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4 Challenges the Online Betting and Gaming Industry Will Face in the 2020s

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Photo source: casinodope.com

 

Estimates will always vary, but there are some predictions that the online betting and gaming industry will more than double in size from the period of 2017-2024, with all online gambling-related activities almost reaching the $100 billion mark globally 2025.

That’s incredible growth for an industry that is relatively mature. But we can speculate that many outliers will have an impact, such as the liberalization of gambling laws on a state by state basis in the United States, and the clarifying of laws in countries like Finland and Germany.

However, while the growth is nevertheless a reason for the industry to celebrate, there are several areas that will present challenges to betting and gaming worldwide as we enter the next decade. We look at some of those below:

Cryptocurrency

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Yes, there are countless ‘bitcoin casinos’ out there. But we also know that regulators – and governments – don’t like the idea of a marriage between cryptocurrency and gaming sites. In the end, it all boils down to transparency, and crypto is seen as the antithesis of the recent drives for KYC (know your customer) policies and anti-fraud measures. A lot will depend on the mainstreaming of cryptocurrency, perhaps driven by Facebook’s Libra coin. The MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) is exploring the viability of crypto through its Sandbox Framework, but one suspects that it will be more than a few years before we see the ubiquitous use of cryptocurrency at casinos.

Regulation

Obviously, a difficult subject to cover as different countries will have varied legal restrictions on marketing and advertising. Yet, so many national parliaments have at least proposed regulations that look like they could hamstring the industry in terms of how it markets itself. The UK Labour Party, for instance, has called for incredibly tough measures, including the introduction of minimum bet amounts and an extension of KYC policies. Some regulation and help for responsible gambling would be welcome, of course, as is regulatory clarity, but the industry will need to work with regulators to ensure that it doesn’t go too far.

Millennials

Despite the growth figures mentioned earlier, the challenges to get millennials playing at land-based and online casinos remaining. Sure, plenty of under 35s will log in to casino.com to play the roulette tables or have an online punt on the Premier League, but the challenge to get millennials interested in classic games and events like horse racing will undoubtedly give operators sleepless nights. A lot of talk has occurred over the idea of merging the world of video games and competitive casino play, perhaps harnessing the incredible popularity of games like Fortnite and certain eSports and crossing them over to casinos. It’s an interesting concept, and it’s completely foreseeable that we will see monetized video games sitting proudly beside the classic table and card games in the near future.

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The eSports arena opens at UCI.photo: steve zylius/UCI

Green Issues

It’s almost guaranteed that every industry on the planet is set to face more scrutiny on its carbon footprint. Tech companies, of all types, usually escape such scrutiny, as there are more apparent culprits for campaigners to turn their ire upon. The online gaming industry can certainly point to its green superiority over the land-based industry, albeit many resorts are trying to make changes, but it still takes a lot of energy to run a popular website. Statistics aren’t available for casino games specifically, but the carbon dioxide emissions of playing video games online are said to be equivalent to the emissions of millions of cars. This is obviously not an issue related to online gaming specifically, but that doesn’t make it any less pressing to address.

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Blake Sartini

Golden Entertainment Announces Leadership Changes

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Golden Entertainment Inc. announced that effective March 20, 2024, Blake Sartini II, Golden’s Executive Vice President of Operations, became the Company’s Chief Operating Officer.

“Blake has worked in every capacity throughout our organization since he started at Golden almost 17 years ago. His unique knowledge of our Company’s culture, commitment to operational excellence, and strong leadership skills make him the ideal individual to be given responsibility for all our Nevada casino resorts, locals properties, tavern operations and related corporate functions,” Blake Sartini, Chairman and CEO of Golden, said.

Blake Sartini II initially joined Golden in June 2007, working with Golden’s tavern operations and building what is now the largest branded tavern portfolio in Nevada with 69 locations. Currently, as Executive Vice President of Operations, in addition to oversight of Golden’s taverns, he has direct responsibility for the Company’s five local casinos in Las Vegas and Pahrump.

