Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! It was again an eventful week at the USA, despite the still-active virus attack.

Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which includes casino reopening, financial Reports, recruitments, partnerships and latest approvals. Read on and get updated.

Casino Reopening

MGM National Harbor Resort and Casino has resumed its operations on June 29. The casino has implemented many safety measures such as “contactless” check-ins, single-use baccarat cards and Plexiglass at the casino.

Recruitments

Scientific Games Corporation has appointed Eileen Moore Johnson as its Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Eileen joins Scientific Games from Caesars Entertainment.

Sportech PLC has announced key changes to its Bump 50:50 team. The changes include the promotion of Dave Kurland to the position of President.

Jamul Casino has promoted Benjamin Petell to Vice President of Non-Gaming Operations. In his new role at Jamul Casino, Petell will oversee retail, food & beverage, facilities, security, and environmental services.

Financial Reports

Bragg Gaming Group has released its financial results for Q1 2020. Bragg reported revenue growth and Adjusted EBITDA growth for the period. The Group achieved revenue of €8.8m during Q1 2020. The Group’s AEBITDA was €0.8m, representing 100% growth over Q1 of 2019.

Casino table games developer and distributor Galaxy Gaming has published its financial results for the fiscal quarter ended 31 March 2020. The report shows that revenue decreased 15.9% to $4494K, AEBITDA decreased 25.7% to $1501K1 and net income decreased 74.7% to $117K.

Partnership

BenQ America’s esports division ZOWIE has partnered with Helix eSports. As per the deal, ZOWIE will outfit Helix eSports’ gaming and virtual reality centres with top-performing esports monitors and provide prizes for upcoming competitions.

Penn National Gaming has entered into a deal with sports data and content provider Sportradar to use official National Football League data on its sports betting platforms.

DraftKings Inc. has extended its deal with the US-based sports data firm Stats Perform. The deal provides DraftKings access to Stats Perform’s unparalleled sports data feeds for use in its daily fantasy sports contests and DK Live, the company’s play-by-play fantasy app.

The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has extended its strategic partnership with Camelot Lottery Solutions for a further two years. The agreement will see Camelot Lottery Solutions continue to work with the ASL to help implement its commercial plans, with a greater focus on data-driven insights and business intelligence.

Innovative boutique studio Espresso Games has integrated its gaming content into Rivalo’s network and its games are now available for the Colombian market.

New Approvals

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has approved the amendments that will allow cashless gaming in all casinos. The proposal had been discussed and postponed for a long time, but hygiene concerns due to the Covid-19 pandemic have increased the urgency for the regulation to finally be adopted.

New Study

The UNLV International Gaming Institute (IGI) has announced a new study to assess the sports betting and internet gaming markets in the US. The study will address many unanswered questions on the potential impacts of legalising sports betting and internet gaming across the US.

Lawsuit

The Culinary Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Culinary Union members who work in casinos on the Las Vegas Strip in order to protect workers and their families from the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.

Compliance

Caesars Entertainment Corporation has announced that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accepted a proposed consent order which concludes the FTC’s review of Caesars’ pending merger with Eldorado Resorts.

Operators can now offer all players access to a network of 120+ professional counsellors in real time via video call

Residential gambling addiction centre Leon House has launched AnonyMind, the UK’s first CQC and RET registered online gambling treatment platform.

A Gambling Commission report in December 2019 found that 1.5% of people aged 16+ in England are classified as problem gamblers whilst in a YouGov survey commissioned by charity GambleAware, it was estimated that up to 2.7% of adults in Great Britain – nearly 1.4 million people – had a gambling problem.

Despite significant efforts by operators to mitigate the risk to players, treatment and residential care are not always readily available or practical solutions.

AnonyMind has been created in collaboration with Cognacity, a Harley Street specialist provider of mental health and addiction treatment and EPIC Risk Management, the leading independent gambling harm minimisation consultancy.

