Relax Gaming has signed a deal with Meridian Gaming which will see the developer, aggregator, and supplier introduce its gaming portfolio into the gaming empire’s home market in Serbia for the first time. After dipping its toe in the Balkan water it’s expected that Relax will expand its offering into further markets Meridian operates in.

Meridian Tech d.o.o. was founded in Beograd in 2001 and is the parent company of the Meridian Group which includes Meridianbet. Licensed in several Balkan states Belgium, and the Maltese jurisdictions, the Group operates 993 betting shops in three dozen different countries on four continents across the European markets, Latin America, and Africa. Among those retail shops are four in Malta, the last of those established in 2021 at Bugibba ( St. Paul’s Bay).

Partnerships with tier-one companies like Relax Gaming have helped Meridian transition from a retail sports provider to an online powerhouse. Some of the earlier partnerships that added synergy to the operator’s solid establishment and expansion in the vertical include partnerships with Wazdan and Scout Gaming.

International customers of Meridianbet will now be able to enjoy popular Relax Gaming titles such as Beast Mode, Temple Tumble, and Money Train 2.

Relax Games and 50 Studio Partners

The Relax homegrown portfolio is not all, though. They’ve been creating partnerships and making deals with dozens of other top-tier developers, studios, labs, and providers and now boast content from about fifty hand-picked partner studios that will all become available to the operator.

Powered by Relax and the Silver Bullet RGS (remote game server) partnership programs helped Relax Gaming attract talent and now they can share it with new audiences through Meridian Gaming.

Relax Gaming CCO, Nadiya Attard commented on the deal. She said: “We’re delighted to make our first appearance in the Serbian market with Meridian Gaming. The operator boasts an impressive reach across three continents and this deal gives us a real boost as we look to make a statement in this region.

Deal Drives Differentiation

“This is the ideal move to ensure we continue to drive differentiation on the global stage and we look forward to a long and positive relationship with Meridian so ensure we both accomplish that.”

Milan Djurmez, Head of Online Casino at Meridian Gaming, said: “Relax’s innovative slot offering brings immersive and engaging products to a wide range of players, and we’re delighted to say that will include our own customers as a result of this deal.

“We are extremely excited to see how our customers react to having all these new, ground-breaking titles at their fingertips.”

Alexia Smilovic Ronde of Relax Gaming added some regulatory and compliance notes while talking of the expansion when he discussed Serbia being an emerging market with explosive growth since 2019. The country’s stable regulatory framework makes compliance much easier to attain than it would be in some nascent regulatory jurisdictions.

Source: Relax Gaming debuts in Serbia with Meridian Gaming, G3 Newswire, March 2022

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On Tuesday, March 8^th, 2022 amidst the shutdown of domestic / international football during the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, FIFA has announced that they are in agreement with Ukraine’s request to postpone the nation of Ukraine’s World Cup qualifying playoff which was originally scheduled to be held in Scotland in 2 – weeks’ time from now.

FIFA has also publicly announced as well as ultimately decided to award Poland a bye through their playoff semifinal match versus Russia that was also concurrently scheduled on Thursday, March 24^th, 2022. That conclusion will very much be contested by an urgent Russian appeal process directed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a FIFA ban on its national teams.

FIFA stated that it will now organize the Scotland – Ukraine match in June of 2022 during the next fixture dates that are protected for national clubs.

The delay became very probable as the Ukraine Premier League shut down all football activities following the Russian military violently invaded Ukraine on Thursday, February 24^th, 2022.

Ukraine found refuge in, “The impossibility of organizing both the travel and training of a team under the current circumstances,” which FIFA explained in a recently released statement.

Most of the team from Ukraine is classically drawn from the domestic clubs of the Dynamo Kyiv as well as the Shakhtar Donetsk. Ukraine was incapable of resuming football matches on Saturday, February 26^th, 2022 following a mid – winter cessation, and most of their men that played for these clubs from other countries were forced to leave Ukraine in order to decisively escape the war between Russia and the Ukraine.

This most recent FIFA postponement of games creates more upcoming anticipated uncertainty to the 2022 World Cup finals tournament draw which was scheduled to begin on Friday, April 1^st, 2022 in the host nation of Qatar.

