtable in the Sports Betting Focus section about how Africa is gaining traction in terms of advancing technology infrastructure, regulatory hurdles to overcome, consumer habits when it comes to the online and land-based split, and growth trends to watch. As part of the discussion, BetGames.TV COO Aiste Garnevičienė first emphasises that the continent has to be discussed by individual country considering some are much more developed than others.

Yet even though internet connectivity is relatively strong in leading markets like South Africa, the main investment has to be in the African people since skilled and experienced personnel is lacking. It’s one of the main reasons Africa still has work to do. “But considering how much it has grown in the last five years,” he says, “we can certainly say huge progress has been made, making it one of the most attractive growth prospects globally.” The US is certainly a safe bet, but having a mature mindset about LatAm and Africa will be a benefit in the long run.

CF, Editor

CONTRIBUTING THIS ISSUE

LEAD DESIGNER Brendan Morrell DESIGNERS Olesya Adamska, Laura Fogar DESIGN ASSISTANTS Radostina Mihaylova, Aleksandra Cakikj, Inna Shtereva, Simona Nikolova 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 US ACCOUNT MANAGER Erica Clark Erica.Clark@playerspublishing.com Tel: +1 702 430 1912 CREDIT MANAGER Rachel Voit WITH THANKS TO: Sotirios Sklavounos, Alessandro Mastropasqua, Yariv Sarig, Will Whitehead, Aiste Garnevičienė, Alessandro Fried, Steven Spartinos, Luis de Prat, Simon Westbury, Andrey Astapov, Paddy Mann, Vladimir Pavlov, Bobby Longhurst, Gustaf Hoffstedt, Guy Phillips, Jason Trost, Paul Sculpher, Oliver Lovat, Carl Selby, Olivia Davies, Blaž Žitnik, Ranjana Adhikari, Tanisha Khanna, Willem van Oort Gambling Insider magazine ISSN 2043-9466 Produced and published

by Players Publishing Ltd

SIMON WESTBURY CBO, Digitain

10

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

MAX MELTZER CCO, Kambi

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 26

38

58

ISSUES

32 Big question Experts weigh in: How have state lotteries embraced mobile solutions?

58 Too big to fail?

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of BOS, asks if all gaming companies are created equal, or if are some more equal than others.

14 Facing facts A look at how Covid-19 has impacted land-based closures and sports betting 16 In numbers A gaming snapshot by by Fantini Research 18 The global outlook Global gaming data expert GBGC provides exclusive global markets stats 22 Taking stock Tracking operator and supplier stock prices across a six-month period

FEATURES 26 Go for gold With insight from Pariplay, Omega Systems and Pronet Gaming, Tim Poole examines what constitutes an emerging igaming market and when a market evolves into maturity

38 Going meta with data A dynamic panel discusses the impact the pandemic has had on sports betting when it comes to data

60 Getting a head start After years of delays, the regulated Dutch online gambling market is now scheduled to open in October. Willem van Oort, 44 Regulation roundup Using the cases of Crown Resorts in Australia founder of Gaming in Holland, examines what this market will look like, and which and Football Index in the UK, we examine parties are getting a running start. failings across the global gaming sector 48 Fantasy becomes reality Ranjana Adhikari and Tanisha Khanna, Nishith Desai Associates, on the latest in the fantasy sports sector in India 52 Return to form Casinos are due to re-open soon, but will anyone work in them?

Paul Sculpher of GRS Recruitment examines the harsh realities 56 First impressions Andrey Astapov, member of the Expert Advisory Council of the Gambling and Lottery Regulation Commission of Ukraine, details the latest inroads in the country's newly passed gambling

64

70

98

INSIDERS

SPORTS BETTING FOCUS

PRODUCT REVIEWS

63 Carl Selby Royds Withy King 64 Mikael Hansson Enteractive 66 Olivia Davies Cornerstone Barristers 67 Blaž Žitnik Sportradar

70 Strength of product Kambi's Max Meltzer discusses how putting the right pieces in place will determine increased sports betting market share, especially in the US 72 Not so different Smarkets CEO and founder Jason Trost speaks about the sports betting company’s history, as well as the concept of exchanges as a whole 76 Roundtable What's next for sports betting in Africa?

82 Breaking Tradition Guy Phillips, co-founder of LEBOM, speaks about a new model of betting that breaks the conventional traditional sportsbook model 84 Be your own CEO Simon Westbury speaks to Tim Poole after his promotion to the role of Digitain’s chief business officer

86 Product reviews In the literal sense, we're gearing up for an exciting summer with the freshest products on the market

FINAL WORD 98 In reel time David Johnson, recently appointed CEO of digital gaming content creator ReelPlay, speaks about how the sector is developing in light of the company back story and recent adjustments due to the pandemic.

0

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FANTINI RESEARCH

PA, NJ DIGITAL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN IGAMING

igaming and sports betting continued to be strong in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in February, a month with tough competition as last year was a leap year with 29 days compared to 28 days this year, iGaming and sports betting made up half of total revenue for the mature market of New Jersey, helping the state eke out 0.33% growth.

Factoring out igaming and sports betting, revenue fell 32.10% to $148.240 million. igaming fell short of January’s record $103.771 million but still grew 80.45% to $93.810 million. Sports betting more than doubled last year to $46.214 million.

Sports betting handle grew almost 50% to $742.953 million, In the burgeoning market of Pennsylvania, igaming and sports betting made up a third of total revenue, generating more than $110 million combined.

Without those gambling options, the state fell 26.65% to $203.251 million. igaming in Pennsylvania fell short of January’s record $80.413 million but still managed to grow nearly 300% to $77.788 million.

Sports betting revenue nearly quadrupled last year to $33.171 million.

Handle eclipsed the half billion mark for the fourth time at $509.548 million.

IGAMING Borgata(MGM)

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

ANNUAL

PARTNER

DECEMBER $25.717

ANNUAL +215.95

PARTNER percentENT, Pala

$0.846 $25.717 $8.558 $0.846 $6.510 $8.558 $4.529 $6.510 $19.742 $4.529 $27.908 $19.742 $93.810 $27.908 $91.330 $93.810 $2.481 $91.330

+98.16 +215.95 +89.79 +98.16 +69.36 +89.79 +60.25 +69.36 +58.40 +60.25 +41.10 +58.40 +80.45 +41.10 +81.96 +80.45 + 38.07 +81.96

GAN percentENT, Pala 888, SGMS GAN GYS 888, SGMS Gaming Innovation GYS SGMS, FLTR Gaming Innovation FLTR, GAN, SGMS SGMS, FLTR

$2.481

+ 38.07

Ocean Borgata(MGM) Caesars(CZR) Ocean Tropicana(CZR) Caesars(CZR) Hard Rock Tropicana(CZR) Resorts Digital Hard Rock Golden Nugget Resorts Digital Total Online Gaming Golden Nugget Online Casino Total Online Gaming Online Poker Online Casino

Online Poker

FLTR, GAN, SGMS

SPORTS BETTING

DECEMBER

ANNUAL

PARTNER

Ocean SPORTS BETTING Hard Rock

$2.130 DECEMBER

+1,985.18 ANNUAL

percentWMH PARTNER

Ocean Borgata Hard Rock Resorts

$ 1.140 $2.130 $ 4.961 $$ 1.140 0.226

+885.61 +1,985.18 +594.84 +885.61 +380.04

Gaming Innovation percentWMH Entain

Borgata Bally’s Resorts Meadowlands

$$ 4.961 0.228 0.226 $$ 27.187

++594.84 243.37 ++380.04 147.36

Bally’s Monmouth Park Meadowlands Resorts Digital

$$0.228 2.621 $ $27.187 7.718

++243.37 111.91 + +147.36 92.56

FLTR, PBH FLTR/DKNG/Kambi

Monmouth Harrah's Park

$ 2.621 -$ 0.049

+ -217.85 111.91

WMH/Rush St SGMS

Resorts Digital Tropicana

$ 7.718 -$ 0.509

+-515.86 92.56

FLTR/DKNG/Kambi WMH

Harrah's Caesars Tropicana Golden Nugget

-$$ 0.049 0.480 -$$ 0.509 0.127

-217.85 N/A -515.86 N/A

SGMS

Caesars GNOG

-$ 0.037 $ 0.480

N/A

Golden Nugget Freehold

$ 0.127 -$ 0.009

N/A

0.037 GNOG Total Sports Betting -$$46.214

N/A +171.83

-$$45.743 0.009

+169.06 N/A

Total Sports Betting $46.214

+171.83

Same Store**

+169.06

Same Store** Freehold

16

DECEMBER

$45.743

Gaming Innovation DKNG Entain SGMS/888 FLTR,DKNG PBH

SGMS/888 WMH/Rush St

WMH DKNG/CHDN

Greenwood DKNG/CHDN

Greenwood

$0.090

N/A

Betfred

$0.048 Live! Casino Pittsburgh (Cordish Cos.)

N/A

FLTR

$33.171

+190.16

Wind Creek

Total Sports Betting

iGAMING

DECEMBER

FANTINI RESEARCH

ANNUAL

PARTNER

Hollywood(PENN)

$27.969

+1,107.94

PENN/FLTR

Presque Isle (CHDN)

$0.518

+666.98

CHDN

Rivers Philadelphia (Rush Street)

$17.993

+278.36

RSI

$2.146

+196.77

Kindred

$15.540

+156.73

BYD/FLTR

Mount Airy

$7.239

+124.56

Kindred/FLTR

Parx (Greenwood)

$3.956

+68.16 Greenwood/GAN

Caesars Interactive

$1.374

N/A

Wind Creek

$0.656

N/A

Pala Interactive

Live! Casino Pittsburgh $0.397 (Cordish Cos.)

N/A

GAN

$77.788

+125.61

DECEMBER

ANNUAL

PARTNER

Valley Forge(BYD)

$12.967

+375.25

BYD/FLTR

Presque Isle(CHDN)

$0.181

+260.37

CHDN

Mount Airy

$1.356

+85.01

FLTR

South Philly Turf Clu(Greenwood)

$0.325

+79.37

Greenwood/ Kambi

Parx (Greenwood)

$2.088

+64.56

Greenwood/ Kambi

The Meadows(PENN)

$4.684

+36.21

DKNG

Rivers(Rush Street)

$1.573

+30.37

RSI/Kambi

Mohegan Sun Pocono

$0.637

+26.90

Kindred

Rivers Philadelphia (Rush Street)

$1.499

-1.40

RSI/Kambi

Hollywood (PENN)

$4.942

N/A

PENN

Hollywood Casino Morgantown(PENN)

$2.022

Mohegan Valley Forge(BYD)

IGaming Total

SPORTS BETTING

PENN

Harrah's(CZR)

$0.187

N/A

CZR/SGMS

Mohegan - Lehigh Valley

$0.113

N/A

Kindred

Wind Creek

$0.090

N/A

Betfred

$0.048 Live! Casino Pittsburgh (Cordish Cos.)

N/A

FLTR

$33.171

+190.16

Total Sports Betting

ISSUES

fantiniresearch.com iGAMING

DECEMBER

ANNUAL

PARTNER

Hollywood(PENN)

$27.969

+1,107.94

PENN/FLTR

Presque Isle (CHDN)

$0.518

+666.98

CHDN

Rivers Philadelphia (Rush Street)

$17.993

+278.36

RSI Kindred

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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70,000

60,000

60,000

50,000

50,000 FEATURES

40,000 GBGC DATA

40,000

30,000

THE GLOBAL OUTLOOK 30,000

20,000

20,000

10,000

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2005 2006 2007

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2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019p 2020p 2021f 2022f 2023f 2024f 2025f

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019p 2020p 2021f 2022f 2023f 2024f 2025f

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Casino

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(p = provisional) (f = forecasted)

Skill & State Other Lotteries (p = provisional) Gaming (f = forecasted)

*not all jurisdictions have reported figures yet for 2019 and 2020

Global Betting & Gaming Consultants (GBGC), the global gaming Betting Casino Poker Bingo Skill & State data expert, provides exclusive data to Insider *not all jurisdictions haveGambling reported figures yet for 2019 and 2020 Other statistical Lotteries Gaming (US$m) Global I-gaming revenues by licence on markets from around the world, www.gbgc.com 70,000 (US$m)

Global I-gaming revenues by licence

60,000

70,000

50,000

60,000

40,000

50,000

30,000

40,000

20,000

30,000

10,000

20,000

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10,000

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0 2011

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400

2012

2014

2015 2016 (p = provisional)

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2016

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*not all jurisdictions have reported figures yet for 2019 and 2020

300 250 200

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100

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50

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Advertising ban begins Jun-18

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Jun-18 Oct-18 Betting

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Italy: monthly e-gaming and betting revenues 400 (index based at 100 in June 2018*) The advertising ban in Italy did not reduce e-gaming.

350

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350

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(US$m) 80,000 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000

Nevada Sports Betting Handle1993-2020

(US$m) 6.0

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(US$m)

(US$m)

70,000

9

60,000 50,000 40,000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019p 2020p 2021f 2022f 2023f 2024f 2025f

1994 /95

Casino

1996 /97

Poker

1998 /99

Bingo

2000 /01 Skill & Other Gaming

2002 /03

2004 /05

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(p = provisional) (f = forecasted)

State Lotteries

2008 /09

2010 /11

2012 /13

2014 /15

2016 /17

2018 /19

*not all jurisdictions have reported figures yet for 2019 and 2020

Global I-gaming revenues by licence New York Lottery Sales excluding Video Lottery Terminal’s 1998-2020

3.9 3.7 3.6 4.2 4.8 5.4 5.8 6.0 6.5 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.8 6.8 7.0 7.1 7.3 7.3 7.7 7.7 7.9 8.2 7.7

8 7 6

30,000 20,000 10,000 0

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2012

2013

2014

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2016

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2019p

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2018/19

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2015/16

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2000/01

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(p = provisional) (f = forecasted)

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FEATURES

GBGC DATA

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The New York Lottery is the largest USdidand top 10 lotteries in the world with sales of more than US$6.5bn.

In 2008 400the New York Lottery sales accounted for 12% of total US lottery sales, with 42 states running lotteries at the time (today there are 43 states with a lottery, as Arkansas joined them in 2009).

350 300 250 200 150

(US$m) 60 50 40

New Jersey Land Based and Internet Sports Betting GGY Since Inception (Jun-18 – Jan-21) GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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Top Five Casinos 2019 Rank

Country

6.0

Venue

Gaming Revenues (US$ m)

Nevada Sports Betting Handle1993-2020

(US$m)

1

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5.0 4.0

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3.0 2.0

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4

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22f 2023f 2024f 2025f 5

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2016 2018 Marina /17 /19

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2,167

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2,079

New York Lottery Sales excluding Video Lottery Terminal’s 1998-2020

(US$m)

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Nevada Sports Betting Handle1993-2020

(US$m)

6.0

1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.6 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.1 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.7 3.1 3.5 3.7 4.1 4.5 4.5 4.9 5.3 4.1

5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0

2025f 60

9

50

8

40

2019/20

2018/19

2000 /01

2017/18

2016/17

1998 /99

2015/16

2014/15

2013/14

2012/13

2011/12

1996 /97

2002 /03

2004 /05

2006 /07

2008 /09

2010 /11

2012 /13

2014 /15

2018 /19

New Jersey Land Based and Internet Sports Betting GGY Since Inception (Jun-18 – Jan-21)

3.9 3.7 3.6 4.2 4.8 5.4 5.8 6.0 6.5 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.8 6.8 7.0 7.1 7.3 7.3 7.7 7.7 7.9 8.2 7.7

7

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2002/03

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0 1999/00

Internet

1998/99

Land Based Racetrack

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Land Based Casino

Dec-20

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Sep-20

Aug-20

Jul-20

Jun-20

Apr-20

2016/17

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2015/16

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Dec-19

Nov-19

Oct-19

Sep-19

Aug-19

Jul-19

Jun-19

May-19

Apr-19

Mar-19

Feb-19

2

Jan-19

Nov-18

Oct-18

Sep-18

Aug-18

Jul-18

3

Dec-18

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-10

20

2016 /17

New York Lottery Sales excluding Video Lottery Terminal’s 1998-2020

(US$m)

(US$m)

1994 /95

2010/11

2009/10

2008/09

1992 /93

2007/08

2006/07

2005/06

2004/05

0.0 2003/04

2001/02

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1999/00

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2002/03

9

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Operator

ISSUES

TAKING STOCK

Gambling Insider tracks operator and supplier stock prices across a six-month period. The stock price is taken from the first day of each month and last date available at press time MGM Resorts International

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ISSUES TAKING STOCK

What types of companies are best-suited to tapping into emerging markets?

Experience in similar markets can never hurt, obviously, and having a substantial war chest for marketing is beneficial, particularly if people are not already familiar with your brand. That will allow companies to scale quickly. And yet, flexibility and the ability to adapt quickly to different circumstances, which isn’t always a hallmark of bigger companies, can be just as advantageous. What tops them all, however, is a real understanding of the market itself and partnerships with people in the know on the ground. There is nothing worse than a big corporate that fails to see the local picture and tries to impose products or services that don’t suit.- Bobby Longhurst

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EMERGING MARKETS

FEATURES

GO FOR GOLD With industry insight from Pariplay, Omega Systems and Pronet Gaming, Tim Poole examines what constitutes an emerging igaming market, the pros and cons of operating in one, and when a market evolves into maturity

On the gaming trade show circuit – before the days of Covid-19 and hopefully after it – there were a few hot topics every conference agenda wouldn’t dare miss.

Some were inevitably buzzwords, on-trend issues that would blow over eventually.

Others, however, like regulation, US sports betting and payments, were ever-presents that encompass areas central to our industry’s existence. Emerging markets is a prime example. We in gaming often discuss emerging markets – where the next pot of gold may come at the end of the rainbow – and that’s because new

Bobby Longhurst

regulated markets will always form. But, delving deeper, what exactly are emerging markets, why are they such a big deal and when does a market officially become the next ‘big thing’?

WHAT CONSTITUTES AN EMERGING MARKET? Seeking analysis from industry experts across gaming, the best place to start is what exactly defines an emerging market – and what makes one so appealing for a gaming company to enter? Vladimir Pavlov, VP product at supplier Pariplay,

offers Gambling Insider both a definition and an explanation as to why they can offer new entrants a level playing field. He says: “We consider emerging markets to be those that have not yet reached a plateau when it comes to the growth of the overall igaming industry. This means there are still significant growth opportunities within such markets for suppliers who understand the local conditions when it comes to regulation, choosing the right operator partner and providing content that caters for the needs of the end user. Such markets often lack established brands and offer a level playing field for new entrants. Any company looking for sustainable long-term growth must identify and execute their emerging markets strategy.”

Indeed, organisations that stand still will never grow, so exploring new markets can always be considered beneficial; what better market to enter than one that is brand new itself ? As Bobby Longhurst, Pronet Gaming’s chief commercial officer, explains, a new market with the right pre-existing conditions can be very attractive to gaming companies. Most important, according to Longhurst, is a population that is actually interested in betting and gaming. For the Pronet exec, good-quality regulation, or at least the willingness to embrace it over time, is equally vital, as well as a realistic taxation system. Other factors to consider are a country’s socio-economic status, GDP and demographic breakdown, while Longhurst concludes with access to technology, whether that’s wi-fi, 5G or mobile devices.

