Gambling harm consultancy EPIC Risk Management announced it has reached an agreement with the largest gambling operator in Australia, Tabcorp, to deliver educational programs on safer gambling to its employees.

Help Reduce Gambling Harm Risk

EPIC Risk Management will deliver executive training, gambling harm awareness and its ‘Interactions Masterclass’ program to employees of Tabcorp, the gambling operator ranked as the third-largest in Asia and one of the largest worldwide.

Welcoming the new business project, Martin Bland, director of Business Development at EPIC Risk Management, outlined the crucial role of the gambling harm consultancy as it would bring its expertise to Tabcorp’s workforce of more than 5,000 people to assist the operator’s efforts to “significantly reduce the risk of gambling-related harm occurring” across any of its brands.

“We look forward to commencing our working relationship with Tabcorp and trust that we will provide some key support in relation to player protection throughout the organization,” Bland concluded.

Providing education, training, advice, and consultancy related to the minimization of gambling-related harm and player protection enhancement, EPIC Risk Management has already partnered with a number of organizations in sports, gambling and horse racing industries.

Utilizing the knowledge and understanding derived from personal experience as around half of EPIC’s employees have lived experience of serious gambling harm, the consultancy is continuing to raise awareness within some of the highest-risk sectors for gambling harm and the gambling industry itself.

Expanding Presence in the Region

The partnership with Tabcorp is a major step for the consultancy as it seeks to grow its popularity in the Asia-Pacific region and Australia, where it recently spoke at the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) 2022 conference in Melbourne and hosted a discussion on minimization of gambling harm with senior representatives from almost every sports league and sport governing body in the country in Sydney.

EPIC Risk Management already established collaborations with Cricket New South Wales, the trading body of the New South Wales (NSW) Cricket Association, providing lived experience facilitators to deliver their gambling harm stories to both men’s and women’s players on an ongoing basis.

Outside of the region, EPIC Risk Management is continuing with its preparations for the upcoming summit on gambling harm prevention in sports it is organizing in collaboration with the University Campus of Football Business (UCFB)’s Global Institute of Sport (GIS).

The summit will take place at the Wembley Stadium on February 8 and will welcome C-level executives and player welfare specialists from major sports clubs, leagues, governing bodies, and the gambling industry.

Italian betting and gaming operator Lottomatica confirmed rumors that it was considering an initial public offering among its options going forward but did not provide any further details on its plans.

Considering Going Public

Lottomatica announced that its board, together with the company’s controlling shareholder, Apollo Global Management, “is currently contemplating potential strategic alternatives to support its future growth, including capital markets transactions such as a potential listing” of the company’s shares on a regulated market.

The announcement was made as part of the company’s trading update for the fourth quarter and full-year 2022 consolidated preliminary results. Earlier in the month, there was media speculation that Italy’s biggest gaming and betting operator is considering going public in 2023, looking to raise as much as $1 billion.

Fourth Quarter Results

Lottomatica reported continued strong growth in Q4 driven by organic growth and the acquisition of Italian sportsbook Betflag in November which added “a strong and distinctive brand” to the group’s portfolio and consolidated the group’s position in iCasino and Online.

The operator registered a record quarter for Bets, €6.7 billion ($7.3 billion), up 17% year-over-year, or 11% when excluding the effects of the acquisition of Betflag. Across the business divisions, Online and Sports Franchise were up by 18% and 17%, respectively, and Gaming Franchise grew by 5%.

Q4 revenue grew by 7% to approximately €377 million ($411 million), or 6% when excluding the contributions made by Betflag, while EBITDA is expected to be between €115 million ($125.35 million) and €119 million ($129.7 million), up 11%-15% year-over-year, or 7%-11% when excluding the Betflag acquisition, with the biggest EBITDA contribution, 46%, or 50% with Betflag, coming from Online.

FY 2022 Results

Stating that its full-year results will be published by early March, Lottomatica expects Bets of approximately €22.8 billion ($24.85 billion), revenues of approximately €1.4 billion ($1.52 billion) and EBITDA of between €458 million ($499.2 million) and €462 million ($503.6 million).

Lottomatica expects FY 2022 EBITDA of between €516 million ($562.4 million) and €520 million ($566.8 million), while Betflag synergies of approximately €6 million ($6.54 million) have already been identified and are currently being implemented.

The year generated strong cash flow as operating cash flow is expected to be between €385 million ($419.65 million) and €395 million ($430.55 million), rising to €422 million ($460 million)-€432 million ($470.9 million) with the acquisition of Betflag.

