Games Global, 888 and the sports betting market in US

Much has happened over the past five days in the world of iGaming and sports betting. Companies posted ground-breaking first-quarter results, events hype is building up, and a few hiring moves here and there seeped through the news torrent.

The biggest headline this week, perhaps, is Games Global’s decision to sound a retreat on the company’s plans for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This was announced just prior to the IPO’s launch date that was due on Tuesday, May 14, but has now been deferred for an unspecified time in the future.

The move was supposed to shoot up the company’s valuation and add around $275.5m per the latest estimations to the company’s war chest, money that Games Global would have used to prop up its expansion in the United States, and beyond.

Speaking of the United States, 888 Holdings has confirmed that it is bidding farewell as early as June 3, 2024, to the New Jersey market, withdrawing its poker and casino apps locally.

The news was shared via email with customers and is largely expected since the company is restructuring its business to prioritize other markets, with North America’s business-to-customer assets being folded and put up for sale.

In the meantime, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has cautioned against allowing political betting on peer-to-peer exchanges which, the regulator argued, had been coloring around the lines to produce these markets. Political betting is a huge draw for gamblers but fears that it may be used to sway voters have prompted lawmakers and watchdogs to look at it with suspicion.

In the meantime, both Sportradar and EveryMatrix have had particularly good news to report from their first quarters. EveryMatrix continued to see a steady increase in quarterly results, with the company posting its best first quarter to date. As to Sportradar, the company tells a similar story with its Betting Technology & Solutions and Sports Content, Technology & Solutions divisions generated steady results.

Sportradar achieved several major milestones, including a good Net Retention Rate as well as a groundbreaking partnership with Oddin.gg, a company that specializes in the deliver of advanced pricing models for the esports betting vertical. Speaking of esports, Abios and Kambi officially joined the Esports Integrity Commission in a bid to strengthen the not-for-profit’s efforts in maintaining competitive video gaming free of manipulation and corruption.

The week did not go without several high-profile appointments, of course. There was Barry Mahon who joined Imagine Live as the company’s newest Chief Commercial Officer. The strategic appointment comes at a time when the company anticipates further growth and expansion across the globe. With the addition of Mahon, Imagine Live strengthens its executive-level team which is ultimately expected to guide it through any obstacles on the way toward expansion.

He is not alone, as James O’Kelly has been appointed as Operations Manager at SolutionsHub. He is an internal hire, after having served for three years as part of the company’s C-level of executives and stepping into a new position that will best reflect on his expertise and allow him to contribute to the company in an impactful and sustained manner.

Among the other noteworthy events this week was the conclusion of a recent Casino Guru Forum poll which took a harder look at the habits of casino players. The poll found out that over half of all casino players tend to set strict gambling limits. Yet, 12.32% of all respondents said that although they set limits when gambling, they tended to break them. Regardless, the fact that so many players use those tools means that the industry is moving in the right direction – even if it still has a long way to go.

In the meantime, CasinoBeats Summit 2024 is just around the corner. The event is taking place on Monday, May 21 through Wednesday, May 23, 2024, at the InterContinental Malta. If you are looking to plan your calendar a bit further, then you might actually want to take a look at the European Gaming Congress 2024, too, which will be held on October 15-16, 2024. You can find out more about the event here.

Speaking with the industry this week, we found quite a few interesting topics to discuss. For starters, we caught up with Jeff Morris, VP of YouGov, with whom we discussed a recent YouGov report that analysed the behavior of sports bettors and how brand loyalty is formed in the fast-evolving US gambling market. Morris had some interesting insights to offer that will definitely want to hear about.

Casino Guru News also launched the Safer Gambling Talks with Head of Sustainable & Safer Gambling Šimon Vincze and the series’ first guest was none other than Dr Margaret Carran, Associate Professor in Law and Associate Dean (Education) at The City Law School of City, University of London.

The conversation focused on discussing how self-exclusion practices across the industry can be improved regardless of what market was involved, and how businesses and lawmakers can move quicker with this pressing matter. You may see the full inaugural episode of Safer Gambling Talks on Casino Guru News’ YouTube Channel.

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