It was going to already be in front with 2 of the 32 – admissions undecided due to a loaded accumulation throughout the COVID – 19 pandemic era. An inter – continental playoff round was inevitably moved back to June of 2022 already.

The draw for Doha is expected to now possess just 29 – calculated football squads with the playoff bracket featuring Scotland, Ukraine, Wales, as well as Austria now held – up too.

Ukraine was all set to face off against Scotland via a 1 – game playoff semifinal to be played in Glasgow, and the victor of that match was supposed to match – up at Wales or Austria just 5 – days later for a ticket to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. The Wales vs. Austria contest is presently scheduled and ready to go ahead for Thursday, March 24^th, 2022.

The national teams of Europe are established to return to regular game play following the 2021 – 2022 club season conclusions finishing up at the Champions League final on Saturday, May 28^th, 2022. Ukraine’s Oleksandr Zinchenko could be involved in that game with Manchester City.

Thursday, June 2^nd, 2022 looks like the next best option for a Scotland vs. Ukraine playoff on a day when multiple countries will start their UEFA Nations League groups.

Ukraine as well as Scotland have begun to be drawn together in a 2^nd – tier Nations League group, and they were due to play each other in Glasgow on Tuesday, June 7^th, 2022. The date of this scheduling could be a necessity for the playoff bracket final versus either Austria or Wales as of now.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has started up so much shit that I would not be surprised if the 2022 World Cup set to be played in Qatar this summer to be either postponed or cancelled altogether depending upon how things shake out in the far Eastern hemisphere over the upcoming several months.

FIFA and UEFA imposed a ban / boycott a week ago that excluded all Russian – teams from all of their international competitions no matter what.

The Russia – Poland playoff was a portion of a playoff bracket that included Sweden as well as the Czech Republic. The other 3 – football federations have also strongly declined to play Russia too.

The Russian Football Union’s (RFU) appeals have been established as early as Tuesday, March 8^th, 2022 by the CAS. Russia is looking to put a freeze on the punishments in an effort to allow the Russian national team to compete, but that will most likely not happen as of the current conditions.

Sources:

Dunbar, Graham. “FIFA postpones Ukraine playoff, gives Poland a bye vs Russia”. The Associated Press. March 8, 2022.

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Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley will miss at least the entirety of the 2022 NFL season after the league suspended him for betting on games in 2021.

In a statement announcing the suspension, the NFL calls it “indefinite” and does not use the word “allegedly” or related verbiage to describe Ridley’s wagering activities. The league says its investigation found no evidence that Ridley used privileged data or inside information to place his wagers and that there’s no indication Falcons coaches, staff, teammates, or other NFL players were aware of his activities.

Your actions put the integrity of the game at risk, threatened to damage public confidence in professional football, and potentially undermined the reputations of your fellow players throughout the NFL,” said Commissioner Roger Goodell in a letter to Ridley.

The league says Ridley’s bets were placed during a five-day span last November when he was away from the Falcons and on the non-football illness list.

Ridley May Have Bet on Falcons

In a tweet posted earlier today, Ridley said he wagered $1,500 total and that he is not a problem gambler.

It’s not immediately clear where Ridley placed the wagers. Regulated sports betting hasn’t been approved in Georgia, implying that if the player placed his bets in that state, he did so through an offshore sportsbook or a local bookmaker.

Ridley, 27, is entering his fifth year with the Falcons. Reportedly, the team recently fielded multiple trade offers for the former first-round pick out of Alabama. But the Falcons didn’t engage in those talks because the organization knew the player’s suspension was imminent.

“We were first made aware of the league’s investigation on Feb. 9. We have cooperated fully with the investigation since receiving notice and support the league’s findings and actions,” the team said in a statement.

Ridley can apply for reinstatement on or after February 15, 2023. Under the terms of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), he has three days from today to appeal the suspension.

Ridley Not the First

Since the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May 2018, the NFL has embraced regulated sports wagering. They have allowed select sportsbook operators to run a limited number of ads during league broadcasts and even taken equity stakes in some gaming companies.

Prior to Ridely, just one other player — former Arizona Cardinals defensive back Josh Shaw — was suspended by the league for betting. Shaw was kept out of the 2020 season and reinstated on March 20, 2021.

