Author: Editorial Board

Following the final deadline for ICE VOX 2019’s Early Booking Discount on Friday 7 December, delegates have been gifted with an additional not-to-be-missed opportunity as the discount window remains open for an additional 24 hours until 5pm GMT on Monday 10 December.

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 The entire A-Z of the gaming ecosystem in North America is set to benefit from the reputation and influence of the world’s most successful gaming event brand as Ice North America unveils its iPioneer campaign.

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Daily Fantasy Sports experts affirmed the industry’s robustness during the European Fantasy Sports Summit (Efss), presented and produced by the GamingMalta Foundation, held as part of the highly successful Summit of iGaming Malta (SiGMA) last week.

Hampus Hagglof, Ceo for FSport AB and veteran of the Daily Fantasy Sports sector, set the scene for an in-depth discussion on the emerging themes in the DFS world.
Giving a review of the current fantasy sports industry, Hagglof said that it’s still very much alive and kicking, with “North America enjoying almost 60 million players, five million players playing fantasy premier league—a scoring system that’s well established, and Indian companies claiming to have more than 40 million users, cricket being the main objective”. He also pointed out that, according to the research company Ibis in Australia, more than 4,200 people are employed in fantasy business worldwide.

Prominent speaker at the event and DraftKings’ Cio, Jeffrey Haas, also cemented the fact that the DFS industry today remains robust: ‘’With the Premier League enjoying a whopping seven and a half million plus players in Europe, substantial growth can be seen with the emergence of fantasy products provided by the leagues themselves, apart from the independent B2C operators.’’ Haas added that opportunity and risk go hand in hand for DFS in Europe because the product is available in such few markets.
With challenges being a major concern for the sector, discussions surrounding the topic were prominent.

Marco Castaldo, General Manager of Microgame said that it’s proving to be difficult to get the market off the ground because DFS fits into the regulated gambling sphere, which creates access barriers for certain player types, so it’s not easy to acquire those players that have a propensity for the game.
On the other hand, Castaldo believes there is tremendous potential in the market, “but we need to connect the traditional fantasy football customer base, or at least a section of it, with the regulated gambling customer base, and that requires tailoring the product to some extent, which is what we’re working to achieve”.

James Camilleri, Head of Sales and General Manager at Scout Gaming Group, explained how the growing DFS market in Europe can prosper. “Having a simpler game will drive more users to fantasy sports. This is working in Spain, where people are hooked on playing and socialising with their peers.”
Haas added: “Our intent is to continue growing and investing in our fantasy product. We believe in fantasy as a method of fan engagement, as a compelling game—it’s a wonderful experience. You can deepen the relationship with your customer by cross-selling them across your entire ecosystem. So I believe that as a result of our investment in sports betting, our fantasy sports business will grow and vice versa.”

This second edition of the EFSS was an informative and insightful one, and Ivan Filletti, Head of Operations and Business Development at GamingMalta, rounded it off by saying “The summit is proof that the DFS sector is still very much alive, and I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to host key leadership in the fantasy sports sector. I’m greatly anticipating next year’s event”.

Only one EU member state has fully implemented the European Commission’s guidelines for protecting consumers in online gambling

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The Early Booking Discount for ICE VOX 2019, which will uncover gaming’s Spirit of Genius, closes on Friday 7 December at 4pm GMT.

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Gioconews.it analyzes the trend of Italian casinos last month: the sign is positive both in Saint Vincent and in Venice.

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GLMS publishes its Code of Conduct and was unanimously adopted by the GLMS membership base at the GLMS General Meeting in Buenos Aires on November 20. 

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eCOGRA is a management owned company that was incorporated in the United Kingdom in 2003 with the purpose of establishing and improving operational standards and player safety requirements in the online gambling industry.

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Christina has over 25 years’ experience in the betting, gaming and gambling industry.

