Conferences

Football betting goes on a European Tour

Published

8 years ago

April 6, 2016

During its full-year results conference call at the end of February, Ladbrokes chief executive Jim Mullen said that football betting remained a “core opportunity” for the company to engage with the vitally important 18-35 age group “for whom it is their betting sport of choice”.

The results touted the company’s success in promoting its football offer both in retail, where 2015/16 season staking was up 13.2%, and online where the amount stakes on football rose 38% in 2015. Using Boxing Day as an example of the progress the company has made within the past 12 months, Ladbrokes said that football staking across both retail and online was up 56% on that one day (when there is by tradition a full English Premier League programme) over the year previous.

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But the popularity of football betting extends beyond the relatively limited confines of betting on the EPL. Martin Ramshaw, senior odds compiler at rival William Hill, makes the point that though traditionally English and Scottish football has been popular with the UK audience, the interest in betting on continental European football, has “grown significantly”.

“The main catalyst for this was Sky Sports coverage of Spanish football,” says Ramshaw who notes that this acted as the bridgehead towards betting on football that took place even further afield. “An increase in betting gradually spread to other major European leagues, particularly as more became accessible to watch. Over the last few years, we have moved on to betting on other less well known European leagues many of which are the Eastern European leagues and although we don’t have the same turnover as the major leagues, it is still a significant amount and shows demand for the product.”

There is a reciprocal element to the interest in betting on football from eastern European leagues. The most recent results from Fortuna Entertainment Group, which runs sports-betting retail and online operations in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, showed that interest in sports-betting was booming.

Amounts staked in the Czech Republic rose over 16% to €462.1m while gross win rose 7.7% to €59.6m, of which €43.9m came through online betting and €15.7m was retail. In Poland, gross win rose 14.5% year-on-year to €34.8m with €12.8m through the online channel and €22m via retail. Lastly, in Slovakia gross win rose 12.7% to €44.3m with a €28m contribution from the online channel and €16.3m emanating via retail.

The company gave little detail regarding a product breakdown for any of its gross win revenues, but it did suggest that football would be a main driver for the current year as all three of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia qualified for Euro 2016.

BOFCON will shed insight on consumer trends and impacts which operators and stakeholders will actively engage with during Euro 2016 and beyond.

With Fortuna as with its western counterparts, in-play is one of driving forces behind the current rates of online growth. But the desire to have betting opportunities available at all times during the day is no longer just an online phenomenon. One of the features of Ladbrokes’ results statement was what the detail it offered up with regard to its burgeoning estate of self-service betting terminals (SSBTs) which has now reached 6,400 across the entire estate with some shops hosting up to eight machines.

Ladbrokes pointed out that 75% of all bets on SSBTs are football bets and that 30% of all bets occur in-play. Scott Ferguson, head of UK product at Best Gaming Technology (BGT) which supplies Ladbrokes with its machines and software, points out that a lot of this retail in-play football growth came from leagues outside of the UK. “It’s not just the top leagues available, you can drill down several divisions in many countries,” he says. “The old days of only ever betting on leagues you can see on TV are far behind us.”

Register for BOFCON to find out about the latest in-play developments to engage customers.

The recognition factor still plays a part both online and in the shops, says Ramshaw at William Hill. “The higher profile a league is the more punters will look to bet on it,” he says. “If teams such as CSKA (Moscow) or Shakhtar (Donetsk) do well in Europe, clients will be more aware of them and are more likely to bet on them. Another factor is if the teams have high profile players or managers.”

Yet as Ferguson suggests, timing is perhaps the most important factor in the popularity of some football competitions. Says Ferguson from BGT: “For example a competition which punches well above its weight is Czech U-21s. Ideally scheduled around lunchtime during the week, it’s a perfect competition for in-play betting, especially since this season’s goals per match average is about 3.4. Goals betting is more popular than traditional 1×2 betting on these lesser-known leagues, and with several matches in-play at the same time, it leads to accumulators rather than singles betting.”

As with online this interest in betting away from the higher-profile events is aided by the data available. Online in-play is serviced by supplier such as Perform Group’s Running Ball feeding in data regarding football and other sports taking place globally, and the same is now happening in UK shops. “The availability of pre-match and in-play statistics gives the customer confidence to bet anywhere,” says Ferguson from BGT. “One thing you never need to worry about is the absence of data on matches from far-flung places, it’s all available on the terminal and it clearly drives turnover on matches played in places few people could ever pinpoint on a map.”

