Industry News
The Stars Group Provides Business Update
![The Stars Group Provides Business Update](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/3-9.jpg)
The Stars Group Inc. today provided a general business update, including an update on its year-to-date performance and the recent coronavirus outbreak.
“We are pleased with the performance of our business so far this year, which has seen continued strong underlying momentum within our UK and Australia segments, and a sequential improvement in our international segment from the fourth quarter of 2019,” said Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive Officer of The Stars Group. “Overall, we are so far performing ahead of our expectations and currently expect to see strong year over year growth in revenues for the first quarter,” continued Mr. Ashkenazi.
Revenues within The Stars Group’s International segment are slightly ahead of the prior year period on a constant currency basis, while the UK segment has experienced continued strong underlying trends alongside operator favorable sporting results, leading to strong growth in revenue year over year.
“Outside of our strong performance so far this year, the recent outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has resulted in the cancellation or postponement of major sporting events globally. We are closely monitoring the continued impact of the coronavirus, and the health and safety of our employees and customers remains our top priority, as we implement our business continuity plans and continue to observe and comply with local mandates and guidelines across our global offices. Our employees are working remotely to ensure that our customers can continue to enjoy our products, and while we currently still offer a broad range of betting options for our customers, any sustained outbreak resulting in the further postponement or cancellation of major sporting events could have a material impact on our sports betting revenue in the near term,” continued Mr. Ashkenazi.
“Notwithstanding, while it remains difficult to predict the scope, timing and length of the current sports postponements and cancellations, our business is online only with a global geographic reach and a majority of revenues (62% in 2019) generated from poker and gaming. We therefore remain confident in our ability to continue driving revenue growth in the years ahead, despite the inevitable disruption in the sports industry during 2020,” concluded Mr. Ashkenazi.
As at December 31, 2019, The Stars Group had cash and cash equivalents of $321 million, and subsequently prepaid $100 million of its USD first lien term loan in February. In addition, The Stars Group has access to its revolving credit facility, among other potential sources of liquidity, that together with its current cash and cash equivalents, provides approximately $1 billion of liquidity.
SOURCE The Stars Group
Industry News
Playtech Live Launches Exclusive Bespoke Game with Kaizen Gaming
![Playtech Live Launches Exclusive Bespoke Game with Kaizen Gaming](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/pig-champions-live.jpg)
Playtech announced the launch of a new bespoke game, Pig Champions, developed exclusively for Kaizen Gaming, one of the biggest GameTech companies in the world. This launch marks the first Live Casino bespoke title for the leading sports betting & gaming operator and strengthens the strategic partnership between the two companies.
The game, designed to appeal to all audience types and player types across all markets, is a sporty animated universe in a Money Wheel Game show format, where 3 Pig Champions characters compete with each other to reach the highest multipliers within 3 exciting Bonus rounds. The studio is located in Playtechâs Romanian facility (PTR), offering a unique, immersive, animated experience made with fresh Unreal engine technology, featuring unique gameplay built from the ground up using advanced real-time animation.
Kevin Kilminster, Chief Product Innovation Officer at Playtech Live:Â âWe are delighted to partner with one of the leading sports betting & gaming operators in the world to launch their bespoke Live Game Show, Pig Champions to their extensive player base. After being selected by Kaizen Gaming as the leading developer of bespoke live content, collaborating on Pig Champions has enabled the team to showcase their passion and experience by exploring new innovative ways of bringing live casino games to life that offer a fresh, safe gaming experience for players. Our partnership with Kaizen Gaming continues to evolve and we look forward to our next collaboration in bringing further exciting games to market.â
Christos Mavridis, Head of Live Casino of Kaizen Gaming:Â âOur content offering is some of the most exciting on the market and working with an established partner like Playtech will assist in enhancing our current portfolio even more. Pig Champions stands as evidence of Playtechâs expertise and extensive experience, elevating our live casino offering and emphasising our commitment to creating top-quality innovative game experiences for our players.â
Industry News
Amusnet Ranks Among Italyâs Top Casino Providers
![](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/8-11.jpg)
Amusnet Italy is the fourth-best casino provider in the country for June 2024, according to iGaming Tracker. The company has made a significant leap in the rankings, advancing three positions to secure the fourth spot. The achievement is underscored by a 1.1% increase in market share, reflecting a substantial gain in visibility and preference among online casino operators and players. This rise reflects Amusnetâs growing influence and effectiveness in the Italian market, demonstrating the companyâs leading place among the industryâs top providers.
