Gamesys under fire in the UK, Entain exits markets, executive musical chairs

The week saw a number of noteworthy events, with Gamesys, an operator of a number of brands in the United Kingdom becoming the first company to be targeted by the UK Gambling Commission with an enforcement action in the new year. Gamesys is alleged to have breached certain AML and social responsibility conditions as outlined by the licensing terms, and will have to pay a £6m fine, the regulator announced in a public update.

In similarly important developments, Entain announced that it is leaving 140 jurisdictions as part of the company’s further plans to strengthen its presence in regulated markets only and make sure that it leaves no stone unturned when it comes to potential challenges to its operations in future.

This comes a few months after the conclusion of a probe into the company’s former operations in Turkey when the company was known as GVC Holdings, and not least, under pressure from activist investors who have been calling on Entain to step up.

New Jersey may be suffering more harm than it’s enjoying benefits from iGaming a new take on an iDEA report claims. iDEA, an industry body, published a report a while ago in which it highlighted the benefits of iGaming to the Garden State’s economy. This has now been challenged by another body, the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which argues that the missed economic opportunities because of iGaming outweigh the boon.

Meanwhile, a push is underway to legalize iGaming in New York, just north of New Jersey. Sen. Joseph Addabbo has been a long-standing proponent of regulated online gambling, with online casinos one of his biggest ambitions. The piece of legislation he is pushing is actually a reintroduction of an old draft that he hopes to see passed through the legislature.

The state and administration are rife with opponents to regulated expanded online gambling, but the relative success of sports gambling may lead some lawmakers to reconsider, which is Sen. Addabbo’s hope as well.

Missouri wants to see sports betting legalized, as two bills have been introduced at the beginning of the session. The bills ultimately seek to empower the riverboat properties and allow each of them to feature up to three licenses or skins each.

Meanwhile, BetMGM pushed into North Carolina through a tie-up with Charlotte Motor Speedway, hoping to expand its market access in the United States and continue to build up moments in the face of fresh challenges.

The Guys Upstairs Leave

There have been interesting shifts in company structure of late. Outside of the fact that Denise Coates received another hefty paycheck as part of bet365’s financial report publication, there have been some notable changes.

Kambi’s Co-Founder and CEO Kristian Nylén has announced that he will be retiring from his position and spending more time with his family, Nylén has been one of the drivers of the company and the main architect behind its success. He will remain on the job until a suitable successor is found but he intends to step down this year.

Meanwhile, Hampus Eriksson has been promoted to Deputy Chief Executive Officer, as he will now help Lahcene Merzoug with running certain aspects of the business. Eriksson has an established track record as part of the company, and he has been actively involved in creating a strong commercial strategy for the company and he has been contributing a great deal to executing PressEnter’s commercial success.

Meanwhile, Betway has expanded in another European market with the brand launching in Portugal for the very first time. The arrival of the platform is marked by a collaboration with Gaming Innovation Group which will power the sports betting and iGaming offering of the seminal brand.

Rootz, an established online casino, has said that it will get an additional boost to its live casino offer through Games Global’s OnAir Entertainment brand which develops both traditional live casino titles and game shows.

Play’n Go has kicked off the year with a new game – its first for 2024 – which focuses on pandas. In Pandastic Adventure, players will set out on an epic journey to retrieve the treasure hidden in a long-lost magical temple.

As sports betting fever seizes the United States, Ohio’s problem gambling helpline has registered an uptick in calls placed. In total, there were 10,637 calls in 2023, compared to 6,835 from a year prior.

We Catch Up with the Industry

This week, we mostly spoke with the shortlisted candidates for the Casino Guru Awards. We had the opportunity to speak with two well-established companies in the sector, including Wow Partners, which is running in the category for The Most Effective Handling of Complaints, who spoke about the importance of customer complaints and how they help calibrate their offer.

Customer complaints have been an important tool in also better analyzing what customers want and how the gambling industry can deliver it, the company notes.

Our next conversation was equally exciting as we got to catch up with Mindway AI, another Casino Guru Awards shortlisted candidate who is competing in the Best Implementation of RG Tools and Most Impactful Social Responsibility categories. The company spoke of how its product has created a robust pathway for industry stakeholders to follow when addressing gambling harm in consumers.

The unique markers that the company uses to track, analyze, and intervene in cases of harm is what allows companies from the sector to have greater success in helping consumers steer clear of reckless practices. Mindway Ai’s approach is founded in science and big data, and is well worth reading in detail.

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