December 2021 Infinity Gaming Magazine

InfinityGaming www.gaming-awards.com | ISSUE133

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08 IGA 2022 FINALISTS

16 THE RISE OF CRYPTO-GAMBLING

20 UNDERSTANDING MACAU

Opinion Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in all external articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Infinity Gaming Magazine Any content provided by our feature writers or authors are of their opinion, and are not intended to malign any religion, ethic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

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4 EDITOR NOTES Editor welcomes you to the latest edition of Infinity Gaming Magazine.

06 OUR WRITERS Meet our feature writers, the superb writers on our rosta.

38 CHRSTINA THAKOR-RANKIN

44 BBIN FEATURE NEW BUSINESS VENTURES

48 TIM CULLIMORE 52 ANDY COSGROVE

NFTS ON THE RISE

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57 MISSOURI SPORTS BETTING

+ NEWS & MORE NEWS from the gaming industry

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A Note From The Editor CONTACT US Clever Duck Media Centrix@Keys Keys Park Road Staffordshire WS12 2HA UK Tel: +44(0)1543 478 889

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PUBLISHING Infinity Gaming Magazine is operated by © Clever Duck Media Ltd ®

Lana Thompson - Editor Welcome to the final edition of the In-

promise you will be amazed at what we

finity Gaming Magazine for 2021 and

have in store for you.

Company Reg. No. 687 1018 (Registered in England) V.A.T reg. no 972 6372 91

what a finish to the year! We are once again in the grip of another variant of

Once again we have all our superb

the terrible COVID virus with us de-

writers giving us their experience and

ciding the safety of our attendees the

insight on the gaming industry with

most important factor in deciding to

contributions this month by, Andrew

move the 2022 International Gaming

Cosgrove, Lynn Pearce, Christina Tha-

Awards (IGA) to a new date, we are hop-

kor-Rankin and Tim Cullimore.

ing to announce this very soon.

We also take a look at the rise of CrypI am sure all of us had hoped that we

to-gambling and the dealings of busi-

enter the third year of this pandemic

ness within the gambling sector.

that our governments would have come to a solution but not to be and so we

Of course we have all the very latest

as always will march on with the knowl-

news for you to keep you busy over the

edge our industry will prevail and hope

festive break.

dearly other sectors will also be resilient to this awful period.

So until we meet in 2022 have a wonderful festive season and a superb New

However back to more positive sub-

Year.

jects such as the finalists for the 2022 IGA have been announced after such a

As always- “May the Force be with you”

difficult time for our judges with over

- Star Wars

680 nominations in all categories it truly is an achievement to make the fi-

Regards,

nals so well done to all of you that got named.

Lana

As the IGA goes into its 15th year you

The Editor

know when it happens later in 2022 it will be the most magical of evenings and with more time to prepare we

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Sponsorship Opportunities Colin@cleverduckmedia.com Business Partnerships Svetlana@gaming-awards.com Marketing & Advertising claire@cleverduckmedia.com Editorial Content & PR media@cleverduckmedia.com

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Infinity Gaming Magazine Contributing Writers A magazine is only as good as the content inside and with some of the leading specialists within the gaming industry. With specialised articles covering customer service, the gaming law, new products, technology and current affairs with the sector the Infinity Gaming Magazine is delighted to showcase our superb line-up of contributing

Christina Thakor-Rankin Christina is Principal Consultant at 1710 Gaming Ltd, a specialist betting and gaming consultancy, delivering a range of services including licensing and compliance (incl. regulation, money laundering and social responsibility), business start-up, training and strategic re-engineering, project management, research, business analysis and development, to start-ups and

established multi-national operators and providers, gambling regulators, law enforcement and government agencies, media, and specialist interest groups and associations within the sector, in both established and emerging markets across the world. www.1710gaming.com

Teresa Tunstall – Independent Gaming Consultant After many years of working in casinos in the UK and on USA ships as a croupier and inspector, Teresa turned from ‘poacher to gamekeeper,’ spending 16 years with GamCare, who offer help and support to those who develop problems with their gambling.

Working closely with the betting and gaming industry, She developed strong links delivering Social Respon-

sibility and Problem Gambling training around the world, Teresa now works independently consulting on all issues relating to Social Responsibility and Problem Gambling.

To contact Teresa regarding consulting please email:

Andrew Cosgrove - Slots Guru Andrew Cosgrove is a seasoned slot operations veteran and certified project manager with over 24 years of hands on experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. Andrew has worked on both the operator and supplier side of casino slots and continues to help clients succeed and exceed customer expectations.

Andrew can be reached at andy.cosgrove@hemingwaycasinoconsulting.com or see http://hemingwaycasinoconsulting.com/

Lynn Pearce Lynn has extensive senior management experience in the gaming industry, with over 18 years of proven success, having launched more than 30 casino, live casino, poker, sports betting, lottery and esports brands globally.

She is currently CEO of PLaza Holdings (Ontario) Inc.

Tim Cullimore From dealer to CEO in the U.K., Europe and North America, Tim has pretty much seen it all in Casino gaming. For over 40 years, from running slot rooms which needed to frisk for guns to the Ritz in Mayfair, arguably the most luxurious casino in the world, Tim has never stopped challenging what we think we know about casinos.

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Tim is a well-respected Consultant to the gaming industry, encompassing project management and operational analysis, as well as representing and advising some key manufacturers within the industry. Tim is a renowned conference speaker and also proud to be visiting lecturer at the University of West London College of Hospitality and Tourism.

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The rise of Crypto-Gambling Passing fad or now part of the furniture?

T

he meteoric rise (and subsequent peak and trough) of cryptocurrencies has re-defined our understanding of the digital economy. Although feeling like a relatively fresh concept, crypto has been circulating our financial frameworks for over a decade. This lack of traction perhaps illustrates the tangible hesitancy of both consumers and big business in the deployment of its use.

It’s easy to understand why- consistent marketplace volatility (particularly in recent months) compromises market trust, with values often plummeting at the same trajectory as their initial rise.

However, how does cryptocurrency fit into the iGaming space?

For a long while, crypto has featured as usable ‘currency’ on several gaming platforms. Vendors can be broadly split into two camps: those who permit the exclusive use of cryptocurrency as a means to execute betting activity, and those who facilitate the safe exchange of currencies into ‘real’ monetary value. However, there is an even wider chasm between these

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such parties and the wider gaming world; there are many who haven’t broached this opportunity in any capacity whatsoever.

They may be missing a substantial trick.

Seizing the momentum Softswiss, a leading technology provider who have a history of embracing innovative solutions to legacy market trends, capitalized on a bourgeoning opportunity. The Belarussian outfit were incredibly quick to latch onto the crypto phenomenon, having tracked its considerable momentum from 2011, and set about exploiting its considerable scope of opportunity.

Ivan Montik, who founded the now internationally renowned group, states, ‘cryptocurrency is the future of gaming’ The early bird certainly ended up catching the digital worm.

