Josh Andrews

Ireland-based Paddy Power Betfair Acquires FanDuel

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In a move aimed at capitalizing on the United States online sports betting market, Paddy Power Betfair Plc has agreed to merge with closely held New York-based daily fantasy sports site FanDuel. The Dublin-based Paddy Powe Betfair made the announcement that the acquisition had been completed and that the two parties were only waiting for final regulatory approval which – this deal is expected to close by the third quarter of this year.

While both companies were already in talks for a possible merger, the United States Supreme Court ruling that struck down the federal ban on sports betting seems to have escalated the process. As such we might see Paddy Power Betfair participating in U.S. sports betting very soon.

“We are excited to add FanDuel to the Group’s portfolio of leading sports brands,” said Peter Jackson, Paddy Power Betfair chief executive officer. “This combination creates the industry’s largest online business in the US, with a large sports-focused customer base and an extensive nationwide footprint.
The Group has leading sports betting operating capabilities globally and strong operations on the ground in the US. Together with our substantial financial firepower, we believe we are now well placed to target the prospective US sports betting opportunity.”

Paddy Power will own 61 percent of the Paddy Power-FanDuel merger business since it will contribute its U.S. assets and $158 million for the combined business. The agreement further gives the Dublin-based company the option of increasing its ownership to 80 percent after three years and 100 percent after five years.

FanDuel has over 7 million registered users in the United States. This, in addition, the over 40 percent share of the U.S. daily fantasy sports market makes it a great partner for Paddy Power which has been on an expansion course in the United States for the past few years. For instance, Paddy Power merged with Betfair three years ago and acquired Draft last year.

Given the growing demand for sports betting offerings in the United States following the Supreme Court ruling that struck down PASPA, more of this type of mergers and acquisitions are on their way – that is, mergers between parties that already handle legal sports gambling in the U.S. and other parties with big digital footprints in the United Sports market.

While the ruling did not automatically legalize sports betting in all the states, a number of states are moving towards a future where sports betting is legal. This is enough to give the interested parties enough incentives to start preparing.

U.S. Lottery Industry Wants In on Regulated Sports Betting

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A decent number of states have either already legalized sports betting or are on exploring similar legislation that will lead the United States to a new era that will be defined by a regulated multibillion-dollar industry. This presents a plethora of new opportunities that have attracted a number of new interested parties including the gaming operators, the professional sports leagues, and most recently, the lottery industry.

The $80 billion United States lottery industry through the North American Association and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) said in a statement that the lotteries are prepared to “help establish the real-world network that would be involved if called upon to do so.” The state lotteries have always supported the idea of state governments being given back the ability to decide on gambling laws for their respective states.

Thanks to last week’s Supreme Court ruling that lifted the federal ban on sports betting, all states can now legally draft their own sports betting laws and regulations and this opens up the field for interested parties to begin offering sports betting services. The NASPL believes that they are well positioned and sufficiently equipped to join and offer sports betting services if given the opportunity to do so, their main advantage being, their strong relationship with pubs, bars, and clubs.

“In addition, some American lotteries already sell their products on the internet, a potential avenue for sports betting if a state allows that option,” the group’s officials said. “The court’s ruling on PASPA will help preserve the founding principles and integrity of American lotteries. The ruling will also potentially provide the freedom necessary to enhance the more than $22 billion that American lotteries returned to their states in FY2017.”

The Next Big Growth Category

Among the aggressive proponents of the Supreme Court ruling and subsequently the involvement of the lottery industry is the founder and chief executive of EquiLottery, Brad Cummings. He believes that industry should take advantage of the opportunity to ensure the legislation is benefits all the relevant gaming verticals. He pointed out that both state and national lotteries should look into creating new categories tailored specifically for sports gambling. This will give them a fighting chance and allow them to compete with all the other gaming entities that stand to benefit from a regulated sports betting market.

“Some states allow at least live horse racing to be a basis for a lottery game, some states prohibit any live sports integration with lottery and most are silent on the issue,” he said. “We advise that regardless of their situation, state lotteries should fight to be included and expand their product offerings into the sports gaming market. While these will be games of chance that don’t directly compete with the skill versions that are sure to be offered by others, the lotteries have some unique advantages that allow them to solve problems that traditional sports gaming cannot; a big one being the licensing fee leagues are demanding for their product to be utilized. Since the margins are much larger on lottery games, especially draw games which I think are the most analogous to a live sports lottery category, the fee won’t be cost prohibitive like it can be if taken out of a vig.”

