MGM cyberattack, Jaguars fleeced and more | My week in iGaming

Again, maybe not really a ‘week in iGaming’ more like ‘some industry-related things that grabbed my attention and made me think’. And feel the need to comment on, of course.

Numbers game(s)

Well, two of the main events of the UK summer – our General Election and the Euros – went pretty much to expectation. The Tories were wiped out and England got agonisingly close. Well, close-ish.

All a numbers game really. I mean, how does a party with only about 20% of the electorate behind them land a crushing election victory, a landslide? Our first-past-the-post system clearly isn’t fit-for-purpose when this is the result. Time for proportional representation and compulsory voting.

Kind of like the England football team in a way. Seven games comprising one decent half of football, a few short flashes and grabs of promise in some of the other games and somehow they ended up in the final. Another example of 20% being enough, well (not) nearly enough in this case.

MGM cyberattack; Old Bill nick 17-year-old

Well, I read about the 17-year-old boy arrested in Walsall for his alleged part in last year’s cyberattack on MGM Resorts. The arrest was a collaborative, coordinated move by the British National Crime Agency and the FBI. 

Bryan Vorndran, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director, described the arrest as: “...a testimony to the strength of the FBI’s domestic, international, and private sector partnerships.” 

A 17-year-old? From Walsall? Instead of being shocked, my initial feeling was one of a kind of perverse admiration. 

Instead of (maybe as well as, I don’t know tbh) riding one of those annoying electric scooters aggressively around the pedestrian areas of his hometown sporting a black hoodie and face mask, this young lad was showing a decidedly innovative and perhaps even entrepreneurial panache. Respect (or is that ‘respeck’).

According to MGM CEO, Bill Hornbuckle (sounds like a character out of a Mark Twain book), the incident cost the corporate giants in excess of $100m.

Interesting to see how this one develops.

Premier League; Man Citeh odds on (almost)

According to Paddy Power in late July Manchester City are 13/10 to win the 2024-25 English Premier League. Arsenal come in at an almost equally ungenerous 7/4. Liverpool are 15/2 (without Klopp!), Chelski 14/1 (seriously? should be more like 140/1), then the Uniteds Manchester and Newcastle and those great underachievers Tottenham Hotspur all in the mid-high 20s to 1. 

Fun fact: Tottenham’s last league title came closer, time-wise, to Queen Victoria’s reign than to King Charles III’s.

It’s hard to envisage anything other than the two-horse race we’ve witnessed the last two seasons, with the same ultimate outcome: a Citeh title. Another one. How many is that now?

Any chance of any team coming through as a bit of a surprise? Not to win it, but Crystal Palace to finish in the top 3 or 4 is my outsider’s punt for season 2024-25.

Not keeping your eye on the ball

Over in the USA the Jacksonville Jaguars is suing former accounts department employee Amit Patel for the tidy sum of $66m. Why? Because Patel embezzled over $22m out of the American football franchise over several years to fund a growing gambling habit (clearly a big one) and lavish lifestyle. That lavish lifestyle included spending $278k on hotels and travel, $78k on private jets and $47k on one of Tiger Woods’ old putters.

“I stand before you embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed by my actions,” said Patel in court before being banged up for 6 years. I’m sure he is. But he had some fun along the way, clearly. 

So far the Jacksonville Jaguars have recovered $261k through the sale of property ‘owned’ by Patel. He was also ordered to pay them $250 a month. Yeah, right, that’ll cover it.

The question for me though is how on earth could a sizable sports franchise, a bloody shiny glossy corporate no less, not have picked this up earlier? Presumably Patel wasn’t the only one working in finance at the Jaguars. Presumably they filed annual accounts. Presumably somebody compared the balance sheet, P&L and cash flow documents from time to time…? (Ok, maybe not.) How did it get to the point where $22m had been syphoned-off before anyone noticed?

Now Americans can watch a more competitive ‘soccer’ league

It might not have fully registered with American soccer fans yet but they are in for a treat next season after CBS agreed a deal with the English Football League to televise around 250 games from the Championship, League One, League Two and a couple of of those smaller cup competitions. 

Something different, something a bit more competitive than the same old same old at the top of the Premier League. 

The Championship (my favourite league) is the one the Yanks should tap into. Not only can this new audience see potential humdingers of games like Millwall vs Leeds, Cardiff vs Swansea or the two Sheffield clubs battling for supremacy in Steel City, but the interest level will likely carry on to at least March in terms of who gets into the automatic promotion slots, which teams out of the next 10 or so make the play-offs and which 3 of 6 or so will go down. Quite often 18 or so of the Championship’s 24 teams still have something to play for as Easter approaches.

Predictions: Too risky. It could go many ways and that’s the beauty of the Championship. There could be some interesting bets to be had.

Illegal sites on the up 

And in truly downbeat news it’s depressing to keep reading about the growth of illegal and unlicensed offshore slot sites. It seems we’re talking about this every couple of months on Slot Gods. Here’s my colleague, Joseph Lee’s most recent article on the topic.