Josh Andrews

Online Casino Operator GAN Partners with SBTech

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Yet another sports betting deal is banking its hopes on legal sports betting in the United States. New Jersey-based B2B online casino supplier GAN yesterday announced that they had entered into a strategic relationship with SBTech in a bid to provide real money sports betting on their platform. SBTech is a renowned European B2B provider of sports betting technology. This move follows shortly after Scientific Games wrapped up its acquisition of NYX Gaming, which is also intended to take advantage of the US sports betting market.

Both deals are gearing up towards positioning the involved companies for a great stint in the event that the United States Supreme court rules in favor of New Jersey after the hearings on the bill seeking for the abolishment of the ban on sports betting comes to an end.

The GAN/SBTech deal is primarily focused on the US sports betting market where SBTech is anticipated to offer wagering services via both online and retail channels. Dermot Smurfit, GAN CEO revealed that the company has been on several occasions and by several clients asked to review, procure and support the delivery of a sports betting solution both in the online space as well as on the on-property retail channel in the event that sports betting is legalized. GAN’s management has further conducted diligence process in Europe to identify a preferred sports betting partner based on their technical capability, ability to integrate with GAN’s already existing enterprise software platform, US licensing capability and the level of sophistication of their managed sports services. SBTech checked all the right boxes in this case hence the agreement with GAN.

SBTech considers the partnership to be a logical move by the company’s management that will allow it to rapidly introduce its sports betting technology and services across a wide range of US-based casinos. The company is quite ambitious about being the first to settle a legal, online or on-property sports betting establishment in certain states.

There Are Only 4.2 Million Bitcoins Left to Be Mined

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Bitcoin has been receiving a significant share of attention since last year and this does not seem to be going away anytime soon. The previous weekend marked a great milestone for the decentralized digital currency since now it is reported that 80 percent of the cryptocurrency has been mined and is in circulation. There are only 4.2 million bitcoins left to mine which translates to the remaining 20 percent. The protocol that was put in place by bitcoin’s inventor(s) is one of the first that was based on digital scarcity which therefore means that soon enough this particular digital asset will become even harder to obtain than it already is.

So far, the capped supply and other pillars of the bitcoin framework have held on quite sturdily thanks to the miners who secure the network and have successfully managed to uphold the rules from changing with hash power. One such rule is bitcoin’s supply cap which was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto and stands at 21 million bitcoins. However, there have been skeptics that believe that there could be a way of increasing the supply of bitcoin using manipulative tactics such as Sybil attack and 51 percent – but this is all just theoretical since in its decade-long existence no one has been able to successfully alter or break the rule on the 21 million supply cap.

What is Next?

Since there are only 21 million bitcoins, the digital asset’s limited supply will definitely make the asset harder to acquire as more people become aware of it. In nearly all cases, when an asset is limited with associated resources being harder to come by, the supply causes demand for the market. From what we can already clearly see, the supply of bitcoin shows a significant gap between the number of bitcoins in circulation and the number of people who want to get their hands on them.

Other than the obvious difficulty in accessibility that is already taking route, it is quite obvious that miners themselves are going to be forced to constantly deal with having to constantly increase their processing power. Depending on the hash rate speed, the next miner reward halving will be upon us in two years or less. The miner reward halving is part of the bitcoin protocol and it essentially means that in two years or less, instead of getting 12.5 BTC for every block that miners mine, they will get 6.25 BTC. It is a network consensus agreement that requires that halving is done every four years but everyone is bound to feel the pinch as it will be very difficult to obtain bitcoin even with the large data processors available in various warehouses all over the world.

Former PokerStars Duo Launch Esports Betting Platform

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Lars Lien and Mike Stevens who are both former PokerStars ambassadors recently joined forces to launch a crypto-based Esports betting platform. The platform which is due to go live any time this year is going to be a Bitcoin-based startup where punters will be allowed to wager on professional Esports events. Furthermore, the platform that has been dubbed Luckbox.com, will allow users to make deposits using both in-game items and various cryptocurrencies, something that both Lien and Stevens believe will go a long way in opening up markets that are currently experiencing restrictions as far as payment services are concerned.

While a global roll-out is the ultimate goal of this endeavor, Lien and Stevens are hoping to obtain a license in the Isle of Man for the platform before they begin preparing to extend to other parts of the world. Soon, Luckbox.com will be launching an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and the platform is already being aggressively marketed in various parts of the world including Africa. As of now, the two have raised 483.5 Bitcoin form strategic contributors and the ICO they are planning is intended to generate the remaining finances that they require to launch.

