The retail sportsbooks are located at Wheeling Island Hotel Casino Racetrack in Wheeling and Mardi Gras Casino & Resort near Charleston, which opened this week opened after the completion of field testing.

The openings follow October’s partnership between Delaware North and sports betting technology specialist Miomni Gaming, established to provide turnkey retail and mobile sports wagering services.

The free BetLucky betting app, available at BetLucky.com or the Apple App Store, is the first to be available in West Virginia and can be used to wager anywhere within the state.

“We think West Virginians and visitors to the Mountain State are going to love how easy it is to register and use the app,” said Luisa Woods, vice president of marketing for Delaware North’s gaming division.

“The platform was designed to be flexible, easy to use and reliable, with innovative features designed specifically to engage and entertain US sports fans. Patrons at the casinos can use the app or the betting tellers in the sportsbooks,” she said.

At the two West Virginia casinos, Delaware North has created sportsbook spaces with a casual sports bar atmosphere.

“Our patrons are going to enjoy these spaces in the casinos and everything else we have to offer in terms of hospitality and entertainment,” said Kim Florence, regional president and general manager for both Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras.

“We are eager to welcome people from throughout the state and the regions surrounding West Virginia to try a new experience at our casinos.”

“We are focused on delivering on the promise of integrated destination entertainment and convenience gaming,” continued  Delaware North’s Woods. “The partnership with Miomni will allow us to serve a new market of casino operators anxious to benefit from gaming expansion cost-efficiently, while increasing the visibility of their brand, deepening their customer relationships and enhancing the quality of their service offerings.”

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The firm’s TournEvent platform is being integrated into Gate City Casino, a large casino in New Hampshire. The platform has been expanded into historical horse racing markets via the installation, a development which Everi asserts is bringing ‘cutting-edge slot tournament capabilities’ to Gate City Casino players.

Delaware North-operated Gate City Casino has over 500 HHR machines while TournEvent has been integrated with over 5,000 electronic gaming machines at over 400 casinos across North America.

Michael Carruthers, Vice President of Gaming Operations for Delaware North, said: “This launch provides players at Gate City Casino with an enhanced gaming experience, powered by Everi’s leading tournament platform. 

“Our players remain eager for competitive play, and based on Everi’s nationwide success with TournEvent, we know players will enjoy the incredible atmosphere during these tournaments.”

Headquartered in Las Vegas, Everi is active across multiple markets, but the rapid growth of regulated betting and gaming in the US has proven to be a particularly attractive market for the company.

The firm has signed deals with the likes of Great Canadian Entertainment. 2024 has proven to be a significant year for the company in other ways, as back in July it was acquired by Apollo Global, a major multinational investment firm. 

Jesse DeBruin, Everi Senior Vice President and Gaming Leader, said: “We are excited to launch the award-winning TournEvent platform with Gate City Casino, the perfect venue to introduce our dynamic tournament experience to players in the HHR market. 

“These efforts are indicative of Everi’s dedication to supporting the growth and success of new gaming markets with state-of-the-art solutions while expanding TournEvent’s reach to meet the evolving demands of the gaming industry.”

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The regional launch, an extension of a previous collaboration between Gaming1 and Delaware North, will allow bettors from anywhere across the state to participate in sports betting, as the brand will be available on Southland Casino Racing’s online website and through iOS and Android apps. 

“We’re excited to have launched in one of the most important markets for our partner, Delaware North,” explained Victor Araneda, Chief Business Development Officer at Gaming1.

“It’s encouraging that the collaboration has produced some amazing business opportunities in such a short amount of time.

“We look forward to continuing this momentum in our professional relationship with future initiatives that will see Gaming1 further enhance its foothold in the North American market.”

In 2021, both Gaming1 and Delaware North joined forces to establish Gamewise, a turnkey digital gaming solutions provider to operators in North America.

Delaware North was able to develop the Betly brand for Arkansas through Gamewise, which uses Gaming1’s omnichannel and proprietary sports betting technology.

Luisa Woods, Delaware North Vice President, added: “Thanks to the strong relationship we have forged with Gaming1 via our Gamewise joint venture, we’re providing Southland patrons and Arkansas locals with the opportunity to enjoy sports betting at their fingertips.”

