Indivisible Gaming Scholarship 2024 – Indivisible Gaming

At Indivisible Gaming, we appreciate and value young and upcoming talent. We understand the advantages of a young computer game designer who has grown up surrounded by tech devices, and has learnt coding before being old enough to drive.

We want to attract brilliant minds to our growing company, and every year we offer a competition where you can win a cash prize as well as a possible internship at Indivisible Gaming.

What are we looking for?

At Indivisible Gaming, we’re all about discovering and supporting game developers and designers who love crafting unique and engaging games. If you’re passionate about game design and have created a computer game that showcases your skills, we’d love to see it. This scholarship is here to support individuals who can demonstrate their talent through a game they’ve developed. Whether your game tells a compelling story, introduces innovative gameplay, or features eye-catching visuals, if it reflects your creativity and technical skill, you’re exactly who we’re looking for. Share your game with us, and let’s see how we can help take your game development journey to the next level.

Submission Requirements

  • Provide a link to access your game. The platform can be PC, mobile, or web-based.
  • Include a brief description of your game: What is the story? What are the core gameplay mechanics? What makes it innovative or unique?
  • A video walkthrough or gameplay footage is highly encouraged but not required.

Scholarship Benefits

  • A substantial scholarship award to help further your education and game development career.
  • The opportunity for your game to be showcased on our platform, gaining exposure to industry professionals and gamers alike.
  • Feedback and mentorship from experienced professionals in our company to refine your game and enhance your skills.

What can you win?

1st prize – $1,000

2nd prize – $500

3rd prize – $250 

Paid internship

Indivisible Gaming is always looking for young talent, and some of our current gaming developers have been hired from the scholarship process. We encourage all applicants to submit their best work, as we offer paid internships for exceptional submissions.

Who is eligible?

Any full-time student who is currently enrolled in college or university with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher is eligible to apply. We also encourage highly motivated high school students that feel this is a good fit to apply.

How to apply?

To participate in this competition, all you have to do is fill out the form below, and include a link to a computer game project that you have created, by October 16, 2024. 

Apply here

Fill out your name and college or university email address, and in the Message section, mention your degree, the college or university you are studying at, and provide us with a link to your computer game project. 

Deadline

Entries must be submitted by midnight on November 30, 2024.

When will the winner be announced?

All the submissions will be reviewed and assessed, and the winners will be decided by December 16, 2024.

Winners will be contacted via the email address provided in the application form. The scholarship funds will be distributed to the winners by December 23, 2024.

Any questions?

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us using the form above. We are happy to help you with the scholarship application, and we hope to meet some of you in the near future!

Boyd Gaming to Acquire Resorts Digital and Mohegan Sun New Jersey

Boyd Gaming is poised to quadruple its iGaming market share in New Jersey with the acquisition of two new brands: Resorts Online Casino and Mohegan Sun NJ. It is acquiring the brands along with the assets of Resorts Digital from DGMB Casino, the company that owns the physical Resorts Atlantic City casino property.

According to a regulatory document issued by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE), Boyd and DGMB agreed to a deal on May 15, 2024. However, news of the deal was not publicized at the time.

Under New Jersey law, only the owners of retail casino properties can hold master licenses for online casino gaming. Other operators must sign a market access agreement with one of the master license holders. DGMB Casino held its master license through Resorts Digital. However, because the latter will no longer be its subsidiary, it must surrender the license to complete the deal.

However, play at Resorts Online and Mohegan Sun will continue without interruption. DGMB will receive a new master license, and Resorts Digital, as a Boyd subsidiary, will receive the appropriate license to continue its operations through a market access agreement with DGMB.

A media contact for Boyd Gaming told Bonus:

 The acquisition of Resorts Digital Gaming is consistent with Boyd Gaming’s strategy of building a profitable regional iGaming business integrated with our existing nationwide portfolio.

As part of this transaction, Boyd Interactive has acquired the New Jersey operations of ResortsCasino.comand MoheganSunCasino.com, complementing our existing Stardust Online Casino in New Jersey.  New Jersey has long been one of the nation’s leading iGaming states, and we look forward to further growing our presence in that state’s online gaming market in partnership with Resorts Casino in Atlantic City.

Read More

Boyd’s Foray Into iGaming Began With Stardust

Boyd made its entry into the online casino space belatedly but appears committed to the strategy.

Initially, it did so in partnership with FanDuel, in which Boyd owns a 5% stake. Like other sports-centric operators, FanDuel was interested in trying a pure-play casino product, and Boyd provided its Stardust Casino brand for the purpose. The original Stardust Casino had been a Las Vegas landmark since 1958 but shut down in 2006.

At that time, Stardust Casino players shared their accounts with FanDuel Casino and Sportsbook. However, in 2022, Boyd acquired Pala Interactive and decided to forge its own path for the brand. The following year, it relaunched Stardust Casino as a standalone product in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

New Jersey began reporting revenue for individual online casino skins in January. Since then, Stardust’s share of that market has floated between 0.4% and 0.5%. There are more online casino brands in New Jersey than any other state, many of which have less than 1% of the market.

