The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is a government-owned agency established in Metro Manila, Philippines, for the operation of floating casinos and slot clubs in major cities across the country. The agency also supervises and regulates private casinos, bingo parlors, and e-gaming cafes in the region. PAGCOR, as a corporation, is registered under the Office of the President of the Philippines.
Ever since it was established, PAGCOR has been establishing gaming pools and conducting casino games across the country. PAGCOR is expecting an amount of P6 billion as tax revenue from online gaming parlors. Moreover, the corporation is considering a move to limit the number of operators to 50 owing to a probable oversupply of players in the market. This also shows that online gaming has immense potential, with gamblers operating right from their home.
The casino operators and gaming regulators in the Philippines reported a one-quarter increase in profits in the beginning of 2017. But figures released by PAGCR reveal its revenue from online gambling increasing by 8.4 percent every year to P28.3 billion in the half year ending June 30. However, PAGCOR’s profit rose by 24.9 percent to P3 billion. PAGCOR’s contribution to the government treasury amounted to P13.4 billion.
The year-over-year increase in revenue was slower in the second quarter due to the temporary shutdown of gaming operations after the gun attack at the Resorts World Manila in June. However, the agency is now considering a complete transition to a regulatory role. But the casinos reported a revenue of P5.2 billion and slot machines a revenue of P6.1 billion. Income from electronic bingo was P4.4 billion but its licensed private casinos added a revenue of less than P9.5 billion.
The Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) reported income of less than P1.1 billion in the first quarter. PAGCOR hopes that the POGO program would generate an income of $120 million eventually. The tax rate on revenues from RNG games remains pegged at 2% but operators would have to pay a sum of $150K as Monthly Minimum Guarantee Fee (MGF).
The POGO program was initiated as a part of the government’s efforts to foist tighter supervision over operations, which were overlooked by authorities in the Philippines’ special economic zones. PAGCOR would also be deploying monitoring teams to ensure that POGO licensees comply with regulatory requirements.
July 27, 2017
Aspiring Cop Caught Stealing $125,000 Worth of Chips in the CCTV of Melbourne’s Crown Casino
A man by the name Gunawan Akay had been recently caught by a CCTV camera, stealing over $125,000 in casino chips from the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Following trials in the local court, Akay was sentenced to community correction.
The 38-year-old guy was slapped with a sentence of two years for robbing the casino off $125,000 worth of gaming chips in December last year. Akay later pleaded guilty in the court of law for attempting to grab 25 chips of $5000 each while playing in the Maple Room, an exclusive gambling room featured at the Crown Casino.
The CCTV footage revealed that while the casino employee was busy dealing the hand, Akay dexterity reached out to a pile of casino chips and grabbed a handful before escaping from the room and trying to flee in a taxi.
Claire Quin, the County Judge, stated that Akay had been struggling with a grave financial crisis that might have been the motivation behind carrying out this unsophisticated crime. While sentencing Akay to the two-year community correction order, the judge announced that the former had grabbed the gambling chips from a table in the Maple Room and rushed out of the casino in a bid to flee.
Sources reveal that a terribly guilty Akay lost nearly all of his gambling chips in his attempt to run away and eventually tossed the remaining three chips into the Yarra River in a state of excessive panic. A member of the Gold Signature Crown Rewards, Akay was a regular at the Crown Casino and had been playing with his partner’s cash for over six hours when he planned the doomed attempt at stealing the gambling chips.
In a series of events that led him to commit the amateur crime, Akay had recently witnessed a bank foreclosure on a majority of his properties and was trying to make some money in order to ensure that he and his girlfriend did not have to leave their home due to eviction.
Following the completion of the trial proceedings, Judge Quin remarked that Akay had been terribly contrite and had acknowledged his accountability for the crime, showing that he might have great prospects at early rehabilitation. As per the order, Akay will have to perform supervised work for a total of 150 hours during his correctional stay.
The 38-year-old guy was slapped with a sentence of two years for robbing the casino off $125,000 worth of gaming chips in December last year. Akay later pleaded guilty in the court of law for attempting to grab 25 chips of $5000 each while playing in the Maple Room, an exclusive gambling room featured at the Crown Casino.
The CCTV footage revealed that while the casino employee was busy dealing the hand, Akay dexterity reached out to a pile of casino chips and grabbed a handful before escaping from the room and trying to flee in a taxi.
Claire Quin, the County Judge, stated that Akay had been struggling with a grave financial crisis that might have been the motivation behind carrying out this unsophisticated crime. While sentencing Akay to the two-year community correction order, the judge announced that the former had grabbed the gambling chips from a table in the Maple Room and rushed out of the casino in a bid to flee.
Sources reveal that a terribly guilty Akay lost nearly all of his gambling chips in his attempt to run away and eventually tossed the remaining three chips into the Yarra River in a state of excessive panic. A member of the Gold Signature Crown Rewards, Akay was a regular at the Crown Casino and had been playing with his partner’s cash for over six hours when he planned the doomed attempt at stealing the gambling chips.
In a series of events that led him to commit the amateur crime, Akay had recently witnessed a bank foreclosure on a majority of his properties and was trying to make some money in order to ensure that he and his girlfriend did not have to leave their home due to eviction.
