Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Longines]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42263157

GVC, owners of partypoker, bid £3.9bn for Ladbrokes Coral.

[tikay]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42263157

GVC, owners of partypoker, bid £3.9bn for Ladbrokes Coral.

Yes, I posted about that on TfT this morning.

The Online Gaming industry has been in consolidation mode for some time now.

The market size has been increasing rapidly the last few years, & consolidation was inevitable, it's a sort of land-grab.

Amazing how much it has all changed in the last 10 years.

The industry is very much geared towards recreational use these days, with all sorts of exotics which don't appeal to the Pros. In Sports Betting, stuff like RAB, Price Boosts in various guises, & Cash Out are incredibly popular & has fuelled the growth. The Pros don't like it, of course, but good Businesses go for where they can a) make most money & b) sustainability.

It's not long since sites like Ladbrokes & a few others never had a "common wallet", so when you went from say, poker to Sports Betting, you had to mess about transferring funds between wallets. Now almost all the sites - certainly the more enlightened ones - rely on cross-sell, so a Common Wallet is a must.

I saw some interesting Industry stuff recently, so I might post about it on here later. It belongs on Sports Betting Board really, but it's hard to have a sensible discussion about Online Sports Betting there without all sorts of cliche'd & boorish comments, & suggestions that all the staff are complete idiots. Shame really, as it's a fascinating topic.

[RED-DOG]

World's largest Starbucks opens in Shanghai.

It's big...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/business/starbucks-shanghai.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/czFIcXxmNy

But as it’s Starbucks, describing it as ‘big’ presumably means it’s actually medium-sized and there’s a bigger one

Too good.

You're wasted here Andrew.

[tikay]

World's largest Starbucks opens in Shanghai.

It's big...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/business/starbucks-shanghai.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/czFIcXxmNy

But as it’s Starbucks, describing it as ‘big’ presumably means it’s actually medium-sized and there’s a bigger one

Too good.

You're wasted here Andrew.

Yup, Andrew made a grande observation.

[Magic817]

World's largest Starbucks opens in Shanghai.

It's big...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/business/starbucks-shanghai.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/czFIcXxmNy

Wow, look at the crowds outside, & the queues to get in.

Starbucks is not cheap, so it's not that. In fact I'd hazard a guess that before overheads etc, a Starbucks Coffee can be made for about 50 or 60p, but sells at 5 times that.

We pay all that money for a Starbucks, or a bottle of "branded" water. I think it's a social thing, like Facebook, Snapchat or whatever. What a world we live in, or at least most of us when so many can pay £3 or whatever for a coffee, when there are several Refugee Camps which have populations greater than 250,000, & the inhabitants are grateful for free dirty water.

I never use Starbucks when in London, I prefer Costa, in fact, ideally I prefer those Costa machines in petrol stations & £ H Smith, as it is quicker. 

I guess my affection for Starbucks comes from memory association with things I like - Vegas. I associate Starbucks with loving life in Vegas.

Amazing company though. They are opening Stores in China at the rate of one every 15 hours. Incredible.

This made me think of this

Daniel Negreanu‏
@RealKidPoker
Dec 5

OK, so I’m not saying I do this, but do you think it’s weird to put FIJI water in your dogs water bowl?


Given the recent dog related posts, what do people think?

[tikay]

World's largest Starbucks opens in Shanghai.

It's big...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/business/starbucks-shanghai.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/czFIcXxmNy

Wow, look at the crowds outside, & the queues to get in.

Starbucks is not cheap, so it's not that. In fact I'd hazard a guess that before overheads etc, a Starbucks Coffee can be made for about 50 or 60p, but sells at 5 times that.

We pay all that money for a Starbucks, or a bottle of "branded" water. I think it's a social thing, like Facebook, Snapchat or whatever. What a world we live in, or at least most of us when so many can pay £3 or whatever for a coffee, when there are several Refugee Camps which have populations greater than 250,000, & the inhabitants are grateful for free dirty water.

I never use Starbucks when in London, I prefer Costa, in fact, ideally I prefer those Costa machines in petrol stations & £ H Smith, as it is quicker. 

I guess my affection for Starbucks comes from memory association with things I like - Vegas. I associate Starbucks with loving life in Vegas.

Amazing company though. They are opening Stores in China at the rate of one every 15 hours. Incredible.

This made me think of this

Daniel Negreanu‏
@RealKidPoker
Dec 5

OK, so I’m not saying I do this, but do you think it’s weird to put FIJI water in your dogs water bowl?


Given the recent dog related posts, what do people think?

Well it's obviously completely ridic, but assuming Little Danny - God bless him - does give his dog branded water, I guess we can cut him some slack as he has done more than most of us to support water-based charities such as this, which have done a lot of good work;


http://allinforonedrop.com/en/

[4KSuited]

World's largest Starbucks opens in Shanghai.

It's big...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/business/starbucks-shanghai.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/czFIcXxmNy

Wow, look at the crowds outside, & the queues to get in.