Paddy Mann, Omega Systems’ director of business development, has amassed significant experience working with clients from emerging markets. He tells Gambling Insider: “From the perspective of a provider, which is going to be driven by the client, it’s always going to come down to how much resources need to be invested to make it a viable market to target. If a market is truly regulated, we already know there’s a ton of integration

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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FEATURES

EMERGING MARKETS

of the 26 states to have either legalised sports betting or passed a bill to do so, many are still very young indeed maturity wise. And, in Europe, Germany and the Netherlands are awaiting new regulations to be finalised and enforced. Another market closer to home for Pariplay is Greece, where the application process for online gaming licences began in late 2020. All this serves to show emerging markets are scattered in multiple pockets across the globe – the opportunities can seem limitless.

Paddy Mann work to be done with the national registrar, problem gamblers database (take GAMSTOP for example), specific KYC requirements, among others.

“If a market has less stringent entry rules to stay compliant, then we’ll see a huge overlap with responsible gambling, in terms of deposit and wager limits, session times, reality checks and more. Ultimately, I think the more resources a company invests into a particular market, the more they’re going to view it as an emerging market, because they’re going to want to focus on it and make that return on investment they promised their stakeholders.”

WHICH EMERGING MARKETS ARE MOST PROMISING? So where on the planet, with such a selection of regions to choose from, do firms feel there is currently most promise? According to Longhurst, the usual suspects of yetto-be-regulated American markets still hold much potential. “There are still huge areas of the US and LatAm that have yet to legalise any kind of online gaming of course, and many of those could be hugely successful if the ones that have regulated so far are anything to go by,” the Pronet CCO tells Gambling Insider. “History dictates that regulation (and the taxation revenue it generates) is ever-evolving and huge swathes of governmental bodies are trying to tap into this, a lot of the time taking influence from neighbouring countries to expedite the

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process.” But given gaming’s popularity in Asia already, Longhurst feels China would provide the “holy grail.” He adds, though: “They are not showing any signs of wanting to legitimise the industry there any time soon, in fact quite the contrary is true, sadly.”

In agreement with Longhurst, Mann is also quick to single out LatAm markets.

“The combination of gambling cultures within the populations and the improving standards of living has made it a hugely profitable area of focus, one which many of our clients have started to turn to in lieu of traditional markets,” he explains. “At Omega we actually helped launch the first two licensed online casinos in Argentina, Betfin and Casino Buenos Aires – and both were truly exciting projects to be part of. “ Africa, according to Mann, offers similar potential if European-based organisations acknowledge the differences within the many markets Africa has to offer. Through integrating payment service providers like Monnify and Paystack – both aimed specifically at Africa – Omega says it has helped clients overcome hurdles in what is a “very profitable market.” Mann adds: “Africa is very much mobile-focused, and it’s been interesting to see the differences in what works over there compared to Europe.”

For Pariplay, meanwhile, there are still meaningful markets within more established territories which can be considered truly “emerging.” The supplier has paid close attention to US developments state by state;

WHY ALL THE FUSS? But why should gaming companies truly care if a new market opens? Sure, as we said earlier, standing still curtails growth; but what about market-leading operators that already dominate their chosen markets – a market position that has been built over a number of years? Why should it bother a supplier or operator every time a new region opens up? An emerging market would really need to offer something special and unique to make it worthy of dedicating resources elsewhere. What exactly do such regions bring to the party?

“From what we’ve noticed already, it’s that players in emerging markets are eager to try any new product they’re suddenly given access to,” says Omega director Mann.

“Which for new providers offers a ton of opportunity to make waves in an emerging market and really find their niche. We’re actually finding some providers are enjoying so much success in emerging markets, they’re no longer focusing on traditional markets, since they’re too busy generating new traffic as opposed to competing against igaming giants for it. Some of these markets offer a whole new ball game and, for those up for the challenge, there are plenty of benefits to reap.”

Enough growth potential to overshadow existing markets is certainly a benefit worth reaping. Pariplay’s Pavlov is in agreement this is the main advantage an exciting new market provides. He states: “The main advantage of entering an emerging market lies in its growth potential. You can create an early-mover advantage by establishing your brand and customer base before the market becomes saturated and customer acquisition costs skyrocket. Gaining market share early will pay dividends in the long run.”

And yet the very same facets that make an emerging market attractive can create risk, Pavlov admits. New markets can lack a clear regulatory framework, creating operational challenges and adding uncertainty for the venture. The Pariplay exec references the controversial Swedish market as a problematic example. Since re-regulation in 2019, operators have faced

FEATURES

EMERGING MARKETS

difficulties in the market due to rules considered by many to be ambiguous. It must be stated, though, that this can also be considered a case of a regulator being tough on its licence holders, with some companies perhaps blaming ambiguity as an easy way out.

Still, it goes to show entering some new markets can offer weaker profit margin, whatever the reason; and add to this the fact you need heavy upfront investment to set up operations, localise your product and acquire customers, and you can see this is no easy feat. Mann agrees the main thing missing from an emerging market, which you are far likelier to find Vladimir Pavlov in a mature market, is stability. A risk with immature markets is that governments and regulators aren’t familiar with working with operators, creating a layer of distrust. Mature markets additionally have better player protection implemented, making it easier to encourage and monitor responsible gaming across a population, he adds.

WHEN DOES AN EMERGING MARKET STOP BEING AN EMERGING MARKET? Accounting for both the pros and cons of entering an emerging market, it’s fair to say there is a balance of risk and reward – as with most aspects of business (not just gaming). A defining feature of emerging markets, however, is their relative youth and, as detailed earlier, level playing field for new entrants. This depends entirely on a lack of saturation and maturity. A problem later down the line this potentially creates is what to do when a market becomes saturated, thereby reaching maturity. In other words, when does an emerging market stop offering the opportunities it once did?

According to Longhurst, there is no exact answer to this question. But it can possibly be singled out as when the industry is up and running with established operators, competing against one another and advertising in place to support their

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businesses. “I think the customer base has to have reached critical mass too, when retention becomes as important if not more important than acquisition,” the Pronet CCO adds. “I also think regulation plays a huge part in this; the more challenging the regulation the harder it becomes to operate in those countries (UK for example). This would show maturity in the simplest of terms as regulators look at further ways to improve AML and KYC functionality, challenging B2B providers like ourselves to adapt and change to these requests more and more frequently.”

In the wider world, Pavlov defines an emerging market as “one where growth is rapid but is expected to flatten in the long term, as the market reaches maturity.” When it comes to igaming, though, Pavlov argues that an emerging market is “simply one that is underdeveloped and contains major growth potential.” For the Pariplay exec, a market can be defined as mature once it has been fully regulated and live for a few years, and where major actors have established themselves.

Such a market will still grow but at a steadier pace, without any major disruption.

You could also describe this situation as the end of the gold rush. “We rarely see big differences in who the top-performing

operators are in established markets such as Italy, Spain and Denmark, for example,” Pavlov concludes. So if your company is targeting a new market, move quickly – as it can be difficult for late entries to really make a mark once that market reaches maturity.

Vladimir Pavlov is Pariplay's VP product, where he leads product vision and strategy across the full suite of Pariplay products. He started his career in gaming in 2009, having held various positions in both B2C and B2B companies.

Bobby Longhurst is Pronet Gaming’s chief commercial officer. He has played a pivotal role in strengthening the company’s growing presence in emerging markets with its operator-focused sports betting, casino and retail solutions. Before joining Pronet Gaming he held leading commercial roles at SBTech and Sporting Solutions.

Paddy Mann is a law graduate-turned-seasoned business development specialist, with a particular focus on software within the ever-evolving igaming industry.

Having joined Omega Systems in 2015, Paddy has worked across multiple roles in igaming achieving visibility across all business functions. Since early 2019, Paddy has been heading up the company’s growth as director of business development, making him a key component in Omega’s business management.

FEATURES

BIG QUESTION

How have state lotteries embraced mobile solutions?

Sotirios Sklavounos, customer experience director, Intralot Group

Sotirios Sklavounos

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In the last five years, we have experienced a quantum leap in online offerings in all areas of commerce. According to 2019/20 data from Foresight Factory consumer trends, 77.4% of global consumers shopped online, whereas 64% shopped via smartphone at least on a monthly basis.

According to the same study for US consumers, monthly shopping via smartphone leapt from 31% in 2015 to 57% in 2019. Nevertheless, despite this proliferation of online shopping, traditional lottery is still lagging compared to other market categories like consumer goods, travel, video games and even online betting.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has indicated in a recent report that the penetration of online betting can range from twice (UK) to 20 times (Spain) or 40 times (Italy) the respective penetration of online lottery.

The reasons for the slower pace of the adaptation of online lottery from state lotteries are mainly due to; regulation that prohibits the online purchase of lottery tickets; the product characteristics: lottery products and especially draw-based games are more traditional and are perceived to have less potential for innovation; the existing relation with the retail network that drives the vast majority of revenue for state lotteries; and a customer base that is more conservative, generally older than the other gambling categories (such as betting or casino) and much more retail-oriented.

Ironically enough, the biggest advocate of online lottery operations is the Covid-19

pandemic that is forcing governments to implement country-wide lockdowns.

According to LaFleur, US lotteries that offer iLottery witnessed in the first quarter of 2020 an increase of 47% in internet revenues and 50% in e-instant revenues. Additionally, new customer registration skyrocketed (for example, the New Hampshire lottery reported a 58% increase in player registrations and a 110% increase in first-time depositors).

In all the cases where state lotteries have embraced online operations, mobile solutions have played a major role. Either through a mobile web portal or through the launch of mobile applications, the majority of online operation of the lottery comes (as expected) from the mobile channel. This is spearheaded by the presence of electronic instants and fast draw games (like Keno) that, based on their characteristics and game mechanics, are a perfect fit for on-the-go gaming.

In all lottery operations that have launched an online solution using Intralot's Digital Lottery Solution, the mobile channel accounts for more than 60% of online revenues.

Of course, launching a mobile solution either using an app or a mobile website is not always a straightforward task. Lottery customers are already accustomed to using mobile apps from companies like Amazon, that offer a tailor-made superb shopping experience, so they will not compromise with anything less. In addition, the restrictions posed by Apple for gambling apps require a purely native implementation and not just a

BIG QUESTION

wrapped mobile website (which used to be common practice to quickly launch an app).

On the other hand, Google has relaxed its restrictions on the Play Store, allowing the publication of real money gambling apps in 19 countries. That is why we have built our Mobile Lottery solution ready to address all these challenges. A set of purely native apps for iOS and Android along with a state-of-the-art ecosystem for Content and Player Account Management, Payments and Push notifications & Campaign Management.

Nevertheless, there are still many Lotteries that do not have the ability to launch real money online and mobile solutions due to regulatory restrictions (especially in the US).

These Lotteries – in their attempt to also

approach younger demographics as well as enhance customer retention and loyalty – have launched “companion” mobile applications, which customers can use to prepare their playslips.

Our ScanNPlay solution enables a touchless journey, where players use our native mobile application to select any lottery game, prepare their playslips electronically, securely submit the playslips on the retail store, pay with a set of contactless payment methods and receive the ticket on their mobile device. This journey not only enhances player engagement, loyalty and sense of security, but also educates players and prepares them for the next step, which would be a real money gaming app when it will be allowed by new regulation.

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Lotteries and regulators, under the pressure of the current global situation, have picked up the pace and are embracing mobile solutions either as real money gaming apps or as companion apps, offering to their players new and exciting ways towards participation in games, and embarking on new journeys of experience and growth.

Sotiris Sklavounos, customer experience director, digital sales Sotiris is the director for digital customer experience at Intralot, having responsibility for customer interaction and journeys via all online channels. Prior to that, he led the product management team for all online and mobile Intralot products.

Alessandro Mastropasqua, head of corporate marketing & press communication, Custom S.p.A.

Alessandro Mastropasqua Until now, state lotteries have adopted traditional technical systems, or solutions such as all-in-one terminals, or combinations of PCs and printers.

Only in particular cases, thinking of continents like Africa or South America, where geographical and economic situations bring the necessity of a “movement towards clients,” we see the infrastructure is lacking as there are very few lottery and betting points, as well as difficult transportation methods. But mobile solutions have been until now adopted.

Now that the global pandemic has completely changed rules and habits, rumours concerning mobile potential

application in state lotteries have returned; both for a generational reason to catch new markets with younger people more used to and attracted by mobile solutions, smartphones and tablets, and to guarantee people distancing due to hygiene measures required to fight the pandemic. Today “digital transformation” is not a differentiating element, but the minimum essential element to be competitive: social distance and maximum attention to hygiene are the two main aspects at the base of all markets. For these reasons mobile solutions will be the main characters for the next six months in all sectors; so why not in the lottery and betting field?

Covid-19 has upended market habits, and we have had to react accordingly, so all digital and self-service solutions saw an important acceleration. These are the realities as we maximise different expertise and transversal solutions given to the gaming and betting market to help with players, workers, employees and governments.

Offering technology to support gaming, lottery and betting, and to support the consumer, is the goal we have always pursued. The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted retail to evolve traditional stores towards greater interaction between online and offline; and the same, we think, is going on also in gaming, lottery and betting between digital platforms and physical betting stores. The way of the future is an integrated solution capable of increasing information and content to enjoy a unique, specialised gaming experience. We have

improved hardware with easy-to-use technologies, with the most innovative augmented reality experience.

Nowadays, augmented reality is seen as highly technological support from both a commercial and corporate viewpoint.

It’s a genuine tool that should be included in business strategies that increasingly have to deal with highly competitive markets such as gaming, lottery and betting.

As a result, we have the ability to develop technology in-house and customise it based on client needs. It is essential to understand the technology best suited to the target and then, as a result, to choose how to overlay multimedia elements onto the real world.

Genuine and innovative solutions to: provide extra content, present new products, introduce specific promotions and even to interact with the services while ensuring optimised costs, continuous training and an “always-on” service is the road map going forward. The resulting effects can be used to increase business and create customer loyalty; but also as part of promotional communication and social networks like Instagram Stories.

Alessandro Mastropasqua has worked with international companies in different fields (finance, hi-tech, pharmaceutical and sport). Today he works for Custom, a group of technological companies with an international presence and a large engineering footprint. He supervises all strategic and operational marketing and communication activities related to the group (corporate activities, media relations, events, exhibitions, sponsorships, websites & social network).

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BIG QUESTION

Yariv Sarig, head of sales & business development at NeoGames S.A.

Yariv Sarig

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Digital technologies have changed and expanded the lottery market, with lotteries offering online and mobile solutions while exploring ways to capture new audience demographics and enable new experiences.

Mobile solutions offer easy accessibility and convenience that online gamers have come to demand – and lotteries are responding to this as part of their ongoing commitment to improving the player experience. By doing so, lotteries are expanding their player base, maximising revenues, and increasing the funds going towards good causes, as well as state/ nationwide programs and local communities.

Lottery players have already embraced online and mobile purchasing platforms, with high consumer demand. In fact, in some lotteries, we see that more than 70% of all sales are conducted through mobile web and dedicated apps.

To strengthen their presence in this arena, lotteries have learned how to integrate a range of experiences and possibilities to provide their players with new and improved added value and cross-channel activities.

They are putting a lot of thought and effort into developing ways to communicate and engage with their players via the mobile channel, as well as offering exciting new games.

Lotteries have learned how to use the mobile channel as the ultimate omnichannel tool, to extend beyond an online iLottery sales channel and open the door to new opportunities. This can take different forms, as lotteries strive to draw more players, offering an enhanced mobile experience with a wide range of options.

Some lotteries offer full portal apps that include all their games, while others may offer dedicated apps per vertical, for example

lottery games or sports.

Lotteries are also finding innovative ways to connect between retail and online, creating a bridge between these worlds using mobile apps. Many lotteries offer ticket scanning on mobile apps for retail draw games and instant games, to check for winning tickets and, in some cases, to collect loyalty points. One solution enables players to scan and save their ticket in the mobile app, so it will not get lost. Mobile tracking options are a great advantage for players, offering the ability to check the status of their tickets by themselves, in private, anytime, and anywhere. Another mobile-based offering is a digital playslip, immediate and accessible, enabling the player to complete the ticket purchase at a retail point-of-sale. Dedicated mobile games played on an app as an extension of a retail instant game enhance the entertainment value and extend player engagement, going beyond the offerings of solely online gaming sites; providing lotteries with a unique advantage and added value.

With the continuous challenges of staying ahead of the game and maintaining an edge in online gaming across all channels, accessible mobile solutions offer another way to evolve, expand, innovate, and enhance the digital gaming experience and player engagement. Not only do lotteries understand this, but in many cases, they are leading this.

Yariv Sarig has been with NeoGames since 2009.

He’s responsible for the company’s international sales, business development, channel management and account management. His work puts him in contact with lotteries, industry suppliers and game studios around the world.

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BIG QUESTION

Will Whitehead, associate director – accounts, mkodo

Will Whitehead

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Regulated lotteries have provided tailored and bespoke mobile experiences since the early 2010s. Back then, having a great mobile product, in particular a native app, was seen as a bit of a luxury item and a nice-to-have marketing tool. Now, the mobile app is a key channel for customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction. The mobile app should provide a great gaming experience, easy access to gameplay and the ability to purchase tickets, play casino, place a bet etc; while also appealing to the ‘softer’ gamer, offering non-transactional features, such as ticket scanner or check to see if you’re a winner.

The arrival of mobile solutions for lotteries has opened many doors for increased customer engagement and has transformed the way players interact with lotteries. Before these mobile solutions, a typical lottery customer would purchase a ticket in a retail store and that would be it, no further personalised engagement was possible. This is no longer the case.

As mobile technology and solutions advanced and evolved over the past 10 years, lottery retailers had seen this as a threat to their brick and mortar products.

However, the mobile device can be a great partner to the retail experience. By offering features such as the ability to build a ticket on your mobile, and generate a barcode for in-retail purchase or Bluetooth and beacon marketing technology within the retail environment, retailers are embracing the transition, and partnership between mobile and retail more than ever.

Lotteries have also leveraged mobile solutions to cross-sell between verticals.

Before digital offerings were available, it was very difficult to offer a classical retail lottery customer entertainment via casino or sportsbook engagement. They were different customers, a different target audience. However, utilising mobile technology, lotteries are in a much better position to cross-sell between different product verticals, e.g. lottery customers to instant win players, to casino players, or encourage sports bettors to buy a ticket when a large jackpot banner is being promoted on the sportsbook home screen.

Android and Apple invest millions of dollars and thousands of hours, every year, in researching and developing the best UX, UI and navigational practices on mobile devices. In total, 90% of people’s time spent on a mobile phone is spent on apps. Lotteries are starting to recognise this and acknowledge they themselves must invest in mobile apps that utilise these powerhouse Operating

Systems features, and functionality to ensure they are providing their customers with the best possible experience. Core features of a lottery app, such as ticket scanner, ticket purchase, biometric login, playing games and receiving push notifications, are no longer a nice-to-have, but an absolute must-have.

Apple and Android also provide innovative features which lotteries can take advantage of, e.g. homescreen widgets now offering the ability for lotteries to promote the jackpot value on the homescreen of your phone, without the need to even open the app.

A key benefit of enhanced mobile offerings that lotteries can utilise is ensuring lottery products are more easily accessible to those players with disabilities. Mobile sites and apps are now much more versatile and set up in a framework that employs accessibility design across the portfolio, often making purchase significantly easier than in the retail store.

Mkodo is a thought leader on accessibility design within the lottery sector and is passionate about its clients’ customers having the highest standards of accessibility design, so that lottery can be enjoyed by everyone who is eligible.

