“We are proud that Betway’s African licensee partner selected us as their Fantasy Sports partner. They have quickly become market leaders in the region, and we are looking forward to supporting them as they expand,” comments Scout Gaming CEO, Andreas Ternstrom.

The agreement is not expected to have a material impact on Scout Gaming’s 2019 revenues but has the potential to have a significant effect on its revenues in future years, depending on the speed of rollout in the region, the press statement says.

Scout Gaming Group is a licensed and regulated provider of B2B Daily Fantasy Sports. The group is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with development and operations in Bergen, Norway and Lviv, Ukraine. Sales, support and product management is handled from the office in Malta. Scout Gaming is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the Certified Adviser is Redeye AB.

The post Scout Gaming launches with Betway’s African licensee first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The NBC offers three product tiers delivering varied customisation, allowing operators to develop a live casino enhancing player loyalty, NetEnt says.

In addition, the new product consists of two different rooms. One containing blackjack tables and one VIP table and the other including the recently launched product Perfect Blackjack, which offers a return-to-player (RTP) of 99.5% and allows customers to “follow, watch and learn flawless strategy,” NetEnt says.

“The Network Branded Casino from NetEnt Live has a range of quality solutions that suit all types of operators and their objectives. The product is fully attuned to their needs, allowing them to benefit from a state of the art live casino product and prioritize what is most important to their brand through new levels of flexibility,” said Andres Rengifo, Director of NetEnt Live.

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“At LeoVegas we are proud to be supporting the largest event of its kind in Malta. The main goal of this collaboration is to show LeoVegas’ commitment to embracing diversity and equality in our workforce” says the press statement by the company that has offices in Malta, Italy and Sweden.

The press statement adds that today LeoVegas has over 400 employees at the Malta office, sporting a truly diverse workforce — be it race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, ability, or sexual orientation —, which contributes to the overall success of the company.

“We are delighted to have LeoVegas supporting Malta Pride for the third year running,” said Clayton Mercieca, Community Manager of Allied Rainbow Communities

“Their strong commitment towards welcoming diversity in the workplace is a message that needs to be spread far and wide. In our work with the community, we have seen employers who were not as affirming and accepting, which led to employees’ wellbeing suffer and their motivation taking a dip as a result,” Mr Mercieca said. “Being simply tolerant is not enough,” he underscored.

Malta Pride is a week-long celebration with different activities, with the main parade and open-air free concert. This year’s theme will be “From Riots to Rainbows – 50 years since Stonewall”.

The post LeoVegas pledges support for Malta Pride 2019 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The Spanish online gambling market is making iGaming stakeholders excited, as figures spur optimism. Spanish watchdog Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego reported revenues jumping by 21% to €193.2m in Q1 2019, as compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Behind sports betting, the online casino vertical was the second strongest; generating €67.1m. Big iGaming operators are heading to the market.

SkillOnNet, which operates PlayOJO, has been one of the most recent companies to have obtained a licence in Spain. Additionally, giants such as LeoVegas — seeing further expansion in Malta — and GiG, both having a firm presence in Malta, have also bagged their Spanish licenses lately.

“With such prestigious brands getting in on the action I think the Spanish online gambling market will continue to thrive over the coming months and years,” Bojoko CBO Joonas Karhu tells BM.

The Bojoko chief believes that the Spanish market will affect Malta positively, especially from the perspective of a licencing jurisdiction. “The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) is one of the most established and trusted regulators in the world, and online gambling operators and suppliers wishing to enter markets such as Spain will still seek their approval,” Mr Karhu says.

He argues that being “dually licenced”, which essentially means that recognised by the MGA and by the regulator of the country a business is planning to enter, is a strong signal for players and other potential partners that an iGaming company operates to the highest possible standards.

“As markets such as Spain continue to regulate and show signs of growth, I think new operators and suppliers will enter the fray and will look to the MGA for licensing in addition to obtaining permits from the regulators in the markets where they launch,” Mr Karhu says.

Swedish reregulation ups the ante

However, another nation is believed to claim its stake at the European competition, holding strong cards in hand, as the recent reregulation of the Swedish market makes it an ever more attractive destination for iGaming firms.

“Bojoko supports the licensing and regulation of gambling in all markets around the world as it is the best way of ensuring that operators and suppliers are doing the right thing and that, ultimately, players are properly protected,” Mr Karhu says. “Online gambling is a hugely popular activity in Sweden and since the market reregulated at the start of the year we have seen all the major operators from the United Kingdom and beyond obtain the necessary licences to launch their brands in the country,” he adds.

Sweden is often seen as one of the most stringent markets when it comes to how operators can market their brands to players, which has caused some difficulties to companies, but generally, Mr Karhu believes that operators have adapted well and the market is growing nicely.

Mr Karhu further adds that the Swedish rerelugation will rather add to the importance of Malta. “I think this will have a positive impact on the Maltese online gambling industry. Malta is recognised as a leader and an authority in global online gambling and as markets continue to regulate and reregulate, the MGA will still to play a central role in the sector,” the business chief says.

