UK

Rank Group Plc has confirmed the appointment of Mark Harper as Managing Director of Grosvenor Casinos. Harper will take on the position overseeing Rank’s flagship casino unit from Monday 14 August and will join the executive committee of the LSE gambling group. An expert in the management of mass-market leisure and hospitality businesses, Harper joins Rank having previously served as …

Sportstech provider Stats Perform has secured a renewal to its partnership with FootballDataCo (FDC), the data rights holder of English and Scottish top-flight football. The agreement covers several data rights packages for a 10-year period starting from the 2024/25 season, encompassing the English Premier League (EPL), Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and English Football League (EFL). Included in the agreement …

Flutter Entertainment Plc has reached an “inflection point” for its business, as its US FanDuel division ‘achieves profitability’ to transform its group earnings performance and prospects.  Delivering on a core strategic target, Flutter published its Interim H1 2023 results registering group revenues of £4.8bn, up 42% on 2022 comparatives of £3.38bn. Period trading marked a strong momentum, with average monthly …

Ladbrokes has again found itself facing criticism from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for its Twitter activity, specifically for featuring prominent athletes in marketing material. A series of posts on Twitter ( now known as X)  from the Entain-owned bookmaker featured tennis players Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas in January and February 2023. Two of the …

Optimove has enhanced its multi-vertical betting and igaming offering with the launch of an upgraded version of its Pulse solution. Pulse was first launched in 2019 as a benchmark for igaming firms to assess marketing KPIs, strengths and weaknesses. The London-based firm states that it has updated Pulse with a new design and enhanced interface to generate insights, benchmarks and …

The Chair position of the National Lottery Community Fund has been filled on an interim basis with the appointment of Paul Sweeney by DCMS. A veteran civil servant, Sweeney was assigned the role by DCMS Secretary Lucy Frazer to Chair the fund for 12 months until 1 August 2024, giving the department time to make a permanent appointment. Sweeney takes …

John White, CEO of bacta, the trade association for the UK’s amusement and gaming machine industry – has stated that more must be done to accommodate consumers who still wish to utilise everyday cash.  Speaking to PaymentExpert, White reflected on the current “cash vs. cashless” debate impacting the British public and their access to services and social mobility. Changing dynamics …

Sky Betting and Gaming (Sky Bet) is making further use of its partnership with Spotlight Sports Group (SSG) as the Premier League 2023/24 season looms. The sports betting media and content supplier has developed a ‘fully managed betting content hub’ for the Flutter Entertainment sportsbook brand, with the specific goal of supporting Sky Bet’s Fan Hope survey. SSG has a …

Genius Sports has exceeded its H1 trading expectations, prompting the firm to upgrade its guidance for the remainder of 2023 and project full year revenue of $410m. Publishing its interim H1 trading results, the NYSE sportstech and data provider reported revenue of $184.1m for the first six months of the year, a 17% increase from $157m in 2022. The company …

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) will begin trials of anti-doping saliva and sweat testing as measures to be reviewed for British racing’s Anti-Doping Pilot Program. The trials will begin this month, which could see the BHA reinstall oral fluid/saliva testing as part of its Anti-Doping Program. The saliva testing pilot was suspended in September 2022, as BHA awaited a comprehensive …