UK

Movie insiders have deemed the 2018 Academy Awards, as the most unpredictable ‘Oscars Race’ in Hollywood’s history. On Tuesday, The Academy presented its most eclectic field of movie contenders to ever compete for the ‘Best Motion Picture’ category. The Academy’s ‘final nine’, sees a horror film, a fantasy drama, a female comedy and a summer blockbuster compete for Oscars 2018 …

Although many within football have been reluctant to embrace the use of Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR), with it now confirmed for this Summer’s World Cup, it appears increasingly likely that VAR will become a permanent fixture in the game. Nonetheless, the question still remains over whether the technology, which will be utilised in tonight’s Carabao Cup Semi-Final second leg between Arsenal …

National Express has signed a three year ‘Official Coach and Bus Partner’ agreement with The Jockey Club. This deal will see the UK’s largest coach operator provide dedicated services across the United Kingdom, direct to all major events in The Jockey Club’s racing calendar. As part of the new service, it’s promised that it will “provide customers with drop off …

Argyll Entertainment are to become one of the first operators on the SBTech platform, in the United Kingdom, to bolster its in-play sports betting via the Action Betting feature. The operator behind SportNation.bet and RedZoneSports.bet is to adopt the mobile-first feature, which suggests players ‘markets of interest’ through contextual alerts and call-to-action betting options. Stuart Tilly, Chief Executive Officer of …

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is to embark on a partnership with Genius Sports, with the ultimate goal of protecting its various competitions from the threat of match fixing. As part of the long term integrity agreement, Genius Sports is to be provide Badminton’s world governing body with its bet monitoring system. Detailing the multitude of benefits the BWF are …

The latest gameweek of the Premier League has come to end, with Swansea City’s game plan executed perfectly to crash Liverpool back down to earth, following the euphoria of ending the long unbeaten run of Manchester City. Fantasy managers within SBC’s League of Legends were left ruing decisions to stock up on players of the Anfield based outfit, however, Pep …

Former EGR North America Editor Martyn Hannah has announced the launch of new industry-focused content marketing agency ghostfoundry (ghostfoundry.com) The Leeds-based agency seeks to deliver effective marketing solutions for all industry stakeholders helping promote their services, products and operations through optimised content.   Initial ghostfoundry services will include blog post creation, press releases, thought leadership articles and general copywriting. Furthermore, ghostfoundry …

Aiming to launch in 2018, Luckbox (Luckbox.com) is the latest industry incumbent seeking to effectively bridge sports betting and esports dynamics. Luckbox CEO & Founder Lars Lien speaks to SBC on his company’s unique take on esports customer engagements, which it believes will help it deliver the industry’s best esports betting platform. Furthermore, Lien details his firm’s intriguing journey from its …

Operators are set to have access to a “market leading” 42 meetings a week, via a new dedicated greyhound channel set to be launched by Sports Information Service (SIS) in March. Through the new offering, SIS has detailed that it is to incorporate exclusive greyhound rights from eight British and three Irish tracks. In addition virtual greyhound racing is also …

The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has responded to the government’s consultation on gaming machines and social responsibility proposals, and has called on protection for Category C amusement with prize (AWP) machines, so that they continue to form a vital revenue stream for Britain’s pubs. In a detailed response, the BBPA calls for the government to allow a modest …