On behalf of the American Gaming Association (AGA), senior vice president Chris Cylke recently issued a statement on the proposed Betting on our Future Act, which was submitted by Rep. Paul D. Tonko. The Act seeks to ban or limit casino gaming advertising, including legal sports betting. 

Limiting Advertising will Drive Gamblers to Illegal Operators

Chris Cylke expressed AGA’s strong opposition to any legislation that would have such an extensive effect on gambling advertising, arguing that it would ultimately hurt consumers and communities by reducing awareness of legal options and driving more people to offshore operators.

The statement involves two main points. First, it is maintained that such legislation would be a violation of free speech protections and would undermine the expertise of the more than 5,000 state and tribal gaming regulators across the country. 

AGA believes that the legal gaming industry has a responsibility to promote responsible gaming and that advertising plays an important role in that effort. AGA has been at the forefront of promoting responsible gaming with various initiatives such as the establishment of the Responsible Marketing Code for Sports Wagering, which mandates responsible gaming messages and imposes restrictions on target audiences, outlets, and content.

Second, AGA highlights that the focus of Congress should be on combatting the offshore illegal market, which lacks responsible gaming measures, age verification, and problem gambling resources. It is suggested that any effort to reduce advertising for legal gaming options would only benefit illegal offshore operators and ultimately harm consumers and communities.

Despite AGA’s opposition to the proposed legislation, it appreciates Rep. Tonko’s interest in the issue and remains committed to working with legislators to promote a sustainable legal marketplace that puts consumer protections first.

Tonko’s Bill Proposition Draws Inspiration from Tobacco Regulations

The Betting on our Future Act, a federal bill proposed by Representative Paul D. Tonko, aims to regulate the advertising of sports betting on electronic media platforms across the United States. The proposed legislation takes its inspiration from the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, which banned tobacco advertisements.

The bill seeks to protect vulnerable individuals, especially young adults, who may not fully understand the risks involved in gambling and proposes to prohibit the advertising of sportsbooks on any medium of electronic communication.

While there have been ongoing efforts to restrict sportsbook advertising at the state level, Tonko’s bill is a federal piece of legislation that seeks to regulate the industry on a national scale. Tonko urged Congress to regulate sports betting due to excessive promotion during events like Super Bowl, as it puts families at risk. 

Sports betting has rapidly grown since the 2018 Supreme Court decision, with at least 36 states legalizing it in some form, and Americans wagered $73 billion on sports in the first 10 months of 2022, a 70% year-on-year increase as per an AGA report.

Robert Ziems, who is a long-term veteran, is stepping into the position of chief legal officer with immediate effect and will leverage his extensive industry knowledge and expertise. He has more than 24 years of experience as part of some of the biggest companies in the sector, and will now help AGS pivot its legal and compliance efforts in Latin America.

Seasoned Veteran to Bolster PlayAGS’ Growth Plans

He will also help AGS’ interactive business strategy and support it in the long term. Ziems is joining the company from Aruze Gaming where he served as a global chief legal officer, and where he spent 12 years in various positions.

Ziems experience in Aruze has helped the company reach new markets, capitalize on existing technology, and leverage new business development across the Americas. Commenting on his appointment as part of AGS, company president and CEO David Lopez said:

Rob is a great addition to our leadership team as we diversify AGS’ portfolio and advance our business strategy.

AGS CEO David Lopez

Lopez added that Ziems’ deep knowledge of the gaming industry and its regulatory prerequisites would enable the entire company to benefit and move forward across key performance verticals.

Ziems’ experience as a professional doesn’t stop at Aruze, however. He similarly spent a stint as EVP and general counsel, and corporate secretary at Mikohn Gaming. There, he was in charge of human resources, internal audit departments, and more. He has held stints with Station Casino, Aristocrat Technologies, and others.

The newly-appointed chief legal officer is replacing the current one, Victor Gallo, who is retiring from AGS after 12 years on the job. Gallo will remain secretary for the company, however.  Lopez hailed Gallo’s stint with the company and said that he played key roles in important company development such as its initial public offering back in 2018 and the acquisition of Cadillac Jack, among others.

The latest partnership will allow BoyleSports to benefit from the launch of dedicated and proprietary content from Wizard Games through the Fusion platform. This new content launch will strengthen BoyleSports’ operations in both Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Fusion will not just stop at content by Wizard Games, though, as the platform is also expected to deliver on more than 14,000 products, part of its aggregation platform presently. Apart from aggregating content, Pariplay has been equally keen on adding new clients which can benefit from its curated offer of iGaming products.

