British gambling group Entain has marked International Women’s Day by launching global initiatives to support women in tech.

Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organisation dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology, will receive $250K USD from the Entain Foundation. The funding will be used to support global programs to bring young women into the technology industry, particularly in the UK, US, Canada, and India. 

The Entain Foundation will also be providing $50K AUD to the Tech Girls Movement Foundation in Australia. The organisation works to challenge perceptions that limit girls’ participation in STEM (science, technology engineering and mathematics) through community and industry collaborations. 

Entain’s support of Girls Who Code and the Tech Girls Movement Foundation follow recent senior female appointments at the group, including that of new CEO, Jette Nygaard-Andersen, and non-executive board directors, Stella David and Vicky Jarman. 40% of Entain’s board, and almost 50% of the group’s total workforce is now female. 

Commenting on the news CEO of Entain, Jette Nygaard-Andersen, said: “I’m proud to be leading a global technology company which is making real strides in promoting women’s careers, not just in the West, but also developing markets like India where creating opportunities for young women is especially important.

“One of the biggest impediments to career choices around the world continues to be cultural, based on preconceived notions of what society and young women themselves believe they can do. That is why we are focusing on initiatives to support their education and build stronger pathways into technology-related careers.”

While Dr. Tarika Barrett, incoming CEO of Girls Who Code, added: “Passionate, ambitious and diverse young women are the key to transforming the world and the technical workforce. This International Women’s Day, we’re excited to partner with the Entain Foundation to support young women around the world on their journey into the technical workforce. Our work together will help spur the creation of a fairer and more equitable workforce, helping more women of all backgrounds rise to the top and achieve their goals of working in tech.”

Hundreds of people in the UK joined protests calling for an end to gambling advertisements in football over the weekend. 

In an initiative called the Big Step, around 300 people, including several Members of Parliament and the families of gambling addicts who committed suicide, walked to their local football stadiums to demand change. 

It was the fourth Big Step protest since 2019, and was likely muted due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions banning large gatherings. A petition is also being put together, with organisers pledging to deliver it to 10 Downing Street when it reaches 10,000 signatures.

Protest organiser James Grimes, a received gambling addict, told the BBC; “We are trying to amplify the voice of people with lived experience. I lost every single penny I had in the world on a lunch break and went home, cried, hid in my room, turned my phone off for three days, lost my job and I probably was suicidal.”

The latest protest action was timed to coincide with the British government’s review of the 2005 Gambling Act – submission of evidence for which must be made by 31 March. 

With around 75% of Premier League and 87% of Championship clubs currently having commercial deals in place with gambling companies, the consequence of any ban could be far reaching for the British football industry. 

#TheBigStep – March 6th & 7th 2021 #WalkingForChange

🚶‍♂️ 300+ people

🥾 3000 miles

👣 7 MILLION STEPS

📝 7700+ signatures

📢 1 message to football and government:

⚽️ Stop promoting gambling.

To everybody that walks and stands with us, thank you.https://t.co/NagsYqjTi7 pic.twitter.com/jFbsad6vqN

— The Big Step (@the_bigstep) March 7, 2021

AYO.NEWS says:

With each day that passes, it looks increasingly likely that the UK will follow the path of Italy and Spain, and ban gambling advertisements in sport. Should the gambling industry just accept times have changed, voluntarily end all sponsorship arrangements now, and at least save some face, rather than courting even more negative coverage in the popular press?

Sports betting and entertainment products and services provider, Sportradar, has acquired personalised messaging platform operator Fresh Eight Ltd. 

Sportradar says the acquisition will strengthen its digital marketing services platform with a DCO personalisation technology in both display and paid social, enabling sportsbook operators to fully optimise their media investments. 

The technology also allows sports-orientated publishers to control the integration of native and personalised sport-betting content into their platforms. 

Fresh Eight’s acquisition will complement Sportradar’s existing ad:s platform, which offers highly-targeted programmatic advertising capabilities to a significant number of betting and gaming businesses.

Carsten Koerl, Sportradar Group CEO, said: “We have developed ad:s into a substantial business for Sportradar with its platform offering and a significant portfolio of sports-book clients. But the market doesn’t stand still, and we must continually innovate and grow. The acquisition of Fresh Eight will accelerate that growth, as we add this personalization technology to our marketing services offering.”

Andrew Sharland, founder and CEO, Fresh Eight, said: “We founded the business with the ambition to substantially improve advertising efficiency and returns for the world’s leading gambling operators and media groups. Today we partner with some of the industry’s biggest brands in Europe and the US.”

