Losing their marbles
Las Vegas Sands shutters a ‘no longer aligned’ digital biz
Sudden closure puts paid to live casino and marble racing projects.
The week ahead: E+M PRO launches its Earnings Preview editions.
Markets: DraftKings and Flutter slump, Robinhood soars.
Product placement: Evolution incubates a new slots studio.
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Shifting Sands
Of our elaborate plans, the end: Las Vegas Sands’ digital experiment, developing B2B offerings in live casino and newer forms of gaming entertainment, including marble racing, has been abruptly shut down with the loss of up to 400 jobs.
Sources suggested the timing is curious, given the company was apparently set to announce a deal with a major operator for the provision of gaming in Europe this coming week.
Of everything that stands, the end: According to a letter sent to affected employees from LVS COO Patrick Dumont and quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “further pursuit” of the Sands Digital Services (SDS) business was “no longer aligned with the company’s core long-term objectives.”
The SDS initiative has swallowed up over half-a-billion dollars of investment in the last two years.
“In the end [the management] decided the regulatory risk of competing with Evolution was not worth killing the golden goose,” said the source who spoke to E+M on condition of anonymity.
Trust issues: Las Vegas Sands has always had at best an arm’s-length relationship with online gaming, going back to the tenure of its founder, the late Sheldon Adelson. It has shunned the potential for B2C online operations in the US – and even turned its back on Las Vegas itself – to concentrate on its Macau and Singapore resorts.
A sop: The SDS initiative appeared to contradict that, but ever since it was set up in 2022, it has failed to get even a mention on the subsequent earnings call.
This was despite lofty aims – to challenge in the live casino arena – and a combined investment of $266m between 2023 and 2024.
Marble flaw: The source described a venture that went well beyond generic live blackjack tables and a studio facility built and staffed in Bulgaria. SDS built various prototypes, including what the source suggested was an all-singing, all-dancing 40-second marble racing game. “Each studio cost $1.5m to build,” they added.
Alongside the major operator deal for Europe, further tie-ups were also thought to have been agreed, including in the US.
“Three $5m contracts were on the desk of the general counsel and then yesterday (Thursday) they just told the operators it was over,” the source added.
Safety dance: The decision reflects LVS’ ultra-conservative DNA: avoid regulatory risk, preserve land-based licenses, and guard cash flow from its Macau and Singapore resorts. In the employee letter, Dumont said LVS remains “very fortunate to operate in the two best markets in our industry.”
The stance is in stark contrast to US-listed peers MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, which have more clearly leaned into online.
MGM Resorts has also embarked on a live dealer venture in conjunction with Playtech, which sees games broadcast from the floor of the MGM Grand.
Blink and you miss it: The fallout is likely to be immediate, with the news of the shutdown expected to be a talking point at this week’s G2E conference. The decision also leaves open the question of whether a buyer – perhaps a private equity-backed entity – could pick up the technology at pennies on the dollar.
For LVS, the retreat reaffirms its role as a land-based purist. By shuttering SDS, Sands avoids potential clashes with regulators wary of cross-channel conflicts and sidesteps a bruising fight with Evolution.
But it also surrenders what could have been a rare disruptive shot in online casino supply. “They had the games, the IP, even interest from major operators. But in the end, they blinked,” said one source.
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+More
Taxing issues: Entain CEO Stella David said the company would be forced to consider closing betting shops and diverting investment to other markets if the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves raises taxes in next month’s budget. Talking to The Times, David said that “having a dislocating increase in tax will have a dislocating impact on the industry.”
Clearance: The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has approved Sportradar’s acquisition of IMG Arena, concluding a regulatory review launched in July 2025. The deal is expected to close in Q4. Recall, under the terms of the deal, previous owner Endeavor will pay Sportradar $125m plus $100m in prepayments to sports rightsholders in order to take on the business.
Codere Group – not to be confused with Codere Online – has launched online operations in Italy under the Codere.it Italy-facing site. The business was previously a land-based-only concern.
Star Entertainment has finalised discussions with lenders, securing a loan covenant waiver for September 30 under its syndicated facility agreement.
Puts+Takes
Kalshi traffic: Looking at the state-by-state web traffic data, Jefferies noted the three major unregulated or restricted states of California, Texas and Florida accounted for 32% of Kalshi’s web traffic since the start of the NFL season, up from 26% prior to the season. Meanwhile, the traffic from the three largest regulated states of Illinois, New Jersey and New York has shrunk from 23% to 19%. Notably, California’s share of Kalshi traffic has grown substantially from 13% to 19% during the NFL season.
Earnings in brief
Smarkets: The UK-based betting exchange returned to growth and profitability in 2024, with revenue up 18% YoY to £24.8m, driven by a 95% surge in the SBK sportsbook. Profit before tax rose to £16.3m, though this included a £9.8m provision reversal; underlying profit was £6.5m, nearly three times 2023 levels. EBITDA jumped to £16.3m from £2m. International expansion gathered pace with launches in Sweden and Ireland, while the company laid groundwork to re-enter the US market in 2025.