GambleAware, a British charity protecting people from gambling harm, shared details about the donations it received in the first three quarters of the 2022/23 fiscal year.

GambleAware Received Donations from Many Companies

The charity listed the full list of benefactors and noted that it has received a total of £13,209,805 ($16,318,204, current conversion rates) between April 1 and December 2022. This funding was provided in the form of voluntary donations by companies from within the industry.

The two biggest contributors were bet365 and Entain. The two gambling juggernauts collectively donated over 90.4% of the total sum received by GambleAware within these nine months. Entain, which operates the Ladbrokes brand, donated $8.6 million. Bet365, on the other hand, donated around $4.9 million through its three local brands.

Other operators’ contributions collectively amounted to the remaining 9.6%. The full list of operators and their donations can be checked on GambleAware’s official website.

The four biggest operators in the United Kingdom have been increasing their donations since 2020 as a part of an initiative by Britain’s Betting and Gaming Council (BGC). The union seeks to increase the funding provided by the industry for the research, prevention and treatment of problem gambling. As a result, the BGC asked the four biggest operators to donate 1% of their profits to GambleAware.

Other operators are expected to make donations by March 31. The BGC expects companies that profit from gambling to donate a minimum of 0.1% of their GGR to the charity each year. Smaller companies that earn less than $308,000 a year need only donate $308. The full list of contributions, GambleAware noted, will be reported to the UKGC in April.

The Charity Vows to Use the Funds in a Transparent Manner

GambleAware noted that all funds donated go towards activities that are delivered against its commissioning objectives. The charity strives to maintain transparency and accountability and make sure that the funding provided is put to proper use. To that end, GambleAware recently published its commissioning intentions, laying out its strategic commissioning approach for the National Gambling Treatment Service.

GambleAware reminded readers that its commissioning intentions support the delivery of its Organizational Strategy. In addition, the charity bases its approach on its understanding of the resources it needs to provide British bettors with the resources they need. GambleAware concluded that it always seeks to utilize the most cost-effective and impactful methods.

The charity concluded its statement by once again calling for the introduction of a compulsory levy. As Britain’s gambling industry awaits the long-overdue gambling reregulation, many specialists, GambleAware included, have supported the introduction of a mandatory 1% levy that would replace the current voluntary donations. The problem gambling specialist believes that this would provide it with funding that will help it boost its efforts and deliver better treatment results.

The latest plan comes at the start of the new year and according to Rene Jansen, the KSA’s chairman, the Gambling Authority will not only safeguard the online gambling vertical but target physical illegal games of chance. Such games can include illegal slot machines, bingos, lotteries, poker, sports betting or other unlicensed gambling activities.

KSA’s chairman explained that in 2023, inspectors are going to travel around the country. In collaboration with local authorities and partners, the gambling watchdog will seek to strike illegal physical operators. To help with the plan, the KSA will rely on its partners that will cooperate effectively and establish a regional network. Additionally, the watchdog said it plans to recruit new inspectors, expanding its capacity.

“Together with our partners looking for physically offered illegal games of chance, ranging from operating slot machines, poker, bingos or lotteries without a license to the gambling terminals that are used for illegal sports betting,“

reads a blog entry by Rene Jansen chairman of the KSA

Illegal Gambling Operations Pose a Threat to Customers

Jansen acknowledged that illegal gambling operations are nothing alike a “romanticized old-fashioned image of a game of bingo in a dim room, behind a curtain, in a brown café with a few small prizes on the bar.” Instead, he explained that illegal gambling operations participate in money laundering and avoid any consumer protection protocols.

Jansen added that there are some illegal retail operations that are not large in scale. Still, he reiterated that illegal gambling involves money laundering and ultimately represents a threat to the customers.

The chairman of the KSA pointed out that there are “undermining” efforts and explained: “In addition to warm political interest in this theme in The Hague, many municipalities are also looking for ways to counter undermining and thus discourage and disrupt criminals.” However, according to Jansen, a strong bond between the KSA and regional inspectors can help achieve the goal to reduce illegal gambling operations.

The latest announcement comes after only recently, the KSA issued a fine of nearly $1 million against Shark77. At the time of the announcement, the watchdog said that the operator offered its online gambling services illegally which was in breach of the Gambling Act. According to an investigation by the regulator, Shark77 did not obstruct Dutch customers from depositing funds and allowed players from the country to access its website.

After integrating Greco’s gameplay risk engine to improve operational marketing efficiencies for its clients just last week, the provider of customer relationship management solutions has launched a fresh artificial intelligence (AI) language technology. 