Mohegan Sun is in a similar position, with a market share of around 0.6%. However, Resorts Online is the biggest of the three at between 1.0% and 1.2%. 

Boyd won’t be the only operator with multiple brands in the state. BetMGM, for instance, has four: its eponymous flagship plus Borgata Online, Wheel of Fortune, and Party Casino. However, Boyd will be unique in owning a secondary local brand with a greater market share than its national brand.

Assuming little change in traffic to the sites following the transaction, Boyd will have a little over 2% of the market, putting it on a similar footing in the state to Bally’s, Rush Street Interactive (BetRivers), or PENN (Hollywood).

Other Online Casino Agreements Remain With Resorts

Boyd’s long-term plans for Resorts Online Casino and Mohegan Sun remain to be seen. In the short term, however, very little will change for players. There’s a lot of regulatory nitty-gritty happening on the back end to keep all the licensing structures in compliance with state law, but that should happen seamlessly.

The loss of direct iGaming revenue from the two skins may not bother DGMB Casino much. As the holder of the master license, it will retain the market access agreements with other skins using the license, including DraftKings Casino and PokerStars. 

The exact terms of those agreements aren’t public knowledge. However, they involve some share of those brands’ revenue going to DGMB in return for operating under its master license. DraftKings, on its own, accounts for roughly 21% of the total market. So, even a small share of its revenue may rival what DGMB was earning as an operator, and without any of the overhead that comes with running an online casino.

The post Boyd Gaming to Acquire Resorts Digital and Mohegan Sun New Jersey appeared first on Bonus.com.

How Gaming Has Changed: From Then into Tomorrow

Humans have been fascinated with gambling for just about as long as they’ve been around.

Our earliest archaeological evidence of games of chance is a set of six-sided Mesopotamian dice that date back to around 3000 BCE. But David Schwartz’s book “Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling” suggests people have been engaging in gambling since the Paleolithic period, well before written history.

Of course, a lot has changed over the thousands of years since a stone-ager bet his loincloth his pal couldn’t knock a nest out of a tree with a pebble. And as gambling has evolved, so has our understanding of what it means to balance the thrill of a good wager with a bit of common sense – something we now call responsible gambling.

From the first playing cards invented in the 9th century during China’s Tang dynasty to the advent of online gaming in the late 20th century, our repertoire of risk-taking entertainments has steadily developed, along with the rules governing these games to ensure fairness and transparency for players. Let’s take a look at how gambling has changed over the centuries here in Canada.

History of Gambling in Canada (and Ontario)

Key highlights of gaming history from 3000 BCE to the 21st century.

There’s no firm date marking the first wager made by people living on the land we now call Canada, but you can bet it was long before Columbus sailed the ocean blue – or Vikings visited in their longships, for that matter.

Indigenous groups from the Pacific Northwest have been playing an ancient game called Slahal for thousands of years, according to First Nations’ oral histories, and still play it today. It involves a mix of marked and unmarked pieces that are hidden by one team so that another team must guess their positions.

As folks from overseas created their own settlements and cities, they also imported their culture, including their own forms of gambling. With the world’s first casino established in Italy in 1638 – the infamously snooty Il Ridotto – games such as roulette and blackjack began to make their way into North America during the 17th century.

European horse racing soon became a thing, too. In 1767, soldiers stationed in a garrison in Quebec City held a race on the Heights of Abraham – the first advertised sporting horse race. Ontario wasn’t far behind, with the first commercial horse races taking place in 1793 on a sandy circuit on what is now Toronto Island.

In 1892, the newly created Canadian government banned all forms of gambling, making only minor amendments to the Criminal Code in 1900 to allow charities to run bingos, small raffles, and gambling events to raise funds.

It wasn’t until the second half of the 20th century that the dial began to move on gambling legislation.

In the 1960s, during the heyday of protests for social liberties, outdated gambling taboos were reconsidered and Canadian provinces were finally given authority to regulate gambling to match the unique interests of their people. This paved the way for Wintario – the first lottery game in Ontario – to launch in 1975.

The 1980s saw further movement, with the legalization of most forms of sports betting in 1985 and the opening of a bricks-and-mortar casino in Manitoba. The first Ontario casino – Caesars Windsor – would open five years later in 1994.

Since then, the main advancements in gambling regulation have been related to the rapid growth of technology and the Internet. Ontarians can buy – and even set up subscriptions for – lottery tickets online via OLG’s Direct Pay service, play digital casino games via OLG.ca, and place sports wagers through PROLINE+.

And in 2022, after another federal amendment, Ontario was finally able to offer players one of the simplest types of sports wagers – single-game betting – through Ontario-based bookmakers. This amendment also allowed the Land O’Lakes to become the first province to launch an open (but regulated) online gaming market, allowing private gaming companies to deliver iGaming products to Ontario residents.

