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New 2023 Campaigns

• ICE London 2023 2/7 - 2/9 @ The Excel London
• iGaming NEXT '23 3/7 - 3/9 @ Covene Midtown West
• IGA 3/27 - 3/30 @ San Diego Convention Center
• SBC Summit North America 5/9 - 5/11 @ Meadowlands Expo Center
• SIGMA 11/7 - 11/9 @ Loews Philadelphia Hotel
• G2E 10/9 - 10/12 @ The Venetian Expo

Schedule a Meeting with Stephen Crystal at

ICE LONDON 2023

SCCG/Symplify Booth: N3-510

SCCG/Booming Games Booth: N2-310

ICE London is back and all set to raise the bar for the global gaming industry in 2023. Join the international community of 35.000+ gaming pioneers on 7-9 February at ExCeL London and be part of the most comprehensive and ROI-friendly networking, business and learning experience you've ever had.

CONTACT

Stephen A. Crystal, SCCG Management

     Mobile/WhatsApp: +1 702-427-9354

     Email: Stephen.Crystal@sccgmanagement.com

     Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sccg-management

Vegas Golden Knights Announce Partnership with Betfred Sports Represented by SCCG

January 31, 2023 The Vegas Golden Knights announced a multi-year partnership agreement with Betfred Sports, now an Official Sports Betting Partner of the Vegas Golden Knights. Betfred was represented in the deal by SCCG Management.

"We're proud to be partnering with Betfred as they make their arrival here in Las Vegas," said Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz. "Betfred's US business is Vegas Born just like we are, and we're excited to help them launch their brand in Nevada."

As part of the deal, Betfred and the Golden Knights will collaborate on intermission contests for fans at selected home games, with Betfred receiving exposure on dasherboards, LED signage at T-Mobile Arena, and the NHL's new DED broadcast signage. Additionally, Betfred will be featured on the team's official digital channels, email newsletter, radio broadcasts, and other platforms.

"As a Las Vegas-based company preparing to open our first hometown sportsbook in partnership with Mohegan Casino Las Vegas at the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas, we're very excited to be partnering with the hometown Vegas Golden Knights," said Bryan Bennett, COO of Betfred Sportsbook. "We look forward to growing our business here and supporting Las Vegas hockey in the process."

Stephen Crystal, CEO of SCCG Management who represented Betfred in the deal, said. “We are thrilled that Betfred is officially partnering with the Vegas Golden Knights. As a leading sports management advisory firm, we are dedicated to delivering exceptional value to our clients, and this partnership is a testament to that commitment. We facilitated partnerships for Betfred with the Cincinatti Bengals, Colorado Rockies, and the Denver Broncos and we look forward to now connecting Betfred with hockey fans and creating unforgettable moments for everyone involved.”

For more information on Betfred, fans can visit betfredsports.com or follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

ABOUT THE VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS 

The Vegas Golden Knights are a National Hockey League franchise owned and operated by Black Knight Sports and Entertainment LLC. The Vegas Golden Knights were established by founding partners Bill Foley and his family and the Maloof family. The Golden Knights were the most successful expansion franchise in North American professional sports history in 2017-18 and celebrated their fifth season in 2021-22. For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights visit vegasgoldenknights.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

ABOUT BETFRED USA SPORTS

Betfred USA Sports is the wholly owned US subsidiary of Betfred Group, a Warrington, United Kingdom based bookmaker that owns and operates over 1400 betting shops in the UK as well as industry leading online and mobile products in the UK and South Africa. Betfred Group, founded by brothers Fred and Peter Done in 1967, created Las Vegas based Betfred USA Sports in 2019 to enter the robust and ever-expanding US sports betting market. Betfred USA Sports is licensed in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Louisiana, Arizona, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Nevada.

