SBC CIS Weekly Digest: February, 6 — 10

With ICE 2023 already becoming a memory for the majority of our readers, and we sincerely hope it was of the most memorable and exciting ones for them, let’s take a look at the main events of the past week — something that will get you up to speed on the current state of affairs in the world of sports betting and iGaming, and yet again will provide a topic for some of your multiple follow-ups that you are about to pour into after pouring yourself another cup of coffee, and we believe it’s absolutely imperative to stay active and on top of the news agenda coming down from the first big trade show of the season! 

Today we’ve got for you some executive position changes, some  positive public initiatives, new product launches, new partnerships, and one tricky situation that an Formula 1 team may find itself in further in the year. Let’s go!

New Beginnings

Digitain named Simon Westbury as Sport Generate’s new CEO. He has previously served as Chief Business Officer at Digitain and has over 15 years of experience in the iGaming industry. Mr. Westbury will be responsible for setting the strategic direction for Sport Generate with a focus on expanding the reach and influence of the company in the global marketplace while continuing to develop innovative and cutting-edge products.

Pariplay launched a new integrated client area offering a simple and unique point of service for marketing and asset management. The new client area is designed to quickly search, cross-filter and download marketing resources, game information sheets, game rules and game certification files from Pariplay’s vast portfolio of multi-level games. 

LiveScore announced a new free promotion in the LiveScore 6 app. The new promotion gives users of the app a chance to win a share of the £100,000 jackpot by matching the results of six matches. To participate, users must download the LiveScore app and select predictions for the upcoming 6 matches. Those participants that correctly predict all six results will be eligible for a share of the jackpot and a £2,500 prize for the runner-up for correctly choosing winners in five matches.

FAVBET helped the Ukrainian government to run its first large-scale study of gambling addiction. Initiated by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the purpose of the study was to create government guidelines for the prevention and treatment of gambling addiction. This was the first initiative of the Ministry of Health of this level to draw attention to the problem of gambling against the backdrop of a rapidly growing legal gambling market. A large-scale survey was conducted by the Responsible Gaming Center (RGC) public association, the Sociological Research Center “Socioinform” and specialists from the Institute of Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatric Examination and Drug Monitoring of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Podcast Review

Luke Middleton, Sales Director at Fireblocks, in a recent Payment Expert podcast talks about the potential of NFTs and how his company is becoming one of the key firms in blockchain and digital asset integration. Middleton highlighted that despite crypto having suffered significant damage to its reputation, his job at Fireblocks is to garner user confidence and open new possibilities. 

“Essentially, what it really comes down to is Fireblocks being here to bring confidence and security back into the market so we can get return to a trajectory of mass adoption”, — summed up Mr. Middleton. 

Awards & Recognitions

EGT Georgia received the Permanent Leader award for the second year in a row at the 14th awards ceremony organized by the Swiss Rating Association and the Union of National Business Ratings (UNBR). 

Entain, an international gambling group that owns sports betting brands Ladbrokes and Coral revised their full-year profit forecasts upwards as a result of the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in winter. According to the group, the number of players in the last three months of 2022 reached an all-time high, up 14% compared to the year prior, and as a result, Entain is expecting a pre-tax profit of between £985m and £995m for the full year. This is higher than the previous forecast of £925m to £975m and represents an increase of around 12% compared to the previous year.

New Partnerships

Alfa Romeo, an F1 racing team, signed a title partnership with gambling operator Stake.com and successfully unveiled its new car. However, as reported by F1i.com, the appearance of a car with a logo of a gambling company may cause certain legal problems for the team, as certain countries observe strict bans on gambling advertising (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to name a few). 

Better Collective signed a media partnership agreement with Wirtualna Polska (wp.pl), the leading Polish news portal with over 22 million monthly visitors. The partnership will be implemented in cooperation with the leading Polish sports media managed by Better Collective — Zagranie.com. Zagranie.com will provide content, data and statistics on sports betting for the new sports betting section at wp.pl.

OlyBet partnered with the prestigious Spanish football club Atlético Osasuna. Thanks to this agreement, Olybet, the leading sports bookmaker in the Baltics, becomes the official partner of the club in Europe.

Stay tuned for more news this week and subscribe to our Telegram channel!