About Betting on Football

With the Euro 2016 Championship in France this summer leading into a blockbusting new 2016/17 football season, there will be more eyes than ever before on the sport. There will also be more demand for betting. Betting on Football plans to explore best practice in a number of areas including sponsorship, marketing, integrity, cultivating innovation and trading, both pre-match and in-play.

Zoltan "Hawkie" Tundik

With an experience of over 8 years in the online gambling industry, as an affiliate, later affiliate manager and consultant, I consider myself a veteran of the industry and can guarantee that you will be served with the most accurate information.

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Conferences

The 8th edition of the Romanian Conference on Gambling

Published

6 years ago

February 21, 2018

George Miller

On the 6th of March 2018, the Parliament Palace in Bucharest hosts the 8th edition of the Romanian Gambling Conference – CRG8, the biggest annual event of the gambling industry in Central and Eastern Europe.

The eighth edition of the CRG, a regional conference of gambling, will be held under the slogan “Ready for the Gambling of Tomorrow.”

As in the previous editions, this years event aims to approach all elements of the gambling industry based on the novelties of the legislation and the enforcement rules, both in Romania and other European countries, as well as the vulnerabilities of the current system, passing through the slot rooms and AWPs, but also casino life or online gambling. Special sections will be provided for human resources, marketing, image, social responsibility and responsible gambling.

Among those who will speak, we find representative names in the gaming world both in Romania and abroad. Representatives of the Romanian authorities, as well as from other European Union countries, are on the guest list.

Those present at the event will be able to ask questions to clarify all the unclear aspects in the special questions and answers (Q&A) sections.

The organizer, as in all previous editions, is the most popular magazine of the Romanian gambling industry, Casino Life & Business Magazine, the double winner of the “Best iGaming Magazine of the Region” Award at the CEEG Awards Budapest, Hungary in 2016 and 2017.

As in the previous editions, during the conference, the organizers wish to host a mini-exhibition in the lobby, so that participants can see on the spot the novelties, as well as other projects of interest.

The event, of both local and international importance, will be hosted by the famous marble halls of the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon, on March 6th, 2018.

The Draft of the Program has four plenary sessions as follows:

– Partners Presentation
– CSR & Responsible Gambling
– Europe up-to-date
– Romanian Actuality

The Program has also coffee breaks and a working lunch.

Permanent partners of the events organised by Casino Life & Business Magazine are DGL PRO, GRISOGONO jewelry and ROMBET.
Gold Partner of the conference is NOVOMATIC Romania.

Media partner of the event are the portal www.forrichonly.ro, BURSA news-paper and the very well-known iGaming Business Magazine, part of Clarion group.

Those interested can download the Registration Form from here: Registration Form conf march 2018

For details, registration and other information send your inquiries to [email protected]

Conferences

The gambling industry in France, un problème historique

Published

6 years ago

December 19, 2017

Zoltan "Hawkie" Tundik

The link between France and gambling always has been strong and could even be described as historic.

The country largely contributed to the development of gambling through time with the creation of inescapable games such as roulette (by the mathematician Blaise Pascal) and the 52 card game which gave birth to Baccarat or Shimmy (also known as Chernay).

As a consequence, it feels natural for gambling to be legal in France. But to settle on this territory, you must have a license from by several organisations:
• for betting activities: Pari Mutuel Hippodrome (PMH) and Pari Mutuel Urbain(PMU);
• for bingo lotteries and sports betting, only the Française des Jeux (FDJ) keeps the monopoly on land base activities.

Some conditions must however be respected if you want to offer gambling activities in France. For example, physical casinos can only be established in seaside and tourist towns (except Paris) and on some cruise ships with the French flag.

Since 2010, online gambling is regulated by the Autorité de Régulation des Jeux en Ligne (ARJEL), which can authorise licenses for club games (until now, only the poker is allowed), sports betting and horse races. Online casino games are forbidden in France.

Fifteen licenses have been issued by the ARJEL so far. This particularly low number of licenses can be explained by high tax rates which can frighten some operators.