Massachusetts Takes First In-Person Sports Bets

by Kyle Neverett

SCCG Staff Writer

Sports betting is finally live in Massachusetts as of January 31st, 2023, making it the 33rd state to start taking legal sports bets since the fall of PAPSA. While only in-person wagering will be allowed at first, mobile betting is expected to follow suit sometime in March 2023, although there is no exact date set. Massachusetts had been in limbo for some time now with regards to passing sports betting legislation, but there was a collective sigh of relief when bets started flowing through at MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park Casino, the state’s three casinos. 

One of the main hangups with getting a bill across the finish line in Massachusetts was the concern for corruption associated with gambling. Boston College had a point-shaving scandal in the 1970’s, which was a common theme amongst the state’s lawmakers. There is also a prohibition on wagering on in-state college teams in any capacity, a measure taken by other states such as New Jersey. While this is unfortunate for bettors, since their selections will be a little limited, it also seemed a necessary ‘safety net’ that was put in place in order to get the bill across the finish line.

The tax revenue generated from legal sports gambling in Massachusetts will go toward the state's General Fund, which is used to support various state services and programs. The exact allocation of these funds will be determined by the state legislature and governor through the state budget process, but they may be used for a variety of purposes, such as education, public safety, infrastructure, health care, and responsible gaming measures. 

By the time that Massachusetts cut the ribbon on Tuesday, all of their neighboring states had already introduced a legal sports betting atmosphere in their state. It is hard to fathom the amount of potential revenue that Massachusetts has missed out on so far by allowing their constituents to travel outside of state borders to place a legal sports wager. Thankfully, Massachusetts residents will not have to wait much longer until they can wager right from their phone.

Until mobile betting comes to the state, casinos are doing all they can do to bring bettors through their doors. MGM Springfield will be hosting a plethora of Boston legends, including Bruins hall-of-famer Ray Borque, who was on hand for the launch on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Encore Boston Harbor has installed a betting kiosk in their parking garage, so players don’t even have to enter the building to get a sports bet in.

Regional Trends For Regulation and Responsible Gambling

Responsible gambling is a complex and important issue affecting various regions across the world. It refers to the practice of gambling in a controlled, informed, and safe manner, without negatively impacting individuals and their surrounding communities. This article will examine the problematic trends, regulations, and gambling preferences in Brazil, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

In Africa, gambling is a relatively new phenomenon, but it is growing rapidly. Legal casinos operate in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa which has the most casinos on the continent with 38. The gambling industry is seen to have a positive impact on the economy through job creation and taxation. However, gambling addiction has become a growing public health concern, especially among young people aged 10-24. The lack of regulations and enforcement of responsible gambling practices in many African countries has resulted in a lack of control over the industry, with many operators engaging in unethical and illegal activities. This has resulted in a rise in problem gambling behaviors, particularly among vulnerable populations, such as youth and low-income individuals.

In Latin America, gambling is becoming increasingly popular, but it also faces significant challenges in terms of responsible gambling. The lack of regulation in many countries in the region has resulted in a growth in illegal and unregulated forms of gambling, including online gambling. Countries like Uruguay and Chile are attempting to regulate remote gambling but their outdated criminal laws are not equipped to address the issue. The lack of understanding of remote gambling leads to interpretation problems in the laws such as logical, semantic, and syntactic issues.

Brazil is poised to become the largest gambling market in Latin America and is expected to grow in the coming years. However, it also faces significant challenges in terms of responsible gambling. The country currently lacks comprehensive regulations to control problem gambling and enforce responsible gambling practices. As a result, many individuals are engaging in unregulated, high-risk forms of gambling, such as online casinos, which can lead to problematic gambling behaviors.

In Asia, gambling is a popular pastime, and the region is home to some of the largest gambling markets in the world, such as Macau and Singapore. However, the lack of comprehensive regulation in many countries in the region has led to a growth in illegal and unregulated forms of gambling, including online gambling, which can result in problem gambling behaviors. Furthermore, the lack of information and education on responsible gambling practices has resulted in a lack of awareness about the dangers of excessive gambling among the general population.

