SBC CIS Editorial Team is happy to present a quick recap of the gambling industry events, news, regulations and partnerships that happened last week.
Kyrgyzstan issued its second casino licence. Casino Crystal, founded in March of this year, received a casino licence by paying 84 million soms.
The Romanian government has expressed its intention to introduce higher fees and tighten requirements for the gambling business. Changes include the ministry’s approval of new licence fees, a ban on the sale of alcohol in all gambling establishments except casinos, and a mandatory requirement for gambling licensees to have permanent residence in Romania.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolaku said that companies will not be able to engage in gambling without a tax headquarters in Romania. He gave the example of companies whose headquarters are located «through Transnistria» and accused them of having ties to the «gambling mafia». At a government meeting, Colaku announced that an emergency executive order on this issue would be presented with further fast track procedure for its adoption.
Ukrainian gambling businesses contributed UAH 1.01Bn in taxes to the State Budget. In September 2022, the gambling business brought in only 31.2 million UAH. The total volume of tax revenues from gambling activities in January-September of this year has already reached UAH 6.65Bn.
At the same time, new rules for gambling advertising came into force in Ukraine on October 2, providing for a complete ban on gambling advertising.
Amusnet became an honorary member of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum (BBLF). By joining the Forum, Amusnet joins a community that brings together Bulgarian and international companies from various sectors of the economy, with the aim of actively supporting the practice of social responsibility and sustainable business development.
Anton Kuchukhidze, Head of the Ukrainian Gambling Council, has published a column where he explores the topic of gambling addiction, which is constantly being discussed in the media headlines and “expert” circles in Ukraine.
4H Agency believes that the industry is now going through the last bits of the period that will be later known as “before Curaçao reform”. Agency’s analysts have made a high- level overview of the existing licensing frameworks that can be considered as an alternative to the Curaçao licence.
Spribe announced that its flagship crash game has received approval to access the Portuguese market. In Portugal, crash games have been approved earlier this year following a set of regulatory changes. Spribe Aviator has been successfully certified by the BMM Test Lab and is now available to operators in this country.
2030 FIFA World Cup will be held on 3 continents for the first time in history: South America, Europe and Africa. The FIFA Council approved a joint bid by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, which have so far become the only candidates to host the tournament. In addition, the opening three matches of the World Cup will be held in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay in honour of the 100th anniversary of the World Cup tournament, which took place in 1930 in Uruguay. The tournament is scheduled to open at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo and close at the legendary Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.
Genius Sports, a provider of betting data and services, has entered into a strategic agreement with Premier League Productions (PLP), an English company specialising in online broadcasting of the Premier League games. Under the agreement, Genius Sports has the right to use its platform and sports data to provide cutting-edge infographic systems in the broadcast of every Premier League match.
Playtech, a global leader in gambling technology, has launched a strategic foray into Georgia and Armenia by partnering with Adjarabet. This underscores Playtech’s commitment to delivering unique gaming experiences across multiple territories. Playtech is deepening its ties by expanding its existing partnership with Flutter Entertainment, which acquired a majority stake in Adjarabet in 2019. This alliance brings together a variety of platforms and regions, including well-known brands such as Betfair, Paddy Power, Pokerstars, Skybet, Fanduel and now Adjarabet.
Symplify, a Swedish leader in the cloud CRM and AI solutions, has entered into a strategic partnership with AdmiralBet, a renowned Serbian provider. Under the agreement with Symplify, the operator will be able to expand its reach to core audiences, with a focus on email, SMS, dynamic web, web technologies and browser push notifications.
ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), a leading eSports and video gaming company, announced that a popular shooter Counter-Strike 2 became available on the online competitive gaming platform FACEIT. CS2 players can now join the world’s largest community of 22 million players on FACEIT to quickly hone their skills in the newest version of the legendary game.
CT Gaming has announced that their superb multi-game Diamond King 3 was officially certified in Romania. Diamond King 3 demonstrates CT Gaming’s commitment to providing a superior gaming experience by adding new trends to an otherwise traditional game. The multi-game features a selection of 20 exciting games, including the legendary trio Mega Jack-Aztec Gold, Slot-O-Pol Deluxe and Champagne.
Entain has successfully completed the acquisition of Angstrom Sports in a bid to enhance BetMGM’s betting platform capabilities. Under the terms of the deal, Entain agreed to pay £81 million to buy the US sports analytics company. Additional performance-based payments totaling $122 million will be made over the next three years.
Kambi Group has entered into an exclusive long-term agreement with Svenska Spel Sport & Casino following a competitive tender process due to the strength of its flagship Complete Sportsbook product, commitment to maintaining high compliance standards and extensive experience in providing a variety of tools to improve operator capabilities, including price differentiation. This agreement is expected to have a significant financial impact from the second half of 2024.
Delasport has announced its partnership with Esports Entertainment Group (EEG). As part of this collaboration, Delasport will support the three brands of the gaming group and the online betting group by providing its plug and play sports betting iFrame. These brands include JustWow.com, CasinoJefe.com and Vie.bet.
Hacksaw Gaming and NetBet Italy, have signed a new agreement making several games from Hacksaw available to Italian players through the NetBet platform. More games are expected to be released in the coming months as Hacksaw continues to successfully expand into the Italian gaming market with its 11th partnership in the country.
Napoleon Sports & Casino expanded its live casino collection to include blackjack and roulette games, as well as games such as Sweet Bonanza CandyLand from Pragmatic Play. As part of the expanded partnership, Napoleon will have access to dedicated blackjack and roulette tables, allowing for an enhanced gaming experience. This will provide a unique experience where live dealers communicate fluently in Flemish.
Slotegrator has entered into a partnership agreement with Enjoy Gaming, a live casino provider. Their unique approach to developing games in this niche, known for its innovation, offers significant opportunities for business growth as the live casino market is not yet fully saturated. All games from the Enjoy Gaming studio are now available for integration through the APIgrator solution from Slotegrator.
ESA Gaming has expanded its presence in the Balkans following the studio’s latest partnership with MaxBet in Serbia, which has a 20% share of the local online market, and will receive the EasySwipe content from ESA Gaming, including Pirate Mine, Goal Mine and Dragon Mine, as well as an upcoming series of word games to be added in the near future. The deal is one of MaxBet’s first partnerships since Flutter Entertainment acquired a 51% stake late last month for €141 million, becoming the Serbian operator’s majority shareholder.
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