Canada

PlayNJ.com: Sports betting slows, online casinos thrive in July

Published

3 years ago

August 17, 2021

The NBA Finals and the Olympics could not help New Jersey’s sportsbooks to counter a national trend that has typically made July the slowest month of sports betting. But with relatively strong sports-betting revenue, another monthly record for online gambling, and strong results from Atlantic City’s retail casinos, New Jersey’s gaming outlets set a fresh record for total gaming revenue in a month with $450.6 million in July, according to PlayNJ, which tracks the state’s regulated online gaming and sports betting market.

“Atlantic City benefits from a boost in summer tourism, but July is a time when summer travel and busy schedules put online sports betting in the backseat, particularly for locals,” said David Danzis, lead analyst for PlayNJ.com. “In the end, online casino gaming, retail casinos, and online and retail sports betting work as a three-legged stool, and together they are helping the New Jersey gaming industry outperform most every market in the U.S.”

Online and retail sportsbooks accepted $578.7 million in bets in July, down 24.5% from $766.9 million in June, according to official data released Monday. July 2021 was up 83.7% from $315.1 million in July 2020, a month with the relaunch of baseball and the beginning of the NBA bubble.

July’s wagering was far less than February’s $743 million handle, previously the low point of the year. That echoes 2019, when July’s $251.4 million handle was the lowest monthly tally of that year.

At 7.8%, the hold percentage remained high in July for New Jersey’s sportsbooks, yielding $55.0 million in gross gaming revenue. That was down 22.9% from $71.3 million in June and up 86.0% from $29.6 million in July 2021. In the end, sports betting produced $8.3 million in state and local taxes in July.

Baseball was the top sport in July with $195.4 million in wagering over the course of the month, up from $169.3 million in June. With the NBA Finals in July, basketball was second with $74.8 million, down from $190.9 million in June. Sports listed as “other,” which would include the Olympics, fell to $180.4 million from $234.8 million in June.

“The Olympics didn’t cause a spike in volume, which was held down even more by the significant difference in time zones,” said Eric Ramsey, analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayNJ.com. “The NBA Finals helped the state’s sportsbooks avoid a steeper decline, and the Olympics did offer sportsbooks a chance to reach new customers, which can be valuable down the road.

Online operators generated $529.4 million in wagers in July, or 91.5% of July’s statewide handle. FanDuel Sportsbook/PointsBet once again topped online operators with $29.5 million in gross revenue, down from $38.1 million in May.

FanDuel was followed in revenue by:

Resorts Digital/DraftKings/Fox Bet ($10.6 million, down from $13.0 million in June)
BetMGM/Borgata ($5.9 million, up from $5.6 million)
Monmouth/William Hill/SugarHouse/TheScore ($2.0 million, even with June)
Ocean Casino/William Hill/Tipico ($1.5 million, down from $2.3 million)
Hard Rock/Bet365/Unibet ($925,775, up from $642,297)
Caesars Sportsbook/888sport/WynnBet ($193,331, down from $243,981)
Golden Nugget/BetAmerica ($79,223, down from $80,615)
Tropicana/William Hill ($36,490, up from $92,388)

Retail sportsbooks continued in their recovery, tallying $49.3 million in wagers in July, down from $83.9 million in June. Meadowlands/FanDuel topped all retail sportsbooks in July with $2.2 million in revenue.

“Casual sports bettors engage with sportsbooks less frequently in the heart of the summer,” Danzis said. “But the good news for sportsbooks is that sports betting will soon start to gain momentum as casual bettors return home from summer vacations and begin to turn their focus to football.”

Online casinos and poker

Online casinos and poker rooms continue to side-step any summer slowdown, generating a record $118.7 million in gross gaming revenue in July. That is up 35.7% from $87.5 million in July 2020 and up 10.9% from $107.1 million in May. July shattered the previous revenue high of $113.7 million set in March.

Online casino games alone generated $115.6 million in July, pushing lifetime revenue to $3.0 billion since online gambling launched in November 2013. And growth has been consistent from the beginning. Through seven months of 2021, online casino games and poker have generated $752.9 million in revenue, up 47.6% from $510.2 million through the same period in 2020.

“The bounce back in Atlantic City hasn’t slowed online casinos a bit,” Ramsey said. “Any worry that the return of casino visitation would come at the expense of online revenue should be alleviated now.”

Other highlights from July’s report:

Borgata/BetMGM led the state with $36.5 million in casino and poker revenue, a record for any licensee over a single month. That topped rival Golden Nugget’s $33.5 million in revenue. Resorts Digital was third with $23.3 million in revenue.
The revenue from online casinos and poker rooms injected $20.8 million into state and local coffers.
Online casinos and poker generated $3.8 million in revenue per day over the 31 days in July, up from $3.6 million per day over the 30 days of June.
Online poker generated $3.1 million in revenue, down 36.2% from $4.8 million in July 2020.

For more information and analysis on regulated sports betting and online gaming, visit PlayNJ.com/news.

