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BGC WELCOME SPORTS BODIES’ LANDMARK NEW SPONSORSHIP CODES OF CONDUCT
The Betting and Gaming Council has welcomed new Codes of Conduct for Gambling Related Agreements across a number of major sporting bodies, significantly raising standards for sports sponsorship deals.
Working alongside globally recognised national sports bodies including the Premier League, English Football League, The FA, Women’s Super League, Rugby Football League, British Horseracing Authority plus official bodies representing darts, snooker and boxing, the BGC has developed a cross industry voluntary code of conduct for betting sponsorship deals, with each body producing a specific code for their own sport.
This new framework, created by the BGC to drive up standards, sets new standards on safer gambling sponsorship across four key principles of protection, social responsibility, reinvestment and integrity:
- Protection of children and young people – gambling sponsorship must be specifically designed to limit its reach and promotion to those under the age of 18 and those at risk of gambling related harm.
- Social responsibility – gambling sponsorship must be promoted and delivered in a socially responsible way. This includes ensuring that education and awareness messages are provided as part of all marketing activities.
- Reinvestment into sport – the commercial income raised from gambling sponsorship must be reinvested back into infrastructure and programmes that serve fans and communities. This includes investment in improving infrastructure and providing community and grassroots participation opportunities for local communities.
- Maintaining sporting integrity – gambling sponsorship must not compromise the integrity of sporting competitions nor harm the welfare of those participants who take part in them.
The EFL, Premier League, The FA and Women’s Super League have already announced that that they have formally agreed to adopt the new Code of Conduct for Gambling Related Agreements in football ahead of the new season, as has the British Horseracing Authority. We expect further sporting bodies to publish shortly.
This code has huge practical implications for sports sponsorship. For football, that includes ensuring the design of betting sponsorship limits reach to children and those at risk of harm, ensuring professional footballers are aware of available support services and making sure club social media accounts do not include links to betting operator websites.
Clubs will now also ensure that a reasonable and proportionate portion of gambling sponsorship assets promote safer gambling messaging, which may include perimeter boards and match day programmes.
For horseracing, the new code will ensure that betting promotions are not directly targeted at U18, and that appropriate age awareness arrangements are applied on course.
BGC members are committed to ensuring sports betting – and sponsorship – are carried out in a socially responsible way and have been working hard to deliver these new standards.
Michael Dugher, BGC Chair said: “I welcome the publication of these landmark codes that BGC has led on, which sets new standards for sports. These new measures are good for sport, good for BGC members and good for fans.
“BGC members are proud to support some of the most popular sports up and down the country, and that support goes hand in hand with these principles.
“That includes protecting the young, being socially responsible, delivering investment in communities, particularly working class communities which share such close ties to these sports, and maintaining the sporting integrity which makes British clubs the best in the world.
“These codes will a be a big step forward and is something we have been working on for many years, long before the white paper. Our work in this area is another demonstration of our commitment to ensure that any betting sponsorship agreement must be undertaken in a responsible way.
“It is the latest in a long list of measures the BGC has launched to raise standards, including betting operators’ logos being removed from children’s clothing – including replica football kits – and the whistle to whistle ban which has reduced the number of TV betting commercials viewed by children during live sports before the watershed by 97 per cent.
“BGC members are committed to safer gambling and signposting available support regularly and prominently, while our largest members helped deliver a record donation of £172m to tackle gambling harm between 2019 and 2024.
“When we say we are raising standards, we mean business, and this is further concrete evidence of that determination.”
BGC Members provide some of the country’s most popular sport with vital funding, from the grassroots to the elite level.
The Sky Bet sponsored English Football League and its clubs receive £40m, William Hill sponsors the Scottish Professional Football League, while a host of other BGC members from Betway to Kindred are supporting football and other sports.
Meanwhile, horseracing receives £350m, and snooker, darts and rugby league – which is currently sponsored by Betfred – receive more than £12.5m.
Meanwhile, BGC member Entain’s Pitching In sponsors the Trident League – 250 clubs at steps three and four of the English football pyramid – a huge boost to grassroots football. And Flutter has invested millions into a huge range of community sports through its Cash4Clubs scheme.
The regulated betting and gaming industry in the UK supports 110,000 jobs, generates £4.2bn in tax and contributes £7.1bn to the economy.
Each month in Britain around 22.5m adults have a bet and the most recent NHS Health Survey for England estimated that 0.4 per cent of the adult population are problem gamblers.
The post BGC WELCOME SPORTS BODIES’ LANDMARK NEW SPONSORSHIP CODES OF CONDUCT appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Latest News
Huge Jackpot at King Billy Casino: C$3,658,306!
King Billy Casino, launched in 2017, has had some impressive players wins during the “reign of King Billy”. A few of them include Live Game winnings of €135,223, daily winnings from 2 or more slots of $164,000, and €250,000 won on a single spin. However, the latest win by a King Billy Casino player dwarfs every big win that has come before this. Actually, it’s bigger than all previous big wins combined for the operator!
Because, we are talking about C$3,658,306.
This amazing six-digit number was the result of a player going on a safari in her (and millions of other players) beloved Mega Moolah progressive slot from Games Global. In an autumn, the player stepped into eternal summer by wagering a small C$6,25 bet and winning 562.816 times her bet! This is the power of Mega Moolah, as evidenced at King Billy.
King Billy people had only warm words for the occasion. A representative of the casino has stated: “We are elated, for this huge big win. We can never forget that our first big win, many years back, was more than 200,000 Canadian dollars, so we have special ties with the region. And it’s now amazing to see our VIP-player making such a cashback and echoing that big win! Congratulations to our player”.
