Global Online Gambling Market Revenues Expected to Double in Upcoming Years

PALM BEACH,  Fla., Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The shutting down of the casinos in Las Vegas and around the world, because of the pandemic, hasn't really hurt the market, due to the rapid expansion of online options. In fact, experts project that its rate of growth will be substantial in the near future and beyond. A report from Statista said that: "The global online gambling market is anticipated to be valued at more than 92.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. The current size of the market is almost 59 billion U.S. dollars, meaning the size is forecast to double in the upcoming years." Their report continued: "Online gambling consists of playing casino games, poker and/or sports betting via the internet. Due to factors such as the advancement of technology available (for example smartphones and apps), higher trust of gamblers paying online, and the increasing digitization of the world, the online gambling market is seeing growth in many regions. After sports betting was legalized in the United States by the Supreme Court in 2018, online gambling companies are now able to grow their sport betting sectors, thereby further supporting the market's growth.   Active companies in the markets this week include 500.com Limited (NYSE: WBAI), Playgon Games Inc. (OTCQB: PLGNF) (TSX-V: DEAL), DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG), Elys Game Technology, Corp. (NASDAQ: ELYS), International Game Technology PLC (NYSE: IGT)

A recent article from Gambler's Daily Digest added:" Online casinos are the next big thing in gambling. Since online gaming has been available, it has only grown in size, revenue, and popularity so that it now makes up a significant portion of all revenue earned from gambling. As more people become more comfortable with online gambling and as more countries begin to accept it, more gaming options are becoming available.   One high demand option that is legal in only a few places is sports betting.  Bringing sports betting to online casinos will only… continue to fuel an already financially productive industry…"

Playgon Games Inc. (TSXV: DEAL) (OTCQB: PLGNF) BREAKING NEWS:  PLAYGON COMPLETES PARTNERSHIP WITH INTELLIGENT GAMING (PTY) LTD. AND ANNOUNCES PREMIER OPERATOR, SUPABETS - Playgon Games Inc.,  and/or its subsidiaries ("Playgon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered the $2.9 billion* South African gaming market having completed the Software Licensing & Distribution Agreement with Intelligent Gaming (PTY) Ltd. ("IGL"), a fully-licensed manufacturer of gaming products in South Africa.

IGL is a top tier aggregator of content in the South African gaming market. Through their platform, IGL will distribute Playgon's proprietary Vegas Lounge® premium suite of mobile live dealer casino games which have been uniquely designed for both the new gamer and operator in mind, offering lightening fast functionality and extensive player and Operator options, while being optimized for one-handed play in portrait mode.

In addition, IGL will onboard its first Operator, Supabets (www.supabets.co.za).  Supabets is a leading sports betting and casino brand with a vast retail and digital business in South Africa and other African countries including Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Supabets is one of the most popular online gambling companies in Africa, and continues to experience dramatic growth year after year.

"The African Gaming market is an incredible green field opportunity for Playgon's product" states Darcy Krogh, CEO Playgon Games Inc. "As we commence commercial operations and begin to monetize our mobile focused live dealer games, we are excited to partner with one of the premier online gaming aggregators in South Africa and develop our business together in this expanding market."

"We are always on the hunt for innovative new content to bring to our clients for the South African market" says Marc Plaxton-Harrison, CEO Intelligent Gaming Ltd. "Playgon's live dealer product is well thought out from a players perspective in our mobile driven markeplace. We look forward to working with the team at Playgon."

The South African Gaming Market is expected to generate gross gaming revenue in 2020 of R34.8 billion (CDN$2.9 billion) and is expected to grow by a 6% compound annual rate.  Casino games alone make up 72% of the revenue generated from gaming. South Africa has a very healthy gambling industry. One in every ten South Africans participates in gaming.    Read the first entire release and more news for Playgon Games at:  https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-deal/     

Additional recent developments include:

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG), a leader in the digital sports entertainment and gaming industry known for its top-rated daily fantasy sports and mobile sports betting apps, recently announced an agreement with InComm payments, a global leading payments technology company, to launch an industry-first retail gift card. The launch will expand DraftKings' presence in convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Speedway, Dollar General, and Sheetz, and also enable consumers to gift the DraftKings experience to others in $25 and $50 denominations.

"Just in time for the upcoming holiday season, we are proud to work with InComm Payments to get DraftKings gift cards on the shelves at several popular retailers," said Matt Kalish, Co-Founder and President of DraftKings North America. "We are thrilled to provide our customers with another way to fund their accounts and engage with our real money products through this first-of-its-kind offering."

By leveraging InComm Payments' retail network, DraftKings is expanding its reach with physical distribution and brand presence to the most frequently visited retail chains across the country, spanning convenience, pharmacy and general merchandise partners.

500.com Limited (NYSE: WBAI) a leading online sports lottery service provider in China, recently announced that it has filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 11, 2020 Eastern Time. The annual report can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at 500.investorroom.com. The Company will also provide a hard copy of the annual report containing its audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request.

500.com Limited is a leading online sports lottery service provider in China. The Company offers a comprehensive and integrated suite of online lottery services, information, user tools and virtual community venues to its users. 500.com was among the first companies to provide online lottery services in China, and is one of two entities that have been approved by the Ministry of Finance to provide online lottery sales services on behalf of the China Sports Lottery Administration Center, which is the government authority that is in charge of the issuance and sale of sports lottery products in China.

Elys Game Technology, Corp. (NASDAQ: ELYS), an interactive gaming and sports betting technology company, recently provided a business update and reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020. The complete financial results are available in the Company's Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Michele (Mike) Ciavarella, Chairman and CEO of Elys Game Technology, Corp., commented, "I am pleased to report that revenue increased 44% to $9.7 million for the third quarter of 2020, which reflects very strong growth in our web-based gaming turnover of more than 150%. Significantly, we have now surpassed our goal of reaching 100,000 online gaming accounts before the end of 2020, thus strengthening our online and mobile channel. This growth was offset by a decline in our land-based gaming turnover, which has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, we continue to perform exceptionally well compared to our industry peer group and have begun to see improvement in this channel as certain brick and mortar operators re-open. As a result, we believe we are very well positioned for strong organic growth heading into 2021. Moreover, we continue to carefully manage expenses and have a solid balance sheet with over $10.5 million of cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2020. We have also fully repaid our convertible debentures since the end of the third quarter and have no long-term debt.

International Game Technology PLC (NYSE: IGT) recently announced that its subsidiaries IGT Europe B.V., IGT Austria GmbH, and IGT Germany Gaming GmbH ("IGT") have entered into a strategic agreement to exclusively license the intellectual property for its GALAXIS™ and SYSTEM2Go™ casino central management systems (CMSs) to Modulus S.a.r.l. ("Modulus").

The agreement, effective Dec. 18, 2020, permits Modulus to commercialize and distribute GALAXIS and SYSTEM2Go and IGT's existing inventory of related legacy hardware to Modulus customers in all territories excluding North America. Modulus will also be able to develop source code for these products, and will provide ongoing maintenance services to existing GALAXIS and SYSTEM2Go customers.

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