Following the completion of the trial proceedings, Judge Quin remarked that Akay had been terribly contrite and had acknowledged his accountability for the crime, showing that he might have great prospects at early rehabilitation. As per the order, Akay will have to perform supervised work for a total of 150 hours during his correctional stay.
El Gordo
IIn the early 2000s, Costis Mitsotakis of Greece met a Spanish girl named Sandra del Pozo. They fell in love, and not long after, bought a small RV, left Greece and headed to Spain. Their destination — Sodeto, a town in the northeast corner of the country, where Sandra’s grandmother lived.
Sodeto is one of about 300 little farming villages that the dictator Francisco Franco built in Spain in the 1950s, in an effort to bring people and agriculture to isolated places. All the towns built during this time look similar, and Sodeto is no exception — there’s a church in the center of town and one bar, which is also the one restaurant, which is also the one place to hang out. The houses are the color of sand, and each has a red-tiled roof. About 200 people live in the town.
Sodeto is not the kind of place that makes news. But all that changed in 2011 when almost everyone in this little village won a piece of the biggest lottery jackpot in Spain. By chance, Costis Mitsotakis had found himself in the luckiest town in the world.
In the United States, as far we know, an entire town has never won the lottery. Sometimes large groups do win together, but more often than not, lotteries jackpots in the U.S. are divided by just a few people.
In Spain, they do the lottery differently. First of all, it’s a country-wide obsession — about 75% of Spaniards buy a ticket. There’s more than one lottery in Spain, but the one that Spaniards are the most passionate about is “La Lotería de Navidad” (“The Christmas Lottery”). This lottery has taken place every year since 1812.
For better or worse, lotteries have long been considered by governments as useful ways to raise funds for public programs. But lotteries were, and still are, thought to be regressive taxes on the poor. Karl Marx called them a sinister instrument of the state, designed to dupe the poor into believing there was an easy way out of poverty. The church found lottery play to be blasphemous and superstitious. In 1826 the British outright banned the lottery for nearly a hundred years.
And in 1862, Spain responded to the criticisms as well: by re-designing their national lottery so that it wouldn’t take as much money from the poor. The government thought if the they set the price of tickets high, only rich people would buy them. But that’s not what happened. People began “syndicate” playing, or playing in groups. The lottery became more popular than ever.
In the Christmas Lottery, any number from 00000 to 99,999 can win. It’s very expensive to own an entire number, so organizations will buy a share of a number and then sell off even smaller shares to individuals — five euro shares, two euro shares, etc. Thousands of people may own small fractions of the same number. The smaller the share you have, the less you get of the total jackpot if your number should win.
Making it expensive to own a number outright has turned the lottery into a huge social event. Local organizations sell tickets at a markup for fundraisers. Most Spaniards end up with a stack of tickets — all different tiny shares of different numbers that they’ve been talked into buying.
The numbers go on sale in the summer for the drawing on December 22nd. It is held in Madrid, in the same theater and the same way every year. There’s a stage, holding two giant golden orbs, containing balls with the numbers and prize amounts. After the balls drop, two children sing the numbers and prize amounts in a kind of Gregorian chant. The whole event lasts for hours.
Everyone waits for the biggest prize of the day – “El Gordo” ( the fat one). The “El Gordo” prize is often worth close to a billion dollars. As soon as the El Gordo-winning number is announced, reporters scramble to find out in what part of Spain it was sold.
And on December 22, 2011, it was the people of Sodeto, Spain who held the winning number.
The winning tickets had been sold all over Sodeto by The Housewives Association — a group of women who host parties and activities in town. The association sold tickets, door to door, for six euros. Five euros for the lottery ticket, one euro for their fundraising.
Maria-Carmen Lambea from the Association had chosen the winning number. When she heard that they had won El Gordo, she started calling friends. No one could believe it. Soon everyone was gathered on the plaza. Each six euro ticket the house-wives had sold was worth 100,000 euros.
Ana, the bartender had won, Paco, the farmer, and his wife Marisol won. Rosa, the mayor of the town had won. It seemed that every single resident of the small town of Sodeto had won a piece of El Gordo. The people of Sodeto were not the only ones to win on the number 58,268 in 2011. A few thousand other people also had small shares of the number — mostly scattered around in towns nearby. The total jackpot that year for EL Gordo was about 750 million euros, but it was divided by thousands of people. In Sodeto – the people who bought more tickets got more money, and everyone got at least 100,000 euros.
Everyone, except one. Costis Miksotaksis. Somehow the housewives had missed him when they went knocking on doors.
Six years later, Costis still lives in Sodeto. He and Sandra have parted ways, but remain friends. When we asked if he felt any regret or jealousy, he laughs. “No, nothing,” he says — because Costis feels he got something that day too. He’s a filmmaker and he’s been documenting how the town has responded to this sudden wealth. He believes the town has become a little more insular since the win — more focused on the nuclear family and less on the community as a whole.
