SBC Digital Summit CIS represents an unrivalled opportunity to gain valuable information about the region’s betting and gaming industry, with senior executives from Parimatch, adjarabet, Liga Stavok, Fonbet, FavBet, BetBoom, and Betlive part of a stellar speaker line-up. 

The virtual conference and expo on 4 – 5 November has an agenda focused on the growing markets in the CIS region, Ukraine and Georgia, and a roster of 75 expert speakers ready to share on-the-ground insights and their ideas for the future direction of the industry. 

The line-up includes a host of leaders from the region’s major operators, including Dmitry Sergeev (CEO, Parimatch CIS), Irakli Asanishvili (Deputy CEO, adjarabet), Yury Krasovsky (CEO, Liga Stavok), Luka Kapanadze (CCO, Betlive), Konstantin Makarov (CEO, BetBoom), Dainis Niedra (COO, Enlabs), Quentin Martin (CEO, Luckbox), and Veiko Krunberg (Managing Director, OlyBet).

Marketing strategies for local markets is one of the central themes of the agenda and there is a strong contingent of operator representatives ready to offer the benefit of their experience to delegates. 

Irakli Davarashvili (CMO, adjarabet), Alina Yakirevich (CMO, Fonbet), Maxim Makovetskiy (Head of Affiliates, Parimatch), Aleksey Tserkovnyi (Marketing Director, FavBet), Anton Eshtokin (Deputy Head of Marketing, Marathonbet), and Maka Gorgadze (Head of Marketing, Casino Adjara) are among the industry marketing specialists set to participate. 

Davarashvili said:

“The SBC event is a great opportunity to unite and discuss all the challenges, share experiences and give some insights in these hard times for the world and for the industry itself.”

The speaker roster also provides insights from the perspectives of governments, legal and financial experts, suppliers, affiliates, and sports professionals. Delegates can look forward to learning from Boris Baum (Advisor, Office of the President of Ukraine), Paruyr Shahbazyan (Founder, BR Labs), George Shamugia (CEO, Singular), Nik Rudenko (CEO, 8Lab), Oleksandr Iaroshenko (CEO, Betbazar), Ilya Machavariani (Senior Partner, 4H Agency), Giorgi Tavtavadze (Payment Services Director, Liberty Bank), and Gaizka Mendieta (Former Valencia, Lazio, Barcelona & Spain midfielder). 

Baum said:

“Having a business background, I know how important it is to have as much information and insight as possible when you are chasing any new opportunity in our fast-paced world. This is especially true for 2020 – a year when everything is changing constantly. In light of this, SBC Digital Summit CIS is a must-attend event for anyone even slightly interested in the latest developments towards the East. 

“I am going to speak on a panel that is fully dedicated to the Ukrainian market and will tell you about the Ukrainian Government’s efforts to build and nurture this new market on a par with the best examples out there, so it can become pivotal for the European gambling industry.”

Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC, said:

“There is huge excitement in the international betting and gaming industry about the potential of the markets in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia and Russia, but the level of interest is not matched by the amount of information available. SBC Digital Summit CIS will change that.

“In conjunction with our great local partner Sports Media Holding, we’ve put together a superb line-up of speakers, who between them have unparalleled expertise on all the issues influencing the growth of the industry in the region. So delegates can expect to learn valuable practical information and pick up some fantastic ideas about how to approach the best emerging opportunities.” 

In addition to the conference, the event will feature an interactive product display area with leading suppliers showcasing the latest sportsbook, casino and payments innovations tailored to local markets, together with a programme of networking roundtables to make it straightforward for delegates to connect and talk business. 

Click here to register for a free pass for SBC Digital Summit CIS. 

Evolution has become the first live casino supplier to go live in the Colombian online gaming market. 

The supplier has launched in the rapidly growing Latin American market through its partnership with Zamba – a joining venture between the Vicca Group and GAMING1. 

Discussing the news CEO Malta and chief commercial officer at Evolution, Johan Nordstrom, said:

“We are delighted to have entered the Colombian market with Zamba at what is an exciting time. We are confident that our world-class games portfolio is the perfect fit to add to Zamba’s offering.

“We launched our First Person range of games earlier this year in Colombia and they have performed extremely well. We are thrilled that we have now been able to launch our Live Casino offering and look forward to releasing our games with more operators over the coming months.”

While Vicca Group CEO, Rodrigo Afanador, added:

“Following major regulatory reforms in the Colombian gaming market, we are now ideally positioned to lead the way in online services, while also leveraging our long-established leading position in the land-based casino market. 

“In Evolution we have another international online casino gaming partner and, of course, access to a fantastic range of world-class solutions with which to further enhance our core suite of online products and services from GAMING1. Adding Evolution’s Live Casino games will ensure Zamba is the online casino market leader in Colombia”

Staying with Evolution, at the end of last month the company reported €140M in revenue for Q3 2020 – up 48% year-on-year. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With more people spending more time online, and a widespread desire for human interaction, live casino has exploded during the COVID-19 crisis.  Now, with lockdowns returning in many countries, and the crisis worsening, the demand for live casino seems set to continue – and few markets are as exciting right now as Colombia, where Evolution now has the chance to build a real lead. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Gambling technology company Playtech has extended its long-term agreement with gambling operator BoyleSports by an additional five years. 

The agreement will see Playtech extend its partnership with BoyleSports in the UK and Ireland, with the company continuing to offer a dedicated Casino tab, while also supplying Live Casino on an exclusive basis to BoyleSports, alongside Bingo and Poker content. 

Discussing the news Chief Operating Officer at Playtech, Shimon Akad, said:

“BoyleSports is one of Playtech’s key trusted long-term partners. BoyleSports has delivered continued growth and is one of the leading operators in regulated markets. 