A few words about Mega Moolah. It was an Internet sensation when it was launched with its beautiful graphics and sounds, and immersive gameplay and it is a sensation today, still going strong after almost 20 years. The slot, which has spawned more than 20 variations, and has given millions in cash to players all over the world (including 5 millionaires in 2024 alone) features 4 types of jackpots that make it stand out from the competition.
About Games Global
Games Global is a supplier of the online gaming industry delivering force and direction to gaming with more than 1,300 top class games. The company has made a commitment to deliver the industry’s more disruptive ideas and compelling data-driven gaming experiences. Games Global features a total of 40+ partnered and in-house studios, services 600+ branded websites and boasts record-breaking jackpots with its worldwide network.
About King Billy Casino
Established on St Patrick’s Day in 2017, King Billy is a renowned new generation casino with more than 26 awards and accolades. The casino is available in English, German, French and Finnish, and created a unique user experience, building on the theme of King Billy and his Kingdom. King Billy ensures that all its players, “Citizens” in the casino language, receive the care and attention they deserve.
The post Huge Jackpot at King Billy Casino: C$3,658,306! appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Boyd Interactive
Play’n GO announces landmark partnership with Resorts Digital Gaming
Play’n GO, the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, has today announced its latest US operator partnership, with Resorts Digital Gaming, in the state of New Jersey.
Resorts Digital Gaming was acquired by Boyd Interactive in September 2024, and this announcement sees the group’s players on the www.resortscasino.com and www.mohegansuncasino.com brands in New Jersey gain access to a multitude of classic Play’n GO game titles, such as the legendary Book of Dead, Rise of Merlin, and Rise of Olympus.
Play’n GO entered New Jersey in September 2022, shortly after first launching in the US via the state of West Virginia in July of that year. It has since seen its games live in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and most recently, Connecticut.
Magnus Olsson, Chief Commercial Officer at Play’n GO, commented “New Jersey has been of crucial importance to our US operations for over two years now, so it is with great pleasure that we make this announcement in conjunction with Resorts Digital Gaming.
“The company joins together two instantly recognizable operator brands, and the addition of Play’n GO’s games will be of enormous mutual benefit. We confidently describe ourselves as the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, and partnerships like this one are of great importance to us in establishing that idea. We’re excited to see this partnership flourish.”
Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer at Boyd Interactive, added “The whole Resorts Digital Gaming team is excited to bring Play’n GO games to our players. Play’n GO is one of the world’s leading iGaming brands, and we’re confident that our players are as excited as we are to see those Play’n GO titles on both www.resortscasino.com and www.mohegansuncasino.com.”
Interviews
Exclusive Q&A w/ Radek Pšurný, CEO at Match Hype
Match Hype has just won two industry competitions. Talk us through your product.
Match Hype brings engagement from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram into the sportsbook. Our technology automatically turns raw sports data into short videos full of sports and betting insights. We have the capacity to create up to a million videos daily in more than 30 languages. We also provide hosting and streaming of the videos, and we track everything in the video thanks to our own player. The high level of video experience and the scale make us unique in the market, and we believe that this innovation is extremely needed in the industry—and the judges in the competitions probably agree with us.
What technologies are you leveraging to deliver such a cutting-edge tool/product?
We have more than six years’ experience in developing dynamic video solutions for clients like Microsoft, HBO, and SAP, and a decade in high-end video production for similarly well-known clients. Match Hype is the essence of this. We have developed our own robust cloud infrastructure that enables us to work on a huge scale. We can also leverage the integration of third-party solutions that help us make the video content rich and engaging. The AI boom came at the right time to help us make the experience for the viewer even better.
Who is Match Hype aimed at?
We focus mostly on sportsbook operators, where we think we can bring the biggest value. But we also have clients on the affiliate and media side. Our “competition” at the moment are creative professionals who are able to create one video at a time. To cover hundreds or thousands of events daily, you need huge manpower. With Match Hype, you don’t need that—it’s all automated. Anybody who appreciates this level of efficiency will benefit.
The end users are any sports fans who enjoy engaging videos. So basically everybody.
Has this industry been slow to embrace video content and unlock the potential it offers? If so, why?
It’s hard for us to talk about the whole industry, as we haven’t been part of it for that long. But iGaming feels like a conservative industry where only truly meaningful innovations make it. Fingers crossed for Match Hype being one of them. We are confident because of our track record in other industries, and mostly thanks to the results of our dynamic videos that are already used by significant igaming industry players.
What makes video content so effective at customer acquisition? How can Match Hype be used in this regard?
People just love video content. In the last review, TikTok said that the average user spends around 90 minutes a day on their platform. Platforms like Spotify used to be music and podcasts only; now they are full of videos. You just can’t ignore that. Video killed the radio star, and a static sportsbook is next to die.
And what about retention? How can it be used to keep players engaged and coming back for more?
Imagine that a 30-second video gives you the exact insights to help you make a betting decision without spending dozens of minutes on different resources to gather all the information. People don’t want to read anymore. This is probably an even bigger strength of Match Hype than user acquisition.
What can we expect from Match Hype in the coming months?
We will establish Match Hype as an industry standard for dynamic video content. We’ll bring many more sports like tennis, basketball horse racing and. We are preparing real-time video use cases—for example, half-time updates in football—and new distribution channels like integration directly into streams. The potential is huge. Stay tuned.
Any final thoughts?
For the last year, we have talked with literally hundreds of iGaming experts, investors, and executives. Almost every one of them sees fan engagement as a huge topic in the upcoming months and years. And video will definitely play a key part in it.
Video says more than a thousand words. Give it a go—watch one of our 30-second videos and see for yourself.
The post Exclusive Q&A w/ Radek Pšurný, CEO at Match Hype appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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