UK Gambling Commission

John Baillie and Catharine Seddon have been reappointed by Oliver Dowden, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, as commissioners of the Gambling Commission for one year from April 11, 2021 to April 10, 2022.

Baillie is a chartered accountant and a former partner of KPMG in Scotland and London. He is immediate past chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, the Scottish local authority watchdog and served two three-year terms.

Seddon spent 20 years as a film-maker before taking up public non-executive roles. She now sits on the Legal Services Board, where she chairs its audit and risk assurance committee and has recently joined the board of the HFEA. She is a founding member of the Health Service Products Appeal tribunal and is also a trustee for special needs charity, CPotential.

Soft2Bet

Casino and sportsbook platform provider Soft2Bet has appointed Hamza Afifi, the former head of sales for the SiGMA Group, as its PR director.

Afifi will play a key role in the promotion of the firm’s over 30 strong portfolio of operator brands, including recent launches such as the gamified sportsbook Betinia and the cabaret-inspired casino Winota.

Boris Chaikin Soft2Bet CEO, said: “A warm welcome to Hamza Afifi, who we are thrilled to name as our new PR director. Having enjoyed tremendous success at a range of highly regarded companies in our industry and beyond, Hamza will apply his impressive skills and experience to the promotion of our award-winning offering, and we are delighted to have him on board.”

Epic Risk Management

Michael Huber has joined Epic Risk Management as an advisory on US operations, enhancing the company’s responsible gambling activities in the country.

The new advisor’s primary responsibilities will see him discuss his lifelong struggle with problem gambling, beginning in his adolescence and ending in 2012, bolstering the company’s ‘lived experience’ knowledge base.

Since overcoming his gambling addiction, Huber has gone on to establish a mental performance coaching and mentoring business. He will join the team overseeing Epic’s burgeoning US operations during Problem Gambling Awareness Month.

“Michael is a very impressive and inspirational mentor and coach,” explained John Millington, vice president of US operations at Epic Risk Management.

“Epic Risk Management is a company that is built on the lived experience of gambling addiction and this underpins everything that we do in the space of harm prevention.

“Our educational programmes and training content use real-life, hard-hitting stories of gambling-harm to educate and raise awareness of the significant risk that problem-gambling creates.

“Michael will leverage his authenticity and own experience of gambling-addiction during his collegiate years and connect it with his subsequent work with high school and college athletes to help convey these vital messages in a powerful and informed way.

“Ultimately, at Epic we want to make as many at-risk groups as possible aware of the potentially destructive financial implications and health issues that out-of-control gambling can cause. To have someone of Michael’s stature, background, and own lived experience bringing this message to life, will only enhance the work that we passionately believe saves lives.”

Gamesys Group

Online gaming operator Gamesys has announced that Tina Southall, chief people officer, will join the group’s board of directors as an executive director with effect.

The company says that the appointment of Southall, who joined the company in March 2014 to establish and lead a new people team, signals further recognition of its “commitment and priority” to all colleagues.

“I am delighted to welcome Tina to the Gamesys board. She has been at the heart of establishing the Gamesys values, our ‘DNA’ and a highly successful new way of working for the company during the current pandemic,” noted Neil Goulden, non-executive chair at Gamesys Group.

“I am confident that Tina will continue to evolve our culture as we face the future, bringing valuable insight and new perspectives to the Board.”

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140

Entain looked to further its compliance campaign after announcing that it would be pulling out from over 140 international markets. 

According to a report from the Financial Times, the group has ceased operations in markets where the likelihood of an appropriate regulatory framework is dwindling, including Argentina, Russia and Ukraine. 

The operator’s chair Barry Gibson underlined that the moves were progressive for the business as it seeks to overhaul operations. 

The move comes after Entain reached a £585m deferred prosecution agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after being subject to a bribery investigation by HM Revenue & Customs. The case was related to its previous Turkish business, which it sold in 2017.

Entain emphasised that it has since transformed as a company and it is a legacy issue for the company as the illegal activity occurred before its 2020 rebrand when it traded as GVC Holdings. 