Steve Arcana, Golden’s current Chief Operating Officer, became the Company’s Chief Development Officer also effective March 20, 2024. In this newly created role, Mr. Arcana will be responsible for all new tavern development, finding new third-party food and beverage concepts for the Company’s casino resorts, and exploring opportunities to unlock value in the Company’s excess real estate in Las Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump. Mr. Arcana initially joined Golden in 2003 and has overseen the Company’s operations as it has grown from a privately held, 900-slot machine route operation to a publicly traded gaming company with casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump in addition to its significant tavern portfolio.

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“Steve has been with Golden for over 20 years and has been an integral part of growing our business and guiding us through many challenges. Steve has established a strong operating team and has been a consistent leader throughout his decades at Golden. His long history and extensive experience in the industry will continue to benefit the Company in his new role focused on creating value from new tavern development and unused assets in our casino portfolio,” Mr. Sartini said.

“These management changes will allow Golden to focus on maximizing performance in our core operations while exploring opportunities to drive future improvement by bringing potential new concepts to our existing portfolio. I am confident the changes to Blake and Steve’s roles with the Company will position us well to create additional shareholder value,” Mr. Sartini added.

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Barclays Capital Inc

MGM Resorts International Announces Proposed Senior Notes Offering

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MGM Resorts International announced that it proposes to offer $750,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2032.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes to repay existing indebtedness, including its outstanding 6.750% senior notes due 2025. Pending such use, the Company may invest the net proceeds in short-term interest-bearing accounts, securities, or similar investments.

The notes being offered will be general unsecured senior obligations of the Company, guaranteed by substantially all of the Company’s wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries that guarantee the Company’s other senior indebtedness, and equal in right of payment with all existing or future senior unsecured indebtedness of the Company and each guarantor.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., BofA Securities, Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Citizens JMP Securities, LLC, Fifth Third Securities, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., and Truist Securities, Inc. will act as joint book-running managers and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, PNC Capital Markets LLC, U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc., and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC will act as co-managers for the proposed offering.

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The Nomination Committee’s Proposal of Catena Media’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting 2024

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The Nomination Committee of Catena Media proposed re-election of the following members of the Board of Directors:

Øystein Engebretsen

Theodore Bergquist

Adam Krejcik

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Sean Hurley

The Nomination Committee proposed that Erik Flinck and Dan Castillo be elected as new members of the Board of Directors.

Göran Blomberg, Esther Teixeira-Boucher and Austin Malcomb have declined re-election as board members.

The Nomination Committee proposed that there will be six (6) members of the Board of Directors, changed from seven (7).

The Nomination Committee also proposed Erik Flinck to be elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

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Erik Flinck, born in 1980, currently provides high end business consulting combined with serving as Chairman for the digital health startup, dr HUD. Mr Flinck previously served as Head of BCG Sweden and has extensive experience from corporate management, growth and turnarounds from nearly 20 years of Management Consulting and serving as Head of Group Strategy and M&A at Sandvik AB. He has a Masters Degree in Engineering (Software development and Financial Mathematics) from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a Masters Degree in Business and Administration from Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Business.

Born in 1980, Dan Castillo has accumulated over 20 years of experience across startups, growth companies and turnarounds. Since 2015, Castillo has invested in Catena Media, maintaining a close watch on its progression, especially after its IPO in 2016. He has previous experience of listed board work in Kotipizza which Orkla acquired in 2018. He currently serves on the boards of five companies in different sectors, including Quartr.com in Fintech and Hope Studios in movie production. His academic background includes studies in Finance and Economics at Linköping University.

The Nomination Committee of Catena Media consists of:

Nicklas Paulson, representing Investment AB Öresund (chair of the nomination committee)

Marianne Stenberg, representing Second Swedish National Pension Fund

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Martin Zetterlund, representing Niklas Karlsson

Göran Blomberg, chairman of the board of Catena Media.

The post The Nomination Committee’s Proposal of Catena Media’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting 2024 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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