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Sports and Gaming – Playing by a New Set of Rules

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Sports and Gaming - Playing by a New Set of Rules
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The pandemic has brought the sports industry to its knees but against the backdrop of global crisis, opportunities have arisen for others. While the sports business is set to lose as much as US$61.6 billion1 in missed revenues by the end of the year, the gaming sector, on the other hand, will generate revenues of $159.3 billion, a +9.3% year-on-year increase.2

Although largely driven by unforeseen circumstances, the pandemic has highlighted the large gulf in the prioritisation of fan experience between the two. As OZ Sports CEO Gudjon Gudjonsson explains, the sports industry has much to learn from gaming if it is to maintain and grow its global fanbase.

If there is one positive element to come out of this all for the sports industry, it is that leagues, federations and teams have had to rethink their way of doing business. The pandemic has accelerated innovation on various fronts. This is especially the case with the return of sport behind closed doors, with the need to remotely manage the production of leagues and make fans feel part of the live experience from the comfort of their homes.

The temporary state of the live sports sector, with limited or no fans in stadiums, has only amplified a bigger and more recognisable challenge. Pandemic or no pandemic, studies show that 90% of fans are unable to watch their favourite team in their home stadium due to factors such as location or finance.

At OZ Sports, what COVID-19 has taught us is that we need to accelerate our vision in making the fan experience more interactive and engaging. The new generation of fans expects to be able to share their experiences without geographical boundaries. OZ is keeping sports more relevant, broadening the fanbase by opening up the physical stadium. 

This is where we have looked to gaming. The prioritisation of user engagement has seen games companies constantly explore new ways to deliver content to consumers. As a result, gaming platforms are becoming social networks in their own right and established social platforms are seizing this opportunity to invest further in games to maintain and grow their user database. Gaming is driving forward the reality of the metaverse – virtual social spaces that are always open, always on, and always expanding.

So, what does that mean for the sports industry? We are still in the early days of sports broadcasting, and there is a lot we can learn from gaming. Our thinking around the intersection of sports and gaming can be seen everywhere in the OZ Sports strategy. It’s in how we think, how we work, and how we innovate as a company. As a tech business with influential investors from the gaming industry, we foster a different culture than traditional sports broadcasting companies. 

Our tech stack is ours, from end-to-end. We mostly leverage technologies on how we do sports production that has until now mostly belonged to gaming companies, which opens up a totally new world for us. At the core, we have our gaming engine, built on a robust machine learning software stack that analyses what is going on in the game, in real-time. From there we further develop our broadcasting technologies, with a layer for services like augmented graphics and avatars, to applications like tracking or a more intuitive replay system, to name but a few. This allows us to work differently as a team of innovators and compete more creatively as a company.

By embracing everything that the gaming industry is positively doing to engage with its fans, we see the world of sports broadcasting becoming far more interesting than it is today. Out of the pandemic, we will see new companies that have succeeded, and these new leaders will foster far more vibrant communities around live events. Gen Z will have emerged with different needs and the more popular short format of sports storytelling will continue to rise.

New exciting technologies will continue to surface in the market that better serve fans’ sports esteem. Use of avatars will be the everyday normal, by representing the digital you in the new metaverse. Fans will be able to instantly express their emotions in the moment of the game, wherever they may be in the world, empowering fans to communicate in ways that are difficult to accomplish in today’s world.

The future of live sport is an exciting one; by embracing gaming technologies OZ Sports will continue to innovate at this intersection. Sports broadcasting as we currently know it is about to change forever, and we’re excited to be at the forefront of that transformation!

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XLMedia Partially Disposes Personal Finance Assets for $1.3 Million

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XLMedia has announced the part disposal of the Group’s Personal Finance assets for a total cash consideration of $1.3 million (the Disposal). The Disposal comprises domains and websites including Investor Junkie, Greedy Rates and Young and Thifty owned by XLMedia Publishing Limited and Webpals Systems SC Limited, subsidiaries of XLMedia plc. The cash generated from the Disposal will be utilised in the day-to-day operations of the business.

The Disposal is in line with the Company’s strategy to exit non-core activities while focusing on the Group’s Sports and Gaming business, expanding its North American Sports footprint, while also refining and developing the Group’s EU Sports portfolio, and the Group’s Gaming assets in selected markets, including the US.

