Mohegan Sun

Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment’s flagship Mohegan Sun property, located in Uncasville, Connecticut, has appointed Kim Noto to vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer.

In the new role she will take the lead on all marketing efforts, including overseeing Mohegan Sun’s player’s club, VIP services, hotel sales and marketing, hotel yielding, database marketing, sponsorship, bus marketing and special events.

“Kim is a great example of how hard work, dedication and a personal commitment to development can lead to success at our company,” noted Jeff Hamilton, president and general manager at Mohegan Sun.

“As our business strategy adjusts for a post-COVID world, we are looking forward to her perspective and strategic decisions.”

Paysafe

Paysafe has appointed Ismail Dawood as its new group chief financial officer. Based in the US, Dawood will report into Paysafe CEO, Philip McHugh, when he joins the company on September 28.

Dawood is lauded as bringing a track record of over 25 years in financial leadership and has previously held CFO positions in both public and private organisations. His experience includes corporate finance, treasury, investor relations, tax, financial planning and analysis, operational performance management, controllership, M&A and strategy.

McHugh said: “Izzy is a talented finance executive with a proven track record in strategic thinking and driving impressive results. I know he will be a real asset to our team as we continue our path to become the world’s leading specialised payments platform.”

Sportnco

France-based sports betting solutions supplier Sportnco has confirmed the appointment of Benjamin Böhle-Roitelet as its new chief information officer.

Sportnco praised Böhle-Roitelet’s technical expertise, highlighting that the new appointment will strengthen the company’s technical arsenal as well as ‘increasing innovation and managing acquisitions of tech companies’.

Hervé Schlosser, CEO and founder of Sportnco, stated: “The arrival of Benjamin Böhle-Roitelet as CIO is extremely positive and we are delighted about it.

“Benjamin is an additional asset for our company and will enable us to provide an even stronger level of service to our current and future B2B customers. This will take the company to a new level in what is already a highly technological sector.”

United Remote

Jessica Walker has been appointed as sales and business development manager at aggregator and platform provider United Remote, gaining responsibility for commercial development in present key markets as well as nurturing new territories.

Bringing a wealth of experience across igaming and media, the hire is praised as “the latest significant addition to the United Remote management group.”

Based in Malta, Walker is to gain responsibility for all global business development activities which includes delivery of United Remote’s sales, commercial and B2B customer strategy.

United Remote Group CEO Jeremy Fall commented: “Jessica Walker is an outstanding appointment for United Remote as we extend the influence of our advanced technologies to operators and partners around the world.

I am thrilled to welcome Jessica to United Remote’s senior management team, a highly skilled and experienced woman who will be a key team player in helping us to drive our future development and to achieve our ambitions. Her commitment to United Remote is another mark of confidence in our technology platform and our growth potential.”

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Following the signing of a head of terms agreement, GiG has stated that it has subsequently formalised the link-up that will see the delivery of its platform and sportsbook to Maryland.

Powered by the group’s technology and architecture, the turnkey solution to be gained by Crab Sports includes the technical platform and sportsbook, all powered by GiG’s data and rules based solutions. 

Maryland’s sports betting market, reported GiG, is anticipated to generate $217m of revenue in year one alone, with both parties stressing much optimism for the future of the partnership.

Sports wagering in Maryland was legalised in 2021 but is still limited to retail sportsbooks, with online sports wagering not expected to launch until next year.  

Richard Brown, CEO of GiG, said: “I am excited to be partnering with a localised brand like Crab Sports in Maryland, US. We view the Maryland and the wider US market as a strong opportunity given our expertise in personalisation and building a unique customer experience. 

“We believe we can partner with brands, such as Crab Sports, and truly provide them with a differentiation on the market and help them compete against the nationwide tier one players. 

“We look forward to working with the excellent team at Crab Sports to help build a brand and an experience that will stand out in Maryland.”

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This comes as the company stated that it is looking to accelerate its short and long term growth following April’s Sportnco acquisition after delivering a revenue uptick of 27 per cent to €19.1m (2021: €15m), a second consecutive quarterly record.

After GiG previously expressed that “this is the first year of our new approach, and the list of achievements are impressive, but we have a lot more to do” following a dissection of its FY2021 performance, the group is to continue to evaluate “strategic options to increase shareholder value going forward”.

