This week in gambling news, the debut sportsbook handle in Tennessee generated $131.4m in November according to a report from The Tennessee Education Lottery. GVC has launched their new exclusion and detection technology in North America, the first state will be Pennsylvania. William Hill have entered the Latin American market after their acquisition of Colombia based Alfabet. Scientific Games rolled out their new lottery technology, Symphony, in Germany. The UK Gambling Commission has extended the deadline for their gambling harm consultation after high engagement.
Sportsbooks in Tennessee made $131.4m in November
According to figures from The Tennessee Education Lottery, Sportsbooks in Tennessee generated $131.4m in handle in November of this year.
This is the biggest debut handle of any state in the US that legalised sports gambling in history. It far outpaces the previous record that was made in 2019. The previous highest debut handle was in Indiana where they made $35.2m when sports betting was legalised in September 2019.
It’s clear that this will become one of the biggest sources of gambling or betting-based revenue in the state. Revenue generated by betting was $13.2m, this generated $2.4m in taxes for the state.
This massive success for sports betting in Tennessee will place them seventh in the US behind New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and Colorado.
William Hill acquires Colombian online betting operator Alfabet
UK based bookmaker William Hill has entered the Latin American market after its acquisition of the Colombian online bookmaker Alfabet.
On December 27th William Hill informed their investors that they had purchased a majority stake in the Colombian bookmaker, but they did not disclose the amount that they spent or the size of the majority. They did say that Colombia marked the ninth regulated market in which it is active, and that the deal furthered Hills’ international expansion strategy.
This is an attempt by the company to meet the regions regulations. It seems like a way to make sure they have a firm footing in the area when Brazil launches their own regulated online gambling market. If the company has a history of regulatory compliance in the region, they could be in with a better chance of being awarded a Brazilian licence.
New betting exclusion tool by GVC has launched in Pennsylvania
GVC Holdings is launching their new detection technology, PlayPause, to allow the early identification of players who show potential signs of problem gambling behaviours.
PlayPause will allow players to self-impose restrictions that will extend to every state in which an operator is active. This means that no matter where they bet in the country, if they bet with the same operator they will be restricted.
The deployment of the new tool began on the 23rd of December in Pennsylvania. This was the first deployment of PlayPause in the United States. The technology is being made available for any operator or regulator for no charge.
The first partner with GVC and the tool is BetMGM. They launched online gambling in Pennsylvania this month and it is clear that they are attempting to make the experience safe for their users.
Scientific Games are rolling out their new lottery technology in Germany
The US based gamble service company Scientific Games have launched their new Symphony lottery gaming systems technology in Germany with Lotto Baden-Württemberg.
This new technology will power Lotto Baden-Württemberg as well as provide support for the full suite of additional lottery products like Lotto 6aus49, EuroJackpot, GlücksSpirale, KENO, TOTO, and Oddset sports betting.
UK Gambling Commission extend their gambling harm consultation deadline
The UK’s Gambling Commission (UKGC) has extended the deadline for submissions to their remote customer interaction consultation on gambling harm because of the high levels of engagement.
Last month the UKGC launched a consultation on affordability and intervention. They called for views and feedback from consumers, people with lived experience, industry, and other stakeholders.
They want to determine whether stronger requirements are needed to identify online customers that may be at risk of problem gambling and what preventative measures are needed to be put in place to mitigate the risk.
After high engagement with the study, the UKGC has extended the deadline by four weeks until February 9th.
