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Spanish Gaming GGR Surges as Betting Margins Recover in Q3

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Spanish gaming

The Spanish gambling industry is on the rise. The most recent trend indicates a rebound in the third quarter of 2022, following a quarter-on-quarter stagnation in Gross Gambling Revenue (GGR) of less than 2.5% of turnover. According to a report by the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), the industry experienced a significant upturn in the third quarter of 2022, bringing the GGR to a whopping €240.8 million. In this article, we will look at the events that led to the upturn and what the future holds for the Spanish gambling industry.

A Quick Overview of Spanish Gambling

The Spanish gambling industry is regarded as successful in terms of revenue generation and problem gambling prevention. The industry is governed by the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling, which issues licenses to operators.

The country legalized online gambling in 2011, and its regulations have since been revised to discourage risky gambling behavior. Over 50 licensed online gambling operators offer various games ranging from Spanish sports betting to poker to bingo. Land-based casinos are also prevalent and serve as tourist attractions. With close to $10 billion in annual revenues, the national lottery, Loterias y Apuestas del Estado, significantly contributes to the sector. 20% of the GGR gaming tax is contributed by just sports betting and online casinos.

Increasing Profits Despite All Odds

Despite increased regulations, gambling revenues in Spain have also increased. The gambling regulator, DGOJ, reported a 14.8% decrease in GGR in the first quarter of 2022, bringing it to €204.4 million (US$215.17 million) in comparison to the first quarter of 2021. This was, however, a 16.25% increase over the previous quarter.

In the third quarter of 2022, they reported an 18.1% increase quarter-on-quarter and a 31.3% increase from the same quarter in the previous year. The increase was primarily attributed to sports betting, which increased 46.2% from Q2 and 103.6% year-on-year. Betting margins increased from 2.2% in the previous quarter to 4.1% in the current quarter. Marketing expenditure is also on the rise despite tightening restrictions as sponsorship deals take an upturn of 373.7% quarter-on-quarter.

More Stringent Rules are being Implemented

Following the upward trend, the Spanish ministerial council approved over 30 new responsible gaming measures in its Royal Decree of Commercial Communication. The new measures, which went into effect on March 14, 2023, aim to identify risky consumer spending behavior among youth aged 18 to 25.

Users who incur a net loss of €600, or €200 for those under the age of 25, in a three-week period are classified as intensive gamblers under the new rules. Gaming operators are not permitted to send promotional messages to high-risk individuals or to include them in VIP programs. If harmful behavior is detected, gaming operators must notify risk gamblers and provide a monthly summary of their gambling activities. They are also prohibited from advertising to people between the ages of 18 and 25 prior to their willful interaction with the business.

How is the Industry Reacting to Tightening Regulations?

The Asociación de Medios e Información (AMI) and Jdigital have both petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the restrictions that are crippling the gambling industry. JDigital, the Spanish online operator association, has criticized the developments in the 2023 Royal Decree, claiming that the move was unnecessary given that the industry is experiencing fewer cases of problem gambling. They also emphasized that the country already has some of the strictest regulations in Europe.

JDigital is urging officials to focus more on capitalizing on existing opportunities to improve the gambling market and encourage investment in the country. JDigital promotes safe gambling through initiatives such as the VII Edition of the Jdigital Awards, which saw various players awarded titles such as Best Marketing Campaign, Best Service Provider, Best Technology Provider, and Best Responsible Gaming Initiative.

The Spanish Gambling Industry’s Potential

In 2021, Spain’s population was estimated to be 47.42 million people and internet penetration was 94%, according to the World Bank. This presents a broad reach for the gambling industry and the potential for increased revenue with reasonable regulations in place. However, certain measures are hindering growth, such as taxing player winnings as taxable income and levying a 10% tax on the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) of operators who become tax residents in Ceuta and Melilla. Nevertheless, with organizations such as AMI and JDigital advocating for reasonable regulations, the Spanish gambling industry is likely to reach a positive arrangement with authorities and further bolster revenue generation.

Final Thoughts

The Spanish gambling industry is showing promising signs of growth and recovery despite the challenges posed by the Royal Decree of Commercial Communication. With the support of organizations such as JDigital, the gambling sector is likely to further capitalize on the potential of its vast consumer base, potentially leading to higher GGR.

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan. Mr Olowookere can be reached via dipo.olowookere@businesspost.ng

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How Big is the Crypto Gambling Industry in Nigeria?

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Nigeria has the biggest percentage of crypto owners in Africa, according to Statista. More than 15 million Nigerians—mostly young tech-savvy people—own cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Unsurprisingly, Nigeria is the biggest market for crypto sports betting sites. To be fair, Nigeria is Africa’s most populated country. It has a population of 200M+ people, making it an excellent target audience for iGaming businesses.

But why is the country falling in love with crypto gambling?

Crypto is a Viable Store of Value

The biggest reason for crypto gambling’s popularity in Nigeria has everything to do with Bitcoin being a store of value. According to Cointelegraph, roughly 17 million Nigerians store half of their financial assets in crypto.

