Sports betting has been around for centuries, but industry growth has rocketed since the inception of the internet. Today – online sportsbooks allow punters to wager on just about everything. Novelty and cultural betting is on the rise – you can now place wagers on the name of the next royal baby, and on the next winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. We stumbled across a great infographic by gambling review portal RightCasino.com that charts the meteoric rise of sports betting. According to the infographic – the online sports betting industry is now worth $74 billion to $100 billion —…

Finnplay has moved to strengthen its presence in the African market by entering into a partnership with Ghanaian-based betting agency Simplebet. Under the agreement, the Finnish-based gaming provider will supply Simplebet with its BillFold sports betting kiosk. The solution, which will be rolled out across Simplebet land-based locations, will enable customers to access a range of sports betting services. “Africa is a rapidly expanding market for sports betting both land-based and online,” Finnplay’s vice-presidnet of sales Erkki Nikun said. “Our BillFold Kiosk Platform is designed for any form of gaming at a physical location. “For Simplebet we integrated a betting…

On May 19th 2015, it was reported that Zimbabwe has stopped giving out betting licenses in the southern African nation to limit the surge of gambling on sports and lotteries. According to reports, Ziyambi Ziyambi, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs told Bloomberg that betting needs to be under control, that people are betting everywhere,  and that there are too many operators offering services. The government of Zimbabwe estimates that unemployment is at 11%, but Labour Economic and Development Institute Research of Zimbabwe; Prosper Chitambara said that out of the 14 million population about 90% are either unemployed or underemployed. In…

The Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) is today calling on the Senate of Canada to bring Bill C290 to an immediate vote. Their inaction on the bill continues to foster an illegal, unregulated and dangerous environment for Canadian sports bettors. On June 2 the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake announced its intention to become the actual operator of an online sports wagering site, Sports Interaction, within the Province of Quebec.  Operating such a site in Canada is considered illegal under current Canadian law. “A significant and illegal online sports betting business will soon operate within Canada’s borders,” said Bill Rutsey, CEO of…

Gary Bettman, commissioner of North America’s National Hockey League (NHL), has allayed fears over the impact an expanded sports betting market in the US could have on professional athletes. Speaking in an interview on Sportsnet’s Brady & Walker show, Bettman said that if sports wagering were to become more widespread in the US, this would not impact the integrity of players. A number of high-profile individuals from both the sports and gambling sectors have called for the market to be expanded to allow both industries to benefit from revenue that would be generated from wagering activities. Adam Silver, commissioner of…

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has signed two new bills that could help boost the US state’s sports betting industry. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, the state’s sports betting industry already attracts approximately $3.9 billion (€3.5 billion) in wagers each year. However, the two new bills, which were this week signed into law by Sandoval, could potentially increase this figure. Senate Bill 443 will authorise the formulation of business entities to place race and sports pool wagers, with investors allowed to join business entities and share profits and losses from large wagers at Nevada sports books. In addition, Senate…