On March 16th, Wazdan, an award-winning slots developer and aggregator based in Valletta, Malta, released its latest addition to the popular Hot Slot series called Hot Slot: Great Book Of Magic. However, this slot is enhanced by the exciting Collect to Infinity game mechanic.

The new slot is retro with a contemporary twist and entices players to step into a magical kingdom and learn spells from a wizard.

Mystical visual:

True to its title, the main theme of the game is magic, specifically a wizard who casts all kinds of spells night after night. Lurking in his dark cave, he waits for new students to pass on his knowledge.

To win, players must form a combination of at least 2 symbols on 10 active fixed paylines from the far left to the far right reels on the new, dynamic 5×3 grid. However, only the biggest win per line is paid, and Scatter wins are tied to wins on active paylines.

The basic five low-value symbols are the card values 10, J, K, Q and A, while the four high-value bonus symbols are the wizard’s pot, the wizard’s snake, the owl and the wizard himself. Furthermore, the player may find two sorcerer’s books on a particular paytable, which are the Scatter symbols. They replace all symbols except the Expanding Bonus symbols in the Free Spins round.

In addition to the Scatters, there is also a Free Spins Collector symbol that shows randomly throughout the base game and adheres to the reels till the Free Spins are activated.

This game has variable volatility, which means the player can manually choose between low, medium and high volatility, the RTP is 96.15%, which is slightly higher than medium, and the maximum win is 6,000x a player’s bet.

The game can be played on any device.

Slot features:

Collect To Infinity feature– to access this feature throughout the base game, the Free Spins Collector symbol must appear. This symbol will be locked in place while other symbols spin and its value will grow by +1 each time a regular Scatter lands on the reels, but without activating the Free Spins. However, Scatters with the Sticky to Infinity feature do not increase the value of the Free Spins Collector symbol.

Sticky to Infinity feature – A Scatter with this feature added to it may show randomly at any time in the base game. Scatters like these will stay on the reels till the Free Spins round is activated, meaning they will increase the player’s chances of triggering the Free Spins. Moreover, every Sticky symbol will stay in place while the other symbols spin.

Free Spins – a combination of 3 Scatters of any kind anywhere on the reels activates this feature and automatically rewards 10 Free Spins to the player. The Expanding Bonus Symbol will be chosen at random at the start of the feature and will extend to cover the entire reel and pay in any position on the active paylines, which is called the Book Bonus.

What’s more, Free Spins may be re-activated throughout the feature.

Bonus Buy – if the player wants to buy Free Spins, they can start this feature by clicking on the Shop symbol below the game and choosing one of the purchase options. For example, different bet sums can award a player with 10, 20, 30, 40, 60 or 80 Free Spins, depending on how much the player wants to spend.

Gamble feature – this is a unique feature of the game. It gives permission to gamblers to gamble any of their winning combinations on the reels. After gambling, the Gamble game begins.

Throughout the game, the player has to rely on pure luck and guess the color of the spinning coin, which may be red or green. However, if the player guesses correctly, their winnings are doubled.

7 attempts are allowed to guess correctly, but, if the player guesses wrong on the first try, their total prize for the round is nothing.

Commenting on the launch, Andrzej Hyla, Chief Commercial Officer of Wazdan, said: “Our Hot Slot™ series continues to provide unmatched gaming experiences for players, and we’re delighted to enrich it with Hot Slot™: Great Book of Magic. Combining a mysterious, wizarding theme with some of our most popular engagement-boosting mechanics ensures it’s a fantastic creation, and we can’t wait to see how players react.”

Sun International, the South African operator of about a dozen casino properties including Sun City, has released its full-year results for 2022. The company’s online gaming operation, SunBet is reporting record-high revenues, and land operations including its slot distributor, Sun Slots are also showing strong revenue growth.

In the year that ended December 31, Sun International enjoyed a 10-fold increase in adjusted top earnings from R110m ($5,999,081) to R1.1bn ($59,990,810). EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) nearly doubled to R3.3bn.

Online Income up 36%

Anthony Leeming, Sun International Chief Executive said: “We are particularly pleased by the significant progress we are making with our online strategy, with SunBet showing strong growth in all key indicators. Gaming income from casinos, Sun Slots, and SunBet showed a significant recovery, with income up 36%.”

Sun Slots currently owns and operates six Limited Payout Machine (LPM) Route Operators across 4 provinces within South Africa – Grand Gaming Slots runs in Gauteng and Mpumalanga; Hot Slots in Gauteng, and Kingdomslots and KZN Slots KwaZulu-Natal, as well as Grandslots.

The company brought over 5,000 LPMs back into operation last year adding over 500 more machines than it had activated in 2021.

The CEO added that SunSlots intends to add another 1,000 machines to its network.

Leeming stated: “We continue to engage with the regulators to increase the rollout of LPMs to the 6,500 LPM positions that have been allocated,” according to various reports.

The wholly-owned subsidiary’s income increased about 20% over the previous year while its online operation, SunBet saw income surge more than 85% for the year with outsized growth in the second half of 2022.

“Active players on our rapidly expanding online sports betting and gaming platform continued to grow, with additional games being offered and the overall player experience being enhanced,” a statement said.

While online gambling is understood by most to not be legal in South Africa, that is simply not the case. Online betting and games where players bet on outcomes, such as roulette, are allowed.