Gibson commented on that case: “This legacy issue pertains to a business divested by a past management team six years prior. The company has undergone significant changes since then, and the DPA process has underscored the profound evolution from the GVC of the past to today’s Entain. 

“We remain focused on advancing our operations exclusively within regulated markets and are acknowledged as a leading, responsible entity with unparalleled corporate governance across our business.”

18.58

The latest Eilers-Fantini report into North American online casino performance debuted the researchers’ first-ever Canadian report, which saw Pragmatic Play lead the supplier charts with the highest percentage of theoretical win – 18.58 per cent.

The studio came ahead of Evolution’s 16.07 per cent, IGT’s 15.23 per cent and Light & Wonder’s 11.13 per cent, showing that the US’ top three are just as prominent in Canada. 

For top games by GGR, Pragmatic Play took the maiden first place in Canada’s December charts with Sweet Bonanza, while its Gates of Olympus slot also rounded out the top five. 

In between those Pragmatic Play titles, Light & Wonder’s Jin Ji Bao Xi Endless Treasure title took second place, Live Dealer Roulette from Evolution took third place and Cash Eruption took fifth – making it the only title to appear in both the US and Canada’s top five games by GGR. 

Anaxi’s Buffalo slot title stampeded the competition to claim the number one spot in the US report for December’s top games by gross gaming revenue, with IGT’s Blackjack title pipped at the post for consecutive months. 

6

The UK Gambling Commission ordered Gamesys Operations Limited to pay a £6m penalty due to an investigation into the firm that discovered social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

Following a compliance assessment in May 2022, the UKGC discovered several social responsibility and AML failures at Gamesys taking place between November 2021 and July 2022.

In terms of social responsibility failures, the commission noted that the operator was “not always identifying customers at risk of experiencing harms associated with gambling”. 

The UKGC also stated that Gamesys did not always have “a system of deposit limits which, for some customers, did not identify risks of harm quickly enough” as one customer was able to deposit £8,255 within three days of opening an account, another lost £5,968 within five weeks of opening account and another lost £17,482 within 34 days of opening an account.

Regarding AML failures, the UKGC discovered through its investigation that in certain circumstances, some Gamesys customers were “able to evade some of the licensee’s AML triggers/thresholds and go on to spend significant sums without AML checks being conducted”.

As such, one customer deposited £14,585 in 28 weeks, another deposited £18,884 in just over six months and another deposited £34,280 in five and a half months.

Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations at UKGC, commented: “Our focus as a regulator is to ensure that operators are employing policies and procedures which make gambling fair, safe and crime-free.

“We take this responsibility extremely seriously and whenever we find failures in policies and procedures then the business can expect significant regulatory action.”

4

After almost four years leading Entain, Jette Nygaard-Andersen has released a statement on her decision to step down as CEO, saying that the company is “better and stronger” than it has ever been.

“Entain is fundamentally a better and stronger company today than it has ever been,” she said.

“Through a multitude of twists, turns and challenges, we’ve transformed the business from the GVC of old to one with the highest standards of governance, compliance, player safety, a new effective strategy setting the company up for further growth in all markets, old and new, and excellent quality of earnings.

“Over the past four years, we have dramatically shifted the company to be a responsible operator, a reputable employer, strategically put the customer front and centre of business operations, worked on transforming the technology to make it future fit, diversified the portfolio and so much more.”

Last month, Entain announced that Nygarrd-Andersen would be resigning from her position as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.

Although ending amid the HMRC investigation, Nygarrd-Andersen’s tenure as Entain CEO saw a number of milestones, including several high-profile acquisitions expanding the firm’s global presence.

The outgoing CEO added: “Thanks to the professionalism and passion of Entainers around the world, the business tackled challenges such as the pandemic head-on, navigated a path to 100 per cent regulated operations and always thought of the customer. 

“As a result, Entain is now a business that has scaled and operates in over 30 territories with 30,000 employees.”

3

New York State has introduced another legislation that looks to legalise online casinos in the Empire State. 

