Month: April 2021

Carter, whose appointment is subject to certain regulatory approvals, has worked across a range of industries in both the public and private sectors for more than 40 years.

This included a spell with SkyCity, where he oversaw the expansion development at SkyCity Adelaide.

Carter was also a director of global railroad operator Genesee and Wyoming Inc until its takeover by Brookfield, and spent time with Ernst & Young for 14 years, working in the US, UK, Canada and Hong Kong.

Carter is currently chair of the Australian Submarine Corporation and Aventus Capital, and holds directorships with the Bank of Queensland and AIG Australia

“Bruce brings to the Crown board the ideal blend of commercial, governance and gaming sector expertise and is respected across Australia for his contribution to corporate and government roles,” Crown’s executive chairman Helen Coonan said.

“Attracting someone of Bruce’s calibre to the Board is an endorsement of our strategy, ambition and commitment to reform.”

Carter added: “Helen has marked out an ambitious timetable to complete tough and wide- ranging reforms as the board moves to embed the highest standards of governance.

“I am excited to be a part of it and look forward to contributing as the board drives the important changes required to make Crown a better organisation.”

Meanwhile, Crown also announced John Horvath will retire as a director on 14 April.

The announcement come after private equity group Blackstone Group last month put forward an offer of AUS$8.02bn (£4.45bn/€5.14bn/US$6.192n) to acquire the remaining shares in Crown.

Blackstone offered AUD$11.85 for each share in Crown for 90.1% of shares it does not currently own.

Following a review into its business that found Crown “unsuitable” for a licence to operate a casino in Sydney, Crown has made a number of other changes to its board.

Following the release of the report, chief executive Ken Barton stepped down with Coonan taking over on an interim basis.

Directors Guy Jalland, Michael Johnston and Andrew Demetriou also resigned, as did general counsel and company secretary Mary Manos.

The deal is expected to close before the end of Q2 2021.

The total up-front consideration payable by Evolution is €220m, and the company will subsequently pay earn-out payments based on Big Time Gaming’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the years 2022/3 and 2023/24. In 2020, Big Time Gaming’s EBITDA was €29m, on revenue of €33m.

The earn-out payments will amount to a maximum of €230m and will become payable in 2023 and 2024 respectively. These will be payable 70% in cash and 30% in newly issued Evolution shares.

The up-front consideration will be payable as €80m in cash, and the remainder in newly issued Evolution shares. It is expected the total number of shares issued for this will be around 1.1m.

Law firm Wiggin LLP will serve as Evolution’s lead advisor in the transaction, with additional support from Addisons, Deloitte, EY and Gernandt & Danielsson. Big Time Gaming has engaged Oakvale Capital LLP, Teacher Stern and BDO as advisors.

 “With the addition of Big Time Gaming to our portfolio of slot brands we strengthen our strategic position as the leading provider of digital casino games in the world,” said Jens von Bahr, chairman of Evolution.

“Big Time’s focus on innovation and creating unique playing experiences is a great fit with our culture and mind-set at Evolution. We look forward to continuing our journey together.”

Nik Robinson, chief executive at Big Time Gaming, added: “Evolution and Big Time Gaming are both driven by innovation, hence the perfect match. A bright and entertaining future awaits our players.”

The deal follows on from Evolution’s acquisition of industry giant NetEnt last year, which was completed in November in a deal worth SEK19.60bn (£1.72bn/€1.91bn/$2.30bn).

When Evolution first made its bid for the casino supplier in June 2020, it said the move signalled its intent to become “the world leader in the online gaming industry”.

Results published in February showed that following the acquisition, Evolution reported a year-on-year increase in revenue and profit for 2020, with revenue up 53.4% at €561.1m.

After expenses, tax and other costs, the supplier was left with €283.6m in total profit, up 90.1% on the previous year.

It was largely sports betting that pushed the market up to €113.2m in the fourth quarter, a figure that represented a 34.4% quarter-on-quarter rise and a 73% increase on the final quarter of 2019.

Sports betting GGR accounted for €64.1m of this, up more than 50% on the previous quarter and 92% on the same period the previous year.

Football was the most popular sport with bettors by some distance, making up 86.7% of turnover, followed by basketball at 5.2% and tennis at 4.9%.

