Latest News

DAZN ACCELERATES GLOBAL GROWTH MOMENTUM WITH ACQUISITION OF ELEVEN GROUP BUSINESSES

Published

2 years ago

September 27, 2022

Reading Time: 3 minutes

DAZN Group, a leading global sports platform, has today announced an agreement to acquire the ELEVEN Group’s global sports media businesses. The deal expands DAZN’s capabilities in the live sports streaming sector and establishes DAZN as a global leader in this rapidly evolving space. The benefits are threefold.

New and expanded territories. The transaction, when completed, will propel DAZN to become the broadcaster of top football leagues in Portugal and Belgium, two enthusiastic European footballing nations. ELEVEN Group’s businesses will also complement DAZN’s existing market-leading positions in Italy, DACH and Spain, where DAZN holds top tier domestic football rights. ELEVEN also has a presence in Taiwan and other Southeast Asian markets, giving DAZN a greater foothold in the region where it has a market leading business in Japan.

This geographical expansion gives DAZN access to new audiences as it builds out its global platform and becomes a one-stop shop for everything a sports fan wants – a place for them to access the largest library of live and on-demand content, analysis, highlights, merchandise, ticketing, gaming, and betting. It strengthens the business and drives economies of scale.

New revenue stream in social media. The acquisition of Team Whistle, the ELEVEN-owned media business, will enable DAZN to reach younger audiences, diversify and expand its fan engagement capabilities, and maximise the value of DAZN’s rights portfolio. Team Whistle is ranked within the top ten US media sports properties on ComScore with over 700 million followers across its channels, and a growing distribution network that generates around five billion views per month across social platforms. Combining the complementary business of Team Whistle with DAZN’s content rights creates a powerful proposition.

Expanded football rights. The acquisition cements DAZN as a global home of football through the integration of ELEVENsports.com and the 40,000 games it streams each year. Through a strategic relationship, ELEVEN plays a key role in FIFA’s OTT service FIFA+, supporting the production, delivery, and distribution of live games from over 90 FIFA Member Associations. Of note, combined, the companies will create the world’s biggest portfolio of women’s football content. ELEVEN boasts women’s content drawn from across six confederations, adding to DAZN’s impressive roster of UEFA Women’s Champions League, Liga F in Spain, the English FA Women’s Super League and the Women’s FA Cup, and Japanese WE League, among others.

The deal introduces a growing c.$300m a year to DAZN Group’s revenues.

Shay Segev, CEO, DAZN Group, said: “The acquisition adds scale to our business. It is a big step forward in our mission to be the leading global sports platform. I have a great deal of respect for what Andrea, Marc and the team have achieved and look forward to working with them as we further expand our ambitions. Together we form the strongest and most credible management team in the sector. DAZN has invested in building a revolutionary digital sports platform, where fans can enjoy the full range of interactive sport entertainment. We are looking forward to expanding these capabilities to new markets as well as leveraging ELEVEN’s capabilities in DAZN.”

Marc Watson, CEO Eleven Group, said: “We see DAZN as the future of digital sports broadcasting and the ideal home for ELEVEN. Sport is global entertainment and joining with DAZN will be transformative, allowing us to access greater economies of scale and a global platform for our talented team. We couldn’t be more excited about this deal, and I’m really looking forward to working with Shay and the team at DAZN.”

Kevin Mayer, DAZN Chairman, said: “This deal marks an acceleration of our strategy to diversify our offerings and leverage our fantastic sports properties and our platform into new markets and business models. Team Whistle is a growing business that has a proven track record in monetising short form content. It will be hugely valuable to DAZN as we look to generate the maximum value from our enviable rights portfolio, creating new formats of content to reach new audiences and generate powerful incremental revenue streams. We look forward to welcoming all our new colleagues.”

Andrea Radrizzani, ELEVEN Founder & Chairman and Owner of Leeds United, said: “We have developed a successful sports media company in the last six years with ELEVEN, and we’re delighted that this journey continues. The merger will provide greater opportunities as a group to continue to build a global destination for sports fans, which was our mission from day one.”

Upon completion of the deal, Andrea Radrizzani, ELEVEN founder, will join DAZN’s board as an executive director, and will support the DAZN Group’s business development.

