Manila, Philippines – DigiPlus Interactive, a Philippine-based digital leisure and entertainment hub, is marking its expansion to Brazil following the country’s approval of the firm’s subsidiary DigiPlus Interactive Ltda. a definitive authority to operate sports betting and other online games.

According to a recent stock disclosure statement, DigiPlus’ Board of Directors approved the initial funding of PHP660m to pay for the license fees, minimum capitalization, financial reserves, and other operational expenses as part of the post-qualification process of the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Awards and Bets (SPA). This initial funding is intended for a three-month horizon.

DigiPlus first filed an application for Licença Para Loterias De Apostas De Quota Fixa in Brazil in August 2024, which is a federal license that allows the operations of land-based and online sports betting, electronic games, live game studios, and other fixed-odds betting activities in Brazil.

On 21 November 2024, DigiPlus Brazil has passed the qualification stage for a federal license with Brazil’s Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Awards and Bets (SPA). DigiPlus has 30 days to fulfill post-qualification regulatory requirements, including license fee payments.

After completion of the post-qualification requirements, SPA shall release the final list of operators authorised to operate from January 1, 2025 onwards. It would enable the corporation to operate online sports betting and other iGaming offerings in Brazil.

DigiPlus Interactive operates the digital bingo platform BingoPlus, sports betting platform Arena Plus, and carnival-inspired betting Perya Games. It was first established in 2022 following the launch of BingoPlus.

Sydney, Australia – As Super Bowl 2023 draws near, media agency Initiative is bringing back its popular Super Bowl ad betting competition via the Marketing-Multi platform. The competition is open to all ad industry experts who want to test their power of prediction.

Built by Initiative’s Cultural Analytics department, marketing-multi is crowdsourced by industry experts across Australia and internationally to provide the most eclectic multi-market with odds updating live every day.

Currently, ‘Chat GPT created spots’, ‘spot featuring the British royals’, and ‘appearance of Nepo babies’ are amongst the odds industry pundits are betting on through its website, marketingmulti.au.

In the competition, punters can only bet if an outcome will occur (yes or no), and how many times they predict the outcome occurring. Scoring will be based on probability with the final odds from each day added to a punter’s daily score calculation.

Similar to last year, there will be no money involved but the participant with the highest cumulative score will earn an official ‘Marketing-Multi Super Bowl Ring’ and industry ‘bragging rights’.

“Arguably the world’s biggest advertising platform, Super Bowl sets the stage for the biggest benchmarks in creativity where brands open their wallets and take a punt showcasing their brand, in often outrageous ways, to win the one true ad-attentive environment,” said Chris Colter, chief strategy and product officer at Initiative.

Ryan Haeusler, head of communications design and architect of the platform also explained, “The aim of the game is to get as many legs right, with no penalties for a wrong punt, whoever strings together the most correct answers takes home the ultimate prize: water-cooling bragging rights and the lofty title of this year’s Super Bowl Nostr-AD-Amus.”

Launched on February 8 last year, Marketing-Multi is targeted at helping industry experts predict the best and most hilarious ads of The Super Bowl.

Melbourne, Australia – Online betting company Sportsbet has revisited its ‘cinematic’ approach to its campaigns, tapping into the talents of its in-house creative team and virtual production team Palomina, to promote its latest products in line with the approaching National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League (AFL) seasons this year.

The campaign features five different scenarios through 2022 and follows the same lovable group of friends navigating unexpected scenarios with the help of Sportsbet’s Same Game Multi and Bet With Mates products.

Rambo Goraya, creative director at Sportsbet said that their internal creative team loved turning their ambitious ideas into reality with a new edge. 

“Every year we challenge ourselves to dial up the fun, the level of product insight, the humour and unexpectedness, all in the name of memorability and engagement with viewers. Dreamscreen blew us all away and provided an amazing setting for our ideas,” Goraya said.

Jason Thatcher, head of brand and advertising at Sportsbet, said, “Our audience give us a lot of feedback on the humour and enjoyment Sportsbet campaigns deliver and we never want to let them down. From an effectiveness point of view, we’re excited about our added focus on product this year to make sure we remain relevant and truthful to a growing betting customer base.”

Meanwhile, Clay Jacobson, founder and CEO at Dreamscreen, said, “We loved working on the Sportsbet TVCs. Dreamscreen technology comes into its own when creating whole worlds for productions to inhabit. It was a blast moving from Cleopatra’s temple one day, to then be deep into the supernatural caves of the Middle Ages the next.”

Campaign elements include 14 x 30 & 15s TVCs supported by various bespoke edits across social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat; plus OOH and major press.

Australia – A new acquisition by Aussie entertainment and technology group, PlayUp Ltd., has just marked a digital collision of sports – the company which is behind the online sports betting platform PlayUp, has just bought sports content platforms, The Roar and AthletesVoice, which have the same founder. 

Since developing Australia’s first pay-to-play Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) platform in 2015, PlayUp has gained a foothold in the industry, and now it is launching its own media and content marketing division to create a fully immersive entertainment experience for its users.

The broadened offering comes at a time when the company is defining its go-to-market offering for expansion into the North American online wagering market, where it has secured licensing in multiple states.

PlayUp currently operates in ANZ, India, and the USA, with betting licenses in multiple jurisdictions and plans to list on the Nasdaq in 2021. The company said the new division further differentiates its offering as it explores other media and content partnership and acquisition opportunities in all markets.

The Roar is a media website with a focus on sports opinion, while AthletesVoice offer first-hand narratives from athletes. 

Daniel Simic, global CEO at PlayUp, said that there is a natural fit between PlayUp and the lifestyle and entertainment preferences of the large audiences reached across the two platforms. 

“Our energies are focused on fulfilling the needs of dedicated and passionate users who seek a deeper connection to the games they play and those who play them. The creation of this division sets PlayUp apart in the DFS and betting category globally and underpins our goal to offer the richest user experience to drive loyalty, usage, and lifetime value,” said Simic.  

Simic also shared that with the acquisition, PlayUp looks forward to becoming an advertising partner of The Roar and to working with both current and retired athletes interested in commercial opportunities with PlayUp.

Meanwhile, Kerry McCabe, CEO of The Roar and AthletesVoice, said, “I’m really proud of what we have created for Australian sports lovers, athletes, and brands. We wanted to shake things up a bit in traditional media, negate the keyboard warrior trend and rise above the clickbait phenomenon,” he said. 

“Our strategy was always to expand into other markets and that opportunity is now here for AthletesVoice and The Roar. The crew is energized by the opportunity to innovate and further evolve with Daniel and the international PlayUp team,” added McCabe. 

Staff and contributors from The Roar and AthletesVoice will transition to PlayUp within February.