eSports, Bitcoin and Social Under Scrutiny EMEA
Te UK Gambling Commission has launched a discussion paper setting out its latest thinking on virtual currencies, eSports and social gaming
Te Gambling Commission is seeking views on emerging issues that can pose a risk to both regulation and player protection
UK GAMING LEGISLATION
FRANCE – OpenBet is to provide its flexible SiteBuilder tool to Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU), in a deal that will hand the French operator giant greater flexibility over its sportsbook front-end. SiteBuilder is a collaboration tool that allows operators to offer quick-to-market front-end solutions in a safe development environment.
Among its features is the option to create sportsbook microsites using an advanced CMS, opening up the possibility of dedicated pages for major sporting events, such as the football World Cup or Olympic Games.
It is backed by contextual intelligence which offers personalised content based on a user’s profile, allowing operators to tailor the betting experience for customers. The system is also SEO friendly, easily scalable and can be integrated with PMU Connect, the operator’s single sign-on solution.
OpenBet CEO Jeremy Thompson-Hill commented: “OpenBet is always committed to delivering the very best in innovation to our customers, so we are excited to announce that PMU will be the latest operator to integrate our SiteBuilder solution. SiteBuilder will give PMU greater agility to design and adapt a sportsbook which perfectly suits their needs. The relationship between OpenBet and PMU has been extraordinarily productive for both sides over the years, and we look forward to building upon this success into the future.”
PMU Head of Online Jean-Marc Leglise added: “OpenBet’s SiteBuilder tool will allow us to tailor our content to our customers, safe in the knowledge that it will maintain the stability and excellence of all OpenBet products.”
AUSTRIA – Live dealer gaming solutions provider Extreme Live Gaming, a subsidiary of NOVOMATIC UK and part of the NOVOMATIC Interactive division, has announced the appointment of
Dominic Bourke as the company’s new Chief Operating Officer (COO) with immediate effect. Bourke joins Extreme with a wealth of experience garnered over 10 years working within the online casino industry.
Talking in more detail about his background in the business and his aspirations on joining his new colleagues, he noted: “Prior to moving to Extreme I was Head of Casino at the Betclic Everest Group, and I have also spent some time as Head of Casino at SportingBet. The decision to take up this high profile role with Extreme represents a fantastic opportunity.”
P20 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
Te UK Gambling Commission’s discussion paper has been prepared in response to the blurring of lines between some social gaming products and gambling technological advances and the expansion of digital or virtual currencies resulting the growth in the market for gambling on eSports.
Neil McArthur, General Counsel at the Gambling Commission, explained: “Our key concern is to ensure that consumers are protected and that children and other vulnerable people are not harmed or exploited by gambling. Tis discussion paper brings to the fore some areas where we see real issues for regulation, player protection and the protection of children and young people.
“We are concerned about virtual currencies and ‘in-game’ items, which can be used to gamble. We are also concerned that not everyone understands that players do not need to stake or risk anything before offering facilities for gaming will need to be licensed. Any operator wishing to offer facilities for gambling, including gambling using virtual currencies, to consumers
in Great Britain, must hold an operating licence.
“Any operator who is offering unlicensed gambling must stop – or face the consequences. We are also concerned about betting on eSports. Like any other market, we expect operators offering markets on eSports to manage the risks – including the significant risk that children and young people may try to bet on such events given the growing popularity of eSports with those who are too young to gamble.
“Finally, in terms of social gaming, the Commission’s view has not changed significantly since the publication of its social gaming paper in January 2015. “But”, cautions Mr McArthur, “if we discover that items such as additional spins, credits or tokens or even loyalty points are tradeable, then we will be taking a keen interest.”
Interested parties have until 30 September to respond. Te Commission will also be looking for suitable opportunities during the Autumn for direct engagement prior to issuing a position paper towards the end of the year.
Evolution partners with London private members’ Ritz Club
UK
Evolution Gaming has entered into partnership with Te Ritz Club, one of London’s most exclusive casino and private members’ clubs. Te agreement will see Evolution deploy a Live Casino service for Te Ritz Club that will initially include an on-premise ‘Dual Play Roulette’ convergence solution, alongside an extended range of live tables hosted at Evolution’s Riga studios. Te Dual Play Roulette table is to be located in the Club’s principal salon.
In addition to the Dual Play Roulette table, the exclusive
online service for members of Te Ritz Club will include access to a wide range of VIP Roulette, VIP Blackjack, Baccarat Squeeze and Tree Card Poker tables hosted in Riga. Te online portal to all Live Casino tables at Te Ritz Club will be distinctively branded using the new and extended functionality of Evolution’s ‘Live Lobby’. In total, the new online service, expected to go live later this year, will effectively mirror Te Ritz Club’s 24/7 land-based gaming offering.
Fredrik Osterberg, Chief Strategy Officer at Evolution, commented: “We are honoured to be working with Te Ritz Club, a name synonymous with exclusivity, luxury, and the very essence of fine gaming. Convergence is increasingly important in the land-based sector, and our Dual Play Roulette will afford Te Ritz Club’s membership access to a private online table that sits at the very heart of their favourite club, and much more besides.”
UK
Playtech has gone live with its first ‘out of the box’ retail Virtual Sports product across 100 UK Coral shops with the potential to deploy it across 1,000 outlets in the next 12 months. Replicating a real-life football accumulator or acca, the Virtual Sports Football Accumulator product, that is streamed locally via a Linux hardware box solution, is comprised of four 90-second matches run simultaneously every five minutes. Tis gives players a wide-range of options in every betting round and allows them to view a ‘Feature Game’, while concurrently seeing results appear for the three remaining fixtures. Te Accumulator product, delivered ahead of schedule and in record time for an instore installation, is the first Playtech Sports virtual product to be launched in a retail environment and is unique to the market. Te over-the-counter product is currently undergoing a three-month trial in a number of outlets with the roll out reaching 100 shops.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132