Slovenia-based ORYX Gaming, a Bragg Gaming Group Company, has expanded its footprint in the rapidly growing Colombian market, going live with FullReto.co.

The partnership sees ORYX provide Grupo Vinnare, the company that runs FullReto.co, with a full turnkey solution including its iGaming platform, proprietary sportsbook, and access to a wide range of casino content, including ORYX proprietary titles and games from suppliers including Gamomat, Amatic, Isoftbet, Microgaming, EGT, and MGA via the ORYX Hub.

Operator of a significant number of land-based casinos and a retail network of more than 250 locations, in September Grupo Vinnare became the 16^th operator to receive an online permit from Colombia’s regulator Coljuegos.

Discussing the news Managing Director or ORYX Gaming, Matevz Mazij, said:

“This deal is an important milestone for us as we have provided all the components to ensure a streamlined and painless launch of the FullReto.co website. This year we have significantly grown our presence in Latin America, and we believe Colombia is a market that has great potential for us business-wise. Our partnership with FullReto.co will enable us to grow further in Colombia.

“Our turnkey solution provides Grupo Vinnare with all the tools and features they need for a smooth and successful start of the online operation and offers their customers an exciting betting and gaming experience.”

While General Manager of FullReto.co, Juan Pablo Barahona, added:

“We are very excited about launching our online sportsbook and casino and partnering with ORYX has provided us with a comprehensive solution that supplies us with all the elements we need in order to offer our customers top gaming experience while being fully compliant.”

ORYX says it has adapted its iGaming platform to fully comply with Colombian regulations, and has also provided Grupo Vinnare with the option of setting up their financial and reporting processes. ORYX entered the Colombian market in 2018 with Wplay.co (read more).

Multi-tenant B2B sports betting software provider Metric Gaming has secured a Class 4 license from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).

The Las Vegas and London-based company can now provide its products and services to the many potential customers operating from the Mediterranean online gambling hub.

Commenting on the news Metric Gaming’s CEO, Martin de Knijff, said:

“Securing this licence from the MGA is an important step in Metric’s evolution from a start-up to becoming the disruptors-in-chief of an industry ripe for disruption.

“We have been thrilled by the market’s reaction to our multi-tenant Sportsbook proposition, particularly from Malta-based operators. In the coming days we will announce the first Malta-based Sportsbook brands that will be launched using our Modulus platform over the next few weeks.

“We’ve spent the last three years and significant capital developing an organization and product proposition capable of solving the biggest challenges facing the B2B sector of our industry. We are excited to be showcasing the modern capabilities of our multi-tenant platform and each customer will benefit from near total product autonomy from the rest.

“We are confident this unrivalled degree of customisation paired with our superior sports betting products and features will deliver real leapfrog ability for our customers over their rivals.”

Metric Gaming is also licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission.

Staying with Metric, two weeks ago AYO.NEWS reported the company had partnered with oddsmaker Sports IQ to build and launch a full suite of next generation US sports betting products (read more).

The Norwegian gambling regulator, Lotteritilsynet, has confirmed amendments to the unlicensed operator payments ban will be in effect from 1^st January 2020.

Though there has technically been a ban on payments to unlicensed gambling operators since 2010, it is estimated that around NOK6bn ($659.9m) is still being spent with offshore operators, so Lotteritilsynet has requested sweeping new powers.

The new amendments will give the regulator the power to request transactions are blocked based on company names and account numbers, and also cover payment intermediaries.

Discussing the new powers Lotteritilsynet lawyer and advisor, Gram Skår, explained:

“The foundation of the Norwegian gambling model is to help protect vulnerable groups from becoming gambling addicts. Good public control of gambling offsets both crime and gambling addiction. We see the effect of work we are doing today, but the purpose of the changes is to make the payment service ban more effective. This means we can, to a greater extent, prevent gaming companies from accepting deposits from Norwegian players.”

The regulator estimates around 250,000 Norwegians currently gamble with unlicensed offshore operators.

AYO.NEWS says:

If this payment ban is effective it is bound to sting quite a few operators and affiliates who’ve grown used to relatively high spending Norwegian players.

Coupled with the strict new regime in Sweden, it seems the Nordic countries are becoming decidedly less appealing to gambling operators – many of whom are looking across the Atlantic to North and South America, as well as emerging markets in Africa and Asia, for future growth.  

Just last week we looked at the state of the Norwegian gambling market – see GAMBLING IN NORWAY – A MONOPOLY OR FREE MARKET?

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

Swedish betting and gaming operator ATG has been warned by Swedish Gaming Inspectorate (Spelinspektionen) for allowing betting on two unregistered horseracing courses.

In the letter to the Gaming Authority, ATG states that it was a failure due to a human factor. Luckily for ATG, though the penalty could have been a revoked license, it was just a slap on the wrist this time.

On the 4th of July ATG sent in a letter to Spelinspektionen to inform that gambling has been allowed on horse tracks that had not been registered with Spelinspektionen. The breaches related to the horse track Tingsryd the 12th and 31st of May and Ovikens horse track (ovalla) on the 22nd June this year.

Commenting on the incident, Spelinspektionen said:

“ATG has stated that they take a serious look at what has happened and that they have now reviewed the procedure for registering agents and have taken measures to ensure that games through agents are provided only when registration has been granted by the Gaming Inspectorate.