Responsible Gambling Has Come a Long Way, Too

As games of chance have evolved, so, too, has our understanding of human behaviour. We have a better picture of how our brains work, why we enjoy taking risks, how to predict outcomes, and how we react to losing and winning. And we’re using that knowledge to help people play responsibly.

Here are four ways PlaySmart can help you play safe:

  1. My Play Customizer
    Worried you might spend more than you can afford? My Play Customizer gives you the power to set yourself a deposit limit for your account, then set spend limits for casino, lottery, and sports play. It’s a smart way to keep yourself from getting carried away in the heat of the moment, and you get to do it on your own terms.
  2. PlaySmart Game Guides
    Want to learn the ins and outs of your favourite games? PlaySmart is your gambling encyclopedia, providing straightforward information on rules and odds so you can make smart choices and keep having fun.
  3. PlaySmart Tips
    Concerned you might be giving in to your impulses? PlaySmart has tips on how not to cave to peer pressure when wagering on sports, knowing when to cut your losses, and how to approach in-game betting.
  4. My Play History
    Want insights on your wagering patterns? Once you’re registered with OLG.ca you can track your play history and identify any behaviours that may be affecting your fun.

These tools are among the many reasons why PlaySmart has twice been named the Best Overall Responsible Gambling Program by the World Lotteries Association.

They’re also part of the reason why you have an advantage over gamblers throughout history. You have all the information you need to play safe and have fun. If our ancestor who wagered on his friend’s pebble-throwing accuracy had had such knowledge, he might not have lost his loincloth.

White Hat Studios and PokerStars Partner For Online Casino Gaming

White Hat Studios, the U.S. arm of European gambling operator White Hat Gaming, has inked a significant deal with leading online poker operator PokerStars.

This collaboration has brought White Hat’s casino games to PokerStars’ online casino-enabled platforms in regulated online casino markets.

Players in Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia now have access to White Hat Studios’ portfolio of slot games and selected table games.  

Notable titles that are part of this deal include online slot games Peaky Blinders, Masters of Atlantis, and the popular Almighty Buffalo Megaways. Additionally, a selection of table games will also be introduced to PokerStars’ platform.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with PokerStars, a prominent name in the US iGaming market,” said Daniel Lechner, the VP of Sales and Marketing at White Hat Studios

Big Moves in the US Market

The rollout strategy was sequential, with New Jersey and Pennsylvania being the first states to witness the launch of White Hat’s content on PokerStars. This was closely followed by introductions in West Virginia, Connecticut, and finally, Michigan.

White Hat Studios has been proactive in establishing its presence across all U.S regulated online casino markets. The deal with PokerStars is the latest in a series of partnerships that White Hat has entered into.

“The deal exemplifies that the industry’s key players recognize the quality of our content. Having recently gone live across all regulated states, this partnership will further bolster our presence within each,” Lechner said.

Earlier collaborations include tie-ups with national U.S operators betPARX, and Rush Street Interactive.

The most recent partnership was finalized just last week with fellow Europe-based operator and owner of Unibet, Kindred. That saw it complete the set of six regulated markets, as its games became available in West Virginia.

“This latest market entry means we are now active in every regulated state, a remarkable feat, and we are proud of our dedicated and talented team for making it happen,” said White Hat CEO Andy Whitworth at the time.

Future Expansion

White Hat has also signed a deal with Bally’s, providing its Platform Aggregation Module (PAM) technology to help platform developer Kambi’s efforts in improving the struggling Bally Bet sportsbook.

White Hat could be looking to leverage that technology to become a bigger name in the online sports betting space, as it now has an online casino partner in every single legal state market. And, in some cases after this deal, now more than one. That means it will be relying on the number of markets to expand, for its own online casino options to rise.

That could, and probably will happen eventually. But legislation is often slow. Rhode Island was the only state added to the list of regulated online casino markets in the U.S in 2023, and it only gave licenses to two operators. However, one of those was Rhode Island-based Bally’s, with whom White Hat is also (indirectly) working.

Gaming giants form new bodies in push for uniform standards and safeguards – PayNPlayCasinos.bet

PayNPlayCasinos.bet

A host of real-money gambling and gaming businesses have formed the Global Gaming Alliance, a new forum that aims to address shared challenges as the market for real-money, free-to-play and console gaming evolves. 

The GGA brings together real-money operators Entain and DraftKings, Facebook parent Meta, and mobile games developers 89Trillion and Habby to create a fair and sustainable industry. 

The collective has published a white paper, Responsible Gaming is Everyone’s Business, which calls on gaming companies to follow best practices on issues such as diversity, transparency, and player protection. In particular, the white paper highlights a need for greater diversity, more accessible and relatable games for a wider range of players, and controls to ensure play remains sustainable. 

The initiative launches with the gaming sector booming. Quoting third-party figures, the white paper points out that there were an estimated 2.9 billion players worldwide at the end of last year. Revenue for the sector is forecast to surpass $200bn (£148bn/€175bn) by 2023. 

Relevant news