MARCH 2016

20163

VOLUME 6
6

A COMPARISON:

DAILY FANTASY
SPORTS
SPORTS
BETTING
VERSUS

DAILY FANTASY SPORTS

CONTENTS

01

DECREASE IN SOCIAL CASINO PLAYERS

SEEN IN 2015, YET ENGAGEMENT INCREASE
2015

05

A COMPARISION:
DAILY FANTASY SPORTS vs SPORTS BETTING
Daily Fantasy Sports

11

ICE 2016: TAKEAWAYS FROM THE

BIGGEST GAMING INDUSTRY EVENT OF THE YEAR
ICE2016

IVAN COMPETENTE

Writer/Editor
ijcompetente@neworientalclub88.com

DECREASE IN SOCIAL CASINO

PLAYERS SEEN IN 2015,
YET ENGAGEMENT INCREASED.
2015

Mobile technology is, in this day

and age, already an integral part

of ones life. Truly, a lot of smartphones and other related gadgets
are emerging in the market. As
more and more people are getting
hooked with the use of these devices, app developers saw this as
an opportunity for them to grow
along with this technology advance. The industry of gaming,
particularly that of social casinos,
is one of them.

Indeed, social casino gaming is

increasing in popularity today. As
already mentioned in the December issue of this publication, the
past ve years saw the emergence
of mobile casinos, regardless of
whether they involve real money
or not. Similarly, the period also
saw the popularity of various
social gaming titles in Facebook
and other social media sites.

01

Indeed, when it comes to preference, people who regularly play

social casino games choose to play
in mobile more than any other
platform. Again, as mentioned in
the December issue of The
Monthly Bet, it has been seen that
more than half of single-platform
social casino players (i.e. those
who play either on the Web or
using their mobile gadgets)
choose to play on mobile. True
enough, such information justies
the projections being made by
numerous analysts that proclaim
mobile as one sector that will
dominate the social casino market
in the next few years.

The Monthly
Bet 12

new data from SuperData, a

market intelligence provider focusing on digital games. During
the 12 months leading to December 31, the monthly active users
of social casino games pummeled
by 13 percent. Interestingly, the
report, which was titled Social
Casino Metrics: Industry Trends
and Analyses and was released
last January, revealed that even
though there was a decline, those
who stick to playing such games
are getting more and more engaged. This means that they are
not only playing frequently, but
are also willing to pay more.
2015

SuperData

123112

13

However, the year 2015 saw a

monthly decline in the number of
social casino players, according to

02

ing such games due to annoying

ads that either pop out of nowhere or are shown in an aggressive manner.
The drop in monthly active users
does not necessarily indicate that
the social casino gaming sector of
iGaming is on the verge of a collapse. In 2012, it was reported
that top gaming company Zynga
was earning nearly three-fourths
of its non-advertising revenue
from half a percent of its users.
Recent data showed that less than
half a percent (0.23%) of mobile
game players accounted for
around two-thirds of in-app revenue.

SuperData

35

2012

Zynga

0.23

SuperData thus noted publishers

to consider opt-in ads that provide
bonus rewards for the players
in-game currencies. True enough,
Carter Rogers, a SuperData analyst, noticed that VIP rewards programs are one of the tools that
will help in recruiting and at the
same time retaining highly valued
social casino patrons. Publishers
with such programs are said to
earn 68% more in December than
those who dont.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting in

SuperDatas report that ads play a
huge part in determining the
trends within social casino play.
Indeed, players get to know about
a new game through social network advertisements, which is a
far cry from how video games
where players get to know about
them through recommendations
from other people. Marketing may
be a big indicator, but the report
also revealed that 35 percent of
the social casino players stop play-

SuperData

SuperData
VIP

VIP
VIP
68

03

Finally, with social casino gamers

continuous shift to mobile, the
rm reported that revenue in this
realm of iGaming will surpass that
of desktop games during the
coming year. A projected increase
of 11% in earnings would yield an
estimated $1.4 billion.