True to their principles of creativity and ambition, SOFTSWISS made efforts to engage the wider industry, leading London’s Bitcoin ICE Totally Gaming Seminar in 2014. In an at-

tempt to galvanize the gambling community around crypto’s undoubted potential, the group spoke directly to providers about updating its channels to accept Bitcoin as a fullyendorsed currency, without having to convert to ‘state’ currency before it’s use. A number of businesses dually obliged.

Now, commercial giants such as Bitstartz, 7Bit Casino & Betchain enjoy substantial market share of a proliferating sector, all supported by Softswiss’ dynamic platform.

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Youthful markets But, how have such gambling sites, offering the use of crypto’s myriad of purveyors such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, had such exponential growth in recent years?

The answer lies in its ability to penetrate into a younger generation of gamblers. Whilst many of the big boys, all the while throwing colossal sums at marketing budgets and cost-draining advertisement, continue to scratch their heads. These businesses facilitate a fast-paced, skill dependent, competitive online gaming culture that draws those of a younger age onto their platforms, and critically, away from traditional gambling practices and institu-

tions. Its focus is on play, not just lady luck.

Furthermore, innovators such as Softswiss now have the capability to augment these gaming activities with typically popular software attachments, such as Game Aggregator, Affilka and sportsbook. A perhaps frightening proposition for those casinos and enterprises tethered to the slot machine.

One cannot comment on crypto game ranges without emphasizing the dominance of ‘dice games,’ in its considerable armoury. Such games are woven into the very fabric of the cryptogambling landscape; offering speedy, compelling content that significantly

drives both GGR and consumer satisfaction. Multiple crypto sites have refined the conditions of these games, in turn furtherenhancing thecustomer experience and attracting substantial inbound traffic.

Safe and Secure Yet, there are many other strings to the Bitcoin bow. In a world were sophisticated hacker and fraud activity is rife, crypto provides an unrivalled outlet for safe, uninterrupted methods of payment.

From a security perspective, all transactions are filtered through Blockchain technology, and can therefore not be subsequently cancelled or

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11 rejected. It provides complete transparency between the user and vendor, but also encrypts all data to optimize consumer safety and platform assurance. Its utilisation of random number generator apps mitigates against external bugs, and protects the gamer from any foul play.

the digital currency a ‘danger to India’s youth’. In a Chinese context, where state regulation comes as second nature, Beijing have expressed concern at crypto’s destabilizing impact on its economy, as well as the risk it presents to preservation of personal assets.

Caution or Commitment?

Furthermore, its rapid processing pace allows gamblers to access funds almost instantaneously, and with its de-centralized network of private enterprise, you can be rest assured that no single institution can profiteer from generated wealth.

Asian headwinds However, there have been recent headwinds within this sphere. Global superpower China have taken robust action to combat cryptocurrency growth, with its Communist-led government declaring it an ‘illegal’ currency resource from September this year. This outcome was always on the cards; back in May, China banned all crypto mining activity, in turn sweeping a whirlwind of chaos through its marketplace. By June, Bitcoin’s value had shrunk by half.

Yet, the very essence of crypto’s DNA allows users to escape the grasp of their respective regimes; a crypto gambler need only share his digital wallet address and keys, and therefore acquires total anonymity when gaming- making it incredibly difficult for authorities to locate activity.

of marketplace capability.

Its dynamism, security, and rapidpayment channels distinguish it from more traditional gaming sectors.

There are risks attached of course, such digital currencies are unpredictable by their very nature. However, the fact that 50% of all cryptocurrency transactions are related to gambling suggests two things: its markets now have a stronger chance of stabilization given their proportional trade in the gaming sector, and, critically, it will become a growing force to be reckoned with. The industry must take note. Invest? I don’t think the answer is overly cryptic……

Thus, adding another desirable characteristic to its already impressive list

Neighbouring India have also taken steps to placate crypto’s rapid growth, with its right-wing government proposing a bill for its ban, championing a centralized approach operated through the nation’s central bank (apart from in circumstances where crypto promotes underlying technologies). When the news was announced last month, the value of stable coin tether (digital commodity associated to the dollar) took a pronounced nose dive, losing 25% of its value on the Indian Exchange. In the last week of November, Bitcoin price haemorrhaged 5% in value.

But why the aversion to cryptocurrency? In India’s case, Prime Minister Modi has long discouraged citizens from partaking in crypto markets, declaring

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GAMING NEWS

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Thailand Sets Up Committees For Casinos

Codere To Sell Assets After Trading Suspension

Thailand are moving at pace to look at the pos-

Latin American gaming firm Codere SA looks set to cease stock trading after the National Securities Exchange Commission of Spain accepted their request to remove itself from markets.

sibility of allowing casinos for the very first time in the country. After the 2nd December vote by lawmakers to set up committees to review the legal structure for permitting casinos, another will look into the impact of gambling and another will consider the location or locations for setting up a casino.

According to local reports 60 members from all political spectrums will now start work on reviewing the options for casinos and will report back to Ministers within the next 90 days.

Thailand has some 40 million tourists per year and a population of 70 million but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has badly impacted on the country which relies heavily on tourism for much of the government tax income so new avenues of taxation have always been considered.

But talks on legalising gambling have been discussed over the last couple of decades with no movement forward, however with this latest vote to move further than ever before to consider legalising casinos may well be the start.

The move comes after company shareholders approved a motion to dissolve the business’ assets. The NSEC of Spain have already confirmed that Codere will not feature on the Madrid Stock Exchange moving forward.

A huge re-structuring process has facilitated the decision, with the business’ bondholders acquiring a 95% controlling stake after transferring the firm over to a new enterprise, Codere New Topco SA. In addition, a colossal debt re-payment of €367M has been capitalized into equity.

The inevitable plan formed to breakdown and sell assets has now been unleashed.

Codere’s financial woes have been catalysed by the ongoing global pandemic, with bricks-andmortar units suffering badly from nationwide lockdowns and societal restrictions. However, Codere has managed to protect its online arm, with the platform showing green performance shoots even amidst the volatile situation caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Its online platform will continue to straddle markets in Spain, Italy and Latin America.

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New Ventures: A little peek into the big world of online gaming investment

The recent proliferation of the U.S sports betting industry has attracted a significant number of notable suitors. Existing betting firms have been quick to capitalize on the Supreme Court ruling of 2018, a

a judgement that liberated the sports market from its constitutional restrictions.

However, recent trends illustrate that those outside of conventional gaming streams are also eyeing up

opportunities within the gambling sector; with heightened focus particularly applied to the fledgling sports betting industry. An immersive, highly lucrative, and ultracompetitive market has evolved over recent months; although style of betting offered (in-house/online etc.) is contingent on specific state law and practice. Nevertheless, the sports gambling theatre still provides substantially low-hanging fruit for investors, and its therefore unsurprising that businesses outside of the traditional gaming space have decided to take full advantage.