Punters were so keen to return to betting after the Covid-19-related sporting shutdowns that the vertical swung back to a decisive lead over casino in the quarter. In Q4 sports betting accounted for 56.6% of the market, the highest percentage since 2017.

And though its performance was not quite as impressive as sports betting, casino revenue also broke records during the fourth quarter of 2020. GGR rose to a new high of €49.1m, up 17.7% on the previous quarter and 53.4% on the same period of 2019.

Slots made up the bulk of this (71.1%), followed by French roulette (12.6%) and blackjack (6.4%).

Although Portugal didn’t look to have experienced the same poker boost as other markets while sports betting was unavailable last year, interestingly it does seem to have seen the same slump in poker since sports came back online.

The market shares of both cash and tournament poker declined further in the fourth quarter, after significant falls in Q3, with 30% and 87.5% decreases in their respective market shares on a year-on-year basis.

Scroll down to see the full interactive datasets.

All data and figures are processed by Ficom Leisure following the the official release of the figures by Portuguese regulator the Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ). Ficom Leisure is a leading European corporate advisory firm specialising in all segments of the betting and gaming sector.

Ficom Leisure provides monthly figures on the New Jersey online market in the New Jersey iGaming Dashboard and Pennsylvania in the Pennsylvania iGaming Dashboard, available on iGB North America. It also provides quarterly figures on the Spanish online market in the Spain iGaming Dashboard, as well as monthly figures on the Italian market in the Italy iGaming Dashboard.

The submission outlines ongoing issues in the gambling sector found by GambleAware, with a particular focus on prevention of gambling harms and research to inform policy.

It comes in response to the UK government’s December 2020 review of the 2005 Gambling Act. As part of the review, the DCMS launched a call for new evidence to investigate issues such as spend limits and how gambling affects young adults.

The findings are intended to inform changes to the 2005 Gambling Act.

Most prominently, GambleAware continued its advocacy for a mandatory levy to fund research, education and treatment (RET) related to gambling and gambling-related harm.

Currently, British gambling law requires licensed British operators to donate a portion of funds to responsible gambling initiatives, but there is no minimum on how much should be donated.

GambleAware reported that in the last twelve months, it received £15.6m in voluntary donations, a rise from £11m the previous year. In June 2020 the Betting and Gaming Council pledged £100m to GambleAware on behalf of 4 largest gambling operators in Britain: Bet365, GVC Holdings, Flutter Entertainment and William Hill.

“The voluntary nature of the current arrangements results inevitably in uncertainty of funding year to year and to significant variations in cash flow within the year,” the submission reads.

“This unpredictable funding model represents a significant challenge given that a key function of GambleAware as a commissioning body is to provide assurance to funded services about recurrent income streams so that expert clinical teams can be established and sustained to provide treatment and support for those who need help.”

In addition, GambleAware pointed to various pieces of research that may help inform the review in other areas. This included research that found just 5% of accounts represent more than 70% of British betting and gaming gross gambling yield.

In March GambleAware reported a significant rise in the portion of problem gamblers who seek treatment for their gambling.

The definitive response is resultant of a belief that the ESIC gave its support to Nevada’s Senate Bill 165, designed to create the esports regulatory agency the Nevada Esports Commission.

The ESIC believes an narrative emerged that its views should be dismissed as the commission was “a servant of the betting industry”.

ESIC, however, has branded the claim as a “false narrative”. It also sought to correct claims that it backed the legislation, stating that it in fact opposes the bill – a stance which it is in the process of explaining to SB 165’s Judiciary Committee.

In addition to the Nevada issue, ESIC said a similar narrative was perpetuated to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), as well as disaffected players banned by the ESIC.

ESIC said: “ESIC is neither for or against betting on esports. We are not advocates for betting nor crusaders against it.

“ESIC exists for the esports industry; primarily for the protection of the players who would be the first and main casualty of any match-fixing scandal.

“Individuals attempting to propagate the narrative that ESIC works for the betting industry either have their own adverse agenda or are naïve about the realities of betting and the relationship between esports and betting on esports.”

Shops can reopen from today (12 April) after Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week announced that the country would move to the next phase of its exit from lockdown.

Betting shops are being allowed to reopen alongside other non-essential retail, which has been closed since 5 January when a third national lockdown came into effect in England.