In conclusion, responsible gambling is a critical issue that affects individuals and communities in various regions around the world. The lack of comprehensive regulations and enforcement of responsible gambling practices has resulted in the growth of problem gambling behaviors, particularly among vulnerable populations. It is crucial that governments in these regions take steps to regulate the gambling industry and promote responsible gambling practices, to ensure the safety and well-being of their citizens.

Blockchain-based Gaming: The Next Big Thing 

I’m sure by now you heard about blockchain technologies, this time, it's about synergies across the gaming industry. 

Blockchain-based games offer several advantages over traditional gaming platforms. From ownership of virtual assets to the ability to earn real money through in-game activities, the potential for growth in this new sector is huge. 

One of the most significant benefits of blockchain gaming is player ownership of virtual assets. In traditional gaming, players do not truly own the items they earn or purchase. The gaming company retains control and can remove or change virtual assets at any time, a good examples are World of Warcraft, CSGO, or League of Legends. With blockchain gaming, players have real ownership of their virtual assets. They can sell, trade, or keep them, giving players more control and investment in the game. 

An interesting part about blockchain gaming is the potential to earn real money through in-game activities. In many blockchain games, players can earn cryptocurrency or tokens that have real-world value. A good example is if a player earns in-game tokens that are also listed on a cryptocurrency exchange, they could sell those tokens for real money. This opens up a whole new world of earning potential for gamers. 

From a security perspective, the space offers increased transparency and fairness. With the use of smart contracts, the rules of the game are encoded into the blockchain. This ensures that the game operates in a transparent and fair manner, without the possibility of cheating or manipulation. In addition, this offers more secure transactions, especially since traditional gaming platforms are vulnerable to hacking and other forms of cybercrime. With blockchain, transactions are secured through cryptographic algorithms, making it much more difficult for hackers to steal virtual assets or personal information.



The potential for growth across this sector is significant. Major gaming companies are starting to invest in various gaming companies and studios, and it is only a matter of time before it becomes mainstream. For gamers, this means a more exciting and engaging gaming experience, as well as the potential to earn real money.

Is Betting on NBA and NFL Playoff Games Compromised by League Agendas?

Referees play a crucial role in both the NBA and NFL, and their decisions can often have a significant impact on the outcome of a game. From controversial calls on the court to close calls on the field, referees are often at the center of heated debates and discussions among fans and players alike. Leagues want superstar matchups and storylines, and longer series. Does their drive to boost their bottom lines compromise the integrity of the product they put out there?

The AFC title game this past weekend was mired in controversy, and the referees had as big an effect on the outcome as any. If you looked at social media following the Chiefs’ victory over the Bengals, you would have seen thousands of comments proclaiming that the game was “Bengals vs Refs”, meaning that the referees were heavily favoring the Chiefs. It is easy to understand why. Patrick Mahomes has long been the poster-child of the NFL, with insane talent and a flashy style of play. He entered the game with a sprained ankle, and fought through that injury and much adversity to drag the Chiefs to the third superbowl of his young career. It is no coincidence that it sounds like a movie script. Without key calls in the game, the Chiefs would have lost it.

The NBA is notorious for subjective officiating, and for curating long playoff series. There is no clearer example of this than from Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals. The visiting Boston Celtics were up 1-0 against the Golden State Warriors. If the Warriors went down 2-0, facing games 3 and 4 on the road, they would almost certainly lose the series. Early in Game 2, Draymond Green, a boisterous but integral player for the Warriors received his first technical foul. In the NBA, if a player receives 2 techs in a game, they are ejected. Soon after this play, Draymond was involved in another scuffle with the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown. In the middle of this, Draymond attempted to pull down Jaylen Brown’s pants. That act is so childish and so out of line that it would even seem out of place on an elementary school playground. In a professional basketball league, it is the most obvious technical foul call to make in history, and yet it was not made by the referees. They allowed Draymond to stay in the game, boosting the Warriors to a win, and eventual championship in 6 games. 

The NFL and NBA are for-profit companies. It is in their best interest to provide a product with integrity, or at least surface-level integrity. There is a fine line between the NFL, NBA and WWE. We will likely see this line become smaller and smaller as the global popularity of both leagues grows, and as the value of longer series, and marquee matchups continues to increase.

