New Entain Report Shows Increase In Responsible Gambling Interactions
A new report from Entain has revealed an increase in the number of responsible gambling customer interactions in 2020.
Entain’s Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) report noted that the number of customer interactions undertaken by Entain regarding responsible gambling increased by 29.9% to 1.39 million in 2020. The report also revealed an 84% increase in the number of customers setting time and spend limits with Entain’s safer betting and gambling tools.
What’s more, Entain revealed via the report that it’s almost tripled its financial contributions to responsible gambling charities, that the number of self-exclusions made by customers decreased 52.4% to 70,170, and the number of customer complaints made in 2020 dropped to 15,822.
The ESG report also revealed that the company currently employs over 11,000 women as 47% of its workforce, although the number is a decrease from 2019’s 12,189. The leading gambling operator also revealed that it’s managed to reduce its total energy consumption by 23.3% due to the closure of its offices over the Covid-19 pandemic.
ESG Committee Chair Virginia McDowell said in a statement to iGamingBusiness: “Since our last report, Covid-19 has caused unprecedented uncertainty, loss, and challenges to our communities and broader society. We responded with swift and coordinated action to protect our colleagues, customers, and communities.
“We also were inspired by the hard work, resilience, and professionalism shown by our colleagues in the face of a challenging operating environment. For customers, our industry-leading safer betting and gaming measures were adapted to respond to the change in player behaviours and risks in light of the pandemic. We also continued to support our new and existing grassroots charity partners throughout this tough period.”
Entain Considering A Bid For William Hill Assets
Meanwhile, a new report from GamblingInsider has suggested that gambling operator Entain is considering a bid for William Hill’s non-US assets, which are being sold by US casino operator Caesars Entertainment following its $4 billion acquisition of the betting company earlier in April.
According to the report, Entain, which recently acquired Swedish betting firm Enlabs AB, is looking to bid for William Hill’s non-US assets to claim the company’s local UK assets, such as betting shops, and gain more control of the UK market. Apollo Global Management is also interested in acquiring William Hill’s non-US assets, and those close to the deal claim it’s the leading candidate.
Entain is also reportedly eyeing up assets owned by Australian firm Tabcorp Holdings, and it has reportedly entered into a bidding war for the assets against Apollo Global Management. The GamblingInsider report also claims that Betfred is interested in the William Hill assets too, suggesting a bidding war between all three companies.
LeoVegas Completes €5M Expekt Nordics Acquisition
Today, gambling operator LeoVegas has announced that its €5 million acquisition of Expekt Nordics and assets from the Betclic Group has been completed. All assets will be relaunched under LeoVegas and will face revamps too.
According to CasinoBeats, Expekt has migrated to LeoVegas’s Rhino proprietary technical platform, which gambling website Royal Panda also migrated to earlier this month. LeoVegas has said that the relaunched and revamped Expekt will offer an “improved” gaming experience and will launch under a new marketing concept with a large focus on Sweden.
LeoVegas has promised customers “a modern sports betting brand and the ultimate sports betting experience”, and it has stated that the acquisition is part of the group’s decision to widen its gambling operations with a stronger focus on sports betting.
Gustaf Hagman, the CEO of the LeoVegas Group, said in a statement: “The timing couldn’t be better with the eventful years in sport that we have in front of us. By running Expekt on our technical platform starting from today, customers will be able to partake in our award-winning gaming experience – both for sports betting and casino. Expekt will once again be a leading sports betting brand in Sweden and the Nordic countries, and that work starts today.”
Yggdrasil Partners With ReelPlay To Release New Slot
Also this week, developer Yggdrasil has released a new slot titled Jaguar SuperWays. The game, developed by Bad Dingo, has been made available to Yggdrasil and its partnered casino sites through YG Masters partner ReelPlay.
According to Yggdrasil, the slot is set in the depths of the South American jungle, features “fearsome wildlife”, and combines numerous special features, including cascading wins, expanding symbols, scatter symbols, an avalanche mechanic, a free spins mode, and wild symbols too.
What’s more, the Jaguar SuperWays slot uses a 5×3 layout with 243 paylines and it has an RTP of 96.25%. The free spins, which is triggered by landing three or more temple scatter symbols, offers 1,024 paylines and 20 cascading spins too. Meanwhile, the Jaguar SuperWays feature is triggered by landing a pawprint symbol, extending the reels to a 9×9 layout.
Stuart McCarthy, Head of Partner Programs at Yggdrasil, said in a statement: “We are very impressed with the content that ReelPlay has produced as a YG Masters partner and Jaguar SuperWays on behalf of their partners at Bad Dingo does not disappoint. The jaguar’s pawprints lead players on a path to hidden riches and delivers an exciting and top-class gaming experience.”
David Johnson, the CEO at ReelPlay, added: “Bad Dingo’s Jaguar SuperWays is a unique game using a winning feature mix that has not been seen before. A combination of both cascading and expanding symbols introduce new dimensions to the game as the number of opportunities can grow to a maximum of over 387 million potential ways to win. Working with Yggdrasil as part of the YG Masters program allows ReelPlay, and ReelPlay’s partner studios such as Bad Dingo, the opportunity to distribute thoughtfully created slots games to a wide network of operator partners.”