Several notable accomplishments have bolstered Amusnet Italyâs presence in the country. The companyâs commitment to excellence was recognised with the prestigious Gold Award for Casino Content Supplier 2023 from EGR Italy last November. Furthermore, Amusnet has added six new partnerships with operators since January, bringing the total number to over 30, and has maintained a robust portfolio with over 100 certified games. Additionally, Amusnet Italy has released 14 new games since the beginning of the year, with more games planned for release by the end of 2024.
Polina Nedyalkova, Director at Amusnet Italy, said: âWe are incredibly proud of our progress and the milestones we have reached. This ranking highlights our leading position in the industry and our dedication to delivering high-quality, engaging gaming experiences to local players. Our advancement to the top position underscores our growing influence and effectiveness in the Italian market, and we look forward to continuing this momentum and bringing even more top-notch games to our audience.â
Affiliate Industry
Getting Sticky with It: Why Affiliate Traffic Should be About Quality Not Quantity
![Getting Sticky with It: Why Affiliate Traffic Should be About Quality Not Quantity](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Fraser-INT.jpg)
In a highly competitive âbonus blitzingâ affiliate market, the only real winner is the bonus hunter. These affiliates may be sending traffic through to their partners in volume, but many of their users are just looking to play through a good deal, never to return.
At Slots Temple, we believe the âstack âem high, watch âem flyâ approach to aggressive bonus-driven traffic no longer flies. We wanted to focus on improving the quality of the traffic and that meant doing things differently.
We began life as a site that offered free demo games and slots tournaments, and this helped to build a highly engaged base of players that genuinely loved playing slots. But we wanted to take this to the next level.
When we were awarded a UKGC gambling license in 2022, it meant we could offer cash prizes for our free tournaments. And then the next logical step was real-money tournaments in the UK with juiced-up prize pools, and ultimately real-money slots.
To create better quality traffic, you need to engage with your customers to better understand them and foster loyalty. It helps if you have a unique value proposition to increase the stickiness of your brand and engage audiences more effectively.
Our real money tournaments are a real UVP and are proving wildly popular with our users. The stakes we offer are low. You can play a slots tournament for as little as 1p, and the free-play model remains a large part of what we do â exclusively so outside the UK.
Ultimately, we want to be a safe place for players, which is why offering low stakes games is important. Itâs about fostering a player base that trusts us and feels comfortable playing with us.
Yes, weâre blurring the lines between affiliate and operator, but our players know weâre not just chasing profits at the expense of everything else. Ultimately, our players see us primarily as a destination for fun play and prizes, and itâs important that we maintain that balance. If they thought we were simply out to rinse them, weâd lose their trust, and they wouldnât come back.
Instead, itâs about offering more choice and increasing that stickiness. It also helps us better understand what games our players like to play so that we can offer more personalized recommendations.
And this is how real-money slots tournaments can really increase the quality of traffic. If a player has been playing a certain slot in a real-money tournament, for example, and wants to play at a partner site, we can guarantee that we are referring a player who is already highly engaged with the game and is ready to transition to higher stakes.
Of course, within the framework of real-money tournaments, itâs important to continue diversifying offerings by devising new formats. We have turbo tournaments, risk tournaments — a multitude of formats and price points so everyone can play the way they want to.
Our real-money tournaments are further enhanced by what was always a highly gamified platform. So, we have leaderboards, Xpoints, rewards chests, and challenges.
Continuous challenges, incentives and rewards keep users engaged over the long term. These elements can appeal to usersâ competitive nature and desire for achievement, as they play for bragging rights. This enhances social elements and encourages them to engage frequently with the product
Adding fun and playful elements enhances the user experience beyond the tournaments themselves. Regular rewards and recognition prevent burnout and keep users motivated. And engaged and motivated players are more likely to become passionate about the brand.
Creating a player base that produces true value to your affiliate partners requires a number of the right ingredients, plus a lot of care and attention. But the affiliate landscape is changing, and affiliates need to get creative to get sticky.
Author: Fraser Linkleter, CEO at Slots Temple
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