Starbucks is not cheap, so it's not that. In fact I'd hazard a guess that before overheads etc, a Starbucks Coffee can be made for about 50 or 60p, but sells at 5 times that.

We pay all that money for a Starbucks, or a bottle of "branded" water. I think it's a social thing, like Facebook, Snapchat or whatever. What a world we live in, or at least most of us when so many can pay £3 or whatever for a coffee, when there are several Refugee Camps which have populations greater than 250,000, & the inhabitants are grateful for free dirty water.

I never use Starbucks when in London, I prefer Costa, in fact, ideally I prefer those Costa machines in petrol stations & £ H Smith, as it is quicker. 

I guess my affection for Starbucks comes from memory association with things I like - Vegas. I associate Starbucks with loving life in Vegas.

Amazing company though. They are opening Stores in China at the rate of one every 15 hours. Incredible.

This made me think of this

Daniel Negreanu‏
@RealKidPoker
Dec 5

OK, so I’m not saying I do this, but do you think it’s weird to put FIJI water in your dogs water bowl?


Given the recent dog related posts, what do people think?

I think this confirms that DN's a great poker player/ambassador -  but irl he's something of a t***. I have a dog, and I love her; she's just as happy drinking from a muddy puddle as she is from her tap water bowl.

btw Tikay, have you tried Nero? IMO their's is the best (black, no sugar) coffee of London's high street chains.

[StuartHopkin]

Ha

I often bought bottled water for our dog when we took him to the pub!

[tikay]

World's largest Starbucks opens in Shanghai.

It's big...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/business/starbucks-shanghai.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/czFIcXxmNy

Wow, look at the crowds outside, & the queues to get in.

Starbucks is not cheap, so it's not that. In fact I'd hazard a guess that before overheads etc, a Starbucks Coffee can be made for about 50 or 60p, but sells at 5 times that.

We pay all that money for a Starbucks, or a bottle of "branded" water. I think it's a social thing, like Facebook, Snapchat or whatever. What a world we live in, or at least most of us when so many can pay £3 or whatever for a coffee, when there are several Refugee Camps which have populations greater than 250,000, & the inhabitants are grateful for free dirty water.

I never use Starbucks when in London, I prefer Costa, in fact, ideally I prefer those Costa machines in petrol stations & £ H Smith, as it is quicker. 

I guess my affection for Starbucks comes from memory association with things I like - Vegas. I associate Starbucks with loving life in Vegas.

Amazing company though. They are opening Stores in China at the rate of one every 15 hours. Incredible.

This made me think of this

Daniel Negreanu‏
@RealKidPoker
Dec 5

OK, so I’m not saying I do this, but do you think it’s weird to put FIJI water in your dogs water bowl?


Given the recent dog related posts, what do people think?

I think this confirms that DN's a great poker player/ambassador -  but irl he's something of a t***. I have a dog, and I love her; she's just as happy drinking from a muddy puddle as she is from her tap water bowl.

btw Tikay, have you tried Nero? IMO their's is the best (black, no sugar) coffee of London's high street chains.

Yes, in fact I enjoy the Nero brand more than any, but generally speaking, I can only access their outlets when I go on train journeys, as they have locations at many railway stations. 

[tikay]

As most of you know, I work for SG&B, and as a business, they are very successful indeed, more successful than any other Business of their size & type.

When DTD sponsored blonde, it was kinda disrespectful to discuss rival businesses, SB&G are a competitor to GVC, who own Party & are so closely associated with DTD.

Also, one oddity of the SB&G Business is that they freely share with the staff exactly how they are doing. We get to see, every single day, week & month, how much they won or lost, how many Uniques, how much staked, SPU, gross, expected, & actual profit, all that sort of stuff. But trust is involved, & we are expected to treat it as confidential, so it's not for discussion outside of the Business. 

Now that DTD are no longer our sponsor, that frees the shackles a bit. So some SB&G stuff follows, but ONLY because it is "in the domain", & has been openly published on the internet. Internally shared stuff has to stay off limits.

More follows then.....

[Karabiner]

World's largest Starbucks opens in Shanghai.

It's big...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/business/starbucks-shanghai.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/czFIcXxmNy

Wow, look at the crowds outside, & the queues to get in.

Starbucks is not cheap, so it's not that. In fact I'd hazard a guess that before overheads etc, a Starbucks Coffee can be made for about 50 or 60p, but sells at 5 times that.

We pay all that money for a Starbucks, or a bottle of "branded" water. I think it's a social thing, like Facebook, Snapchat or whatever. What a world we live in, or at least most of us when so many can pay £3 or whatever for a coffee, when there are several Refugee Camps which have populations greater than 250,000, & the inhabitants are grateful for free dirty water.

I never use Starbucks when in London, I prefer Costa, in fact, ideally I prefer those Costa machines in petrol stations & £ H Smith, as it is quicker. 

I guess my affection for Starbucks comes from memory association with things I like - Vegas. I associate Starbucks with loving life in Vegas.