Cointelegraph says Nigerians love Bitcoin and Ethereum because the country lacks adequate financial services. Sure, Nigeria is full of banks and mobile payment apps.

However, most of them don’t process payments to international betting sites. And if they do, they tend to be slower and more expensive than using cryptocurrencies.

For the uninitiated, cryptocurrencies are a limited commodity. Bitcoin has a maximum of 21 million coins. More than 19 million coins have already been mined from the blockchain. By the time the last Bitcoin is mined in 2040, the cryptocurrency will be a scarce commodity. This will, in turn, magnify its value.

Crypto Supports International Payments

Sports betting is legal in Nigeria. The best sportsbooks in the country have licenses from the National Lottery Regulatory Commission. Some of them also operate with licenses from the Lagos State Lottery Board.

That said, many Nigerians prefer to bet through offshore betting sites located in Europe or the Caribbean. Foreign sportsbooks provide bigger bonuses, better odds, and quicker payments.

Unfortunately, using offshore sportsbooks means relying on payment methods with cross-border support. This is where crypto comes in. Bitcoin supports transactions in all countries.

It doesn’t matter whether you live in Enugu State or Sao Paulo, Brazil. If you want to send money through Bitcoin, all you need is a crypto wallet and Bitcoin in your account.

Most crypto casinos support a minimum transaction amount of $10. As such, crypto betting is affordable to the majority of Nigerians. That said, crypto also supports large amounts, making it an excellent option for high rollers.

A Growing Number of Crypto Sportsbooks

Crypto betting hasn’t always been a thing. Until 2017, it was difficult to find a betting site with support for altcoins. Things are changing, though. New crypto sportsbooks keep cropping up.

To the millions of Nigerians who love crypto, these new sportsbooks solve all their problems. First, they provide a way to deposit money reliably. Most of them accept the top five cryptocurrencies.

You can use Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, or USDT. Top betting sites also reward you when you complete your first deposit. They might give you a risk-free bet. This means you bet using your money. But if you lose, you get a free bet.

The most popular welcome reward, however, is the 100% bonus. You get exactly what you deposit. If you deposit 10 LTC coins, you receive 10 Litecoins. If you deposit one BTC, you receive an equal amount as a bonus.

Beyond bonuses, crypto betting sites rival PayPal and Visa sportsbooks in every other way. They’re mobile-friendly. They provide efficient customer service and support a wide range of sports.

Fast Payments

Speed is one of Bitcoin’s biggest selling points. Bitcoin processes payments on an average of 20 minutes. Surprisingly, most people actually prefer to use Ethereum and other coins because they’re faster.

Ethereum—the most Googled cryptocurrency in Nigeria—processes payments in under five minutes. If you use Ripple or Solana, the payment speed lowers to a minute or less.

Speed is crucial for sports betting. Picture this. You had forgotten Nigeria has a game against Ghana in the afternoon. You’re confident in the Super Falcons. But for you to bet on the team, you must deposit money quickly.

Bitcoin provides convenience in such situations. It completes deposits to betting sites quickly. It might be slower than PayPal. But PayPal doesn’t work in Nigeria. Also, it’s considerably fast for withdrawals—most bookies take 1-3 days to process betting cashout requests.

Crypto Provides Financial Autonomy

As we mentioned earlier, half of crypto owners in Nigeria buy Bitcoin to store their wealth. The reason crypto is such a popular option for securing assets is that it provides autonomy.

Once you buy Bitcoins and store them in a safe wallet, they belong to you permanently. It’s not like fiat cash. If you store one million Naira in a bank, there’s no guarantee your bank will let you withdraw it a week after.

With crypto, you have total control over your funds. You can use it to bet on football. Or you can keep it as an investment. You don’t need permission to use your digital currencies. And yet, these funds could make you rich during a good bull run.

Low Payment Fees

Another reason some Nigerians prefer to bet with crypto is that it’s cheaper than local banks. Banks charge fixed amounts, say $20 for every payment. If you plan to spend less than 2000 Naira, it doesn’t make sense to pay via wire transfer.

Credit and debit cards offer free deposits to online merchants. But most of them draw a line where sportsbooks are concerned. They refuse to work with betting sites, especially offshore bookmakers.

Crypto does not discriminate. It operates through a decentralized ledger not owned by any single entity. As such, it processes payments between any two parties regardless of the industry.

When it comes to fees, crypto is all about minimizing charges. In fact, crypto is against transaction fees. It’s just that the entire crypto industry wouldn’t thrive without fees.

You see, every crypto payment needs verification before it’s added to a blockchain. The people who verify these transactions use expensive resources. To reward them, everyone paying with Bitcoin must contribute a small fee to the miners.

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How to Play Aviator and Win Real Cash Prizes

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How to play Aviator

Aviator is one of the newest games you can play at online casinos from software provider Spribe. You can find it on some of the top online gambling websites like Bitcasino, where you can win real cash prizes like slots and table games. The rules are simple and quite engaging once you get the hang of it, so here is the basic information you need to get started.