“We are proud to have grown with them across four key product verticals in its core markets. We’re very much looking forward to working together over the next five years to continue delivering innovative content backed by industry-leading technology.”

While BoyleSports CEO, Conor Gray, added:

“Having had a strong and successful partnership with Playtech for many years now, the extension of our agreement for another five years represents an exciting opportunity to continue growing our business. We’re passionate about creating the best possible player experience across all verticals, and we’re confident that the continued partnership with Playtech will allow us to do exactly that.”

Staying with Playtech, just last week the company announced it was expanding its Greek presence through a live casino and casino content partnership with Novibet. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Despite the fact regulated gambling markets haven’t yet launched in Argentina, the government has already planned a dramatic tax hike.

Though the city and province of Buenos Aires are in the process of rolling out regulating online gambling, the rest of the country still lacks any kind of framework. But, that didn’t stop Minister of Finance Martín Guzmán, pushing for online gambling tax to be more than doubled from 2% to 5% in the draft budget. 

Guzmán’s proposal is for 95% of revenue generated by online gambling tax will be shared out among the country’s provinces, with the remaining 5% invested in Arsat, the state-owned telecoms company. 

As things stand, the Argentine online gambling sector is believed to generate around $2.4B USD in annual revenue (according to Política Online), but because it is still almost entirely unregulated, it generates virtually no tax. 

The original online gambling tax was passed into law in 2016, and includes a higher tax rate of 10% for offshore gambling companies – though this is obviously unworkable. However, the authorities are promising to get tough for 2021, claiming they will be able to track online bets through mobile phone SIM cards or IP addresses, and bank and billing data. 

Staying with Argentine online gaming, in September, authorities in Buenos Aires amended the proposed online gambling framework, opening licenses to local land-based operators. Original plans had excluded them in order to “avoid monopolistic practices,” and attracted more experienced international operators. 

AYO.NEWS says:

More than doubling the tax rate before you’ve even launched your regulated online gambling markets probably isn’t the best way of attracting investment! 

It just goes to show two things are the same in almost every country right now, 1) the gambling industry is seen as a cash cow, 2) politicians are desperate to raise tax revenues because of the economic crisis of their own making. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

The Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) has confirmed it is considering allowing casinos to offer online gambling domestically. 

Though many online gambling operators are based in the Philippines, they are not permitted to offer services to Philippine residents. However, PAGCOR says it has received several requests from casino operators to allow locals to gamble online, in order to mitigate the financial impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. 

Local land-based casinos were ordered to close in March, and were not permitted to re-open until the end of August, but are only allowed to operate at 30% capacity and are subject to numerous other restrictions. Now, the Philippines, like other countries globally, is battling a resurgence of COVID-19 recently, and tourist numbers have plummeted, meaning operators are struggling to stay afloat. 

The regulator says its various departments are currently studying the viability of the proposals, and it is already in the process of evaluating the legalisation of streaming sabong (cockfighting) events in authorised arenas. 

Sources close to PAGCOR say that if anything is going to change it will likely happen soon. However, it is thought that the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte, is opposed to an expansion of gambling in the country, and may block any attempts to allow casinos to offer online gambling to Philippine residents. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Will Duterte block any move to legalise online gambling for Philippine residents, or will the growing economic crisis override his moral objection to online gambling? Though Duterte isn’t exactly known for softening his stance or changing his mind, we have seen politicians in other countries change their mind on gambling for the sake of tax revenues and jobs. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Kindred Group has reached an agreement to acquire Rank Group’s Belgian subsidiary, Casino Blankenberge. 

Kindred is set to purchase 100% of shares in Casino Blankenberge’s Belgian operator, Blankenberge Casino-Kursaal (Blancas) NV, for £25M GBP (approx. €27.64M), on a cash and debt free basis. 

The two parties have a long relationship, with Kindred working with Blancas since 2012 to offer online casino and poker to Belgian customers through its Unibet brand. 

Belgium’s “A+ license,” that allows an operator to offer online casino and poker to Belgian customers, is only available to licensed land-based casino operators – and the acquisition will give Kindred access to one of the country’s nine land-based casino licenses. 

UK-based Rank Group acquired Blancas in 1998, and in the 12 months up to June 2020, the subsidiary generated €10M in revenue, and an operating profit of €3M. Blancas NV recently renewed its concession agreement with the city of Blankenberge for another 15 years. 

In a statement, Kindred said:

“The acquisition will solidify Kindred’s long-term operations and commitments in Belgium and will allow Kindred to continue to offer an attractive broad offering to Belgian customers.”

While Rank Group CEO, John O’Reilly, added:

“Today’s announcement of the sale of the Blankenberge casino secures the next chapter for a great venue in Belgium and a team that deliver an excellent customer experience to the local community.

“As a standalone casino, the business was non-core to Rank’s international growth plans and the £25m sale proceeds supports the Group’s liquidity and future growth initiatives.”

Subject to regulatory approval, the acquisition is expected to be complete before the end of the year, and will see the company operate as a separate entity within the Kindred Group. The current management team, led by Dominique De Wilde, is expected to remain in place. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Given the impact the worsening COVID-19 crisis is having on land-based gambling, this move may seem surprising at first glance. But, as explained, Belgian authorities only grant A+ licenses, allowing online gaming, to licensed land-based operators, so there’s a logic in the move. Looking at the long-term, assuming things do ever get back to the ‘old normal’, it will also give Kindred a valuable land-based asset in a very convenient location. 

Staying with the Belgian gambling market, earlier this week 777.be revealed a new campaign featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.