Golden Nugget Embraces Evolution NORTH AMERICA
Record-low handle from Indiana sportsbooks Indiana sportsbooks suffered their worst month ever in April — including a retail sector that did not produce a single bet — costing sportsbooks an estimated $165m in bets, according to estimates from PlayIndiana. With a minimised schedule of sports to bet on and casinos closed for the entire month, Indiana generated just $26.3m in wagers, according to official reporting released Monday. During a month in which online and retail sportsbooks would have expected to draw at least $190m in bets, April’s handle was down 64.8 per cent from $74.8m in March. That’s the lowest monthly handle ever for Indiana sportsbooks, which launched in October 2019 with $35.2m in bets.
“April’s results are shocking, but not at all surprising,” said Dustin Gouker, chief analyst for
PlayIndiana.com. “Bettors have very few places to turn in Indiana. In some states, online casinos have driven significant revenue. But that isn’t possible in Indiana. So the industry’s results will continue to be grim until the sports world figures out a way to reopen.”
April’s wagers still produced $5.5m in adjusted gross revenue, essentially even with March. That yielded $522,085 in tax revenue for the state. Without legal online casino games and poker, and no esports betting, bettors in Indiana have largely been limited since mid-March to fringe international sports and futures betting. In fact, $21m of the state’s handle was generated by “other” sports, far more than football, basketball, and baseball.
The NFL Draft, and to a lesser extent the WNBA Draft, gave bettors some reason to engage with sportsbooks in April. Indiana, the first state to allow betting on professional sports drafts, generated $1.3m in football-related wagers in April, most of which came from the NFL Draft. “The shut down of sports has led to some creativity by Indiana’s bookmakers, and that creativity was rewarded with interest in the NFL Draft,” said Jessica Welman, analyst for
PlayIndiana.com. “Even though Indiana has missed out on some opportunities, regulators have at least been nimble enough to allow some unconventional ideas.”
There are reasons for cautious optimism. NASCAR is planning on revving up in May, which could draw betting interest. The PGA Tour is planning a June tee off while baseball and the NBA continue to search for a workable solution to restart their seasons. In addition, Indiana’s casinos and retail sportsbooks could open as early as June 14. “It could be that April is the low point in what will undoubtedly still be a struggle until sports can resume with their regular schedules,” Mr. Gouker said. “If sports do resume relatively soon, online sportsbooks should recover quickly. In the meantime, sportsbooks will continue to look for creative ways to drive revenue.”
Because retail sportsbooks were shut down entirely in April—costing an estimated $40m in in-person bets— online sportsbooks accounted for the entire handle in the state. DraftKings/Ameristar East Chicago led the market with $13.6m in bets, up from $33.1m in March. That generated $908,322 in gross receipts, down from $2.4m. FanDuel/Blue Chip Casino, Hotel & Spa was second with a $9.7m handle, down from $21.6m. That resulted in a $558,155 win, down from $1.5m.
P20 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
Evolution Gaming has signed a strategic agreement with Golden Nugget, owner of resort destinations in Atlantic City, Vegas, Laughlin, Biloxi and Lake Charles
Golden Nugget pioneered the Live Dealer game category in the US, operating its own Live Studio, located in its namesake casino in Atlantic City, since 2016
NEVADA ONLINE
Evolution Gaming has signed a strategic agreement with Golden Nugget, one of the most successful US online casino operators, and owner of premier casino resort destinations in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Laughlin, Biloxi and Lake Charles.
Golden Nugget, who pioneered the Live Dealer game category in the US, has been operating its own Live Studio, located in its namesake casino in Atlantic City, since 2016, powered by Ezugi.
Te agreement will also see Golden Nugget’s existing online offering further enhanced in New Jersey, and potentially in other US states in the future, by the addition of Evolution’s US online Live Casino services.
Under the agreement Golden Nugget’s online players will have access to unique Evolution game types such as Dream Catcher, Side Bet City and Top Card, as well as other games from the Evolution portfolio. Te Evolution games will be streamed live to players in New Jersey from Evolution’s own Live Casino studio in Atlantic City, or from the Golden Nugget Live Studio. Tey will appear as part of the extended Golden Nugget live games offering alongside Golden Nugget’s own Ezugi-powered Live Roulette, Blackjack, Unlimited Blackjack, Baccarat, Casino Hold’em and Tree Card Poker titles.
ICE North America Digital proves to be hugely popular
US
Clarion Gaming’s inaugural ICE North America Digital has been hailed as a success after attracting significant interest from across the industry.
Te week-long, free-to-attend gathering of operators, suppliers and regulators featured 50 speakers during five days of high-quality content dedicated to the land- based, online and tribal betting and gaming markets in the U.S, as well as its growing hospitality tech sector.
It attracted over 4,000 registrations from 558 companies based in 85 countries around the world, who recorded over 7,000 visits
Further, the agreement extends to the Live Casino offerings of operators currently served by the Golden Nugget Live Casino studio in Atlantic City. Tey too will have the option to access selected Evolution Live Casino titles through their agreements with Golden Nugget. Tose Golden Nugget partners for New Jersey currently include Betfair/FanDuel, Borgata, BetMGM, PartyCasino, BetAmerica and Caesars.
Evolution and Golden Nugget have also stated that, as US online gaming legislation evolves, their companies will together explore opportunities in other US states.
Tomas Winter, Golden Nugget’s Senior Vice President & General Manager of Online Gaming, said: “Our online players and those of our partners are very well served with our existing online Live Casino offering in terms of classic casino table games. Te agreement with Evolution will give our players and those of our operating partners access to more unique show- style games and other unique titles, enriching their live gaming experience. Te new generation of Evolution Live Casino games will also help us serve a broader player demographics, including sports bettors. Tis we believe, will allow us collectively to further increase the share of online casino revenue attributed to Live games.”
to the site. Te networking area of the Swapcard platform upon which it was hosted was equally popular, witnessing over 5,000 business discussions take place and 2,000 new connections made.
Among the speakers who took part were some of the industry’s leading regulators and legislators, such as David Rebuck, Director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Michigan State Representative Brandt Iden, Christopher Hebert from the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, and Sandra Douglass Morgan of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Tey were joined by operators including Kresimir Spajic from Hard Rock International, Seth Young from PointsBet, Jesse Chemtob from FanDuel Group, and Ellen Whittemore from Wynn Resorts.
US
DraftKings, the digital sports entertainment and gaming company known for its daily fantasy sports and mobile sports betting platforms, has completed its business combination with SBTech, an international provider of sports gaming technologies, and Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp.
Te Business Combination, which was approved on 23 April 2020, by DEAC’s stockholders, creates the only vertically integrated pure-play sports betting and online gaming company based in the United States. Beginning 24 April 2020, DraftKings’ shares of Class A common stock will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “DKNG” and its warrants will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “DKNGW”.
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 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136