This article reviews the rise in external stakeholder interest in the gaming environment, and offers a viewpoint on driving factors, potential activity and the future landscape of

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investment.

profit looks to be heading intogambling ventures.

Sega’s mega-drive Perhaps one of the least surprising candidatesis video gaming and arcade giant Sega Sammy, who, in a recent announcement of quarterly performance, referenced a desire to enter the online betting marketsoon.

In 2004, entertainment brand Sega merged with purveyor of Japanese slot machines, the Sammy corporation, and set about producing hybrid content which would enhance gamer experience on pachinkos and pachislots(Japanese equivalent to arcade slots). The merger has been a positive enterprise for the company, who have been able to ringfence pools of money for future investment; an $8.7M Q2 operating

It’s anticipated that the destination for this cash lies exclusively in online betting markets (with market reports predicting an inevitable investment in U.S sports wagering) rather than in bricks and mortar, where Sega Sammy already has previous.

Political influence Japan’s landmark decision to loosen betting regulation and open-up gaming activity created a vacuum of opportunity for some of the nation’s big firms. Specifically, the ruling Liberal Democrat Party have facilitated the passing of legislation which will permit the creation of large-scale IR’s (integrated resorts) in various prefectures across the country.

However, the process for establishing a resort location is relatively bureaucratic in process and protracted in its timeline. Furthermore, as Sega Sammy discovered to their detriment, political influence can also derail ambitions. Until recently, the entertainment conglomerate was well-positioned to implement an IR in the Japanese port city of Yokohama. Yet, the endeavour (which was undertaken in partnership with Genting Group- the more experienced gambling arm of the operation) was kiboshed by a change of personnel in the Mayorial office.

When Fumiko Hayashi, a member of the LDP, who, in alignment with the wider stance of his party, promoted growth and innovation in the gaming industry, was ousted by independent candidate Dr Takeharu Yamanaka,

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17 are softly positioning themselves for a wider assault on the market.

In New Jersey, these aspirationshave already started to materialise. The Garden state was a major proponentfor betting emancipation in the U.S, and suitably lobbied the Supreme Courts accordingly. It was unsurprising therefore to see New Jersey develop into a booming localsports market and offer punters early access to online sportsbooks.

Yahoo have intelligently selected the state as a testing ground for its blueprint. NJ residents, via a Sportsbook app powered by collaborators MGM Resorts International, can now freely place bets within the Yahoo sports application; surely catalysing a seismic increase in revenue.

the writing was on the wall for Sega Sammy and its IR partner. Yamanaka, a passionate anti-gambling commentator and protestor in the community, was ultra-transparent in his intention to shut down any deal for an integrated resort with swift efficiency. This effectively ended any positive conclusions to the project, and therefore a little over two months after making an initial statement of interest, Sega Sammy withdrew from proceedings.

Residual public outcry at the hosting of this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo is still a tangible dynamic in Japanese politics; where a population still feels as if its internal health & wellbeing was compromised to keep up a nation’s global appearances. Therefore, the LDP party and its various agent’s holding positions of power are stillvulnerable to similar ‘Yokohama-style’ episodes, creating a slightly more cautious tone to the potential scope of future betting markets.

Thus far, Osaka, Wakayama and Na-

gasaki are the only prefectures who have co-ordinated a legitimate plan to set-up IRs in their respective regions, with the deadline for any formal applications set to close at the end of April 2022. The chance still beckons for other big businesses to step into the breach.

Media coverage

Despite a spate of activity in gambling markets across a range of industries, its perhaps the recent involvement of media businesses which characterize the shift towards external investment in gaming.

News giant Yahoo has recently taken the plunge, with its parent company Verizon media sponsoring a huge play towards sports betting content and usage. By adding a new in-app section which tethers wagering odds onto relevant news stories and match previews, the company

Sports Illustrated, a high-brow dispenser of sporting comment and opinion pieces, have also sought access into online gaming markets.

Through their partnership with reputable Gibraltarian firm 888.com, SI now have a Sportsbook provision for customers in Colorado, with further plans to operate in Iowa, Indiana, and New Jersey by early 2022.

Parent-company Authentic Brands Group have emphasized the indexlink between recent developments in sporting culture, and the act of placing a bet as part of the in-game experience. And 888.com have lofty ambitions as they look to acquire a significant portion of the market.

ItaiPazner, CEO of 888.com, has set bold trading targets within the new SI Sportsbook’s operational reach, setting a 5% share of the betting markets in the four statesas the goal.

Based on current projections,this would be a $90M opportunity for 888.com and its partners. The longterm vision is to have a presence in 15 states by 2024.

Further examples are never far

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New Ventures continued an increased likelihood of fans & spectators to make a bet as part of their viewing/matchday routine.

Indeed, their data-hungry platform provides plenty of evidence to suggest their taking the right path: September 2021 produced 22% more NFL betting tweets than the same timeframe last year.

Last month we referenced Penn group’sinvestment stake in the Barstool Sports media publishing firm to supplement its marketing & advertising drive; they have now acquired Canada’s Score Media company and its betting app theScore to further consolidate its strength. An Associated Press deal with FanDuel has provided exclusive exposure to the latter’s betting odds in its relevant articles and sports coverage.

Social media, social betting The largest vendor in this particular cartelhowever is Twitter, who seem resolved to slowly but surely increase their participation in the sector over the coming months.Although,exactly what this will eventually look like remains unknown.It’s abundantly clear however that the platform, who have undertaken several recent reviews of its streaming services and general in-site infrastructure, are keen on exploiting the betting opportunity. They too make an intimate link between the evolving sporting cultural discourse, and

The social media powerhouse is perfectly positioned to harness gaming market forces, even if it may not directly keep sportsbooks.

The level of traffic driven towards its sports streams will certainly pique the interest of betting vendors looking to advertise, and with the added tailwind of sports leagues harbouring betting partners as sponsors, Twitter looks set to cash-in on a whirlwind explosion of online sporting opportunity.

A subtle thread that runs throughout this narrative, and indeedsubconsciously drives behaviours in this space, is the undoubted societal shift in attitudes towards the gaming industry. Nervousness around adverse brand impact isebbing away,and there is a bourgeoning acceptance that the sector holds considerable weight as a positive economic force; providing employment, developing technologies, and boosting fiscal growth.

Disneying heights?

No better example of a business viewing the industry through a less conservative lens is Disney, who, through their ESPN subsidiary, have already made waves towards striking deals with betting partners. A colossal 90% of the most-watched broadcasts within Disney’s umbrella of TV networks last year related to sports viewing, augmented by a +66% year-onyear subscription increase to their

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ESPN sports channel. CEO Bob Chapek has stressed that moving into online gaming theatres will attract and retain younger audiences, a sensible stance to take given prevailing market trends. Furthermore, Chapek is adamant (and has conducted considerable research to support his convictions) that betting activity will not hamper the key branding influence of Disney, and actuallyserves to strengthen the perception of ESPN in the marketplace.

