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Racecourse Media Group results return to pre-Covid levels
Racecourse Media Group (RMG) has revealed its payments to racecourses have returned to pre-Covid levels, with £110m forecast to be paid to its shareholders for 2021.
The payments, earned through racecourses’ media and data rights, are expected to exceed 2019’s pre-Covid payments of £107m, and have been a contributory factor to many racecourses being able to return prize money to its pre-pandemic levels.
RMG is 100% owned by its racecourse shareholders and pays 100% of operating profit back to racecourses. This collective and collaborative ethos has seen RMG’s businesses become the biggest single funder of British horseracing. The 2021 results follow a hugely challenging year in 2020 when, due to the pandemic, RMG payments to racecourses fell by 25.9% on the previous year.
Chairman Roger Lewis said: “I thank and congratulate everyone involved in racing for their herculean efforts in 2021. The RMG racecourses ensured that horseracing continued for a second year in the most demanding of circumstances, which allowed RMG to deliver as great a return as possible for racing. The RMG model was again tested in 2021 and again proved to be resilient and reliable.
“The investment in, and development of, our media assets and new innovative products – such as the Watch & Bet service, ultra-low latency, on-screen timing data, the exploration of in-play opportunities, and enhancements on Racing TV, headlined by the stunning Virtual Studio – aided our recovery.
“These initiatives all contribute to the RMG strategy of attracting more eyes on to our racing which, in turn, drives betting turnover, subscriptions, and sponsorship opportunities in the sport. And this all feeds into the RMG vision of increasing returns to our racecourses for the benefit of the industry.
“The 2021 performance will mean that RMG will have delivered £1bn to racecourses since the start of the business in 2004. This is a testament to our racecourses’ dedication and commitment to working together for the greater good of racing.”
Lewis steps down from his role at the end of 2022 and the search for a new Chairman is underway.
He joined the Board of RMG in 2012 and was appointed Non-Executive Chairman on January 1, 2019. Over a 40-year career in sport, media and business, Lewis has held senior positions at the BBC, ITV, Classic FM, EMI and Decca, and was GCEO of the Welsh Rugby Union for nine years.
Lewis continues as Chair of the Churchill Lines Foundation, a military charity, a Director of Festival UK 2022 and President of the National Museums of Wales. He also sits on The Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Panel.
He added: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my decade at RMG and have been humbled by the boundless enthusiasm and support that we receive from our shareholder racecourses.
“I am particularly pleased RMG was able to announce last July that our British racecourses agreed a media rights renewal extension until December 31, 2028.
“This was a pivotal moment for British racing. The RMG racecourses have created business clarity and confidence for years to come. The certainty which this landmark, long-term agreement provides is very special for everyone involved in British racing.
“I pay particular tribute to the outstanding leadership of the RMG CEO, Martin Stevenson, who together with his great team of RMG executives navigated this complex and detailed process with rigour, patience and clear focus and who continue to lead the business with dynamism.
“I have been very fortunate to have worked alongside an outstanding Board of Directors and I sincerely thank them for their friendship, help and support and their incredible insight into the business.”
The business is aiming to exceed 2021’s forecast payments of £110m for the year ahead.
Lewis continued: “RMG can now look forward to serving its shareholder racecourses, which, in turn, benefits the sport of racing for the foreseeable future.
“The unity of purpose which the RMG racecourses have created over the past 18 years, to build an evolving yet sustainable and secure financial business, is a rare and precious thing. It has been a privilege and an honour to have served racing for the past ten years. It’s been one hell of a ride!”
Martin Stevenson, CEO of RMG, paid tribute to Lewis, saying: “I would like to pay tribute to Roger, who during his tenure as first Board member and then Chairman, has been instrumental in the development and success of RMG and its businesses over the last decade.
“In particular, Roger has helped steer RMG through the pandemic, and all the huge challenges it presented, to the point where the business is now producing results, which were on a par with pre-covid payments to racecourses. That is a terrific outcome.
“I thank Roger for his leadership and friendship and for all that he has done for horseracing. We wish him all the best for the future once his tenure comes to its conclusion at the end of the year.”
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This summer’s Women’s Euros promises to be more popular with sports bettors than the Six Nations, Super Bowl and the Ashes, a new survey shows.