Amazing company though. They are opening Stores in China at the rate of one every 15 hours. Incredible.

This made me think of this

Daniel Negreanu‏
@RealKidPoker
Dec 5

OK, so I’m not saying I do this, but do you think it’s weird to put FIJI water in your dogs water bowl?


Given the recent dog related posts, what do people think?

Well it's obviously completely ridic, but assuming Little Danny - God bless him - does give his dog branded water, I guess we can cut him some slack as he has done more than most of us to support water-based charities such as this, which have done a lot of good work;


http://allinforonedrop.com/en/

Given how disgusting the tap-water is in Vegas I think it's forgivable - tea brewed with Vegas Tap-water is undrinkable.

[tikay]

In late October, the EGR "Industry Awards" took place.

They cover all sorts, not just Sports Betting - Affiliates, Bingo, Slots, FTP, anything & everything in Online Gaming.

For the big companies, those with the full portfolio of Gaming Sites (as opposed to, day, just Bingo or Slots), the Blue Riband are the Awards given to the Sports Betting Businesses - as that is easily the biggest market.

And the top award  - Operator of the Year - went to.......Bet365, who also won Best Mobile Sports Product.

Thoroughly deserved, too, they are an incredibly well run business by any yardstick.

SB&G did not do too badly either, collecting more Awards than any other Business, being awarded Best Football Betting Operator, Best In-Play Sports Operator, Best Sports Betting Operator, & Best Mobile Operator.

Those were thoroughly deserved, too.

Next, a really fascinating article which will shock many of the betting experts..... 

[tikay]

This piece compares the stellar performances by both Bet365 & SB&G.

365 is global, & 4 times bigger than SB&G, which is (almost) UK & RoI only, & SB&G are now allowed to describe themselves as "The UK's most popular Sports Betting Operator".

Here's the piece;


https://www.sbcnews.co.uk/europe/uk/2017/11/10/bet365-sky-bet-go-right/


Truly outstanding numbers, & both of those 2 Businesses have reported similar revenue increases for 6 or 7 years on the bounce now.

As the article points out, Wm Hill, Ladbrokes-Coral & PaddyPower Betfair can only dream of such growth in the current market.

And how about this for a jaw-dropping stat about SB&G in the last FY;


total customers rising 31 percent to 2.6 million.

Just think about that, it's mind-blowing.


Of course, that rate of growth, which has been similar for 6 or 7 years now, can't keep going much longer. So SB&G now have start up Businesses in both Italy (Sky Bet Italia) & Germany (Sky Bet De).


https://www.skybet.it/


https://www.skybet.de/


Exciting times.

[nirvana]

In late October, the EGR "Industry Awards" took place.

They cover all sorts, not just Sports Betting - Affiliates, Bingo, Slots, FTP, anything & everything in Online Gaming.

For the big companies, those with the full portfolio of Gaming Sites (as opposed to, day, just Bingo or Slots), the Blue Riband are the Awards given to the Sports Betting Businesses - as that is easily the biggest market.

And the top award  - Operator of the Year - went to.......Bet365, who also won Best Mobile Sports Product.

Thoroughly deserved, too, they are an incredibly well run business by any yardstick.

SB&G did not do too badly either, collecting more Awards than any other Business, being awarded Best Football Betting Operator, Best In-Play Sports Operator, Best Sports Betting Operator, & Best Mobile Operator.

Those were thoroughly deserved, too.

Next, a really fascinating article which will shock many of the betting experts..... 

Organising these industry award gigs is such a great business model. Printing as they say

[tikay]

In late October, the EGR "Industry Awards" took place.

They cover all sorts, not just Sports Betting - Affiliates, Bingo, Slots, FTP, anything & everything in Online Gaming.

For the big companies, those with the full portfolio of Gaming Sites (as opposed to, day, just Bingo or Slots), the Blue Riband are the Awards given to the Sports Betting Businesses - as that is easily the biggest market.

And the top award  - Operator of the Year - went to.......Bet365, who also won Best Mobile Sports Product.

Thoroughly deserved, too, they are an incredibly well run business by any yardstick.

SB&G did not do too badly either, collecting more Awards than any other Business, being awarded Best Football Betting Operator, Best In-Play Sports Operator, Best Sports Betting Operator, & Best Mobile Operator.

Those were thoroughly deserved, too.

Next, a really fascinating article which will shock many of the betting experts.....  

Organising these industry award gigs is such a great business model. Printing as they say

I bet.

Was that the sort of gig you used to get involved in?

Industry Awards are a huge thing these days, quite a niche business organising them I would guess.

I was in Eastbourne recently, and the Grand Hotel Ballroom was packed to the rafters with the local newspaper Awards - "Eastbourne Herald South West Sussex Business Awards" or whatever.  

The room must have had 30 tables, each with 15 seated around it. Bet the Tables cost a mint to "buy", too.  God knows where all the people came from, I mean, how many Businesses can there be in a Town like Eastbourne?