Every week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most fascinating stories. Our latest headline reflection features Paddy Power’s seven figure darts donation, impressive revenues in Macau and the latest crucial step for Brazil’s gambling market.
£1m
Following the most-viewed PDC World Darts Championship final history, the tournament’s main sponsor Paddy Power has donated £1m to Prostate Cancer UK.
Before the top-level darts competition began, Paddy Power pledged to donate £1,000 for every 180 that was hit throughout the tournament.
After a stunning final that saw world number one Luke Humphries triumph over 16 year old prodigy Luke Littler to win the PDC Worlds title, the total number of 180s came in at 914 – a new record total for the competition.
Of those 914 maximums, 23 were hit by Humphires during the final with Littler, and Paddy Power decided to round up the figure from £914,000 to £1m as a gesture of goodwill.
Rachael Kane, spokesperson for Paddy Power, told CasinoBeats: “We have just confirmed we will be rounding our donation to Prostate Cancer UK up to £1m following last night’s record-breaking final. ‘The Luke’s’ helped smash the previous record of 901 180s and between the the players hit 914 maximums.
“We pledged to donate £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 struck during the tournament, so rounding it up felt like the right thing to do following an absolutely epic start to our Paddy Power World Darts Championship sponsorship.”
30
Brazilian President Lula Inacio Da Silva secured the next step for the nation’s regulated betting and online casino market after passing Bill PL3626/23 into federal law.
The bill’s inclusion of online casino games had been disputed at several levels of Brazilian government, with the nation’s Liberal Party outspokenly opposed to its inclusion.
However, in the Chamber of Deputies final session on December 22, 261 members voted for the bill which did include language for online casino games to be regulated.
Operators can apply for a five-year licence, but must set up a company in Brazil that is based in the nation. The licences come with a fee of R$30m ($6m) for up to three skins.
Following the president’s signature, the Ministry of Finance will publish regulations to initiate Brazil’s federal sports betting and online casino market in due course.
22.7
Macau’s gaming ecosystem recorded an impressive annual revenue increase of 334 per cent as the region reported gross gaming revenues of $22.7bn.
The numbers were bolstered by a bright end to the year, specifically when it comes to the overall uplift of Tourism and global output for Macau.
Furthermore, the results are even more impressive given they come at a time when the wider Chinese gambling market has endured a slower period in the same year.
Reports have suggested that the tourism boost of the gaming sector far eclipsed that of any other Chinese industry, as the local statistics bureau, DSEC, emphasised the country enjoyed a year of economic growth in the third quarter of 2023.
In a recent comment from Las Vegas Sands, the group’s Chair and CEO, Robert Goldstein, emphasised his optimism for market growth as the firm continues to expand across Asia.
“We are staunch believers in the growth of the Macao market near and long term,” Goldstein commented on LVS’ latest earnings call.
“LVS has invested $15bn in Macau, which is the most important land-based market in the world. A few reference points to consider, third quarter EBITDA represents strong growth compared to previous quarters, as I mentioned. Our retail business in Macau has far exceeded pre-COVID numbers.”
2
Online casino operator Stake has announced its latest sports sponsorship, tying up a Formula One deal to become the Sauber Motorsport team’s exclusive title sponsor for the next two seasons.
As a result of the partnership, Stake will become the team’s leading sponsor for the entirety of the 2024 and 2025 F1 seasons, rebranding Sauber to the ‘Stake F1 Team’.
Edward Craven, Co-Founder of Stake, commented: “We are thrilled with the opportunity to bring an electrifying and brand-new identity into our Formula One team, kickstarting the F1 season with a bold team name, Stake F1 Team.
“Fuelled by deep passion for speed, innovation, and pushing boundaries, we are now ideally positioned to take the team to unprecedented heights from 2024 and beyond. The upcoming years will be a thrilling ride with some mind- blowing activations planned that will redefine excitement on and off the track.
“So, brace yourselves and stay tuned, as the Stake F1 Team accelerates towards an exciting future.”
17
BetMGM has become the official sponsor of Premier League Darts for the upcoming season, kicking off next month and running for 17 weeks.
With the record-breaking PDC World Darts Championship having just finished, BetMGM will look to tap into the growth of the sport as it continues to expand alongside the sport’s biggest roadshow event.
The BetMGM Premier League will be held from February 1 to May 23 as eight players compete for £1m in prize money.
PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter, commented: “The Premier League will reach a huge live audience and a massive global television audience across four months, and we’re delighted to welcome BetMGM as our new title sponsor.
“This year marks the 20th staging of the Premier League and it is already the most eagerly-awaited, with the standard of entertainment across PDC events in the past 12 months having continued to rise.
“As we enter the third year of the eight-player, nightly knockout format we’re excited about working alongside BetMGM to promote such a wide-reaching event.”
23
The Las Vegas Strip witnessed a lucrative November after achieving a 23 per cent year-over-year revenue increase for the month, supported heavily by Formula One’s visit to the city.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, gaming revenue for the month amounted to $1.37bn, a 12.56 per cent increase YoY (November 2022: $1.22bn) and just shy of July’s single-month revenue record of $1.4bn.
During the month, F1 hosted a street race in the city which closed down the Strip for portions of the month, but casinos benefited from additional visitors coming to the area to see the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
With more people in the city to see the race, Strip revenue in November came in at $821m, up 22.63 per cent YoY (2022: $669.5m). In July, strip revenue stood at $834.9m.
For specific segments, the NGCB stated that table, counter and card games and sports betting all saw YoY improvements, but slot machine revenue dipped slightly.
Table, counter and card games underwent the biggest uptick, rising by 44.49 per cent to $505.55m (2022: $349.8m) with baccarat and blackjack both surpassing $100m in revenue.
Slot machine revenue fell slightly YoY in November by 0.26 per cent to $868.8m (2022: $871m) with only multi denomination seeing a double-figure percentage increase in comparison to the previous year, coming in at $541.2m, up 17.43 per cent (2022: $460.78m).
