This Week's Sports Betting Update
Spotlight Sports Group
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Racing's financial ecosystem on the line warns Jockey Club chief
Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale was the latest industry heavyweight to call for racing fans to make sure they participated in the UK Gambling Commission’s consultation on affordability checks that ended this week.
The Gambling Commission has been consulting on the proposals for affordability checks that many fear could be catastrophic to the racing industry.
In a letter backed by industry leaders, including Truesdale, sent to culture secretary Lucy Frazer, it was estimated that affordability checks could cost the British racing industry upwards of £250 million over the next five years.
To understand the overall feeling of racing bettors on the subject, the British Horseracing Authority completed a survey of more than 14,000 punters to see how affordability checks will impact their betting habits.
Read more about the survey and the impact that affordability checks could have on racing’s financial ecosystem.
Our Latest Webinar
Actionable sports betting content: Why bettors need it more now than ever
This webinar, presented by Spotlight Sports Group, will give you a thorough view into how actionable sports betting content on bookmaker and affiliate platforms has been proved to successfully engage with sports bettors in recent years.
The experts that participated in this webinar are Rob Black, B2B Sales Director of SSG, Owen Duffy, Head of Sport Product for 888 William Hill, and Andrew Mook, Head of Marketing Strategy and Planning at Sky Bet.
Keeping the conversation interesting was the former Racing Post editor, Bruce Millington, who served as the moderator. You don't want to miss this conversation.
Watch the webinar on-demand here.
What you need to know
Commercial
Regulation
The Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) has hit out at Sky Bet for its recent advertisement featuring former England footballer Gary Neville, claiming it could appeal to viewers under the legal age to bet in the UK. The tweet, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, saw the Sky Bet logo emblazoned as Neville discussed his thoughts on the winner of the 2023/24 Premier League title. More
Technology
Elys Game Technology has confirmed it is delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market. The cross-platform iGaming supplier and operator saw shares suspended on October 17. The stock exchange’s hearings panel opted to delist the firm as its share price fell below the $1.00 minimum price threshold. Elys says it is carefully evaluating whether to appeal the decision, just days after the announcement of its SportBet.com brand launch stateside. More
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People news
Per Widerström begins new CEO role at 888
888 Holdings Group finally has a new chief executive at the helm, with Per Widerström becoming the head of the iGaming giant having been appointed back in July.
Following the abrupt exit of Itai Pazner in January, Lord Mendelsohn stepped in as executive chair, but Widerström’s arrival means he can now return to a non-executive role.
Widerström arrives from Fortuna Entertainment Group, where he served as CEO of the Central and Eastern European firm for eight years. Widerström has also worked in executive roles for many other leading iGaming brands, most notably Gala Coral Interactive and Bwin.party.
Click here to get his thoughts on a new chapter unfolding, both for him and 888, this month.
This week's talking point
MGM Resorts and Entain chiefs remain equally bullish over their BetMGM alliance
Although speculation is rife surrounding the future ownership and leadership of the BetMGM brand, its current co-owners, MGM Resorts and Entain, remain aligned on their joint venture.
Analysts have mooted that MGM Resorts could make another game-changing bid to acquire Entain outright, yet the firm is in the midst of dealing with a costly cyber attack in September.
MGM Resorts had a bid for Entain rebuffed in 2021 and CEO, Bill Hornbuckle, insisted they had moved on. However, speculation about the longevity of their BetMGM alliance has risen this year after MGM Resorts opted to go it alone with a UK launch of the BetMGM brand.
Hornbuckle was quizzed on the partnership at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last week and insisted that, although Entain was very different to MGM, it makes for a great partnership. Entain CEO, Jette Nygaard-Andersen, also described it as a great marriage, insisting the pair remained fully focused on their goals with BetMGM.
Click here for more from Hornbuckle on BetMGM’s fight for US market share and its UK launch.
This week's insight
Why a tipping point is fast approaching for sportsbooks on media and data rights
The issue of media rights and data fees was a hot topic of conversation among sportsbook directors at the recent SBC Summit Barcelona. The panel discussion, moderated by Fortuna Entertainment’s group head of sportsbook, Aidan Barry, touched on the pressure points experienced by sportsbooks on data.
James Watson, director of product development at Kwiff, said there needs to be a differentiation between good and official data. Watson said official data has proven to be more expensive to Kwiff’s bottom line without any improvement in speed, reliability or content.
Meanwhile, Dominic Crosthwaite, chief trading officer at Flutter Entertainment, is wary of a standardisation in data packages. Crosthwaite believes data suppliers need to give operators the headroom to experiment with data and media packages to try to encourage innovation, presenting sports data and streams uniquely. Only then can brands better distinguish themselves from their competitors.
Click here to hear from Freddie Bowring, vice-president of sales at BtoBet, who fears a monopolisation of data in traditional sports and its effect on bottom lines.
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