Furthermore, through the first quarter gross profit increased 26.26 per cent to €21.98m (2021: €17.42m), as EBITDA rose 32 per cent to €6.5m (2021: €4.9m).

Richard Brown, CEO at GiG, commented: “We have made some significant strides in the first quarter of 2022, delivering all-time high revenues for the second consecutive quarter, up 27 per cent year-on year, driven by continued outstanding performance of our media unit. 

“The EBITDA followed with year-on-year growth of 32 per cent and the company delivered positive cash flow and positive EPS. With the acquisition of Sportnco now completed, the business is well positioned to accelerate further towards its strategic objectives with a much increased near and long term growth in its addressable market and increasing strength in its product proposition. 

“Our focus turns towards the execution of the post merger integration plan which we believe will deliver both significant revenue and cost optimisation synergies.”

The company’s media service segment took the lion’s share of revenue with €14.1m, up 40 per cent €10m, with EBITDA increasing 49 per cent to €6.8m (2021: €4.6m). 

This division referred 69,800 (2021: 43,700) first time depositors to operators during the first quarter, a 60 per cent increase year-on-year and 15 per cent on a quarterly basis.

Revenue and EBITDA across platform services dropped to €5m (2021: €5.2m) and a loss of €200,000 (2021: €300,000), primarily attributed to the exit of Hard Rock as well as ongoing temporary headwings created by the Dutch market.

“Now with the completion of Sportnco we turn our force of attention to the integration of the people and technologies,” added Brown.

“With the focus on driving revenue through the combined product and operational offering in conjunction with material cost savings for the platform business on the back of the acquisition.

“We can see the strength of the combined offering in the first month with the signing our first joint contract combining the products and services from both GiG and Sportnco which has moved us for the first time into the emerging and high potential of the regulated African market. 

“I am satisfied with the company’s progress in the first quarter, and we now move toward an exciting second quarter where our global strategic position across multiple areas of high value within the igaming industry creates truly exciting prospects for growth across the business units.”

For the full year, GiG stated that its combined operations should generate revenues of €87m-€93m with an EBITDA of €30m-€35m.

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The comments come in the group’s annual breakdown of 2021, which saw the Malta headquartered firm enter its first full year as a sole B2B enterprise following October 2020’s €33m B2C divestment to Betsson Group.

“We have closed off 2021 with strong financial performance seeing growth in all KPIs, and importantly we have laid a truly exciting and expansive structure in place to further accelerate our global long term ambitions via the acquisition of Sportnco,” he reflected. 

“While pleased with results for 2021, I still very much feel that we are only beginning our journey towards creating full value potential in the group’s business.”  

For the year, GiG reported a 28 per cent revenue uptick to €66.8m (2020: €52.2m), with media services continuing “to go from strength to strength” with €45m (2020: €34.3m) and platform services said to be building towards its expansion strategy after coming in at €21.4m (2020: €18.9m). 

Headwinds encountered, as expanded upon in the past by the group, came from the familiar German and Dutch jurisdictions, much like many other industry entities.

Meanwhile, revenue growth from GiG’s underlying SaaS business followed a strategic shutdown of its white-label enterprise, while entry into six regulated jurisdictions is hailed as a “key driver for the long term growth”.

Following praise being heaped on the aforementioned Sportnco acquisition, which has been praised as marking a “step forward into the next chapter” for the group, Brown switched tack slightly by examining ongoing ESG efforts.

“After a remarkable year growing stronger together, 2021 allowed us to refocus our sustainability efforts and address the broad spectrum of initiatives needed to improve our ESG ratings, whilst adapting to our B2B business strategy,” he commented.

“Our four sustainability pillars have two clearly defined business and people goals, allowing for a truly holistic approach.”

Continuing: “What makes me proud is that we are taking ownership of every aspect of sustainability, including our impact on the global environment, and through our upcoming assessment of our scope one, two and three emissions, our supplier chain ethics and improving our global reporting, we not only aim to achieve net zero by 2030, but we will continue to improve our ratings and the overall sustainability of GiG, our people, partners and their end users.”

To conclude his CEO address, Brown again refers to the productive year that is being left behind, but reaffirms that more is expected moving forward.

“2021 was an exciting and rewarding year, and our first full year as B2B only focus, and we have made real ground in positioning the business and have continued to focus on improving our client offering and operational structures to enable us to continue to pursue the success and growth opportunities that are in front of the business to ultimately deliver value for our shareholders,” it is concluded.