“ATG has also reported its wrongdoing to the Gaming Inspection itself. In addition, the violation took place for a limited time. In a joint assessment, the Gaming Inspectorate therefore considers that the intervention may stay on a warning.”

In response, ATG’s Hans Lord Skarplöth said:

“We humbly respect the decision. We made a mistake and reported it to the Gaming Inspection. Now we have changed the routines to prevent it from happening again. We were wrong.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Yet again you may ask yourself if the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate have double standards when responding to violations against the Swedish license. It seems that the old Swedish monopoly ATG and Svenska Spel get away with much more than other operators (see SWEDISH REGULATOR’S DOUBLE STANDARDS? NO ACTION AGAINST STATE-OWNED SVENSKA SPEL).

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

With Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party winning its biggest parliamentary majority since Margaret Thatcher in 1987, the last chance of stopping Brexit and saving the United Kingdom has vanished.

Labour: Sabotaged by its own leader

Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to step down, and hand leadership of his party to someone more acceptable to his own MPs and the British public, has condemned his party to the wilderness and assured the certainty of Brexit and the disintegration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Time and again Labour MPs and supporters have urged Corbyn to step down for the sake of his party and the country, but time and again his own ego has prevailed. Only ever party leader because of the dysfunctional British system for electing party leaders (where only paid-up party members can vote – which, in Labour’s case, unfortunately consists mainly of washed up old hard left activists), Corbyn will be remembered as playing an instrumental part in facilitating Brexit and the destruction of the nation.

As has been noted many times over the past 24 hours, this election wasn’t won by Johnson because most people like him, but rather because people truly hate Jeremy Corbyn.

Scotland: SNP seize almost complete control

Reflecting the alienation from Westminster felt by the majority of Scots, who have always opposed Brexit, the Scottish National Party wiped the floor, seizing almost complete control of the country. It now seems certain, as we previously predicted here at AYO.NEWS, that a new Scottish independence referendum will be held in the very near future – maybe even before the end of January, when the UK is now expected to exit the European Union.

Liberal values crushed by populism

Despite enjoying increasing support since the 2016 Brexit referendum, the Liberal Democrats were easily brushed aside, with party leader Jo Swinson losing her Dumbartonshire seat to the Scottish National Party, and promptly stepping down. Whether the Liberals lost votes due to their supporters tactically voting for Labour in a vain attempt to keep the Conservatives out remains to be seen, but the bottom line is that the only openly anti-Brexit party has now ceased to exist as a fighting force capable of putting up any meaningful resistance.

What now?

Boris Johnson, in true Trump-style, will no doubt now boast loudly of his “stonking mandate” for Brexit, and with his increased parliamentary majority, will force his version of Brexit (whatever that version is) through in January.

All industries, including iGaming, can now expect to have to deal with all the difficulties we’ve previously discussed, from travel and employment complications and expenses, to mountains of extra paperwork and administration costs, and an uncertain regulatory environment (see UK GOV’T URGES GAMBLING OPERATORS TO PREPARE FOR ‘NO-DEAL’ BREXIT NOW).

Of course, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, one of the world’ major gaming industry hubs, faces some of the most immediate and potentially dislocating issues – particularly regarding staff living in Spain and commuting into the British territory. Crown dependencies like the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney may also find things get complicated – as they are not part of European Union, but enjoyed a kind of defacto ‘membership’ through their association with the United Kingdom (which they also aren’t technically part of).

That other Mediterranean gaming hub, Malta, could also be in for a shock. In April the Maltese government issued a warning that Brexit could spell the end for UK-facing operators on the island (read more).

But, all of these issues may well pale in comparison to the problems that could emerge if, or should we say ‘when’, Scotland makes a bid for independence and when the inevitable reunification vote comes in Northern Ireland…

The Independent summed things up well: 

This article features opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

Malta-based Kindred Group is the first commercial community partner of the European Football Development Network (EFDN).

A network of more than 85 European professional clubs, leagues and FA’s that are committed to their communities and social responsibilities, EFDN aims to promote the power of football as a tool for social development.

The new partnership with Kindred follows the gambling group’s previous sponsorship of EDFN’s “Active Fans” program in spring 2019.

Commenting on the news CEO of EFDN, Hubert Rovers, said:

“We are proud to present Kindred as our first commercial Community partner. There is a natural fit between EFDN and Kindred as we both share the love for football and are leaders in our industries in terms of taking responsibility for the community and in contributing to sustainability.

“Kindred uses a new sustainability-driven framework for sponsorships and promotes community initiatives through its partnerships with clubs and leagues. At EFDN, we strive to raise the quality and impact of community programmes through knowledge exchange and collaboration.”

While CEO of Kindred Group, Henrik Tjärnström, added:

“We are very proud and excited to be a part of the EFDN network. We feel that the work EFDN do is very important and aligns well with Kindred values. We truly believe that this will be a successful partnership where we will be able to build great things together. For example, we will share our knowledge and experience by developing and implementing an anti-match fixing programme to the extensive network of EFDN member clubs.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Hats off to Kindred for this partnership – its great to see companies are increasingly getting involved with real projects to help promote social responsibility, rather than just talking about it.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.