Mobile has also supported lottery’s key goal of ensuring customers are playing responsibly. Digital channel products can incorporate responsible gaming tools (such as session limits, deposit limits and voluntary self-exclusion) and make these tools very easy to engage with. Lotteries now have more data and analytics than ever on their player activity, demographics and customer behaviour. This helps drive and prioritise lottery innovation and product road map, as well as recognising potentially vulnerable customers and ensuring appropriate action is taken to support them.

Will Whitehead, associate director – accounts, mkodo, joined mkodo shortly after graduating from the University of Western England. He has developed deep experience by progressing through the ranks from being an account executive to heading up the account management department at mkodo and joining mkodo's leadership team in early 2020. Will is passionate about the betting, gaming and lottery industry, particularly with regards to innovation, front-end products and excellent user experience.

At mkodo, we are lottery mobile specialists.

We design and develop apps and mobile experiences for regulated lotteries, across the globe. We are passionate about partnering with our regulated lottery clients to utilise the latest technology and best practice UX design,to provide engaging experiences to their customers and help raise further monies for good causes.

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THE HUDDLE

Going meta with data Dinos Stranomitis, COO at sports betting solution provider Altenar, joined Shane Gannon, SVP at Stats Perform, and Yoav Ziv, VP sales and business development at LSports and LVision, in a vibrant discussion about the impact the pandemic has had on sports betting when it comes to data DINOS STRANOMITIS: Stats Perform has one leg in the US and one in Europe, and I understand, even with the US sports and the bet builder concept in the market, there is a demand when it comes to betting types for individual athletes or players.

I know that you are doing quite a lot of work on that to understand the trend, so how is it going?

GANNON: This was SHANE GANNON something we started seeing a couple of years ago, and it wasn't necessarily just within the betting space. Generally sports fans, as a result of social media, were becoming fans of individual players as much as they were becoming fans of teams.

Cristiano Ronaldo I think has more Instagram followers than Real Madrid.

So with our Opta data service and Opta brand, we looked at the marketing and thought, there’s probably going to be a lot of interest in soccer for player props in betting.

Obviously it’s a relatively well-trodden path in US sports around prop style markets, like basketball with rebounds, free throws and three points, but it hasn’t necessarily been done in football. So Opta collects deeper data than anyone else in the industry.

We're particularly well placed to execute on the strategy, so we developed an in-play, real-time data feed to deliver data points like shots, shots on target, tackles, passes and offsides to deliver that to operators, to allow them to create in-play and pre-match betting markets related to those kinds of individual metrics.

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DS: I think this will be something interesting, everyone wants customization. We can discuss this type of data for many hours, but I want to move to Yoav because LSports has developed some kind of a niche product that’s boosting the appetite for such kinds of betting.

YOAV ZIV: I totally agree with Shane in terms of the needs of collecting new and unique data points in order to allow our customers in the sports betting industry to over-perform. And this is something we put a lot of emphasis on when talking about LVision. One of the latest products we launched a few months ago is an AI-based bet booster for betting tips.

So it's AI analysing historical data combined with live incident that happens during the game. And then we have a fully automated system that generates betting tips both for pre-match and in-play. The best thing around this product, which probably should be the next hottest trend in the industry, is around personalisation.

Almost everything today worldwide is personalised. If you buy on Amazon or if you search on Google, everything is personalised.

I think the sports betting industry is lacking personalisation, and this is something we're putting a lot of emphasis on, creating personalisation algorithms. So if we drill down a bit deeper into this product, we have it now on some big customers like STS with exclusivity in Poland, LVBet and Eurobet, which are owned by Betsson. Our product is acting as sort of a web component, and once it's placed on the operator pages, we start collecting data anonymously on the players that are using the widget. Then after 30 to 60 days, different players can see different betting tips, so we have different layers of personalisation, which can be personalised according to the player’s betting habits.

THE HUDDLE

So if someone likes to play the Premier League Asian Handicap market, they’ll mainly see such tips or tips of other Premier League games or other Asian handicapping tier-one leagues. So it can be either the player’s betting habits, it can be personalised according to the country they are coming from, to their language, to IP, and to many other different players in order to make it much more engaging.

DS: I'm happy to see that there are prominent companies in the industry that are trying to create something new, especially when it comes to data and how to attract users. Altenar, in the last 12 months, is experiencing this new environment. We see a lot of challenge between official and unofficial data, so we had to reprioritise too many things, and if you see the roadmap, how it looked like last year, and how it looked this year, it looks like we’ve moved 10 years ahead.

In Stats Perform, what has changed?

What kind of re-prioritisation have you done because of the pandemic?

SG: Luckily, we’ve been investing heavily in official data rights worldwide, so we've been able to continue to go in stadiums where we've had official agreements and still been able to continue to deliver a top-quality product to customers. Obviously where that hasn't been possible, we need to adjust our working operations and our controls, and how we collect data. From TV pictures, it's not an ideal scenario for ourselves or the operators, but working in tandem with the operators, we've managed to implement new

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controls, checks and processes to ensure that we can deliver the best possible product.

Regarding how our roadmap looks, we're three suppliers here, so we have to listen to our customers and we needed to be very agile in 2020. When we were all at ICE in February last year, we probably had very different plans than to how it has unfolded. We're a business that’s heavily invested in rights, and immediately what we looked to do was try and find more content because in March, April and May, operators were just screaming out for content. So we went out there and we acquired more, and we've seen the reports that certain sports massively over-indexed and so on. So what we needed to do was be agile in the short term.

I would say there’s a little bit more normality coming back. Yes, there was demand for more esports and table tennis, but we needed to make decisions around whether we solely focus on those, if they’re short term, or do we see those trends continuing. And I think we've probably made a relatively sensible decision in not shifting our priorities massively.

CARL FRIEDMANN: Did the ability to go into table tennis and these niche markets teach you that, given these extreme circumstances, you were able to adjust and be nimble? And once things return, can you still have access to those markets but still broaden your scope?

SG: Yeah it did, and what the pandemic showed is that every part of the ecosystem and supply chain needs to be pragmatic and work together. Because, while there were

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THE HUDDLE

quality of the content they want to present to their customers because last year was an opportunity for operators to offer much more lower-tier content than they might do in normal circumstances, and that comes with integrity risk. So it's imperative at times like this for suppliers to understand that their operators want more content, but to deliver it in a secure fashion, which was certainly one of the learnings we had last year.

CF: So it's a mixture of quantity and quality; it has to be the right kind of targeted content.

YZ: Definitely.

some worrying times, I think everyone believed that the betting industry was going to come through; it was just a case of how do we support these betting operators when cash flow was a big problem, and being able to supply them with additional content during that period was really well appreciated. We got to learn some new things by trying out some new content, and as with everything, some work and some don't, and you learn and you move on from there.

YZ: I again agree with Shane. When Covid erupted, operators were mainly looking for coverage in the short-term. I think we identified that the most affected sport from this pandemic is tennis, because it's a sport that demands international travelling, so there were no competitions at all. So immediately we focused on this sport, and one of the solutions we introduced was a tennis simulator based on real-time historical data.

So we were playing historical data in short, engaging formats, and running 300 of these each day, so we're talking about 9,000 live games per month, which is more than all tennis competitions together. And it's really gaining momentum. We can even see these days when tennis is almost back to normal, we still have tier-one operators that use our product, so I think this was one of the shifts that helped us maintain customers and support customers during these rough times.

SG: With more regulated markets, I think if this had happened maybe 10 years ago, there would’ve been even further uptake of more of the edge sports, simulated sports or the lower-tier content. But I think operators are certainly conscious of their local regulations and certainly conscious of some of the press that might come out. I think operators are rightly now thinking about the quality of the content they want to take in, and the

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DS: What I noticed, Carl, in Altenar, we’ve seen a very clear trend that when it comes to the high-profile legs, it’s necessary to move ahead with official data. You can’t cover La Liga, Premier League or Italian Serie A if you just have TV pictures as data. You must have good quality, first-hand data that gives you a lot of proper stuff. But if there's not a local interest, it probably becomes less important and less interesting for the consumer.

And then you have new products like the ones mentioned, like table tennis, or the tennis from LSports, the stuff that gives you a lot of content to bet on; something that is short term, fun, and goes up to thousands of live events per month. So unfortunately, it looks like some middle stuff is losing the battle a little bit. I wonder if this is a trend.

CF: I think everything is still in such a state of flux right now. Maybe it would take more time to really cement the fact that it is a trend or not. All the data has to be examined and calibrated, but this is something we should certainly keep an eye on and look at in the coming months.

“Just because something is official, doesn't mean it's better.

It should be better because being official means you have the advantage of being in-stadium and having the fastest feeds.”

- Shane Gannon

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THE HUDDLE

were rolling out new rules and potentially implementing them in a different fashion, it was undeniably difficult, and it was a significant shift for any business that collects data. We're through all of that, but I think anyone from any sports data business will be lying if they said it was a smooth transition.

But as the different leagues moved through, we were able to find ways to deal with it. The crucial thing is that different operators have a different approach to risk. Some don't want to take any, and if there's any doubt about something, they want markets suspended.

Some operators look to give their customers 90 minutes uptime, for example, so they want a slightly different approach. So it's about crafting new data points to ensure you give those customers the options to deliver the kind of product to their customers that they want.

SG: It's a really interesting point. We're very heavily invested in right-holder relationships both in a video and a data level, and we have been for a long time. But what's really important for us as suppliers is to ensure that we're not just utilising the acquisition of official or exclusive rights as an attempt to gain market share just for the sake of it.

What's important for the betting operators is to ensure that there’s innovation and quality products layered on top of the official rights, because acquiring official rights and then going to betting operators with a sub-par product is not what the betting industry needs. Official rights are here and they're a good thing for funding sport and betting operators. It’s the most trusted data, but it needs to be done with quality data and with sensible distribution models.

DS: I want to be devil's advocate and say, for example, I’ve heard that sometimes unofficial data can become better quality compared to official. I’m referring to, for example, FIFA or UEFA competitions.

SG: Just because something is official, doesn't mean it's better. It should be better because being official means you have the advantage of being in-stadium and having the fastest feeds. But what we need to ensure, and what operators want, is that these official rights are going to companies who have proven themselves to deliver top-quality products.

CF: Has the implementation of VAR added to the dynamic of products or things that you can do in in-play betting?

SG: It's been a headache. We’re hopefully getting through it. We are obviously collecting data from thousands of matches around the world with local people who know the local league information, but as new leagues

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CF: Do you feel you're better off because of it now, having gone through that?

SG: We're better off that it's done and dusted, and we don't need to think about it much anymore. As a football fan, I don't particularly love it, but it's obviously something that various leagues decided they needed to implement, so we just need to make sure we can deliver the right product for the customers on the back of what the individual leagues were doing.

DS: Yoav, what do you think about all this official versus unofficial stuff?

YZ: I think it's less important. In the past, oil was the most important resource, then real estate, and today data is the most important resource worldwide. It’s about what you collect, the quality of the data, and how you analyse it, and when it comes to business, what innovative solutions you deploy around it.

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REGULATION ROUNDUP

REGULATION ROUNDUP: IMPORTANT INDUSTRY LESSONS Tim Poole reports as the cases of Crown Resorts, in Australia, and Football Index, in the UK, mark striking failings across the global gaming sector

Crown Resorts A buzzword on the conference circuit and perhaps a dirty word for compliance professionals after hearing it enough times during the working day, regulation has always been a central theme within the gaming sector. Every time new regulations are introduced to a market, gaming companies are forced to incur greater costs and create new administrative measures, often publicly or privately lamenting the new rules imposed upon them. But regulation in the first instance is designed to stop a Wild West scenario, where gaming companies essentially do whatever they want, regardless of legality or consumer protection. Shockingly, not one

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but two major news stories in 2021 have demonstrated a complete disregard for regulatory procedures – causes for great concern in this day and age.

CHAPTER 1: CROWN RESORTS Our first major story concerns a land-based casino chain – and it’s a saga you would have struggled to miss if you’ve been keeping abreast of industry news. In Australia, Crown Resorts has been forced to undergo seismic changes at board and operational level, following a series of failings so glaring the operator was initially caught out by CCTV

footage of hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars appearing to be laundered. In late 2019, the leaked footage emerged, alongside whistleblower claims that Crown Casino in Melbourne was used to freely launder millions.

The evidence was too tangible to ignore and an inquiry into Crown was launched, the results of which have been damning for the operator in recent months.

THE BERGIN INQUIRY Earlier this year, former Supreme Court Judge Patricia Bergin concluded in her final report, otherwise known as the result of the Bergin Inquiry, that Crown is unfit to hold a licence for its new AU$2.2bn (US$1.68bn)

REGULATION ROUNDUP

casino on Sydney Harbour. In an extremely damaging process for the organisation, the Bergin Inquiry found money had “clearly” been laundered at Crown Melbourne; it found that Crown worked closely with junkets possessing ties to organised crime (Crown has since said it will no longer work with junkets); it found the operator had pursued aggressive tactics in China despite staff living in “constant fear” of arrest; and it found that 36% shareholder James Packer exercised “real power” at Crown which had “disastrous consequences for the company,” while also uncovering a culture of turning a blind eye to failings.

SWEEPING CHANGES Following the Inquiry’s results, very little – if anything – could possibly stay the same at Crown. CEO and MD Ken Barton resigned, with Helen Coonan becoming temporary executive chairman while the board seeks a replacement. Other directors to resign included Andrew Demetriou, Guy Jalland and Michael Johnston. Demetriou was one of three directors specifically identified by Bergin for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls, along with Johnston and Barton. But these personnel changes are far from the end of the outcome here for Crown.

A Victoria royal commission into the operator has now also commenced, with former judge Ray Finkelstein insisting this investigation will go even further than the Bergin Inquiry. Finkelstein stated that delays

“However Crown comes out of this saga, though, the damage to its reputation will be ever-lasting.

This is the most high-profile and blatant failure in basic regulatory matters the global gaming sector has seen for some time”

in producing documents will not be tolerated, adding: "I'm concerned that unless the seriousness of the conduct is recognised, any steps taken to remedy the position might only be half-hearted of them.”

A WAY OUT? What is perhaps interesting, and most certainly presents Crown Resorts with some good fortune, is that the operator may now have a viable way out of its current situation. Recently, the Australian organisation received a $6bn acquisition proposal from Blackstone Group, with Packer said to understandably be open to a sale. A reformatting of the operator’s board is the first step towards its new future – more on that later.

Regarding the bid itself, the Blackstone Group had offered an unsolicited, non-binding, indicative proposal to acquire all of Crown’s shares for AU$8bn ($6.18bn).

According to Crown’s confirmation to the Australian Securities Exchange, Blackstone offered an indicative price of AU$11.85 per share, which “represents a premium of 19% to the volume-weighted average price of Crown shares since the release of its H1 FY21 results.” Blackstone currently holds approximately 10% of shares in Crown Resorts that were acquired in 2020 from Melco Resorts and Entertainment.

The group already owns stakes in Las Vegas properties such as the MGM Grand and the Bellagio.

At the time of the offer, analysts at Fitch Ratings project that the deal with Blackstone would help Crown solve some of the issues presented by the Bergin Inquiry. They said: “Even though Crown has already terminated agreements with CPH, and its representatives on Crown’s board have already resigned, we believe removal of CPH as a shareholder will be viewed favourably by regulators as it will provide a permanent break in the relationship.”

NEW FACES In what was its first clear step towards allowing for a potential takeover, Crown Resorts confirmed that Nigel Morrison will join the operator as a non-executive director.

The former SkyCity Entertainment Group exec became the company’s first high-profile appointment since the Bergin Inquiry, adding much-needed casino-operating experience to Crown’s board. Morrison previously held roles as CEO of the SkyCity Entertainment Group, CFO of Galaxy Entertainment Group and COO of Crown Melbourne Limited.

Both the Bergin Inquiry and an investigation by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) considered the addition of gaming experience to Crown’s board as crucial

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to its continued operations. ILGA chair Philip Crawford said in an interview: “I would hope to see people with some degree of experience in casinos, plus numerate people with board experience, a good understanding of the Corporations Act and their obligations as directors. I think they need well rounded people with specific experience around the concerns that we have and in running businesses that are casinos.”

CLEAR CONSEQUENCES But such was the grand scale of Crown’s regulatory failings, it was announced the royal commission into Crown Perth in Western Australia will not only investigate the company itself but the role of the regulator. Chair of the commission Justice Neville Owen expressed his intention to work with the other ongoing investigations into Crown, as well as a regulatory review into the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, whenever possible.

However Crown comes out of this saga, though, the damage to its reputation will be ever-lasting. This is the most high-profile and blatant failure in basic regulatory matters the global gaming sector has seen for some time. And, to this day, there seems to be little remorse or little internal comprehension of just how badly things have gone for Crown.

The financial implications are also clear: should Blackstone purchase the Australian operator, its value will be a significantly less than it was when any previous deals were floated. In April 2019, reports circulated that Wynn Resorts was in talks to acquire Crown for AU$10bn – such a scenario is now but a distant dream.

CHAPTER 2: FOOTBALL INDEX Over 9,000 miles away and some 11 hours in time difference between Sydney and London, a case transpired in the UK some have labelled as the biggest gambling disaster to face punters in the history of the market.

When Football Index burst onto the scene a few years ago, it was a fresh-faced alternative to traditional sports betting. The operator’s mantra (licensed with the Gambling Commission under parent company Bet Index) was that traditional bookmakers have taken too much off players – and it was time for players to really make money betting.

‘Betting,’ though, was instead referred to as ‘trading,’ (later a point of contention, which we will get to) and players were allowed to invest in shares in professional footballers; the ‘football stock market.’

As Football Index grew, so did coverage of the platform’s activity. Huge B2C marketing

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REGULATION ROUNDUP

deals were signed as the operator advertised on paid UK sports channels and advertising hoardings at stadiums across the UK. Sponsorships were also agreed with English Championship football clubs Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest. All was supposedly rosy as the company reported over £500m ($689.2m) in trades, with the sky the limit as the Football Index name grew and grew. Gambling Insider even devoted online articles exploring the benefits of betting this way versus the classic sports wager, as well as a speculative suggestion of DraftKings taking over the site and implementing the model across different US sports.

This was all taking place around 2019/20 but a fast forward to March 2021 could not have seen the narrative flip in any more dramatic fashion. Football Index has now gone into administration, its licence stripped by the Gambling Commission (although this was somewhat of a futile gesture after the event) and customers have been left short of funds ranging from two-figure ‘investments’ to five figures or potentially

even more. Estimates put player loss at a total of £90m, money these players may well never get back, and an ironic fact given Football Index was designed to stop bookmakers taking huge sums off their player base. While Football Index initially blamed the Covid-19 pandemic, many are now using terms such as ‘pyramid scheme’ and ‘ponzi scheme’ to describe the failed platform, Indeed, a number of critics who initially suggested flaws in the model – ignored at the time – have ultimately been vindicated even if they were not listened to initially.

CHANGING THE GOALPOSTS Personal responsibility is a topic we have covered in-depth in previous issues of Gambling Insider magazine. For those on social media telling Football Index “this was supposed to be my kid’s future” – a genuine quote from Twitter, personal responsibility must always be considered. There is always a risk of losing money if someone decides to deposit thousands of pounds; and if Football Index was used as a platform for genuine

“Over 9,000 miles away and some 11 hours in time difference between Sydney and London, a case transpired in the UK some have labelled as the biggest gambling disaster to face punters in the history of the market”

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fundraising, or as a source of income, players must of course be able to apportion the appropriate amount of blame to themselves.