What is Aviator from Spribe

Spribe is famous for developing some of the most engaging games using modern mechanics in online casino gambling. Aviator is their take on the crash game genre, where you place a bet and cash out before a crash happens. In the context of the game, a crash means flying away. That is the gist of the game. Here’s how to play it for beginners:

How to play Aviator at online casinos

Aviator is a game of chance and intuition. It will use your casino account balance as your bankroll to place bets and send winnings after every round. Once you have made an account with money deposited, you can play Aviator the same way as any online casino game. Here are the steps:

  • Wait for the betting window to open
  • Place a desired amount as your stakes
  • Click on ‘play’ to stake your bet on the next round
  • Watch the multiplier ascend with the aeroplane’s upward flight
  • Click on ‘cash out’ before the plane flies away

If you successfully cash out while the plane is still flying, then you win back your stakes multiplied by the current multiplier value. Failing to cash out in time means you’ll lose all your bets for that round. There are two interfaces you can use in Aviator to play the game. Both have the same function, and you can use either or both at the same time.

Tips on winning Aviator

Aviator is an easy game, and the best way to enjoy it is to find your own way to win. However, there are some strategies you can employ in your sessions. These tips can help you create a low-risk strategy, perfect for beginners to this type of game.

Use both betting interface

The two-betting interface provided by Aviator allows gamblers to have a flexible way of playing. One strategy you can try is using one for safe betting while the other takes risks. Your goal is to have one of their cash out during safe intervals and win enough money to cover the potential loss of the other. Meanwhile, you can cash out the other one when it reaches a higher multiplier.

Find the sweet spot

The sweet spot refers to the most profitable spot in Aviator near the most common point of flying away. This experience can be different for each session because the outcome is determined by a random number generator (RNG). The easiest way to find this is to check the last 10 rounds using the game’s history and see which point is crashing most commonly and round that down.

Bet small and keep volatility low

What makes the Aviator game fun is its high potential payout, even for small bets. Keeping the stakes low means you are unlikely to lose money over a long session while benefiting from the game’s high multipliers for payouts. Even a consistent 3x cash out can guarantee that you can earn big profits in Aviator than in any other game.

Check out bonuses for Aviator before playing

Just like any online casino game, Aviator can also benefit from bonuses. There will be promotions promoting it sometimes but it can be played using general rewards from the casino. That’s why you should play Aviator at online gambling websites with generous giveaways.

Learn more about Aviator right here: https://bitcasino.io/blog/tipshackstricks/aviator-game-strategies

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DAZN, Videocites Partner to Tackle Illegal Streaming, Piracy

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DAZN

By Adedapo Adesanya

DAZN Group, the world’s leading sports streaming service, and Videocites, a cutting-edge technology company specialising in automated content detection solutions over social media, have announced a strategic partnership to intensify Dazn’s battle against intellectual property (IP) theft and illegal social media streams of its live sports content.

The collaboration reflects their shared commitment to combating online piracy and promoting legitimate live sports streaming services and is part of Dazn’s wider campaign to protect its valuable IP.

According to a statement seen by Business Post, the ease and speed with which video can be shared on social media platforms has led to a proliferation of illegal streams of live sports content in recent years.

This will soon be history as Videocites’ powerful solution, which uses AI-driven video recognition algorithms, will enable the swift identification of unauthorised streams amidst vast amounts of user-generated content on social media platforms, even when the video has been manipulated or distorted as part of the pirates’ efforts to circumvent defence mechanisms.

Leveraging this in real-time, Videocites technology enables Dazn to remove 98 per cent of the thousands of pirated streams detected on social media within minutes, representing unprecedented efficiency and protecting the intellectual property of rights owners.

According to the Chief Technology Officer at DAZN Group, Mr Sandeep Tiku, “By swiftly removing pirated streams from social media platforms, we disrupt the viewing experience, which in turn demotivates consumers from accessing them in the future and encourages them to seek a legitimate service.

“Ultimately, this will deter intellectual property theft and maintain a fair and sustainable digital environment, safeguarding the interests of broadcasters, rights owners, and athletes. The potential upside is remarkable.”

“Personal streaming has significantly increased the scale of social piracy, which is no match to the current manual solutions,” said the co-founder and CEO of Videocites, Mr Eyal Arad.

“Videocites uses its Video-AI capabilities to combat the rising tide of social piracy with scalable, immediate, and resilient detection and enforcement. We are proud to have a valuable contribution to a leading innovative streaming platform like Dazn and support their global growth,” he added.

Videocites’ technology has consistently been recognized for its excellence, earning the prestigious “Best in Anti-Piracy” accolade from SportsPro three times in a row.

Its ground-breaking solutions, proven and trusted by notable organisations and rights owners such as the NBA, major leagues, Hollywood studios, and various OTT platforms, are a testament to its top-tier status in the industry.

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