But Maria-Carmen doesn’t believe the town has changed that much. Sodeto is a town of farmers, and some of them installed new irrigation systems, or bought new tractors. Some people added modest additions to their homes, but nothing extravagant. It’s been a wonderful thing for everyone in this little working-class town, says Maria-Carmen, to live without the worry of debt.
And that’s the thing about this syndicate style lottery: unlike the Powerball Jackpot in the United States, which heaps hundreds of millions on one or two winners, the money from the Christmas Lottery gets divvied up among thousands of people.
The people who win El Gordo don’t generally win enough to buy mansions and yachts. They win enough to pay off their debts and buy a Honda civic. The lottery brings wealth to a whole geographic area, and distributes it relatively evenly, at least among those lucky enough to have a ticket.
Economists have long struggled to figure out why people play the lottery. It’s not a rational investment The odds of winning the big jackpots are terrible — worse than any other form of gambling. But in Spain, it’s pretty obvious why people play this lottery. It’s the social thing to do. You buy because you don’t want to be that one guy who doesn’t win. You don’t want to be Costis. The lottery organizers actually exploit this fear in their advertising each year.
The Housewives Association, now officially called the “Women’s Association,” continues to choose a number each year for the Christmas Lottery.
The women used to knock on doors for months to sell the tickets, but now the people come to them, and tickets sell out in a few days. “They were lucky once and they could be again,” people say, and no one wants to be left out.
Sodeto is one of about 300 little farming villages that the dictator Francisco Franco built in Spain in the 1950s, in an effort to bring people and agriculture to isolated places. All the towns built during this time look similar, and Sodeto is no exception — there’s a church in the center of town and one bar, which is also the one restaurant, which is also the one place to hang out. The houses are the color of sand, and each has a red-tiled roof. About 200 people live in the town.
Sodeto is not the kind of place that makes news. But all that changed in 2011 when almost everyone in this little village won a piece of the biggest lottery jackpot in Spain. By chance, Costis Mitsotakis had found himself in the luckiest town in the world.
In the United States, as far we know, an entire town has never won the lottery. Sometimes large groups do win together, but more often than not, lotteries jackpots in the U.S. are divided by just a few people.
In Spain, they do the lottery differently. First of all, it’s a country-wide obsession — about 75% of Spaniards buy a ticket. There’s more than one lottery in Spain, but the one that Spaniards are the most passionate about is “La Lotería de Navidad” (“The Christmas Lottery”). This lottery has taken place every year since 1812.
For better or worse, lotteries have long been considered by governments as useful ways to raise funds for public programs. But lotteries were, and still are, thought to be regressive taxes on the poor. Karl Marx called them a sinister instrument of the state, designed to dupe the poor into believing there was an easy way out of poverty. The church found lottery play to be blasphemous and superstitious. In 1826 the British outright banned the lottery for nearly a hundred years.
And in 1862, Spain responded to the criticisms as well: by re-designing their national lottery so that it wouldn’t take as much money from the poor. The government thought if the they set the price of tickets high, only rich people would buy them. But that’s not what happened. People began “syndicate” playing, or playing in groups. The lottery became more popular than ever.
In the Christmas Lottery, any number from 00000 to 99,999 can win. It’s very expensive to own an entire number, so organizations will buy a share of a number and then sell off even smaller shares to individuals — five euro shares, two euro shares, etc. Thousands of people may own small fractions of the same number. The smaller the share you have, the less you get of the total jackpot if your number should win.
Making it expensive to own a number outright has turned the lottery into a huge social event. Local organizations sell tickets at a markup for fundraisers. Most Spaniards end up with a stack of tickets — all different tiny shares of different numbers that they’ve been talked into buying.
The numbers go on sale in the summer for the drawing on December 22nd. It is held in Madrid, in the same theater and the same way every year. There’s a stage, holding two giant golden orbs, containing balls with the numbers and prize amounts. After the balls drop, two children sing the numbers and prize amounts in a kind of Gregorian chant. The whole event lasts for hours.
Everyone waits for the biggest prize of the day – “El Gordo” ( the fat one). The “El Gordo” prize is often worth close to a billion dollars. As soon as the El Gordo-winning number is announced, reporters scramble to find out in what part of Spain it was sold.
And on December 22, 2011, it was the people of Sodeto, Spain who held the winning number.
The winning tickets had been sold all over Sodeto by The Housewives Association — a group of women who host parties and activities in town. The association sold tickets, door to door, for six euros. Five euros for the lottery ticket, one euro for their fundraising.
Maria-Carmen Lambea from the Association had chosen the winning number. When she heard that they had won El Gordo, she started calling friends. No one could believe it. Soon everyone was gathered on the plaza. Each six euro ticket the house-wives had sold was worth 100,000 euros.
Ana, the bartender had won, Paco, the farmer, and his wife Marisol won. Rosa, the mayor of the town had won. It seemed that every single resident of the small town of Sodeto had won a piece of El Gordo. The people of Sodeto were not the only ones to win on the number 58,268 in 2011. A few thousand other people also had small shares of the number — mostly scattered around in towns nearby. The total jackpot that year for EL Gordo was about 750 million euros, but it was divided by thousands of people. In Sodeto – the people who bought more tickets got more money, and everyone got at least 100,000 euros.
