Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which include the latest news and new partnerships. Read on and get updated.

Latest News

The Michigan Gaming Control Board has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Duranbah Limited N.V., the operator of MyBookie.ag, based in Curaçao. The site offers a variety of casino-style games, such as slots, poker and live-dealer games like blackjack, roulette and craps. It also allows users to place bets on sporting events and horse races. MyBookie.ag offers numerous payment methods for deposits and the funding of players’ accounts, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal, various cryptocurrencies and MoneyGram. However, withdrawals can only be made via Bitcoin or bank wire transfer. The MGCB’s investigation revealed that MyBookie.ag’s operation of online casino-style games for paying customers, without a valid Michigan gambling license, breaches several state laws.

Altenar has increased its focus on the North American iGaming market with the appointment of Matthew Ferrara as Sales Manager. Based in Miami, Ferrara has previously spent two years working in Croatia as a live trader on US sports for Superbet before returning to the United States to join micro-betting provider Kero Sports as Business Development Manager, specialising in outbound sales and strategic partnerships. He now strengthens Altenar’s sales team and will focus primarily on the North American market as the sportsbook provider looks to expand its operation.

SUZOHAPP has announced the appointment of Jim Kirner as its new Sales Director for North America. With over 20 years of experience in the gaming industry, Jim brings a wealth of expertise to his role and will be pivotal in driving SUZOHAPP’s sales and product strategies across the region. Throughout his career, Jim has been instrumental in driving transformational changes in the gaming sector, helping companies innovate and enhance the player experience. Prior to joining SUZOHAPP, Jim held key leadership positions at IGT, DiTRONICS, Interblock and Aruze Gaming Global.

Partnerships

The National Football League has announced a partnership with the Responsible Gambling Council to develop and implement a comprehensive responsible gambling training programme specifically designed for university and college student-athletes. The RGC and NFL have identified student athletes as an important audience for targeted responsible gambling and problem gambling prevention initiatives, as previous research has shown their susceptibility to risky gambling behaviour. The programme will launch with a pilot phase at eight universities and colleges across Canada in the upcoming 2025 spring semester. Insights and feedback from this phase will be used to refine and improve the programme before its broader rollout to 30 university and college institutions in the 2025–26 school year.

The PGA TOUR, PENN Entertainment and ESPN are launching a live betting stream on PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+. The ESPN BET branded stream will provide key data, insights and live betting analysis during coverage of six marquee FedExCup events across the 2025 PGA TOUR season. ESPN BET on PGA TOUR LIVE, set to premiere at the WM Phoenix Open on ESPN+ starting Thursday, Feb. 6, is made possible by a new multi-year agreement between the PGA TOUR and PENN Entertainment, the operator of ESPN BET. The deal designates ESPN BET as an Official Betting Operator of the PGA TOUR.

With this partnership, Betclic is committed to promoting French rugby in its marketing campaigns and on its digital platforms, including its application and its sports betting offer, in order to strengthen the visibility of the French teams and generate renewed enthusiasm around this popular sport.

Betclic will also work with the FFR to train the management teams and raise their awareness of preserving the integrity of competitions, promoting responsible gaming and ethical and solidarity practices in accordance with the Federation’s Charter of 15 CSR commitments.

By supporting the “Rugby au cœur” endowment fund, Betclic will also contribute to social inclusion projects through sport, positively impacting lives in the most fragile areas.

Nicolas BÉRAUD (Founder and CEO of Betclic)  : “One in two Betclic players bets on Rugby. The partnership with the FFR is therefore consistent with their expectations, and it makes sense with the other agreements that we have established with the National Rugby League or the Union Bordeaux-Bègles (UBB). We are proud to support, alongside the FFR, all the passionate players – whether volunteers or professionals – who bring rugby to life. This agreement illustrates our desire to uphold the values ​​of this unique and popular sport.”

Florian GRILL (President of the FFR)  : “This partnership with Betclic is a win-win for the FFR because it is accompanied by media campaigns that contribute to the visibility and awareness of rugby among the general public. But above all, Betclic is also committed to supporting us within the framework of the “Rugby au Cœur” endowment fund, which supports civic actions and the work of education through sport of our 2,000 amateur rugby clubs.”

Scientific Games has launched the global lottery company’s SCiQ retail technology for the first time in Europe. Through the partnership with Allwyn, the operator of The National Lottery, the Scientific Games retail ecosystem has debuted at an Asda store east of Manchester, UK. Asda is the second-largest supermarket chain in the UK. SCiQ, which has proven to create efficiencies and support lottery sales in more than a dozen U.S. markets, will modernize how The National Lottery’s scratchcards are managed and purchased at retail.

SCiQ is the only technology of its kind for managing the lottery category within stores. The Scientific Games system provides retailers with a comprehensive suite of features, including touch-of-a-button store reporting, automated inventory management, real-time store-specific sales analytics and market basket performance reports. In addition to streamlined lottery category management, SCiQ offers enhanced product security and modernizes the lottery experience for the shopper with digital screens and automatic dispensing.

Christopher Allen, VP, Lottery Marketing Strategy for Scientific Games, said, “Our global technology teams continue Scientific Games’ 50+ year commitment to innovate across the lottery landscape and bring to market new, advanced technologies helping lotteries future-proof across all channels of play. We are delighted to bring our proven SCiQ retail ecosystem to our partnership with Allwyn and thrilled that Asda was the first retailer in the UK to deploy the system in-store.”

Scientific Games customized the software in accordance with Allwyn’s pioneering 10-scratchcard limit, automatically preventing Asda store staff from selecting more than 10 National Lottery Scratchcards per transaction.

Innovating for a changing retail landscape and new-look stores, Scientific Games worked with both Allwyn and Asda to customize SCiQ specifically for the customer service area of the Asda store. This is the first phase of a trial that will take several months as the technology is tested to inform any broader rollout plans in the future.

Allwyn’s Operations Director, Jenny Blogg, said, “As we continue transforming The National Lottery from the inside out, we’re deploying innovative lottery technology fit for the future. Thanks to the teams at Allwyn and Scientific Games, this innovative concept Scratchcard retail technology takes player and retailer experience to a whole new level and we’re confident it will change the way people buy Scratchcards. We also worked closely with Asda to meet the specific requirements of their new-look store and are absolutely delighted with how it’s turned out. We’ll now assess it over the next few months to determine how we move forward with the technology, but we’re really excited by the initial results.”

Scientific Games is the world’s largest lottery games company and the largest lottery systems technology partner in Europe. The company provides games, technologies, analytics and services to more than 150 lotteries in 50 countries worldwide.

SCiQ® is a registered trademark of Scientific Games. ©2025 Scientific Games, LLC. All Rights Reserved.