Weekly Round-Up

Brazil and the Gaming Industry:

Financing a Passion: How Sports Betting Sponsorships Changed the Game in Brazil

Brazilians live sports in a very specific way. Few countries in the world have a passion for just one sport. Of course, there are secondary sports, but the protagonist in terms of betting volume is always soccer.

Sports betting sponsorship and TV ads have seduced the Brazilians in an interesting way: the clubs over here often have had administration problems across their histories.

Sports betting marketing money represented a new stream of revenue, of foreign origin which means it competes in a different way with local advertisements, driving the prices up.

I won’t mention names as these brands have not authorized me, but a good example is one soccer club from Brazil that exchanged its most prestigious sponsorship space in its jersey about 20 years ago for the liquidation of a debt they had with a local bank.

After repaying the debt, the club negotiated the marketing space for approximately 13m BRL per season ($2.58m).

Now after the sports betting marketing ‘take over’ in Brazil, there are rumors of a 100m BRL ($19.84m) contract on its way to this soccer club.

The biggest Brazilian clubs have liabilities in the house of $194m and a very irregular income stream as the transfers of players to big markets like Europe (and the MLS these days too), means that they never quite know how much they will earn per season.

Most football clubs in Brazil still have the legal structure of a social club, which prevents them from having proper corporate strategic planning ‘beyond’ every 2-3 years of administration as there are internal elections -sometimes with bitter rivalries involved – every other year, on average.

Financing the Passion: Positive effects of Foreign Gaming Money in Brazil

Most debt of Brazilian soccer clubs are denominated in Brazilian Real (BRL). The fresh advertisement money that is inflating the prices of advertisement spaces in club jerseys, stadium banners and other channels, including digital ones, represents an interesting chance for sports institutions in Brazil to improve their financial health by eliminating or refinancing their debt in more favorable conditions.

Several polls show how Brazilians are used to seeing sports betting brands and interacting with their activations and placing bets online which is the only grey market we have as discussed in this publication in the last months (land-based gaming is still a black market).

The contribution of the sports betting money and smart use of the complexgrey space to do the best business possible is a collective victory of the sports betting industry, which certainly produced some ‘seeds’ for a potential regulation the way we all expect.

Being perceived as brands that promote the financial sustainability of soccer and other sports was a big achievement so far which can have historical relevance in the process of Brazil becoming the giant, regulated market we all know it can be.

Nigerian National Game to Launch in February 2023

by Kelly Segovia

CTO & Partner SCCG Management

Director General and CEO Lanre Gbajabiamila of the NLRC Visits National Lottery Nigeria in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in preparation for the planned February Launch of the National Game.

The National Lottery Nigeria (NLN) is described as a social intervention game designed to affect the lives of the ordinary Nigerian directly and positively. Its core purpose is to help promote national social development by providing a platform where individuals can win life changing rewards. ¹

The Nigerian National Lottery Regulatory Commission, established in 2005 by the National Assembly, with The NLRC’s mission is to conduct audits of the NLN, and ensure that lottery operators conduct business in a fair, safe, and transparent manner, and to promote promoting the ethical, moral and professional conduct of operators and players alike.

The Nigerian National Game (NNG) will launch in February as a partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the tech firm, Elrae Technologies, driven by technology “through USSD and other digital platforms”. ² USSD, or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, is used extensively throughout Africa to enable mobile banking and mobile payments. Accessible through both feature phones and smart phones, USSD can reach a much larger audience, and mobile phones are a dominant method for financial transaction processing in Africa. ³

Layi Onafowokan, the Managing Director of NLN, and NLRC Director-General and CEO, Gbajabiamila, participated in an inspection tour of the NLN’s, “state-of-the-art” digital lottery systems this week, with the Director General expressing satisfaction with the event. ⁴ The event’s apparent success was likely supported by preparation leading up to the February launch, including activities such as the July 2022 visit between DG Gbajabiamila and Elrae Technologies visit and study of the Ghanaian National Game, which has operated for over 60 years. ⁵

