Bovada and Papaya Gaming in trouble, FDJ finalizes Kindred acquisition

This week in the gambling industry saw many prominent developments, with the majority of them focused on legal or regulatory moves. Here is the breakdown for the week.

Starting with, Papaya Gaming, a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel and offering a variety of gaming products, was accused of providing illegal gambling to Michigan residents and visitors.

The company has been served with a cease-and-desist letter by the Michigan Gaming Control Board and ordered to leave within a 14-day window. The MGCB has cited multiple breaches of state laws, and the regulator said that it had to act after it received an anonymous tip.

Something similar happened this week with Bovada in Massachusetts, after the State’s Attorney General’s Office issued a cease-and-desist letter to the popular gaming operator, ordering it to cease operations at once in the Bay State.

Bovada has been offering its products locally since 2011, the statement by the AG’s Office read, and this is now coming to an end. Bovada too has a 14-day period to comply, and will most likely do so, as it has done on several other occasions recently.

Moving on, the operator of Chumba Casino and Lockland Slots, VGW, has been served with a cease-and-desist letter of its own in Connecticut. The state has taken an issue with the sweepstakes format that VGW’s brands offer, alleging that it constituted a form of illegal gambling.

In another decision with regulatory implications, Kalshi has won its appeal in a US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, effectively launching political prediction markets, or political betting as the general consensus is.

The prediction market platform has butted heads over the issue with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which tried to block this ahead of the November US elections but has so far failed.

Alawsuit in the Netherlands is looking to reimburse players who played at offshore gambling operators and lost money there prior to the industry’s legalization in October 2021. The mass claim will attempt to force specific and well-known brands to reimburse customers for what could be an eye-water amount in theory.

A former DraftKings employee has lost an appeal against his former boss. Senior US Circuit Judge O. Rogeriee at the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of DraftKings, arguing that Michael Hermalyn would have to wait before he can resume some of his responsibilities at Fanatics Sportsbook, as they overlap directly with his non-compete agreement, which he signed with DraftKings.

Hermalyn’s defense tried to prove that since Fanatics is based in California and Hermalyn resides in California, it is Californian law that should apply – not Massachusetts’ which DraftKings has used to block him from fulfilling certain duties at the rival company.

The former Jacksonville Jaguars Financial Manager Amit Patel, who was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison, has filed a lawsuit against FanDuel for $250m.

Patel is seeking damages, arguing that the operator knowingly allowed him to slide further into a gambling addiction and did not pertain to customary and mandatory procedures, finding a "way around" them instead.

Responsible Gambling & Business

A former regulator in New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, David Rebuck has not given up on helping steer the GardenState’s gambling laws. In a recent statement, Rebuck said that the laws that govern gambling in New Jersey ought to be rethought as they largely sought to crack down on organized crime and not prioritize player safety. One of his suggestions is to raise the gambling age to 21 for all activities.

A new report by the American Gaming Association (AGA) suggests that the gambling industry has been spending more generous on responsible gambling initiatives. According to AGA’s report, the industry spent $472m on such initiatives in 2023, a significant increase from previous years.

Gordon Moody, a charity that specializes in helping people who suffer from problem gambling and gambling addiction, assume control over their lives, has launched a new initiative that focuses on helping people offer "Gambling First Aid," drawing parallels with medical conditions such as heart attacks, for example. The training seeks to equip people with the skills necessary to react in cases where a person is suffering from a gambling-related harm.

There have also been several prominent business developments this week that you must not miss. For starters, Denise Coates’bet365 has confirmed that it is opening new office spaces in Denver, Colorado, which will eventually host 1,000 jobs and expand the company’s global force significantly, while also doubling down on the North American market.

At the same time, Wyoming is looking to explore whether the state can actually host online casinos, with a new feasibility study to now take place over the next month. Not least, FDJ has completed the acquisition of Kindred Group in a landmark €2.5bn deal.

The Voice of the Industry

To wrap it all up, we take a look at what the industry had to say this week. We spoke with EricKonings from NOGA who offered a deep dive into the current state of responsible gambling and problem gambling in the Netherlands, dismissing causes for alarmism, but also pointing out to some developments that need to be addressed more decisively.

We also caught up with TaDa Gaming CEO Andy Huang with whom we discussed how successful gaming series in the slot vertical area developed. Although the market is clearly undergoing significant challenges, there is a way to stand out Huang argues. Find out more in our full interview with him.

Not least, we caught up with BetGames’ Chief Product and Business Development Officer Ian Catchick and Lead Product Owner Vytautas Graiciunas and explored the magic behind Lucky Kicks, the provider’s latest penalty shootout game. Find out more in our interview here.

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