The Fusion platform does not just offer games, though, as it creates powerful experiences backed by the company’s back and front-end tools that boost conversion and retention. Some of the solutions Pariplay deploys include its Fusion Tournaments, Raffle Rocket, and Spin that Wheel promotional tools.

Bringing New Games and Experiences to BoyleSports Players

Commenting on the new partnership BoyleSports gaming director Steve Payne has hailed the opportunity to add a trusted and reliable partner such as Pariplay, capable of bringing some of the best titles to the operator. Payne added:

We’re very happy to see key games go live in the UK and Ireland, as we look to further grow our footprint in our core markets and beyond.

Pariplay VP of sales Andrew Maclean was similarly pleased with the partnership and said that the company was delighted to be teaming up with BoyleSports, a brand that is “supremely well-known in the UK and Irish markets.

“Taking both proprietary content and third-party games live across multiple jurisdictions highlights the agility and scalability of our Fusion platform,” Maclean added. Pariplay has been working to actively strengthen its partner and third-party programs as well as strike important partnerships with prominent brands.

The company has been able to add Jelly Entertainment to its Ignite program earlier in February. Similarly, the company added Mancala Gaming as one of its latest Fusion platforms, seeking to expand its list of new titles. The company also struck a partnership with Kiron this year.

This was one of the company’s highest turnover games thanks to Kambi’s best odds Bet Builder bets and gamblers’ overwhelmingly positive response during this year’s Super Bowl.

Kambi’s Great Super Bowl Showing

The match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles was a complete stunner, and fans’ response led to Kambi’s second-highest turnover game of all time. The company stated that around 25% of the pre-game handle was placed on Bet Builder bets, meaning this was the go-to choice for many sports fans.

This also marks a very good milestone for Bet Builder bets and means fans are responding well to the notion. Being one of the most well-trusted sports betting partners in the world, this is also great news for the company and is an exciting achievement, as the company pushed very hard to get there. It offered around 850 pre-game betting options – more than ever before.

Another exciting development around the Super Bowl for Kambi was that it offered players an option to place or cash out Bet Builder bets during the match for the first time. This ensured that it wasn’t just the pre-game where the company shined but in-game figures were also among the best, with almost half of all Super Bowl bettors electing Kambi’s best odds.

All this was achieved with only one second of live delay, which translated into a 97% rate of bet acceptance. Even though the numbers were up, this hasn’t come at the expense of a premium user experience. “Super Bowl LVII will be one sports fans remember for a long time to come,” said Simon Noy – Kambi’s senior vice president.

Sports Betting Picking Up Steam

Super Bowl LVII wasn’t a spectacular match just for the fans or Kambi, however. Data from GeoComply showed that significant increases were registered in all sports betting activity metrics. This means that most if not all operators have enjoyed a rather sizeable increase in the usage of their services, with fans also enjoying the opportunity to place in-stadium bets.

The latter stemmed from the fact that this year’s Super Bowl was the first event of its kind to take place in states that have sports betting legalized. More than 8,000 sportsbook accounts were active in and around Arizona’s State Farm Stadium – Glendale. This accounted for more than 100,000 geolocation checks in total just from the stadium.

The American Gaming Association’s prediction for more than 50 million Americans to place bets during Super Bowl LVII was largely on point, it seems, and GeoComply’s data showed that the number of geolocation checks has increased by roughly 25%. A large contributing factor is that an increasing number of states are paying more attention to legalizing sports betting.

As a result, bet365 casino players will have access to some of the company’s best-performing and most popular slot games, including Iron Bank, Temple Tumble and Money Train 3. These games are some of Relax’s own handy work, allowing the supplier to deliver outstanding and unique content to the brand’s iGaming library right from the start.

Original and Third-Party Games to Strengthen bet365 Library

Relax, though, will also leverage its reach with third-party partners and their online casino games. Presently, Relax Gaming has access to more than 4,000 games by partners, which will be injected into bet365’s website and give the iGaming operations a significant boost in terms of pure gaming variety.

Relax also sees reasons to be happy with the new collaboration as the company is confident that because of bet365’s reach in global gambling markets, Relax will be able to expand its footprint in existing and new jurisdictions, providing that the necessary licenses are in place.

Relax Gaming CCO Nadiya Attard has hailed this opportunity and described the partnership with bet365 as an important one:

The reputation that bet365 has in our industry speaks for itself, having our products live with them is a hugely important moment for us as we continue to expand at pace as the appetite for engaging igaming content intensifies.

Relax Gaming CCO Nadiya Attard

Attard explained that the two companies share an in-depth understanding of player needs and were capable of delivering the experience that consumers expect. A bet365 spokesperson was similarly pleased with the developments and welcomed the addition of Relax Gaming to the operator’s portfolio of cutting-edge gaming content partners.

