Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/803478
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 MARCH 2017 XII Gaming EnergyBet withdraws from Polish market ENERGYBET has announced it will be withdrawing from the Polish market, in line with many other online international gambling services, and will be ceasing to offer services to customers in Poland as of 1 April 2017. EnergyBet management had been watching developments regard- ing regulations in Poland closely for some time, and were hoping that the Polish government would listen to the advice of the European Union and other authorities. Sadly, however, that was not the case, and the new highly restrictive and hostile regulatory environment made continued operations unvi- able, the company said. EnergyBet CEO Marcin Sapinski explained "The Polish market has always been very important to us, and we share the frustration of Polish customers. We will continue to monitor developments, with the aim of returning to the Polish market if things change. In the meantime, we would like to thank our Polish customers for their understanding." EnergyBet will cease to direct advertising or promotions to the Polish market, and all Energy- Bet affiliate partners have been instructed to remove advertising and promotions aimed at the Pol- ish market, before April 1st 2017. Accounts for all Polish residents will be closed and any balances re- turned, with bets placed before the cut-off date being honoured. The decision to cease offering Energy- Bet services to customers is Poland was not taken lightly, and any resulting inconvenience and disap- pointment is very much regretted, the company said. NMi Gaming announces new Spain oce e future is bright for eSports being NMI is celebrating the open- ing of its new office in Madrid, to support the Spanish and Latin American markets, in line with its long-term expan- sion programme. The addition of NMi's test- ing facility in Spain paral- lels the increasing customer demand for NMi's compliance services, supporting new and existing customers with one of the biggest challenges of 2017, the Spanish Biennial Audits. Filippo Ferri NMi Regional Director, Spain & LatAm com- mented: "With the Spanish Bi- ennial Audits just around the corner the Madrid based team will spearhead our opera- tions in Spain. This is a very exciting time for NMi, we've been working in Spain for many years and have extensive experience and operations on Spanish territory, as well as established relationships with the Spanish regulator. NMi is in the best position to support operators to remain compli- ant in one of Europe's most advanced jurisdictions". NMi has experienced unprecedented growth in 2016, as the market leader in iGaming certification, game machine and systems testing, lottery certification and busi- ness security and auditing. This new test lab adds to the global presence which includes testing locations in the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada and the Netherlands, as well as representatives worldwide. NMI regional director Filippo Ferri THE global gambling industry has come to a point of its development when it needs to make itself ap- pealing to a new type of customers – a more demanding, inquisitive, and digitally savvy type of custom- ers. Millennials, just as any other gambling group, are not that hard to please as long as they are offered exactly what they want. And this particular demographic likes to be entertained in a clever way, to have its skills and knowl- edge tested, to socialise with peers, preferably through digital means. Although competitive video gaming may have its roots traced back to the 1980s, it is exactly what seems to be very appealing to mil- lennials. eSports have come to be a multi-million-dollar industry and so has become eSports betting. Major betting operators have rec- ognized the opportunity and have for some time now been offering eSports betting options alongside their traditional products. What is eSports betting? In a nutshell, eSports betting or gambling is betting/gambling on the outcome of eSports events. Bettors can use skins (generally perceived as a virtual currency) to bet as well as and real money. Millennials are hungry for skill- based entertainment and eSports definitely have the potential to offer them exactly this type of experience. In recent years, eSports have seen professional leagues being formed, games like League of Legend and CS:GO gaining global popularity, including popularity on the eSports betting field, and billions of dollars being generated as a result. In other words, eSports may not be something new to the world, but have been increasingly and successfully proliferated to lure the millennial public. Social media and video streaming have also con- tributed to the eSports market's growth. Why might eSports become a billion-dollar industry? According to data released by dif- ferent sources, eSports has already become an industry worth millions (and possibly billions) of dollars. eSports market researcher Newzoo reported that the industry had won around $325 million in revenue in 2015 from merchandise, media rights, advertising, and tickets. And the market has really been growing with a fast pace. As video games competitions continue to gain popularity, betting on these has also been quite a lot of attention. Market research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming had pro- jected that the unregulated eSports betting market would generate the amount of $7.4 billion in betting turnover in 2016. Including betting turnover from regulated betting operations, overall bets probably exceeded $8 billion last year. What is more, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming believes that eSports betting turnover may reach $23 billion by 2020 and operators may generate more than $1.8 billion in revenue from this type of offering. eSports betting regulation An industry of this potential certainly needs regulation so as for a safe and well-functioning envi- ronment to be created. Truth is that although eSports and eSports betting target primarily males aged between 18 and 25, minors can also bet easily on the outcome of competitions. This is why effective regulation should involve the ex- clusion of those under the eligible age from betting pools. Another important thing to be taken into account is that eSports bettors should be considered a separate gambling category from traditional bettors. In fact, it can be seen on different betting opera- tors' websites that these treat their sports betting customers and their eSports betting ones in a different manner. With eSports gambling, skin betting included, clearly being here to stay and grow further, several regulators have announced their stance on this type of offering. The Isle of Man has recently allowed the licensed provision of skin bet- ting options. The Norwegian Gaming Author- ity has recently issued a warning that it considers skin betting a gambling activity and that any operator that offers this type of product will face penalty. In Nor- way, online gambling operations are only conducted by a state-run monopoly. Skin betting has also been discussed recently by the UK Gam- bling Commission. The regulator published a position paper on eSports, warning parents about the risks skin betting poses to their underaged children and promising to take action against any unau- thorized websites that are offering this type of products.