Coinbase to Rebrand Its Cryptocurrency Exchange Service

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Renowned United States-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, has purchased a platform known as Paredex that deals with cryptocurrency trading. The move comes with the launch of a new version of Coinbase’s GDAX platform that has now been rebranded to Coinbase Pro and it will expand the company’s operations to non-U.S. customers by allowing them to trade hundreds of Ethereum-based coins directly with each other.

In a Wednesday blog post, Coinbase explained that Coinbase Pro will add on to what GDAX was as a platform that was specifically designed to tend to the needs of individual cryptocurrency traders. Coinbase Pro will also feature some major improvements that are meant to make using the platform easier and more intuitive. This will include such neat features as simplified deposit and withdrawal services as well as a decent number of extra services such as staking and protocol voting. Also, customers who were on the GDAX platform will be happy to know that all of their GDAX activity will be ported over to the new Coinbase Pro platform and therefore they will not need to worry about starting from scratch.

Paradex will play a critical role in this expansion simply because it will significantly increase the types of digital currencies that the Coinbase Pro customers will have access to. However, even though Coinbase in a United States-based company, the Coinbase Pro services will in the initial stages be available to only non-U.S. customers before being eventually brought back home one the company obtains a regulatory clearance.

In addition to the revamped exchanged platform, Coinbase also revealed that it would be launching its own self-titled cryptocurrency wallet in the near future to compete with similar offerings. The Coinbase Wallet is going to combine a neat set of features from the Toshi toolkit that powers the existing version of Coinbase’s cryptocurrency wallet, and others from the newly acquired Paradex.

“Our vision is to give customers the ability to participate in services like staking and protocol voting that are distinct to crypto. As the decentralized ecosystem advances, we expect there will be many more opportunities for customers to interact with digital assets in new and unique ways,” reads the Coinbase release.

A Little More About Paradex

Paradex is a cryptocurrency relay platform that allows its users or investors to trade ERC-20 tokens directly from their digital wallets – no third party is needed to take custody of the token during trading. This is accomplished through the use of a blockchain protocol that was developed by Ox which also happens to be advised by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and two other former Coinbase employees.

“Our team couldn’t be more proud of the work we’ve accomplished over the past year,” said Paradex CEO, Ron Bernstein. “And we couldn’t be more excited about this new chapter under the Coinbase umbrella.”

Paradex’s technology will be directly integrated with the newly rebranded Coinbase Pro over the next few weeks.

Chinese Government’s Gambling Ban Is Still Almost Intact

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As it stands, all forms of gambling save for two types of lotteries are still officially victims of the gambling ban that has been imposed by China’s government. While horse racing operations are allowed albeit to a very limited extent, sports betting has been banned completely with all the forms of gambling being confined to the autonomous region of Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is allowed.

Hundreds Arrested in Illegal Online Gambling Ring

As part of the efforts to implement the gambling ban, the country’s authorities have recently dismantled a major illegal gambling ring and in the process arrested over 100 suspects – this was done in two separate and effectively coordinated operations. The antigambling administration of China has also been working diligently against land-based gambling operators.

The raid on online gambling rings reportedly involves 13 different gambling websites with over 100,000 registered users who had collectively wagered over RMB350 million ($55 million) before the crackdown. The investigation began in February after Chinese authorities received a tip that a local firm had been renting out its servers and providing technical support for unauthorized online gambling operators. Since then, the number of people that have been arrested for being suspects in the online gambling rings has reached 453, and this could be an indication how deep-rooted the activity is.

Is Moving Gambling Operations to Hainan the Answer?

A number of industry experts do not believe that the country’s island of Hainan could become the next Chinese casino hub, much like Macau. The experts believe that such a decision would be made by the government and at the moment it would be a long shot to think that the Chinese government would allow such a thing. However, if by some miracle this goes through, the casino industry experts have expressed a lot of optimism that the island, which is considered to be China’s “Hawaii” could open doors for several kinds of sports lotteries.

