Last updated: August 20, 2024
Playtech’s sale of Snaitech to Flutter and MGM’s new alliance for Brazilian sports betting dominate this week’s news. DraftKings faces backlash over a proposed tax surcharge while Italy’s gambling market re-regulation progresses. Other highlights include BetMGM’s Wheel of Fortune launch in Canada and industry insights from key figures.
As widely expected, Playtech has publicly announced the sale of its Snaitech software and gaming subsidiary.
Both announcements involve Flutter Entertainment getting ready to acquire Snaitech, a move expected to step up its position in the Italian market, where the company is already operating Sisal, the biggest Italian Gaming operator.
The announcement has also impacted the movement of share prices of Playtech and Flutter in the market.
Separately, MGM Resorts International issued plans to venture into the growing market of sports betting in Brazil with an agreement with Grupo Global, which is Latin America’s largest media conglomerate.
Integration of knowledge of both firms is expected from the alliance while targeting the somewhat unestablished market in Brazil for sports betting by 2025.
This week, the company was in the spotlight for a proposed new surcharge on player net winnings for sports betting, which was to be implemented in four states. The proposed tax – which was aimed at dealing with local regulatory problems, was rejected by the players.
Originally, the company planned to introduce the surcharge by January 2025; however, after FanDuel, DraftKings’ competitor, said that it would not adopt similar measures, DraftKings also dropped the proposal.
In other news, another now-defunct Canadian cryptocurrency exchange billing itself ezBTC is accused of embezzling $9. 5 million or about 2/3 of the player’s assets. The lost funds were believed to have been utilized to fund the founder’s gambling on several websites.
However, Italy is in the final stages of its much-awaited gambling market re-regulation. The new framework that has already been presented to the European Commission has several changes, including the rise of licensing fees for services and limitations on the power of affiliate services.
The most prominent is the extent of the changes that the reorganizations will bring to Italy’s gambling industry.
The UK gambling market is still growing and seems saturated despite the strict regulations that have been put in place.
Industry specialists have cautioned that the emergence of a dominant few can push consumers to other online gambling zones outside the United Kingdom. These concerns pose prospects as the sector struggles to make headway due to regulatory issues.
BetMGM has launched the Wheel of Fortune Online Casino in Ontario, Canada, through Brand Partnerships with IGT and Sony Pictures Television, owners of the Wheel of Fortune Broadcasting Rights. The new casino is set against the backdrop of popular brands to target players in the region.
In South Korea, Hana Financial is investing $7.3 million to address youth gambling problems. Given the recent rise in the popularity of games of chance among the young in the South Korean context, the financial group aims to raise awareness of the dangers of gambling.
The upcoming SBC Summit will gather participants and emphasize women’s leadership through the WE program, which aims to develop the next generation of women leaders in the industry.
Further, during the SBC Summit Latinoamerica, the Affiliates & Advertising conference track will bring together experts to discuss artificial intelligence as an instrument to improve the player acquisition process.
This week the industry experts from the gambling field shared their vision on the topic. Alexandra Breinig, Casino Sales Manager at EveryMatrix, was kind enough to share with us her vision of how players are drawn in iGaming.
Breinig highlighted the trend of more player-centred and individualised propositions explaining how EveryMatrix is well placed to capitalise on it.
However, there was yet another opinion on how the increase in social media personalities affects the gambling industry. Here, Pavol Beinia, the CEO and Founder of Famesters placed his opinion.
In her analysis, Beinia was able to uncover the fact that influencers are now helping to redefine how iGaming is advertised to the market. In his comments, branding transitions as the marketing environment changes, as pointed out in the following ways.
