Compliance Updates
Swifty Global (Dear Cashmere Holding Company), Confirms the Award of its UK Gambling License
Dear Cashmere Holding Company, known as Swifty Global (Swifty), is a technology company focused on creating ground-breaking solutions in the Financial and Sports Betting Sectors. The company has developed two disruptive mobile applications (apps) for sports predictions and a digital wallet which encompasses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cryptocurrency/Blockchain Transactions.
Following its award of the Curacao license in November 2021, Swifty is now pleased to announce that it has successfully obtained its UK gambling license. The coveted UK license is the “Gold Standard” and one of the most difficult gambling licenses in the world to obtain. Its award now allows Swifty to upload its eagerly anticipated Swifty Predictions application to the UK Apple and Android stores, allowing users in the UK to download the app and register their account. In addition, Swifty has completed their 3rdparty security audit and is now adding the relevant payment providers. This couldn’t take place until the UK license was approved. Once the payment gateway is live, the software will be submitted for certification which, once obtained, will be made available in the licensed regions. Swifty’s in-house development team are working overtime to ensure that the product goes live as quickly as possible. The commercial team is simultaneously working on obtaining several further gambling licences, including for certain states in the USA.
To grow its user base in the licensed regions, Swifty is preparing to roll out its aggressive marketing plan, with the initial focus being to capture as many users as quickly as possible. From this point, the highly interactive Swifty predictions app brings a new form of engaged betting to users which Swifty is confident will stimulate a substantial amount of viral marketing.
After the successful “soft launch” of its Digital Wallet during the month of March, where several thousand users downloaded and used Swifty’s pre-configured digital currency wallet, the official launch of both the Swifty Wallet and Swifty Predictions app will take place in May. The official launch functions are expected to encompass several celebrity endorsements.
The Swifty Wallet will offer a referral scheme within the wallet itself. This will allow users to refer the app to other users, thereby earning credits which will be cashed in against the Swifty Token. The Swifty Token is scheduled to be launched once Swifty’s user base has reached a critical mass. The company anticipates this being in Autumn 2022. Referral vouchers will also double up to enter referrers into weekly prize draws.
Swifty will aggressively target the UK market to rapidly gain a lucrative share of the existing market whilst also creating a new category of gambling with its proprietary “swipe” technology for micro betting. This will create a new market of users who enjoy a more social, fun, and engaging form of gambling. According to the UK Gambling Commissioner, the UK’s online sports betting and casino gambling market was worth 6.9 billion pounds between March 2020 and April 2021. This was up 18.4% from the previous year. Despite the size of the UK market, there are only 287 companies that have a remote betting operating license and 469 companies that have a gambling software development license in the UK.
Swifty Global CEO, James Gibbons, commented, “We are ecstatic to have finally obtained this license following months of processes to demonstrate our compliance. We were always confident of obtaining the license since, in addition to our compliance, our technology, AML, and KYC capability is both next generation and world leading. However, it is a process that we had to go through, and we are very pleased to now finally be in the game within one of the world’s most active and lucrative gambling markets. We are excited to launch the Swifty Predictions app, especially since it’s within a few weeks of the successful launch of our Swifty Wallet. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished and incredibly optimistic about our next quarter of business and beyond.”
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Compliance Updates
Gaming CEOs Optimistic on Industry Outlook, Report Evolving Industry Challenges
Amidst an evolving economic landscape, gaming executives report a positive outlook on future industry business conditions while remaining satisfied with the current business environment, according to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Gaming Industry Outlook.
Nearly all gaming executives surveyed characterized the current business environment as good (44%) or satisfactory (50%), mirroring similar sentiment from Q3 2023. Meanwhile, executives are more optimistic about future conditions, with 32 percent of CEOs expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months, up from 20 percent in Q3 2023.
“Gaming’s record-setting growth over the last three years has set a new standard for industry success,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “However, as we enter a period of market normalization, continued investment and innovation in offering world-class, responsible entertainment experiences will be required to maintain industry momentum.”
Gaming Executive Panel
Gaming executives have become more positive in their views that overall balance sheet health will improve over the next 6 months (42% net positive), but they expect the pace of revenue growth (13% net negative) and new hiring (22% net negative) to slow. These expectations for decelerating growth have influenced expectations for increases in capital investment and gaming units in operation, with smaller net positive sentiments than before.
- In contrast to past Outlooks, gaming equipment suppliers are slightly pessimistic about the sale of gaming units for replacement use and new or expansion use (both 13% net negative). However, they remain optimistic about the pace of capital investment (38% net positive).
