Tag: GiG

Hard Rock Atlantic City Opens GiG-Powered Sportsbook in NJ

Posted on by Carmen Thompson
  • Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City officially launches
  • The casino’s sportsbook is powered by GiG’s omni-channel betting platform
  • Hard Rock’s just on time for the Super Bowl event in one week

Hard Rock has finally launched its New Jersey’s property. Using online sportsbook technology by Gaming Innovation Group (GiG), the Hard Rock hotel & Casino Atlantic City is off to a good start.

Hard Rock Offers Online Sports Betting in New Jersey

Hard Rock has opened its latest property, the namesake Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. The property’s sportsbook is running on technology developed and implemented by established gaming solutions developer Gaming Innovation Gaming (GiG).

As a result, customers will be able to place their wagers through HardRockSports.com using the dedicated native app. Alternatively, the property will be open to all bettors who want to come and place their wagers in person.

Only entering into the market, the sportsbook has prepared an ample choice of viable gaming options, including:

  • American football
  • Ice Hockey
  • Football
  • Basketball

College sporting events are also part of the betting options, although NCAA’s President Mark Emmert has long been cautioning against allowing bookmakers to offer odds on such events. It’s worth noting that New Jersey college events are excluded from the offer.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City President Joe Lupo expressed his company’s excitement at the new opportunity, saying the following:

We couldn’t be more excited to launch our online and land-based sportsbook, providing our guests and players the opportunity to bet on football’s big game this weekend.

Mr. Lupo also talked about the continuing development of the property as a top entertainment venue.

“Hard Rock has global recognition, unparalleled reach and the same high ambitions as us. We look forward to continuing to support Hard Rock’s growth in New Jersey,” GiG CEO Robin Reed added.

Hard Rock’s growth in New Jersey has indeed been impressive, with the casino brand being one of the flagship operators trying to expand their footprint, both at home and abroad.

Osaka Has Head Start in Japan’s IR Bidding

Hard Rock was one of the first properties to propose a model for the upcoming Integrated Resort (IR) in Japan, which will not be open until mid-2020.

As a reminder, GiG and Hard Rock signed a Letter of Intent in October, 2018, with Hard Rock choosing GiG because of the developer’s streamlined omni-channel sports betting solutions.

Given the timing of the opening, Hard Rock will be fully able to bank on the upcoming Super Bowl event, which is expected to generate sufficient interest and sports betting handle. The fact that Hard Rock allows customers to place and monitor wagers any way they want will only enhance the property’s sports betting services.

Carmen Thompson

Carmen is our residential reporter always on the move and hunting down the latest scoops and rumours to explore. Nothing gets past her keen nose, especially when it comes to some serious Jelly Bean poker tournaments.

GiG Teams Up with MegaLotto to Introduce

Posted on by George Hansen
  • GiG partners with MegaLotto to enter the lotteries vertical
  • The companies will launch their offer in mid-2019
  • GiG will see results at the end of 2019

Gaming Innovation Group, an established iGaming company, is preparing to expand into a new vertical – lotteries. The company has already struck up a deal with MegaLotto, an up-and-coming start-up.

GiG Inks Deal for the Future of Lottery Vertical

The Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) will work along with MegaLotto in order to create a polished lottery experience for international customers. The lottery portal will include a number of casino games in a bid to appeal to an international audience as well as expand into many unrelated markets.

Establishing a global footprint will be a top priority for the companies, which will be pushing ahead with a quick launch in the summer of 2019. Because of the rather delayed launch, revenue will remain largely unaffected for GiG in 2019 following the partnership. With GiG and MegaLotto gearing up to launch in full, there is still the question of which markets the company will operate in.

GiG has already entered the United States thanks to its partnership with Hard Rock casino in October, 2018. Later in November the same year, GiG tied up another partnership with casino games aggregator Join Games.

As to the specific deal with MegaLotto, GiG CCO Ben Clemes expressed his satisfaction with the developments, noting the following:

I am delighted to add further growth potential for GiG by entering the Lottery vertical with MegaLotto. We share the same ambitions of a fun, fair, responsible and innovative user experience.