A new OLBG survey conducted by YouGov shows how bettors are likely to behave in 2025, including the most popular events to bet on, which regions of the country are most likely to gamble and how having kids affects betting behaviour.
The quarterly study asked 2,054 adults in the UK how they planned to bet this year.
Of people who said they were likely to gamble in 2025, 16% said they would bet on the Women’s Euros, which will take place in Switzerland in July, with England and Wales among the 16 teams in action.
That compares with only 9% who said they would bet on the Super Bowl, 10% who would bet on Rugby Union’s Six Nations and 6% who said they would bet on cricket’s Ashes series.
The data shows that 18% of men expect to bet on the Women’s Euros, compared with 11% of women.
Among the events specified, racing’s Grand National (48%) is the event of 2025 that most respondents said they would bet on, ahead of the FA Cup Final (33%), Champions League Final (29%) and Cheltenham Festival (22%).
OLBG CEO Richard Moffat said: “The surge in popularity of women’s football is well documented and it seems that betting patterns are starting to follow suit. Undoubtedly, the fact there’s a major tournament this summer including England and Wales will drive interest among bettors.
“It’s interesting to see that more people intend to bet on the Euros than some big, established, showpiece events in 2025 such as The Ashes, the Superbowl and the Six Nations.”
North West is the UK betting capital
Data shows 26% of people in the North West plan to place a bet on a sporting event during 2025 – the highest percentage region in the country.
The region with the next highest percentage of people planning to gamble this year is Yorkshire and the Humber, with 24%. Third is London (22%) ahead of Northern Ireland (21%).
According to the results, the region with the lowest appetite for betting is the South West, with just 13% of people saying they plan to gamble this year.
In the North West, the listed sporting event people are most likely to bet on this year is the FA Cup final (39%), ahead of the Champions League final (36%), followed by the Grand National (35%).
The picture is quite different in Yorkshire and the Humber, where 55% of potential bettors expect to bet on the Grand National, 25% on the FA Cup final and just 12% expect to bet on the Champions League final.
Interestingly, London is the region with the lowest percentage of people intending to bet on the Grand National, with just 31% but the highest percentage of people expecting to bet on the FA Cup final at 55%.
OLBG’s CEO Richard Moffat said: “It looks like the North will be the sports betting capital of the UK this year, with northern regions such as the North West and Yorkshire leading the way in terms of percentage of people planning to bet.
“The breakdown of events people plan to bet on is fascinating and it’s interesting that the two big football finals – the FA Cup final and Champions League final – are the most popular events in the North West. This is perhaps driven by fans of big clubs like Liverpool and Man City optimistically planning to back their teams in those showpiece events.”
The post Women’s Euros set to be more popular with punters than Six Nations, survey shows appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Q: Gaming Corps has just released its latest slot game called Gates of Hellfire. Tell us how it works and what its standout features are.
The Gaming Corps team prides itself on our innovative approach to slot development, which is exactly what we’ve delivered with Gates of Hellfire.
It’s a slot that’s unlike any other. I say that because it uses a unique payment system, requiring players to battle various demon enemies on the reels to secure wins, for a maximum prize of 5,000x the player’s stake.
We have prizes that can only be collected if the player gathers specific weapons that eliminate the enemies – and in doing so, they collect their prizes.
The objective is to land an enemy on the grid, while simultaneously landing a weapon to destroy that enemy. For example, shotguns are the weakest weapon but will kill the lowest-valued enemy.
Then, as the game progresses, players will see different weapons with different attributes that will cause various types of damage and have different radii of destruction that will affect the grid.
Gates of Hellfire offers a thrilling and groundbreaking way for players to collect prizes. To put it another way, there’s simply nothing quite like it on the market.
Q: Where did the name Gates of Hellfire come from, and what is the thinking behind giving this slot the feel of a video game? Why will this appeal to the market?
Gates of Hellfire is a battle of Good vs Evil played out across a slot-machine grid, a sort of demonic fantasy sci-fi epic that’s a battle between Good and Evil.
We decided to have this as the theme and then the name came quickly after that.
And yes, the game is heavily influenced by shoot ’em-up video games. We took established mechanics for the millennial generation and merged them with an innovative version of a classic mechanic and themes that will induce nostalgia among our players.