Gambling in the USA

Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – April 29-May 5

Published

5 mins ago

May 6, 2024

Niji Narayan

gaming-americas-weekly-roundup-–-april-29-may-5

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which include the latest news and new partnerships. Read on and get updated.

Latest News

This month The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise honoured 186 of its total 1200 team members for reaching significant employment milestones including 15, 10 and 5 years of service for the enterprise. The event at Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort in Flagstaff, Ariz. showcased the impact and journey of each hard-working team member, with a special highlight for 29 employees who have served for 15 years.

Bruce Smith Enterprise and The Cordish Companies have been selected by the City of Petersburg, Virginia to codevelop a $1.4 billion Live! Gaming & Entertainment District, anchored by Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia. The Petersburg City Council unanimously approved Bruce Smith Enterprise and The Cordish Companies as the City’s preferred development partner on the transformative mixed-use project. The proposed project will generate billions of dollars in economic benefits and spinoff development, create thousands of new jobs and benefits to the local community and become a major new tourist destination for the City and the Central Virginia region.

CT Interactive’s LATAM team, led by Diego Verano Ponce and Ana Ruth Farías, attended SIGMA Brazil from April 23 to 25, 2024. The company’s decision to participate in the event underscores its commitment to expanding its presence and strengthening relationships within the region. The presence of Diego Verano and Ana Ruth Farías at SIGMA Brazil provided an excellent opportunity for CT Interactive to engage with industry stakeholders, discuss emerging trends and explore potential partnerships in the LATAM market.

The Colorado Division of Gambling has launched a new illegal gambling awareness campaign. The “Play Legit. Gamble Only Where Legal.” campaign aims to educate the public about the risks associated with illegal gambling and the importance of supporting regulated gaming venues. The campaign emphasises legal gambling options, including casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek, as well as online sports betting and off-track betting.

Lottery.com Inc. announced the restart of its sweepstakes operations in conjunction with the WinTogether Trust, a registered 501(c)3 charitable organisation. The proceeds from the sweepstakes will benefit Street Child United. The sweepstakes had a soft launch on April 3, 2024, and is available at http://donateto.win, the successor to Lottery.com’s WinTogether.org platform.

Partnerships

Hard Rock International, Seminole Gaming and Royal Caribbean Group brands, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, unveiled a global partnership that will benefit both vacationers and team members of the brands. Travellers around the world can take advantage of accommodations, meals, discounts and more at Hard Rock and Seminole casinos, hotels and cafes, and on Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises vacations based on the milestone announcement made by two of South Florida’s largest private employers.

SCCG Management has signed a contract with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), the B.C. Crown corporation which conducts and manages commercial gambling in the province, including lotteries, casinos and online gaming. This partnership aims to undertake a comprehensive assessment and strategic enhancement of BCLC’s diverse operations. The work between SCCG and BCLC will involve a thorough review of technological infrastructures, strategic market positioning and the integration of various gaming modalities.

The post Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – April 29-May 5 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO)

Soft2Bet strengthens integrity monitoring with IBIA membership in Ontario

Published

3 hours ago

May 6, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

soft2bet-strengthens-integrity-monitoring-with-ibia-membership-in-ontario

Soft2Bet, a leading casino and sportsbook platform provider, has joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and activated its membership in Ontario, Canada, following its licensing in the Canadian province.

Soft2bet obtained its Certificate of Registration from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) at the end of March, where the company’s Ontario-focused brand Tooniebet.com will now feed into IBIA’s world-leading sports betting integrity monitoring platform before worldwide implementation in the coming months.

IBIA includes over 50 of the world’s leading sports betting and gaming companies, who operate over 125 sports betting brands. Soft2Bet’s decision to join the association further strengthens its own internal betting integrity protocols and IBIA’s position as the world’s leading sports betting integrity monitoring body.

David Yatom Hay, General Counsel at Soft2Bet, commented: “Soft2Bet is delighted to be joining the IBIA as we strengthen our own betting integrity monitoring processes and play our part in furthering the IBIA’s long-standing work on this key issue. Ontario is a world class iGaming jurisdiction; it will be the first market where we will implement our IBIA membership and we look forward to deploying the monitoring infrastructure worldwide in all the other markets in which we operate.”