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eSports are in the spotlight. Starting today, the world of the so-called electronic sports has its “own” newspaper: eSportsMag.it.

A strictly online magazine, since we are dealing with a highly technological and digital-oriented sector, but not only. Yes, because this newspaper will have implications also in traditional publishing house, that is paper version, starting from a dedicated page within the monthly magazine Gioco News and set to become very soon also something more. But this is another story. For the moment let’s focus on the digital and the birth of this new portal, that is proposed as the first newspaper entirely dedicated to the eSports universe (read here to understand why we adopt this terminology). An ambitious project, as you can well understand reading these few lines, but which lays the foundations on a strong network like that of GiocoNews.it – ​​leader in the Italian gaming sector since ten years – and aims to highlight a highly complex and exciting universe, like that of electronic sports. A phenomenon that has reached staggering figures at gloabl level, and is exploding even in Italy. Indeed, it has already exploded, having gained the attention of a large share of the public and that of many investors, of various kinds and different sectors, who see its opportunities. As Nielsen also explained, in the report commissioned by Aesvi on eSports in Italy, which talks of over 260 thousand people called “Avid Fan”, that follow daily events of eSports, accompanied by other eight hundred thousand or something, declaring to follow events not every day, but anyway several times during the week, bringing the fan base to overcome one million users. Clear sign that the phenomenon already exists, and at large levels, even in our country, where it should only be consolidated. Aiming to the final recognition, and on several fronts. First of all, in terms of business and, therefore, among the marketers: since many, indeed great many, among company executives, look with interest but with caution to this world, because they still can’t understand and interpret it. The other expected recognition, perhaps even more important, is that concerning sport, with eSports that could – indeed, should – be placed as a real discipline, to the point of being able to reach the Olympic Games. Two processes already started in some way, albeit quietly, but which must be supported by appropriate information, given the need for content, analysis, and, therefore, news: that is the real gap of this sector. And the editorial group Gn Media wanted to create a new online newspaper, exclusively aimed at eSports, just to meet these needs. Creating a new editorial staff, entirely dedicated to this project, supported by the team of GiocoNews.it, now well estalished and already active on the front of eSports. In fact, everyone will realize that the first content made in our country on this matter comes from that editorial staff, who first began to tell the rise of the phenomenon, starting from the link with betting sector, very popular in many countries, until getting to explore in detail the recreational, sports and business aspects related to them. Also bringing the eSports subject into an international and prestigious showcase such as the Social Media Week in Rome and Milan. Receiving a considerable interest, precisely because of the appeal aroused by this discipline and the need for information we were talking about earlier. But now all this represents the past: now is the time to look to the future and to the possibilities of growth, development and regulation of this sector. That needs clear rules, protections and incentives, to ensure that it emerges in a healthy, safe and controlled way. For the good of the players, who practice this discipline, usually young, often very young, and for that of all the stackholders involved in various ways in the eSports ecosystem. Only through a proper recognition of the ludo-sports practice, which therefore takes into account all the aspects related to it, the doors of the success can finally open for this activity. Where gaming is a very serious thing. On which we should not joke.
For our part, through the editorial staff of eSportsMag.it, we will do our best to provide a serious and correct information: always trying to be up to date, trying to be on step ahead of this, sometimes, following the evolution of eSports. You will tell us if we are good in doing it: through our social channels (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages of the portal have also been activated, together with the website) or interacting through all the other channels made available by the technology. Meanwhile, we are already working to offer the highest level of analysis on the subject, which is already becoming an object of general interest: also from politics and institutions, which already identify critical issues in the phenomenon, as always happens for all new or emerging phenomena. Even more, for us will be useful to have as much information as possible at disposal. While players don’t have to do anything but continue to cultivate their passion for videogames and competitions. Of course by informing themselves (maybe right through this channel!), but without worrying too much about the outline. And let them play. The rest will follow. The mechanism has now started and the path already outlined. It will be a successful path, there are no doubts about it.