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Upon completion, the group says it can now “step forward into the next chapter in GiG’s history,” with its board to place a strong focus on overall operations, including the post-merger integration, as well as continuing to look at possible strategic options to increase shareholder value going forward.

Richard Brown, CEO of GiG, explained: “The team at Sportnco have built a tremendous business, one that is highly complementary to GIG’s offering both in product but also addressable market increase, and now the work begins to realise the truly existing growth opportunities that the business combination can pursue. 

“We welcome both the owners of Sportnco & SkyCity as shareholders and the staff of Sportnco into GiG organisation and now move forward with full focus on the execution of the post-merger integration plan.”

Of the total purchase price, €27.87m has been paid in cash and €23.50m in new shares, with Sportnco to also retain €18.63m of its existing long-term loans.

Furthermore, alongside the acquisition agreement, GiG also previously deepened its alliance with New Zealand’s SkyCity in December of the past year.

This saw the casino and entertainment operator invest €25m in GiG, therefore financing the main part of the cash consideration to the shareholders of Sportnco.

The group has 84 shareholders, the largest being CEO and founder Hervé Schlosser (15.6 per cent), Olivier Marchal, President at Bain&Co France (9.1 per cent), and BNP Paribas Développement (6.6 per cent), who will hold 1.60 per cent, 0.93 per cent and 0.67 per cent respectively in GiG. SkyCity will hold 10.98 per cent.

In addition, the shareholders of Sportnco are entitled to a two year earn-out, of up to €11.5 million per year, based on performances across 2022 and 2023 This will be paid 50 per cent in cash and new shares.

Hervé Schlosser, CEO and founder of Sportnco, commented: “Together with all the teams and shareholders who have built the success of Sportnco and Tecnalis, we are extremely proud of the journey we have accomplished since 2008, and of our integration today into the GIG group. 

“I look forward to opening this new chapter as I am confident that, together, we will offer stronger technology solutions for our customers in the fast-growing regulated markets.”

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2026

According to end-of-year data published by the European Gaming and Betting Association, Europe’s online gambling market is expected to be accelerated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, along with the use of mobile devices. 

In partnership with H2 Gambling Capital, the report predicts that by 2026, online GGR is expected to reach 41 per cent of Europe’s total gambling revenue, up from a 26 per cent share in 2019.

Another trend expected to continue is the increasing use of mobile devices, such as phones and tablets for online gambling, with the share of bets from mobile devices this year set to account for 50.5 per cent of Europe’s online bets for the first time, with the EGBA expecting this number to reach 61.5 per cent of all online bets by 2026.

“The growth trend of Europe’s online gambling market continues but there remains significant room for online development in markets such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, where the online share of the total gambling market is still relatively low despite the online markets in these countries being relatively mature,” commented Maarten Haijer, secretary general at the EGBA.

$12bn

Online and retail operators in Ohio are predicted to generate between $9bn and $12bn in bets annually once fully matured, according to PlayOhio. 

Predicted to come as soon as the market’s third year, this estimation would also accumulate between $700m and $900m in gross revenue each year as PlayOhio also pinpointed that the state’s sports betting market is capable of producing as much as $900m in gaming revenue, $12bn in wagers, and $90m in state taxes once the market matures.

“Ohio is a large state that has embraced an open model, which will make it immensely attractive to both national and local operators,” said Eric Ramsey, analyst for the PlayUSA.com network, which includes PlayOhio.com. 

“The common element among the largest markets in the US is that they all foster competition among many operators. Those markets are far more appealing to bettors, which in turn makes the industry a more reliable revenue producer for the state.”

$111m

Penn National Gaming has opened its fourth gaming and entertainment property in Pennsylvania as it marks the grand opening of its $111m Hollywood Casino Morgantown.

Once open to the public, Hollywood Casino Morgantown will welcome thousands of guests to experience 750 slot machines, 30 table games, a retail barstool sportsbook, upscale casual dining and premier guest service.

“We would like to officially welcome players and guests to Hollywood Casino Morgantown, our fourth property in the Commonwealth,” remarked Todd George, executive vice president of operations for PNG. “We’re thrilled to showcase this regional entertainment destination, offering premier gaming and dining in a modern atmosphere. 

