Press Releases
UK’s NAO – Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people
The UK Gambling Commission and government need to do more to ensure that regulation can protect gamblers effectively, according to a new NAO report.
There are an estimated 1.8 million ‘at risk’ gamblers and 395,000 ‘problem’ gamblers – including 55,000 children, some of whom are as young as 11.1
Gambling addiction can lead to mental health problems, relationship difficulties, large-scale financial loss and, in some cases, crime or suicide.
The NAO’s report looks at regulation of an industry which now yields over £11.3 billion2 for gambling operators every year. The Gambling Commission3, which regulates the industry, has annual funding of £19 million and almost all of it comes from licence fees paid by gambling operators. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is the government department with overall responsibility for gambling policy and regulation.
The report concludes that while the Commission has improved regulation, there is much more it should do. It has increased enforcement against gambling operators that break rules, for example by revoking licences, and has also strengthened its rule book.4 But it needs to do more to incentivise operators to raise standards and be more systematic and detailed in recording and analysing information about gamblers to plug gaps in its knowledge.
Even if the Commission makes these improvements, it is a small body that is unlikely to be fully effective in regulating a challenging and fast-changing industry within the current system. Gambling regulation does not have features seen in other sectors, such as an ombudsman, and the way it is funded is not flexible meaning the Commission cannot change licence fees to respond to new risks emerging quickly from changes in technology and demand.
The report’s recommendations include that the Commission and DCMS should:
Be more strategic about getting gambling companies to better protect people. This could include incentivising companies to do more to make gambling safer beyond meeting minimum requirements
Ensure gamblers are aware of services to resolve disputes, and review whether these arrangements are working effectively.
Review how regulation is funded so they can keep pace with a fast-changing industry.
“Licensed gambling has grown by 57 per cent – £4.1 billion – over the last decade mainly due to a massive increase in online and smartphone gambling. The risks to gamblers are changing as technologies develop.
“Yet the Gambling Commission is a small regulator in a huge and fast-evolving industry. While the Commission has made improvements, gambling regulation lags behind the industry. The Commission and government need to work together to ensure that regulation keeps pace with the risk to gamblers.” – Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO.
eSports
Allied Esports Partners with Esports Entertainment Group to Launch Inaugural VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series Tournament
Tournament Will Be Offered to Sports Bettors on the VIE.gg Platform
Allied Esports, a global esports entertainment company and a subsidiary of Allied Esports Entertainment, Inc., has signed a licensing and sponsorship agreement with Esports Entertainment Group, Inc., a licensed online gambling company with a focus on esports wagering and 18+ gaming, for the inaugural VIE.gg Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (“CS:GO”) Legend Series tournament beginning Monday, August 31, 2020.
The VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series will feature 12 teams from multiple European countries competing online for €50,000 in total prize money. The 5v5 tournament, which will be offered to customers on the VIE.gg platform, will be produced by Allied Esports from its HyperX Esports Studio in Hamburg, Germany and broadcast live on Twitch.tv/AlliedEsports with a lineup of professional casters and analysts. Teams at Tier 2 or below that are interested in playing can apply online at AlliedEsports.gg/LegendSeries starting Wednesday, July 15. Invitations will be sent out to participating teams on Friday, July 17.
“We’re excited to partner with an industry leader, Allied Esports, as the title sponsor of their newest esports tournament,” said Grant Johnson, CEO of Esports Entertainment Group. “Title sponsorship places the VIE.gg brand front and center for teams, fans and influencers alike, further accelerating user adoption of the VIE.gg platform.”
Esports Entertainment Group offers bet exchange style wagering on esports events in a licensed, regulated and secure platform to the global esports audience at VIE.gg. The VIE.gg platform provides customers the ability to match bets against one another with Esports Entertainment Group taking a small commission on the winnings.