In this case, however, many have complained that Football Index changed the goalposts for them; and that the money lost was all down to either gross failings on the company’s part, or as some have inevitably lamented, a deliberate continuation in the knowledge the business model could not be sustained. Proceedings really took a nosedive in early March, when a market update informed traders/players that dividends would be reduced by 80%. This was met by a furious backlash from the player base, which resulted in Football Index closing all replies on its social media accounts due to personal threats aimed at staff. Gambling Insider itself received a backlash from angry traders simply for reporting the story.

THE ROLE OF THE GAMBLING COMMISSION Football Index’s market update was sent out on Friday 5 March. By Thursday 11 March, the company had gone into administration.

But bettor ire was not only directed at Football I1ndex at this point, it was aimed at the market regulator, the Gambling Commission.

On Friday 12 March, the Commission suspended Football Index’s licence. Many have asked why it waited until the day after the operator effectively went bust to do so.

The regulator has since claimed it was investigating Football Index’s licence for a year and that it was right not to act sooner.

Yet, in a year when the role of the Gambling Commission is being assessed amid the UK Gambling Act Review, it is difficult to find a more negligible approach than that which was applied by the body in this very case.

The Commission has stood accused of not necessarily understanding how the Football Index model worked and simply choosing to license it anyway. In any case, whether this could have been avoided or not (and critics who contacted the Gambling Commission to warn the regulator insist it certainly could have), players have ultimately been allowed to lose funds thanks to a regulator that has failed to protect them.

On 15 March, Gambling Commission CEO Neil McArthur stepped down from his role following 15 years with the regulator. With the UK Gambling Act Review upcoming, this is perhaps a move many may have anticipated anyway. The timing, however, is inauspicious given the Football Index debacle that preceded the decision. In both this ill-fated case and that of Crown Resorts, we can see global gaming still has a way to go, even at the very top.

With so many resignations, ruined reputations – but mostly importantly, wronged consumers – there are plenty of lessons to learn for the gambling industry. No one is infallible.

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NISHITH DESAI ASSOCIATES

FANTASY BECOMES REALITY Ranjana Adhikari, co-head, Gaming Practice Group, and Tanisha Khanna, senior member, Gaming Practice Group, Nishith Desai Associates, speak about the latest advancements in the fantasy sports sector in India, and how current laws are accounting for growth

Sports is an important part of the culture of India, with cricket having its largest fan following and broadcasting viewership.

As the most anticipated cricketing tournament of 2021, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has delivered on its promise and the networks have seen unprecedented ratings and viewership. While the pandemic has led to a temporary suspension of the event, the numbers so far look promising.

Yet this boost in the interest of home-bound viewers this pandemic, has catapulted the interest of customers towards fantasy sports sites and apps.

In 2020, when businesses countrywide were grappling to cut spend, popular fantasy operators like the unicorn Dream 11 and Mobile Premier League bagged coveted sponsorship opportunities with IPL,

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clearly showcasing the serious money these platforms were willing to expend on advertising and growing their business.

The fantasy sports Industry in India had a user base of almost 90 million users as of 2019, and is expected to be worth US$ 3.7 billion by 2024.

While the fantasy sports business has grown, the irony that increases each day is the inconsistencies in policies of each Indian state and their approach towards gaming in general. The year 2020 witnessed a slew of public interest litigations fi led compelling the states to decide on the legality of these gaming formats, including fantasy sports. On the other hand, the curiosity and interest of foreign investors and operators eyeing the Indian fantasy sports market has only

grown in the last year. This article gives a quick snapshot on some key questions that one would have when looking to tap the Indian fantasy sports market.

How are the Indian gaming laws structured?

India follows a state-wide regime where gaming and gambling laws, or gaming enactments, are concerned. Most gaming enactments exempt games of skill, which include games where there is a preponderance of skill over chance.

Following public litigations and pleas, states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu amended their respective laws, the result of which is that the skill games played for stakes are no longer exempted under these state gaming

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NISHITH DESAI ASSOCIATES

enactments. This development did have a commercial impact on many skill-gaming operators’ business in the last year as these states are cash rich with internet savvy population rising there. This was in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court of India has previously ruled that offering games of skill are protected as legitimate business activities under the fundamental right of freedom of business guarantees under the Constitution of India.

Do fantasy sports qualify as games of skill and can be offered legitimately?

Whether a particular game format is that of skill or not is always a question to be determined on the facts of the case. Certain states like Meghalaya and Nagaland have recognised and classified ‘virtual sports fantasy league games’ and ‘virtual team selection games’ as games of skill under their respective gaming enactments. Previously, the Supreme Court had recognised that betting on horse racing was a game of skill in the case of K R Lakshmanan vs. State of Tamil Nadu, and the principles from this case may support arguments that sports betting too, is a game of skill. This case was an important precedent that was relied on by courts in India while opining on the format offered by Dream 11. This is the only version of fantasy sports which has been tested before any court in India.

The version offered by Dream 11 has been recognised as a game preponderantly of skill by the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan, and Bombay. Certain special leave petitions were dismissed against these judgments by the Supreme Court, too. However, while hearing a special leave petition against the judgment of the High Court of Bombay, the Supreme Court imposed a stay on the judgment of the High Court. Accordingly, the issue

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is pending consideration by the Supreme Court. However, in the interim, the judgements of the courts of Punjab and Haryana and Rajasthan have not been stayed or overturned and continue to hold good.

While evaluating any fantasy game format, one would need to ascertain whether the game formats pass the tests set out in the Fantasy Sports Cases and the Lakhsmanan Case. To give a quick f lavour of the kind of criteria set out, we have listed a few below: • Whether the drafting of a virtual team involves assessment of the relative worth/ abilities of athletes as against other athletes available for selection, or in the case of horse racing, assessment of the horse, the jockey, etc. as against other horses.

• Whether a user is required to study the strengths and weaknesses of athletes in order to make their selection.

• Whether the rules of the game require users to exercise their skills of judgment and knowledge of sports, i.e., adherence to a budget, upper cap on players which can be selected from a single team, selection of a captain and vice-captain whose points are multiplied, etc.

While we have discussed the impact of the Indian Gaming Enactments on fantasy sports, while evaluating the size and scalability of the business, one would also need to consider other restrictions under Indian laws as well. For example, under the Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000, there is a prohibition on making remittances out of income from racing, riding, or any other hobby, as well as remittance for the purchase of football pools, sweepstakes, and so on. While cross pooling of players to increase liquidity on the platform, this must be borne in mind. Further, the relevant foreign

exchange laws in India prohibit foreign investment in ‘gambling and betting, including casinos,’. This law doesn’t define what amounts to “gambling and betting” for the purposes of any investment or a foreign technology collaboration.

However, one can argue that investment into skill-gaming businesses should not attract this prohibition, and relying on the cases above, the investment in a fantasy sports business should not restrict these prohibitions. Apart from this, there are general restrictions and conditions imposed on investments coming into India from neighbouring countries, which may require the prior approval of the Government.

Policy movement in favour of fantasy sports industry Until such time that there is no nation-wide law to address the legality of these operators, the operators will continue to deal with the uncertain and instable policies of each state of the country. But with the spotlight on the industry players during the last IPL coupled with the rise in investments and job opportunities that the fantasy sports industry have contributed to the Indian economy, the government is certainly sitting up and taking notice of their presence. Interestingly, the Niti Aayog, a policy think tank of the Government of India, released the Guiding Principles for the Uniform National-Level Regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platforms in India, which recommends creating a national–level safe harbour for fantasy sports as a game of skill. This is hailed to be a significant step for the industry towards receiving the blessing as a nationwide legitimate business. But this policy paper does not have the effect of law and is recommendatory in nature.

There has also been a simultaneous great push from the industry for the government to recognise fantasy sport as a sport rather than a mere gaming activity.

The presence of multiple state laws governing gaming activities, and contrary precedents with respect to game formats set by various High Courts, have created a haphazard legal framework for gaming operators. So there's a need for robust federal legislation identifying games of skill and prescribing standards for operators to follow, which will significantly improve business certainty. But in spite of these hurdles, the fantasy sports industry continues to thrive in India, one of the most promising markets for fantasy sports operations.

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CASINOS REOPENING

RETURN TO FORM Casinos are due to re-open soon, but will there be anyone available to work in them? Paul Sculpher, co-director of GRS Recruitment, and a case study from Silvie Mazacova, a casino dealer at Genting Casinos UK, examine the harsh realities of getting back to business The struggles of the hospitality industry have been well chronicled in the media over the last year or more, and as I write, the hallowed date of 17 May for re-opening is fast approaching and some sectors may be in a better position to get a running start than others.

Personally, I am a firm believer that there’s going to be an explosion of activity from patrons who’ve had nothing beyond the essentials on which to spend their money for a year, and tills will be ringing away up and down the land, with the offline gambling sector being no exception.

However, there is another looming potential problem in the casino sector, likely shared by others – availability of staff. The impact of Brexit combined with Covid may deliver an impact greater than the sum of its parts on an industry that has depended in recent years on more than its fair share of European imports for staffing.

Let’s wind the clock back a decade and figure out how we got to where we are.

Ten or 15 years ago, there was a significant expansion in UK casinos, in scale if not so pronounced in numbers. Many sites were relocated from smaller city-centre premises, to larger edge-of-town sites.

Gaming table numbers increased, and the general feeling was that with UK casino participation rates being so low by comparison with other countries, there was an opportunity for operators to open up the industry with more newbie-friendly surroundings. Leaving aside whether this was a profitable strategy, clearly larger premises would require more staff.

This gap was filled in many cases with staff from overseas. In the UK offline casino sector, gaming staff can’t just be pulled in off the street. They generally need a six-week training period, and it takes at least that long for them to apply for and receive their Personal Functional Licence, which confirms they’re fit and proper to operate in a business that needs to stay firmly on the right side of the law. Enterprising types in Europe began

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running training schools for dealers, and applying for their licences directly, meaning they could offer dealers that were table ready without UK operators having to deal with the expense and delay of

“growing their own”.

Many a casino punter over the last few years will have had the experience of being dealt to by friendly faces from Italy (particularly Sicily), Lithuania, Poland and a wealth of

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other countries, and the whole arrangement worked tremendously well for all concerned.

However, there’s now a real concern that having relied on this resource to keep the lights on, Brexit and Covid in tandem could derail an industry that has come to rely on a rich seam of skilled pre-packed colleagues.

I spoke with a senior industry contact about this looming problem. He told me in no uncertain terms that we don’t know for sure where we stand. “Many of our European staff have successfully achieved settled status, but they may not be in the country, and may not be able to enter easily pending Covid regulations,” he said.

That doesn’t sound ideal, and we further discussed the prevailing mindset. “The fact that the pound has lost some of its value against the Euro won’t help either, making for a reduced incentive for staff to return if their objective was to send funds home for their family or future,” he added.

The issues around Brexit and Covid are most pressing for staff based overseas, but the sector has long struggled with recruitment in the UK, too. As readers will know, UK casinos outside London are not generally a licence to print money, and with the wage bill being a very significant part of operating costs – almost no casino can open its doors without spending a £1M on wages, and most significantly more – they aren’t in a world of being able to blast 20% pay increases to boost the intake.

“One of our other issues is the minimum living wage,” my connection further commented. “As it increases, it pushes up our floor rate, and of course we still need to maintain the increments for our more senior staff, so there really isn’t much space for more increases. Tips do help, but it’s not a huge bonus in most sites. We are really competing against other base level jobs like working in retail or behind a bar.”

While that may not sound like a recipe for the pinnacle of customer service, anyone who has visited UK casinos will attest that service levels range from the wonderfully personal to the actively hostile – much like anywhere else in the world at the grind action level. UK casinos tend to end up with a hard core of staff who stick around for years, plus a revolving cast who try it out for a few months or a year, and decide it’s not for them. The hardcore are generally (although not in all cases) the ones who get to love the environment and the guests, and become a much loved part of the fabric of the club. In many ways, that’s the key to getting a team that will deliver what an operator needs – stability.

There’s a lot to be said for the casino working environment for the right type of person. Sure, nights are tough but speaking

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Paul Sculpher as an ex-dealer, shift manager and GM, there’s a rhythm to casino life that makes it a satisfying lifestyle. Weekend nights out are overrated anyway, midweek happy hours fit the bill for a lower wage, and with rush hour an irrelevance and progression a possibility for a hard working staff member, it’s not all bad.

If there is a reduction in available staff, particularly on the dealing side, casino operators have some difficult decisions to make. It’s not like staffing levels haven’t been cut down as far as possible from a cost perspective in past years, so there isn’t a simple solution. The only alternative course of actual in the face of true staff shortage, if table yielding has been maximised under a larger staff complement, is to drive up the cost of playing. A good operator will already have games running at maximum speed, so price of play is the only other option.

These days (as opposed to the old 1968 Gaming Act), we can amend rules to be a little tougher – double zero blackjack and harsher blackjack rules would increase the edge – but in a market mostly depending on local customers like the UK, that’s going to raise eyebrows. Raising price of play is thus the route operators may take, and here is where there may still be some juice.

From vague memories of when casinos were open, you would still see £3 blackjack games provincially in some places, but if staff is short, these types of games must surely

disappear. Roulette, the mainstay of UK casinos, is more complex, since if you increase the minimum chip cost, people just play fewer chips, so enforcing a minimum spread per spin may be the next move.

My contact also made the point that ancillary spend might be the next target, and given the nature of most newer UK casinos, with ample bar and food provision, that makes sense. The problem is there’s a big gap between gaming spend and F&B – typical averages outside London in the UK might be £20 to £25 per head and £3 to £5 per head respectively – so that’s a lot of work to do to fill the hole. There’s also the issue that serious punters and social visitors primarily there for a few drinks and to watch the gamers don’t always mix that well, so the F&B route out of the problem may not be straightforward.

Other ideas have been floating around for years, like some kind of hybrid offer with bar, food, cash gaming and other types of social games (shuffleboard, pool and so on), or a few very international scale sites (torpedoed by the change in legislative policy), or my preferred route of smaller sites focused on pure gamers with miniature wage bills to match.

Whatever happens, offline play levels aren’t increasing, wage bills are marching northward and the precious resource of competent gaming staff is likely about to take a nosedive.

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CASINOS REOPENING

Silvie Mazacova - veteran casino dealer at Genting Casinos UK

Casinos should definitely worry about more than just whether their patrons will return or not. Staff levels should absolutely be top of their agenda as well.

While some casino groups kept nearly the same level of staff as before Covid and made use of the incredibly generous furlough scheme, some casinos went for it and decided to make as much as 60% of their staff redundant.

However, casino businesses have seen a massive plunge in staff levels over the past decade. I experienced a 50% decrease in staff numbers over the past five years. From 40 people on a nightshift to 20 in one club, and from 15 people on a dayshift to 8 in another. Low levels of staff may also mean dealers will spend longer periods on the tables between breaks - hardly a recipe for exceptional customer service (or enhanced security).

The wage for new croupiers just joining the business hasn’t been particularly encouraging either. Some high-end casinos in London are offering amounts of around £22k. Yes, tips in London are better than in provincial casinos, but, as we have found out this year, they are of no help if something unpredictable happens, like a global pandemic.

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Looking at possibilities for changing career paths, remote working is an enticing possibility, and in other sectors, a new working week looks something like three days in the office and two days at home.

Why am I mentioning this? The commuting cost, of course.

Another facet that’s challenging for casino staff is the chance to progress and earn a pay-rise since not everyone got hit by Covid as hard as casinos, as other companies still offer progression.

My view is it’s not a secret that progression in a casino means that you are doing more tasks for the same amount of money. Senior croupiers run the floor and dealers inspect.

It’s not unusual to earn 22k a year and supervise a game with tens of thousands of pounds at stake. I am afraid that many people will not want extra responsibility for no extra reward. So who would want to commute to the centre of town five times a week and spend all night and weekends at work, with limited chance of meaningful progression, if they can get a job that’s partly remote?

I suspect casinos may realise that they’ve made a huge mistake by getting rid of many of their staff with a plan to hire more when the pandemic is over. Many casino workers

have used the one-year-long lockdown to upskill and, so that they can pursue a new career; they may not find the idea of working five nights a week with no chance of promotion and a pay rise for years to come very appealing. I, for example, have gone through writing courses, started a side-hustle as a copywriter to open new opportunities and set up a blog about fitness. Others started crafting beautiful items to sell on Etsy, which can easily turn into a full-time business in the future. This makes me believe that from the already reduced team, many of them will not return to their old job at all.

Brexit will also make the “foreign import” harder. If the new system of having to earn at least 25k a year gets the green light, casinos will lose a source of qualified and licensed staff from the rest of Europe.

If the points system based on Australia becomes a thing, casinos may not be able to get a foreign workforce at all.

It’s safe to assume that croupiers will rarely be considered as important for the economy and society as doctors or engineers. But maybe that drives casino wages up – or staff numbers further down – but something will have to change.

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UKRAINE

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Andrey Astapov, managing partner at Eterna Law and member of the Expert Advisory Council of the Gambling and Lottery Regulation Commission of Ukraine, details the latest inroads in the nation's newly passed gambling law and what operators, both domestic and international, have to consider in order to make a first move into the region A recently emerged gambling market in Ukraine is filled with its first licences.

More than 10 licences for different types of gambling are already issued, and the interest of operators remains equally high for both online and land-based segments of gambling.

Ukraine is currently demonstrating huge potential and attracts plenty of attention from major gambling entertainment market players.

At the same time, some important regulatory matters still need some clarification to see the full picture of gambling market prospects.

So far, this is, of course, the regulation of taxes. It’s no secret that, for many foreign investors, taxation will be the defining factor to consider whether to enter the Ukrainian market or not.

So let’s look over the latest developments related to the Ukrainian gambling market; in particular, the first issued licences, the draft law that introduces changes to tax

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regulation of gambling, and some other recently adopted regulations.

PIONEERING THE MARKET Redeveloping the gambling market doesn’t seem to be an easy task for the Ukrainian Government, especially as it aims to develop it according to international standards, and attract a massive flow of international investments. But while some investors are waiting for the adoption of tax legislation for gambling, others already applied and successfully obtained licences.

Let’s begin with the online segment.

According to the Ukrainian Gambling Act, it’s possible to obtain three types of licence for online gambling,;in particular, for online casinos, betting and online poker. At this moment, a licence for online poker is yet untouched. But as for online casinos and betting, they have already been issued to a

range of local and international operators.

For example, online casino licences have been issued to such operators as Parimatch, Cosmolot, Favbet, First.ua, Vulkan Casino, Slots City and others. Parimatch also succeeded in obtaining a licence for betting.

And despite the Covid-19 pandemic and some related temporary limitations, the offline gambling sector is also marked by its first licences. In particular, casino licences are issued to Primum LLC, which will locate its gambling establishment in the Haharin hotel in Odessa, and to Nebula Games LLC, which will locate its casino in the Grand Hotel in Lviv. Three licences are also issued to operators of gaming machines – two of them to Gamedev LLC with the location of gaming machine halls in the Tourist hotel in Kharkiv and the Hotel Intourist in Zaporizhya, and one licence is issued to LLC Gambling Club Lord that will locate the gaming machine halls in Lybid Hotel in Kyiv.

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As a continuation of discussions about land-based gambling, it’s also important to mention permits for land-based gambling establishments. In particular, licensing conditions determine, when applying for a licence for any land-based type of gambling, that a licensee shall provide the Commission with documents that confirm the compliance of the premises with the requirements of the Gambling Act. As of this moment, such permits are already issued to a wide range of hotels in different cities, such as Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, Poltava, Mykolaiv and others. Depending on the characteristics of the premises, they allow organising a particular type of gambling like casino, betting or gambling in gaming machine halls. A significant number of such permits already issued by the Commission confirm a great interest of operators in the market of land-based casinos and slot machine halls, meaning that we expect a large number of applications for licences in due course.