Everyone, except one. Costis Miksotaksis. Somehow the housewives had missed him when they went knocking on doors.
Six years later, Costis still lives in Sodeto. He and Sandra have parted ways, but remain friends. When we asked if he felt any regret or jealousy, he laughs. “No, nothing,” he says — because Costis feels he got something that day too. He’s a filmmaker and he’s been documenting how the town has responded to this sudden wealth. He believes the town has become a little more insular since the win — more focused on the nuclear family and less on the community as a whole.
But Maria-Carmen doesn’t believe the town has changed that much. Sodeto is a town of farmers, and some of them installed new irrigation systems, or bought new tractors. Some people added modest additions to their homes, but nothing extravagant. It’s been a wonderful thing for everyone in this little working-class town, says Maria-Carmen, to live without the worry of debt.
And that’s the thing about this syndicate style lottery: unlike the Powerball Jackpot in the United States, which heaps hundreds of millions on one or two winners, the money from the Christmas Lottery gets divvied up among thousands of people.
The people who win El Gordo don’t generally win enough to buy mansions and yachts. They win enough to pay off their debts and buy a Honda civic. The lottery brings wealth to a whole geographic area, and distributes it relatively evenly, at least among those lucky enough to have a ticket.
Economists have long struggled to figure out why people play the lottery. It’s not a rational investment The odds of winning the big jackpots are terrible — worse than any other form of gambling. But in Spain, it’s pretty obvious why people play this lottery. It’s the social thing to do. You buy because you don’t want to be that one guy who doesn’t win. You don’t want to be Costis. The lottery organizers actually exploit this fear in their advertising each year.
The Housewives Association, now officially called the “Women’s Association,” continues to choose a number each year for the Christmas Lottery.
The women used to knock on doors for months to sell the tickets, but now the people come to them, and tickets sell out in a few days. “They were lucky once and they could be again,” people say, and no one wants to be left out.
July 26, 2017
UKGC launches new tool for customer complaints
The UK Gambling Commission announced the release of Resolver, a tool which will enable consumers to file gambling-related complaints.
From 1 August, gambling consumers will be able to use Resolver, the online support tool, to make complaints related to gambling.
Resolver is a free, independent tool for consumers. It provides information about the issue the consumer wants to complain about, and support to help the consumer write emails and letters of complaint.
Resolver is not an intermediary, and doesn’t act on the consumer’s behalf – but it does help the consumer to make their complaint in a structured way, and to make informed choices about what actions to take.
This can help businesses to deal with complaints more efficiently when they receive them, and manages customer expectations about their complaint issue.
Resolver also helps the consumer to store all the complaint information in one place, and acts as an email service. This means the consumer’s complaint will be sent from a Resolver email address, rather than the customer’s usual email address. We expect operators to accept complaints customers send via a Resolver email address just as they would from other email services.
From 1 August, gambling consumers will be able to use Resolver, the online support tool, to make complaints related to gambling.
Resolver is a free, independent tool for consumers. It provides information about the issue the consumer wants to complain about, and support to help the consumer write emails and letters of complaint.
Resolver is not an intermediary, and doesn’t act on the consumer’s behalf – but it does help the consumer to make their complaint in a structured way, and to make informed choices about what actions to take.
This can help businesses to deal with complaints more efficiently when they receive them, and manages customer expectations about their complaint issue.
Resolver also helps the consumer to store all the complaint information in one place, and acts as an email service. This means the consumer’s complaint will be sent from a Resolver email address, rather than the customer’s usual email address. We expect operators to accept complaints customers send via a Resolver email address just as they would from other email services.
July 25, 2017
Czech legislators to add new gaming regulations
National legislators held a session yesterday discuss gaming regulations, according to Prague Monitor. After the meeting, new amendments could be added to federal laws in order to control potential public corruption through gaming operations. Earlier this year, the Congress approved a gaming law, which was previously modified by a lobbying organisation.
“During the legislative process, the gambling bill underwent several changes as a direct consequence of the gambling lobby’s intervention, which led to particular interests being put above public interests,” revealed a public analysis issued by the office of Human Rights Ministry.
Czech Republic Cabinet met yesterday in order to review the analysis and discuss further regulations for gaming activities. According to the document, the industry could represent a risk of corruption in public administration, as “favouritism, non-standard lobbying, economic and media pressure” could influence government officials, as reported by the local news outlet.
The Ministry’s document also reveals connections between gaming companies and national former and current authorities. The main example is the SYNOT gaming company owned by Senator Ivo Valenta, which employs former Finance Ministry officials. Czech Republic has been allegedly experiencing “Revolving Doors,” a phenomenon where gaming businessmen achieve governmental positions and after their periods, they return to their previous businesses.
“During the legislative process, the gambling bill underwent several changes as a direct consequence of the gambling lobby’s intervention, which led to particular interests being put above public interests,” revealed a public analysis issued by the office of Human Rights Ministry.
Czech Republic Cabinet met yesterday in order to review the analysis and discuss further regulations for gaming activities. According to the document, the industry could represent a risk of corruption in public administration, as “favouritism, non-standard lobbying, economic and media pressure” could influence government officials, as reported by the local news outlet.