Senator Joseph Addabbo put forward S8185 for discussion on January 11, and as of writing, it resides in the Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee. The 2024 bill is very similar to the 2023 edition – S4856 – with a few slight changes.

Like last year’s bill, online casino licences will be available for the four downstate casinos and three forthcoming upstate casinos, VLT parlours MGM Empire City Casino and Resorts World NYC, New York tribes and online sports betting operators.

In addition, three more licences will be available for competitive bids for applicants who have a focus on DEI, whereas last year’s bill stated that three additional licences would be available for applicants with at least five per cent minority ownership.

The bill states: “abide by an affirmative action program of equal opportunity, approved by the commission, whereby the applicant establishes specific goals for the utilisation of minorities, women and veterans in full-time, permanent jobs at such interactive gaming license’s place of operation.”

The bill estimates that New York would receive approximately $1bn annually in state tax revenue, as well as $150m in one-time licence fees from casinos, operators and independent contractors looking to conduct online casino operations.

213.5

Golden Entertainment completed the sale of its distributed gaming operations in Nevada to an affiliate of J&J Ventures Gaming.

J&J Gaming acquired Golden Entertainment’s Nevada distributed gaming operations for cash consideration of approximately $213.5m, subject to customary working capital and other adjustments, plus purchased cash (cash and cash equivalents related to such operations at the time of closing) of approximately $37.5m.

For this transaction, Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal counsel to Golden Entertainment.

Golden Entertainment and J&J Gaming have already worked together on one transaction in the past year, as the operator sold its Montana distributed gaming operations in September 2023 to an affiliate of J&J Gaming.

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The operator of 16 websites, including ballycasino.co.uk, doublebubblebingo.com, jackpotjoy.com and megawayscasino.com, will also undergo a third-party audit to make sure AML and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls are being implemented effectively.

Following a compliance assessment in May 2022, the UKGC discovered several social responsibility and AML failures at Gamesys taking place between November 2021 and July 2022.

Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations at UKGC, commented: “Our focus as a regulator is to ensure that operators are employing policies and procedures which make gambling fair, safe and crime-free.

“We take this responsibility extremely seriously and whenever we find failures in policies and procedures then the business can expect significant regulatory action.”

In terms of social responsibility failures, the commission noted that the operator was “not always identifying customers at risk of experiencing harms associated with gambling”. 

An example included “placing inappropriate reliance on checks which indicate whether a customer had a historical individual voluntary arrangement or been bankrupt or insolvent as a sign of gambling harm”.

The UKGC also stated that Gamesys did not always have “a system of deposit limits which, for some customers, did not identify risks of harm quickly enough” as one customer was able to deposit £8,255 within three days of opening an account, another lost £5,968 within five weeks of opening account and another lost £17,482 within 34 days of opening an account.

Also under social responsibility, the commission’s investigation found that Gamesys were “not always interacting with customers who may be at risk of or experiencing harms associated with gambling”. 

The UKGC highlighted that examples they discovered of this included only interacting with one customer after they had lost almost £10,000 and that a “‘responsible gambling interaction’ involved the recommendation of new games and promotions”.

In addition, only one responsible gambling interaction was carried out with a customer who had lost £19,709 over five months, and “records of interactions, considerations, and rationale for decisions were not always recorded in sufficient detail, despite this being specified in the Licensee’s responsible gambling procedures”.

Regarding AML failures, the UKGC discovered through its investigation that in certain circumstances, some Gamesys customers were “able to evade some of the licensee’s AML triggers/thresholds and go on to spend significant sums without AML checks being conducted”.

As such, one customer deposited £14,585 in 28 weeks, another deposited £18,884 in just over six months and another deposited £34,280 in five and a half months.

The commission also noted that the operator conducted “inadequate customer due diligence” and was “over-reliant on third party information” or customer’s verbal assurances, as one customer deposited £25,000 over three months, another deposited £58,000 in six months and another deposited £65,000 in six months.