NEW AND IMPROVED TAX RATES To reiterate, the majority of investors interested in entering the Ukrainian market are still waiting for the adoption of tax regulation. According to the Tax Code of Ukraine, Ukrainian operators would have to pay the following income taxes: 10% of the income obtained from gambling for gaming machine operators and 18% of the income obtained from betting and other types of gambling activities (except for gaming machines).

Stakeholders argue that such rates for income tax are quite high in comparison to other jurisdictions with legalised gambling.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian gambling market is just in the process of formation and needs some stimulating factors for its proper development. This, in turn, can be achieved with the help of milder tax rates.

Therefore, it’s been suggested that instead of the current income tax, Ukraine uses a milder tax rate on gross gaming revenue (GGR). Such an approach is supported by the draft law “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine on Taxation of Income from the Organization and Conduct of Gambling and Lotteries”, which is currently under consideration in the parliament of Ukraine, and offers to introduce milder tax rates for operators. According to the explanatory note to the draft law, with the help of new tax rates for gambling, the authors intend to create incentives and favourable conditions for the development of gambling in Ukraine, and stimulate the removal of illegal gambling in the shadows that has been usual practice for the country for many years.

The draft law on taxes establishes that all

gambling operators and lottery operators will pay the GGR tax at the same rate of 10%. It also sets out a tax on winnings that exceed approximately €1,400 ($1,690).

However, it’s worth noting that a number of deputies consider such a threshold for the tax on winnings to be rather low and insist on raising the threshold.

Moreover, the draft law also offers to cancel the triple fee for some gambling licences, which is established by the Gambling Act until the introduction of the state online monitoring system that will provide state control over the activities of all gambling operators. In particular, at this moment, such triple fees are set out for the annual instalments paid for betting licences, online casino licences and a licence for gaming machines.

ON THE HORIZON Blockchain tech is still improving, and On 31 March, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine also adopted licensing conditions for a gambling service licence (also known as a B2B licence), which allows Ukrainian business entities to supply software used in gambling activities.

The licensing conditions determine some specific details for the regulation of this type of activity, as well as adopt the list of documents that shall be submitted by the applicant to the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries who intends to obtain a licence. The licence is also issued for five years by the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries, and the licence fee amounts to approximately $64,000 as of 2021. Notably, the B2B licence will give the possibility to Ukrainian software developers to supply gambling software, not just to Ukrainian but also foreign

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gambling operators. It’s also worth mentioning that either the Gambling Act or the licensing conditions for the B2B licence don’t provide an exhaustive list of software that can be supplied under the B2B licence.

The gambling software adopted by the Gambling Act is defined as any software that provides the possibility to collect data on accepted bets, record any payments and winnings, form databases, and determine the final results of each game. Therefore, this can be the online system that collects and records various data on bets and winnings, as well as various game and software content for gambling.

Though the first operators succeeded to obtain and pay fees for the licences, it’s too early to make any conclusions concerning the impact of gambling legalisation on the state economy or consumer behaviour in Ukraine.

Many gambling operators have already paid their annual fees to the state budget. But at the same time, the market is not yet functioning in a proper way, and we expect that at least half a year is still needed to make any analysis that would be based on real facts rather than on our assumptions.

Therefore, it’s evident that we now observe the quick formation of the Ukrainian gambling market. Many licences have already been issued and the interest of local and international operators to the Ukrainian market is consistently high, so we see some incredibly positive results in rather short timeframes.

On the other hand, as must be admitted, the Ukrainian gambling market is still only at the origins of its formation, so a range of regulatory matters still need to be resolved.

After all, this is the new regulation on taxes that will help decrease the tax burden on gambling operators, and attract even more investments to Ukraine.

Andrey Astapov

GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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GUSTAF HOFFSTEDT

TOO BIG TO FAIL?

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of BOS, asks: Are all gaming companies created equal, or are some more equal than others?

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Casino Cosmopol, a subsidiary of state-owned Svenska Spel, recently had its licence extended, with the Swedish Gambling Authority renewing the licence for Sweden’s only land-based casino operator for five years. The decision was made despite the Authority having found shortcomings in Casino Cosmopol’s anti-money laundering procedures at the end of 2018. The seriousness of such a lapse for a business that handles large amounts of cash can’t be stressed enough.

The Gambling Authority only awards five-year licences to operators who uphold the highest standard for the parameters the Authority uses to assess a gaming company’s conduct and suitability. In the absence of a spotless record, the Authority has the option to award a shorter licence term

of two years. Rejecting a licence application is, of course, the most serious form of sanction the Gambling Authority can issue, but the seriousness and implications of only granting a two-year licence cannot be overstated.

Such a decision is noted by regulators in other jurisdictions, who may question whether they should award a licence to an operator their Swedish counterpart has found wanting. A second-tier licence is also noted by investors and creditors, who will demand compensation for the increased risk associated with a more time-limited licence.

However, this was not the fate that befell Casino Cosmopol, which was instead granted a full five-year licence term. This story has reignited a question that is always smouldering in the Swedish gaming market: does the Swedish state treat its own gaming company

GUSTAF HOFFSTEDT FEATURES

Gustaf Hoffstedt differently from other players in the market?

This issue has been fueled further by the fact that both the lower and higher courts have more than halved the already low fine that was originally issued for Casino Cosmopol's money laundering violation, reducing the penalty from about €800,000 ($963,000) to €300,000. These sums can be compared to the fines of up to €10m that have been imposed on commercial gaming companies in the past for offences that, by all reasonable measures, must be considered less serious than money laundering.

In spite of this, I actually do not believe Swedish authorities give preferential treatment to Svenska Spel in this respect.

I also believe that a high level of equal treatment, and therefore professionalism, is more prevalent the closer a regulator is to gaming regulation in its day-to-day work.

In other words, it is even more important for the Gambling Authority than for a court to treat all operators equally.

To be fair, the low fines imposed on Casino Cosmopol were in part a consequence of new rules implemented with the re-regulation of the Swedish gaming market in 2019.

That said, I have my doubts about the state’s ability to apply equal treatment in case of violations that are so serious they warrant the revocation of a licence. Would the Gambling Authority be capable of imposing the most severe sanction if Svenska Spel is

found guilty of a violation that meets the requirements for a licence revocation, or is the state-owned company too big to fail?

Would the Swedish courts be able to confirm the Swedish Gambling Authority's decision?

Let us assume the authorities would prove capable of living up to the standard of equal treatment. That allows us to focus on a form of preferential treatment that is ever-present in Sweden: how authorities initiate reviews.

There is certainly no shortage of government reviews that lead to sanctions against the commercial gaming industry or, at the very minimum, blistering criticism of it.

Government initiatives that trigger reviews and fines apply exclusively to features of the commercial online gaming industry, such as bonuses. On the other hand, hardly any government reviews are initiated to examine the modus operandi of the half of the Swedish market that is still monopolised, such as the onslaught of advertising mailings from the Postcode Lottery, or the fact you cannot buy a newspaper in a Swedish kiosk without being swarmed by marketing signage for Trisslotten – the popular scratch off ticket that falls under the Svenska Spel monopoly.

Speaking of Trisslotten, in a blatant case of promotional marketing, this ticket is scratched live every day on TV4 – the country’s largest ad-funded TV-channel.

What distinguishes this marketing from other adverts is that the scratch off doesn’t air within the usual advertising blocks, but as an ostensibly editorial segment, for which Svenska Spel pays TV4. And since TV4 and Svenska Spel have chosen to treat the segment as "editorial content,” they do not mention the mandatory consumer information, including the 18-year age limit and contact information to the Stödlinjen, Sweden’s national problem gambling helpline.

The Swedish Consumer Agency, which is tasked with representing the interests of

Sweden’s consumers, has drawn the obvious conclusion that the Trisslotten segment constitutes advertising and that the absence of consumer protection information violates the Gambling Act. However, the Consumer Agency only reached this conclusion after BOS highlighted this blatant violation of gaming advertising rules. As an association, we believe responsible gaming programs should always be a central part of everyday industry practices, which is why we reached out to the Consumer. Needless to say, reviews of monopolist practices that are initiated by the authorities themselves have been few and far apart in the re-regulated Swedish gaming market.

In the wake of BOS’s action, the Consumer Agency asked to be given access to the commercial agreement between TV4 and Svenska Spel to gain a better understanding of how the broadcaster is compensated for airing the Trisslotten segment. Remarkably, Svenska Spel refused the agency’s request, despite the fact that only Consumer Agency staff would have full access to its content.

Let me repeat: the Swedish state-owned gaming company has refused a request by the Swedish Consumer Agency, the regulator that, alongside the Swedish Gambling Authority, has the most responsibility for monitoring the national gaming market.

Meanwhile, Svenska Spel continues to scratch tickets on live tv, somewhere in between the weather forecast and the daily food segment, day in and day out.

What other gaming operator would have been allowed to keep its licence under such circumstances?

Gustaf Hoffstedt is the Secretary General of BOS, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling, which brings together gaming operators and suppliers active in the Swedish market.

“We do not 'double punish' licence holders.

The sanctions and the licence renewal are two separate things. And that goes for all licence holders. So to the question asked about cc getting preferential treatment, the answer is no.”

- Anders Sim, of the Swedish Gambling Authority, responds to Hoffstedt's article. The regulator's full response is on GamblingInsider.com

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FEATURES

NETHERLANDS

GETTING A HEAD START After years of seemingly endless delays, the regulated Dutch online gambling market is now scheduled to open in October. Willem van Oort, founder of Gaming in Holland, examines what this market will initially look like, and which parties are gaining a running start

Willem van Oort The first version of the current iteration of the Dutch Remote Gaming Act was first proposed in 2014. Since then, we have become accustomed to a seemingly endless series of setbacks and delays. While we might thus be inclined to expect more of the same, we are now truly in the home stretch.

The Dutch Remote Gambling Act entered into force on 1 April. From that date, the Netherlands Gambling Authority also started processing remote license applications.

At this point, there is no foreseeable circumstance that would preclude the Dutch regulated online market from opening, as scheduled, on 1 October, 2021. The die, as the poets say, has finally been cast.

NO SINGLE “BIG BANG” Earlier this year, the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) announced it expected to receive around 40 applications for online gaming licences after the entry into force of the Remote Gambling Act, and to approve around 35.

Several major international operators will

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not be immediately eligible to apply for a remote licence. Operators who are deemed to have actively targeted the Dutch market in the past – for instance, through Dutch-language websites or by offering the iDEAL payment method – must wait for a period of at least 32 months from the moment they started complying with the KSA's prioritisation criteria before they become eligible.

As the existence of this cooling-off period has been known for quite some time, the initial expectation was that there would be two waves of market entrants. First, an initial group of incumbents (land-based casinos and lotteries, for example) accompanied by a limited number of “clean” international operators. Subsequently, this first group would be followed by a gradual trickle of international operators emerging piecemeal from their individual cooling-off periods.

However, instead of two groups of licence applicants, we are now more likely to end up with something closer to three.

AN INTERMEDIATE DEADLINE Initially, the Dutch regulator announced that remote licence applications should include a full certification of operators’ game systems.

However, the KSA published some of the required technical details so late as to make it virtually impossible for licence applicants to have their game systems fully audited by 1 April. In a gesture of goodwill, the regulator then decided to allow applicants to submit the certified audit report of their game system up to three months later, until 1 July 2021, but only if the initial licence application was submitted prior to 15 April 2021.This decision, together with limited capacity at testing labs, meant that those applicants who couldn't make the 15 April deadline would likely be faced with months of additional delays before they could even submit their licence applications.

This means, in effect, that there will be three groups of market entrants: those who applied before 15 April, those who apply after 15 April, and operators subject to the cooling-off period. As the processing of a licence application will take up to six months, only operators in the first group can expect to be fully licensed when the regulated market opens on 1 October.

THE FIRST GROUP On 19 April, the Netherlands Gambling Authority announced that it had received 28 remote licence applications. All applicants, moreover, paid the €48,000 ($57,000) processing fee. In other words, we are dealing with serious applications that are quite likely to be approved.

Based on the number of 28 initial licence applications, it’s reasonable to expect that around 25 licenced operators will be ready to enter the regulated Dutch online market on 1 October. Of course, it remains to be seen to what extent these leaders can translate their head start into long-term advantage.

THE BELGIANS ARE COMING At this point, it’s not fully clear which operators belong to this first group. But anecdotal data suggests that it includes several Belgian operators looking to expand their online operations into the Netherlands.

As the political lobbying prior to the introduction of the Remote Gambling Act was being completely dominated by Dutch land-based incumbents on one side, and major international online operators on the other, this interest of Belgian operators may come as a surprise to some. But having already had a first crack at online operations, combined with their experience in a somewhat similar market, could very well mean that these Belgian operators are well poised to take advantage of the Dutch opportunity.

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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CARL SELBY Royds Withy King

MIKAEL HANSSON Enteractive

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OLIVIA DAVIES Cornerstone Barristers

BLAŽ ŽITNIK Betradar

CARL SELBY INSIDERS

Gambling with your online terms?

Carl Selby, partner in the technology practice at Royds Withy King, reflects on the legal implications of the recent Betfred case, when a player was awarded £1.7m ($2.3m) in winnings by the UK courts

The High Court decision against Betfred once again raises questions over the terms and conditions on gaming websites. We are all regularly asked to accept online terms, whether setting up a new online account, placing an order for goods or services, or when a supplier updates its terms and conditions. Tick the box to confirm you “agree the Terms and Conditions” – we have seen such “click wrap” terms many thousands of times.

But does anyone, other than the lawyers who drafted them, ever actually read those terms? For businesses, this poses a serious question; how can they enforce terms they know customers are unlikely to read and how do they make sure they are “fair and transparent” as required by the Consumer Rights Act 2015?

This, of course, is an issue after online casino player Andrew Green won a High

Court case against Betfred’s refusal to pay him £1.7m winnings. The David slaying Goliath story is compelling. Mr Green played Blackjack on the Betfred casino. After a couple of hours' play he had won chips worth over £1.7m. He went to withdraw them and his request was declined. Eventually, Betfred told Mr Green that a glitch in the software meant Mr Green had won in error.

Betfred sought to rely on wording in several different sets of terms to limit its liability. In a summary judgement, the High Court held that Betfred could not rely on them. Betfred has said it will not appeal the decision and will now pay Mr Green his winnings, plus interest and costs.

The parts of Betfred’s terms that are quoted in the judgement are fairly typical of other click wrap T&Cs. The judgement does not break new ground, but it does give a detailed insight into how the courts will interpret online terms if they are challenged.

It is fair to say the court was fairly damning of Betfred’s terms, describing them as: “iterative and repetitive”, “obscure and unclear”, “long and complex”, “singularly ineffective” and “opaque and difficult”. So what could have saved Betfred?

CLEAR LANGUAGE One of the key points in the case was whether an exclusion for a “computer malfunction” would cover an error in the software. The judgement is clear: it does not, as a user would have associated that term with a hardware error rather than a software error. Had Betfred better described what the term malfunction meant and explicitly included software errors, it would have had a better chance of it covering the liability it was seeking to exclude.

SIGNPOSTING EXCLUSIONS Other than some generic language at the beginning of the terms, Betfred made no attempt to bring exclusions to a user’s attention. The law has long required a party that wants to rely on “onerous or unusual”

terms, such as limits or exclusions of liability, to bring it to the attention of the other party.

It is not enough to include the terms in among the other terms of the agreement.

Online businesses should consider how they highlight any exclusions or limitations to users. For instance, the wording by the tick box of the click wrap terms could specifically refer to important exclusions and include hyperlinks to the specific clauses, so that users do not have to trawl through all of the terms to find the relevant clauses. Regularly reminding users of the terms will also increase the chances terms will bind them.

FAIRNESS Finally, if an online business wants to impose exclusions or limits on their liability, they will need to consider whether the term meets the test of fairness and transparency required by the Consumer Rights Act. To quote the judgement, “the terms must be expressed fully and clearly and contain no hidden traps or pitfalls, especially clauses that may operate to the customer’s disadvantage.”

Drafting suitable clauses is not an easy task when dealing with consumers, especially when a user is unlikely to understand the underlying technology that is used to run an online platform. Careful thought is needed to make sure terms can be understood by users.

WHAT NEXT? It will be interesting to see how online businesses react. Will we see a different approach to online terms emerge? There is a delicate balance to be struck between user experience and taking steps to ensure the terms will apply if they are challenged.

In light of the judgement, Betfred is likely to review its terms and how key exclusions are communicated to customers, to improve the chances it will be able to enforce them in the future. If you run an online business, you might want to do the same. Failing to do so may be a bet too far.

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INSIDERS MIKAEL HANSSON

Culture club To support player retention and reactivation for the growing igaming sector, Mikael Hansson set up Enteractive. As founder and CEO, he champions personalisation alongside responsible gambling measures for players and here discusses making inroads as Europe and North America join forces

The most important area on which to focus should be obvious – the players. After all, they’re the ones who make it all possible, and they should be the number-one priority

Every week, we’re reading about new states in the US opening their doors to igaming and mobile sports betting, alongside high-profile partnerships between America’s biggest entertainment brands and leading European operators.

The migration to igaming’s new world is already moving at full speed, with the quick and the wise cementing their position as founding fathers. But companies on both sides of the Pond should pay attention to lessons learned and experience gained in European markets.

Established European brands have honed their winning approach to igaming entertainment across numerous markets with different regulatory jurisdictions, and have become agile at navigating the fine details that govern our industry.

Most importantly, they’ve developed various approaches for player engagement that apply to the many diverse segments that make up the entertainment audience.

In Europe, the logistics for expansion are well informed, with compliance best practices, licensing processes, responsible gambling protocols, and so on. But the most important area on which to focus should

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be obvious - the players. After all, they’re the ones who make it all possible, and they should be the number-one priority.

Operators new to the US Market should therefore hit the ground running, taking their experience from European markets to secure revenue streams from the moment new users join a platform. That means keeping a close eye on attrition as well as acquisition, since hard-won players who are lured to another brand will only represent a loss on the balance sheet.

Most operators define a customer as ‘churned’ after an inactive period of three to six months, but that’s a long time to be losing out on possible revenue, and generic email campaigns or other digital CRM activities just aren’t enough to prompt action by the player these days.

A survey from The American Society of Quality Control found that as many as 68% of customers leave companies because they feel they’re not cared about, and this is what Enteractive focuses on as a company: to make igaming players feel loved and valued again, and to enjoy their experience with operator brands on an ongoing basis.

For any brands expanding activities in

North America, if you’re not communicating with your US players on a regular basis, then how can you know anything about this new market and what the audience wants?

That’s what operators need to be asking themselves.

It’s all about the players and real personalisation. We’re not talking about data-mining campaigns with algorithms and marketing automation. Gartner Research reports that by 2025, “80% of marketers who have invested in personalisation will abandon their efforts due to lack of ROI, the perils of customer data management or both”. No, we’re talking about real two-way conversations that will breed both trust and loyalty with players.

We bring a human touch to taking care of players and make sure they feel valued and a part of the brand experience, so our operator partners can focus more on what they’re good at, and they can focus more on building their long term brand vision.

It’s how to develop any market, but it’s even more important in the US given the expectations of the audience.