In terms of the online gambling businesses based in Malta, Mr Karhu underscores that as most of these companies are multinational operators and suppliers he does not see them relocating to Sweden any time soon. Malta is considered as the world’s iGaming village and is expected to keep attracting companies and talent to its shores.

Expanding markets in EU, US

Additional European markets are expected to regulate the online gambling industry, which is seen to further establish the sector as a reputable, trusted and highly professional one. “We can clearly see the benefit of licensing and regulation in established markets such as the United Kingdom and Malta. Indeed, regulators such as the Gambling Commission and the MGA will continue to lead efforts to better safeguard players,” Mr Karhu says.

“I also expect Malta and the MGA to play a part in helping craft rules and regulations in new markets, as well as playing a central role in general conversations about how the iGaming sector can continue to move forward while properly protecting consumers,” he adds.

Overseas, the United States is also putting on the gloves, as a handful of states have already opened up, while another handful of states is working on regulating the market and would be opening up soon. “The United States is one of the most interesting online gambling markets in the world as more and more states license and regulate the activity. But it is very much a new industry and there is a lot to be learned from Malta and the MGA,” Mr Karhu maintains. He adds that he expects the MGA to “play a role in helping lawmakers craft rules and requirements, as well as to assist European operators looking to launch in the USA for the very first time.”

Although the opening up US market is foreseen to grow bigger than the European in the upcoming years, Mr Karhu does not believe the two giants would become competitors. “I do not really see it as one competing with the other. The United States is a new market that a lot of European operators and suppliers are keen to enter because of the huge potential on the table. The likes of Betfair, William Hill and PokerStars are already live, for example,” the Bojoko chief elaborates.

“I think European operators and suppliers — as well as regulators such as the MGA — can play a central role in how the US market evolves and expands simply because of the wealth of experience they have when it comes to working successfully in a highly-regulated industry,” he adds.

Only time will tell how European iGaming brands will resonate with players in the United States and whether any of the big US brands will decide to launch for players in Europe. “All things considered, I think the opening of the US market is great for Europe and great for the wider industry,” Mr Karhu concludes.

The post Spanish, Swedish markets may solidify Malta’s iGaming position first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Sweden-based Aspire Global is expected to invest around €1.5 million in the marketing strategies of this new brand, while Vipps Holdings will provide its experience from technology infrastructure and marketing to support the launch of the online casino. The product is scheduled to go live in the second half of 2019.

“We look forward to an exciting partnership with Vipps Holdings. The veteran team brings extensive experience from leading iGaming companies in the Nordic market and together we will be creating a truly innovative iGaming experience” said Tsachi Maimon, the CEO of Aspire.

Aspire Global is listed on NASDAQ and holds licenses in Malta, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden.

The post Aspire Global to launch online casino brand with Vipps Holdings first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“Digitain is among one of the largest platform providers and will make a great potential contribution to our network,” said Andreas Ternström, the CEO of Scout Gaming Group. “This clearly states that Scout Gaming is the first-hand choice when it comes to fantasy-related products,” the CEO added.

“We are continuously looking to improve our product offering and have found that Scout Gaming has a proven capability of providing fantasy sports games with a global network and therefore is experienced partner to launch and expand Digitain’s fantasy sports offering,” said Suren Khachatryan, the CCO of Digitain. “Scout Gaming’s fantasy sports solution will be provided along with our in-house developed and managed sportsbook solution,” the Digitain COO added.

Digitain started out as a national lottery in Armenia in 1999, before becoming a multi-channel iGaming software provider in the online, hand-held and land-based industries. Digitain integrates sportsbook, casino, live dealer and virtual sports modules. The company says its portfolio includes an “extensive” payment gateway and a “dedicated” non-stop customer support service.

Scout Gaming Group handles its sales, support and product management from its Maltese office, it is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and has operations in Bergen, Norway, and Lviv, Ukraine, and is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The post Scout Gaming partners with Digitain on product distribution first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Through the deal that NetEnt tags as another step in increasing its footprint in New Jersey, a large selection of its casino games will launch in the upcoming weeks, becoming available to Draftkings players.

“We are very excited to have landed a deal with DraftKings. As the world leader in fantasy sports, with a large player base they will add a new dimension to the market and we are confident that their players will enjoy our popular games,” said Erik Nyman, Managing Director NetEnt Americas LLC.

The post NetEnt increases footprint in NJ through DraftKings pact first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Introducing a Unified Self-Exclusion System would be a significant step toward implementing further control for the prevention of gambling-related harm, the authority believes. The scope and high-level specifications of the system can be accessed via a recently published Preliminary Market Consultation (PMC) document.

The PMC document is accessible at the Maltese Government’s Electronic Public Procurement System (ePPS). All submissions are also to be sent through the ePPS. The closing date for this preliminary market consultation process is 31 May 2019.

“Responsible gaming is a key priority within the MGA’s regulatory policy development and framework,” the authority says in the press statement. The MGA underlines that they are committed to strengthening player protection.

The post Malta Gaming Authority launches preliminary market consultation first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.