The Ministry’s document also reveals connections between gaming companies and national former and current authorities. The main example is the SYNOT gaming company owned by Senator Ivo Valenta, which employs former Finance Ministry officials. Czech Republic has been allegedly experiencing “Revolving Doors,” a phenomenon where gaming businessmen achieve governmental positions and after their periods, they return to their previous businesses.
July 18, 2017
Uncertainty reigns in ‘Game of Thrones’ markets
Cersei Lannister came in from 14/1 to become the overnight favourite at just 5/2. However, despite a mass influx of overnight bets, Cersei has drifted back out in the market and Daenerys Targaryen now appears to be destined for supremacy.
Nonetheless, tragedy has played a prominent role thus far in Game of Thrones and season seven doesn’t look like being subdued, it is just 6/4 that one or more of Cersei, Daenerys, Jon Snow or Tyrion lannister reach their demise in series seven.
“If our punters are to be believed, Cersei is going to have a very prominent role in these last two series of Game of Thrones,” said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.
Fortuna hurdles Romanian acquisitions legal debacle
There’s no more legal impediment that will bar investors of the Eastern European betting and lottery operator Fortuna Entertainment Group from voting on its proposed acquisition of four Romanian gambling companies after a Dutch appellate court dismissed a petition against the firm’s move.
SeeNews reported that the Amsterdam Court of Appeals threw out the petition for injunction that Franklin Templeton investment funds as it seeks to stop the purchase of Bet Active Concept, Bet Zone, Public Slots and Slot Arena.
Per Widerström, CEO of Fortuna, lauded the court’s Monday decision, saying the company may now move forward with their plans to boost the company’s Romanian market presence. The company has scheduled an extraordinary meeting of shareholders planned on August 1 to vote on the acquisition plans.
“This acquisition, together with previously acquired Casa Pariurilor (as part of Hattrick Sport Group), means that Romania will become our biggest market and that Fortuna Entertainment Group will become the number one regulated sports betting and gaming operator in the Romanian market,” Per Widerström, CEO of Fortuna, said, according to the news report.
In March, the Czech Republic-based Fortuna announced it was in the process of negotiating the acquisition of Romanian companies Bet Active Concept SRL, Bet Zone SRL, Public Slots SRL and Slot Arena SRL from Fortbet Holdings Ltd for €47 million (US$54 million).
Fortbet is the majority shareholder of Fortuna and the subsidiary of Penta Investment Group.
The purchase, however, was delayed after the Amsterdam Court of Appeals granted the petition filed by a group of shareholders advised by Templeton to stop the sale in April.
During the same month, Fortuna announced a €135m deal to acquire Hattrick Sports, which controls Romania’s leading betting brand Casa Pariurilor. That deal alone made Fortuna the number one retail betting operator in Romania, while also expanding its operations into Croatia.
Fortuna, which was established in 1990, posted a 12.2 percent revenue increase in the first quarter of 2017, thanks in part to its online betting operations. In the three months ending March 31, 2017, Fortuna said that its revenue grew to €42.7 million.
SeeNews reported that the Amsterdam Court of Appeals threw out the petition for injunction that Franklin Templeton investment funds as it seeks to stop the purchase of Bet Active Concept, Bet Zone, Public Slots and Slot Arena.
Per Widerström, CEO of Fortuna, lauded the court’s Monday decision, saying the company may now move forward with their plans to boost the company’s Romanian market presence. The company has scheduled an extraordinary meeting of shareholders planned on August 1 to vote on the acquisition plans.
“This acquisition, together with previously acquired Casa Pariurilor (as part of Hattrick Sport Group), means that Romania will become our biggest market and that Fortuna Entertainment Group will become the number one regulated sports betting and gaming operator in the Romanian market,” Per Widerström, CEO of Fortuna, said, according to the news report.
In March, the Czech Republic-based Fortuna announced it was in the process of negotiating the acquisition of Romanian companies Bet Active Concept SRL, Bet Zone SRL, Public Slots SRL and Slot Arena SRL from Fortbet Holdings Ltd for €47 million (US$54 million).
Fortbet is the majority shareholder of Fortuna and the subsidiary of Penta Investment Group.
The purchase, however, was delayed after the Amsterdam Court of Appeals granted the petition filed by a group of shareholders advised by Templeton to stop the sale in April.
During the same month, Fortuna announced a €135m deal to acquire Hattrick Sports, which controls Romania’s leading betting brand Casa Pariurilor. That deal alone made Fortuna the number one retail betting operator in Romania, while also expanding its operations into Croatia.
Fortuna, which was established in 1990, posted a 12.2 percent revenue increase in the first quarter of 2017, thanks in part to its online betting operations. In the three months ending March 31, 2017, Fortuna said that its revenue grew to €42.7 million.
July 12, 2017
Partypoker owner GVC in the mood for more deals
The lack of a major sporting tournament this year has failed to knock the owner of online gambling brands Sportingbet and Bwin, as the acquisition-hungry firm said it would not rule out another deal.