Fresh Eight’s current operator clients include FanDuel, Entain, William Hill and LeoVegas, as well as major sports publishers ESPN, CBS Viacom, NBC Sports and News UK.

Staying with Sportradar, last week the company announced it had signed a data and audio-visual rights deal with Australia’s semi-elite NBL1 basketball league.

The SBC Digital Africa conference and exhibition returns for its second edition on 30 – 31 March 2021, when 1,500 professionals from the continent’s betting and gaming industry will gather to exchange ideas, connect and talk business.

The virtual event represents the year’s best opportunity to learn about the changing landscape for the retail and online sports betting, igaming, land-based casino and lottery industries in multiple markets across Africa, and what the latest developments mean for businesses keen to launch or expand their presence in the region. 

SBC Digital Africa’s centrepiece is a four-track conference, which will see senior executives from operators joined by regulators, legal experts, industry media, and marketing specialists to share insights about the numerous opportunities in the region.

The 60 speakers will tackle an agenda that delivers in-depth examinations of the markets in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as looking at how to best approach some of the technical and marketing challenges that both established operators and new market entrants are likely to encounter. The full speaker line-up will be announced shortly. 

Running alongside the conference will be a 20-booth interactive product display area that features the latest sportsbook, casino and payments innovations from leading suppliers. A programme of networking roundtables will provide further chances for delegates to connect and build new business relationships. 

Rasmus Sojmark, Founder and CEO of SBC, said: “The inaugural edition of our African event was a huge success and generated overwhelmingly positive feedback, including a number of attendees telling us that connections they made there resulted in new business. 

“We’ve worked hard to further develop the event and SBC Digital Africa 2021 represents an even stronger proposition for delegates, exhibitors and sponsors. 

“That means an agenda that will deliver hard-to-find information about a greater number of markets, the strongest speaker line-up seen for a betting and gaming industry conference in Africa, and some highly-effective ways to showcase products and make new contacts.”

Visit the SBC Digital Africa website to learn more about the event and register for free. 

For details of the remaining exhibition and sponsorship opportunities, please contact sales@sbcgaming.com.

DraftKings has been named as the first official sportsbook and daily fantasy partner of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). 

The partnership will see DraftKings offer in-game promotions, activations, and in-broadcast odds integrations, free-to-play games, and use official UFC branding, across its products in the United States and Canada. 

DraftKings will also be presenting partner of the organisation’s proprietary time-keeping system, UFC Fight Clock, and DraftKings branding will feature on the Octagon canvas at selected UFC events that are part of Dana White’s Contender Series.

DraftKings co-founder, chairman, and CEO, Jason Robins, said: “Combat sports, and UFC in particular, have scaled significantly across both our sportsbook and daily fantasy verticals, evolving from a niche offering to a high-demand category that we believe will only grow further as we innovate.

“While DraftKings and UFC have previously collaborated on specific events, we are proud to become official partners and explore even more impactful integrations that prioritise the fan experience.”

While UFC President, Dana White, added: “This is a massive deal that will benefit UFC, DraftKings, and most of all the fans. This is the most important deal we’ve ever done to increase engagement with our fans and reach new ones, and I’m looking forward to all the exciting things we’re going to do with DraftKings over the next few years.”

In response to the worsening COVID-19 crisis in Malta, SiGMA Group has postponed its planned flagship gaming show until 16-18 November 2021. 

The event had previously been postponed until April, but today the Maltese government reintroduced strict regulations in an attempt to slow record infection rates. All restaurants, bars and clubs are closed, gatherings of more than six people are banned, and fines for breaches have been increased.

SiGMA Group Founder, Eman Pulis, said that “SiGMA in Malta was meant to happen this coming month in April, but with the new announcement that bars and restaurants will be closed until April, we were left with no choice but to push the show until November. We welcome this decision, we believe in the safety of all our delegates. There’s no SiGMA without restaurants, without bars – that’s where all the magic in business networking happens. I look forward to seeing you in November, save the dates – I’ll see you in Malta”

AYO.NEWS says:

Although vaccinations have begun in Malta and elsewhere in Europe, they are currently focusing on the most vulnerable groups, like the elderly and front line workers, and it is likely to be many months before enough people are vaccinated across the continent to allow mass events and travel. 

As we warned at the end of last year, it is likely to be a long time before it is known if the vaccination programme provides lasting protection, and if it will stop new variants causing a resurgence of infections.