By the numbers
France: FDJ United was the big winner in the French market in H1 with GGR up 19%, helping to drive total GGR up 3.5% to €5.7bn. According to the ANJ, online GGR rose 6% to €1.4bn, with sports-betting stakes up 15% to €6bn and GGR up by 10% to €961m, while horse betting was flat and poker declined 4%. Active accounts climbed 9% to 4.7m, aided by cross-selling.
The week ahead
Earnings previews: As part of Earnings+More’s enhanced coverage, this week sees the first of our Earnings Previews editions.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, we will send out our Q3 earnings preview for Evolution with our preview of Las Vegas Sands following on Thursday.
Over the following weeks, previews will be sent for the upcoming releases from Boyd Gaming, Churchill Downs, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.
If you wish to enjoy a 7-day trial of the E+M PRO offering, email scott@andmore.media or click below.
Markets
Storm damage: Leading OSB operators DraftKings and Flutter will be hoping the investor reaction to the most recent data from the predictions market is not itself an indicator of tougher times ahead. But the prospects don’t look great.
Both dropped more than 10% on Tuesday after the trading data from Kalshi and the social media boasts of Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev hinted at wider consumer take-up.
The share prices stayed depressed through the rest of the week, with Flutter down 9% and DraftKings off by 17%.
Soar point: In contrast, Robinhood itself was up nearly 20% as traders bought into what Tenev said about the company’s predictions market expansion.
Seen enough: DraftKings’ case with investors won’t be helped by Jefferies’ downgrading of their Q3 estimates today, cutting their adj. EBITDA forecasts from a positive $10m to a negative $140m.
The analysts have also cut their FY25 and FY26 forecasts in sympathy, with estimated adj. EBITDA now $587m for this year vs. previous estimates of $865m while the FY26 figure drops to $1.03bn from $1.28bn prior.
Bittersweet sympathy: The leading sports data providers, Sportradar and Genius Sports, also fell out of bed this week, down 9% and 7.5% respectively.
Neither would have been helped by the news that when Polymarket launches sports events trading in the US (very) soon it will be utilizing ‘fee-to-air’ data provider SportsDataIO.
Slings and arrows: Evoke and Entain have endured a tough week, not helped by the gathering rumors that the UK government will be targeting gambling taxes in the budget in November, with a hike in remote gaming duty looking like the industry’s weak point.
To make matters worse, the UK Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey of Great Britain reiterated that its problem gambling rate stood at 2.7%, up from last year’s 2.3%.
The anti-gambling lobby were quick to suggest the new data provided justification both for a tax rise and potentially an ad ban.
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Product placement – Evolution’s Sneaky Slots
Here we go round the mulberry bush: Undeterred by its somewhat lackluster record in RNG provision, Evolution has launched a new games studio called Sneaky Slots, which plans to release one new slot per month.
Sneaky Slots joins a growing list of online slot providers that work under the Evolution banner, including Nolimit City, Red Tiger, Big Time Gaming and, of course, NetEnt.
Evolution said the new studio is “designed with themes intended for both new and experienced players,” which is broad enough to mean anything.
X marks the spot: Specifically, Evolution said Sneaky Slots would be borrowing some of Nolimit City’s game mechanics, called xMechanics and including xBomb and xNudge.
Malcolm Mizzi, head of commercial ops of RNG at Evolution, said the games will bring “something bold and rebellious into the spotlight.”
“Rather than focusing on complexity or extremes, we aim to create unforgettable atmospheres that players truly enjoy,” he added.
Mizzi explained the intention for Sneaky Slots is to build on Evolution’s experience in slot development and to take advantage of its distribution network.
“This is a natural next step for Evolution, creating an exciting new brand from the ground up and leveraging our immense knowledge base of slots development across multiple brands,” he said.
He noted that with the heft of Evolution behind it, Sneaky Slots “starts with momentum that few new studios ever get.”
“We firmly believe that Sneaky Slots will capture the attention of players and industry veterans, becoming one of the industry’s newcomers to watch out for.”
Product news
Galaxsys is gearing up to release Chicken Crash, a fast-paced crash game with a chicken-racing theme. Games Global has custom-built The Price is Right, Gold Blitz Ultimate online slot game exclusively on behalf of BetMGM. SlotMatrix has released its latest hit slot 4 Wild Wolves in the state of Michigan, following the successful launch in New Jersey. Bet365 is among the first brands to sign up to esports data and betting odds provider GRID’s Rushzone product.
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Upcoming earnings
Oct 15: Entain, FDJ United, Rank
Oct 22: Churchill Downs (earnings), Rank CMD
Oct 23: Evolution, Churchill Downs (call), Boyd Gaming
Oct 24: Betsson
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