“In addition, we’re grateful for the support of our host community, Caernarvon Township, and to all of our local and state legislators and regional business leaders who helped make this day possible. We’re proud to be creating jobs and starting a new economic engine right here in Berks County.”

£1.62bn

Flutter Entertainment has secured terms for the acquisition of Italian online gaming operator Sisal, from CVC Capital Partners Fund VI for £1.62bn.

Scheduled to be completed during the second quarter of 2022, the purchase of Sisal, which is payable in cash and in full, is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings in the first 12 months post-completion.

Moreover, the purchase amount includes full repayment of all Sisal’s debt upon completion and will be financed by way of additional Flutter debt facilities, agreed with Barclays Bank. 

Commenting on the acquisition, Peter Jackson, Flutter’s chief executive, stated: “I am delighted to add Sisal, Italy’s leading gaming brand, to the group as we look to attain a gold medal position in the Italian market. 

“For some time we have wanted to pursue this market opportunity via an omni-channel strategy and this acquisition will ideally position us to do so. Sisal has grown its online presence significantly in recent years, aided by its proprietary platform and commitment to innovation. 

€50.8m & €25m

Gaming Innovation Group has inked a share purchase agreement to acquire igaming firm Sportnco in a €50.8m deal, as well as deepening its collaboration alongside SkyCity Entertainment which will put €25m into the company.

The acquisition of the betting and gaming solutions provider has been undertaken to enhance and strengthen GiG’s position, which will see the enlarged group be licensed in 25 markets.

The initial consideration of €50.8m, €23.5m of which will be paid in new shares in GiG and €27.3m in cash. In addition, GiG will assume existing debt in Sportnco of €19.2m, with an earn-out of up to €23m based on performance through 2022 and 2023 also included.

GiG has also entered into an agreement with SkyCity Entertainment, which will see the New Zealand headquartered firm, subject to final completion of the acquisition, invest €25m through a directed share issue at NOK18 (€1.79) per share, that will finance the main part of the cash consideration.

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The acquisition of the betting and gaming solutions provider has been undertaken to enhance and strengthen GiG’s position, which will see the enlarged group be licensed in 25 markets.

Richard Brown, CEO of GiG, said: “We are tremendously excited to welcome Sportnco into Gaming Innovation Group product offering. The transaction accelerates our long-term vision to become a global leader in the provision of platform, sportsbook and media services to the igaming industry. 

“The hugely complimentary regulatory profile and high-quality sportsbook that Sportnco have, rapidly expands both companies short- and long-term addressable market.”

The initial consideration of €50.8m, €23.5m of which will be paid in new shares in GiG and €27.3m in cash. In addition, GiG will assume existing debt in Sportnco of €19.2m, with an earn-out of up to €23m based on performance through 2022 and 2023 also included.

The arrangement, which estimates 2021 revenue and EBITDA of over €9m and €5m, respectively, is expected to close in February 2022, subject to approvals from relevant gaming authorities, GiG shareholders and board, and Sportnco bondholders

Hervé Schlosser, CEO and founder of Sportnco, noted: “GIG and Sportnco really have the perfect match both in terms of product and geographical areas of business, but also as they share the same corporate values.

“I am excited by the sales potential of our combined offerings. Sportnco sportsbook will add strength and attractiveness to the offer of GIG and our mutual PAM solutions will enable us to cover European and American regulated markets for all our existing and future clients.”

GiG has also entered into an agreement with SkyCity Entertainment, which will see the New Zealand headquartered firm, subject to final completion of the acquisition, invest €25m through a directed share issue at NOK18 (€1.79) per share, that will finance the main part of the cash consideration.

“We are excited that SkyCity is expanding its strategic partnership with the GiG team. GiG is an established online operator who we have come to know well since partnering in mid-2019 to launch the SkyCity online casino,” explained Michael Ahearne, SkyCity CEO.

“The partnership has provided SkyCity with access to a complementary and high-growth gaming category and has enabled us to pursue an omnichannel strategy. The combined GiG/Sportnco business will be licensed or certified in over 20 jurisdictions, including growth markets such as the US, Canada and Latin America. 

“We are delighted to support GiG in the financing of the transaction, becoming a major shareholder and helping GiG execute on its strategic vision through representation on the board. Importantly, the equity investment builds our digital capability and strengthens our strategic alignment with GiG.”

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