The Initial Coin Offering will revolve around the sale of a utility token that will be used on Luckbox.com and also traded by accredited investors to hold a ‘profit share’ token that will entitle the holder to about 20% of the company’s annual net income.

Luckbox.com will be issuing two tokens to its users once it goes live. The first is LuckCash which is a utility token for the platform and the second is LuckProfits which, like we mentioned earlier, gives the holder contractual rights to a share of the company’s net profits.

Lien and Stevens are among many other entrepreneurs who have seen the huge potential in emerging markets such as Esports. There is generally a whole lot to look forward to in this regard, that is, the development of smart contracts will lower transaction costs, and dispel the dependency on traditional bank accounts.

Sports Betting Concerns Revived by New Fantasy Sports Game

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There is once again a lot of buzz among gambling experts pertaining to a new daily fantasy sports game that allows users to hone in a single NFL playoff game. The question here is; is the contest drawing the fantasy sports industry closer to sports betting which is still illegal in most of the United States?

Leading fantasy sports provider, DraftKings is offering the “Showdown” variant that allows users to pick six athletes from two teams playing against each other in a real-life football game. They get to rack up fantasy points based on certain statistics such as receptions, touchdowns and yards passing, rushing or receiving.

However, the 2006 federal law that effectively outlawed online gambling but gave rise to daily fantasy sports requires that daily fantasy sports contents are based off the performances of athletes in “multiple real-world” sports events and not just single games. This particular detail has been the reason behind raised concerns regarding how regulators and fantasy sports companies such as DraftKings operate.

“This new game continues the industry trend of trying to get as close as possible to single-game betting,” said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.

He further mentioned that the games have in many ways blurred the largely fictional line between daily fantasy sports and sports betting. DraftKings, on the other hand, argue that the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act only applies in cases where there is an underlying violation of state gambling statutes first – so far, there has not been any objection to the competition by any of the states.

“This act is basically irrelevant. Everything defaults to state law now,” said Anthony Cabot, DraftKings outside legal counsel, referring to the federal law that the industry has long cited for justifying its existence. “If it’s not in violation of state law, then there’s no violation of the federal act. It’s a big red herring.”

Meanwhile, the United States Supreme Court is still weighing New Jersey’s bid to overturn the sports betting ban that has been in effect in all but four states. If the ruling is favorable, the numerous debates that are popping up in regards to daily fantasy sports will be definitely be muted.

Mining Fees Surge as China Intensifies Crackdown on Bitcoin

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This week, the Chinese government intensified its efforts to stop bitcoin mining by calling for all the task forces to “actively guide” in the closure of bitcoin mining operations. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the notice by Chinese authorities called for an “orderly exit with no specific deadline. The report further stated that the reason for the intensification of China’s efforts against bitcoin mining was because it “consumes a large amount of electricity and also encourages a spirit of speculation in virtual currencies.” On the same note, the Chinese authorities believe that bitcoin mining is among a host of activities that are not particularly in line with the needs of the real economy.

Chinese government officials have been asked to wield a policy ax on bitcoin which implies that they will be required to cite or promulgate regulations to limit aspects of bitcoin mining such as land use, electricity consumption, environmental regulation and tax collection.

The Role of China in the World of Bitcoin

To put the importance of China in the bitcoin ecosystem into perspective, we can take a look at the last month of 2017 when China accounted for 80% of all the bitcoins mined in the world. These impressive percentages are mostly attributed to the numerous advantages that the country offers to bitcoin manners including cheap electricity as well as centralized mining operations, both of which are key sustainers of the price of bitcoin.

Will Global Bitcoin Mining Operations Take a Hit?

Regardless of all the perks of operating within China, bitcoin mining operations will not have a lot of trouble once the crackdown begins.

In fact, a number of renowned bitcoin mining operations have already exited China and moved to other areas that offer nearly the same advantages that China offered. A great example is Bitmain, which is considered to be the largest bitcoin mining pool in the world, that recently set up shop in Inner Mongolia.

Some other mining operations are moving to cooler climes and according to numerous reports, Canada seems to be one of the locations that will benefit from the migration of mining operations. Meanwhile, since the Chinese government did not issue any strict deadline pertaining to the “orderly exit,” the price of bitcoin will not experience any radical volatility.

Revel Casino Finally Sold, Could Be Reopened in the Summer

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Revel Casino, Atlantic City’s biggest casino flop is getting back in the game under new ownership and a new name. In an official statement on Monday, Colorado developer Bruce Deifik announced that he had purchased the former Revel Casino hotel from Glenn Straub for 200 million. Deifik plans to reopen the casino this summer which also happens to be around the same time that the nearby former Trump Taj Mahal casino will be reopened under Hard Rock ownership.