A couple of months ago, there were reports that the government had been considering legalizing some forms of gambling on Hainan Island. This came to pass later in April 2018, when the government officially revealed that it was going to officially legalize horse racing as well as many other types of sports lotteries on the island. The move was part of the country’s bid to turn the island into the largest pilot free-trade port.

While this would have effectively ended the gambling monopoly of Macau, it will take some time before it officially begins. In fact, according to Su Guojing, gambling sector expert, and founder of the China Lottery Industry Salon, casino gambling outside Macau contradicted to the overall ideology and legislation in China. As such, it was nearly impossible for the Chinese government to allow the establishment of land-based casinos outside Macau, at least not for the moment.

What Is Next for Pro Leagues After Supreme Court Ruling?

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It has been a week since the United States Supreme Court repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) thus effectively giving states the go-ahead to liberate over their own sports regulation and rules. Still, the landmark ruling remains quite a big deal especially because the implications it comes are huge, to say the least. While it will take time for various stakeholders to adjust appropriately to this development, it is impossible to ignore the ongoing discussion pertaining to how a legalized and regulated sports betting system will affect the professional sports leagues’ businesses.

In the recent past, a number of leagues – the most recent being the NFL – through their commissioners or other high ranking officials have expressed concern about the integrity of their games being compromised due to increased legal sports betting. This has been touted by many experts as a misguided opinion. To elaborate this, Nevada is a great example of a legalized sports betting market that has thrived without any evidence of match-fixing.

Getting the Best Out of It

It is estimated that more than $150 million is illegally wagered on sports each year. On a similar note, the Nevada Gaming Control Board also recently revealed that over $4.8 billion had been wagered on sports in Nevada Sports Books. As such, the Supreme Court ruling will actually be beneficial to the professional sports leagues by taking the billions that are illegally wagered in sports and subjecting it to state regulation and the league’s oversight.

Acknowledging the fact that sports betting has always been with us is the first step towards making it work for everyone involved. By bringing it to the open, the ruling will make it easier for the leagues to monitor the games that are most likely to be fixed and the players they need to keep an eye on. This kind of oversight would be impossible in an illegal sports betting market.

Also, the ruling came at a time when most state legislatures in the United States are already in recess. This means that the professional sports leagues have plenty of time to ideally and strategically position themselves to collaborate with individual state legislation when the 2018-2019 legislative period begins. This way, they will be able to effectively assist in tailoring new sports betting laws in order to ensure that their interests are also considered as the United States enters a new era of legalized sports betting.

The relationship between professional sports and gambling has never been as mainstream as it is now. While the leagues have not been particularly welcoming to the idea of embracing sports betting, the professional sports teams have on the other hand participated in one way or the other albeit indirectly. For instance, a number of teams have willingly invested in Daily Fantasy Sports and accepted money for the use of their logo in state lotteries and in-stadium casino signage. Clearly, there is a bright future ahead for all the stakeholders, they just need to know when and how to capitalize on this new opportunity.

MSI Final Becomes the Most Watched Esports Match in History

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Esports is almost at its prime after having gone through a decade of steady of growth to become the massive global phenomenon it currently is. This cuts across a variety of different aspects of gaming with the most notable being the impact that Esports is having on viewing entertainment both on television and streaming services. In fact, a number of records are being broken to that effect.

China and South Korea are the most recent record breakers after the MSI Final for League of Legends that pitted China’s Royal Never Give Up and South Korea’s Kingzone DragonX against each other drew in a staggering 127,551,726 viewers. This a significantly huge increase from the previous record’s 106 million figure that was set in 2017’s finals of the same tournament and also happened to feature China’s Royal Never Give Up Esports team. According to eSports Charts, a company that specializes in the analysis of data stemming from Esports broadcasts, these figures represent a great leap forward for Esports – for instance, it is now almost at par with the Super Bowl’s viewership that clocked 111 million in 2015.

The vast majority of the viewers were found to be from China, which should not come as much of a surprise since League of Legends is very popular in the country – the game boasts of over two billion watch hours in China. However, both China and South Korea have always been hardcore Esports action dens and thus the audiences in these regions have had time to mature and grow immensely which makes the disparities minimal

The viewership is certainly proof that Riot Games made the right choice when it decided to hold the tournament during times that favored the Eastern audience. This move was largely criticized and opposed by the North American and European communities but since it paid off quite decently, the company has very little to worry about.

