This week SBC CIS Editorial Team in addition to a selection of the most important news of the past week, offers you a quick rundown of the most important industry events that are planned for 2023. Save the date, ask everyone in your network which events they plan to attend this year and make sure you have a great time and do good business once you’re there!
The highlight of the week would be EGT’s announcement of their initiative to deliver humanitarian assistance to victims of the February 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The leading European provider of the gaming equipment will join companies that carry essentials and provide cold-temperature sleeping bags that literally save lives.
More regulatory, business and political updates in our Weekly Digest below.
Regulatory Update
In Georgia, the government introduced new casino licensing rules saying that now it is possible to get a license to operate an online casino only if the operator already has a land-based presence in the country. Businesses that wish to operate in an online-only environment will be charged an additional 5 million GEL ($1.8 million).
Kyrgyzstan collected $500,000 in payments for issuing licenses to operate sports betting in the country. According to a government official, so far only four licenses for gambling activities have been issued. Gambling was legalized in Kyrgyzstan in the summer of 2022.
In Ukraine, the Chairman of the Ukrainian Gambling Council issued a statement debunking the myths surrounding the Ukrainian gambling market in the times past the legalization:
“The legalization of gambling in Ukraine has not led to a surge in gambling addiction, which was predicted by illegal gambling lobbyists and populists”, —
Anton Kuchukhidze, Chairman of the Ukrainian Gambling Council
SBC CIS Interviews
Europebet’s Chief Marketing Officer Dimitri Vachnadze met with SBC CIS for a brief talk to discuss the development and popularity of eSports in the country, and why his betting company is so active in this area. Europebet were the title sponsors of the Winter Cup II Edition, the largest eSports tournament in Georgia with the total prize fund of 100,000 Gel ($38 000), that took place at the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi.
SmartSoft’s Head of Business Development, Saba Chkheidze, spoke with SBC CIS editors about the company’s recent partnership with Entain and the distribution of their non-traditional casino games, how far they got in 2022 and what they are planning to do from this point onwards.
“FIFA’s suspension of the contracts with foreign players and team coaches is killing the game in Ukraine”,
— Sergei Palkin, CEO Shakhtar Donetsk.
World’s football governing body took an unprecedented step after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing foreign players the chance to be transferred to clubs in other countries without incurring any subsequent penalties for breaching the terms of their contracts. Shakhtar announced that the decision resulted in a loss of 40 million euros ($42.9 million) in income from transfer fees for players, which reduced the club’s revenues.
Podcast Review
In the recent podcast for CasinoBeats, Leigh Nissim, CEO at Future Anthem, talks about starting his way up at Marks & Spencers and ultimately finding out that his real place was in technology and digital journeys. Nissim recalls his past, people that he’s met throughout his time in the sector, his progress through the industry, and the major changes in the field.
New Products and Partnerships
Sportradar used ICE London to present its latest AI-powered Computer Vision technology, which was trained to see and understand images and video. The Computer Vision demo, which used a single camera to analyze 120 FPS live video, showed the technology to transform the viewing experience, turning each video frame into a digital asset for dynamic content. Sportradar is confident that the speed at which Computer Vision can collect data will enable the creation of new products such as micro-bets, facilitating faster betting cycles in markets not tied to the final score of a match.
Relax Gaming integrated its vast gaming portfolio into the bet365 giant network. A wide selection of popular relaxing games such as Money Train 3, Iron Bank and Temple Tumble are now available to bet365 customers. In addition to the popular Relax games, the selection will also feature premium hand-picked content from an extensive library of third-party aggregators.
Pragmatic Play presented their latest release of a high volatility Peak Power™ slot. Played on 10 paylines, Peak Power™ combines elemental-inspired fire and water symbols with traditional streak symbols on the 5×3 reels. Following on from recent hits such as Club Tropicana™, Fire Archer™ and Monster Superlanche™, Peak Power™ complements Pragmatic Play’s award-winning gaming portfolio of over 300 unique slots.
Stay tuned for more news this week and subscribe to our Telegram channel!