Consolidation of Regulatory Authority in the Nigerian Federal Government

Prior to 2020, the NLRC regulated some Lottery operators at the Federal level, with the State of Lagos, and other governmental bodies regulating operators at the State level. This created a level of complexity with gaming operators, with complaints about multiple taxes, licensing fees and regulations where these governmental oversight bodies would overlap. In a lawsuit ⁶, referenced as FHC/L/CS1599/2020, between the Association of Nigerian Bookmakers as the Plaintiff, and Defendants listed as the NLRC, the National Lottery Trust Fund, the Lagos State Lotteries Board, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Inspector General of Police, and Abiola Bashir Are (the representative of the Association of State Gaming Regulators), The Honorable Justice Iniekenimi Nicholas Oweibo held that the Federal Government, through the NLRC and the National Lottery Trust Fund, “..should be the sole regulator of the gaming business..” in Nigeria, and “..the National Assembly can legislate on lottery matters.” ⁷

Director General and CEO, Lanre Gbajabiamila

Director General and CEO, Lanre Gbajabiamila was reappointed as Director General and CEO of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari last year on November 21, 2022 for a final term of four years. ⁸ Mr. Gbajabiamila is a graduate of California State University and a certified UNIX programmer. Upon returning to Nigeria, he has been active in the Nigerian gaming industry, serving as the Senior IT Manager on Software Quality Assurance at the National Sports Lottery, where he pioneered the Essnet Lottery Operating System (ELOS) which managed five million weekly lottery transactions. Prior to his appointment as the DG of the NLRC, Gbajabiamila was the General Manager and CEO of the Lagos State Lotteries Board. ⁹

REFERENCES

[1] https://www.newtelegraphng.com/fg-partners-elrae-technologies-launches-nigerian-national-game-2

[2] https://twitter.com/nlrcgovng/status/1620511971102846976

[3] https://furtherafrica.com/2022/08/01/ussd-driving-digital-and-financial-inclusion-in-africa/

[4] https://punchng.com/commission-dg-inspects-lottery-facility-ahead-national-games

[5] https://guardian.ng/business-services/business/nlrc-elrae-technologies-to-establish-nigerian-national-game

[6] https://nlrc-gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Certified-True-Copy-of-Judgment-Ass-of-Bookmakers-v.-NLRC-ORS.pdf

[7] https://nlrc-gov.ng/lottery-regulation-fg-wins-court-case-to-be-sole-regulator

[8] https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/12/buhari-reappoints-gbaja-adeyeye-as-lottery-nafdac-dgs-frsc-gets-biu/

[9] https://nlrc-gov.ng/management-team/#tab-ac60a885-9488-4

Using Spanish in Gaming Content



by Rosa Ochoa

Director - Mexico and Latin America, SCCG

Rosa Ochoa has more than 20 years of experience developing business plans and client relationships, managing project execution and leading local operations for the most prominent international gaming and lottery companies.

With approximately 450 million speakers, Spanish is the third most used language by number of users in the world both in the physical world and the Internet, after English and Mandarin Chinese. This fact alone should be a good enough reason to consider Spanish localization for gaming content. 

Spanish is the official spoken language in more than 20 countries across Europe, Central and South America, while also having large numbers of speakers in the United States (U.S.), Philippines and Belize.

Mexico has the largest population of native Spanish speakers, with approximately 130 million people. This is followed by Colombia, with 50 million, and Spain with 47 million. In the U.S there are an estimated 50 million Spanish speakers with different levels of proficiency.

Given that Spanish is spoken in Europe and in LATAM, for practical purposes the global entertainment industry has agreed on two standards that simplify localization for Spanish-speaking markets: European Spanish – also known as Spain’s Spanish, Castilian Spanish or, simply, Spanish – and Latin American Spanish.

Latin-American Spanish, also known as LATAM Spanish, is a standardized use of the language that serves as a middle-ground between the many dialects spoken across the Americas, where usage and accent varies greatly from one country to the other.