And while many might think that calling and engaging with players may feed gambling problems, it’s actually the other way around.

When we talk to the players we can be more proactive about identifying any issues, and we’re able to pass that information directly to the operators, so we help our clients form a much closer relationship with their players.

This is vital in times like these of global crisis and uncertainty.

In order to deliver a responsible approach to online gambling, our teams are all trained

by G4 (Global Gambling Guidance Group) and because we’re making tens of thousands of calls each month to an operator’s customer base, we can identify players who might need help, ensuring that the gaming and entertainment remains fair, fun and safe.

What this all amounts to is preparation for the opportunities that are already abundant in the US, which will only grow as time goes on. Take care of the players and any future retention problems will melt away before they become an issue.

INSIDERS OLIVIA DAVIES

Striking the legal balance Olivia Davies, barrister at Cornerstone Barristers, writes on the ongoing UK Gambling Act Review, assessing the likelihood of changes and the threat of the black market of black-market gambling in the UK and the perceived risk of a significant black market emerging.

While no proposals have been made as yet, significant areas of possible new regulation include: as yet unspecified rules to minimise the risk associated with online products; a mandatory levy on the industry to fund projects related to gambling- related harm; and new redress measures for individual customers who have been treated unfairly by operators. The Government Review is happening alongside an ongoing consultation by the Gambling Commission, on new rules requiring operators to do more to identify consumers who may be harmed by gambling. These proposals include operators conducting affordability assessments on consumers.

At the end of 2020 the UK Government began its review of the Gambling Act 2005 – launching a wide-ranging call for evidence, which closed on 31 March 2021. The aim of the review is to ensure an appropriate balance between consumer freedom and prevention of harm. The Government recognises the importance and popularity of gambling as a leisure pursuit, citing a figure of 47% of adults as having participated in at least one form of gambling in the previous four weeks. However, it also recognises the need for gambling laws to protect the vulnerable, estimating that there are currently roughly 300,000 problem gamblers, likely to cause harm to those around them.

The Government plans to assess the submissions it receives from the call for evidence and set out any proposals for legislative reform in a white paper in 2022. One of the matters under review is whether the Gambling Commission currently has sufficient powers to tackle unlicensed operators. The Government has asked for evidence on the current scale

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HOW LIKELY IS IT THAT CHANGES WILL BE MADE? A precedent for changes to gambling legislation has already been set in recent years. In 2019 the maximum stake for fixed-odds betting terminals was lowered from £100 ($137) to £2 after a widespread campaign. Two significant changes also came in 2020 when it was made mandatory for online operators to be signed up to GAMSTOP (the national online self-exclusion scheme) and a ban on gambling on credit cards was introduced.

The Secretary of State for Digital has described the Gambling Act as “analogue law in a digital age”. This view can’t be dismissed out of hand given that gross gambling yield generated by remote gambling overtook land-based gambling for the first time in 2019. New challenges are also being presented by currently unregulated online operations, such as video game “loot boxes” (by which loot boxes in a game can be bought with real money, the contents of which are unknown at the time of purchase) which may require regulation and do not seem to easily fit within the current regime.

Given this background, change in some form seems likely, with the only question being the precise shape it takes.

WHAT IS THE RISK THAT CHANGES WILL LEAD TO MORE BLACK-MARKET GAMBLING? According to a poll by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), six in 10 people believe unregulated websites will be the main winners if the Government tightens regulation too much. Cash staked with unregulated operators has apparently doubled from £1.4bn to £2.8bn in the last two years.

It is possible that some of the Government’s mooted changes to “minimise risk associated with online products” could make regulated operators unattractive to consumers.

A perception among consumers of less freedom and choice on the regulated market could drive them towards black-market operators.

For example: if a statutory limit is set for online gambling at a level much lower than customers would prefer, customers fail affordability assessments, or greater safeguards are introduced for “higher risk” products like slots or casino games which reduce consumer enjoyment to too great an extent. This risk means it is important the Government gains a clear understanding of both the scale of the black market and what drives consumers to use it. Only then will it be possible to predict what changes to regulation will cause the black market to flourish.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that the Government is consulting not just on the prevalence of black-market operations but also on the Gambling Commission’s ability to tackle them. It may therefore be the case that any possible driving of consumers to black-market operators caused by tighter restrictions could be off-set by more expansive powers and greater funding given to the Commission. However, it is crucial that in seeking to further its harm prevention objective in the regulated industry, the Government does not make products so unattractive to consumers that the desire for greater freedom attracts them to unregulated operators. Only time will tell if the Government manages to strike this balance successfully.

BLAŽ ŽITNIK

INSIDERS

On the same page Ahead of Euro 2021, we catch up with Blaž Žitnik, head of BET at Sportradar, about why engagement tools are more important than ever

"Users are more likely to wager on in-game markets like corners, cards and free-kicks if they are presented with live statistics" WHAT UNIQUE CHALLENGES OR OPPORTUNITIES DOES THE UNCONVENTIONAL NATURE OF EURO 2021 PROVIDE WHEN CREATING AN IMMERSIVE BETTING EXPERIENCE FOR PUNTERS? The European Championships is always a big competition for football fans, but this tournament holds even greater significance given the delays caused by Covid-19.

With a limited number of fans able to attend matches because of the restrictions in place, building excitement and driving engagement with fans on digital channels becomes more important than ever.

From a betting perspective, operators will be relying on stimulated content to deliver this engagement for them. Stimulated content has become a key part of the product mix for operators, with live match trackers and visualisation tools having a growing influence on betting behaviour and leading to increased engagement levels.

These tools create a more immersive experience for bettors, with access to live data and insightful knowledge helping them make a more informed betting decision.

Operators that have stimulated content features in place have reported a rise in activity across specific betting markets that may not have previously been of interest to bettors. For example, users are more likely to wager on in-game markets such

as corners, cards and free-kicks if they are presented with statistics concerning these areas of a live match.

HOW DOES THE LIVE SPORTS CENTRE ENHANCE THE CONVENTIONAL BETTING EXPERIENCE FOR A MAJOR TOURNAMENT? Presenting punters with static odds will only get a sportsbook so far. Today’s customers are more demanding than ever, and they want reliable, real-time information delivered to them at the moment they’re placing their bets.

The Live Sports Centre pulls together the latest sporting news and betting statistics into one place on an operator’s website, displaying the content in a visually engaging manner. These tools have a positive impact on consumer dwell time and, with all the information in one place, reduce the likelihood of customers navigating away from the site.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER PRODUCTS WHICH WILL BE INTRODUCED AHEAD OF EURO 2021?

Ahead of this summer’s competition, we’re introducing a Tournament Preview widget, which our clients can skin and integrate into their offering. Normally once a betting market is settled, much of the information that accompanies it in the build-up to a match is removed from site.

However, the Tournament Preview widget will provide customers with an overview of the tournament in its entirety including all competition results, previous form, qualification status, league comparison and performance stats. Presenting this level of information is designed to further improve customer session time, increase confidence in bets and generate more revenue.

Additionally, we’ve optimised our Live Match Tracker for use on mobile devices.

Mobile remains an important channel for operators and continues to be one of the fastest-growing segments. The Live Match Tracker Compact has been tailored to provide an engaging betting experience for punters wherever they follow the big game.

DO YOU ANTICIPATE ANY DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGIES OR TRENDS HEADING INTO THE NEW SEASON THAT WILL AID THE ENGAGEMENT OF FANS FURTHER? Competition in the market is fierce and operators are under increased pressure to keep punters on their pages. This has contributed to a shift from hosted content solutions (that is, on another web page) towards widget solutions, which can be integrated into a specific part of an operator’s website, making it seamlessly integrated into the page. Take, for example, our Head2Head widget that sits on an operator page and offers customers relevant betting information such as form and results over the last five matches, alongside the betting markets they are considering; or Bet Assist with market relevant chunks of stats that can be placed right next to the markets.

What’s interesting is, as we see this convergence of sticky media content come together on betting websites, we’re seeing a reduction in the ‘second screen viewing experience’, where traditionally a bettor would watch sports on TV and place bets via a mobile device.

Now, we have a ‘first screen viewing experience’ where everything a customer requires from his sports entertainment – live stream, live data, match trackers, betting opportunities – is in one, increasingly personalised place.

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SPORTS BETTING FOCUS 70 STRENGTH OF PRODUCT

Kambi’s Max Meltzer discusses how putting the right pieces in place will determine increased sports betting market share, especially in the US

72 NOT SO DIFFERENT

Smarkets CEO and founder Jason Trost speaks about the sports betting company’s history, as well as the concept of exchanges as a whole

76 ROUNDTABLE

What’s next for sports betting in Africa?

82 BREAKING TRADITION

Guy Phillips, co-founder of LEBOM, speaks about a new model of betting that breaks the conventional traditional sportsbook model

84 BE YOUR OWN CEO

Simon Westbury speaks to Tim Poole after his promotion to the role of Digitain’s chief business officer

FEATURES

KAMBI

A festival of sport Max Meltzer, Kambi's CCO, discusses how putting the right pieces in place will determine an even greater sports betting market share, especially in the US What was the driving force behind holding your Festival of Sportsbook back in March?

It was a hugely valuable opportunity to come together with our partners and stakeholders to discuss key trends in the global sports betting market via a week-long content series. We held an extensive variety of public and invite-only sessions, which benefitted from insight from across the full breadth of the Kambi business, as well as the expertise of several external speakers.

The Festival saw attendees from all over the globe tune in, and we’ve had great feedback from our partners, prospects, investors and others.

With a packed events calendar, and markets like the US opening up even more, sports betting is set for a huge year. How do you assess prospects and what are you looking out for specifically?

The US market continues to grow rapidly and shows no sign of slowing down. Kambi has demonstrated an ability to drive growth for our partners who benefit from being part of our growing network, as well as our high-performance technology and expertise in compliance. We recently demonstrated this in Michigan, launching four partners online within seconds of the regulation being active. Developments in Texas and New York are something we’re watching closely and we have many ambitious partners including Penn National, Rush Street and Churchill Downs, who are keen to capitalise on the opportunities further regulation will unlock.

With market growth comes market saturation. What's key for operators looking to generate and retain customers in terms of marketing and improved player experiences?

Regulatory changes and the battle for customer retention put the emphasis on product, and it will always be those with real strength of product that win out.

With a view to new innovations, introducing bells and whistles for the sake of innovation alone is unlikely to drive long-term retention.

It’s ultimately the in-game offering that is the key battleground where players will be won and lost, and it's increasingly the differentiator

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sportsbook in Argentina’s Neuquén province with new partner Casino Magic, building on our footprint in the region, and in particular partnerships with Colombian market leaders BetPlay and RushBet. Brazil also has the potential to become one of the world’s largest and most exciting regulated markets.

Max Meltzer between an excellent sports betting experience and merely a good one. We have invested heavily in our in-game offering, and this has been vindicated by the growth we’re experiencing with our instant markets, or bets that are settled swiftly like ‘result of next pitch’ in baseball or ‘next point winner’ in tennis.

During the 2020-21 NFL season, instant bets rose by more than 400% on our US network, a clear illustration of their popularity. The power and complexity under the hood required to present a comprehensive range of instant markets in a seamless manner to the bettor with low delays can't be overstated, nor can the expertise this requires in proprietary pricing.

Are there other markets besides the US you see as good growth prospects?

Absolutely. Kambi has signed new partners on four continents in the last year, and while the US is a big focus for us commercially, we're always assessing opportunities in new and existing regulated markets. We are very enthusiastic about regulatory progress in Canada, where regulation of singlegame sports wagering looks imminent.

Deloitte estimates indicate that in year five following regulation, the market could be worth C$28bn (US$22.6bn). And if all US states and Canadian provinces were to regulate, Ontario would be the fifth-biggest jurisdiction in North America, underlining the scale of the opportunity. Furthermore, there are clear signs of progress in Latin America. Kambi recently launched an online

How do you see the sports betting market developing? What will drive growth and innovation?

When Kambi’s founders laid out the company vision more than a decade ago, they recognised the importance of being a sportsbook partner that could lead the market not just in terms of technology, but also by being at the forefront when it comes to compliance and regulation.

Kambi needed to be a partner that regulators and operators could trust. We have held true to that vision, and our commitment to corporate probity has been a central factor behind our progress in the US. As more markets regulate, the ability to adapt to those regulations and give players in those markets an unmatched depth and quality in their sports betting experience will ultimately be the deciding factors in securing positions of market leadership. It’s worth mentioning the important role a partner network can play here as the global sports betting market expands and matures.

As our network continues to grow, so too does the value it offers its partners.

The success Kambi delivers is anchored in its ability to leverage its network data from a global player base, creating network advantages that increase as each new partner is added and existing partners grow.

Every player interaction or bet benefits each of our partners, whether they took the informative bet themselves or not.

In addition, a greater volume of data will lead to a more accurate understanding of player behavioural habits, aiding Kambi in providing a more frictionless and intuitive user experience. It means that when Kambi launches with a new partner, or enters a new regulated market with an existing one, it’s never done from a standing start and has the benefit of experience and actionable intelligence behind it.

FEATURES

SMARKETS

Not so different Smarkets CEO and founder Jason Trost speaks to Tim Poole about the sports betting company’s history, as well as the concept of exchanges as a whole. According to Trost, though, the distinction between exchanges and sportsbooks should not be overstated Tell us about the Smarkets journey from day one.

I studied computer science and my first job out of university was a stock trader. When I was a trader, someone showed me a website that lets you trade the Presidential Election.

I was and still am a political junkie and thought ‘holy cow, it’s amazing that you can actually trade the outcome of an event.’

As a trader, I was trading stocks for companies which I had no idea what they did. I thought it was so cool trading an outcome of something you could watch on TV or have an opinion about. But even though I was a professional trader and had a degree in computer science, I couldn’t understand it very well. Then one of my best friends from university was living in London and told me about a company called Betfair Exchange.

He said they were doing the same thing for sports but their technology is really bad and their transaction costs are high; so why don’t we try and get into this space?

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That’s the founding story, really: both my co-founder and I were tech geeks – we weren’t sports bettors. I don’t even know if my co-founder really watched sports at all when we founded the company. So I think we have quite a unique founding story for the industry, where this company was founded with the idea of event trading, sports betting as financial technology, not sports betting as entertainment while they were watching the game. I think that ethos has set us apart from everyone else and I think it will service us well when we continue to take on the industry.

Would you say that reflects an outside point of view coming into sports betting?

Oh, yeah, I would say it’s a complete outside point of view. Neither my co-founder nor I had any sports betting experience, or much interest in sports betting. We came from a financial trading perspective – one

of the main events people want to trade is sports, don’t get me wrong, but we view our mission as much larger than sports betting.

Looking at where your company is today, what are the goals and plans looking ahead?

Our goal is to fix betting. We think betting is broken, we think betting rips people off and we think betting technology is really bad. We’re on a mission to take the financial technology I just spoke about and fix this industry. The main thing that needs fixing is price: punters are getting ripped off pretty much every time they bet. Some realise it, some don’t – most don’t. The first thing to fix betting is to make pricing fair.

The second thing is the technology is bland, hard-to-use and clunky. We’re also on a mission to streamline the experience so it’s much more pleasant, much less bonus-ey, much less shout-ey and a much clearer interface to use for sports betting.

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And how do you broadcast this to players, without them perhaps seeing you as just another bookie claiming to be fair?

One of the easiest ways is odds comparison.

In a lot of cases, we’re top 10 for clickshare on Oddschecker through our SBK sportsbook.

We have an exchange at Smarkets but nobody really realises that a sportsbook is a very simple exchange. What we’ve done with SBK is built a sportsbook experience that sits above the exchange. SBK competes with your Bet365s, Sky Bets and Ladbrokes, and Smarkets Exchange is for professional punters, as well as people who want to leave Betfair Exchange and Betdaq etc. They key product we’re super excited about is SBK. In terms of getting the message out there, Oddschecker is one of the main ways we’re getting that out there right now.

Take the recent Grand National, bookmakers’ horseracing prices are a joke compared to our prices. Odds comparison is one of the best ways we’re pushing that message. We’re trying to experiment with different ways to do price comparison within our app, so we have this notion of price plus – which means if we detect that we have the best price compared to a suite of bookmakers, we put a little green triangle on there. We’re trying to improve on that feature.

How do you set a fair price, without higher margins, for it to be profitable enough in the long term?

We’re the only sports betting company in the world that’s vertically integrated: we have every component of a sports betting company that you’d want in-house. Even Bet365, they don’t have an exchange for example.

We have all the main components in-house: technology, frontend, backend, trading, exchange, sportsbook. We’ve vertically integrated everything and used engineering to automate everything, and pass on those savings to the customer. So with that financial technology, we’ve been profitable the last seven years or so.

How would you rate the popularity of betting exchanges overall right now?

In terms of market share, I estimate exchanges are about 10% of the market in the UK – one in 10 bets can be considered an exchange bet. From my perspective, I think people don’t realise that whether you’re betting on the exchange or the sportsbook, it doesn’t matter – it’s the same bet. That’s part of the reason we’re so excited about SBK. We take all the pricing advantages of the exchange and put it into a sportsbook interface. Punters get all the benefits of the exchange without the complexity of the exchange. Whether the exchange concept is going to grow, from our perspective that’s not the issue anymore – because the punter can 74

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Jason Trost

So it’s not really about promoting the concept of the exchange for Smarkets?

With SBK, we want to show the world it doesn’t matter whether it’s an exchange or not. To us, it’s more about how you facilitate someone placing a trade – we don’t care what part of our site you use; we’re a vertically integrated company. From a consumer perspective, we’re not emphasising the exchange. Professional bettors should use our exchange but in general we’re trying to counter for the mass market by putting exchange prices on our sportsbook: in general, we absolutely crush Sky Bet’s prices. So we want to bring the hidden jewel of exchange pricing to the normal punter experience.

punter. The message just doesn’t resonate.

They are, of course, free to do what they want but I don’t think the Clive Owen ad campaign is going to be a good one.

That said, long term, I think one of the big mistakes Betfair made with their exchange was it’s a very esoteric interface.

We wanted to capture market share from them, so our interface is similar; but I think what the industry really needs is more of a stock market interface. Once you start to see that, you’ll see the exchange market open up.

The Betfair interface, and of course our own, is too esoteric and hard to understand. If you compare it to a traditional financial market, it’s hard to understand and there’s better ways to display that information – that’s one of the things we are working on in the background.

But in general I think our growth and success is going to be coming from SBK, because most people don’t care about trading; they just want to bet on their team at the best price. That’s where the sportsbook experience excels.

On that note, what did you make of Betfair Exchange’s high-profile advertising campaign with Clive Owen – which aimed to educated punters about exchanges?

You know it’s funny: you’re the only person I’ve ever heard talk about that. I thought it was crazy they got somebody that high profile on board. My message to Betfair would be fill your boots: Betfair should know this better than I do, they’ve been trying to do that for 10 years and it hasn’t worked. I think it’s a mistake to try and explain the exchange concept the way it is right now to a normal

Finally, what are your expectations for the Euros and is there anything you’ll do differently from a marketing standpoint?

We’re working on scaling up. SBK is a new product for us – we’re still very much in the development phase with it and we take customer feedback very seriously. So the Euros is another opportunity for us to give customers what they want and grow on our past success. There’s nothing specific we plan on launching for the Euros except making our product better and better, and building a sportsbook everyone wants to use.

use any interface with us they want. I think that’s the future – this idea of exchanges being an apple and sportsbooks being an orange is the wrong one. To me an exchange is an apple and a sportsbook is a bad apple; sportsbooks are basically an exchange with one seller and you can’t negotiate on price.