The UKGC also stated that Gamesys had “a ‘reinvestment of winnings policy’ which was insufficient to mitigate the risk that deposited funds could be from illegitimate sources and not just from previous winnings”.

As a result of the findings, the commission has imposed a warning under section 117 (a) of the Gambling Act 2005, alongside a total financial penalty of £6,071,292 (which includes a divestment amount of £165,042) and has also attached an additional condition to the licensee’s operating licence under section 117(1)(b) of the act.

The UKGC added that Gamesys cooperated with the commission throughout the investigation. The operator also advised that it had taken corrective steps.

The commission also added that it found “no evidence of criminal monies being deposited by the specific customers looked at during its review”.

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Totalling around £34.7m, excluding regulatory settlements, the voluntary donations from the gambling industry, Betfair also contributed £6m, Ladbrokes Coral offering £4.765m, William Hill donated £4,578,812 and Entain providing £4m.

Received between April 2, 2021 to March 31, 2022, GambleAware currently asks all those who profit from gambling in Britain to donate a minimum of 0.1 per cent of their annual gross gambling yield direct to the charity each year. 

“These donations fund essential services for the prevention of gambling harms, helping build a coalition of expertise to tackle and prevent gambling harms across Great Britain,” said Zoë Osmund, GambleAware CEO.

“We welcome the commitment from the ‘Big Four’ operators to increase their donations over the coming years, however, there remains an inconsistent approach to funding across the wider gambling industry, which leads to uncertainty and instability.

“That’s why we are calling on the government to introduce a mandatory levy on the gambling industry as a condition of licence.”

In the latest update, other significant contributors included Stars Interactive (£680,000), Tombola (£663,599) and Hillside (UK Sports) with £2.69m, in addition to the £601,000 from its UK Gaming subsidiary.

Within the gaming sector, Playtech was one of the noticeable contributors with £101,768.46, followed by Platinum Gaming with £92,000. Others included; Broadway Gaming (£72,796), InTouch Games (£56,400), Greentube (£55,000), Red Tiger (£51,000), Videoslots (£50,000), Zecure Gaming (£50,000), White Hat Gaming (£47,230), 32Red (£28,000) and Gamesys (£22,989.47).

Osmund continued: “The gambling industry should take the necessary and responsible steps by matching its success to the scale of gambling harms risk, especially at a time of rising financial and economic hardship across the country. 

“This would commit much more funding to treatment, prevention, and research per year – and could be delivered in a matter of months.”

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As part of the deal, Bally’s will launch Raw’s games to its B2C brands including Virgin Games, Jackpotjoy, Bally Bet, Rainbow Riches Casino and Vera & John. 

“This is an amazing opportunity for Raw to distribute its innovative Super-branded games to one of the premier operators in igaming,” explained Tom Wood, CEO of Raw iGaming.

“Gamesys has an incredible track record with deep experience and working closely with its teams will help us learn and perfect our new gaming products.”

The partnership sees Bally’s become the first operator in the world to launch SuperSlice and SuperTracks games to players.

Nick Wright, SVP of Business Development and Interactive at Bally’s Corporation, added: “We are excited to welcome Raw iGaming to our Engage Exclusives programme and support the studio in launching these new and exciting formats across our sites.

“We believe Raw’s SuperSlice and SuperTracks games offer our players something completely fresh and innovative, and we’re proud to be first bringing this new gameplay to market.”

The agreement with Gamesys follows on from Raw’s acquisition of Leander Games which saw the supplier launch its SuperSlice games across regulated markets, utilising Leander’s customer base across Europe and South America, along with the introduction of a new aggregation business. 

Moreover, Raw stated that, following the purchase, the company aims to focus on developing entertainment technologies with the Leander Games platform, live in 13 regulated markets, said to “play a big part” in distributing and expanding Raw’s product offering.

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The five year exclusive content agreement with the firm, which forms a part of Bally’s Corporation, will provide Gamesys with access to the full Gaming Arts library of titles for deployment into online, real money gaming worldwide.