Bet on growth Given the substantialnumber of global businesses grappling for position, its relatively safe to assume that the online gaming sector will continue to grow at an accelerating pace. The legislation to openupsportsbook practices in the U.S is still having a material halo effect on the industry, as an increasing number of states are updating their stanceon gambling as they navigate changing winds of public opinion, understand the sheer scale of commercialopportunity, and sought to preserve their own economic prosperity versus rival states. The same points are applicable to big business, as they look to leverage modernizing opinions on branding, and hope to swiftly infiltrate a market which is becoming increasingly saturated due to its attractive conditions.

In truth, there doesn’t seem a cap on size, style or resident industry of betting investments, which makes for an intriguing and rather unpredictable outlook. In fact, the only real guarantee is that the online gaming industry is set to further grow at an increasing rate of knots……

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It’s a wrap!

The Creator Economy is booming and NFTs are skyrocketing!

By Lynn Pearce

I

wrote an article on NFTs for this magazine’s August edition – and in that article I questioned whether NFTs were a passing fad, or a future asset and here to stay. The jury was out on that one, as most of the predictions from several top publications believed NFTs would fade away, however, my conclusion was that they were just starting to make headway and that the market for NFTs would explode. It turns out I was right, as I am reading about NFTs daily now and have been almost overwhelmed with all the news and activities around this growing phenomenon, driven mostly by the

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Creator Economy (it’s a new revenue stream gold rush), social media influencers, bloggers, videographers, iGaming, and NFT startup businesses.

In fact, some of the new platforms are making it so easy that anyone can mint their own NFTs and make money off it.

Being in the sports betting and gaming industry, it is interesting to see the surge of interest from global sports teams, with incredibly valuable intellectual property, tokenizing and distributing their collectibles in the form of digital trading cards.

In fact, one of the major benefits that I can see is how musicians, artists and the creative community are now an integral part of the process of selling their art form, and with the new digital assets business model conferring ownership, they are a part of the ongoing sale process and herein lies the key to the continuing popularity of NFTs, in my opinion this is one of the biggest drawcards for this emerging community-based business model.

This morning, I read in The Information newsletter that OpenSea, the most popular marketplace for NFTs,

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(which is about four years old,) is fielding new investment offers that could increase its valuation to $10 billion or even higher! Not a bad business to be in, and it is growing exponentially, as there are now well over 50 million people worldwide, according to investment firm SignalFire,who are working as content creators. The creator economy’s rise to the mainstream over the past year is in large part due to the lockdowns and working from home during the pandemic, including the rapid scaling of social media platforms and streaming services exploding during this time to support this industry.

According to Crunchbase, the roughly $20 billion creator economy is thriving—with each creator operating more like a start-up than an individual.“Influencer marketing is poised to surpass the $3 billion mark by the end of 2021. Streaming platforms from Netflix to Disney+ and Amazon Prime continue to scale operationsglobally, diversify offerings beyond TV or movies, and sign top talent to long-term contracts.”

So who are these creators? The demographic is really interesting, as some of these creators have been around for more than 10 years already, which shows when you see that the content

creator age group on YouTube is 54+ (22%), then 18 to 44 on Instagram (22%) and 18 to 24 on Tiktok (30%), with the main source of income being brand deals, as brands soon started to realise the return on investment of paying creators and influencers to scale their on-platform reach advertising their products and services.

Interestingly, there are already several Unicorns in the Creator Economy space, which are likely increasing the overall VC interest and belief that it’s possible to build large companies in the space, in particular the startup platforms that are seeing the opportunities of servicing the needs of

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2021/04/21 14:40

Article by Lynn Pearce

these creators, especially with financing, for example,Trading.TV built a new Twitch-style platform focused specifically on finance influencers in all industries.InvestmentfirmSignalFire, recently invested in Karat, a custom charge card banking solution for creators and influencers on YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok. Karat gives creators the ability to aggregate all sources of income onto a single platform, offers income smoothing for creators on a week-to-week basis and provides instant loans based on predictable future income. Another great financing startup is ChannelMeter, who created a payment app to give cash advances to YouTube stars.

Stir takes the creator economy business a step further and is a payments network that helps creators track their finances and compensate employees

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and collaborators directly.

However, while the top creators may reap six to eight figures in annual turnover, the amount of money fulltime content creators bring in is relative to their fans, niche, industry, and other factors, like engagement rates and location/platforms. The average creator is generally doing this as a side hustle while growing their target market and earning much less! On the plus side, earning money while doing something you love is certainly not a bad thing, while a number of these creators have already left their fulltime jobs to join the creator economy full-time, as we have been seeing lately, with the “great resignation” still happening on a global scale!

The Creator Economy is definitely growing, and what truly fascinates me is the younger generationwho have already embraced it, as they look to these content creators as their influencers.

They do not follow traditional movies and TV channels, they would much rather be entertained by someone like Ryan Kaji, a nine-year-old who shares videos on YouTube. He has over 31 million subscribers to his Ryan’s World YouTube channel and must be the envy of traditional television networks and I think is showing us all the way forward!

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Happy Holidays So let’s get on with the game

By Tim Cullimore

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t wasn’t until I spent several Christmases in both Australia and the Caribbean whilst working that I came to realise that in the U.K. Christmas comes totally at the wrong time of year for the casino industry. People are just too busy doing other things to find the time to visit the casino.

In mainland Europe Christmas and New Year are boom times for the gaming industry. Players and non-players alike love to dress up and go for dinner in the best place around, and in spa towns and coastal resorts across the continentthat is very often the casino. Special menus and dances are the norm for somewhere like Baden Baden or Montreux, whereas dealers in Britain loved to work on Christmas eve as there where very few players and breaks were plenty. And of course,in the U.K it is enshrined in law that casinos must close on Christmas day.

And because of the legacy of puritanical laws that didn’t allow even

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the minimum of entertainment or fun in a casino up until the changes brought in by the 2005 Gaming Act, New Year celebrations have always been almost an embarrassing distraction to the business of gambling. As I am sure many casinos still do there used to be a tradition of stopping all the games just before midnight and wishing everyone a Happy New Year. This was greeted joyfully by most of those present, except the players! They were often furious that their game had been interrupted.“Happy New Year and let’s get on with the game!!”.

Of course, casinos wherever they are multi denominational by their very nature, and I have always thought the peaceful interaction between races, faiths and genders has often been overlooked as a very positive outcome of casinos being open to all. And all clients, no matter their background, have an underlying commonality, which is of course their frequent frustration and occasional anger toward the casino itself.

It’s great that they all have something to

agree on!

