Strive Gaming Remain Fully Focused on North American Markets

home_field_advantage_strive_creates_a_pam_for_north_americaStrive Gaming, a software supplier that has created a full service omni-channel iGaming platform designed specifically for the North American markets, has announced it will keep focusing on the United States.

The company was founded just three years ago by Damian Xuereb, the current President, together with Max Meltzer, the current Chief Executive Officer. Xuereb says that the business had the advantage of understanding nuances of markets in each of the American states it operates in.

“We had the opportunity to do our research and ensure we built a product that meets not just the current state, but the future state or requirements, as and when we roll out into more and more states,” Damian Xuereb explained.

Another advantage for the company is that it refused to step into other markets away from the United States, keeping its focus solely on North America. “We won’t get distracted by other regulations,” Xuereb underlined, pointing out that the Brazilian, Dutch or German markets are not of interest for his company. “That means our business and our product will continually evolve around the North American player experience,” he added.

Eight Big Clients Secured

During its three years of activity, Strive Gaming secured partnerships with eight important iGaming brands. The first two were Desert Diamond and Golden Nugget Online Gaming in Arizona. Then the company signed agreements with Betsafe, PointsBet in Canada and Four Winds, owned by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. The supplier has already secured additional clients which are yet to be announced.

About the company’s partners, Damian Xuereb said that all of them managed to “gain meaningful market share.” The Strive Gaming President gave the example of Desert Diamond in Arizona, which is owned by a local tribal operator, and revealed that the brand is successfully competing with “big hitters” and also triumphed against nationwide companies. “With the right technology behind a brand, local operators can compete,” Damian Xuereb concluded.

The Strive Gaming founder also predicted that there will be growing opportunities in North America because while online sports betting is currently present in 36 American states, iCasino is available in just seven states and the market is bound to expand. Indiana is one of the states where gambling legalization is discussed, while Joseph Addabbo, a state senator from New York, has introduced a new version of a bill which would legalize online casino gaming and internet lottery.

Source: “Home field advantage: Strive creates a PAM for North America“. iGaming Business. January 24, 2024.

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Urban One Remains Focused on Owning Casino Following Richmond Defeat

Urban One is unwavering in its aspirations to own a casino resort.

Urban One casino Richmond Virginia
Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins speaks about the Richmond Grand Resort & Casino on Aug. 31, 2023, in Richmond. Voters in the Virginia capital rejected the casino resort pitch, but Liggins says his company remains interested in building and owning a casino. (Image: AP)

Urban One is a media conglomerate based in Maryland that owns and runs radio stations and television networks that primarily cater to the Black community. The firm hoped to build a more than a half-billion integrated resort casino in Richmond. But voters in the Virginia capital twice rejected a citywide ballot referendum needed to authorize the project.

Richmonders narrowly rejected Urban One’s 2021 casino pitch by a 51%-49% vote. The electorate again rejected a similar proposal from Urban One last month, but at a more decisive rate of 62%-38%.

Urban One, publicly traded on the Nasdaq, released its third-quarter earnings report this week and met with shareholders and analysts on a call. During the conversation, Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins revealed the media company continues to desire to own a casino.

In March, Urban One divested its stake in MGM National Harbor for $145.5 million, the richest casino in Maryland that’s located just outside the nation’s capital in Oxon Hill. Urban One in 2016 was welcomed by MGM Resorts to make a passive investment in the integrated resort to diversify the ownership structure of the project.

Liggins yesterday affirmed the company’s intention to pursue another casino stake.

Yes, absolutely. It’s a great business,” Liggins said. “We made a lot of money on our MGM investment. We made like 3.5 times our investment.”

Liggins recognizes that the U.S. economy is quite different today than it was when the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor casino was built and opened in December 2016.

“There is risk. You can overbuild, and interest rates are higher now,” Higgins said.

Richmond Rejections

Formerly known as Radio One, the Silver Spring firm was chosen by Richmond city officials in 2021 as the Virginia capital’s preferred gaming partner. Despite lacking any experience developing and/or operating a casino, the Richmond Resort Casino Evaluation Panel picked Urban One over competing bids from Bally’s Corporation and The Cordish Companies, the latter of which operates Live!-branded casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Richmond’s casino evaluation panel, handpicked by the City Council, sought to provide social equity by selecting Urban One. The proposal, known as ONE Casino + Resort in 2021, was more than half of a billion-dollar undertaking made through a partnership with casino operator Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E). The casino proposal additionally involved more than 50 individual investors, many of whom identified as minorities.

Unfazed by the 2021 will of the Richmond people, city officials and Mayor Levar Stoney (D) initiated a second gaming referendum, with Urban One remaining its development partner. However, for the 2023 push, Urban One was partnered with Churchill Downs after it acquired P2E.

The change didn’t matter, as capital residents rejected the casino again. The vote was divided among social demographics, with wealthier areas more opposed to the project than more blue collar neighborhoods.

Maryland Opportunity?

Urban One developing a casino in its home state of Maryland, where the company is most known, would be ideal. Maryland’s gaming law restricts the number of casinos to six. However, there are pathways to expand the industry, as state voters have a recent track record of backing gaming expansion questions.

During the November 2008 election, Marylanders passed a statewide ballot referendum that amended the state constitution to allow slot machines at five venues in the counties of Anne Arundel, Cecil, and Worcester, plus a city casino in Baltimore and another on state property in Rocky Gay State Park.

Table games with authorized through a subsequent referendum that passed in 2012. That same 2012 referendum question included the authorization of a sixth casino, with that license ultimately being awarded to MGM.

In 2020, voters further expanded gaming with retail and online sports betting.

There are now efforts to legalize iGaming through yet another gaming referendum. Could Urban One convince state lawmakers to include a provision on the internet gambling question to allow a seventh casino in the Old Line State? Purely speculation at this time, but Marylanders seem willing to continue growing its legal gambling options.

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