The origin of this particular use, which is an artificial form – not actually spoken anywhere except entertainment products – has its origins in Mexico where most of the first audio and audiovisual production took place. To accommodate everyone in the region, an international variant was shaped with the most common aspects of pronunciation, terminology, and grammar, sanitized of nearly all local expressions.

After years of evolution and broadcast, the audience has adopted LATAM Spanish, and it has now become the standard. Sometimes, this version of the language is called “neutral” Spanish because of its intended purpose of being as neutral as possible for a large region. However, be wary when you see this term, as ‘neutral’ might sound like a form that works everywhere but it doesn’t. It is specific to LATAM markets.

1. Using Spanish in gaming content is important for Latin American players for several reasons:
2. Accessibility: Spanish is a widely spoken language in Latin America and many players may not be fluent in English or other languages. By using Spanish, developers can ensure that their content is accessible to a wider audience.
3. Cultural Relevance: Spanish is a critical part of Latin American culture and using it in gaming content can help to create a more immersive and culturally relevant experience for players.
4. Increased Engagement: When players feel that a game speaks to them in a language they understand, they are more likely to become engaged and invested in the game. This can result in higher player retention and a more loyal player base.
5. Localization: Localizing content for a specific region, such as using Spanish for Latin America, helps to tailor the gaming experience to the local market and ensures that it is relevant to local players.

Overall, using Spanish in gaming content for Latin American players is important for improving accessibility, cultural relevance, engagement, and localization. By doing so, developers can reach a wider audience and build a more dedicated player base in the region.

How to Deliver a Seamless Customer Experience with your Sportsbook

by Garrett Freehling

Contributing Writer, OCR Labs

Garrett Freehling has 7 years of experience working in technology. He is passionate about solutions for everyday problems and is constantly looking for the latest and greatest in technology. Garrett’s background is in Payments, Customer Experience, Automation, and Data Management. 

The sports betting industry has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue. As the industry continues to expand, it is essential for sportsbooks to offer a seamless customer experience to keep customers engaged and coming back for more. One of the key elements of a seamless customer experience is the process of identity verification.

In the past, the process of verifying a customer's identity was a time-consuming and manual process that often frustrated customers. However, with the advent of advanced technologies such as biometrics, OCR, and facial recognition, sportsbooks can now automate the identity verification process and deliver a seamless customer experience.

One of the primary benefits of automated ID verification is speed. With automated systems, customers can have their identities verified in real-time, without having to wait for manual processing. This speeds up the process of opening an account and getting started with sports betting. In addition, customers can have their identities verified through multiple channels, including online, mobile, and in-person verification. This gives customers the flexibility to choose the method that is most convenient for them.

Another benefit of automated ID verification is accuracy. With advanced technologies like biometrics and facial recognition, sportsbooks can ensure that the customer's identity is verified accurately and efficiently. This helps to prevent identity fraud and keeps customer information secure. In addition, sportsbooks can integrate with ID verification providers to verify customer identities in real-time. This provides an additional layer of security and helps to ensure that the customer's identity is verified accurately.

In addition to speed and accuracy, automated ID verification also helps sportsbooks to meet regulatory requirements. Many countries have strict regulations in place that require sportsbooks to verify the identities of their customers. With automated systems, sportsbooks can ensure that they are compliant with these regulations and that customer information is kept secure.

Finally, a seamless customer experience with automated ID verification also helps to build trust with customers. When customers see that their identity is being verified quickly and securely, they are more likely to feel confident in the sportsbook and be more likely to continue using their services. In addition, sportsbooks can also offer customers the peace of mind that their personal information is being kept safe and secure.

In conclusion, sportsbooks can deliver a seamless customer experience with automated ID verification by implementing advanced technologies, integrating with ID verification providers, and offering multiple channels for verification. By doing so, sportsbooks can ensure that their customers' identities are verified quickly, accurately, and securely, while also helping to build trust with their customers. With a seamless customer experience, sportsbooks can keep customers engaged and coming back for more, making it a key element of success in the competitive sports betting industry.