“Adding the Betly online sportsbook to our gaming options lets us bring the excitement of sports betting to our patrons wherever they are and enhances the value of our successful retail sports book,” concluded Dave Wolf, General Manager at Southland Casino Racing. “This is great news for both existing and future guests right across the great state of Arkansas.”

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This will see the company add to its current responsible gaming communications by promoting Have A Game Plan onsite and via online and social channels.

The group currently operates gaming in eight states and sports wagering in Arkansas and West Virginia through its Betly platform, with operations planned to begin in several other regions during the year. 

In 2021, Delaware North announced a sports betting and igaming joint venture, Gamewise, with Belgian gaming and sports betting firm Gaming1.

“Responsibility is not only core to Delaware North’s commitment to our customers, but essential to the sustainable growth of legal sports betting,” said Jack McNeill, Delaware North Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. 

“We’re proud to work with the AGA on this important initiative to educate fans on responsible gaming.” 

Delaware North joins in excess of 20 partners across the sports betting ecosystem in supporting Have A Game Plan, which promotes four principles of responsible gaming: setting a budget and sticking to it, keeping betting social, knowing the odds and playing with trusted, regulated operators.

The AGA launched Have A Game Plan in late 2019 to teach consumers the fundamentals of responsible sports betting as sports betting expands nationwide. 

The campaign has broad support from across the sports betting landscape, including sports leagues and teams, media companies, gaming operators and suppliers and others. 

“Delaware North’s reach across gaming, entertainment and sports adds an important voice to Have A Game Plan,” added Casey Clark, AGA Senior Vice President.

“We’re grateful for their partnership and leadership in advancing responsible gaming and ensuring bettors have the tools to wager responsibly.”

Sports betting is now legal in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Today, 31 jurisdictions are operational, offering more than 130 million American adults the protections of legal wagering in their home market.

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The collaboration ensures that WynnBet gains market access to the state for online sportsbook and casino operations, which subsequently represents the 18th jurisdiction of entry for the group amid a “rapidly growing footprint of states”.

Delaware North, a global hospitality and entertainment company with a portfolio of regional gaming venues, owns and operates two casinos in West Virginia, namely the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack in Wheeling and Mardi Gras Casino & Resort in Nitro, near Charleston. Both of these facilities operate retail sportsbooks, while Delaware North also operates Betly, its own website and mobile sports betting app.

The WynnBet sportsbook is currently available in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee and Virginia. 

In addition, the firm currently has varying degrees of market access to 18 states covering approximately 44 per cent of the US population, and is in negotiations to obtain access in seven additional states, which would result in the brand’s footprint covering approximately 77 per cent of the US adult population.

The becomes the latest in an array of partnerships rolled-out by Wynn Resorts, which earlier this year strengthened its relationship with US sports alongside NFL franchises New York Jets and the Indianapolis Colts.

Last month, WynnBet secured market access to Louisiana, before appointing Ian Williams, former president of online gaming for Churchill Downs, as COO.

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Worthington, who will be based in downtown Miami where Gamewise is establishing its headquarters, will bring a decade of operating and leadership experience to the group.

Most recently, he served as senior director of igaming and sports operations for Parx Casino, before which he was vice president of operations for Penn Interactive, leading the creation and development of the new online gaming venture for Penn National Gaming.

“I’m very excited to join Gamewise and be a part of something very special that Delaware North and Gaming1 have conceived that fills a gap in the online gaming market,” Worthington said. 

“I think a lot of operators are going to see the benefits of this model so they can invest in their own brand and still be able to focus on their core business.”

Gamewise was recently launched by Delaware North, a global hospitality company with a portfolio of regional casinos and gaming venues in the United States and Australia, and gaming and sports betting partner Gaming1. 

As part of the partnership, Delaware North will offer its mobile igaming brand, Betly.com, exclusively through the partnership in all new markets where it operates land-based casinos.

In addition to Delaware North’s gaming and hospitality expertise, Gamewise will be powered by Gaming1’s omnichannel technology solution and partnership model. Gaming1 will also provide its library of proprietary game content exclusively through the joint venture.