We think the results will appeal to both traditional players who played video games in their youth, as well as delight a millennial generation looking for the latest and best features in their slot entertainment experiences.
Q: Are you focusing on gamification with this slot, rather than just trying to deliver a traditional slot experience?
Collection mechanics have become immensely popular with slot players in recent years, and with Gates of Hellfire we have reimagined these mechanics to offer players something unique.
People want more nowadays, the simplicity of traditional slots doesn’t deliver enough entertainment any more. Players want to be reminded of video games or the social games they play on their phones.
Gates of Hellfire is an example of how modern slots are now influenced by video games.
It’s got a lot of action but it’s still recognizably a slot machine, with the same functionality but different reward mechanisms that will remind the player of a video game.
Q: Does Gaming Corps believe mixing slots and video gaming will appeal to players?
We aim to give players captivating gameplay experiences they can’t find anywhere else.
You must offer features that connect with players if you want to attract them and then keep them coming back. There’s a lot of choice out there so you need something special to retain their loyalty and interest.
That’s why we mixed things up and offer elements of more than one type of entertainment experience.
We see animations as extremely important because they build suspense and are another way of capturing the player’s attention.
Sound is an important component too, which is why we design the music and sound effects early on so they create an appropriate atmosphere.
All these elements are used to make the slower parts of the game more exciting, and the exciting parts become truly memorable.
Q: What factors will determine whether this release is a success for Gaming Corps, and what do you aim for when you release a game onto the market?
With Gates of Hellfire and all our other slots, we’ll start gauging its impact by paying attention to the standard statistics for slots, such as player retention rate and what LTV and ROI the game offers operators.
But those aren’t the only metrics we follow. Feedback is really important to us, both from players and operators, and we’ll take that on board when we come to launch our next release.
The best thing you can do when you release any game is to have people talking about it, generating a buzz about an exciting new release.
It’s hard to achieve all the time, but we think we’ve done just that with Gates of Hellfire.
We’re already working on sequels and further iterations for it, so things are hotting up very nicely for our latest slot game right now.
Playing with hellfire has never looked so good.
The post Gates of Hellfire Q&A with Connor Blinman, Head of Games at Gaming Corps appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Compliance Updates
Michigan Lottery Achieves iCAP Re-certification for Responsible Online Gaming Practices
The Michigan Lottery has received re-certification for its commitment to responsible gaming after completing the Internet Responsible Gambling Compliance Assessment Program (iCAP) through the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG).
The Lottery first earned iCAP certification in October 2015 and was the first lottery in the United States to achieve this certification.
“We are incredibly proud to have once again received certification for our commitment to responsible gaming through the iCAP program, underscoring the Lottery’s dedication to player safety and well-being. We will continue to prioritize responsible gaming practices and provide Michiganders with the resources and support they need to play responsibly,” said Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli.
Developed by the NCPG, iCAP is the first and only online responsible gaming assessment program in the US. The NCPG evaluated the Lottery’s compliance with Internet Responsible Gaming (IRG) standards developed based on best practices from jurisdictions around the world. IRG standards are the highest standards for online responsible gaming in the nation. The nine areas of focus for the NCPG iCAP certification are:
• Corporate policy and commitment to responsible gaming
• Staff training
• Information available to players through com, and player account features to assist players in informed decision making
• Assisting players who indicate they are in distress or experiencing problems
• Self-exclusion and player-initiated restrictions on online play
• Advertising and promotion
• Game and website features that assist with gambling responsibly
• Research based on the transparency of play data
• Payment controls and limits
• iCAP re-certification provides Lottery players assurance that MichiganLottery.com is trustworthy and has adopted the best standards of player protection.
The NCPG, a non-profit organization founded in 1972, leads state and national stakeholders in the development of comprehensive policy and programs for all those affected by problem gambling.
Michigan Lottery players have a chance to win up to $500,000 instantly playing online. Players also may win prizes ranging from $1 up to multi-million dollar jackpots playing Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky for Life, Lotto 47, and Fantasy 5 online. Through its online platform, the Lottery offers players more than 200 different games with plays ranging in price from .05 cents to $20.
The post Michigan Lottery Achieves iCAP Re-certification for Responsible Online Gaming Practices appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
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