The casino will be reopened with a new name, Ocean Resorts Casino, and it is anticipating to create over 3,000 local jobs. Deifik and group are also planning to bring back restaurants that were successfully operating in the casino before it closed down while at the same time offering some new venues like a top Asian noodle bar and a high-end players club.

“We are incredibly excited that we were able to take advantage of the opportunity to acquire this tremendous property at a time when Atlantic City is seeing great economic strides,” Deifik said. “Now the city has a number of exciting new projects with our property and the Hard Rock, as well as Stockton University’s new campus and the expansion of the medical center.”

For months, Floridian businessman Glenn Straub denied that there was any deal in the works for the sale of the property. He had acquired the $2.4 billion property for $82 million in bankruptcy court back in August 2015 and it was even rumored that he was planning to reopen it himself. Straub confirmed that a deal with Bruce Deifik and Moody’s Investors Service had been closed on January 4^th.

The developers will, of course, face a number of significant challenges in their attempt to revive the casino. Moody’s mentioned in the statement that the project may struggle to attract a big enough slice of Atlantic City’s diminished number of casino lovers since it will be repaying debts amid tight competition from other properties – at least at the first stages. This report was based on Deifik’s plan to borrow about $255 million for acquisition and renovation costs.

Analysts Raise Concerns

There has been a lot of chatter among analysts who are mixed on whether the seven already operational Atlantic City casinos can handle competition from the two more operators, that is the former Revel Casino and the former Taj Mahal. Some analysts think that the two may heart smaller casinos and even lead to their closure. Others are quite optimistic about the new offerings, pointing out that they have the potential of attracting off-state visitors and gamblers.

How The Overwatch League Could Change the Face of Esports

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The highly anticipated Overwatch League kicks off this week but the size of the investment makes it more of a gamble for Blizzard. However, if things go as expected, the league will set new standards for the Esports industry and become a benchmark for all other electronic games. On the other hand, if it flops, Esports may be viewed as a not so worthwhile venture and skeptics are already waiting to pull the “I told you so” card.

Since it was announced back in 2016 at Blizzcon, Blizzard has been pushing the Overwatch League quite hard in order to make it similar or even better than traditional sports franchises. Within the same period, the league has gained a strong following who are looking forward to the competitions. It is not just the competitive Overwatch community that cannot wait to see how the games play out – a number of Blizzard’s investors and sponsors are banking on its success and they stand to gain a lot when the Overwatch league gets to a point where it can be likened to the NFL Esports.

The Overwatch League will run for seven months with 12 professional Esports teams battling it out to pocket a piece of the $3.5 million in the prize pool. All the matches will be streamed live from the impressively high-tech Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles.

Going Mainstream

Blizzard has some very ambitious plans for taking the Overwatch League and Esports as whole mainstream even though it is particularly younger than some other established Esports like DotA 2 and CS:GO. Already Blizzard has brought the League onto the menus of its $35 million strong online player base in order to popularize the Esport. While this may seem like a power player by the company, placing the Overwatch league front and center in-game will go a long way in blurring the line between the die-hard competitive gaming and casual or hobbyist gaming.

Esports Betting and Gambling

This applies to nearly all Esports franchises that have gained a lot of traction in the past few years because of the growing number of spectators. Numerous betting sites that allow Esports fans to bet on the games the same way they do for soccer, hockey and many other traditional games have popped up. The number keeps growing and considering how huge the Overwatch league might be, it will not come as a surprise that a few wagering offerings come into play within the period that the league is supposed to run. There is a lot of enticing opportunities in this especially considering the huge amounts of money that are on the line in top Esports tournaments.

Telegram Planning Largest ICO for Chat Cryptocurrency

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Popular encrypted messaging startup Telegram has declared its intentions to launch its own blockchain platform and native cryptocurrency. Dubbed ‘Gram’, Telegram’s cryptocurrency will power peer-to-peer payments on its encrypted chat app with the possibility of expansion to other platforms – this and other great ideas will help it to be a force to reckon with in the crypto space that is currently dominated by Ripple, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.

Anticipated to be funded by a huge Initial Coin Offering (ICO) the Telegram Open Network (TON), will be a third-generation blockchain that is designed to make tremendous improvements to the flaws and shortcomings of existing cryptocurrencies. TON is what the funds raised for the startup’s new cryptocurrency venture is being called. It is designed not only to be less power-hungry than its counterparts such as Bitcoin but also much faster than the rest – there are already rumors that one million transactions can be processed every second by the platform thus doing away with the 24-hour waiting period that is experienced by some users when sending Bitcoin at peak times.