Providing a full, impartial and anonymous psychiatric assessment identifying any potential comorbid issues prior to starting treatment, the AnonyMind digital platform provides national and international scalability, with over 120+ trained consultants working collaboratively within an expanding network of psychiatrists and psychologists .

For gamblers requiring further treatment beyond AnonyMind’s online service, Leon House is a purpose built residential clinic that can facilitate up to 40 clients per week and offers innovative ‘short burst’ treatment designed around the individual’s lifestyle and personal commitments – leading to a significant increase in completion rates (currently at 100%).

Every individual who reaches out will receive a personalised treatment pathway, delivered either in-house, as an outpatient or through AnonyMind’s secure digital platform.

Leon House and AnonyMind professionals can also host mental health and resilience workshops for in-house player protection and marketing teams.

Carolyn Harris MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Related Harm, said: –
“The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the startling levels of problem gambling that exist across our communities. It’s vital that people who are stuck in this vicious cycle are able to access support when they need it. AnonyMind’s new 24-hour service allows users to get confidential, secure support whenever they might need it. I would encourage anybody who is struggling with gambling addiction to take a look at this platform and reach out for support if they need it.”

Chris Metcalf, COO at Leon House, said: –
“The recent £100 million pledge to Gamble Aware from five BGC member operators shows that there is a real commitment from the UK gaming industry to help and support problem gamblers. Now, with the launch of AnonyMind by Leon House, these same operators will be able to offer free, anonymous, 24/7 professional counselling to their players via video calls for the first time ever and residential treatment at Leon House should it be required. We’re looking forward to working with more UK operators as we go through the year”.

The Lega Serie A assembly has approved Interregional Sports Group’s (ISG) virtual graphics solution for stadiums that are crowd free as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

The decision follows a testing programme, in a bid to identify the best solution for providing virtual graphics in the empty seating areas in stadiums across Italy.

Following the process, ISG, along with their local production partners, Netco Sports Italy, were appointed providers for all Championship games until the end of the 2019/20 season.

‘Lega Serie A are a world leader and innovator in virtual media in live broadcast’ explains Simon Burgess, Joint CEO and co-founder of ISG. ‘We have been working with Lega for many years and are extremely proud to continue to invest in and support new virtual media solutions in these challenging times,’ he added.

Burgess believes the key to the project’s success lies in a combination of high-quality branding that is delivered sparingly so as not to compromise the viewing experience for the fans.

‘Our prime objectives are maximising ROI for brands and delivering optimum revenue impact for rights holders, while never compromising the enjoyment of the live event for the viewing audience,’ he explained.

ISG has deployed virtual centre pitch logos of club partners, pre kick-off, at half time and prior to the second half kick-off. Now empty stands at all Serie A matches will be filled with graphics and colours of the competing teams, but at selected times only.

‘This approach provides interesting graphic enhancement but is not overexposed nor does it impact on the enjoyment of the live action of the match it appears in,’ said Burgess.

‘We have been working more and more directly with Serie A clubs, using our expertise to find other ways in which we can help them increase their revenues and make best use of their stadium infrastructure to create new virtual media spaces and platforms, whilst balancing those key criteria,’ he added.

‘Our senior team has been deploying and commercialising virtual media for almost a decade, working with all types of technologies and solutions and ISG has grown rapidly over the last six years. We are now entering a new paradigm in live sports broadcasting that presents huge opportunities to all stakeholders. However, it is a very complex process with many moving parts, liable to risks as well as rewards. ISG partners with rights holders, broadcasters and brands to realise those collective ambitions to a world class standard,’ said Burgess.

ISG and Netco have a long-standing relationship, with Netco producing all Serie A broadcast graphics and supporting ISG on their International Presenting Sponsor package. This incorporates regional sponsorship packages, producing virtual goal mats and, working with Netco, customised match graphics to four intercontinental broadcast regions outside of Italy. ISG also produces virtual goal mats for Coca Cola, Lega’s title sponsor of the Coppa Italia Final and TIM, the domestic title Sponsor of the Serie A Championship.