UK

European betting exchange Smarkets has appointed Alexander Wheldon as the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). The new role was created to expand on Smarkets’s growth over the past year and support development of its primary UK customer base and help the business enter new markets. Smarkets has grown considerably over the past year, showing 400% YOY growth. With pre-tax …

UK independent race track betting specialist Star Sports has purchased BetVictor’s portfolio of 18 racecourse betting points for an undisclosed fee that will see the Brighton-based firm stand on the rails at 11 UK racecourses. Star Sports is set to add on-site betting points at  Ascot, Cheltenham, Goodwood Newmarket and Sandown Park, to its existing retail portfolio which includes  betting …

Paddy Power has placed English Romantic era poet and printmaker William Blake at evens to replace 18th century Scottish economist Adam Smith as the new face of the £20 note by the Bank of England. The Bank of England has announced that it wishes to tribute Britain’s achievements in visual and literary arts, and is seeking public nominations for the …

bwin.party Entertainment institutional investors Emerald Bay and Stinson Ridge are preparing to sell up to 50 million shares in the London FTSE online gambling operator. The large scale share sale by the investors represents a 6% stake in bwin.party. The news of the investor sale, saw bwin.party share price fall 11p to 94p (impact-10%). bwin.party governance stated that it was …

Covering the latest sports formats and businesses trying to impact global audiences, SBC’s Sam Cooke details the development of FIA Formula E championships as it enters its last month of competition in its debut season… Formula E is a motorsport for the modern age. It is a pioneering and an exciting addition to competitive racing. It’s the world’s first fully …

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC), the lottery operator of four Canadian provinces (Nova Scotia, Brunswick, Newfoundland & Prince Edward Island) has been criticised by Canadian politicians and media regarding its $8.7 million investment in UK lottery start-up Geonomics. This week ALC governance had announced that it would write down its investment in Geonomics following the company’s failure to progress UK …

Tuesday 9 June saw the 12th annual WhichBingo Awards aboard the WW1 warship HMS President (London). The awards ceremony recognises the best in product, marketing and customer services in the online bingo sector. Online bingo media portal WhichBingo announced the winners of nine award categories voted on by members of whichbingo.co.uk. The awards night hosted by comedian Sanderson Jones and …

Mobile igaming platform and content provider Nektan Plc has confirmed that it has successfully received approval for both a software and a gaming licence for the UK market from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). Since the new regulation was introduced in the UK in late 2014, Nektan had been operating under a Gibraltar continuation licence for UK facing gaming services. …

The new chief executive of the Gambling Commission has been announced as Sarah Harrison, who will be joining the regulator in September from energy watchdog Ofgem. Harrison is to join the Gambling Commission on 7 September and will become a Commissioner when she takes over from Jenny Williams as Chief Executive on 1 October 2015. Philip Graf, Chair of the …

Following a busy 10 month period Colossus Bets’ Chief Operations Officer David O’Reilly reviews the 2014/2015 football season from a business perspective, detailing operational learnings and commercial highlights for the Mega Football Jackpots operator, who are bringing much needed game and market innovation to the online sports betting industry. ________________ Looking back on the football season which has just finished, these are …