NFL Slot Machines to Enter Casinos Through Aristocrat Gaming Deal
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The NFL has signed an exclusive global licensing agreement with Aristocrat Gaming to build the first NFL-themed slot machines. Gamblers will be able to select games that display branding of their favorite NFL teams, with the machines expected to hit casino floors during the 2023 season.
Aristocrat Gaming is a licensed gambling operator in 300 jurisdictions across more than 90 countries. The slot machine developer’s multi-year deal includes non-exclusive rights to produce virtual sports games with the NFL.
“Today’s slot machines offer engaging experiences akin to popular video game consoles that our fans adore, and we believe with Aristocrat’s vision, we can bring that exciting gaming experience to fans on the casino floor looking to show their love of football,” Rachel Hoagland, the NFL’s VP of gaming and partnership management, said in a statement.
Caesars Entertainment signed a multi-year deal in 2019 to become the NFL’s first casino sponsor. The league has since signed betting deals with sportsbooks such as DraftKings, FanDuel, FOX Bet, BetMGM, PointsBet and WynnBet.
Space Entertainment Enterprise, the UK-based company producing Tom Cruise’s upcoming space movie, has announced plans to launch a sports arena and entertainment studio in space by 2024. The module will be connected to the International Space Station and is being constructed by Axiom Space, which won NASA’s approval in 2020 to build the commercial component of the ISS.
The low-earth orbit project, called SEE-1, is expected to be operational by December 2024. In addition to an arena to host sports events, SEE-1 will consist of a content studio to produce, record, and livestream films, television and music, according to a from Sports Entertainment Enterprise.
Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE) was founded by film producers Elena and Dmitry Lesnevsky, and the company’s advisors include Mark Taffet, a former SVP of sports at HBO. A SEE spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the company is in production of Cruise’s upcoming movie set to be filmed in space.
Golf operations software Whoosh has raised $6 million in funding led by Craft Ventures. The company’s platform streamlines management operations for private golf clubs, and its new funding spurred development of an app-based member booking system that Whoosh will debut at next week’s PGA Show in Orlando.
Whoosh’s software provides caddie tracking, a waitlist feature and chat communications for a club’s staff and members. The software launched last fall and was developed with input from more than 150 golf clubs across the U.S.
Other firms to invest in Whoosh’s new funding include Bienville Capital, Operator Partners, Human Ventures and Alaris Capital. According to Whoosh co-founder and CEO Colin Read, his company’s software will help golf club operators handle the sport’s participation increase seen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Clubs have been forced to dramatically change their operations to meet the elevated demand,” Whoosh Co-Founder and CEO Colin Read said in a statement. “We are focused on providing solutions that meet the workflows of our partners instead of having them alter their workflows to meet the constraints of legacy software.”
Tom Brady’s digital collectibles startup Autograph has raised a $170 million Series B funding round co-led by VC firms Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Kleiner Perkins. The funding will help expand Autograph’s NFT offerings across sports and entertainment, after having already released tokens for Brady and partnered with athletes such as Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka.
Investors Katie Haun, Arianna Simpson, Ilya Fushman and Chris Dixon will also join the company’s board. They join existing board members that include Brady and his Autograph co-founders Richard Rosenblatt and CEO Dillon Rosenblatt; Apple SVP of services Eddy Cue; FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried; musician The Weeknd; and Peter Mattoon, an investment manager who frequently works with Brady on his business endeavors.
Autograph launched in April and partnered with DraftKings in July to provide athlete NFTs to the company’s DraftKings Marketplace. The new Series B funding also included investments from Nicole Quinn of Lightspeed Venture Partners and San Francisco-based venture capital firm 01A.
Online sportsbook PointsBet says it successfully tested a live in-game betting option during Saturday’s NFL playoff game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals that aired on NBC. PointsBet app users were able to view live odds to make spread and moneyline wagers without any suspensions that prevented bets from being placed, the company announced on Wednesday.
PointsBet’s ‘Always On’ in-play wagering was powered by Banach Technology, a gambling software provider that was acquired by PointsBet for $43 million in 2020. PointsBet has an existing partnership with NBC, which included the media giant buying a minority equity stake in the sportsbook in 2020.
“During NBC's Saturday Playoff Game, our customers experienced 100% uptime and no suspensions on in-game spread and moneyline bets, which we believe to be the first ever result of this kind in the U.S,” PointsBet USA CEO Johnny Aitken said in a statement.
PointsBet joins other betting operators such as BetMGM and DraftKings to embrace in-play sports betting in the United States. For the 2022 NFL season, PointsBet plans to expand its live betting options and improve the customer experience. In December, PointsBet signed a multi-year deal with sports data firm Sportradar to grows its live betting and in-app sports streaming offerings.
Kitman Labs has released its new management system, The Intelligence Platform, to serve as an operating system and multi-disciplinary tool for efficient sharing and interpretation of data and insights.
The goal for the Intelligence Platform is break down silos between departments within a team as data grows exponentially, withKitmanLabsprojecting a 9,000% increase in data points collected per player by 2025. The Intelligence Platform seeks to be both an athlete management system and an analytics system for use by general managers, scouts, coaches, high performance staff and the medical team. Each IP will be bespoke, with Kitman’s experts customizing the processes for everyorganization.
This advance follows Kitman Labs’$52 million Series C roundthat was led by led by Guggenheim Investments and strategic acquisitions ofThe Sports OfficeandPresagiaSports.The companymaintains morethan 700 teamsacross theNFL, MLB, NHL, NCAA, English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga,Premiership Rugby and more.