Successes of Sun City Operator Continue Upward Trajectory

On this day last year, SunBet reported 2021 turnover was up 78% over 2020 and 66% over 2019, while gaming income rose 33% against 2020 and 30% against 2019. Last year’s commentary on the numbers with explanations of the online sector of iGaming and sports betting showed healthy growth driven by increased broadband, smartphone, and mobile money penetration, with SunBet fervently scaling up revenues from middling to high-end customers.

The group expanded into new markets last year with a 70 percent investment of $3.2m (R58m) in SunBet Africa Holdings.

Leeming said: “The company has online sports betting and casino licenses to operate in Ghana, Zambia, and Kenya. We are in the early stages of rolling out the SunBet operating model and brand in these markets, which have attractive long-term growth potential.

“Our resort and hotel properties have continued to perform exceptionally well, and we anticipate another good year from them in 2023.”

Source: Sun International poised for more growth following post-pandemic rebound, G3 Newswire, March 14, 2023

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After the failure of legislation that would have permitted sports wagering in the state, involving horse racing, the official legalization of sports wagering is up for a vote again Thursday in the Georgia senate.

However, this time the main focus of the legislation is to allow sports wagering in the state without legalizing horse racing betting.

Sports wagering added to a separate bill:

Senators revisited the act by attaching it to a separate soapbox derby bill, then quickly enacted it in the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee on an 8-1 vote.

Moreover, a new rewritten bill, House Bill 237, could soon be voted on by the full Senate.

On that note, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who helped bring the bill back to the Senate, said: “I want the Senate to render a verdict on the idea.

“We either put it to bed so we don’t have to talk about it anymore, or we’ll get it passed and it will just be like picking up $75 million in the street.”

In addition to the two acts that were defeated in the Senate, a third proposal to permit sports wagering didn’t even reach the level of a vote in the House. It is House Bill 380 which doesn’t involve a provision requiring a constitutional change.

If it had passed, it would have sent the proceeds to the HOPE scholarship and the state’s pre-K program.

In this regard, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones added: “The new revenue would help bolster the lottery-funded HOPE scholarship and allow Georgia to join 36 other states that allow sports betting.”

Prediction that the sports wagering proposal will fail again:

However, other senators expect the newest sports wagering proposal to fail again, after its addition to a two-page bill primarily aimed to define the Southeast Georgia Soap Box Derby as Georgia’s official soap box derby.

Commenting on that, Georgia Senator Mike Dugan, Republican from Carrollton, said: “When you hijack a soap box derby (bill) and put sports betting on the back of it, every person that was on the fence in the state of Georgia has just now picked a side of the fence.”

Purpose of the act:

Under the legislation, sports wagering would be permitted under the state Lottery without changing the state Constitution, which would require a two-thirds vote of members in the state House and Senate and the support of Georgia voters in a referendum.

This latest sports betting bill could become law if it receives majority validation from the state House, state Senate and Gov. Brian Kemp.

However, Kemp and Jones have backed sports wagering in the 2022 campaign.

In this regard, Senator Billy Hickman, said: “I like the odds of sports betting passing on its third try.”

He added: “I think its chances are great. It’s an opportunity to bring additional money into the state of Georgia that is going to other states. 

“I personally use a person in Tennessee to do my sports betting, and I use a person in Florida to do my horse racing. So this is a great bill for Georgia.”

Opinions are divided:

The act cannot move forward amid debate over whether it should move forward as a constitutional amendment and decide how the new profit it would raise should be spent.

“It’s immoral, addictive and breeds crime,” according to opponents of gambling.

In this regard, Jon Burns, House Speaker, said: “I prefer the legalization of sports betting over a broader expansion of gambling.”

On the other hand, Jeanne Seaver, a Savannah Republican activist who runs Moms Against Gambling, said: “The bill is a disgrace.

“Georgians don’t want any expansion of gambling, and the legislative leaders are just not listening” after previous bills didn’t pass.”

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy condemned President Joe Biden for moving to bail out failing financial group SVB Financial, parent of Silicon Valley Bank.

SVB, which has many prominent politicians and figures on its long client list, won’t be bailed out with taxpayer money, according to Biden. Still, Portnoy believes that the group’s state is a result of the roadmap that it followed as a business.

Nobody rescues me when I run out of money.”

“When banks fail, it’s a tough one, because, again, the average ‘Joe Schmo’ puts their money [in], I want to get their money back, but I don’t think banks should necessarily be rescued because you’re running a bad business,” Portnoy said in an interview with Fox Business Thursday. “Nobody rescues me when I run out of money.”

SVB is not the only bank facing a serious liquidity issue. Roughly $152.9bn was borrowed by institutions across the country during the traditional discount window that closed on March 15, well above the $111bn borrowed during the 2008 financial crisis. 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is attempting to restore order by guaranteeing all deposits at SVB, which includes patrons with more than $250,000 in their accounts. The previous guarantee limit was capped at $250,000. 

Portnoy is pleased that money is being guaranteed but believes that SVB’s real issue is the amount of risk it took on.

“They were basically attracting risky companies, startups, crypto companies. That’s their wheelhouse. And you have more risk when you do that,” told Fox host Stuart Varney. “I’m glad people are getting their deposits back because I don’t think the average Joe Schmo knows what they’re getting involved in.”

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