The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) is pleased to announce Kambi and Abios, its esports data subsidiary, as new ESIC Anti-Corruption Supporters. This partnership signals the alignment of Kambi’s longstanding commitment to corporate probity and sports integrity with ESIC’s ongoing battle against match-fixing and corruption in esports.

Kambi and Abios join a distinguished class of other Anti-Corruption Supporter stakeholders who have historically worked with ESIC to ensure that attacks against the competitive integrity of esports competition are appropriately reported and dealt with. Anti-Corruption Supporters assist ESIC in investigating suspicious betting activity, supporting ESIC’s broader mission to combat cheating and betting fraud in the esports industry. Kambi and Abios’ entrance into the Anti-Corruption Supporter class will see the entities actively work with ESIC to assist in ESIC’s mission to disrupt, prevent, investigate and prosecute all attempts to compromise competitive integrity in esport competition.

Abios’ Managing Director and Founder, Anton Janér commented:

“Our mission at Abios has always been to enable the sustainable growth of esports. As such, we’re incredibly excited to join ESIC in their mission to future-proof esports through combatting match-fixing and other integrity-related malpractices. Fair play is a crucial component in ensuring the viability of esports as a long-term community and investment and we hope to be able to support the industry together with ESIC going forward.”

Stephen Hanna, ESIC’s CEO commented:

“We are delighted to announce this membership. Kambi and Abios are well trusted and recognised operators in their respective industries, and their entrance into the Anti-Corruption Supporter class of ESIC membership emphasises their shared commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity and fair play within the esports industry.”

Spotlight Sports Group (SSG), a world-leading technology, content, and media company specialising in sports betting, has today agreed to showcase Smart View in racecards at York’s Dante meeting.

The racecards are powered by the industry-leading racing media and tech supplier, the Racing Post, and have already been utilised in racecards at Naas racecourse, Ireland.

The feature races of each day of York’s early season highlight will host Smart View racecards, as well as a QR code to allow racegoers easy access to all races at the Dante Meeting in Smart View via mobile.

Smart View has already produced strong success at major festivals, beginning at the Cheltenham Festival at which it accurately forecast eight winners out of 27 races, and posted a 76% ROI. Smart View selections have included Monmiral at 25/1 in the Coral Cup, Minella Crooner at 25/1 at the Punchestown Festival, and last week Zoffee in the ultra-competitive Chester Cup.

Spotlight Sports Group’s Retail Director, Alan Pepperell, shared his excitement at partnering with York racecourse: “Following a strong Cheltenham Festival, Smart View has gone on to offer big-priced winners at recent festivals. We are delighted to partner with York racecourse for their early season highlight and hope that Smart View can continue to provide racegoers with positive returns.”

The product itself is live in more than 1,000 retail outlets in the UK and Ireland and continues to provide customers with an engaging, dynamic and accessible experience.

With further enhancements to come, such as the addition of international racing, Smart View offers a user-friendly, industry-leading technology that improves bettors’ experience.

Spotlight Sports Group’s retail services are powered by the Racing Post and are proven to drive revenues with a rich content experience for betting audiences. To learn more about Smart View and other retail services visit: racingpostretailservices.com

Sphaira Innovation, a not-for-profit harnessing the power of people and technology to make positive change, has acquired video games market insights specialist Playmob.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, creates a formal relationship between Playmob and Sphaira Innovation’s PlanetPlay, which is bringing the games industry and players together to fight climate change.

Playmob CEO Jude Ower – who now becomes Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Sphaira UK – has worked closely with PlanetPlay on the launch of its Make Green Tuesday Moves campaign, which aims to help games studios and players make important real-world impact in the fight against climate change.

Alongside PlanetPlay CEO Rhea Loucas, Ower also recently led a games industry delegation to the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Climate Promise event at UN HQ in New York – an initiative to support countries as they increase their climate action contributions.

Meanwhile, Ower is also the Co-Founder of the Playing For The Planet Alliance and Co-Author of the recently published book ‘Gaming for Good: Unlocking the Power of Gaming to Create a Better World for Us All’, which also supports green projects via PlanetPlay.

And in 2021, she worked with the UNDP on the ‘People’s Climate Vote’, the biggest survey of consumer attitudes towards climate change, which was facilitated through Playmob’s innovative game insights platform and reached 33 million gamers worldwide. The survey had 1.2 million validated votes in 50 countries around the world.

She is speaking this week at the UK Government’s Department for Business & Trade GREAT FUTURES event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she is discussing how the UK video games industry can work with Saudi Arabia in areas such as gaming and sustainability. She is joined at the event by Sphaira Innovation UK Chairman and Sphaira Innovation AG Board Member Dirk van Daele.

Working alongside PlanetPlay under the Sphaira Innovation umbrella, Playmob is again working with the UNDP on a new and even more ambitious international study of whether people consider climate change to be a global emergency, and how they would like their countries to tackle the issue.

Sphaira Innovation UK CSO Jude Ower said: “Playmob’s mission is closely aligned with PlanetPlay, and we are delighted to announce that we are merging our important efforts, and Playmob is being acquired by PlanetPlay. Through the projects we have been working on together, it is clear that our partnership is a strong move for our industry and pushing the sustainability x gaming agenda forward. PlanetPlay and Sphaira is the right home for Playmob and we are excited for the next part of our green gaming journey together.”

Sphaira Innovation UK Chairman & Sphaira Innovation AG Board Member Dirk van Daele offered: “After having been accepted by major game studios and music artists in supporting our not-for-profit eco donate platform, we are excited for Playmob and Jude to join us. Her efforts and established track record in ‘playing for good’ will help us to scale even faster for the benefit of the climate.”

PlanetPlay CEO Rhea Loucas added: “PlanetPlay as a disruptive NPO is constantly seeking innovative solutions for engaging billions of gamers as part of our mission to combat climate change. We have already been working closely for a long time with Playmob and Jude Ower on a few exciting projects; with the acquisition, we will be able to join forces and achieve our goal together. With three billion players around the world, and through the combination of our gaming and sustainability efforts, we can all collectively make a difference for our planet.”