The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has cancelled Dorobet’s B2B gaming service licence after ruling that the online gambling operator breached rules related to regulatory payments.

Net Gaming Europe has reported a year-on-year drop in revenue and profit in 2019, with chief executive Marcus Teilman saying the introduction of new local regulations across Europe had made for a challenging year for the online gaming affiliate business.

Colorado’s gambling regulator, the Limited Gaming Control Commission, has approved seven licences and the state’s regulations for sports betting.

Sweden’s AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) posted the highest full-year revenue in the company’s history in 2019, though a decline in its core racing vertical and Sweden’s new gaming taxes hit operating profit for the year.

The Montana Lottery Commission has announced that it expects to begin the roll-out of sports betting terminals across the state in the week commencing 9 March, with a view to allowing consumers to place legal wagers soon after.

Penn National Gaming (PNG) has finalised its acquisition of a 36% stake in digital sports media company Barstool Sports for a total consideration of approximately $163m.

Total revenue at Raketech for the 12 months to 31 December 2019 amounted to €23.9m (£19.9m/$25.8m), down 6.5% from €25.6m in the previous year. Raketech said despite an 8.8% increase in new depositing customers for the year – climbing to 108,365 – revenue was negatively impacted by a decline in player value in Sweden during the year. Total operating expenses in 2019 jumped 23.6% year-on-year to €17.8m, with Raketech seeing costs climb across several areas of the business. Staff costs were the main outgoing, with employee benefit expenses up 7.4% to €5.2m, due in part to a €400,000 severance payment to former chief executive Michael Holmberg. Direct costs related to fixed fees and commission revenue were up by 71.4% to €3.6m, which Raketech said was a result of increased investment on its product portfolio, as well as higher marketing spend. Other expenses were up from €4.2m to €4.6m, while Raketech said depreciation and amortisation costs rocketed by 170.6% to €4.6m mainly due to its purchase of Casumba Media and costs related to the acquisition of CasinoFebe. However, Raketech was slightly helped by not having any expenses for its IPO, which last year set it back €1.5m. Read the full story on iGaming Business.

Revenue for the year amounted to €67.5m (£56.2m/$72.9m), with organic growth - existing assets’ revenue - accounting for 24% of the full-year increase. Revenue share agreements accounted for 68% of the year’s taking, with 16% coming from cost per acquisitions (CPAs), 6% from subscriptions, and 10% form other sources. Over the year, Better Collective signed up more than 431,000 new depositing customers (NDCs), a 66% year-on-year advance. Better Collective also completed a number of deals, the highest-profile being the acquisition of a 60% stake in Rical, parent company of the Rotogrinders Network, for €18m. It also acquired the assets of Florida-based sites Vegasinsider.com and ScoresandOdds.com, again for €18m, and the UK-facing MyBettingSites.co.uk for €2.4m. Better Collective also acquired a 19.99% stake in responsible gambling technology provider Mindway AI. Read the full story on iGaming Business.

Revenue for the 12-month period through to 31 December 2019 amounted to €102.8m, down 2.1% from €105.0m in the previous year. Catena noted a 1.8% year-on-year decline in search revenue from €89.9m to €88.3m, while paid revenue also dropped 15.0% to €11.9m and subscription revenue 57.7% to €2.6m. The affiliate giant said revenue share arrangements were responsible for 43% of total revenue for the year, with 40% attribute to cost per acquisition revenue, 15% from fixed fees and 2% from subscriptions. Catena also noted that around 81% of revenue was generated in locally regulated or taxed markets. In terms of spending, Catena has issued a warning earlier this week that higher costs related to certain areas of the business would likely impact its full-year financial performance. Read the full story on iGaming Business.

Revenue for the 12 months through to 31 December 2019 amounted to €14.3m (£12.0m/$15.4m), down 23.1% from €18.6m in the previous year. Net Gaming said that this decline was primarily due to regulatory effects and an accelerated transition to revenue share, which had a negative impact on revenue. “2019 has been incredibly challenging and characterised by regulatory effects in the European market,” Teilman said. “The major change in the business model to an increased proportion of revenue share has had a negative impact on our revenue in 2019. “The main purpose of changing the business model is to build a more stable revenue base with a larger share of recurring revenue. We estimate that the increased proportion of revenue share reduced our revenue by €1.1m to €1.5m, which contributed to 25-35% of the revenue decline in 2019.” Read the full story on iGaming Business.

Pennsylvania becomes the fourth state in which GiG’s Media division is active through its US-facing websites the World Sports Network (WSN.com) and CasinoTopOnline.com. GiG was granted an affiliate vendor registration in New Jersey in January 2019, followed by a certificate of registration for sports betting in Indiana in December 2019. WSN.com is also operational in West Virginia, where there are no licensing requirements for sports betting affiliates. “The Pennsylvania authorisation comes at an opportune moment for us as our flagship website, WSN.com, continues to climb in Google rankings in the US,” GiG chief executive Richard Brown said. “This will provide us with more opportunities to convert visitors into players and we’re fully prepared to enter more states as they allow legal operators to start accepting customers.”

Forlán will assist in promoting the brand across Asia through a series of branded content where he will share his thoughts on V9BET’s products and insights into UEFA Euro 2020. In addition, Forlán will join V9BET members at the Euro 2020 Final in July this year. “V9BET represents a young and lively brand in the market, and it is the leader on sports gaming. It is my pleasure and honour to be the ambassador of V9BET, to represent their brand, image and spirit,” Forlán said. A spokesperson for V9BET added: “We are proud to announce Diego Forlán as our 2020 official brand ambassador for V9BET. We hope this partnership brings more trust and assurance to our valued members.”