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “Soft2Bet is a very welcome addition to IBIA, further strengthening our position in the Ontario market. The operator’s decision to join IBIA demonstrates its desire to utilise the best integrity protection available for its sportsbook product. The association is delighted to be able to integrate Tooniebet within our integrity monitoring system and looks forward to working closely with Soft2Bet to maintain the high integrity of its sportsbook.”

IBIA is a not-for-profit body that has no competing conflicts with the delivery of commercial services to other sectors and is run by operators and for operators to protect regulated sports betting markets from match-fixing. IBIA’s global monitoring network is a highly effective anti-corruption tool, detecting and reporting suspicious activity in regulated betting markets.

Through the IBIA monitoring network it is possible to track transactional activities linked to individual customer accounts. IBIA members generate more than $300bn in annual betting turnover (handle), accounting for approximately 50% of the global commercial regulated land-based and online sports betting sector, and in excess of 50% for online alone.

IBIA recently released a report on the Availability of Sports Betting Products which highlighted Ontario as a leading regulated gambling jurisdiction, with an expected onshore channelisation for sports betting of 92% in 2024 forecast to rise to 97% in2028. IBIA currently represents over 60% of the private sports betting operators licensed in the province. All online sportsbetting operators licensed in Ontario are required to be part of a betting integrity monitoring body.

IBIA’s Q1 2024 report detailed 56 alerts during the quarter. IBIA alerts contributed to the investigations and subsequent successful sanctioning of 21 clubs, players and officials in 2023, an increase on the 15 sanctioned in 2022.

Latest News

South African Online Casino Player Strikes Gold with R189,000 Win at Tusk Casino

Published

6 hours ago

May 6, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

south-african-online-casino-player-strikes-gold-with-r189,000-win-at-tusk-casino

In a thrilling display of fortune and skill, Tusk Casino announces a monumental win by Adelheid, a passionate player from South Africa, who secured an astonishing R189,000 from a mere R100 bet on the renowned casino slot game, Gate of Olympus. This remarkable achievement underscores the high-stakes excitement that Tusk Casino offers to its players.

Adelheid’s journey to this significant win was facilitated by his engagement with SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za, the premier online casino and gambling guide specifically designed for South African players. Since its inception in 2003, SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za has been a cornerstone in the online gambling community, offering expert reviews, trustworthy recommendations, and the latest gambling news, thereby guiding players like Adelheid to reputable and enjoyable online gambling experiences.

“I’ve always looked for the best in online casinos, and SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za has never let me down,” Adelheid remarked. “Their insightful reviews and dependable advice led me to Tusk Casino, where I’ve not only found an incredible array of games but also this life-changing win. It’s a dream come true.”

Tusk Casino is renowned for its vast selection of over 3000 slot games, provided by world-leading game developers such as Pragmatic Play, Yggdrasil, and NetEnt. The casino distinguishes itself with generous bonus offerings, including a 50 Free Spins No Deposit On Wheel of Fortune on Registration, and a R5,000 Welcome Bonus for first-time deposits, making it an enticing choice for both new and seasoned players.

Adelheid’s win is a testament to Tusk Casino’s commitment to providing a premier online gaming experience in the South African market. The casino’s elegant design, user-friendly interface, and substantial bonuses are designed to engage and excite players, promising an unmatched online gaming journey.

With the support of SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za, Tusk Casino continues to solidify its position as a leading online gaming destination, offering secure, engaging, and lucrative gaming experiences for South African players. This partnership ensures that players have access to reliable information, the latest industry news, and the best online gambling opportunities, fostering a safe and enjoyable casino online gambling ecosystem.

About SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za

SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za stands as South Africa’s largest and most reliable online casino and gambling guide, delivering unparalleled casino recommendations, unbiased reviews, and comprehensive gambling insights tailored to ZAR casino players since 2003. It remains a crucial resource for players seeking secure, high-quality, and rewarding online gambling experiences.

About Tusk Casino

As an established corporation with numerous ground casinos worldwide, Tusk Casino has successfully extended its reach into the South African online casino market, offering an exquisite blend of stylish design, player-centric features, and significant bonuses. Licensed and regulated by the Government of Curacao, it provides a diverse range of over 3000 slot games from leading global providers, ensuring a rich, rewarding, and secure online gaming experience for all South African players. With its impressive bonuses and comprehensive payment support, Tusk Casino is dedicated to delivering a distinct and superior online gaming experience.