Success Stories: iGaming - November 2021

In success stories, we profile some of the key stories in iGaming this month, focusing on areas of growth, resilience and innovation.

America has really stolen the spotlight this month, with a massive upswing in gambling, and seemingly limitless potential! We also cover fresh growth in Europe, Asia, gambling harms research and sustainability initiatives.

Flying off the Panhandle

iGaming explodes across America!

Four US states reported all time betting handle highs this month, as betting popularity continues to snowball.

Mississippi consumers wagered a record $83.5m (£61.9m) on sports in October, while the state’s revenue reached $9.1m, its highest total since October 2019. The state’s handle was a 36.4% increase on October last year and the highest recorded since sports betting was launched in 2018.

Washington DC set a new sports handle record for the second consecutive month after players in the market spent $26.3m (£19.6m) in bets, a 42.2% increase year-on-year. Indiana also set a new record for handle with $461.1m in the month of October, a 29.7% increase on the previous record achieved in September.

Sports betting revenue hit an all-time high in New Jersey with players spending a record $1.30bn (£963.4m) wagering on sports, while online casino revenue in the state also reached a new monthly high of $127m.

In terms of raw revenue Pennsylvania operators enjoyed a record breaking month, with total market revenue jumping 33.0% year-on-year to $425.9m. Similarly Delaware increased online gambling revenue 44.5% year-on-year in October, while the amount staked by players grew by 43.4%. Last but not least Michigan reported record October revenue hitting $134m across iGaming and Sports.

Profits aplenty

Portuguese igaming revenue up 38.5% in Q3

Portuguese gambling regulator SRIJ reported another strong performance for online casino as revenue reached €114.2m (£96.1m) in Q3. Although down 14.9% from Q2 this was still 38.5% over the third quarter last year.

For iGaming in particular this was a victory, with revenue totalling €49.3m, a 16% increase year-on-year.

Performance pioneers

Philippine gambling revenue continues to recover in Q3

It has been a steady year for the Philippines with PAGCOR reporting revenue figures of PHP26.94bn (£400.5m) for the countries gaming industry during the third quarter, a 52.5% increase on Q3 2020.

Of particular interest is the introduction of new iGaming services, allowing popular sporting events such as Sabong to be followed and wagered on, online. Since April, this popular past time has generated nearly PHP1.21bn

Supporting sustainability

Entain looks to plant a flag with new sustainability initiatives

At the operator’s Entain Sustain event earlier this week, Entain brought together multiple stakeholders to highlight its commitment to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).

Entain also unveiled ‘Entrain’, a multi-million-pound technology and diversity programme, which follows the business committing to investing £100m in ESG initiatives over the next five years in 2020.

In addition, the operator launched demonstrations of its Advanced Responsibility and Care technology (ARC), which uses artificial intelligence in efforts to reduce harm levels.

Entain aims to positively impact one million people by 2030, across all under-represented groups in the markets in which it is active.

GambleAware girls

GambleAware awards £250,000 grant for women problem gambling research

GambleAware has awarded a £250,000 ($334,783) grant to a team of researchers to support research into the lives of women in relation to gambling and gambling-related harm.

Commissioned as part of GambleAware’s five-year organisational strategy, researchers will seek to establish and explore the drivers of gambling harms among women in Great Britain. In addition they will explore the services, interventions and policies needed to reduce and prevent gambling harms for women.

“Women’s experiences of gambling harms are under-researched, often presented as homogenous and in terms of how they differ to men’s experiences,” GambleAware research director Alison Clare said.

“We are pleased to have awarded this grant to this strong multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team which will be drilling down into the experiences and needs of different communities of women. This is an important step towards ensuring GambleAware and others are commissioning the range of treatment and support services women want and will use.”

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