- Half of operator CEOs expect capital investments in hotels over the next year to be higher than normal, and compared to last fall, more also expect higher than normal levels of capital investment in meetings and conventions and table games (28%). Meanwhile, 44 percent of CEOs expect increases in food and beverage investment, down from 67 percent in Q3 2023.
These expectations are also informed by evolving macroeconomic challenges. Executives report that inflationary or interest rate concerns continue to be a major factor limiting operations (28%), but these have been overtaken by geo-political risk (34%) and uncertainty of the economic environment (34%) as the biggest limiting factors in the most recent Gaming Executive Panel.
Current Conditions Index
The Current Conditions Index of 102.8 for Q1 indicates solid annualized real economic growth in the industry of 2.8%. This includes gaming revenue, employment and employee wages and salaries. Notably, the Current Conditions Index shows gaming expanding faster than the overall U.S. economy which last week reported 1.6 percent GDP growth in Q1 2024.
Future Conditions Index
The Future Conditions Index stands at 102.2, indicating annualized industry economic activity, after controlling for underlying inflation, is expected to moderately increase over the next six months. This outlook reflects Oxford Economics’ forecast that the U.S. economy will slow during 2024 but avoid recession. Despite a projected economic slowdown, consumer survey results continue to indicate that more than one-third of adults expect to visit a casino during the next 12 months, consistent with prior quarter results.
About the Outlook
The AGA Gaming Industry Outlook is prepared biannually by Oxford Economics. It provides a timely measure of recent industry growth and future expectations. The Q1 2024 survey was conducted between March 28 – April 10, 2024. A total of 32 executives responded, including executives at the major international and domestic gaming companies, tribal gaming operators, single-unit casino operators, major gaming equipment suppliers, and major iGaming and/or sports betting operators.
Compliance Updates
Arizona Department of Gaming Releases February Sports Betting Figures
PHOENIX – Bettors in Arizona wagered approximately $637.5 million on sports in February of 2024, according to a new report by the Arizona Department of Gaming. This represents an approximate 4.6% increase when compared to February of 2023.
The state collected approximately $2.8 million in privilege fees in the month. You can view the full February report on the ADG website: LINK.
Arkansas
North Carolina Lawmaker to Introduce Bill to End College Player Prop Bets
North Carolina legislator intends to introduce legislation to ban college player prop bets, according to a staff member.
North Carolina State Representative Marcia Morey, D-Durham, a former Olympic swimmer, will submit a bill by the bill filing deadline on Thursday to ban these bets, Hannah Smith, Administrative Assistant, told Gambling.com on Monday.
The North Carolina Legislature began meeting in Raleigh on April 24 with the session set to end on July 31.
Recently, NCAA President Charlie Baker, a former Massachusetts governor, called upon states to ban college player prop bets, which is short for proposition bets. Baker said these bets, based on an athlete’s individual performance such as the over/under on the number of rebounds the player might record, could undermine the integrity of games and lead to harassment of players.
Former North Carolina Tar Heel star Armando Bacot is among athletes who have expressed concern about harassment. Bacot said he heard from fans angry that he didn’t get enough rebounds in an NCAA tournament game against Michigan State – a game the Tar Heels won.
College Prop Bets Allowed in Some States
Some states already ban these bets, while others including Louisiana, intend to impose a ban this summer before the college and pro football seasons begin.
In other states, the proposed ban has met with resistance.
During a recent interview on The Edge, Arkansas casino executive Carlton Saffa told Gambling.com a ban would drive bettors to unregulated offshore sportsbooks or illegal bookies. He said a better solution is to keep those bets legal in regulated markets where irregularities can be spotted.
“Sunshine is the best disinfectant,” Saffa, the Chief Marketing Officer for the Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, said.
College player prop bets remain legal in Arkansas.
In North Carolina, where statewide mobile sports betting became legal in March, State Representative Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, said in a story on the WNCN-TV website that a college player prop ban is ‘a solution in search of a problem’. If athletes are being harassed, he said, campus police should crack down on those making the threats and make an example of them. A ban won’t stop the problem, Saine said.
“If we ended (player prop bets) tomorrow, this kind of behavior would still continue with fanatical people,” Saine said. “Follow rules of society, you don’t threaten anybody, or you shouldn’t be. And, that’s kind of my take on it. I don’t think we need a whole new set of rules to pursue something like that.”
Morey, the lawmaker proposing the ban, said people are ‘forgetting about the individuals who are actually playing the game and having the pressure on them’.
“Let’s give them a break,” she said.
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