Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. Today, we take a look at Gamstop’s self-excluded registrations, the outcome of the UKGC’s investigation into Greentube, Connecticut’s first month of wagering and Esports Technologies B2C acquisition of Aspire Global.
£685,000
The UK Gambling Commission has ordered Greentube Alderney to pay a £685,000 payment in lieu of a financial penalty after its investigation revealed social responsibility and money laundering failures.
The investigation, launched by the UKGC on December 16, 2020, unearthed that Admiralcasino.co.uk and Bellfruitcasino.com, both Greentube subsidiaries, were lacking in money laundering and player protection safeguards.
“Compliance with Commission rules aimed at keeping people safe and gambling crime free is not optional,” stated Helen Venn, Commission executive director. “We will always take firm action against those operators who fail to meet the high standards we expect for consumers in Britain.”
As part of the regulatory settlement, the payment in lieu of a financial penalty will be directed towards delivering the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.
Furthermore, Greentube agreed to vary its operating licence to add a specific condition to carry out a third-party audit to review its compliance with the licensing conditions and codes of practice within 12 months, with the findings being shared with the Commission.
In addition, a payment of £8,789.86 will be made towards the UKGC covering the costs of the investigation.
$75.9m
Last week saw Esports Technologies complete the acquisition of Aspire Global’s B2C business for $75.9m, following the definitive agreement agreed between the two companies in October.
Following the completion, the wagering products provider will now control Aspire’s portfolio of B2C online casino and sportsbook brands, including Karamba, Hopa, Griffon Casino, BetTarget, Dansk777, and GenerationVIP.
“The acquisition reaches new markets, and its 1.25 million deposited customers is a strategic leap in our journey to become a world leader in esports wagering. We look forward to our partnership with Aspire as we continue to scale,” noted Aaron Speach, CEO of Esports Technologies.
The company has reiterated that it will look to leverage this increased market access to “cross-sell esports wagering opportunities” in a bid to increase revenue, player bet transactions, and customer base.
The takeover sees the franchise now serve as the ‘back-end provider’ for the acquired brands, and look to enforce operational continuity as well as offer wagering products.
$1.7m
Connecticut’s state governor, Ned Lamont, revealed that the state collected around $1.7m during its first month of legalised online gaming and sports wagering.
Launched on October 12, and through to October 31, Connecticut collected approximately $513,000 from sports wagers and $1.2m from online casino gaming, with the funds deposited into the state’s general fund.
“This first revenue collection for our state reinforces the process and approach by my administration when it came to ensuring our sports betting and icasino platforms worked seamlessly for consumers,” Lamont stated.
“We worked tirelessly with our casino and state partners to ensure Connecticut consumers would have positive user experiences across platforms and that is exactly what these results illustrate.
“We’re off to a great start with this new gaming marketplace and we’re looking forward to years of success.”
250,000
Over its three-year period Gamstop’s scheme has witnessed more than 250,000 people elect to self-exclude from online gambling.
Lauding its ‘significant milestone’, Gamstop saw a spike in registrations in 2021, compared to the previous years, with more than 67,000 people signing up to the charity this year, compared to 51,000 in 2020.
Furthermore, March this year recorded the second highest registration month in the scheme’s history to date, with 7,0478 sign-ups. Gamstop also noted that, of the 250,000 people to register, more than 228,000 are currently self-excluding through its service.
On the figures, Fiona Palmer, CEO of Gamstop, said: “The registration levels are higher than anticipated this year, though we cannot pinpoint one specific reason for this. We have developed the scheme to make it easier to register and have worked hard on raising our profile to make sure we are more visible to those who might need us.
“The effects of the pandemic might also have something to do with the rise. The independent evaluation which took place during the first three months of this year showed us how effective our consumers felt the scheme had been to their ongoing recovery.
“This was very reassuring to the Gamstop team, the wider stakeholders and hopefully anyone thinking about registering. We are fully committed to improving the Gamstop service to make it even better next year.”
200
Three months on from its launch, Bettarget.com has registered a 200 per cent increase in average revenue per customer.
Hailing its “major success”, Bettarget.com also witnessed a steady growth in turnover and a spike in numbers across its main KPIs on sport.
“Bettarget.com’s incredibly positive results clearly show the capabilities of BtoBet’s sportsbook and our ability to successfully integrate a previously acquired strategic product in our commercial development plans,” noted Tsachi Maimon, CEO at Aspire Global.
“This is yet another significant step in the execution of our effective growth strategy. Having such a successful brand in our repertoire illustrates the potential of our BtoBet solution for Aspire Global with both existing and new customers, particularly in Europe, the US and Latin America.”
Focusing on the UK and Ireland, Bettarget.com noted it is “leveraging BtoBet’s capabilities as a leading sportsbook in these demanding markets” with the latter also focusing on the aforementioned regions after it achieved UKGC certification earlier this year.
Moving forward, BtoBet has scheduled a wide range of product enhancements for the “very near future,” to ensure its partners remain “competitive and see further growth”.