BetMGM enters the UK, Fanatics Sportsbook exits pilot, 888 subsidiary settles in Gibraltar

This week brought us more industry-defining events with BetMGM, a sports betting and online casino brand operating chiefly in North America, announcing its latest expansion outside of the region.

BetMGM has entered the market in the United Kingdom, marking the second time the company has pushed beyond the United States and Canada, with the brand recently setting up shop in Puerto Rico.

The brand is leveraging its acquisition of LeoVegas by its parent company, MGM Resorts International, which bought the operator and technological iGaming company in 2022, as many predicted that BetMGM is looking to secure a competitive edge in the dynamic iGaming landscape, while also building an international footprint.

MGM Resorts CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle acknowledged that BetMGM had been built with an international customer base in mind, and the executive was happy to see the operator finally delivering.

Fanatics Moves Launches Full Sportsbook

Meanwhile, Fanatics has ended a six-month trial period during which the company tested its sportsbook product in four states. Fanatics Sportsbook has now officially released as a fully-fledged online betting platform in Tennessee, Ohio, Maryland, and Massachusetts, and has further plans to expand.

Fanatics will rely on its strong synergies with its apparel parent company and is hoping to break ground in the sports betting landscape in the United States at a time when many companies are folding marketing spend, and Penn Entertainment Interactive and ESPN have just announced a new sportsbook project of their own.

Challenging and crowded as the US sports betting market has become, Fanatics is confident that it has what it takes to make it through. As early as last week, WynnBET, another well-established sports betting brand confirmed that it is exiting eight states as the company was focusing on pursuing better shareholder value.

888 Subsidiary Settles in Gibraltar

Earlier this week, an 888 subsidiary, Virtual Global Digital Services Ltd, settled with Gibraltar’s Gambling Commissioner for a sum total of £2.9m. The settlement concerned specific shortcomings that the subsidiary had comitted when dealing with customers, including Anti-money Laundering and Enhanced Due Diligence practices.

The Gambling Commissioner said that the subsidiary had offered full cooperation with the investigation and allocated additional staff to ensure that the matter is resolved expediently, which also played a factor in determining the final amount of the settlement.

Among the shortcomings outlined in the settlement are failures to conduct sufficient checks in the cases of specific customers whose source of wealth was not properly vetted. Licensing authorities such as Gibraltar and Curacao have been stepping up their efforts to strengthen the regulatory rules that they apply to locally registered gambling companies in a bid to ensure that companies comply with well-established industry standards.

The Business Roundup

Apart from the regulatory settlements and big movers, there have been quite a few interesting partnerships between suppliers and operators. Companies have been determined to continue expanding their footprint in various markets, with at least several must-mention high-profile partnerships this week.

Play’n GO, one of the leading suppliers of iGaming content, has made waves in the United States by launching with BetRivers in both Michigan and New Jersey. The partnership will see the company significantly strengthen its presence in these markets and offer BetRivers a stronger pull with its local crowds through cutting-edge slot games.

1X2 Network in the meantime has just been cleared for a supplier license in Michigan, meaning that it will be bringing many of its excellent content options to the market before long. So far, there are no further details as to when a launch may happen, but 1X2 Network is in all likelihood scouting out opportunities to launch with a local partner.

Push Gaming and Betway have formed a global content alliance in the meantime that will see the supplier provide the prominent brand with its distinct variety of titles all over the globe. The partnership will initially focus on Mexico and the United Kingdom, but more jurisdictions will be quickly added moving forward.

Yggdrasil has in the meantime grown its presence in the Dutch iGaming market after the supplier confirmed that it has teamed up with Holland Casino Online, one of the leading iGaming brands in the country.

Bragg Gaming Group has also had news to report this week with the supplier striking two important collaborations. First, the supplier expanded its working relationship with Kindred Group and its Unibet brand, covering the market in the United Kingdom. Bragg Gaming has also signed a partnership with bet365 in Ontario just a day after the previous partnership.

The Leaders Have Their Say

In this week’s conversations with iGaming leaders, we have caught up with more interesting figures from the sector. We spoke with Daniel Long, CCO at QTech Games, with whom we discussed the company’s pivot into emerging markets in Asia, and the role that artificial intelligence has played to drive business decisions and deliver higher added value to partners. Long speaks of why having the first-mover advantage is important and how QTech Games helps push the industry further, focusing on a consumer-centric delivery.

We caught up with LuckyStreak’s recently appointed Commercial Director, Rory Kimber, who spoke at length about the company’s ambition to branch out beyond the live casino experience, and expand into other realms of the experience, including land-based gaming and aggregation solutions. As Kimber puts it, LuckyStreak is actively looking to identify niches in the market that can be improved on and deliver a more robust product across the board.

Pokerbet Deputy CEO Igor Terebinov has shared his thoughts on the changing dynamics of online poker – a game that is usually long and deep in thought. In his opinion piece for Casino Guru News, Terebinov said that this is changing rapidly as consumers demand quicker versions of the game, which has been precisely what the industry has been up to. How? Find out in Terebinov’s excellent exposé.

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