11
$14
Information from this report, as
well as the upward development
of the social casino sector of iGaming, is indicative of iGamings
thrust as the gaming industry progresses this decade. The mobile
gaming platform may be hitting its
stride, but desktop games and
other avenues in gaming are likewise ramping up in revenue due
to the popular gaming titles and
the way they are advertised to the
players.

hard to break into the continent,

largely because of Chinas dominance of the markets mobile
gaming sphere. The market in
China for mobile and social casino
gaming, in fact, are largely handled by media companies such as
GREE and Tencent, so much that
they occupy almost three-fourths
of the regions revenue last year.
In order for the game publishers
to enter the market, they would
have to partner with the local
companies rst.

GREE

A challenge here, however, is how

social casino games within the
mobile sector get to penetrate
certain markets around the world.
In the Asian market, for instance,
Western game publishers nd it

04

A COMPARISON:

DAILY FANTASY
SPORTS VERSUS
SPORTS BETTING

DAILY FANTASY SPORTS

Who does not love watching

sports? They denitely give fans

thrill and excitement, especially
when watching them live at the
venue or simply in-front of the
television sets. When a game involving a favorite player or team is
missed, people can just connect to
the Internetvia desktop or mobileand check the games results
and even have a look at some of

the games highlights. But many

sports fans nowadays arent just
limited to going online and
check-ing whether a team lost or
won a certain game, or see if their
favorite teams or players perform
well. There is now betting involved
in doing any of these two things.

05

Sports betting and daily fantasy

sports have become two of the
most popular forms of online
gambling. While the former has
been popular ever since online
gambling became a thing in the
late 1990s, the latter is more of a
recent development as it emerged
from the general idea of fantasy
sport games. These two are fairly
common in todays time that
sometimes, they are distinguished
to be one and the same. Yes, they
share some similarities, but of
course, outweighing them are
their glaring dierences.
DFS

90

How each of them work

Sports betting refers to an activity

wherein players predict the results
of a certain sporting event, say a
game of basketball, and place a
wagerusually moneyon its
outcome. In the world of online
gambling, there are a lot of
sportsbooks oering players a
wide range of sporting events for
them to bet on, including basketball, football, tennis, volleyball, so
on and so forth. All players have to
do is pick the event and place bets
within a certain wager limit based
on the odds of that event.

Daily fantasy sports (DFS), meanwhile, is an activity wherein players pay an entrance fee to join a
tournament, build a roster of professional athletes from a particular
league or competition while complying with a salary cap, and earn
points based on the real

06

statistical performance of the athletes they chose. This is what best

describes fantasy sports games in
general, but the daily in DFS is
such because the tournaments
are on a daily basis, sometimes on
a weekly basis. Thus, the performance of the athletes are usually
based on their play on a given day
or week, as opposed to typical
fantasy sports formats that usually
cover a leagues entire season.
DFS

DFS

DailyDFS

How they are the same

Both DFS and sports betting are

similar in many ways. One of them
is the fact that they have commissions. On one hand, DFS sites that
host tournaments often keep a
10% commission on all entry fees
that players pay upon entering the
competition. Take a head-to-head
contest between two players for
instance. Each of them pay $50 as
their joining fee. Winner will
obtain $90 as cash prize, with the
remaining $10

serving as commission.
DFS

DFS

10

$50

$90$10

On the other hand, the commission in sports betting usually

varies, but typically, the net
amount is lower. For example, a
player wagers that his team will
win over its opponent, and in
order to win, say, $100, must bet
$110. It may seem like a 10% commission, but its half of that. Thus,
the total possible return for placing $110 in order to win $100 is
actually $210. Said gure is used
to calculate the percentage of
commission that the bookmaker
receives.