“John Worthington has the depth of expertise and experience to accelerate the growth of Gamewise and launch and manage its operations both for Delaware North and for clients who seek access to a turnkey solution,” added Luisa Woods, vice president of marketing for Delaware North’s gaming division. 

“Both Delaware North and Gaming1 are thrilled John has joined this venture to deliver a new kind of sports betting and igaming solution that operators are actively seeking.”

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As part of the partnership, Delaware North will offer its mobile igaming brand, Betly.com, exclusively through the partnership in all new markets where it operates land-based casinos.

In addition to Delaware North’s gaming and hospitality expertise, Gamewise will be powered by Gaming1’s omnichannel technology solution and partnership model that has been honed for over a decade in fully regulated markets around the globe. Furthermore, the Belgian gaming and sports betting partner will also provide its library of proprietary game content exclusively through the joint venture.

“Gamewise fills a gap in the North American gaming market by providing regional land-based operators with a true turnkey solution to expand into the burgeoning online sports betting and online gaming space,” explained Luisa Woods, vice president of marketing for Delaware North’s gaming business.

“The solution is specifically tailored to operators who want to participate while investing in their own brand and is structured to minimise the resource impact on their core business. We believe this is exactly what the market has been looking for.

“Both Gaming1 and Delaware North were looking for a suitable partner that matched our collective ambitions, values and vision for market expansion in North America. Partnership is deeply rooted in the DNA of both companies and we are delighted to come together.

“Combining our gaming and hospitality expertise with Gaming1’s experience working with land-based operators, proprietary technology and track record of generating value from the convergence between land-based and online gaming, is a powerful proposition that will deliver exceptional value to customers throughout North America.”

Gamewise will bring to market a modular and flexible sports betting and casino platform that provides a “seamless betting and gaming experience with superior gamification capabilities, full land-based integration, localised bet pricing and market-leading bet acceptance ratios”.

Victor Araneda, chief business development officer at Gaming1, added: “Our technology has always been developed to enhance the convergence between traditional land-based operations and the interactive gaming environment with our partners in regulated markets all over the world.

“It forms the cornerstone of our unique partnership model, which brings together expertise from both parties to deliver the ultimate omni-channel consumer experience.

“We have been monitoring the situation in North America for some time, so it is an exciting moment for everyone at Gaming1 to partner with a company of the calibre and stature of Delaware North as we enter the North American market.”

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Moderating a panel titled ‘Identifying the path to success for operators’, which was sponsored by Aurum Solutions, Jonas was joined by Luisa Woods, vice president, marketing gaming and entertainment at Delaware North, who echoed the estimations.

“I think that they’re reasonably realistic depending on how we solve a couple of issues,” Woods commented. “The way that the land-based gaming industry has developed in the United States it’s regionally regulated and administered one of the challenges we have is that with land-based gaming, people flow quite freely across borders. 

“Once you get into online gaming, this concept of playing from your couch suddenly your affiliations need to change. If I am living on the border of West Virginia, in Pennsylvania I can not sit on my couch and wager on sports with my home casino which is sitting on the other side of the border so suddenly the way I have to transact has to change.”

Yet Woods noted that questions still need to be answered in relation to supporting businesses around regulatory state lines, with regards to creating and funding accounts before the market’s potential can be realised. 

She continued: “I don’t think there is a real awareness outside of the specific online industry of how little support there is for online gambling transactions within the financial sector. 

“The challenges that operators face with customers trying to set up an account, trying to get successfully identified and verified and then depositing funds into their accounts. Until we can create a frictionless experience then I don’t think the potential will be realised but if we can overcome those hurdles then absolutely.”

Joining Jonas and Woods on the panel was Frank Fantini, CEO of Fantini Research, who echoed Woods’ observations stating that her points are not considered by a majority. 

Fantini explained: “People tend to look at here’s the population and here’s the win per capita and therefore that’s what the market is going to be without stopping to think of these practical considerations.

“Those estimates have ranged all over and I find that investor expectations are more optimistic than the reality and you can see that in the valuations. You see companies that are selling at 20-30 times the future sales even though they are not making a profit yet.

“For myself, doing a back of the envelope calculations, I think it’s realistic to expect sports betting to mature with legalisation in almost all jurisdictions at $12-$13bn a year and I should think that igaming would maybe mature at $18-$20bn dollars with legalisation in maybe half of the jurisdictions representing 60 per cent of the population.”