For some customers Christmas plays no part in their culture, but because their own businesses or their employers may be closed the casino becomes an even greater attraction. So I have always loved the atmosphere in the casino during the holidays, even if many of the players are not really that interested in the actual traditions, but there is something that adds to the excitement and overall ambience. I especially loved the tradition of visiting the casino when I worked in France.

There were still some lovely couples who maintained the tradition of formal evening wear at Christmas and New year, and the gastronomic menu in the restaurants attracted those who love the finer things in life.

Equally when I was running the casino in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, Switzerland, an important segment of the clientele over that period were Italians on vacation, so again the fine

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clothes would be out in force, and finest Italian sports and leisure wear (this was a ski resort remember) would be put on parade.

As a naïve young dealer arriving in Florida to join a cruise ship just before Christmas 1985 it was an incredible culture shock to experience Christmas in the sun. I also had my eyes opened by the importance of Hanukkah.

Never really appreciating this festival I loved the ads and announcements which seamlessly interwound both the festivals which happen at this time of year. And spending Christmas on a beach was absolutely fine by me, no more cold dark nights, and rainy Yuletides.

Now I come to think of it; the end of year holidays are perhaps the best time to learn the most about cultures of foreign countries. This is a time

when people cling most fiercely to their traditions, so if you have the opportunity to travel or work in a new country at Christmas, I fully recommend getting involved in all aspects of the festivities. After all, wherever you come from the message is the same.

Great Responsibility Now that the votes are in I can reveal that I have had the great honour to be asked to be one of the judges of the excellent International Gaming Awards which will be presented at the end of January and will be a fantastic night. With great power comes great responsibility (thank you Spiderman) so I took the task at handvery seriously.

knew very little about, a revelation to see the range and variety of products and services on offer in our industry.

I was especially impressed by the strength of the social responsibility programmes the games providers have produced. As I have repeatedly said in the past, is there another industry who provides social activities which may deemed harmful to a small minority that does so much to inform and protect its clients. We can aways do more to protect players, but as an industry we should be proud of the strides which have been taken over the last several years.

Happy holidays to everyone and let us hope that 2022 will be a better environment for us to prosper.

It was a fantastic opportunity to do a deep dive into some companies I

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ICE Considers Three Year Move To April

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ccording to sources close to Clarion Gaming the companies flagship event ICE is considering a three year move away from its traditional date in late January early February to avoid the continuing impact COVID has on their exhibition.

pone the February expo after many large exhibitors threatened to boycott ICE leaving large parts of the ExCel empty and possible legal action by those exhibitors not going.

However the iGaming Post has learnt that the date Clarion are looking at is the 19th to 21st April is unpopular with many major exhibitors being just after the Easter break.

Clarion Gaming has always had the luxury of the start of year date but with the outbreak of COVID Winter has now become a very dangerous time to hold a major exhibition like ICE, indeed one gaming consultant who did not want to be named said, “Clarion were very luck to hold the 2020 ICE Expo just before COVID closed down most of the World, but 2021 and now 2022 has severely damaged the company and as such are considering a move into late Spring for at least three years to avoid any more disruption.”

Clarion made the decision to post-

But getting all the major exhibitors

On Friday 17th December Stuart Hunter the Managing Director of Clarion Gaming announced that the 2022 show was postponed and a date possibly in late April will be announced shortly.

on board such as Novomatic, Aristocrat, IGT and Scientific Games is proving hugely difficult according to word coming out of the company.

According to sources at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine a well respected research body, it is thought that the continued impact of COVID could last for several years with new variants springing up each winter until health organisations are able to find a lasting and effective vaccine against COVID and its variants.

To this Clarion Gaming are now seriously looking at a move away from their traditional dates to late Spring IF their major exhibitors agree or it could spell the end of one of the biggest exhibitions for the gaming industry.

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Another year over, and what have we done?

Quite a bit as it happens.

By Christina Thakor-Rankin

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ising out of the ashes of lockdown and making up for lost time, it’s difficult to remember a time where there was as much high-level, high impact activity amongst regulators or operators in a single 12-month period as there has been this past year.

From a regulatory perspective this year is the year that has seen three of the most anticipated markets finally open up properly to regulated online gambling: Germany, the Netherlands and the US. This is huge.

In Europe, after years, decades even of political back and forth and a

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few false and failed starts two of Europe’s most eagerly anticipated remote gambling markets finally got themselves over the finishing line and opened their doors to a newera of regulated online gambling. Taking an early steer from their regulatory counterparts in other parts of Europe, however, both have set out relatively high entry requirements and an even higher stance on social responsibility - ensuring that neither is the easy walk-in or over that, operators had been hoping for.

In the case of Germany, regulation comes with some of the strictest product and player protec-

tion requirements anywhere in Europe,almost immediately pitting thefledgling regulated marketup against the previously grey,and now black, market. Add to this the relatively high cost of entry, high taxation, and the knowledge that the current regulatory framework will

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be replaced by the establishment of thenew national gambling regulator, the Glücksspielbehördedue to take charge in 2023, and any operator considering Germany needs to have relatively deep pockets, a seriously smart CRM team and an ability to adapt quickly to future regulatory shifts.

The Netherlands appears to be more welcoming, but only to those who play by the rules. No stranger to taking action against transgressors even before the marketopened - Entain(€5million)and Betfair (€12million) two of the more notable ones - those blotted copy books and historical activity are now a key consideration in an already very stringent license application process.

As a result. out of the 29 applicants in the first tranche only 11 managed to secure a licence. With the next set of

licenses due to be issued only in April 2022, and that following a period of intense monitoring and scrutiny of the first 11, it may be some time before some of the big players can get a foot in the door.

There have also been positive moves and murmurings in other markets very popular markets such as Ireland, New Zealand and Canada and which over time have become various shades of grey and the hunting ground for the .com operators willing to consider creative approach to acquisition and payments.

Then there is the gorilla in the room - the US. With state after state announcing either a new sports-betting bill (Ohio being the latest to jump on the bandwagon) or the revenues earned from activation of said sportsbetting bill, mega brands like MGM

and Disney muscling in, and the NFL throwing their weight behind the NCPG it is surely only a matter of time before the conversation shifts from state to federal - and pushes up the stakes even further. More about this later….

Staying with regulators for the moment, in a year which has seen a record number of new markets (state or national) emerging, one might be forgiven for thinking that 2021 was all about the new. Not so. Those overseeing established marketshave been just as busy focusing on monitoring and enforcement - and this has proved not so good news for operators.This year,2021, has seen regulators in Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, UK and the US between them levy financial penalties totalling

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Article by Christina Thakor-Rankin

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divvied up between Caesars and 888; Bally’s acquiring Gamesys: Scientific Games sell OpenBet and buy Authentic Gaming, swapping sportsbook for live dealer; and Entain being the subject of a now abandoned takeover bid

by Draftkings,but surely only a matter of time before a new suitor emerges.

a staggering £40 million. This is a little less than the £44 million last year, but a massive increase on the £20 million in 2018 and £17 million in 2017.