All gambling venues in England have been closed since early January, though many facilities have been closed longer due to regional restrictions imposed under the preceding tiered system.

Certain restrictions will remain in place for betting shops, including requirements for customers to wear masks when inside the facility, as well to adhere to social distancing rules and capacity limit.

Other gaming venues, including casinos, will all open in stage three, which is expected to start on 17 May.

BGC chief executive Michael Dugher welcomed the reopening, saying the easing of restrictions will allow approximately 6,000 betting shops to reopen.

“It’s great news that high street betting shops in England and Wales are finally able to re-open safely, along with the rest of non-essential retail,” Dugher said.

“It’s been a long three months for betting shop staff, as well as their customers, and I know they are all looking forward to safely getting back to business thanks to the best-in-class anti-Covid measures in place.

“The UK’s betting shops support 46,000 jobs and paid nearly £1bn in tax to the Treasury in 2020, while our members contribute £350m to horseracing through sponsorship, media rights and the betting levy.

“This means that as well as providing a much-needed boost for the millions of people who enjoy a flutter, they will also be able to play a key role in the UK’s post-Covid economic recovery.”

Senate Bill 7076 was introduced by Regulated Industries and calls for the creation of the Florida Gaming Control Commission within the Office of the Attorney General, a move that would help to expand the abilities of the Office of Statewide Prosecution to investigate illegal gambling activity.

The bill outlines that from July 1 2022, the Commission will hold certain responsibilities including governing administrative authority, pari-mutuel betting and slot machine gaming.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The site was found to be hosting gambling ads with slogans and animated backgrounds, and featuring promotional bonuses, all of which are prohibited under Lithuanian regulations.

These ads also lacked the mandatory warnings required in gambling ads.

The regulator said that Krepšinis.net had been a “refuge for illegal gambling advertising for several years”. This, it explained, was due to the site being registered outside of Lithuania, making it difficult to enforce advertising regulations.

However, the Vilnius City District Court ruled that advertising gambling in a way that contravenes Lithuanian law on the site is not permitted, as the site targets Lithuanian customers.

“With gambling advertised on Krepšinis.net, law-abiding Lithuanian portals found themselves in an unequal situation, and citizens were illegally encouraged to participate in gambling,” the regulator explained.

After conducting an investigation, the Gambling Supervisory Authority determined that the ads were placed by a business named UAB All Media Digital, which provides advertising services for websites.

As a result, the employee responsible for placing the ads was fined €1,500.

Last month, the Supervisory Authority imposed its first ever fine against an operator, requiring CBet operator UAB Tete-a-Tete Casino to pay €15,000 for unreasonably setting betting limits on an online customer.

Webis said Roberts has extensive experience in the online sports entertainment industry, having spent time as a director of Sportech PLC, and successfully helped in building sports betting platform FaceOff in the US.

Roberts stood down from his role of president of digital for the US at Sportech in 2016, also resigning from the company’s board. He is currently a director of Webis’ Watchandwager.com brand, as well as of skill-based real-money game developer Papaya Gaming.

“I am delighted to welcome Rich to the board of Webis,” said the company’s managing director, Ed Comins.

“His experience in the gaming industry will prove invaluable, and we are sure he will make a very positive contribution to the board.”

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The ITIA received 23 match alerts (indicators that inappropriate conduct may have occurred) between January – March 2021, compared to 38 from the same period last year.

Four of these reports came from ATP World Tour 250 events, played by the highest-level players on the tour, while the remaining events were from Challenger and Futures events.

10 alerts came from the ITF M15 Mens – World Tennis Tour, as well as two apiece from ITF M15 Women’s tour and the ATP Challenger 50.

The ATP Challenger 80 had five alerts.

The ITIA’s report stated: “Unusual betting patterns can occur for many reasons other than match fixing – for example incorrect odds-setting; well-informed betting; player fitness, fatigue or form; playing conditions and personal circumstances.

“Where analysis of a match alert does suggest corrupt activity, the ITIA conducts a full, confidential investigation.”

The agency has handed out several sanctions for match fixing in 2021.

Russia’s Sofia Dmitrieva and Alija Merdeeva received lifetime bans, while Venezuela’s Roberto Maytín and Slovakia’s Barbora Palcatova also received hefty penalties.