While a number of large companies have been busy rolling out and working on their own blockchain-powered products, Telegram’s entry into the space is bound to shake things a bit since it has an upper hand in all this. The company’s instant messaging app boasts of 180 million-plus active users most of whom use the chat platform to stay informed about the frenzied price bumps in lesser-known cryptocurrencies such as NEO.

In its pre-ICO sale, Telegram hopes to raise about $500 million – in this round, the currency will be offloaded to big investors at a significantly reduced rate, at a potential total currency value of between $3 billion and $5 billion.

In the 132-page wallet where the announcement was made, Telegram also mentioned that its wallet could be launched by or in the fourth quarter of 2018 and by the beginning of 2019, the Telegram Open Network will open to its users.

Kentucky Among States Seeking Sports Betting Legalization

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There is a lot of optimism as far as sports betting is concerned and a number of states are preparing for the landmark ruling that will hopefully repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). Kentucky is the eighth state where sports betting could become a reality if PASPA is repealed and bill SB 22 that was submitted on Wednesday by Senator Julian Carroll gains enough political support. The bill seeks to amend a Kentucky statute that exempts some sports from the current sports betting ban in the state. This bill further seeks to award the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission oversight authority to implement new sports betting regulations. It will also channel all tax revenues generated from the activity to the state coffers.

This is Caroll’s second attempt at pushing a bill that will potentially put Kentucky on the map in regards to sports betting. His first attempt was in September last year when he filed bill BR 155 that sought for the conceptualization and implementation of a sensible framework for legalized sports betting at the Kentucky racetracks and the off-track betting facilities. Unfortunately, the bill flopped before the end of 2017 but the senator maintained that sports betting is a viable solution to Kentucky’s budget problem.

“When the (state financial advisors) PFM Group made their recommendations to cut pensions it was my mission to find a new source of revenue for the ailing systems,” Carroll said in an interview with the Legislative Research Commission in September. “The state has a moral and legal obligation to fund state pensions. Reducing the benefits of thousands of hard-working public servants is not an option.”

Caroll has been rather open about his motivation for the legislative push – he has reaffirmed that the tax revenue from sports betting would be used to support pension schemes as well as facilitating the provision of other civil services. Under the new bill’s terms, gaming operators would need to pay an initial licensing fee of $250,000 and an additional 20 percent tax on gross gaming revenues – from all the funds that will be collected in this way, 60 percent will be allocated to the Kentucky Employees Retirement Systems Non-Hazardous and Kentucky Teachers’ retirement funds.

Blockchain Could Redefine the Sports Betting Experience

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Since 2017, a plethora of sports betting sites and apps have been shifting towards offering bettors the opportunity to place bets discretely from anywhere using their smartphones. The convenience that this provides has been a great marketing move that has paid off handsomely by attracting a staggering number of new users to online sports betting. However, there have been challenges when it comes to payment systems especially when it comes to traditional payment services and digital wallets who have always been circumspect about supporting online gambling. While this would have represented a dead end of sorts in the past, the utilization of specialized payment gateways in facilitating bankroll funding and payouts in online casinos took over.

Even though these services can be thought of as saviors to the online gambling scene, their involvement has in many ways amplified the risks of failure and fraud. The aforementioned payment gateways and services are always under threat from hackers and other cyber-criminals. Even handicapper sites and services that usually offer paid analyses to less savvy bettors do not always produce the wins that they promise to gamblers.

To address these issues, stakeholders in the online gambling industry are looking into blockchain technology. Several efforts are already being made in order to create better online betting experiences. Just to mention a few, HEROcoin is an effort that aims to decentralize sports betting, BlitzPredict through its aggregation service intends to provide gamblers with trustworthy insights and Electroneum’s token is designed to be used a digital currency in online gambling sites.

Facilitation of Easier Funding and Payouts

Unlike traditional means, payments made using blockchain are much faster as the tokens do not need to be routed through several financial institutions or clearing houses. In essence, this gives the users ultimate power over how and when they use their money. Furthermore, Electroneum which is a relatively new cryptocurrency has set a pace for allowing easy estimation of digital currencies and fiat currency by limiting its token to two decimal places.

Transparency

Blockchain powered platforms such as HEROcoin are offering great ways of achieving transparency and fairness by making betting a peer-to-peer and decentralized activity. Not only do users get to trace the flow of money and the terms but they also are allowed to define the conditions of wagers through smart contracts.

Trustworthy Insights

Services like BlitzPredict promote quality insights by allowing analytic enthusiasts to share their prediction models with other users. High performing models in BlitzPredict’s framework are rewarded with the platform’s own token which can then be used to place bets using the platform. This kind of rewards mechanism encourages gamblers to make data-driven decisions rather than relying on bad advice or hunches.