There is undoubtedly more to come from the Netherlands and Sweden, Ireland has already indicated that it’s new regulator will have the power to issue fines up to €20 million, and the US regulators haven’t even got started yet. You know something is ‘a thing ‘and here for the duration when it gets its own dedicated website: https://gamblingindustryfines.com/.

2021 is merely a precursor for things to come.

The jurisdiction leading the enforcement charge, and general raising of standards is the Gambling Commission of Great Britain. If recent events are a sign of things to come, then it seems that UK is about to kick-start a new trend. Taking a steer from Germany where the new regulations cap a player’s monthly deposit not on a per operator basis but across all operators, the Gambling Commission has been making noises about a single customer view for a while now.

Some have dismissed this as fanci-

fuland never going to happen. More fool them, have they learnt nothing from the last few years? The keynote address by the Commission’s CEO Andrew Rhodes, at the recent Gambleaware conference made it clear this is going to happen. In the case of the UK however it goes way beyond just deposits. Depending on the scope of the project and who and how it is approached, SCV could include financial and game play activity, RG history,and actions and interactions undertaken by operators. This would provide the ultimate player profile and force a shift the balance from operator managed customer to industry managed customer, shrinking the market and pushing it naturally towards consolidation - and which brings us nicely back to newly regulated markets.

2021 has been dominated by a slew of mergers and acquisition have dominated 2021. These are not the David and Goliath, big fish swallowing smaller fish battles of old. These are full on Godzilla versus King Kong battles, driven by the US sports-betting and online gambling gold rush. So far we have seen William Hill being

These pale into lesser significance compared to what is promising to be the mother of all takeover battles – Playtech. Historically one of the most acquisitive operators in the sector, Playtech now finds itself at the centre of a four-way bidding war between Aristocrat, Gopher, JKO Group and Ms Lo, the Vitasoy heiress, who hasbeen quietly built up her shareholding in Playtech to 5% - and all of destined to push the company’s sale price up beyond the $3billion mark. All because of the US. With this in mind, and with the likes of MGM, Disney, Jay-zee and others jumping on the bandwagon what prize Entain or even Flutter’s next suitor is an Amazon or Warner Bros or Universal?

And what of the impact on the industry as a whole. The impact of big US firms on the rest of the world is already evident in the food and beverage, hospitality and entertainment industry. To date gambling’s only truly global operator has been bet365 but the US looks set to change all of that.

How and whether for the better or worse is too early to say. What we can say is that 2022 promises to be just as impactful as 2021.

In the meantime, and on a lighter and more topical notehere’s a little seasonal something for all the racing fans out there: https://www.facebook. com/watch/?v=639753507384585

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New PlayUp Chairman As Mintas Issue Continues

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layUp have appointed Dennis Drazin as their new Chair, which takes place with immediate effect. The legal conflict between the gaming firm and previous U.S CEO Dr Laila Mintas continues in the background.

Drazin is good value for the position. The former Monmouth Park boss played a key lobbying role in the landmark overturning of sports wagering regulations in 2018, when the Supreme Court moved to liberate the industry from its tight shackles. He played an active role in the bourgeoning New Jersey sports gaming scene, with the state proving to be one of the country’s most lucrative markets.

The new Chairman joined the PlayUp board in 2020, and has already signalled his intentions of supporting the business to proliferate its Australian and American presence. PlayUp has performed exceptionally in Drazin’s home-state of New Jersey, with general outlooks looking positive despite a fragile court situation with outgoing CEO Mintas.

PlayUp’s application for a restraining order against the former chief was approved this week, as the firm maintain that Mintas was subject to a number of major contract breaches. It’s believed tension started during contract renewal negotiations, where demands

made were ambitious to say the least.

Mintas wanted to double her salary, acquire a 15% share-holding stake in the business, and replace global CEO Daniel Simic. PlayUp were not moved to accommodate. There were also allegations of sabotage during a recent acquisition attempt by cryptocurrency operator FTX. Common ground looks unlikely to materialise, as both Mintas and PlayUp adamantly refute each other’s claims.

Either side is reluctant to make too much comment given current legal context, but its clear that this dispute may well rumble on for some time yet.

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Return and Reconnect

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he Year of 2021 hasn’t been easy for everyone, with challenges keeping evolving and bringing unprecedented and continuous disruptions to our life and business operation. However the situation also prompted us to reflect on the status quo and make changes that enable the adaption to the new world situation. Coping with the COVID19 crisis over a long period of two years, the world finally envisions a limelight of hope with vaccination rates on the rise and gradual international border opening. As live events around the world are making gradual comeback, BBIN, the leading iGaming software supplier in Asia, has been actively preparing for the major events in the coming year of 2022, excited to showcase new ideas and innova-

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tions in ICE and following industrial events. Revolving around the theme of “the Gaming Beat” in the year of 2022, BBIN looks forward to a deeper connection, reunion and communication with the industry that had been missed out in the past two years when cross-border travelling was not even possible but virtual exhibitions and event took over.

“The Gaming Beat”, encompassing BBIN’s aspiration and future prospects in response to the global crisis, resonances with the original intention of leveraging corporate sustainability and driving business performance ever since its subsidiary “TGB Charity” was established in 2018. From the outset, BBIN started to incorporate the gaming spirits into

its CSR programs, regularly launching new online campaigns with interactive designs and inviting visitors to participate. As the idea continues to evolve and the philanthropic engagement deepens, BBIN marks a new phase in its charitable endeavors by taking a holistic and interconnecting approach to accentuate the positive impacts internally in its enterprise and externally to the industry and the iGaming ecosystem.

Reimagining the future_ live with the challenge and harness the change In practice, we have noticing the Covid19 challenge has not only changed the way people live and work but also accelerate the technological innovations and developments that

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enable new patterns of interpersonal communication, interaction and thus a new business model. The challenge is indeed unprecedented, and yet the technological innovation and development also goes frantically fast to keep up. As BBIN constantly adapts to the world situation and pours investment into the frontier technologies that hold the promise to revive productivity, BBIN also highlights the importance of a balanced pace that can enable more sustainable patterns of growth and mitigate environmental degradation or create new inequality issues. In short, BBIN pursues technological change and innovation for a thriving market but it is also directed towards inclusive and sustainable outcomes through a purposeful efforts, encapsulated in its past and upcoming “The Gaming Beat”

programs.

