Features

Vaughan Lewis’s move from Morgan Stanley tells us something about the state of the gambling industry and a lot about the state of the investment banking industry.

The deposed William Hill chief executive James Henderson appears to have been put forward as a scapegoat for many of the operator’s problems. But the lack of a coherent strategy since his departure suggests a more deep-rooted problem.

It was a turbulent start to the year for shareholders across the gambling industry as political events weighed on the markets, with listed operators and suppliers seeing their combined share prices fall by 2.46 per cent during the first month of 2017.

An unwavering 20-year focus on delivering the best possible casino games experience to players has cemented NetEnt as a must-have supplier for iGaming operators worldwide, but as chief executive Per Eriksson explains, the company is just getting started.

While the big guns dominate this year’s awards, the shortlists and Hot 50 highlight the next generation breaking through.

In the second part of our exclusive iLottery feature, Gaming Intelligence talks to the three leading US lottery suppliers - Scientific Games, IGT and Intralot - about their plans to digitalise the retail lottery segment.

October proved to be a difficult month for iGaming stocks as combined average share prices fell by 2 per cent during the period.

Like iGaming, the iLottery market has seen slow progress in taking customers online. Only 6 of 45 US states with lotteries currently allow residents to buy lottery draw tickets online, with half of those including some variety of instant win or scratchcard games.

Lottoland’s success with its bet-on-lotteries concept has already attracted the ire of UK National Lottery operator Camelot. Lottoland UK managing director James Easterbrook and Home agency’s Nick Harrison explain how their new ad campaign is set to further boost UK operations.

The takeover of Inspired Gaming was a long time coming but the identity of its buyer heralds a new beginning for the UK-based supplier as Nasdaq-listed Inspired Entertainment.