In the year ended 31 December 2022, the assets relating to the Personal Finance division generated revenues of $1.9 million and EBITDA loss of $1.3 million.

The Personal Finance assets were excluded from continuing operations as disclosed in the Company’s year ended 31 December 2022 results and have no impact on earnings in the current financial year.

Following the sale of these assets to MPD Media, the process to sell the remaining Personal Finance assets is at an advanced stage, but there is no certainty that a transaction or transactions will complete.

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IGSA Celebrates 25th Anniversary

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The International Gaming Standards Association (IGSA) is celebrating 25 years of its role in support of gaming industry standards.

IGSA president Peter DeRaedt said: “In addition to the many champions and pioneers of our technical standards, we’re also proud and honoured to have featured a keynote video by Trevor Croker, CEO of Aristocrat Leisure, a founding IGSA member, and this week to feature a keynote video address by Rich Schneider, chief product officer of Light & Wonder and another 25-year IGSA member.”

Mark Pace, vice-president of the IGSA, said: “It has been great to see the congratulations and well wishes come in from all over the world from our current and former members, friends and colleagues.

“These companies have joined in celebrating IGSA’s 25-year anniversary through video messages that we have posted on our social media channels and website.

“We invite all our current and past members to join us at our annual meeting celebration and get-together at Canaletto in the Palazzo on October 10 while you’re at G2E.”

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Former iGaming Director Unveils Holistic Wellbeing Platform for the Gaming industry

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Former iGaming Director Unveils Holistic Wellbeing Platform for the Gaming industry
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HabitRewire, an industry leader in health and wellbeing for the iGaming sector, announced the debut of its innovative iGaming wellbeing platform. The turnkey white-label wellbeing solution can be accessed at any time, anywhere via a user-friendly app, helping employees across the world improve their wellbeing 24/7, inside and outside the workplace.

Presented as a ready-to-use white-label solution that can be branded as the company’s own, it offers an holistic, wide-ranging, and result-driven wellbeing solution that can be instantly deployed.

The platform draws upon HabitRewire’s ‘Habit Rewiring’ methodology, which is backed by robust scientific evidence. This innovative method is engineered to stimulate sustainable behavioural change, helping employees use daily practices to build the skills and habits to improve their physical health, mental wellbeing, and workplace productivity.

“True health and wellness stretch beyond diet and exercise,” affirmed Leo Judkins, Founder of HabitRewire. “Our platform delivers personalised, comprehensive wellbeing interactions across nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, time management and productivity to help employees reach their goals efficiently and effectively, wherever they are.”

The uniqueness of HabitRewire’s platform lies in its CRM capabilities and unique focus on the iGaming industry, reflecting Judkins’ rich, 12-year experience as a CRM Director in the field. His extensive knowledge from developing marketing automation platforms and managing global marketing teams, combined with personal journey of losing 35kg has directly influenced the creation of the HabitRewire platform.

“We use behavioural data, customer segmentation, and automated lifecycle campaigns to create personalised interactions throughout the employees entire wellbeing journey. From the initial stages of activation, onboarding and engagement, right through to retention and reactivation phases.” Judkins noted.

HabitRewire’s platform incorporates an various features such as weekly challenges, daily check-ins, community chats for peer-to-peer encouragement, leaderboards, workouts, recipe books and lifestyle guides.

Designed with the modern workforce in mind, the platform provides employee with a personalised dashboard that includes training advice, nutrition tips, and recovery strategies. The app allows users to schedule coaching calls with a team of experts that includes certified nutritionists, online personal trainers, sleep coaches, stress management professionals, and behaviour change specialists. Additionally, users can track their progress in real-time and sync their data with wearables and services like Apple Health.

“Most wellbeing solutions aren’t accessible for the employees who need it the most. They simply don’t have the time or energy to participate, which a key part of the problem. Our objective is to help people achieve their health and wellbeing goals, no matter where they are in their journey or what’s going on in their life right now” stated Judkins.

HabitRewire’s innovative platform signifies the shift towards proactive and individual care in the workplace, delivering wellbeing solutions directly to employees’ fingertips, no matter if they work from home or from an office.

Companies using HabitRewire’s platform can expect enhanced performance, increased productivity, and a significantly improved working environment. All quantified in weekly management reports that show measurable results.

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