The Gaming Beat Charity_ Think Big, Give Beyond Looking back to the TGB Charity programs in the year of 2021, BBIN collaborates organizations and institutes around the world delving into several focus areas, including education, environmental protection, and wildlife conservation. The collaboration with PoH (Playground of Hope) attends to the underprivileged groups of the earthquake-affected community, supporting to build the outdoor playground, while the Saath program in India promotes the importance of sanitary education and provides essential resources to improve the local living quality. Most of all, in the latest program for saving the wildlife, BBIN has interconnected with not just one

but six animal charities around the world, including FLIGHT (Indonesia), International Animal Rescue (UK), International Rhino Foundation (USA), Phoenix Fund (Russia), Rottnest Foundation (Australia), and Toucan Rescue Ranch (Costa Rica) to addresses the complexities of the biological diversity and urgency of wildlife conservation to a wider range of audiences. BBIN has conducted these programs from a long-term perspective in order to measure the effectiveness and embedding these values into the core of BBIN’s business. We believe this meaningful endeavors and long-term focus will eventually navigate us through the transition period and finally arrive at a new-normal era, where a prosperous and sustainable future is perfectly balanced.

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Ohio Sports Betting To Cover Major Collegiate Events

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t looks inevitable that Ohio will have collegiate events on its online sportsbooks; set for launch at some stage over the next twelve months.

Matt Schuler, who heads up the state’s Casino Control Commission, has assured audiences that collegiate sports will be present in markets, also referencing that the General Assembly has not raised any objections to its inclusion.

This latest development comes off the back of last week’s momentous approval of sports wagering legislation, now only dependent on a signature from Gov. Mike DeWine. The midwestern state will implement three separate licences into its fledgling betting legislation, allowing punters to place bets on smartphones, in

bricks-and-mortar bookies, and in hospitality venues who have selfservice gaming portals. Ohio therefore joins the ever-growing list of states who have embraced new betting freedoms since the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling on sports wagering.

All of Ohio’s most popular professional sides will feature on the sportsbook, and state residents will be able to place bets on a variety of events and sporting disciplines, inclusive of motor sports, golf and tennis. Betting firms will be subjected to a 10% state tax, with revenues generated being used to support the educational sector.

Although there has been little reported objection, some key University officials are concerned at the incorporation of collegiate sports. Bruce

Johnson, Head of the Inter-University Council of Ohio, demonstrated some resilience when speaking to the Ohio Senate Select Committee on gaming last March, ‘If wagering on collegiate sports is permitted, it would not take a great leap of logic to conclude the risk of student athletes soliciting and accepting payments to influence the outcome of games may increase’.

However, Schuler remains optimistic about it’s imminent launch, and has also confirmed that should foul play occur, the Casino Control Commission will not hesitate to intervene.

The state’s sports gambling activity will launch no later than 1st January 2023.

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Florida Sports Betting App To Repay All Bets

Blackstone Considers €3 billion IPO For Cirsa

Following the legal wrangling over sports bet-

Blackstone the private equity firm that is currently discussing a takeover of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts for $6.2 billion has announced it is to offer a public listing to another of its businesses.

ting in Florida and the decision that the Seminole Tribe are not legally allowed to offer sports betting outside their tribal lands, the question has now been brought up on if the Tribe will have to repay all those bets it has taken prior to the ruling.

At one stage it was thought the Seminole Tribe of Florida was going to buck the order to close its sports betting business in the state but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling last Friday upheld the previous lower courts decision for the tribe to shutdown the sports betting app while they appeal the original ruling, and so the tribe has now shut down all sports betting activity on their Hard Rock Sportsbook app.

But now the ruling on the compact to allow the Tribe to run sports betting has now been found to be void, although it will be legally challenged the fact is at present the court ruling says that sports betting was not allowed.

According to reports in Spain the giant equity firm has hired investment bank Lazard to look at listing Spanish gambling company Cirsa, which has betting shops and casinos in the country and in South America.

Back in 2018 Blackstone acquired the gambling company for €2 billion. Cirsa was founded back in 1978 by Manuel Lao Hernández who is one of the richest people in Spain.

The gambling company has 147 casinos, 178 gaming halls, 70 bingo halls, 2,000 betting shops and 75,000 gaming machines spread across Spain, Italy and Central and South America.

It is not certain that the IPO will go ahead but if it does would mark a sizeable profit for the equity company as it is expected to raise up to €3 billion.

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Macau Casino Stocks Worrying Because Of Omicron

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asino stocks in Macau took a concerning nosedive on Tuesday amidst fears of increased regulatory risk and the aggressive global proliferation of the Omicron COVID variant.

Several heavyweights suffered substantial tumbles. Wynn Macau and MGM China were the worst affected, with both succumbing to share price reductions of circa 9%. Sands China saw a 7% decline, whilst Galaxy Entertainment and SJM Holdings delivered similarly disappointing results at -4.2%. Although Melco Resorts and Entertainment held firm in the American market, their Hong Kong listed arm (Melco International Development) dropped 7.9 percentage points.

Three of the aforementioned players (Sands China, SJM Holdings & MGM China) have been subjected to increased regulatory risk in recent times, with Fitch Ratings declaring that each firm should be prepared for more scrutiny in their operational processes.

Although Fitch Ratings have declared that its unlikely that closer monitoring would currently lead to major ramifications i.e. restricting license access to new gaming concessions, its clear that the businesses’ place on the Watch Negative list will serve to undermine confidence in cash flow and future prosperity.

to grow as the Omicron variant begins to rip through the world’s population. The new threat arrived on Chinese shores via the port city of Tianjin on Monday, as an infected foreign traveller entered the country. More concerningly for Macau’s gambling stakeholders, a second case was reported yesterday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.

Guangdong provides a steady stream of visitors to the autonomous region, accounting for 35% of its inbound travel. If restrictions were to be imposed in the locality, darker days may yet loom for Macau.

In addition, Chinese fears continue

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888 Sells Entire Bingo Business To Broadway Gaming

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88 Holdings has announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its entire B2C and B2B bingo businesses to Saphalata Holdings Ltd., a member of the Broadway Gaming group. The consideration is $50m on a cash-free debt-free basis, including a potential earnout of up to $4m, based on achievement over six months of revenue-based performance criteria.

Consideration will be paid in cash upon completion of the Transaction, with the potential earnout payable within approximately six months thereafter. 888 has agreed to provide Broadway certain transitional services for a period of up to 12 months from completion, in accordance with an agreed fee schedule.

888 has a clear strategy to be a global leader in online betting and gaming by building market-leading positions in attractive regulated markets, driven by proprietary technology, product leadership, leading brands, and marketing expertise. As part of a strategic review, the Group took the decision to sell the bingo business to improve its focus on its core platform, enabling greater resources to drive growth in its core markets and reducing compliance

complexity arising from related accounts across B2B and B2C bingo and 888’s core platform.

The bingo business, which is delivered through a combination of B2B services under the Dragonfish brand and multiple leading B2C brands, is operated on a separate technology platform and primarily served by a designated operations team.

The Transaction encompasses the entire bingo business of the Group, including all its exclusive technology, assets, operations, B2B clientele and consumer-facing brands.

The bingo business, which is substantially UK-based, generated in 2020 revenue of approximately $65 million and EBITDA of $7.4 million.