Mike Dreitzer, CEO of Gaming Arts commented: “This is a truly defining moment for Gaming Arts. As one of our first forays into online gaming, we couldn’t be more pleased than to partner with Gamesys/Bally to deliver our exciting game portfolio to online real money global gaming markets everywhere. 

“Gamesys/Bally is a proven, world class provider of online games. The fact that they are partnering with us in this exclusive way, and have committed to feature our games within their global portfolio, represents a very exciting opportunity to introduce Gaming Arts content to an entirely new segment.

“This is just the first aspect of our partnership. Going forward, Gaming Arts will work closely with Gamesys/Bally as part of a larger omnichannel strategy to deliver the best of breed games in the online space as well as land-based casino formats.”

The agreement will see the two collaborate in a bid to identify, convert and deliver titles from Gaming Arts library of casino slot games to all online gaming markets in which Gamesys operates around the world.  The deal also calls for Gaming Arts to develop new games for Gamesys.

David Colvin, Chair and Founder of Gaming Arts, concluded: “Gaming Arts is very pleased with this new partnership. This partnership with Gamesys/Bally is a big step forward for us on so many levels.  We look forward to working together in the exciting days ahead.”  

In October 2021, Bally’s completed its $2bn acquisition of Gamesys Group, following the receipt of all necessary regulatory requirements and shareholder approvals.

Nick Wright, SVP Business Development, Interactive at Bally Corporation, noted: “Bally is delighted to partner with Gaming Arts and to have exclusive access to their popular and proven game portfolio for use in online gaming. We look forward to expanding our relationship with Gaming Arts across multiple channels.”

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To the period ending December 31, 2021, the mobile focused gaming content developer revealed that its FY21 revenue is expected to total £14.5m, up 27 per cent from the previous year. 

In addition to its revenue, the company’s adjusted EBITDA rose 70 per cent from 2021 as it came in at $5.6m.

Michael Buckley, executive chairman of Gaming Realms, commented: “We are delighted with the performance in 2021, where we launched in new markets and increased the distribution of our expanded Slingo portfolio. 

“We have a strong pipeline of opportunities and the outlook is very encouraging, with further expected expansion of our international footprint coupled with additional deals within the markets where our content is already distributed. 

“We believe that the strong momentum of last year will continue into 2022 which is demonstrated by entry into regulated markets announced today.”

Lauding its entry into the US via Michigan and Pennsylvania, Gaming Realms also noted that its 2021 rise was aided by the 35 partnerships agreed internationally throughout the year.

In November 2021, Gaming Realms entered the regulated Romanian igaming market through an agreement with Superbet. The deal saw the operator publish the developer’s Slingo content in the country’s regulated market, including Slingo Extreme, Red Hot Slingo, as well as its most recent release Slingo Sweet Bonanza.

Following this, Gaming Realms continued its expansion in December when it linked-up with JVH gaming and entertainment group in the newly regulated Dutch market under the Jack’s Casino brand. 

Initially, Jack’s Casino is set to offer 15 Slingo games to its Dutch player base, with further agreements with other licensed operators agreed and scheduled through Q1 2022.

The company’s momentum at the back end of 2021 also carried into 2022 as the group entered the Spanish regulated market via a long-term strategic partnership with Gamesys – now part of Bally’s Corporation – under its Monopoly and Botamania brands. 

An initial fifteen games have been approved for launch in this market. Following a short exclusivity period with Gamesys, Gaming Realms will also launch its Slingo portfolio with Rank Group‘s YoBingo and YoCasino brands in the Spanish market.

The company expects to report its FY21 preliminary results during the week commencing April 25, 2022.

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The report, which underlined the contribution that the regulated betting and gaming industry makes to communities, the economy and sport, also noted that the gambling industry added £2.2bn in treasury taxes and £4.5bn across its supply chain.

Moreover, the sector generated 119,000 jobs – 61,000 direct, 22,000 in Scotland and Northern England, and 15,000 in London – of which 19 per cent under the age of 25 and 51 per cent under 35. 