The Short End of the Pool Stick

by Shawn Budd

Strategic Advisor for Salt Island Dev Inc.

Back in the day, billiards tables were installed in the betting parlors so gamblers would have something to kill time while waiting for the next horse race. Gamblers would throw their money into a pool on the billiard table whilst betting on racing, resulting in the birth of the “Pool Table”. Low and behold, betting parlors for horse racing were referred to as pool rooms from then on.

While Pool (Cuesports) has had its moments over the years it has never seen a resurgence like it has over the past decade. In 2016, 210 million viewers on broadcaster CCTV5 China, tuned in to watch Ding Junhui play at the World Snooker Championship. World 9 ball Champion, the humble American superstar Shane Van Boening was recently profiled on the Nationally televised CBS 60 Minutes program and Joe Rogan interviewed world number 1 - Fedor Gorst on his podcast, which attracted millions of viewers. 

From a gaming or virtual standpoint, pool is just as popular. Miniclips (a UK gaming publisher) most downloaded title to date is 8 Ball Pool, which has over one billion downloads and $400million in revenues, $20m in the last quarter alone. 

Add to that, there are 40 million + people playing pool every year in the USA and a mind blowing 60 million a day in China, just shows how staggering the numbers are.  

So with all this being said, Pool still seems to get the short end of the stick when it comes to attracting major sponsors and sports-betting opportunities. It could be the stigmatism of the old age Hustler or it's just so difficult to create markets on a game that can be decided on the toss of a coin. That is a fact, many players have lost a match without even getting the opportunity to have a single shot. It’s the nature of the game. 

Because of this, the American pool legend - Earl Strickland once said - “you need to take the break out of billiards, then it will be more like golf.” 

He was referring to the fact that if a player gets a birdie on a hole, the opponent then has the exact opportunity to equal or better that score, and as we know that’s not what happens in pool and that is the reason we have created 7BallRun. 

* 7BallRun is a patented breakless cue sports game. Both the live and virtual games will be launching in 2023. 

For more information on 7BallRun, contact SCCG 

Pazner says farewell

We begin with a major industry update, with 888 Holdings CEO and Executive Director Itai Pazner relinquishing his position with immediate effect.

The company has announced its Non-Executive Chair Lord Mendelsohn will assume the position of Executive Chair on an interim basis until a replacement CEO can be found.

Speaking on Pazner’s departure, Mendelsohn said: “On behalf of the Board I would like to thank Itai for his significant contributions to the business over more than 20 years, including the last four as CEO.

“Itai has played a vital role in building a business with powerful proprietary technology, and has overseen successful early stages of the William Hill integration process. We wish him well in his future endeavours.”

Are you not Entained?

Moving on to finances, Entain has reported an 11% year-on-year increase in net gaming revenue (NGR) for the fourth quarter of 2022.

The group reported record Q4 online NGR, which increased 12% year-on-year after a successful 2022 World Cup, which took place in Qatar in December. The total was, however, offset by weather disruptions to sporting fixtures.

Also at record levels were active customers, which grew 14% year-on-year. Q4 2022 retail, meanwhile, climbed 10%, driven by strong growth in gaming and betting terminals.

Entain also reported its FY22 results, with NGR climbing 12% year-on-year. Online was down 1% year-on-year, reflecting “strong Covid-19 comparators and the absorption of regulatory changes, particularly in the UK and Germany.” Retail, however, climbed 66% year-on-year, with “volumes ahead of pre-Covid levels, market share gains and a broadening customer base.”

22 not out

In another financial update, Nevada’s casinos have generated over $1bn in revenue for 2022, marking the 22nd month in a row that the Silver State has hit this figure.

Winning $1.31bn from its 434 licensed casinos, this amount represents a 14% increase year-on-year. Most notably, it was a record month for the Las Vegas Strip, which generated $814.2m in December.

It comes as no surprise, then, that revenue from the Las Vegas Strip for December was up 25% year-on-year, although – what is significant – is that this is the highest yearly percent increase (14%) recorded by any state when compared to December 2021.

