Industry News
Lottoland launches ‘P.A.R.E.N.T’
An Educational ‘Youth Gaming’ Awareness Program for Teachers, Parents and Children
Department for Education, teachers, parents and more stand united for new campaign
A new campaign devised by Lottoland, in conjunction with Government education officials in Gibraltar, has been launched to help mitigate the risks posed by online gaming trends among young people today.
Lottoland’s P.A.R.E.N.T initiative will support parents, educators and youth representatives across the board to educate, inspire and empower young people to not only stay safe online but also strike a balance between ‘online’ and ‘offline’ following its official launch in Gibraltar this week.
Designed to help all those involved in youth gaming ‘stay on their game’ with regards to online risks, the scheme is being rolled out in conjunction with Gibraltar’s Department for Education following initial consultation with teachers, NGOs and other stakeholders based locally.
Nigel Birrell, CEO at Lottoland, said: “Focus group discussions held at the University in Gibraltar helped us create a forum of people crucial in bringing this scheme to life, and the response we have had has been incredibly positive.
“Together, we will provide young people today with the resources they need to ensure they are empowered to ‘switch off’ when they need to, and ‘switched on’ enough to enjoy all that online gaming has to offer with the self-awareness required to stay safe and sound at all times.”
Focusing on six key behaviours essential for responsible gaming, discussions held ahead of the campaign’s launch during Responsible Gaming Week (Nov 1 – 7) have led to plans for teachers to work with parents and help them get their children to ‘Switch off to Switch on’.
These six key areas are:
P – Parent
A – Awareness
R – Responsibility
E – Environment
N – Nurture
T – Trust
As such, PARENT scheme training sessions, delivered by Young Gamblers Education Trust, for primary and secondary teachers will begin in early 2019, subject to further conversation with Government education officials.
Evidence from programmes rolled out in Gibraltar will then also be used to launch PARENT in other countries through the European Lotto Betting Association, of which Lottoland is a founding member.
ELBA’s chairperson and Head of Corporate Affairs at myLotto24, Lena Patel, said: “Lottoland’s P.A.R.E.N.T initiative is a testament to the lotto betting industry’s concern over the effects of ‘’digital overload’’ for young people. The initiative represents and confirms ELBA’s core values aimed at preventing harm and contributing to social responsibility. ELBA will carry forward the work started by this initiative and appreciates fellow member Lottoland launching this important initiative.”
The campaign otherwise comes after Lottoland researchers* also found:
- Almost half the nation’s children enjoy unlimited time online each day – and 1 in 5 have access to online games without any restrictions in place at all.
- Children’s online gaming habits cost the average UK parent £31 in charges – a third of whom are unaware of the costs due to them until it is time to pay
- Almost one in five (18%) parents with children aged 7-16 in the UK do not know you can play games with other users live over the internet.
- More than a quarter of UK parents with children aged 16 or younger admit to knowing ‘none’, ‘very few’ or only ‘some’ of their online friends.
- Half of all UK youngsters spend up to four hours a day online in the school holidays – and almost twice the amount of time on average that they do in term time.
Lee Willows, Chief Executive, YGAM says ‘It is a pleasure to be working alongside Lottoland to deliver this important new campaign. The insight from OnePoll paints a similar picture to what parents tell us in England and in response, YGAM has now developed a suite of resources aimed specifically at teachers and parents. In line with the message from the UK Gambling Commission, we believe empowering both with timely and relevant material so they can have conversations with their children around gaming is important. This launch is timely during Responsible Gambling Week and we are looking forward to working with Lottoland and the Department for Education to create awareness year round and take this important campaign to other jurisdictions.’
Although not directly involved in the delivery of social gaming, Lottoland’s commitment to the promotion of responsible behaviour online is one the company takes extremely seriously. As a leading online betting site based in Gibraltar, introduction of the PARENT scheme is just one of many ways in which the company seeks to provide ongoing support to the community around it.
Nigel Birrell added: “Industry operators often focus inside our businesses when it comes to helping and supporting our customers, and rightly so – we have to tick all the right boxes and above all be responsible operators.”
“Research shows that issues can start from a much younger age than amongst those players simply aged 18 or older, however, and Lottoland felt strongly that we could and should be doing more in the countries we operate in.”
“PARENT is a pioneering venture which will equip parents, teachers and others involved in the care and education of young people today with the awareness, control and responsibility they need to successfully navigate today’s online gaming environment, both in Gibraltar and hopefully worldwide too,” he said.
* The study was conducted by OnePoll between 19th and 28th of September, 2018 and polled 2000 parents of children aged 7-16. Participants were recruited online and were paid to participate.
About Lottoland
Lottoland has grown rapidly to become a world leader in online lotto. Innovation, coupled with the freedom to offer players a unique and enhanced lottery experience, has been key to the company’s success. In June 2018, Lottoland paid out €90 million to one lucky winner in Germany – this win has been confirmed by Guinness World Records as the Largest online gambling payout. This is also the biggest payout for Lottoland to date.
The Gibraltar-based business is active in 13 markets, has over 350 employees, and more than 8 million customers worldwide. Lottoland is licensed and regulated by the Government of Gibraltar, the UK Gambling Commission, the Republic of Ireland National Excise License Office, the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli in Italy and the Northern Territory’s Racing Commission in Australia.
Industry News
Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
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.
Industry News
Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal
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 Kauppinen, CEO 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 Cummings, CEO 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.”
Industry News
Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0
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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