Tying up the estimations of the overall market of sports betting and igaming, Wood’s claimed that when evaluating the potential in growth between the two, one of the key factors to consider is the velocity of sports betting opportunities. 

She exclaimed: “I can sit down in front of a slot machine and push repeatedly and I’m not going to run out of things to bet on. 

“When it comes to sports betting, first there was betting on the outcome of the game and then there was this innovation of in-play and I think as product innovation happens those opportunities to bet are going to increase and therefore the potential upside of the sports betting market as a potential of total gaming is going to increase and I think in the future could even supersede other forms of icasino.

“In the short term, icasino has a much greater revenue opportunity but we’re see significant shifts in people’s appetites with wanting to wager on what they perceive as skill-based rather than entirely chance-based games and as long as the market continues to innovate and to create more opportunities to bet more frequently we’ll see that balance shift.”

The panel continued to delve into how operators can be the ‘driving force’ for the sector with investors, problems relating to illegal markets and the advantage in owning your own technology within the sector. 

BOSA-Digital, taking place today, offers an eight-track conference with a lineup of 130 expert speakers, comprising operators’ senior executives, regulators, affiliates, suppliers, teams, leagues, and advisors.

The event features an interactive product display area where operators will be able to learn about the next generation of products and solutions from international suppliers, talk to suppliers’ expert teams, and experience the products directly through demos. 

There will be further opportunities for delegates to connect and build their network in the burgeoning US betting industry in the virtual networking lounge, the meeting rooms in the virtual networking bar, and at the program of themed networking roundtables. 

Betting on Sports America – Digital is free to attend. To join the US and international delegates participating in the event, click here to register for free.

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$870m

The Stars Group has seen a $870m Black Friday ruling against the operator in the US state of Kentucky overturned by an appeal court, reversing in full a December, 2015, trial court judgement.

When, on April 15, 2011 – so-called Black Friday – the US government took sweeping actions against the country’s online gambling operations, enforcing the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, a series of actions and reactions were set in motion – including the $870m lawsuit against PokerStars, lodged by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals stated that “allowing a complaint, like the one put forth by the Commonwealth, to move forward would lead to an absurd, unjust result.”

“We applaud the decision of the highly-respected three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals,” said Marlon Goldstein, EVP and chief legal officer of The Stars Group. “The merits of the case prevailed, and we look forward to putting this matter behind us as we sharpen our focus on executing on our growth strategy going forward.”

$2,390

Two of Atlantic City’s land-based establishments have fallen foul of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, after being found to have offered wagers on college football earlier in the year.

Such activity is illegal within the state, with Golden Nugget Atlantic City and Caesars Entertainment Corporation subsequently being found to have broken state regulation.

As a result Caesars, which permits sports wagering at its Bally’s and Harrah’s establishments within the region, was fined $2,000 for taking bets on a September 10 football game between Rutgers and Kansas.

Furthermore, the Golden Nugget was penalised $390, arising from bets associated with various, although unspecified, New Jersey college football games during the same period.

The law applies to every Garden State university and is designed to stop wagering on any college sporting events that take place in the state, regardless of whether or not those events are between New Jersey educational facilities.

Those customers who bet on the games in question will receive a full refund if they can be identified.

£20.1m

Nektan released its full-year financial report, for the period ending June 30, 2018, which saw both revenue and reach grow, whilst losses continued, despite being reduced.

Total revenue grew 52 per cent in the period, to £20.1m up from £13.3m, while net gaming revenue also increased significantly, up 48 per cent to £19.4m from £13.1m a year prior.

New first-time depositing players increased strongly, up 20 per cent year on year to 156,703, whilst total cash wagering was up markedly, by 43 per cent to £560m from £390m in the prior period.

However, losses continued even if adjusted EBITDA loss was reduced to £2.4m, down from a loss of £3.4m in FY 2017. The 12-month period also saw an operating loss of £5.5m, an increase on the £4.6m deficit posted in the previous period.

The figures include 12 months’ operation of Nektan’s US division, compared to six months in the prior year. Excluding the US, adjusted EBITDA loss in the period reduced to £1.4m from £2.7m, which saw an operating loss of £0.5m in H2 versus £0.9m in H1.