“We believe that esports tournaments should not just be fun for participants, but also have the ability to help sponsors achieve their business goals, and our knowhow and portfolio of esports brands, arenas, mobile trucks and studios uniquely meet that need in today’s ecosystem,” said Frank Ng, CEO of Allied Esports Entertainment. “The Legend Series has been one of our most successful original tournament brands and we are thrilled to work with Esports Entertainment Group and the VIE.gg platform to add a wagering component that will introduce Allied Esports to new consumers and elevate the brand even further.”
Created in 2017, Allied Esports’ original Legend Series tournament brand was designed to expand the competitive ecosystem and total prize pool for second and third tier teams. The VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series will be Allied Esports’ sixth edition of the CS:GO Legend Series and the first to feature a licensing partner and title sponsor. Additional versions of the series have previously included Overwatch, League of Legends, FIFA, COD Blackout and Valorant.
Allied Esports’ two-week, high-intensity CS:GO Legend Series format includes 11 consecutive days of single matches where teams will accumulate points and prize money for each win. The top eight teams from the first round will advance to a best-of-three bracket played over the last three days of the tournament.
“We’re excited to play a role in providing a platform for smaller teams to compete for prize money,’’ commented Magnus Leppaniemi, VP of Marketing and Head of Esports at Esports Entertainment Group. “While the largest esports teams earned tens of millions of dollars in prize money last year, there are hundreds of smaller teams that get excluded from the flagship competitions. The VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series is our first effort at working to fill this void, and we look forward to getting involved in more events like this moving forward.”
About Allied Esports
Named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, Allied Esports International, Inc. is at the forefront of esports entertainment with a global network of properties designed to serve as competition battlegrounds, community experience hubs and content production centers.
Through direct operation or membership in the Allied Esports Property Network, the world’s first esports affiliate program, Allied Esports’ facilities span North America, Europe, China and Australia, and include the world-renowned HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas, a fleet of mobile arenas, the HyperX Esports Trucks, and the HyperX Esports Studio in Hamburg, Germany.
Allied Esports’ properties serve as the home to a number of online and offline proprietary productions and events, including Friday Frags and Saturday Night Speedway, as well as original partner programs like the Simon Cup.
For more information about Allied Esports, visit AlliedEsports.gg and follow @AlliedEsports. Allied Esports International, Inc. is a subsidiary of Allied Esports Entertainment, Inc.
About Allied Esports Entertainment
Allied Esports Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: AESE) is a global leader in esports entertainment, providing innovative infrastructure, transformative live experiences, multiplatform content and interactive services to audiences worldwide through its strategic fusion of two powerful brands: Allied Esports and the World Poker Tour (WPT). For more information, visit AlliedEsportsEnt.com.
About Esports Entertainment Group
Esports Entertainment Group, Inc. is a licensed online gambling company with a specific focus on esports wagering and 18+ gaming. The Company holds a license to conduct online gambling and 18+ gaming on a global basis in Malta and Curacao, Kingdom of the Netherlands and is able to accept wagers from over 149 jurisdictions including Canada, Japan, Germany and South Africa. Esports Entertainment offers fantasy, pools, fixed odds and exchange style wagering on esports events in a licensed, regulated and secure platform to the global esports audience at vie.gg. In addition, Esports Entertainment intends to offer users from around the world the ability to participate in multi-player mobile and PC video game tournaments for cash prizes. Esports Entertainment is led by a team of industry professionals and technical experts from the online gambling and the video game industries, and esports. The Company maintains offices in Malta. For more information visit www.esportsentertainmentgroup.com
The Norwegian State Lottery’s sportsbook Norsk Tipping has chosen Stats Perform’s Watch & Bet service as its sole live streaming video supplier, in a competitive tender.
The service includes thousands of premium and well-timed streams for Norwegian bettors and is another endorsement for Stats Perform’s strong global live streaming package, which includes LaLiga and Ligue 1 amongst over 80 other football competitions, together with IIHF ice hockey, WTA and ATP tennis, EHF handball, basketball, darts, cricket, esports and many more.