Operators to Generate Human-Like Campaigns and Content 

According to PRWEB, the new autoregressive AI technology model embraced by the SaaS provider will be used by gaming operators to automatically generate human-like content and campaigns while using the interactions with their users and the instructions received from them. 

Fast Track’s co-founder and chief executive officer Simon Lidzén spoke about the much-anticipated technology that will finally allow their platform to serve its original self-learning purpose. 

The new AI model will enable operators to cut their expenses and simplify the delivery of 1:1 experiences to all customers. By integrating the new AI language, Fast Track has taken an important step towards the digitization of the online gaming industry while preparing the ground for boosting its productivity. 

The company will present its innovative technology next month during the ICE event in London. The first version is likely to be launched shortly after the event ends.

“Unprecedented Levels of Productivity and Efficiency” for Partners

Fast Track is also optimistic regarding the enhanced levels of productivity and efficiency that their partners are expected to reach soon after they will start using the new AI language technology. 

Interested operators will get to rapidly create campaigns that will reach multiple channels at the same time, in the form of subject lines, language localization, and A/B testing. 

Chief technology officer Patrik Potocki described the new model as one that will allow fast Track’s partners to “work smarter, not harder” while speeding up the process of providing 1:1 gaming experiences. Potocki called this “truly a game changer for the industry” while expressing excitement to be right at the forefront of the innovation. 

The disruptive technology company that is recognized as the CRM leader in the iGaming industry mixes real-time data, a central system, and the correct processes. This way, operators benefit from multi-channel and automation capacities that are beyond other engagement platforms and high accuracy for real-time data that cut their bonus costs by 5-10% and their email/SMS costs by 20%.

Fast Track’s CRM also helps operators boost their operational teams’ productivity by as much as 60%. Some of the company’s best solutions for iGaming clients are ft rtd, ft crm, and ft ml.

Ft rtd is a real-time data platform that allows iGaming operators to consolidate data between all providers and businesses in real time. Ft crm is an engagement platform that uses a single central system to manage internal and external systems. Fl ml offers advanced machine learning for designing and building prediction models.

After a successful 2022 at the end of which it gathered more than 1.2 million registered users, the rapidly-growing social casino in the US is even more determined to evolve next to the best partners by its side. 

The fresh deal inked with the gaming operator that has been handling games, operations, and iGaming platforms in North America and Europe for the last seven years is just another proof of FortuneCoins.com’s determination. 

“Mutually Beneficial” Partnership

Together with Mascot Gaming, Fortune Coins will provide free access to casino games to its database of over one million users brought together in less than a year, when it launched.

Mascot Gaming’s head of sales Nikolay Lobov thanked FortuneCoins.com for putting their trust in them. Loboc also expressed excitement for the new agreement and confidence in the partnership’s ability to be “mutually beneficial and create great opportunities for both parties.” The head of sales also spoke about the excellent synergy of their mixed resources and expertise expected to help them reach “results in a quick time”.

Fortune Coins’ head of marketing and partnerships, Yuliya Ivanisova, called Mascot Gaming “a great brand” to add to their platform thanks to their exciting titles. Ivanisova also spoke about Mascot Gaming’s potential to help them bolster their core offerings while additionally further strengthening their footprint in the social casino market.”

Fortune Coins explained that it was looking forward to becoming the leading social casino in North America. The social casino features sweepstakes elements and it is dedicated to offering top-quality, free casino-based forms of entertainment to US players. 

The platform’s casino sweepstakes model allows registered members to enjoy the chance to win free coins they can then use to play all available games in the lobby. The list includes a variety of slot games similar to the ones found in online casinos, along with card games and fish games. 

Mascot Gaming’s Focus on Service, Aligned with Fortune Coins’ Priorities 

As an active promoter of one-of-a-kind graphic effects, top-tier designs, and seamless gaming algorithms that create a unique platform, Mascot Gaming perfectly aligns with the priorities expressed by Fortune Coins. Mascot Gaming is also focused on signing new and advantageous partnerships while taking its place in the market, which has helped it create a harmonious relationship with Fortune Coins. 

Last May, Mascot Gaming joined Pariplay’s Fusion offering as a result of an agreement meant to help the distribution platform grow with fresh content. NeoGames’ subsidiary also recently added Mancala Gaming to its aggregation platform. 

Greedy Greenskins Rockways, La Fiesta de Muertos, and The Candy Keno are some of Mascot’s non-trivial, appealing, and entertaining slots that are “exciting for players and profitable for operators.”