Gary Shaw, Nektan founder and executive director, commented: “During the year, Nektan continued to develop its mobile casino product offering, expanded into new geographic markets, launched new product offerings and grew significantly in each quarter.

“We believe that our proprietary technology is unique in the market place and we are now attracting major global partners who wish to use the feature rich gaming content we have worked so hard to populate our platforms with.”

2

Global hospitality and entertainment firm Delaware North has unveiled two casino-based sportsbooks within West Virginia, in addition to also launching its BetLucky.com online and mobile app for statewide sports wagering.

The retail sportsbooks are located at Wheeling Island Hotel Casino Racetrack in Wheeling and Mardi Gras Casino & Resort near Charleston, which opened this week opened after the completion of field testing.

The free BetLucky betting app, available at BetLucky.com or the Apple App Store, is the first to be available in West Virginia and can be used to wager anywhere within the state.

Luisa Woods, vice president of marketing for Delaware North’s gaming division, commented: “We think West Virginians and visitors to the Mountain State are going to love how easy it is to register and use the app.

“The platform was designed to be flexible, easy to use and reliable, with innovative features designed specifically to engage and entertain US sports fans. Patrons at the casinos can use the app or the betting tellers in the sportsbooks.”

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The lawsuit alleges that Miomni Gaming and Michael Venner, its chief executive officer, fraudulently misrepresented its ownership of a key part of the BetLucky sports wagering platform, and breached the joint-venture contract.

Filed late last week in the Court of Chancery for the State of Delaware, relates to a joint-venture entered alongside Delaware North iGaming, the Delaware North subsidiary, and Miomni’s “willful breach” of the parties’ contract.

The two had entered an agreement to develop and manage BetLucky Interactive for its sports betting and igaming platform, which was intended to serve as the sportsbook technology platform for DNG’s gaming properties, in states where the activity is legal.

Launching in late December at the properties, and statewide via the BetLucky.com mobile app, interruption first began early last month, leaving the mobile app and the casino sportsbooks, which relied on the platform, unable to accept new sports wagers.

This was attributed to Miomni’s contract dispute with third-party technology supplier Enterg Software Solutions Limited, a Cyprus-based company known as Entergaming.

After DNG further investigated the dispute, it notified the West Virginia Lottery Commission on March 29 that it was taking steps to terminate its partnership with Miomni.

As a result of this, DNG has been unable to operate its West Virginia sportsbooks and its BetLucky.com mobile app, causing financial losses and inconveniencing West Virginia customers.

DNG stresses that it is continuing to honour and redeem all resulted bets, as well as providing customers with detailed information about how they can access their accounts and withdraw their funds.

The lawsuit comments: “During negotiations for the joint venture, Miomni and Venner repeatedly represented to DNG that Miomni owned the intellectual property rights in the platform, including the source code underlying the ‘front-end interface’ and the ‘back-end’ of the platform.

“DNG relied on those representations when it decided to contract with Miomni. In the (joint-venture agreement), Miomni represented that it owned and controlled the platform and that Miomni’s performance would not be impaired by any third-party contracts.”

Furthermore, following communications with Entergaming, DNG states it learned that Miomni’s and Venner’s representations were “false” and “fraudulent” and that Miomni never owned the source code for part of the “back-end” of the platform – it only licensed it from Entergaming.

“When Miomni could not resolve its licensing dispute with Entergaming – a dispute that Miomni intentionally concealed from DNG – Entergaming disabled the platform, leaving DNG, its affiliates and BetLucky with a sudden loss of business operations,” the lawsuit goes on to say.

It is also detailed that Entergaming sent Miomni a letter in late February terminating the agreement and the back-end services.

“With these discoveries in March, it became clear that Miomni and Venner had engaged in an ongoing pattern of misrepresentation and bad faith,” it’s added.

DNG is seeking monetary damages and other relief, including an orderly transfer of Miomni’s membership interest in BetLucky in accordance with the joint-venture agreement.

The casino operator continues “to evaluate all of its options to once again provide sports wagering services and believes that identifying and implementing a solution could take several months or longer.”

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