Game Highlights

The MSI finals for League of Legends has been touted as a battle for regional pride owing to the fact that it was majorly about South Korea’s dominance in the game since 2016 and China’s unwavering quest for redemption after having failed to make it to the finals in previous tournaments – the last time China nabbed an MSI finals victory was in 2015.

China’s Royal Never Give Up managed to achieve a 3-1 victory in the MSI finals series against now former champions Kingzone DragonX. The team also broke the record for being the first non-South Korean team to beat a South Korean team in a League of Legends tournament of this magnitude in the past three years: 1,106 days to be more precise.

Also, we cannot speak of Royal Never Give Up’s victory without giving Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao, who is now undoubtedly the world’s greatest League of Legends player. Uzi beat all odds and went on to win his second trophy after six long years which makes this tournament another career-defining moment for the Chinese League of Legends Superstar.

“I’ve been trying to win this title for six years now,” Uzi said on stage following the victory. “I can’t imagine I’m standing here with this trophy. I’m super excited for this moment.”

New York Lawmaker Wants Online Poker Bill Passed In June

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After the United States Supreme Court repealed PASPA last Monday and paved the way for the legalization of sports betting in various states, a related concern has arisen and it is now being heavily debated – that is, the future of other skill-heavy forms of gambling such as online poker. While there is no direct correlation between the Supreme Court ruling that struck down PASPA and the legalization of online poker, it is believed that states that push forward with sports betting legislation will eventually lean more towards an all-inclusive gambling legislation rather than sticking to individual types of gambling.

In New York, the push for the legalization of sports betting surges with most recent development being the renewal of calls for the same by New York Assemblyman Gary Pretlow. The lawmaker hopes to have the online poker bill passed by next month. In fact, Pretlow believes that putting the bill on the Assembly floor is the only thing that stands in the way of its passage.

“To get it to the floor is all that’s needed. He [Heastie] is not going to guarantee passage, but get it to the floor and I’ll debate it and get it passed,” Pretlow said.

It will not stop there though. The assemblyman further confirmed that his long-awaited sports bettings bill will follow through next week and despite his current efforts to have online poker legalized he will not be including online poker in the legislation. According to him, every bill he introduces “should stand on its own merit.” As he sees it, such a move would be perceived as a plan to sneak in something else that some people may be opposed to. He, however, agrees that the expectation that a sports betting bill could be passed next month improves the chances for online poker.

“This will be helpful to getting online poker done,” Pretlow commented the sports betting bill. “There are more people interested in pursuing sports betting than pursuing online poker. For whatever reason, people consider online poker to be gambling but don’t consider sports betting to be gambling. I’m going to show them this is all gaming, and all forms of gaming happening are related.”

Gamelynx Raises $1.2M for Development of Mobile Esports Game

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Santa Monica-based mobile developer Gamelynx is has announced that it has raised $1.2 million in venture funding. The company intends to use the funds to create more mobile Esports titles that will be primarily tuned to the needs of hardcore gamers. This model is similar to something that Tencent did when it launched Arena of Valor, a multiplayer online battle arena game on mobile. In addition to this, the mobile developer will be creating team-based competitive games on mobile – the idea is to make Esports titles more accessible and global.

Gamelnx’s venture has received a lot of support from investors who include Y Combinator, M Ventures, Riot Games and Skycatcher Fund, Everblue Esports Ventures, Lyfe Fong, Leaf Ventures, Gamers.com, and Lithium. With that huge number of star power backing it, Gamelynx is certainly well on its way to achieving its goal of diversifying the offerings for competitive players.

“As the line between mobile and PC/console continues to blur, the portability and accessibility of mobile create an even brighter future for competitive gaming and esports,” Alexander Mistakidis, CEO of Gamelynx, said in an interview with GamesBeat. “At the same time, it creates a desire for less of the same. Many have tried to build a mobile competitive multiplayer game, but very few have made a game that was differentiated from what was already available to watch or play on PC/console.”

The CEO also pointed out that the company has been leveraging cutting-edge networking technology to enable fast-paced competitive multiplayer gameplay on mobile while maintaining optimal responsiveness and data usage. Gamelynx, which is set to launch its first title by the end of the year, will be merging their technology with applied technology in order to design a new combination of gameplay and watching experience.