The loss before tax in 2020 was $76.4 million, including a goodwill impairment of $79.5 million. The value of the gross assets subject to the transaction, including the remaining goodwill, as set out in the 30 June 2021 balance sheet, was approximately US$71 million.

Completion of the Transaction is conditional upon, amongst other items, completion of a reorganisation of the bingo business and that

new structure receiving its own UK Gambling Commission (“UKGC”) licence. Completion is currently expected to occur during the second quarter of 2022.

Itai Pazner, CEO of 888, commented: “Following a strategic review, we have taken the decision to sell the bingo business. This strategic Transaction will enable 888 to further increase its focus on its core platform and unified, scalable and proprietary technology, and grow our key product verticals of casino, sport and poker, as we continue in our mission to be one of the world’s leading online betting and gaming businesses.

The high-quality bingo business has been an important part of 888’s history, and over many years we have developed an advanced B2B offering alongside a suite of popular consumer-facing brands. As part of an enlarged business, I am very confident that the future for the bingo business is bright. I would like to express my immense gratitude for all of the hard work of the team over the years.”

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Slot Management 101:

Closing a Project

You’ve entered you last project stage, victory is almost yours, the project team is excited, and your revolutionary casino concept is almost a reality. Then a spanner gets thrown into the works!

By Andy Cosgrove

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here comes a time when your project reaches the end of its natural lifecycle and has to close.This doesn’t mean onclosing a project at a fixed point in time when the project reaches its planned end and allobjectives have been achieved and approved productshanded over to the operationsteam andthe end users who will enjoy the project benefits as outlined in the project product description. Project premature closuresare also a real possibility and can happen for multiple reasons.When premature closure does happen, the project board may instruct the project manager to close the project before some or all of the desired products have been created

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as planned.Even in the event of a premature closure, it’s important to be prepared for all possible scenarioswhich includes knowing how to successfully manage the closing a project process.

The main objectives of the closing a project process are as follows: • Verify user acceptance of the project’s products • Ensure the customer is able to host and support the products post project • Review the baseline performance and assess the benefits • Ensure that provisions have been made to address all open issues and

risks and make follow up recommendations.

Project closures should be planned as part of the final management stage plan where work is done to prepare input for the project board to authorize project closure. If the project is bought to a premature closure, the process will still need to be executed unless you want to leave holes in the casino floor, no doors in your count room or leave your surveillance room without monitors!

Preparing for planned closure – before closing a project can be recommended the project manager must ensure that all the expected

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results have been achieved and measured. The process for doing this is as follows: • Update the project plan with actuals from the final management stage • Request a product status account from project support to ensure that all products have been approved by the correct authorities and that they meet the quality criteria, or that they are covered by approved concessions.

• Confirmed that the project has delivered what was defined in the project product description • Seek approval to give notice that project resources can be released Prepare premature closure – In some situation the project board may decide to abandon the project and under these circumstances the project manager must ensure that work in progress isn’t simply abandoned which makes perfect sense unless you want gaping holes in your casino floor that result in costly law suites from

customers with broken body parts.

Another part of premature closure involves salvaging anything of value created and informing the customer of any project gaps left by the cancellation. The following actions should be taken: • Update the issue register to record premature closure • Update the project plan with actuals from the final management stage • Request a product status account from project support to determine which products have been approved, are currently in development, are covered by concessions, need to be made safe, have yet to be started and may be useful to other projects.

• Agree the means of recovering approved products or those in progress • Seek approval to give notice that project resources can be released early

products must be handed over to operational and maintenance prior to the project being closed. In the case of premature closure some products may be approved but not yet handed over and the ownership of these products will need to be transferred to the customer. Product handover is not necessarily reserved for the end of the project as there can be multiple handovers throughout the project lifecycle. The following actions should be taken to successfully handover projects: • Together with the project team prepare follow-on action plans • Check the benefits management approach to ensure that all product benefits can be measured post project • Examine the change control approach to determine how products are handed over to those who will maintain them during operational life.

Hand over products – The projects

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Andy Cosgrove Article continued

Evaluating the project – successful companies learn from their project management experience and assess how unsuccessful or successful projects have been in order to implement new processes or avoid the bad ones during future projects. To do this successfully the following actions should be taken:

ment approach to identify organizations and interested parties that need to know that the project is being closed

• Review the projects original intent as stipulated in the PID

• Prepare and send the project closure notification for review by the project board.

• Close the projects register and logs

• Together with the project team review the lessons log to identify lessons that could be applied to future projects Recommend project closure – Once the project manager has confirmed the project can be closed, a closure recommendation should be made to the project board as follows: • Use the communications manage-

never tasted defeat, have never really strived towards victory.” The options are simple, leave that exposed cable where it is until a customer trips on it and lands in hospital, or learn from your mistakes and grow stronger one project at a time. The choice is yours.

• Make sure all project information is secured and archived

• Review approved changes • Together with the project team prepare an end project report

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Conclusion–Part of successfully managing a project is knowing how tomanage the closure process, and if you use each finished project as an opportunity for your organisation to improve regardless of the outcome, you’ll grow stronger, faster and staying ahead of the competition will become as much a part of your daily routine as the smiles on your customers faces. But stay alert because staying at the top isn’t easy and it takes a continuous improvement mindset to stay there. There will be failures, mistakes,frustrationand broken casino equipment along the way but as some might say,“those who have

MY MINI-BLOG - Andrew Cosgrove is a seasoned slot operations veteran and certified project manager with over 24 years of hands on experience in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Andrew has worked on both the operator and supplier side of casino slots and continues to help clients succeed and exceed customer expectations.

Andrew can be reached at andy.cosgrove@henimgwaycasinoconsulting. com or seehttps://hemingwaycasinoconsulting.com/

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GAMING NEWS

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Missouri To Consider Sports Betting Early In 2022

A

fter years and years of debating could Missouri lawmakers finally agree on the framework to allow sports betting in the state early next year? So far five Republican representatives are supporting bills or are introducing bills to be on the slate for debate in early January 2022.

The Missouri General Assembly convenes early in January and legislators will push for the introduction of a bill to expand on the current 13 riverboat casinos that are allowed in the state. Lawmakers this time feel that they are losing out on much needed state income from sports betting as four of the eight states

Missouri border allow sports betting and certainly their local citizens gamble on sports there instead of its own state say supporters.

Indeed Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, and Arkansas all offer sports betting and a fifth Nebraska will allow sports betting possible before the end of this year.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly has argued about introducing sports betting since 2018 when the Supreme Court allowed for other states to offer sports betting but never agreed on the terms for allowing the activity.

But now with projections of $20 million a year in gambling tax revenues from sports betting this may change for 2022 and with the Missouri Constitution mandating that all gambling tax going to state education it could be a winner this time around.

Lawmakers want a low licensing fee for sports betting around $50,000 which would be one of the lowest in the US and a 6.8% tax on sports betting gross gaming revenue which again would be one of the most favourable for operators in the country.

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