Relax was a “great fit,” the operator’s representative said, arguing that bet365’s gaming content has been expanding rapidly. In the meantime, Relax Gaming has put a great emphasis on its internal production pace.

The company launched the Wild Hike and Horror Hotel over the past several weeks, adding to its in-house momentum of originally produced titles. Relax Gaming also revealed plans to go ahead and launch a new “game of the year” project with AboutSLOTS, using the company’s consumer insights into player preferences in the slot vertical.

The decline in results is likely to continue in the coming months, but the Hoosier State should not take it as all bad news. More sports fans able to bet in their home states in the region would allow governments to calibrate their expectations and businesses to adjust marketing spend, helping the ecosystem in the process.

As to the actual retail and online sports betting handle collected in January, Indiana reported $427.2 million, along with $36.5 million in adjusted gross revenues. While there was a noticeable decline, the results weren’t so bad. In fact, the sports betting handle was just down 1% on its December numbers, but revenues plunged further 14.5% from the $42.7 million that businesses were able to collect last month.

Hoosier State Braces for New Realities

This trend though doesn’t have to do with any change in the regulated market in neighboring states, but rather with how successful sports fans at home were during the month. The biggest contrast in revenue results though goes back to January 2022, when sports betting handle hit $500.1 million – the Hoosier State’s highest on record.

Nevertheless, there are some places in Ohio that may feel the pinch more so than others. Retail sportsbooks located closer to Ohio are likely to be the hardest hit as is already the case. Among those venues are Miami Valley Racing and Gaming and Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway.

Another adversely impacted property was Hollywood Lawrenceburg which saw only $6.5 million in handle, compared to the $13.6 million wagered in December. Belterra Casino in Florence reported another drop with only $492,111 in total handle, a noticeable decline from the $649,717 processed in December.

Sports Bettors Take a Month to Get Smarter

Such trends are normal. The smaller properties bordering the state were mostly betting on early-day success and perhaps hoping that Ohio would be slower to regulate its own gambling industry, but the state clearly defied expectations.

Meanwhile, sports fans have also been becoming more mature in their choice of wagers, with the majority now shifting towards moneylines as opposed to parlays, or so it seems. There is no detailed breakdown of wager types placed in Indiana as the state does not keep track of this, but it’s likely that sports bettors are migrating towards more consolidated betting options that offer them sustained returns – or at least less of a risk.

The worldwide supplier of retail and digital products, services and technology for sports betting and lottery operators has inked the deal with Optimove for six months, from April to September. The customer relationship management (CRM) software provider that became bet365’s first third-party supplier will collaborate with a number of state lotteries in five US states as part of the deal. 

The Project, a “First-of-Its-Kind Collaboration”

As described by Scientific Games’ senior director for digital growth Merv Huber, the fresh deal is the “first-of-its-kind” that is expected to offer all participating lotteries with relevant data from the industry, along with important services and insights that are not usually accessible to them. 

The ultimate goal of the pioneer collaboration is to determine the best methodology that can harness the power of digital advertising via first parties with the purpose of acquiring, retaining and offering lifetime optimization for lottery customers.

The new partnership is expected to help launch the best practices in digital advertising that can aid lotteries to reach their business goals while setting up the right standards to support the development of the lottery industry in the long run. 

While most lotteries that are run by governments use limited marketing budgets and resources, the new deal will allow Scientific Games to work together with lotteries in five states and optimize their existing campaigns on social media. The company will also work on improving its strategies based on industry data. 

To do this, Scientific Games plans to use its rich expertise in the field of lotteries to help build “long-term, impactful marketing programs” on platforms like Facebook. This will be done while relying on first-party customer data through direct integration via the Optimove-Meta platform. The project that will be initiated in April and run through September 2023 will reunite talented strategic service divisions and data scientists part of Optimove and Scientific Games. 

All lotteries part of the project alongside Optimove and Scientific Games will prepare their own insights at the end of the deal. They will also share their discoveries and ideas during upcoming conferences and other similar collaborations with global lotteries.

“Exciting Prospects for the Future of Lottery Digital Advertising”

According to Optimove’s vice president of marketing Rony Vexelman, the new synergy between leading experts in both companies is expected to provide “exciting prospects for the future of lottery digital advertising.” Vexelman spoke about the need for brands to understand that their success in digital advertising must be obtained by leveraging first-party data. 

Optimove’s VP also expressed their belief that the new deal will help establish a “digital advertising gold standard” while allowing the lottery industry to fully grasp the entire potential of their impactful CRM tools.

Last October, Scientific Games announced it would work together with Franϛaise des Jeux, France’s national lottery that provides iGaming and sports betting solutions.