“For decades, gambling on NFL games has been considered among the most significant violations of league policy warranting the most substantial sanction. In your case, I acknowledge and commend you for your promptly reporting for an interview, and for admitting your actions,” said Roger Goodell in his letter to Ridley.

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As the Department of Justice in Ireland works toward implementing the new Gambling Regulation Act, junior justice minister James Browne TD has announced that a chief executive for the Gambling Regulatory Authority is being sought to oversee the operations and execute responsibilities as an independent regulator answering directly to the Department of Justice.

The application period for CEO Designate opened on 25 February 2022 and will remain open until 3:00 pm on 21 March 2022. The recruitment is being managed by the Public Appointments Service in concert with an Executive Search Agency. According to the pathway mapped for the completion of the legislation progressing, the Authority is expected to be established and operational in 2023.

A Focus on Consumer Protection

The general scheme of the Act was published last year and the bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by Ireland‘s Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice. The bill is expected to include specific guidance on mobile gaming age verification, spending limits, and prohibitions on certain promotions like free bets that could be seen as attracting vulnerable customers back to gambling.

Minister Browne said in a statement that regulators will, “regulate gambling, gaming, and lottery services by both the commercial and non-commercial providers of such services, including their advertising, in order to achieve a high degree of compliance with the act“.

According to a report in the Irish Examiner, Browne has stated the Gambling Authority could have a staff of up to 100 and would eventually be self-supporting through the industry but would initially be backed by €8m to €12m from the government during the first few years of oversight and enforcement operations.

Wide-Ranging Enforcement Authority

As is the case in the UK, the Authority will have the ability to issue sanctions and fine operators who breach the responsibilities of their licenses. Moreover, the gambling regulator will have powers to interrupt any operator deemed to be supporting any sort of crime including money laundering as well as enforcement authority advertising including sponsorships as well as licensing itself.

The Designee, he said, “will effectively be a CEO with a staff of up to 100 employees — a range of experts who will be public servants rather than civil servants. I look forward to the appointment of the regulator in the coming months,” said Browne. He also stated, “The gambling regulator will have the powers to hold the gambling industry responsible for their actions,” he said.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sanctioned the recruitment of the CEO Designate of the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland last October.

Source:

Applications open as Government seeks new gambling regulator, The Irish Examiner, March 1, 2022

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BetMGM, one of the largest iGaming and online sportsbook operators in the US, announced today it’s accepting sports wagers in Illinois.

The news arrives as the already thriving regulated sports betting market in the sixth-largest state is waiving its in-person registration requirement. That means bettors don’t have to go to a land-based casino to be eligible to place wagers via computers and mobile phones.

This launch marks a significant milestone for BetMGM as we enter one of the country’s biggest sports betting markets,” said BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt in a statement.

BetMGM is a 50/50 joint venture of MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) and Entain Plc (OTC:GMVHY). Illinois is the 22^nd market the operator entered, and in those states, the company usually leads in terms of internet casino market share (in states where that’s allowed) and is among the top three for online sports betting share.

Fresh off its January debut in New York, BetMGM’s launch in Illinois is relevant to industry analysts and investors. That’s because the company has an established record of iGaming and sports wagering leadership in nearby Michigan.

Good Timing for BetMGM

Indicating that BetMGM has some impeccable timing regarding its Illinois entry, the state’s in-person registration mandate is no longer in effect as of today.

Those internet operators skirted that mandate by applying their brands to local casinos. Later, as the state faced budget woes owing to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) waived the in-person registration requirement to boost revenue.

He again implemented it last April amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in the state. Even with the on-again, off-again live registration mandate, Illinois ascended the ranks of states by sports betting handle, placing fourth as of the end of 2021.

Good Timing Part II

Based on the $8.9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2021 — the period for which data are most recently available — adults in Illinois are wagering $9,341 a minute on sports, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Alone, that point confirms the allure of Illinois to gaming operators. But further cementing the notion that BetMGM’s timing is excellent is the fact that the NCAA Tournament — annually one of the most wagered-on sporting events in the US — starts on March 13.

With multiple teams from Illinois expected to be in the tournament, and perhaps up to seven Big 10 teams making the field, March Madness 2022 could be a significant revenue generator for Illinois and the sports wagering companies operating there.

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