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HOW ARE AFRICAN MARKETS ABLE TO COMPETE MORE? Leading experts from BetGames, BtoBet, Kiron Interactive and Sportingtech delve into the dynamic and hyper complex continent to explain the range of opportunites that exist, and the investment needed in order to make potential a reality Aiste Garneviciene – BetGames.TV COO

Alessandro Fried – Founder, BtoBet

Steven Spartinos, co-founder and co-CEO, Kiron Interactive Luis de Prat – Head of Business Development, Sportingtech

AISTE GARNEVICIENE: Horse racing is very popular as is, of course, football of all kinds, including domestic and international - particularly the big European leagues and major tournaments.

Africa loves sport, so there is also a considerable following for cricket and rugby particularly in South and West Africa, where one can still see plenty of influence from British culture. In terms of proportion, I would say this gravitates towards an even split a lot of the time with key fixtures in the calendar tending to drive players towards major events.

WHAT SPORTS ARE PARTICULARLY ATTRACTIVE WITHIN SPORTS BETTING ACROSS AFRICA? IS IT MORE ON A DOMESTIC, INTERNATIONAL OR GLOBAL SCALE? LUIS DE PRAT: All the major European football leagues are attractive to bettors in Africa (e.g. England Premier League, Spain La Liga, Italy Serie A, Germany Bundesliga and France Ligue 1), which constitute the majority of turnover, while secondary sports, such as tennis and basketball, and African football leagues such as Egypt and Nigeria are gaining prevalence.

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ALESSANDRO FRIED: It's understood that Africans are passionate football fans, and they follow the many African football players who feature in the most famous European clubs. So it’s unsurprising that betting on football is the most popular and widespread form of sports betting. International competitions along with the English Premier League, Primera, Serie A and UEFA Champions League are also hugely popular. Local sports also attract a high level of engagement, and operators should be in a position to deliver a tailored content portfolio that reflects local preferences to augment the user experience.

STEVEN SPARTINOS: Football is the most popular, with horse and greyhound racing being a strong second. In terms of sports betting in general, it really depends on the heritage of the particular country while South Africa sees popular markets in cricket and rugby. The further north, the more this changes to football. European football is by far the most popular, with the Premier League being number one.

The Spanish, Italian, French and German leagues also have a significant following. Ensuring that the right markets are offered on the most popular sports per region is vital to operators vying to lead their regions.

As with virtuals and igaming as a whole, localisation is key. We've also seen growth with Keno and Spin and Win gaining a sizeable following.

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AISTE GARNEVICIENE: Africa is a huge continent and when we talk about tech infrastructure, it's important to differentiate the discussion by individual country, as some are significantly more developed than others. Our most significant operational market is South Africa, which is often considered almost separately due to its comparatively advanced development.

Internet penetration across Africa ranges from over 50% in the south to as low as 10% in the central region of the continent. But even within South Africa itself, varying levels of challenge exist as there are still certain areas that have issues with internet coverage, while the adoption of modern smartphones varies wildly. Payment methods and the cost of mobile data packages still present significant hurdles. The combination of internet, payments and handset type will dictate the availability of your products in the market and will directly impact your potential success in the region. Looking at the wider continent, the dearth of skilled and experienced personnel is a long-standing difficulty and remains one of the key reasons why Africa still has some way to go, but considering how much it has grown in the last five years, we can certainly say huge progress has been made, making it one of the most attractive growth prospects globally.

I see the pandemic as almost a driver for a lot of the adoption we have seen over the past year, as many companies accelerated their digital plans and quickly migrated their operations online as part of their backup and recovery plan.

HOW IS TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE ADVANCING ENOUGH TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND?

STEVEN SPARTINOS: Where access to mobile data is limited and expensive, virtual suppliers are responding by adapting their technology to offer lighter versions of their products. The same goes for content, with operators requiring tailored portfolios to suit varied player preferences of individual countries and their markets. These two factors demand significant investment in new games and formats, as well as infrastructure. The short-term focus for operators and investors is to increase the uptake of 4G while 5G is slowly being introduced, primarily in Sub-Sahara Africa.

LUIS DE PRAT: Gaming businesses have progressively been adopting the internet as the most efficient medium for operations, and the major developments in mobile technology infrastructure have allowed the gaming industry to keep up with demand.

ALESSANDRO FRIED: Africa comes with its own unique technological context. The parameters that characterise the continent – internet penetration, mobile subscriptions and even mobile internet costs – are entirely different to what one is accustomed to in more mature markets. So one can’t envisage an operator or supplier to succeed in Africa by adopting the same approach used in Europe, for instance. Even though the population has almost skipped entirely the desktop stage, and are more intent on using smartphones, the evolutionary stage of the mobile phone ecosystem across Africa means that suppliers need to take a technological step back.

While smartphone use is on the rise, feature phones are still very much in use, and thus necessitate a flexible technological approach that reflects the local technological reality. And while outdated hardware is still very much a major hindrance in delivering a betting experience on the same level as that found in more mature markets, slower internet speeds also require the use of low data intensive apps, which reach those areas in Africa that have data and bandwidth limitations. Even though the technological infrastructure is ameliorating across the whole continent, and local populations are getting better devices and more reliable and faster access to the internet, operators still have to roll out lighter products, ensuring functionality on any basic browser.

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AISTE GARNEVICIENE: The adoption of smartphones that are capable of running online operators’ games is definitely growing, as is the penetration of robust and appropriate internet networks, both to homes via landlines and mobile. The major stumbling blocks are digital payment gateways, as cash is king. The lack of adequate tech education is another concern, as are employment opportunities in digital businesses and the lack of investment in basic, reliable power supplies to avoid regular outages.

ALESSANDRO FRIED: South Africa and Nigeria are undoubtedly the reference markets for Africa, with forecasts by H2 Gambling Capital indicating a strong growth for Nigeria resulting in the local industry more than doubling its 2019 GGR ($319.9m) to $675.1m by 2025.

South Africa, on the other hand, while by far the largest gambling market and the only one to truly rival the regulated markets in Europe, in some ways has evolved slower than some of the other African markets. One might as well argue that the restrictive nature of the regulatory framework currently in place - which largely limits online gambling - hinders the country from realising its true potential. Nonetheless, the National Gambling Board projects that the casino sector’s GGR contribution will increase at a compound annual rate of 4.25% from R18.4bn (circa €1.04bn) in 2018 to R22.6bn in 2023 (almost €1.3bn). This is, however, a conservative growth, especially when considering the casino vertical’s popularity and its resulting market share (66.4% in 2017).

STEVEN SPARTINOS: Since the start of the pandemic, online operation and play has experienced the most growth, with some operators having doubled their turnover year on year. This surge was seen across global markets, but most notably in Italy, LatAm and Africa. In terms of legislative challenges, it’s a fact we must operate best practices within regulated markets. Regions with strict parameters can affect the progress of a vertical as many limits are put in place.

Slower take-up of new games and verticals are the result, but it’s the same for everyone and it’s up to individual companies to mitigate this with shrewd marketing and promotions and ensuring their products and roll-outs are as engaging and impactful as possible.

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CAN YOU PROVIDE SOME GROWTH PROJECTIONS OF AREAS THAT ARE THRIVING, AND SOME OTHER AREAS WHERE PROGRESS IS BEING STYMIED

BY LAW OR REGULATIONS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO AMEND?

LUIS DE PRAT: Africa is the land of opportunities.

The main difficulties a few years ago, with legal uncertainness and payment processes, are being overcome by technology, and local entrepreneurs that see online as the future of gaming. GGRs in South Africa and Egypt now register growth, and when we had Nigeria, Tanzania and most recently the regulated market of Angola, it's easy to understand that Africa can represent a significant part of revenue for providers and international operators.

The challenge is on the suppliers’ side, who need to understand the uniqueness and differences between the markets.

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AISTE GARNEVICIENE: I would say consistency and transparency, as regulation within one country is governed on a state-by-state basis and that complicates things. It makes it inefficient to a cost-effective and timely rollout of retail or even online operations. There’s no reason why a regional regulator cannot set the standard for excellence when it comes to regulation done right. I believe that if Africa - and especially South Africa - can present its framework to the continent as a case study of success, then others have a path to follow in terms of implementation.

LUIS DE PRAT: As new markets regulate, it's important that taxation is addressed in a manner that is compatible with the business WHAT ARE SOME OF THE models. For retail betting, regulators need to understand the impact on job creation when REGULATORY HURDLES THAT operations are taxed too heavily. With igaming, STILL NEED TO BE OVERCOME it's important to remember that the RTP is higher TO GENERATE GREATER RETAIL than in land-based gaming and consequently AND IGAMING GROWTH? the margins are smaller and must be taxed accordingly. To encourage an open market with competition between providers, game categories should not be overly specific (e.g. number of decks in blackjack) and the certification process should always ALESSANDRO FRIED: While en masse gambling take into account the fact that the prohibitions are rare, with only five countries operators are bearing the explicitly banning gambling activities mainly risk of the business. on religious grounds, generally speaking the continent is still lagging behind other markets when it comes to online betting and gambling regulation. Many countries still rely on outdated regulations that take into consideration only landbased gaming, whereas online gambling is still STEVEN SPARTINOS: Africa has huge potential. very much a grey area. However, the number of Each country is at a different stage in terms of African countries adopting a regulatory framework effective legislation and regulatory frameworks. That's is on the rise. A strong regulatory basis essentially the first major issue; some have a tendency to consider provides benefits to all the industry’s stakeholders, “the African market” as a single entity but there's actually providing a safer environment for operators, no such thing. The scale of development for igaming suppliers and players alike. Such an approach ranges from the wholly unregulated to those that are held has been undertaken in mainland Europe, up as the gold standard and have had a well-managed transforming the market into the most lucrative structure in place for years. The north is characterised by from a GGR perspective, and Africa is keen on markets where gambling is banned outright, and only a adopting this approach, with countries adopting handful are completely regulated for products across the laws on a national level. Operators have a key board, and in some, only sports betting is permitted. The role in this process, and it is really encouraging latter also benefits from a lower technological barrier to that local regulatory bodies delve into fruitful entry so is suited to the developing nature of existing discussions with operators to determine the mobile data networks. But a younger population with best possible regulatory outcome, that proves to high adoption of smartphones and a growing disposable be a safeguard for all parties involved. It is also income is propelling the industry, with complete impressive that rather than just adopting a copy prohibition increasingly untenable. Pandemic-related and paste approach from other jurisdictions’ lockdowns have also exacerbated the lack of online laws and regulations, or take recommendations markets in some regions, with retail betting closed and and apply them as they are, all of the regulators operators and bettors clamouring to get online. are very keen to take international best practices While widespread market regulation is expected in and then mould, interpret and adapt them so the coming years, there'll be specific market that it works most effectively in and for their idiosyncrasies where regulation is carried out on respective jurisdictions. a state-by-state basis too.

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AISTE GARNEVICIENE: Online is all about dynamic game flow, with frequent draws and instant outcomes, while in retail, the pace is somewhat more regulated. Products in the retail setting need to provide breaks in play to provide players with ample opportunity to socialise, develop game strategies or await specific draws that offer a player’s chosen ‘lucky’ combinations.

Of course, as a supplier, we could run draw after draw with no breaks, but players don’t like this as they plan their own strategies and if they can’t follow all the draws in a row, their tactics are redundant and the product is no longer attractive to them.

Optimisation between online and retail (five mins down to three mins for example) is something that must be carefully considered as any changes offered may result in player frustration.

How much of a ripple effect this can have cannot be underestimated, and suppliers need to exercise caution.

The overall, eventual aim for most retail operators, however, is to convert their bettors to online with education on the advantages of it, and promotional drives to achieve this.

ALESSANDRO FRIED: Retail is the predominant channel in Africa, especially because of the strong cultural ties that retail shops have in the local communities, where they are viewed also as social hubs. This perception is set to persist in the long term. Many consumers still like to bet in physical cash, and get a physical bet slip, and many consumers do not have access to payment methods that they can use online, like bank accounts or cards. Mobile data is still expensive in Africa too, so betting online is more restrictive than in European markets.

A close look at statistics, however, indicates that for 2019 both Europe and Africa featured a similar share when it comes to online versus retail. A recent report by the European Gaming and Betting Association indicates that land-based gaming accounted for around 75% of the total gambling market revenue, while on the other hand, statistics published

by H2 Gambling Capital indicate that retail amounted for 76% of the total betting GGR for Africa. Nonetheless while the EGBA indicates that come 2024 the retail’s share will decrease to circa 66%, the situation in Africa will remain substantially unchanged.

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LUIS DE PRAT: In less mature and emerging markets, gaming businesses are heavily dominated by retail operations with more stagnant growth, whereas online gaming constitutes a smaller percentage but has a double-digit growth rate.

WHAT IS THE SPLIT BETWEEN ONLINE AND RETAIL IN TERMS OF CONSUMER HABITS, AND ARE THEY EVOLVING TOWARD ONE MORE THAN THE OTHER?

STEVEN SPARTINOS: In South Africa, the split is roughly 60% retail and 40% online, but further afield, infrastructures vary wildly and so does the split. But around 75/25 is generally where the continent is currently.

As mobile networks continue to improve, the balance will swing in the opposite direction.

Africa is predominately retail-focused. What bettors are exposed to in shops will determine what they bet on and how. The product position of the games and how they are viewed by the players influence habits. Again, infrastructures influence habits too with simplified game interfaces allowing for a boom in online activity. There's a massive shift to online and we see players getting used to modern betting, due in large part to the pandemic as players were forced to use alternative channels for betting.

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LEBOM

Breaking tradition Guy Phillips, co-founder of LEBOM, speaks to Tim Poole about a new model of betting that concentrates on private groups competing against each other; rather than the traditional sportsbook system

If you’ve ever worked in an office, or been part of a group of sports fans, the chances are you will have experienced some kind of competitiveness based on your sporting knowledge and opinions. There might have been a friendly wager with a colleague (three losses out of three for this particular employee – but we can skate past that), or there might be a weekly sweepstake. Very common is the office Fantasy Football league, applicable in the UK, US and around the world across many different sports.

For LEBOM, a UK-based sports betting startup, the belief is this kind of concept has never waned in popularity, yet has never been fully capitalised on by the gaming industry.

Speaking to us for a GI Friday interview earlier this year, LEBOM outlined its business model targeting this gap in the market: players are allowed to form private groups of 4-20 and place a wager each – something like £10 ($13.90) – and go head-to-head predicting the weekend’s football results (mostly the English Premier League). The winner gets the money and the bragging rights, while LEBOM takes a small cut of the total pot. Below, co-founder Guy Phillips goes into more detail with Gambling Insider.

Your model lends itself to scale. What are your plans in terms of scaling up and generating as many users as you can?

You’re absolutely right. The ethos of the game is mass. We imagine some of our

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“Eight million people start fantasy football in August each year and that goes to about four and a half million by October as it's a commitment.

So that's definitely an audience we think we provide a solution for” early adopters will be guys and girls that like to have a bet on football. But we see the opportunity as much more akin to an office sweepstake, where everyone just fancies getting involved. Of course, on that business model, you’re not going to get anywhere near the big bookmakers now in terms of total stake and profits. That said, we believe we have a much bigger audience to go for

– not just in the UK but globally. We have a roadmap to take it outside the UK, where it is currently only available.

Eight million people start fantasy football in August each year and that goes to about four and a half million by October as it’s a commitment. So that’s definitely an audience we think we provide a solution for. The guys and girls that get excited in the first week of August but don’t quite last the season, we feel part of our solution is to give them something fresh each week. That’s a huge audience.

If you look at that cross audience of people who have a bet on football throughout the season, plus fantasy football, you get to 12 million or so.

How has this translated to your marketing strategy?

In terms of how we scale this, obviously we’re a new brand and no one knows us. When people are asked to put their card details in, there’s an element of trust in that. We’ve tried to do everything, from the look to the feel, onboarding process and gameplay, to align with our brand principles of excitement, community and responsibility. We have reflected that in our advertising. While there is further product development to do, we are now looking for our investment to target the advertising front. We’ve worked with the Gambling Commission over the last year, with Opta to feed live scores into the app etc.

We’ve got early thousands in terms of people

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“This restricting of gambling advertising and sponsorship means it's very dangerous to sweep gambling under the carpet. Making it a dirty word... we're not aiming for that” playing it – but the early signs on retention are for us really exciting.

The challenge is to get new people in there at scale; but we feel like this is our expertise.

Our point of view is very much focused around: it’s not about the money, it’s about the bragging rights. Some of our advertising copy is to the tune of ‘what’s the biggest rivalry in football? You versus mates.’ We’ve got some cheeky, provocative copy out there that’s a cheeky jab at the wasp’s nests of traditional bookmakers. The main message to get out is that this is about fun: you are only ever playing with a social group that you know.

What are your exact plans of staying in the market once you break in? The traditional sportsbook model you are pitting yourself against is still going strong and, even though it’s a slightly different ballpark, you have the example of Football Index recently trying to challenge the status quo going very wrong.

That’s a good question and there are a couple of points there. I don’t think any of us expect to put the bookies out of business necessarily.

We do expect to create a new habit and sector – and we want to be market leaders within that. Success for us in the mid-term, Tim, is more brands and more products doing something similar to us. The relationship the bookmaker has with the punter at the minute, particularly in football, is being publicly questioned. On the Gambling Insider website recently I read that 44% of Fulham fans are uncomfortable with BetVictor as a sponsor.

I always thought of BetVictor as quite a credible bookmaker. There’s plenty of bookmakers you’ve never heard of on these shores that take advantage of the Premier League to promote their brand in the regions of the world that are big for them.

The Government is looking into the relationship between gambling and football.

Guy Phillips We’re not here to preach but we think the way in which we’re allowing people to have a bet is fundamentally different. We believe it delivers on the core reasons why most people have a bet – and even those that don’t. We believe that, by having a product the masses know about, we can really attract and retain people who want to play every week. It’s about having an audience but also the repetition – making this habitual. Life is busy but every weekend, you can come together over this game.

How confident are you of this concept taking off?

Our model and the traditional bookmaker model can live alongside each other quite comfortably, really. One of our groups is one that doesn’t really bet on football. One of them said they couldn’t believe how excited they were about Burnley v West Brom – so interest is created throughout the whole weekend. Another of our groups, though, are bettors: they continue to have their

accumulators over the course of the weekend but they’re doing this in addition. The banter and camaraderie add to the weekend’s excitement.

Broadly speaking, this restricting of gambling advertising and sponsorship means it’s very dangerous to sweep gambling under the carpet. Making it a dirty word, or taboo – 2/3 of people gambling don’t really talk about it – would be really dangerous.

We’re not aiming for that; we’re saying betting on football can be really exciting when done in a controlled, responsible environment.

We know people enjoy our game when they play it and there’s a real longevity about this principle.

Fundamentally, it’s quite an old-fashioned concept. But the appetite for that sweepstake type of contest has never gone away; it’s just never been facilitated properly. The one disadvantage is someone has to run it with all the admin – and LEBOM does that for you.

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DIGITAIN

Be your own CEO Simon Westbury discusses his promotion to Digitain’s chief business officer, and what the transition involves coming from head of sales.

What is your management style as Digitain’s new CBO? I say to all the guys: you're all CEOs of your own desk. You have your desks and you have to treat it like your own business. I’m there to assist. Part of that comes to solutions-driven management.