State-owned Norsk Tipping is the latest Scandinavian lottery to integrate Stats Perform’s live streams into their online sportsbook, joining a high number of top tier sportsbooks and lotteries from across the globe.
Hans Erland Ringsvold, Head of Gaming operations at Norsk Tipping, said: “Providing live streams is something we look forward to be able to offer to our customers. Streaming provides live entertainment, gives bettors more insight into what they’re betting upon and makes Norsk Tipping an even more relevant site to spend time on. Stats Perform came through as the preferred streaming service provider after a competitive tender process with a strong portfolio of live vision rights, good 24/7 coverage and events with high attractivity for the Norwegian market. We look forward to working together.”
Andrew Ashenden, Chief Betting Officer, Stats Perform, added: “We are delighted to be announcing our partnership with Norsk Tipping. Live streaming creates the ultimate rounded, entertaining betting experience by putting high quality live real sport straight into the sportsbook. We’re proud to have been trusted to partner with another lottery and are looking forward to seeing the positive feedback from Norsk Tipping’s customers.”
For the first time in their young history RubyPlay, entered their slot “Quest of Gods”, into the £100,000 Slots Championship at Lottoland. Being a newcomer they hoped for a good showing in its Quarter Final encounter against the legendary “Gonzo’s Quest” but it surpassed expectations by not only winning, but winning by a strong margin of 83% to 17%.
Next up in the Semi Final – an even tougher prospect – up against 2019 Champion, “Mustang Gold”. In a much tighter encounter, “Quest of Gods” again caused an upset by winning by 55% to 45% – setting up a final against “Holmes and the Stolen Stones”.
By this stage everyone was expecting a close run in the Final round – and it didn’t disappoint! “Quest of Gods” took an early lead on day one against Holmes and the Stolen Stones, but over the week, the game clawed back to eventually pip the RubyPlay game to the win by 51% to 49%.
Ittai Zur, Chief Operating Officer at RubyPlay said “As a new player in the slots market it was a great honour taking part in the Slots Championship with Lottoland. We also knew it would give us a good idea of how our games compare in terms of popularity with some of the biggest slot developers, competition that we have a lot of respect for.
We are delighted with how “Quest of Gods” resonated with Lottoland players, and to only just miss out on being the Lottoland Slots Champions of 2020 was incredible.”
Anthony Morris, VP Gaming & Sports at Lottoland had this to say “We knew that Quest of Gods was popular with our players at Lottoland, but to be honest we didn’t think it would do as well as it did against some smash hit content from other major providers. We look forward to more great games from the team at RubyPlay over the coming months and years”.
Allied Esports Partners with Esports Entertainment Group to Launch Inaugural VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series Tournament
Week 28/2020 slot games releases
Cambodian Cabinet Passes Casino Regulation
Melco Appoints Grant Johnson as New Head of City of Dreams Mediterranean and Cyprus Casinos
Incentive Games Partners with NewPlay Group
Norsk Tipping Selects Stats Perform as Sole Live Streaming Supplier
Market rundown by the Baltic industry shareholders at MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit 2020 (Tallinn)
RubyPlay’s Quest of Gods In Tight Final of Slot Championship
Unikrn Adds BitPay to Extensive Crypto Utility Network for Shopping, Betting & Earning
Esports earnings: Top 25 Highest Paid Players in 2020 So Far
Virtual Gaming, Is It Gaining Traction In America And Canada? A Hot Discussion At Sports Betting And Casino Summit North America
Pinnacle re-launches in Sweden as fully licensed operator
Poland Is First Government Worldwide To Add Video Game To Official School Reading List As Educational Resource
Cloudbet Offers Zero Margin EPL Betting
BF Games raises the temperature with latest title Hot Sunrise
Evolution Gaming announces a recommended public offer to the shareholders of NetEnt
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