$100$110
10

110100
210

07

The Dierences are Plenty

Like what has already been mentioned, the dierences outweigh

the similarities of the two, and
there are a lot of them. One is
their dierences is that in DFS,
players go up against each other,
while in sports betting, players
gamble against the odds laid out
by the bookmakers. In the former,
DFS tournaments involve players
with various levels of knowledge
of the sport/s involved, with the
sites conducting the tournaments
ourishing o of commissions
from every players entry fees. In
the latter, sportsbooks pit players
against only one opponent--the
bookmakers, whose primary role
is to guarantee prot, regardless if
the players win or lose their bets.

DFS

DFS

To better understand the dierences between these two popular

forms of betting, here are some of
the advantages of one over the
other and vice versa. First, here
are some of the advantages of Internet sports betting:

Players can place their wagers

on just about any sporting event
or league around the world.
Whether professional leagues or
world tournaments, bookmakers
oer a much wider range of
sports and wager types. DFS sites,
in comparison, only oer two or
three sports; in the US, it is only
basketball or American football.

DFS

Players can bet on a plethora

of sportsbooks found in the Internet. Major Web-based sportsbooks always compete for customers, drawing them to play by
oering features as well as bonus
oers. In DFS sites, there are only
two major websites in operation
in the United States: FanDuel and
DraftKings.

08

DFS
FanDuelDraftKings

Obtaining more prot is possible when betting in sportsbooks.

A small edge will make players
money without having to worry
about covering a commission. As
long as DFS participants pay a certain amount, say, a dollar, for a pot
money worth $100, sportsbooks
will still get the advantage when it
comes to payouts.

DFS

Then, here are some of the advantages of daily fantasy sports:

DFS

DFS requires less research.

Here, team ownersthose who
participate in the tournamentsentering DFS tournaments all have the real-life statistics of basketball or American
football players to look up, using
such information to determine
which of the athletes they will
choose for their rosters. Strategies
are important in building a win

ning team, but such a skill is not

applicable in sports betting.
DFS

DFS

DFS players go up against easy

competition. Anyone trying to
enter a DFS contest in either
DraftKings or FanDuel will encounter other owners with varying degrees of knowledge in this form of
online betting. On one hand, there
are owners who play DFS for a
living, or the so-called professionals. On the other hand, there are
owners who are considered part
of the majority of DFS owners, or
those who play just for fun and
get to play in contests with entry
fees of about $5 or $10.
DFS
DraftKingsFanDuel
DFS

DFS

$ 5$ 10

09

DFS only require small investment to play. Majority of DFS owners

join in tournaments where entrance fees are around $5 to $10. Bet that
amount of cash in an online sportsbook, and any player doing so may
not get that much.
DFSDFS
$ 5 $ 10

Regardless of similarities and dierences, there is no denying the growing popularity of both DFS and sports betting, especially for those who
are always tuned in to their favorite athletes or professional leagues.
They may have problemsonline sports betting are not available in all
countries while DFS is facing legal battles in the United Statesbut as
long as sports enthusiasts are around and willing to bet, these two forms
of online gambling will surely expand further in other jurisdictions.
DFS

DFS

10

w w w. o g 6 6 6 6 . c o m

ICE 2016:
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE

BIGGEST

GAMING INDUSTRY EVENT

OF THE YEAR

ICE2016

In the gaming industry, exhibits

and conventions are important

events that professionals and
leaders attend in order to achieve
two things: obtain insights about
the industrys ever-changing landscape and engage in networking
with all the other attendees. Usually three- or four-day events,
these interest-driven convergences involve companies discussing
about the latest trends and possibilities within their respective sectorsin essence, land-based (ofine) and iGaming. Not only that,
but these gatherings are

also perfect venues for these

companies to build up their network with other industry bigwigs
and startups.

11

Every year, numerous gaming exhibitions and conventions are held

across the globe, but when it
comes to extravagance and grandeur, none of these events come
close to ICE Totally Gaming. Often
considered as the largest gaming
industry event in the world, this
three-day February event is a
business-to-business (B2B) exhibit
that brings together the online
and oine gaming sectors of the
industry.