The Esports market has bloomed and continues to offer more opportunities with many companies beginning to carve out their own dominance. Still, it is going to be nice to have some fresh entrants with fresh ideas and approaches to the gaming and watching experience.

Alibaba to Venture into Blockchain, Not Bitcoin

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According to Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, blockchain technology is not a bubble, but bitcoin is. Speaking at the 2nd World Intelligence Conference in Tianjin on Wednesday, May 16, the leader of the Chinese e-commerce giant said that he has been researching blockchain for years and as a result, he strongly believes that the technology has the potential to address issues of data privacy and security in a vast number of different fields.

The company’s interest in blockchain technology does not come as surprise especially due to its prioritization of security. Jack Ma’s stance on bitcoin albeit understandable is rather surprising especially because it would offer a fresh approach to the company’s trading volume that sums up to trillions of transactions. Ma, however, clarified that he thought that the emerging blockchain technology was being overlooked in favor of bitcoin by speculators who view the decentralized digital currency as a “huge gold mine.” Again, understandable.

“Honestly, I know very little about it, and I am totally confused: and even if it works, the whole international rules and laws on trade on finance is going to completely change. I don’t think we are ready for that. So I think I’m focusing on the Alipay and focused on RMB, U.S. Dollars and Euros, and that’s fair … We have a team specifically to study that and also we have a team blockchain technology. We’ve spent a lot of efforts on blockchain technology at Alibaba, but Bitcoin, I say not for me. I don’t know,” Ma said during the conference. “But now that the blockchain is hot, there are people buying and selling blockchains … There is no bubble for blockchain, but there’s a bitcoin bubble … Personally, I’m quite bullish about blockchain.”

Alibaba seems to be quite serious about investing in blockchain technology – last year, for instance, the New York-listed Alibaba ranked first in the world for blockchain patent applications as revealed by data compiled by IPRdaily. Alibaba had 43 published blockchain patent applications in 2017. Blockchain has been lauded by a number of businessmen and if anything is to go by it should be a clear indication of the direction it will eventually take.

US Supreme Court Ruling Paves Way for Legal Esports Betting

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On Monday, the United States Supreme court repealed a law that prohibited sports betting with a 6-3 ruling that has finally brought to an end the six-year legal battle over the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992. The ruling effectively opened the doors for legal sports betting in any state that wishes to offer it. However, it does not stop there – the ruling is also now poised to have some major implication for the Esports industry.

While the ruling did not mention Esports specifically, but considering the recent commingling and partnerships of traditional sports and Esports, it is undeniable that the correlation will result in the legalization of Esports betting as well.

“The Supreme Court just struck down the primary law restricting sports betting throughout the US. This will have a profound impact on the Esports industry and we’re so underprepared for it. ~$5B wagered on Esports last year – about to skyrocket,” Bryce Blum, an attorney, and ESG Law founder tweeted.

Clearly, Esports betting is already tremendously lucrative even though the majority of the bets are done illegally. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling is expected to give it some legitimacy. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban believes that the ruling will double the value of Esports franchises overnight the same way it did for the traditional professional sports franchises.

“It doubled the value of the professional sports franchises in a second,” Cuban said. “It will increase interest, it will add to what happens in our arena and in stadiums. It will increase the viewership for our biggest customers online and on TV. It helps traditional television because it’s much lower latency, whereas online, because of cachet, it’s much higher latency.”

At this point, the inevitability of Esports cannot be denied and this puts the industry at a crossroads of some sort: are we going to embrace it or shun it altogether. We can all agree that gambling has its problems for sure but, as it turns, the negative externalities (such as illegal betting) are usually magnified due to the lack of participation of league operators. No one wants that.

“Some of the technologically advanced states will move relatively quickly, but my hope is that there’s a federal approach to it, as opposed to everyone having to deal with each state individually,” Cuban added. “If that’s difficult in the short term, I think it’d be really smart for the commissions from as many states as possible to work together to standardize things because that will enable the most creativity. When each state has its own rules and requirements that jacks up the expense for everybody, which minimizes the entrepreneurial and technology opportunities.”