In addition to the abovementioned, a number of companies were highlighted in the report, including bet365 Group, Flutter Entertainment, William Hill, Gamesys and Entain, whilst BGC members in general were praised for their collective support for the Young People’s Gambling Harm Prevention Programme, delivered in cooperation with YGAM and GamCare.

Of the mentioned companies, the Entain Foundation was highlighted for its activities since its 2019 launch and its major CST achievements with 2021 seeing the foundation commit to donating £500m over the next five years to causes such as responsible gambling, education and treatment, men’s mental health, and community projects. 

Martin Lycka, Entain’s SVP for American regulatory affairs and responsible gambling and Entain Foundation trustee, stated: “We are delighted to have partnered with sports clubs, gambling researchers and athletes in a number of our key jurisdictions, including Germany, the UK, Italy and the US.

“The range of the new initiatives that we are announcing, and the quality of the partnerships that we have entered, is a great endorsement of our overall CSR strategy, and there is plenty more to come.”

Other highlights were the Gamesys Foundation’s £100,000 commitment to mental health and the William Hill Foundation’s partnership with the Scottish Football Association concerning mental wellbeing, along with Playtech becoming the inaugural holder of GamCare’s safer gambling standard.

Additional societal initiatives have focused on safer gambling – particularly with regards to funding to research, education and treatment – with industry contributions to GambleAware reaching £10.6m. bet365, Entain and William Hill made the biggest contributions, whilst Flutter donated £8m in March 2021.

Initiatives from Entain and William Hill were highlighted, but a notable policy implemented was Kindred Group’s decision to report its revenue share from high-risk players, outlining a goal of generating zero per cent revenue from harmful gambling by 2023. 

Maris Catania, head of responsible gaming and research, Kindred Group, explained: “Sharing these numbers may not be popular with some audiences, but it will also create a potential chance to have more fact-based discussions and data sharing in the gambling industry. That is truly important.”

Moving onto diversity, Entain, Flutter, William Hill, Playtech and 888 were all noted for their movements in this space. Entain was highlighted for its EnTrain initiative and £250,000 support to young women in the industry via its foundation, whilst 888 established its Environment, Social and Governance committee.

John Mendelsohn, chairman of 888 and the 888 ESG committee, noted: “As a board, we are committed to ensuring that issues such as safer gambling, the climate change agenda, diversity and inclusion, and community engagement are consistently incorporated into the group’s strategy and decision making. 

“The creation of this committee demonstrates 888’s firm commitment to continuous ESG improvements and ensuring sustainable and ethical best practice across the group’s activities.”

Commenting on the report, Michael Dugher, BGC chief executive, concluded: “This report highlights the huge contribution the regulated industry is making to the communities in which it operates.

“Across the board, we see examples where members and their employees are making a real difference to the lives of others, through their support for the post-pandemic recovery, their backing for local communities, charities and grassroots sports clubs hit hard by the pandemic, their commitment to inclusion and diversity and their determination to tackle climate change.”

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Heading up the development of the new studio is experienced industry professional Joey Hurtado, who joined the Pariplay team in September 2021.

Before that, he spent two years as Head of Product Operations at Gamesys, while his decade of industry service also includes time at 888 Holdings, Unibet Group, GVC and Betsson, where he was managing director of operator brands including Casino Euro, Norges Automaten and Suomiarvat.

CasinoBeats spoke to Hurtado about how sitting on the operator side of the table will help him to hone Wizard Games’ value propositions and its vision for the future. 

CasinoBeats: During your time working in the industry, what are the major changes you have seen in the igaming industry? 

Joey Hurtado: The industry is constantly changing which is a big part of what makes it such a fun and interesting place to work. Over the last few years, the one major change has been regulation. 

This is a challenge for operators and studios alike with requirements on features and functionality as well as the introduction of gaming taxes forcing us to take a new approach to both game design and commercial strategies. 

All these changes present several challenges, but also a lot of opportunity for those willing and able to adapt to them and evolve, something I believe we are well positioned to do at Wizard Games.

CB: What challenges do you think gaming studios have to overcome today to be successful in the years to come?