Lotteries is the sole missing verticals which GiG is now happy to offer to its customers worldwide. Having obtained a license in the newly-regulated Swedish market, GiG may be pushing ahead with introducing lotteries in Europe, as it’s one of the primary markets for the activity.

However, places like Germany can prove too restrictive, given the adamant local opposition and favorism towards national totalizators.

Expanding into Lotteries – A Healthy New Opportunity

The expansion into the lottery vertical, however, is not at all surprising, following last year’s Q3 earning call when CEO Robin Reed spoke of the healthy pipeline opportunities ahead of the company. Apart from working with the Hardrock brand, GiG has also been selected to deliver the sports betting software for MRG and Gamingzone.

Growing the sports betting business is a priority for GiG which will now be nicely complemented with the expansion of the lottery vertical. In the United States, different states see the point of maintaining their lottery operations scaling. In fact, lotteries are one of the main reasons why he infamous Wire Act doesn’t apply to some forms of gambling products, with New York challenging the motion back in 2018.

Now that GiG has eyes set on lotteries, the company is about to monetize on a new sector. How successful its efforts will only become clear towards the end of 2019 or later in 2020.

George Hansen

Taking a liking to the occasional bout of slots, George used to moonlight as a roulette dealer, giving him a unique perspective into the casino world. From there he continued his journalist education and has been with us ever since a star-aligned graduation brought him and our team together.

Famous Norwegian TV Host Bags 3.4m GIG Shares

Posted on by Kat Orlov

Gaming Innovation Group (GIG), a developer of iGaming solutions, has been ordered to give up 3.4 million shares to a company owned by Hallvard Flatland, a famous TV host in Norway.

GIG’s Shares Become a TV Saga

A Norwegian court has ruled out against Gaming Innovation Group (GIG) and in favor of Hallvard Flatland, a popular TV host in Norway. In the case presented to court, M. Flatland argued that he had been promised shares in the company in exchange for services promoting brand-awareness and more, at a time when GIG has been expanding rapidly at home and across the Atlantic.

Mr. Flatland also claimed that he had been promised a seat on the Board of Directors. A Norwegian court sealed the case with a ruling during the week, supporting the claim of Mr. Flatland.

This immediately prompted a response from GIG board member Helge Nielsen who spoke to Dagens Næringsliv, a news agency, expressing the company’s surprise and stating that GIG will pursue a legal recourse and appeal the case.

According to the available information, Mr. Flatland had arranged the transfer back in 2015, with the host attending a Board of Directors meeting to negotiate his services for the company.

However, the only written account of the meeting is Mr. Flatland’s own notebook, which makes the decision of the court even more strange to begin with. The company’s legal man, Rustan Knudsen, has pointed out to the obvious lack of evidence to support Mr. Flatland’s claims.

Nevertheless, the Bergen District Court decided to award Mr. Flatland NOK 8.5 million worth of shares with GIG sentenced to transfer the shares to Euro TV, owned by Mr. Flatland, within two weeks. In addition, GIG has been ordered to pick up the legal costs for Mr. Flatland.

A Meeting that Meant Nothing

GIG have been able to confirm that a meeting between the Board of Directors and the plaintiff had taken place, but no agreement had been reached thereof. With the news that the company had been sentenced, its stock fell by 5%, but quickly jumped back with GIG releasing a very brief statement that the company would work with its legal team to challenge the sentence.

GiG disagrees with the court’s ruling and will now assess whether to appeal the judgement together with its legal advisers. – GIG

The statement also invited readers to examine the annual report for 2017 in which the company challenged the idea that Norwegian courts can produce a ruling in such cases. GIG re-iterated that no agreement had taken between the company and Mr. Flatland.

As to Mr. Flatland’s actual role helping the casino, he would have stepped in the shoes of John Carew, a retired footballer who played for the national team. In his own addresses to the press, Mr. Flatland expressed apparent regret that the matter had had to reach courts, but he said that agreements must be honored.

Should GIG have sought to settle matters, he wouldn’t have had to go to court. And while Mr. Flatland present an explanation, it’s still bizarre to believe that a court would take a personal book into consideration.

Kat Orlov

Newcomer Kat is our newcomer poker aficionado whos skill not only lives on the table but flourishes on the site as through her many sources she never fails to be the first to hear of any important or exciting poker news around the world.