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Joining The Fight Against Predatory Terms

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Joining The Fight Against Predatory Terms
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The UK online gambling industry is being dealt a series of powerful blows following findings by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Gambling Commission.

 

The investigation concluded that players may be losing out due to “inadequate or unclear information about the restrictions and conditions that apply to the promotion before sign-up” and “restrictions on their right to withdraw winnings…unless they meet extensive wagering requirements”.

Wagering Requirements

Wagering requirements associated with casino bonuses have been in existence for years, at least since crafty players realised they could profit from the bonuses with little or no risk. Nevertheless, they have sat quietly hidden away in the terms and conditions of online casino websites, with few genuine players being aware of their existence.

The terms protect online casinos from bonus abuse by requiring that players wager a bonus several times over before they can become eligible to withdraw it or any winnings won from it. Whilst wagering requirements are necessary in their own right to prevent abuse, casinos have taken the terms to the extreme and in many cases impose excessive wagering requirements making it impossible for players to withdraw legitimate winnings.

Furthermore, the investigation raised concerns that wagering requirements force players to “play for longer than they had bargained for before they can withdraw money” and “players may not be able to withdraw what remains of their deposit, and any winnings, when they want to stop playing”.

Consequently, wagering requirements can not only be used to confiscate winnings unfairly, but could also be a contributing factor towards irresponsible gambling – the very issue the Gambling Commission exists to prevent.

Enforcement Action

Since 2015 UK license holders have been required to include in their promotions any significant terms and conditions to avoid misleading players. Largely unfazed by the guidelines it was business as normal for online casinos, until May 2017 when BGO Entertainment were fined £300,000 over misleading advertising on its own and its affiliates’ websites.

The fine was followed up by a warning from the Gambling Commission over unfair practices and promotions surrounding wagering requirements and restrictive terms. Together, they sent shockwaves through the industry and led to a flurry of operators promptly displaying the significant terms of their bonuses prominently across their websites. Additionally, affiliates were also ordered to comply else have their agreements and commissions terminated.

To top it off, August 2017 saw 888 being fined a record-breaking £7.8million as a result of “serious failings in its handling of vulnerable customers”, reiterating the Gambling Commission’s stance on non-compliance.

Transparency

Today, players don’t have to look hard to notice the effort made by operators and their affiliates to prominently display significant exclusions and limitations of promotions. It seems that casinos can be transparent about their terms and conditions after all.

However, as a result of this increase in transparency, it has become more apparent just how predatory and unfair the small-print terms have been for all this time, and in most cases, the terms remain unchanged.

The more savvy players will think twice about claiming bonuses or entering promotions with excessive wagering requirements or limitations. For others however, the term “wagering requirement” and the conditions associated with them remain meaningless.

Going “Wager Free”

The confusion surrounding wagering requirements was enough to lead BGO into adopting a “no wagering” model with its promotions. This October they announced that they were going “wager free” and would have no wagering requirements on any of their bonuses, free spins, or promotions.

Although few and far between, wager-free bonuses and free spins are nothing new to the industry, but this is the first time a leading brand has announced they are making the switch entirely.

The commotion has also seen the launch of NoWagering – a website dedicated to casinos with no wagering requirements. Their aim is to make players realise they do have a choice of where to play and to favour casinos with fair wagering terms.

NoWagering’s founder Pavlos Sideris stated “We hope the move taken by BGO to go wager-free will resonate throughout the industry” and that “we could be witnessing an industry-wide trend where casinos compete on favourable terms rather than the size of their bonus”.

With a growing number of casinos shouting about their “wager free bonuses” it would certainly appear that there is somewhat of a trend taking place; and with new “no wagering” casino PlayOJO winning “Rising Star of the Year” award at the EGR Operator Awards 2017, it would also appear that so too is their popularity.

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Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal

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Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
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With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.

 

When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.

One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.

Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.

As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.

First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.

On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.

Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.

When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.

Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.

Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.

I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.

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Industry News

Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal

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In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform

Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.

The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.

Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.

The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.

EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.

Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.

This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).

Juha KauppinenCEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.

“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”

Brad CummingsCEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”

 

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Industry News

Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0

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The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.

More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.

The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.

Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.

The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.

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