Anyone who’s worked in sales will go to the boss and say, ‘Can I get a discount on this deal,’ etc. What I’ve tried to change is the mentality and for people to come to me with solutions. I don’t really care if the proposed solution is a pink fluffy elephant; it just shows that people have started to think about the solution. That sort of structure goes back to university, when I studied Middle East politics, which you can imagine includes a lot of conflict and a lot of problems. And my tutor said if you take argument A and argument B, and you take two bits of that argument and come up with argument C, that’s a solution.

What else have you had to consider during your transition?

I wanted to get through as much of this interview without talking about Covid-19 as possible and we’ve made it this far. When Covid hit, everyone was panicking. I said to the team that sales is about momentum.

Last year was about building momentum and I did that through empowering the team for everyone to be their own CEO – and I think outside of that, I’ve learned patience. That’s come down to understanding how different cultures and people work, and that’s people management; no one teaches you that. I don’t believe in reading books on sales management; I believe in living it. We had a great 2020 but the key thing was to build momentum into this year. I’m proud of the team there.

Another thing related to patience is the removal of emotion. Salespeople are, of course, emotional. We all want everything we can have and we want it right now. I’ve removed emotion as much as I can. It can be both positive and negative; when I’ve got positive emotion, I’m aware I can give out positive energy.

At the same time, when that energy’s negative, I’m aware it can go through the whole team.

I try and balance it out, not celebrating the

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Simon Westbury highs too much and not focusing on the lows either. Removing emotion from passion and honesty is sometimes hard but I always try to focus on looking for the benefit to Digitain.

If you look at the benefits rather than the USP, everything changes.

What things should sports betting companies prioritise in 2021?

I don’t want to speak for others. I truly believe in defining your own path, which removes ego. That’s not to be rude to my friends who have similar positions in other gaming companies. Their reality is not my reality and their strategy is not my strategy. So what Digitain is going to do is focus on international expansion.

I’m delighted I’ve appointed a colleague to become head of international offices.

We’ve started in Africa, we now have a regional salesperson there; we’re now in the interview process of Asia and LatAm too. But in my new role, it’s not just about appointing the salespeople in these new regions; it’s about how the product fits into this.

We’ve got a very exciting product roadmap to ensure localisation of product; localisation is key. The main focus on our product roadmap this year is delivering a product interview wherever you are in the world, which is market-leading and meets demands because from Nigeria to Kenya there are differences. There’s not one product that fits all markets. We’re trying to have a global outlook but with specification within the product. We’re heavily investing in AI, looking at innovation, not invention.

We’re not looking to reinvent the wheel.

But can we get an extra 5% to our margins

or bet types by changing things? That’s where we’re looking at.

Sometimes if you look at big gaming companies, some of their success has come from the stuff they do behind the scenes, rather than the big product announcements. So when I talk about innovation, I’m not saying you won’t see great things from Digitain. But the focus is on innovation to increase the benefit and gross gaming revenue of our partners globally. That comes down to flexibility and putting the company first. The one motif every gaming company has to have is delivery. There’s no point promising stuff unless you deliver it. I need to deliver to the partners so I say to the product team let’s commit to what we can deliver.

It’s about believing in our own path and delivering to our own partners through international delivery and product.

How are you planning for the Euros?

I hope it goes ahead. We live in a very fluid world. When I try to get to Armenia, I sometimes have to change several flights, and I’m one man not hundreds of thousands of fans trying to get to a tournament. There’s a heavy focus on our sportsbook product and it increases the benefits to our partners. We’ve announced our Accumulator Bonus where even if your bet loses, we give you an ultra-cashback.

If you win, we give you a multi-bonus on top of your winnings. We’re bringing in innovation with little bet types. But Euro 2021 is football. One thing people are missing is the opportunity that you’re going to get a lot of casual players. As an industry, we segment people as sports players, casino players, bingo players and so on.

It’s always a challenge for the industry to attract new people to your site. So we’re not just looking at the sportsbook, but at casino content because we need to give our customers in the B2C world an opportunity to not just get a short-term hit of increased revenue in 2021. We need to look at a long-term plan where we say, ‘You’ve got this great acquisition tool in Euro 2021.

What can we do outside of that to make sure that once you’ve acquired the player you keep the player?’

FEATURES

PRODUCT REVIEWS

WHAT’S NEW ON THE MARKET Product output in the gambling industry continues to gain strength as we settle into 2021. Gambling Insider previews several of the hottest currently available EGT - G 50V ST G 50V St is the latest member of EGT’s trendy General slot family. Its 50-inch straight, vertical display is vast, frameless, with exceptional HD visual quality for a felt-like-real gaming experience and with integrated touch screen for greater interactivity. Design, combining top ergonomics with modern aesthetics, efficient Exciter III platform, convenient keyboard with dynamic touch display, crystal clear stereo sound and built-in USB port for fast charging are also some of the features that win the slot model highly positive remarks. It grants unmatched comfort to the players and makes them part of the top gaming experience with its user-friendly navigation and vast library of multi-games.

The gaming outfit of G 50V St includes only HD graphics. The Power series mixes – Green, Fruits and Purple Power HD, have minimum 55 titles each and are a powerful combination

of some of the best EGT and EGT Multiplayer’s games (slots, roulettes, Blackjack, Baccarat and Keno). The General multi-games – Green, Fruits and Red General HD, are created to bring high satisfaction to the players who will now easily find their preferred theme and features within the enormous number of included titles. Some of them are top choices across EGT’s portfolio, others are brand new and there is an option for the operator to highlight those who already are or have higher chances to become favourites via larger buttons on the select game screen.

Numerous EGT jackpots are also well paired with the G 50V St for more unforgettable players’ experience. The High Cash and 2 Happy Hits series are among the latest releases that match the cabinet in an irresistible way.

Their various single games stand out not only with their visual style, but also with their features, bonuses and overall dynamics.

Egt Machine

R. Franco Digital

R. FRANCO DIGITAL - LUCKY 8’S PROGRESSIVE JACKPOT Multi-Site Linked Progressive & Fixed Jackpots, based on the Tombola Roulette game. Works as each terminal has its own roulette result for each game. Prizes won when the player places a Lucky 8’s side bet and the number comes up more than once sequentially.

Tombola roulette is a stand-alone roulette game with each terminal having its own mechanical random number generator, a tombola with 37 balls and one pocket, capable of delivering a roulette quick result, and a normal electronic roulette layout.

The player places their bets on the roulette layout as normal, presses their spin button and the tombola rotates.

When it stops one number drops out and is the result. This has the advantage of each terminal getting its own result, so individual winners for each game. This allows for an interesting progressive jackpot.

The player can also place a £1 side bet (in addition to their normal roulette bets), on the possibility of number eight coming out in successive games on that terminal.

The terminals are connected into a wide area network and linked together to give a progressive jackpot.

If they place the side bet and the result is eight, then all normal roulette wins are paid out and the terminal then goes into the Jackpot round and the player gets a free spin to see if the next result is an eight. If it is, they win £XXX (configurable), and they get another free spin to see if they get a third eight.

If they do, the win increases to £XXXX (configurable) and they get another free spin to see if they get a fourth eight.

If they do, the win increases to the progressive jackpot.

If the result in any of the jackpot spins is not an eight, then the game switches back to the normal roulette game.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS

GAMEART: TRON-E MULTI-GAME MACHINE GameArt, an independent online casino software provider, has developed a new, customisable multi-game machine: TRON-E. Featuring popular slot titles that players around the world already know and love, TRON-E offers the perfect solution for any land-based casino or gaming environment.

Operators can easily configure their machines with a choice of GameArt’s high-quality slots from their growing portfolio of more than 70 games, including the highly popular Mega Bunny HyperWays, Piggy Holmes, and Nefertiti’s Nile.

Releasing at least one new game per month, GameArt creates and supplies slots that are attractive to players, whether online or land-based. And, because GameArt’s slots are already proven in markets all over the world, operators can pick the games that best suit their players with complete confidence.

TRON-E comes packed with features including two high-resolution 23,8" upper widescreen monitors, a main monitor with an integrated touchscreen for greater interactivity, ergonomic features that ensure maximum comfort for players, a high-quality stereo sound

system, ambient LED illumination along the cabinet, an optional coin acceptor with 3+1way sorter, two Universal Coin Hoppers, and a variable push button composition.

The units are also compatible with various kinds of bill acceptors (JCM, CashCode, MEI) and ticket printers (TransAct Tech Inc., FutureLogic), and are SAS 6.02 ready.

TRON-E also accommodates GameArt’s Mystery Jackpot (three different Mystery Jackpots – Bronze, Silver and Gold). Each of the Mystery Jackpots can be individually set up. The formation of the Mystery Jackpot values is based on the stakes placed on all machines during the game, and each Mystery Jackpot can be won randomly by each gaming machine.

GameArt’s slot cabinets, measuring 1940 x 650 x 600mm, are created to be flexible, allowing different configuration options. They can be installed individually or arranged in groups of several slot machines, depending on the available area at the casino floors and meeting the operators’ requirements.

GameArt has recently been awarded ISO 9001 certification and has also obtained GLI11 certification for its multi-game machines.

XSGAMES - BAO BAO KING XSGames is an international gaming company dedicated to offering stunning new game mechanics every year that will provide players with unforgettable, intense gaming experiences. For the past

year, XSGames has been committed to keeping its focus on product research and development. Some of the strongest titles in XSGames include Dice Em’ Up, Robo Zoom and the first-ever link series - Bao Bao King.

XSGames - Bao Bao King

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GameArt

While offering exciting bonus rounds in addition to dazzling sounds and graphics, both Dice Em’ Up and Robo Zoom offer multi-level stand-alone progressive jackpots.

Dice Em’ Up is an exciting 30 lines sicbo theme game that consists of a Dice Feature, allowing the player throwing the dice to emulate the casino gaming experience.

Alternatively, Robo Zoom offers three stand-alone progressive jackpots. With a fixed 50 lines throughout the game, the Robo Zoom Feature allows players to win up to 64x of the normal line win.

Additionally, the Jackpot Wheel Feature also offers credit prizes and multi-level jackpots. With low feature hit rates and massive credit prizes on offer, there are a million possibilities to win in this game.

Unleashing the all-new link series Bao Bao King that includes a series of four games in total with both lines and ways. The eye-catching cartoon theme features an all-new battle feature that has never been seen on the market before! Bao Bao King aims to engage players in different machines to bet up and stay in the game in order to participate in the battle feature and win big. XSGames is confident that this never been seen feature will attract all kinds of players on the casino floor.

In the next few months, XSGames will soon be unleashing to the world several exciting slot titles. Stay tuned to the company’s website for more firsthand information!

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FEATURES

PRODUCT REVIEWS

VNE - CENTOWER Centower is an innovative redemption kiosk for automated payouts in casinos. Due to its state-of-the-art structure and its 42" J-curved touch screen monitor, Centower will illuminate the casino floor with its eye-catching colours and, thanks to its advanced split function with live screen content, it offers an attractive platform with many different functionalities.

As a matter of fact, this future-oriented function divides the monitor into three sections, which can be filled with different live content, an example being jackpot levels, advertising and customer-specific bonusing and offers.

Managing incoming banknotes and tickets, player card recharges and withdrawals, the machine dispenses up to four banknote denominations for a total of 12,000 banknotes, being fitted with one of the most popular banknote dispensing systems in the world, Glory NMD100.

Centower's powerful combination of hardware and software grants the highest levels of control and security, thanks to the ID recognition staff card access and the electronic postponed opening.

The machine also guarantees complete efficiency: connected online via ADSL, it can be managed and controlled remotely through a website or VNE’s intuitive Mobile App.

VNE - Centower Centower is fitted with a branded, illuminated frame design and can be personalized with any graphic or logo. After having developed its functionalities jointly, the machine has

been successfully introduced on the market by VNE’s Slovenian Distributor, Euroblock, and is now available for other worldwide markets.

games to a new level.Premium graphics together with our new generation sound system and configurable LED lighting gives players a unique experience and extends the time on the device.

Our toppers with exciting animations, attractive dealers and LED Ring attracts

the players on the floor and secures higher machine utilization. The results for the Roulette game are generated by our in-house developed generator with RNG certification by the most important test laboratories. The game also gives players the opportunity to bet on a second virtual roulette, thus increasing the hold percentage of the machine and securing more play per hour.

With more than 15 years of experience, ZUUM has developed several specific electronic table games to provide customers with numerous attractions for players.

In our portfolio, we have all classic table games including Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, SIC-BO, Bingo and since this year also our new CRAPS game.

Our vision is to offer our clients products that are competitive and exclusive, both in quality and technology. Minimum downtime on the market and extremely efficient and professional support 24/7, 365 days per year, permit operators to enjoy the results of the machine.

All machines are available in different configurations from standalone to ZUUM Colosseum Arena, ensuring extreme flexibility putting ZUUM machines on the floor.

ZUUM - Grand Crystal Premium Roulette ZUUM - GRAND CRYSTAL PREMIUM ROULETTE ZUUM Grand Crystal Premium is now available with a really exciting Roulette game. This game can be played on our premium machine, which is taking the gaming experience of electronic table

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FEATURES

PRODUCT REVIEWS

MONIKO - TI-TO TICKETS Moniko is the first and only approved company in Europe, based in Macedonia, to produce TI-TO tickets for slot machines since 1993.

Moniko has become a global supplier, keeping up with the latest technology and following the innovations. We are a European supplier among slot clubs and relevant corporations, as well being in the markets of Australia, Africa, Asia and Central America.

The tickets are made according to the strict IGT standards, on the paper KANZAN KL69 produced in Germany. The paper is approved by JCM, Transact and Nanoptix for use in their printers and Moniko as a producer has certificates for the TI-TO tickets from JCM and Nanoptix. Using a certified paper for the TI-TO Tickets means that the tickets won’t curl up in the printer, no paper dust in the printers and scanners, consistent paper thickness, and no additional service and maintenance will be needed.

We can produce the tickets blank or personalized with a logo, picture or security mark, which can be fluorescent or transparent visible under UV light. We can use up to 7 colours: CMYK, Pantone, fluorescent and other special colours.

The tickets can be in packs of 200/400/600 or 800 according to the customer needs.

Moniko All packs are shrink-wrapped, and this keeps the tickets safe from dust, humidity and in-transit mish-ups. We ship the packs stored in boxes, and they are securely placed on EU pallets with additional folie stretching. The best of all when choosing MONIKO is our short

production time, only 3-5 days from the order.

For European based customers, this means they have the tickets at their address in just one to three weeks from order. So, no more closed cash flow, storage for the whole year, and planning the stock a couple of months in advance.

Each game comes with a distinct Expanding 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 ALLPAY title Flames of Glory is set in Ancient Rome, featuring special Scatter symbols that may appear in the inactive reel area and open up to five positions on the respective reel for the current spin. The Asian ALLPAY theme Red Dream surprises players with random reel expands in the base game and the free games.

The magical Snow Kingdom features 2-stack-Princess symbols that activate one extra row on the reels for the current spin.

The fruit-style game Dazzling Stars comes with a special Stars Feature: Various colours of Star symbols in the active reel area activate one, two or three extra rows on the reels for the current spin. And finally, Stars Up with Stars in the active reel area that each activate three extra rows on the reels for the current spin.

Facing the European markets, the DYNAMIC Link is offered as an exciting multi-game package comprising all five titles and the 2-level Progressive.

This attractive multi-game Progressive is available for the latest NOVOMATIC curved screen cabinets. Bold gameplay, enflaming features and dynamic reels as well as attractive Progressive prizes are set to leverage excellent performance for each player position.

Novomatic NOVOMATIC - DYNAMIC LINK NOVOMATIC’s most recent launch in the Progressives segment introduces fresh and dynamic gaming thrills on the casino floor. The DYNAMIC Link, courtesy of the Octavian Game Arts studios, comprises five titles with similar game concepts and a 2-level Progressive.

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FINAL WORD In reel time David Johnson, recently appointed CEO of digital gaming content creator ReelPlay, speaks about how the sector is developing in light of the company back story and recent adjustments due to the pandemic.

Can you give us some insight into the state of play in the online casino market considering how influential and disruptive the last year has been?

From a human perspective, ReelPlay have been fortunate to remain healthy as a group while making the transition to home working with minimal disruption.

The business has performed very well at the same time. As an infant studio in an ultra competitive landscape, we knew we had to grow up quickly. We managed to exceed our expectations by some margin, which can be attributed to a number of crucial factors including premium content, operator relationships, working partnerships with premium distribution partners, and heightened player demand despite Covid.

ReelPlay games are devised and created by our team in sunny Sydney, NSW, which is where Infinity Reels and Buster Hammer were born. We have a quality over quantity approach, a flavourful craft beer instead of some tasteless fizz, so to speak. We also have tight relationships with many third-party studios who benefit from our expertise in terms of bringing their own creations to market. It’s a significant output from a relatively small team working across studios, aggregators, jurisdictions all while innovating for ReelPlay badged games.

The unique year we’ve had has seen players globally spend more time on their devices.

The lack of sports betting opportunities has seen increased casino play, but with a market in a relative boom, players still want quality, repeat play slots games to enjoy and we are one of the content-first focussed studios to provide that.

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Has technology kept up with demand as more consumers have gone online to gamble?

In a word, yes. Operator platforms should have no issues catering to the growing number of players with sufficient technology to scale to a huge number of concurrent bets. I’m old fashioned in that I like to sit and play with a fixed screen in front of me, but with the majority of players now playing on the move, modern handsets are packed with more technology than ever to provide a rounded entertainment experience from a small screen.

I’d argue that while online can’t provide the physical land-based experience, whether it’s the buzz of the floor or an exciting cabinet to house the game, online games have largely overtaken their land-based counterparts in terms of production values and certainly in gameplay innovation. It shouldn’t be a surprise when you consider the deployment constraints of the physical versus the speed of change permitted virtually online.

How is the market trending now as land-based casinos start to open again?

I don’t see the trend to online diminishing, but I would expect with global sports back underway some of the additional traffic that casinos have enjoyed will revert. We’re fortunate we can deploy our content to new markets and operators at a steady frequency to complement our position across regulated Europe. And following on from a successful New Jersey launch, our games are now rolling out to operators in Michigan, with Pennsylvania next up. Further territories will follow as legislation permits.

Can you describe how you're settling into the CEO position and how it has provided a new perspective on company growth opportunities, agility and strategies to remain competitive?

There’s any number of things you think you’d do if you had your own business.

Then you find when it comes to it and you

“ONLINE GAMES HAVE LARGELY OVERTAKEN THEIR LAND-BASED COUNTERPARTS” - David Johnson have that opportunity, they’re not always practical. I’d love a business with broad areas of responsibility instead of formal job titles for example. But here we are and I’m a CEO in a business that we’ve successfully and deliberately scaled without ego, and it’s a pleasure to play my role in that.

Our growth will continue to be underpinned by the creation and licensing of quality and infinitely playable content to an expanding operator base. We work closely with many of our operators on any number of supportive initiatives; readers will be aware getting a game made is just the start of the effort required to succeed. We have worked hard to make ReelPlay a vital part of any casino’s portfolio and are proud that our games are in demand by operators across the globe where gaming is legal.

For the rest of the year, we’ll continue to build by addressing new markets, securing new partner opportunities and launching additional value propositions such as IP partnerships with competitive collaborators, who are busy building their own Infinity Reels games, for example. All the while we don’t forget a simple mantra that ‘We make slots’. I’m confident the business will remain in rude health by continuing to create and deliver profitable, memorable and re-playable games for ourselves and our partners.