The hectic yet festive times are already behind us, with an eventful and promising new 2023 year looming up ahead. Today we are taking a look back at the last week of 2022 and the first week of 2023 to bring you up to speed on the most important news and events that happened when almost everyone was engaged in planning and subsequent celebrations of the world’s cherished holidays.
Business Matters put online gambling at No.2 in their rating of the world’s most profitable industries in 2022, Activision Blizzard were acquired by Microsoft, The Grand Bellagio Casino opened in Georgia, FAVBET paid for its sports betting license in Ukraine, MGA authorized BetConstruct’s Vivaro Limited to accept deposits from players in crypto, India amends its legislation to allow online gambling, PokerMatch partnered with Playtech to enter the Indian market.
More on these, as usual, in our digest below.
Year 2022 was a very challenging and unpredictable year for the global economy, with rising inflation, disruption to logistics, threats of a recession and sanctions. However, some industries not only survived, but also increased their capital.
On December 27, the editors of Business Matters named the top five most profitable industries for 2022.
The assessment took into account both the results of 2022 and the outlook for the industry for the foreseeable future (1-5 years). Online gambling was put on the second from the top row of the rating.
Activision Blizzard, developer of popular video games such as the Call of Duty series, Candy Crush and World of Warcraft, became part of Microsoft’s massive $68.7 billion acquisition.
This acquisition is not only the largest in the history of the technology company, but also five times larger than the next largest video game acquisition earlier this year after Take-Two Interactive’s acquisition of Zynga.
The Grand Bellagio Casino opened its doors to players in Tbilisi, Georgia. The company announced this on its official website.
The Grand Bellagio Tbilisi, one of the most luxurious gambling establishments in Georgia, offers unrivaled service and the best gaming tables for the most sophisticated players.
The casino includes classic table games: roulette, blackjack, poker and baccarat. Slots are represented by the latest EGT models, including the latest Bell Link products, the latest slots from Novomatic and Merkur Gaming, and electronic roulette with a wide variety of games.
FAVBET, a Ukrainian sports betting operator, has paid UAH 117 million (close to USD 3.2 million) to the state budget for the license to operate sports betting. This news came after the company’s statement on directing another UAH 23.4 million (600,000+ USD) in October, 2022, for the license to operate its online casino.
The Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries in Ukraine (CRGL) directed UAH 1.166 billion (more than USD 27 million) to the state budget. This represents 98% of the pre-war plan.
MGA has authorized Vivaro Limited, a company associated with BetConstruct, to begin accepting deposits from players using cryptocurrencies (virtual financial assets under Maltese law).
This way, BetConstruct partners, including Vbet.net operated by Vivaro Limited, will be able to engage players that are using cryptocurrency as their preferred means for placing bets.
The Government of India issued a number of new regulations governing online gambling and set up a number of self-regulatory bodies to oversee the sector.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India has announced amendments to the Rules for the Use of Information Technology for Online Gambling.
Under the new amendments, online games must not violate existing laws, such as statewide gambling bans.
Instead of creating government regulators, the amendments would allow for the creation of self-regulatory bodies made up of online gaming companies that set the rules for online gambling.
PokerMatch, a popular online gaming platform in Eastern Europe, partnered with Playtech, the world’s largest online gaming software provider, to introduce an exclusive PokerMatch India offering.
With over 6 years of experience, PokerMatch is one of the leaders in the online gaming market in Eastern Europe and one of the top 10 online poker rooms in the world. Through innovation, the platform has been actively expanding its user base. It is now part of the popular iPoker network, which offers a wide variety of poker options as well as other table games and slots.
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