JH: As regulation evolves and increases, we see a lot of different requirements and restrictions on certain game elements. The flexibility and agility to be able to develop in a way that can accommodate multiple regulatory models without having to create bespoke versions for every market is critical. 

In addition, taxation has squeezed margins for operators which have had a knock-on effect on pricing. To maintain profitability, we have to be more innovative and creative in the way we build games as well as invest in value-adding features such as our engagement features and more recently our ‘buy bet’ solution.

CB: You have, up until recently, worked on the operator side. What are the most valuable lessons that you will now apply as the managing director of Wizard Games?

JH: Having been on the other side of the table, I understand first-hand the competitiveness of the slots market and the sheer amount of content available to operators. This puts pressure on studios to create better games but also to push the boundaries in terms of innovation, the commercial side of things, and service. 

The operators own their players, and it is critical we understand this and cater to their needs and requirements in our roadmaps whilst leaving space and freedom to try new things and be creative.

CB: What is your vision for the future of Wizard Games?

JH: I want to see Wizard Games take a seat at the top table with other tier one studios. We have already done a lot of groundwork with our platform, features and distribution so now it’s time to elevate our content and portfolio to not just keep up with industry trends but to be the one setting them.

CB: Okay, so what is the major value proposition Wizard Games has for its partners?

JH: We are a service focused business. We rely on our partners to push out and promote our content to their players and we aim to ensure there is no better provider to work with than Wizard Games. We work closely with all our partners and find solutions to their problems and try to create a service style bespoke to them and their players rather than a one size fits all approach.

CB: Why rebrand? What is it about the new brand that reflects where the studio is going towards?

JH: Despite already having a portfolio of over 100 games and an existing presence in the industry, we felt that it was time to give our studios their own identity, independent of the Pariplay brand. We really wanted to create a tier one business outside of Pariplay’s already established and successful aggregation and distribution platform.

CB: And what is Wizard Games keeping from its former experience as Pariplay games and what is being changed/improved?

JH: As much as we value our new independence, we would be mad to ignore the highly talented teams and amazing platform that Pariplay has. Whilst the games studio has rebranded and we are investing in new talent and leadership, we will still be working closely with teams at Pariplay and using their state-of-the-art of aggregation, engagement and service elements to support Wizard Games.

CB: From the operator perspective, what will the period of change look like?

JH: The transition will be seamless. We were conscious that our operator partners should not be affected by the changes we’re making. In the mid to long term, they can look forward to a host of new content, development of features and a renewed focus on our commercial partnerships, supporting them in helping their players experience the magic. 

CB: Are there any new products ahead to surprise the industry? 

JH: Most definitely, but if I told you, they wouldn’t be a surprise.

CB: And finally, what can you share about your plans for the studio in 2022?
JH: In simple terms, our 2022 plan is to continually improve. We would like each game to be better than the last, and we also want to introduce new and exciting firsts for us which we hope to share further down the line.

The post You’re a Wizard, Joey: Meet the man leading Pariplay’s rebranded games studio appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Cited in The Evening Standard, the online gambling group, which recently completed its £2m merger with Bally’s Corporation, has pencilled in mid-2022 to move into Colegrave House on Berners Street. 

“We are proud to be committing our future to London, where we have been based for the last 20 years. As we embrace hybrid working it’s important to have a brilliant space for face to face collaboration and we look forward to moving in the middle of 2022,” Gamesys statement read.

The firm’s new UK headquarters, located between Soho and Fitzrovia, are recognised as one the capital’s most luxurious office spaces.

The lease of Colegrave House became available following last year’s collapse of Arcadia Group, the UK highstreet fashion retailer that operated the stores of TopShop, TopMan, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridges.  

Gamesys confirmed that it would look to house 1,000 staff members in its new headquarters, with the company undertaking a further recruitment spree next year.

Under new ownership, Gamesys units will serve as the technology and systems provider for Bally’s US wagering expansion. Gamesys has been tasked with developing a new platform, housing Bally’s new bolt-on assets of SportCaller, Monkey Knife Fight and Bet.Works

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