ICE

B2B

Over the course of three days, established companies launch their

new line of products, while startups introduce themselves to the
industry by exhibiting their respective brands. Moreover, ICE
presents an opportunity for all
attendees to learn and gain insights about the latest trends in
online and oine gaming and to
tackle issues surrounding them
through conferences. Finally, key
players in the gaming industryoperators, regulators, providers, third-party payment processors, etc.use the event to converge and discuss business opportunities; basically, ICE is an event
that fosters endless possibilities
for those involved.

ICE

ICE

ICE 2016: By the numbers

ICE2016
The latest edition of ICE Totally
Gaming took place at none other
than the ExCeL Centre, Londons
largest purpose-built events and
conference venue on February 2
to 4. The venue has been witness
to ICE events over the past few
years, and through and through,
the exhibit itself grew larger, accommodating more companies
and exhibitors as well as the attendees. Indeed, last months exhibit saw the venue occupying
38,980 square meters of net oor
space, which is basically 15 of 20
available halls within the ExCeL
Centre.

12

ICE2224
Excel

ICE

38980
Excel20
15
With the increase in oor size, it is
not surprising that the attendees
in the recently concluded ICE Totally Gaming event was the biggest on record. In 2015, ICE had
an independently audited record
of 25,497 attendees from 133
countries plus 510 exhibitors. Clarion Events, the organizer responsible for this important highlight in
the gaming calendar, hasnt released any statistics yet on what
transpired last month, but it surely
exceeded the 2015 statistics.

Like the previous exhibits over the

past few years, this years ICE Totally Gaming was a huge success.
Lively and busy, ICE 2016 was not
just lled with exhibit hall booths;
they are also brimming with
models engaging with attendees
and camera crews covering the
event. Parties were held, especially on the second day. But more
importantly, insightful discussions
about new developments in the
world of gaming and the issues
surrounding its dierent facets
where held through talks and conferences, featuring keynote speakers and industry experts.

ICE

ICE2016

ICE

2015ICE
133510
25497

2015

The overall in-depth discourse

over pressing trends and issues in
both land-based and iGaming is
denitely worth taking a look;
anyway, these are the reasons
why gaming exhibits and conventions are held in the rst place,
right? Thus, here are some of the
important takeaways that everyone involved in the iGaming industry, including you, the reader, can
take note of and learn from:

Important Takeaways from

ICE 2016
ICE2016

13

Gaming operators and the problem of forcing their players to

switch to another platform

In ICE 2016, a panel discussion

was held talking about exibility in
lotteries. Here, panelists agreed
that having other platforms in
place while retaining retail is the
best way to ensure that players
have other options in playing
lotto. This is denitely a prime example of an omni-channel approach in gaming, where the
land-based and online aspects
merge together to provide a complete oering for the customers.

Lottery operations are mostly

retail; that is, players go to outlets,
choose their winning combinations, and wait for the next draw
putting in mind not to lose their
tickets. Nowadays, however, many
of the operators the world over
have taken advantage of the digital aspect, bringing the thrill of
playing lotto either online or
through their mobile phones. It is
surely great to see this development, but many experts have cautioned operators not to force their
customers to play lotto through
mobile or online and totally scrap
retail at the same time.
;

2016ICE

The state of eSports

The sector of eSports is an emerging one in the gaming sphere.

Indeed, since it burst into the
scene a few years ago, a signicant amount of money is already
being wagered, making it the next
potential wagering platform. Sure,
regulators have begun looking at
this possibility to facilitate further
growth given the amount of
money already being wagered
there, but during a panel discus-

14

sion at ICE, experts believe that

this gaming sector still has a long
ways to go before it can be mentioned in the same breath as
sports betting. In fact, the problems that eSports is facing today is
similar to what is happening in
daily fantasy sports (DFS) and
sports betting, especially in the
American setting.

ICE

DFS

team wins over its opponent. Finally, the issue of skill-based

gaming in general continuously
causes confusion within legislators. All these problems considered present, eSports achieving its
full potential in the gaming industry is still up in the air.