About the PlayUSA.com Network:
The PlayUSA.com Network is a leading source for news, analysis, and research related to the market for regulated online gaming in the United States. With a presence in over a dozen states, PlayUSA.com and its state-focused branches produce original daily reporting, publish in-depth research, and offer player advocacy tools related to the advancement of safe, licensed, and legal online gaming options for consumers. Based in Las Vegas, the PlayUSA Network is independently owned and operated, with no affiliations to any casino — commercial, tribal, online, or otherwise.

Canada

Play’n GO announces partnership with Canadian operator Loto-Québec

Published

11 hours ago

May 16, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

play’n-go-announces-partnership-with-canadian-operator-loto-quebec

Play’n GO, the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, has today announced a partnership with Canadian operator Loto-Québec, launching the Swedish gaming giant’s games into another Canadian province.

Already active in another Canadian province , this partnership sees Play’n GO’s content available in the province of Québec exclusively with Loto-Québec, a state-owned corporation, where online players now have access to titles such as Tome of Madness.

Magnus Olsson, Chief Commercial Officer, Play’n GO said: “At Play’n GO, we have always been clear in our vision to be active in every regulated market in the world, and this partnership with Loto-Québec is the next step on that journey.

“Our past success in Canada gives us confidence that players in Québec will enjoy the best Play’n GO content, and we look forward to many years of success with Loto-Québec in the province.”

Stéphane Martel, Head of Product and Innovation at Loto-Québec added: “As the sole iGaming operator in Québec, we pride ourselves on offering titles that truly add value to our platform, lotoquebec.com. We are happy to bring Play’n GO games to our players.”

Canada

Court Decision Upholds iGaming Ontario’s Model

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

court-decision-upholds-igaming-ontario’s-model

iGaming Ontario has welcomed the decision of the Ontario Superior Court, which found that iGaming Ontario’s model is consistent with the Criminal Code and that iGaming Ontario is conducting and managing igaming in the province.

“We have always been confident in our model and are pleased that the court has ruled in our favour, and that Ontarians can continue to play with confidence in our regulated igaming market,” said Martha Otton, Executive Director of iGaming Ontario.

“Ontario’s model meets the requirements and contributes to the public good by protecting players, their data and their funds, while helping to fund priority public services in Ontario, and bringing well-paid, high-tech jobs and economic development to Ontario,” Otton added.

In dismissing the application brought forward by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK), the Superior Court found that iGaming Ontario is the “operating mind” behind Ontario’s competitive igaming market in accordance with the conduct and manage requirements of the Criminal Code.

iGaming Ontario will continue to conduct and manage igaming as it has since the launch of the regulated market on April 4, 2022.

Bragg Gaming Group

Bragg Gaming Appoints Renowned iGaming Executive Neill Whyte as Chief Commercial Officer

Published

7 days ago

May 10, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

bragg-gaming-appoints-renowned-igaming-executive-neill-whyte-as-chief-commercial-officer

Bragg Gaming Group, a global iGaming technology and content provider, announced that Neill Whyte has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective 1st May 2024, establishing a new global commercial structure at the Company and bolstering its leadership team.

Whyte brings over 18 years of experience in the iGaming sector, most recently in the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Digital Gaming Corporation’s (DGC), B2B iGaming Division. After joining DGC in early 2020, he was responsible for the commercially successful launch and growth of its content distribution business in the US.

Prior to joining DGC, Whyte held multiple positions in the gaming industry including as Head of Business Development at Isle of Man-based iGaming specialist Apricot Investments, as Board Member at Swedish iGaming product and Lottery content distributor Genera Networks, and in various senior roles over eleven years at leading iGaming content supplier Microgaming, including as Head of Product Channels.

In his new role with Bragg, Whyte will be tasked with leading the Company’s global commercial teams to drive growth across all of the Company’s product verticals which include proprietary online casino content from its Atomic Slot Lab, Indigo Magic and Wild Streak Gaming studios, exclusive content from content partners, HUB a leading casino content aggregation platform, Fuze player engagement, as well as its award-winning player account management (PAM) platform and turnkey solutions.

Matevž Mazij, Chief Executive Officer at Bragg, said: “I am very pleased to be announcing today the appointment of Neill Whyte as Chief Commercial Officer at Bragg. His iGaming product and market knowledge, together with his record in driving growth from developing successful and mutually beneficial commercial partnerships are exceptional.

“As we leverage our broad content and product portfolio to grow in existing and new markets, including in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe, Neill’s unique combination of knowledge, skills and experience in this sector are a perfect fit for our ambitions at Bragg.”

Neill Whyte, Chief Commercial Officer at Bragg, said: “It’s an honor to join Matevž and the wider teams at Bragg already in place across North America, Europe and in India. I have been impressed with the depth and quality of the content, product and technology offerings at Bragg, and its ability to rapidly adapt, certify and deploy this content and technology in newly regulated markets is a distinct advantage.

“We also have a huge opportunity to grow our footprint with our existing customers in markets in which we are already established. Our content and product roadmaps are second to none, and I’m planning to get on the road in the coming weeks and months to meet the team and our customers and to start building for the next stage of mutual growth. I can’t wait to get going.”