Casino streaming supplier Livespins has entered into a partnership with the Yolo Group.
The deal will see the Yolo Group launch the core Livespins product across its three B2C online casino brands: bitcasino.io, sportsbet.io, and livecasino.io, while adding a social element to the player experience.
Livespins, which is powered by iGaming seed and early stage accelerator happyhour.io, offers a new way of integrating online casino play with live streaming by allowing viewers to ‘bet behind’ their favourite streamers or brand ambassadors.
The Livespins solution features a team of streamers who play games from regulated developers and studios, such as Relax Gaming, Yggdrasil and iSoftBet.
Yolo Group director of gaming Joe McCallum: “There is no denying the popularity of slot streaming, and through Livespins we can leverage this in a way that is responsible and compliant.”
Casino players also have the option to interact with the streamer and each other throughout a game session and can drop reactions and emojis based on the live action taking place.
Livespins CCO Michael Pedersen said: “Yolo Group is an operator that sits at the cutting edge of the industry, and by adding Livespins to the experience, it strengthens its position as a true pioneer.
“This is the first of many operator partnerships we will be announcing this year, but what better way to kick off 2023 than by joining forces with such a power player.”
A streaming alternative
“Livespins has been developed to allow online casino brands to unlock the huge potential that slot streaming provides but in a way that is responsible and compliant,” Pedersen added.
High stakes slots streaming came under fire last year due to a number of recent controversies, which eventually saw Twitch implement a partial ban on gambling streams. Stake.com is just one operator now prohibited on the Amazon-owned platform.
One of the main issues with gambling streams is the lack of transparency. Sometimes, casino operators provide funds for their streamers, meaning they aren’t gambling with their own money.
This can subsequently lead to riskier playing behaviours or influencers betting more than they can afford to lose. However, this is not always clear to the audience, which poses serious questions about responsible gambling measures.
Livespins, however, said its placement within the casino lobby will allow operators to leverage the huge demand for casino and slot streaming while ensuring that players are protected by the responsible gambling and safe gaming tools and standards required under their respective licences.
Joe McCallum, director of gaming at Yolo Group, said: “At Yolo Group, we seek out and embrace innovation, and in Livespins, we have a partner that is just as committed to providing next-generation casino experiences as we are.
“There is no denying the popularity of slot streaming, and through Livespins we can leverage this in a way that is responsible and compliant,” he added.
Yolo Group director of sportsbook Joe McCallum has this month taken over a new role as director of gaming for B2C.
McCallum originally joined the Tallinn-based business as director of sportsbook back in 2017, when it was still known as Coingaming Group.
He arrived at the operator from William Hill, where he had worked for almost six years, initially as head of customer assurance and then as a sportsbook business lead.
McCallum has played a pivotal role in overseeing the development and strategy of Yolo Group’s B2C sports betting brand Sportsbet.io, which is the official betting partner of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
In his new role with Yolo, McCallum will head up both sports and casino B2C departments across brands including Bitcasino, Sportsbet.io and LiveCasino.io.
Some of his former duties will now be handed to sports betting industry expert Stuart Weston, who has agreed to join Yolo Group as a director of Sportsbet.io.
Weston is another ex-Hills veteran, having spent a combined 18 years with William Hill during his career after originally starting out as a shop cashier back in 1998.
Weston will join Yolo Group from Nasdaq-listed data provider Sportradar, where he held the head of US betting strategy title.
He has also worked for Pragmatic Play, Gaming Innovation Group (GiG), Superbet and SG Digital, all since leaving William Hill for the second time in July 2017.