Basically, the issues regarding eSports as a betting platform are

plentiful. One is that it is still contested in the US whether participating in a competition by rst
paying an entrance fee is considered wagering. Another is on the
aspect of betting on which team
will win an eSports tournament.
Also concerning for regulators is
the fact that there could be cheating happening, says one panelist
in the discussion. If the collection
of wagers is well-focused, the
same should also apply on ensuring that the game software being
used in tournaments are not
rigged with cheat codes or manipulated any way just so one eSports

15

Gaming and Millenials

Millennials, statistics show, get to

enjoy playing on digital platformsin mobile, in particularmore than just going directly
at the brick-and-mortar gaming
facilities. Most gaming operators
today, especially in the case of
land-based enterprises, are trying
attract millennialsthose born
between 1980 and 2000into
engaging to visit their facilities and
basically enjoy the gaming experience.

19802000

According to panelists in one talk

regarding gaming and millennials,
operators wanting to penetrate
the demographic must take into
account the latters mindset in
order for the former to stay relevant. The panelists suggests that
operators planning to establish
their facilities in many gaming jurisdictions must consider going
away from the typical traditional
feel to an even livelier, more engaging experience. This is where
the non-gaming aspect comes in;
the integration of entertainment
spaces around the gaming spaces
are examples on how land-based
game operators can instill to millennials a complete retail oering.

Japan as a Next Big Thing in

gaming

We are all well-aware of the ongoing saga with regards Japans

long-term plan to introduce integrated resorts in the country, with
the Japanese Diet focusing on
other things of national importance. The bill that will lay the
framework of Japanese gaming
regulations may have been put
into form, but the legislators have
yet to come into agreement on
this due to varying opinions. Still,
all signs point to Japan as the next
big thing in the vast gaming
market of Asia.

16

In one seminar at ICE, a keynote

speaker from Japan informed the
audience that many of its citizens
are participating in poker tournaments which are overseen by the
Japan Poker Association, a government-approved non-prot organization. Since this is so, the more
or less 50,000 active Japanese
players are competing in tournaments that dont involve money;
yes, there are no payouts. This is
due to the long delay of the
gaming bill, as people are looking
to not just play in these poker
tournaments, but also go underground. Another keynote speaker
in the seminar also expressed optimism that the gaming bill could
be on its way to become law by
the end of 2016, although there is
no saying when the legislators will
continue their discussions on the
matter.
ICE

50,000
;

2016

A separate seminar also discussed

how western game developers
can take cues from Japan when it
comes to innovations in the world
of iGaming. Indeed, Japanese developers have been coming up
with freemium gamesthose
that are ready-made and can be
turned into paid-for online and
mobile games. The challenge of
these Japanese developers to reinvent and come up with something new is what their Western
counterparts can do, who seem to
bank in on popular types of games
such as games of chance and slot
games.

17

The impact of ICE in the Asian

market
ICE

So many things have transpired in

the biggest industry event of the
year, and truly, the liveliness of the
gaming industry is evident in the
recently concluded ICE 2016.
Apart from the chance of those in
attendance to establish networks
with one another, everyone left
the exhibit lled with new and exciting information about the different facets of gaming, something that they can carry as they
continue on with their endeavors.

2016ICE

The Asian gaming market, for one,

can learn a lot from the experiences such as this, getting their hands
full on the new things that they
discovered at ICE. As they further
grow their business and contribute to the ever-expanding market
of gaming, Asian companies take
advantage of these exhibitions
and conferences to potentially implement fresh ideas into their existing products or services, allowing them to possibly bring in not
just customers and clients, but
also revenue.

ICE

Now that we are on the subject of

gaming conferences and gatherings, we are glad to inform you
readers that Oriental Game is preparing to be part of an annual iGaming event. It may not be as grand
as the one that happened last
month, but we can assure you
that we are going to introduce
ourselves into the Asian iGaming
scene, and this will happen in a
few months time. Stay tuned for
more updates from us!

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w w w. o g 6 6 6 6 . c o m