Great gig

In M&A news, Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has completed its previously announced acquisition of casino affiliate websites Askgamblers.com, Johnslots.com, Newcasinos.com and several smaller domains from Catena Media.

The €45m ($47.9m) acquisition was first announced in mid-December, with GiG noting at the time that the acquired websites generated €12.9m in revenue and €8.4m in EBITDA for the first nine months of 2022, with GiG expecting to have an EBITDA margin between 60-70% from the assets going forward.

London on thin ICE?

And finally, just moments ahead of ICE London 2023, Clarion Gaming has released a shortlist for potential future locations of the event.

ICE, currently held in London, has recently been slated to move after Clarion’s partners alleged cost difficulties in attending an event held in the UK – now divorced from the EU.

Four cities have been shortlisted as potential hosts for future iterations of ICE from 2025 onwards. These are Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and London.  



There will be formal bid processes from each city to stage the event – and it is expected that London’s bid would need to be particularly tempting given the supposed calls for its relocation.

SCCG Management Announces Strategic Partnership with Micro Market Platform, Grin Gaming

Stephen Crystal, Founder and CEO of SCCG Management announced a strategic partnership with Grin Gaming, providing business development, capital sourcing and strategic advisory services for the micro market pricing platform.

Stephen Crystal said of the partnership "“We are thrilled to announce our strategic partnership with Grin Gaming, a cutting-edge micro betting platform revolutionizing the gaming industry. With this partnership, we aim to bring our extensive network and expertise to the table, allowing Grin Gaming to maximize its potential and reach new heights in the market. This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to finding innovative solutions for our ecosystem and staying at the forefront of the industry. We are confident that together, we will drive growth and success for both our companies.”

Nick Bucheleres, CEO of Grin Gaming said, "Grin Gaming is thrilled to partner with SCCG on distributing our high-frequency micro market pricing platform. SCCG brings decades of experience in the sports gambling industry to the table and offers unprecedented access to global sports books - the perfect partner to help proliferate a cutting-edge product.”



Grin Gaming is the most sophisticated high-frequency micro market pricing platform in the sports gambling industry.  Leveraging their expertise in high-frequency futures trading and online machine learning, Grin Gaming's sportsbook product engages bettors in an unprecedented way through narrative-style wager generation and industry-leading low latency.

ABOUT GRIN GAMING

Grin Gaming’s high-frequency micro market pricing platform lets sports fans win cash by predicting every play of NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, and NHL. After years of perfecting their technology in the consumer space, they are have just launched their GrinData licensing product for sportsbooks and casinos.

https://gringaming.com/

ABOUT SCCG MANAGEMENT

SCCG Management is a premier management advisory firm with experienced leaders from the global gaming industry, providing expert solutions for strategic success with a focus on iGaming, Sports Betting, E-Sports and Casino Technology. Serving as a global networking partner for over 30 years with international offices in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Latin America, SCCG connects clients with the right strategic partners to assist global scale growth. As an accelerator for early stage companies, we promote innovation and empower emerging companies to achieve their goals. Additionally, SCCG acts as an early-stage investor, providing capital and resources to entrepreneurs developing new and innovative products and platforms. 

https://sccgmanagement.com

Client Spotlight - Powered by SCCG

7BallRun

ABOUT 7BALLRUN

7BallRun is a patented and trademarked breakless cue sports game to be played by professionals in a Company controlled venue. The sole purpose of the live game is for betting operators to take bets on the outcome of shots or series of shots made during the game.

https://www.7ballrun.com/

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SCCG Management Curated Industry News Feed

SCCG TV publishes audio/video content related to leaders in the Casino Gaming Industry and how our work relates to it - past, present and future!

Tune in to audio interviews with Stephen Crystal on SportsMap Radio Network's, "House of Cards

Watch exclusive video content produced and published by leading gaming industry publishers such as SIGMA Americas; Gambling Insider, Yogonet.com, the Picking Brains Podcast, and much more!

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