GVC, which was catapulted into the FTSE 250 on the back of its most recent deal to buy Bwin, feels it is now in a position to seek out another rival in spite of completing two major deals in three years.
“The organic opportunity is significant, whilst we are also well positioned to pursue further acquisition opportunities should they arise,” chief executive Kenny Alexander said.
He added the amount the company spends on marketing would return to more normal levels at the end of the year meaning he was confident about the group’s potential performance.
The business freed up some cash earlier this year after refinancing a short-term loan from Cerberus Business Finance it had used to fund the Bwin acquisition. It agreed a €320m (£280m) lending deal with investment bank Nomura, comprising €250m to pay Cerberus the remainder it owed them, and a €70m credit facility.
In the six months to June 30, GVC saw net gaming revenue - the amounts staked minus winnings - rise 10pc to €484.8m. This was higher than the 7pc growth rate of the comparable year in spite of that period benefiting from the first few weeks of the 2016 European football championships.
While sports betting was down in terms of the amount of wagers being made by customers, its gaming brands more than took up the slack, with a 17pc rise in net gaming revenue to hit €1m per day.
The rise in customers within its gaming division has been helped by the Bwin acquisition, which completed in February last year, as Partypoker and other casino brands enticed players. The firm bought Sportingbet in March 2013.
GVC, which was catapulted into the FTSE 250 on the back of its most recent deal to buy Bwin, feels it is now in a position to seek out another rival in spite of completing two major deals in three years.
“The organic opportunity is significant, whilst we are also well positioned to pursue further acquisition opportunities should they arise,” chief executive Kenny Alexander said.
He added the amount the company spends on marketing would return to more normal levels at the end of the year meaning he was confident about the group’s potential performance.
The business freed up some cash earlier this year after refinancing a short-term loan from Cerberus Business Finance it had used to fund the Bwin acquisition. It agreed a €320m (£280m) lending deal with investment bank Nomura, comprising €250m to pay Cerberus the remainder it owed them, and a €70m credit facility.
In the six months to June 30, GVC saw net gaming revenue - the amounts staked minus winnings - rise 10pc to €484.8m. This was higher than the 7pc growth rate of the comparable year in spite of that period benefiting from the first few weeks of the 2016 European football championships.
While sports betting was down in terms of the amount of wagers being made by customers, its gaming brands more than took up the slack, with a 17pc rise in net gaming revenue to hit €1m per day.
The rise in customers within its gaming division has been helped by the Bwin acquisition, which completed in February last year, as Partypoker and other casino brands enticed players. The firm bought Sportingbet in March 2013.
July 07, 2017
This startup is building AI to bet on soccer games
Listen to Andreas Koukorinis, founder of UK sports betting company Stratagem, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that football games are some of the most predictable events on Earth. “They’re short duration, repeatable, with fixed rules, so if you observe 100,000 games, there are patterns there you can take out.”
The mission of Koukorinis’ company is simple: find these patterns and make money off them. Stratagem does this either by selling the data it collects to professional gamblers and bookmakers, or by keeping it and making its own wagers.To fund these wagers, the firm is raising money for a £25 million ($32 million) sports betting fund that it’s positioning as an investment alternative to traditional hedge funds. In other words, Stratagem hopes rich people will give Stratagem their money. The company will gamble with it using its proprietary data, and, if all goes to plan, everyone ends up just that little bit richer.
It’s a familiar story, but Stratagem is adding a little something extra to sweeten the pot: artificial intelligence.
At the moment, the company uses teams of human analysts spread out around the globe to report back on the various sporting leagues it bets on. This information is combined with detailed data about the odds available from various bookmakers to give Stratagem an edge over the average punter. But, in the future, it wants computers to do the analysis for it.It already uses machine learning to analyze some of its data (working out the best time to place a bet, for example), but it’s also developing AI tools that can analyze sporting events in real time, drawing out data that will help predict which team will win.
Stratagem is using deep neural networks to achieve this task — the same technology that’s enchanted Silicon Valley’s biggest firms. It’s a good fit, since this is a tool that’s well-suited for analyzing vast pots of data. As Koukorinis points out, when analyzing sports, there’s a hell of a lot data to learn from. The company’s software is currently absorbing thousands of hours of sporting fixtures to teach it patterns of failure and success, and the end goal is to create an AI that can watch a range of a half-dozen different sporting events simultaneously on live TV, extracting insights as it does.
At the moment, though, Stratagem is starting small. It’s focusing on just a few sports (football, basketball, and tennis) and a few metrics (like goal chances in football). At the company’s London offices, home to around 30 employees including ex-bankers and programmers, we’re shown the fledgling neural nets for football games in action. On-screen, the output is similar to what you might see from the live feed of a self-driving car. But instead of the computer highlighting stop signs and pedestrians as it scans the road ahead, it’s drawing a box around Zlatan Ibrahimović as he charges at the goal, dragging defenders in his wake.
Stratagem’s AI makes its calculations watching a standard, broadcast feed of the match. (Pro: it’s readily accessible. Con: it has to learn not to analyze the replays.) It tracks the ball and the players, identifying which team they’re on based on the color of their kits. The lines of the pitch are also highlighted, and all this data is transformed into a 2D map of the whole game. From this viewpoint, the software studies matches like an armchair general: it identifies what it thinks are goal-scoring chances, or the moments where the configuration of players looks right for someone to take a shot and score.