However, the market is doing well as the third quarter of 2017 results show: an increase by 23% of the revenues linked to sports betting despite a year without international competition, a 10% growth of horse racing revenues and +5% for poker.

France is a market which needs to be followed especially as online casinos should be authorised very soon. The 2018 Football World Cup, with a French team considered as favorite for this new edition, should also contribute to the sector’s success thanks to high sports betting revenues.

On October 16, 2018, the inaugural European Gaming Congress in Ljubljana is set to host a panel where the state of France will be discussed directly with the regulator. To find out more details about the event make sure you follow our news.

Conferences

We are sponsoring the prizes at ASEAN Gaming Summit Poker Freeroll

Published

6 years ago

December 19, 2017

Zoltan "Hawkie" Tundik

We are excited to announce our first event sponsorship and we would like to thank our friends at All-In Translations for the opportunity and initiative. As a strategic partner of Asia Gaming Brief (organizers of ASEAN Gaming Summit), the honor is even higher. (see EEGMedia/EEGEvents engages in strategic partnership with Asia Gaming Brief)

It was great to see that All-in Translations will once again host the official poker tournament of the ASEAN Gaming Summit in March and we want to make it even more interesting for the players by giving some prizes on behalf of our company.

The tournament is a freeroll for delegates attending the conference and we will be sponsoring the prize pool with no less than three packages of great value.

Prize 1 (worth $1600): 1 Seasonal ticket for a company representative which includes access to 5 EEGEvents in 2018.

Prague Gaming Summit – 29.03.2018
Mare Balticum Gaming Summit – 08.05.2018
Vienna International Gaming Expo – 30.05 – 01.06.2018
Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference and Awards– 25-26.09.2018
European Gaming Congress – 16.10.2018

The ticket includes access to the conference/seminar, complimentary lunch and access to all networking sessions.

More details about the events can be found on the official landing page of the events division: www.eegevents.org

Prize 2 (worth $550): Tickets for 2 EEGEvents in 2018 for a company representative.

The winner can choose from the above list of events.

Prize 3 (worth $900): Featured radio spot for 3 months and interview on iGaming Radio

The player who wins this gets the opportunity to present the company with a radio spot which will be streamed during peak hours on iGamingRadio.com. The radio spot can be created by the representative’s team or by the team at the first online radio dedicated exclusively for the b2b sector of the online gambling industry. A selected representative will also get the chance to take part in the Innovation Talks monthly show and discuss the latest innovation in the industry.

As you may already iGaming Radio is the first online radio streaming gaming related news exclusively through daily shows, interviews and press releases. The aim of the station is to keep its audience connected 24/7 with the online gaming industry by playing awesome music and serving the news first hand.

You can tune in on www.igamingradio.com

About ASEAN Gaming Summit

TECH TRENDS, CONVERGENCE, STRATEGY, RETURN ON INVESTMENT
20-22 MARCH, 2018, CONRAD MANILA, PHILIPPINES

The ASEAN Gaming Summit draws together the region’s leading operators, regulators and suppliers, who are successfully developing the next generation of gaming offerings, both terrestrial and online.

From new-style integrated resorts, addressing the premium mass market, to sports betting innovations and online gaming, this event is for anyone with an interest in this dynamic region.

Mark your calendars for 20 -22 March, 2018.

For any questions about the 2018 conference, send an email to [email protected] or visit the official website www.aseangaming.com

About All-In Translations

All In Translations is the only Language Service provider offering such a large variety of languages (70+) combined with a true enthusiasm for iGaming, hence their slogan “We speak your iGaming language”.

They are now a market-leading provider of language services to the iGaming industry. Their high-quality standards and service level are ISO certified and trusted by several of the biggest platform providers, developers, operators and affiliate marketers. The team helps companies like Playtech, William Hill, Betfair, Microgaming, Interblock, Betsson and many more to boost their online presence and grow their brands internationally.

The subject of iGaming has been their bailiwick since the company started up in Malta in 2008, meaning that all their linguists and project managers have both a strong knowledge of and a genuine passion for casino games, poker, sports betting, lotto, bingo, trotting, backgammon, roulette and more.

Visit their official website for more details: www.allintranslations.com