“Football is such a low-scoring game that you need to focus on these sorts of metrics to make predictions,” says Koukorinis. “If there’s a short on target from 30 yards with 11 people in front of the striker and that ends in a goal, yes, it looks spectacular on TV, but it’s not exciting for us. Because if you repeat it 100 times the outcomes won’t be the same. But if you have Lionel Messi running down the pitch and he’s one-on-one with the goalie, the conversion rate on that is 80 percent. We look at what created that situation. We try to take the randomness out, and look at how good the teams are at what they’re trying to do, which is generate goal-scoring opportunities.”
Whether or not counting goal-scoring opportunities is the best way to rank teams is difficult to say. Stratagem says it’s a metric that’s popular with professional gamblers, but they — and the company — weigh it with a lot of other factors before deciding how to bet. Stratagem also notes that the opportunities identified by its AI don’t consistently line up with those spotted by humans. Right now, the computer gets it correct about 50 percent of the time. Despite this, the company say its current betting models (which it develops for football, but also basketball and tennis) are right more than enough times for it to make a steady return, though they won’t share precise figures.
At the moment, Stratagem generates most of its data about goal-scoring opportunities and other metrics the old-fashioned way: using a team of 65 human analysts who write detailed match reports. The company’s AI would automate some of this process and speed it up significantly. (Each match report takes about three hours to write.) Some forms of data-gathering would still rely on humans, however.
A key task for the company’s agents is finding out a team’s starting lineup before it’s formally announced. (This is a major driver of pre-game betting odds, says Koukorinis, and knowing in advance helps you beat the market.) Acquiring this sort of information isn’t easy. It means finding sources at a club, building up a relationship, and knowing the right people to call on match day. Chatbots just aren’t up to the job yet.
Machine vision, though, is really just one element of Stratagem’s AI business plan. It already applies machine learning to more mundane facets of betting — like working out the best time to place a bet in any particular market. In this regard, what the company is doing is no different from many other hedge funds, which for decades have been using machine learning to come up with new ways to trade. Most funds blend human analysis with computer expertise, but at least one is run completely by decisions generated by artificial intelligence.
However, simply adding more computers to the mix isn’t always a recipe for success. There’s data showing that if you want to make the most out of your money, it’s better to just invest in the top-performing stocks of the S&P 500, rather than sign up for an AI hedge fund. That’s not the best sign that Stratagem’s sports-betting fund will offer good returns, especially when such funds are already controversial.
In 2012, a sports-betting fund set up by UK firm Centaur Holdings, collapsed just two years after it launched. It lost $2.5 million after promising investors returns of 15 to 20 percent. To critics, operations like this are just borrowing the trappings of traditional funds to make gambling look more like investing.
David Stevenson, director of finance research company AltFi, commented there’s nothing essentially wrong with these funds, but they need to be thought of as their own category. “I don’t particularly doubt it’s great fun [to invest in one] if you like sports and a bit of betting,” said Stevenson. “But don’t qualify it with the term ‘investment,’ because investment, by its nature, has to be something you can predict over the long run.”
Stevenson also notes that AI hedge funds that are successful — those that “torture the math within an inch of its life” to eek out small but predictable profits — tend not to seek outside investment at all. They prefer keeping the money to themselves. “I treat most things that combine the acronym ‘AI’ and the word ‘investing’ with an enormous dessert spoon of salt,” he said.
Whether or not Stratagem’s AI can deliver insights that make sporting events as predictable as the tides remains to be seen, but the company’s investment in artificial intelligence does have other uses. For starters, it can attract investors and customers looking for an edge in the world of gambling. It can also automate work that’s currently done by the company’s human employees and make it cheaper. As with other businesses that are using AI, it’s these smaller gains that might prove to be most reliable. After all, small, reliable gains make for a good investment.
The mission of Koukorinis’ company is simple: find these patterns and make money off them. Stratagem does this either by selling the data it collects to professional gamblers and bookmakers, or by keeping it and making its own wagers.To fund these wagers, the firm is raising money for a £25 million ($32 million) sports betting fund that it’s positioning as an investment alternative to traditional hedge funds. In other words, Stratagem hopes rich people will give Stratagem their money. The company will gamble with it using its proprietary data, and, if all goes to plan, everyone ends up just that little bit richer.
It’s a familiar story, but Stratagem is adding a little something extra to sweeten the pot: artificial intelligence.
At the moment, the company uses teams of human analysts spread out around the globe to report back on the various sporting leagues it bets on. This information is combined with detailed data about the odds available from various bookmakers to give Stratagem an edge over the average punter. But, in the future, it wants computers to do the analysis for it.It already uses machine learning to analyze some of its data (working out the best time to place a bet, for example), but it’s also developing AI tools that can analyze sporting events in real time, drawing out data that will help predict which team will win.
Stratagem is using deep neural networks to achieve this task — the same technology that’s enchanted Silicon Valley’s biggest firms. It’s a good fit, since this is a tool that’s well-suited for analyzing vast pots of data. As Koukorinis points out, when analyzing sports, there’s a hell of a lot data to learn from. The company’s software is currently absorbing thousands of hours of sporting fixtures to teach it patterns of failure and success, and the end goal is to create an AI that can watch a range of a half-dozen different sporting events simultaneously on live TV, extracting insights as it does.
At the moment, though, Stratagem is starting small. It’s focusing on just a few sports (football, basketball, and tennis) and a few metrics (like goal chances in football). At the company’s London offices, home to around 30 employees including ex-bankers and programmers, we’re shown the fledgling neural nets for football games in action. On-screen, the output is similar to what you might see from the live feed of a self-driving car. But instead of the computer highlighting stop signs and pedestrians as it scans the road ahead, it’s drawing a box around Zlatan Ibrahimović as he charges at the goal, dragging defenders in his wake.
Stratagem’s AI makes its calculations watching a standard, broadcast feed of the match. (Pro: it’s readily accessible. Con: it has to learn not to analyze the replays.) It tracks the ball and the players, identifying which team they’re on based on the color of their kits. The lines of the pitch are also highlighted, and all this data is transformed into a 2D map of the whole game. From this viewpoint, the software studies matches like an armchair general: it identifies what it thinks are goal-scoring chances, or the moments where the configuration of players looks right for someone to take a shot and score.
“Football is such a low-scoring game that you need to focus on these sorts of metrics to make predictions,” says Koukorinis. “If there’s a short on target from 30 yards with 11 people in front of the striker and that ends in a goal, yes, it looks spectacular on TV, but it’s not exciting for us. Because if you repeat it 100 times the outcomes won’t be the same. But if you have Lionel Messi running down the pitch and he’s one-on-one with the goalie, the conversion rate on that is 80 percent. We look at what created that situation. We try to take the randomness out, and look at how good the teams are at what they’re trying to do, which is generate goal-scoring opportunities.”
Whether or not counting goal-scoring opportunities is the best way to rank teams is difficult to say. Stratagem says it’s a metric that’s popular with professional gamblers, but they — and the company — weigh it with a lot of other factors before deciding how to bet. Stratagem also notes that the opportunities identified by its AI don’t consistently line up with those spotted by humans. Right now, the computer gets it correct about 50 percent of the time. Despite this, the company say its current betting models (which it develops for football, but also basketball and tennis) are right more than enough times for it to make a steady return, though they won’t share precise figures.
At the moment, Stratagem generates most of its data about goal-scoring opportunities and other metrics the old-fashioned way: using a team of 65 human analysts who write detailed match reports. The company’s AI would automate some of this process and speed it up significantly. (Each match report takes about three hours to write.) Some forms of data-gathering would still rely on humans, however.
A key task for the company’s agents is finding out a team’s starting lineup before it’s formally announced. (This is a major driver of pre-game betting odds, says Koukorinis, and knowing in advance helps you beat the market.) Acquiring this sort of information isn’t easy. It means finding sources at a club, building up a relationship, and knowing the right people to call on match day. Chatbots just aren’t up to the job yet.
Machine vision, though, is really just one element of Stratagem’s AI business plan. It already applies machine learning to more mundane facets of betting — like working out the best time to place a bet in any particular market. In this regard, what the company is doing is no different from many other hedge funds, which for decades have been using machine learning to come up with new ways to trade. Most funds blend human analysis with computer expertise, but at least one is run completely by decisions generated by artificial intelligence.
However, simply adding more computers to the mix isn’t always a recipe for success. There’s data showing that if you want to make the most out of your money, it’s better to just invest in the top-performing stocks of the S&P 500, rather than sign up for an AI hedge fund. That’s not the best sign that Stratagem’s sports-betting fund will offer good returns, especially when such funds are already controversial.
In 2012, a sports-betting fund set up by UK firm Centaur Holdings, collapsed just two years after it launched. It lost $2.5 million after promising investors returns of 15 to 20 percent. To critics, operations like this are just borrowing the trappings of traditional funds to make gambling look more like investing.
David Stevenson, director of finance research company AltFi, commented there’s nothing essentially wrong with these funds, but they need to be thought of as their own category. “I don’t particularly doubt it’s great fun [to invest in one] if you like sports and a bit of betting,” said Stevenson. “But don’t qualify it with the term ‘investment,’ because investment, by its nature, has to be something you can predict over the long run.”
Stevenson also notes that AI hedge funds that are successful — those that “torture the math within an inch of its life” to eek out small but predictable profits — tend not to seek outside investment at all. They prefer keeping the money to themselves. “I treat most things that combine the acronym ‘AI’ and the word ‘investing’ with an enormous dessert spoon of salt,” he said.
Whether or not Stratagem’s AI can deliver insights that make sporting events as predictable as the tides remains to be seen, but the company’s investment in artificial intelligence does have other uses. For starters, it can attract investors and customers looking for an edge in the world of gambling. It can also automate work that’s currently done by the company’s human employees and make it cheaper. As with other businesses that are using AI, it’s these smaller gains that might prove to be most reliable. After all, small, reliable gains make for a good investment.
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