Month: August 2021

The regulator said that due to health measures taken in response to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, only three of the country’s total 26 casinos were able to operate during the period, and each of these was open for an average of 19 days.

Of the total tax contribution, CLP$639.8m will go to the communities and regional governments where the casinos are located, CLP$607.8m was paid in a specific VAT on gambling, and the remaining CLP$135.3m was paid in income tax.

Looking at each of the operational casinos individually, Enjoy Antofagasta made the largest contribution, paying CLP$189.6m in tax to the regional government and the same amount in a specific municipal tax.

It paid a further CLP$360.2m in VAT and CLP$76.6m in income tax for a total contribution of CLP$815.9m. This was the only property to remain open for the full 30 days of June.

The SCJ said the property reached a level of income equal to that reached before the pandemic, despite restrictions on capacity and operating hours.

The next largest contributor was the Dreams Punta Arenas, in the region of Magellan, which was open for 17 days during the month.

It contributed CLP$104.6m each to the regional government and municipal taxes, CLP$198.7m in VAT and a further CLP$52.3m in income tax, for a total of CLP$460.1m.

Colchagua Casino, in the O’Higgins region, was open for just 9 days in June, contributing CLP$25.8m each to its regional government and municipal taxes, CLP$49.0m in VAT and CLP$6.4m in income tax, for a total contribution of CLP$106.9m.

In total, the three properties reported a gross gaming revenue (GGR) of CLP$3.81bn. The SCJ said this was 81.8% of what was generated in June 2019 by these properties.

Given the reduction in operating days, in real terms it said the daily level of income obtained by the properties was 17.6% ahead of figures recorded in May 2019. Widespread closures in 2020 meant the regulator did not include year-on-year comparisons.

Visitors to the casinos totalled 36,642 during the month, which was down 54.7% compared to the number of visitors in June 2019. However, average spend per visit was CLP$104,408, an increase of around 45% on June 2019.

As it previously warned last month, APE saw revenue drop 74.6% to just HK$3.0m (£277,939/€327,084/$385,373).

Sales of electronic table games made up $1.4m of this total, down 73.1%, while sales of spare parts for these games brought in an additional $524,597, a 76.1% decrease. In addition, the business recorded no sales of electronic gaming machines, after these brought in $2.0m in 2020.

This meant total sales revenue was $1.9m.

Technical support services brought in an additional $408,618, down 50.1%, while consultancy services contributed $490,071, a 20.6% decline. Repair services revenue, meanwhile, was $191,512, an 80.0% drop.

Looking at revenue geographically, the vast majority – at $2.9m – came from Macau, representing a decline of 55.4%. Vietnam brought in $56,622, a decline of more than 98%, while the rest of the world contributed $71,862, down 41.4%.

APE Macau’s costs of sales came to $2.8m, down 75.2% from 2020. This led to a gross profit of $194,120, a 94.2% drop.

Despite the sharp decline in revenue, APE Macau’s operating costs only decreased by 9.1%, to $9.5m. 

After this, plus finance costs, impairment costs and other losses, APE was left with a final loss of $9.4m. However, this was an improvement from 2020, when APE recorded a $29.0m loss – thanks mostly to a $22.9m impairment charge.

Looking just at the second quarter of 2021, APE posted revenue of $990,314. This was less than its costs of sales, at $1.2m, resulting in a gross loss of $221,300.

After operating and other expenses combined to come to $4.8m, APE reported a final loss of $5.1m.

Gauselmann has taken control of 35 arcades and 60 catering locations in Bremen and Lower Saxony, with the changes to come into effect on 1 October. The company will also assume ownership of the trading names Bührmann A + I GmbH, Play Fair Casino GmbH & Co. KG. and Gerdes Spielkonzepte GmbH & Co.

Detlev Graß will continue in his role as partner and managing director of Bührmann A and I GmbH

The two companies had been in negotiations for almost two years, with the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic slowing the process significantly.

Gauselmann board member for gaming operations Dieter Kuhlmann said: “The Bremen region is particularly convenient for us, as we had to close many locations there in 2017 due to legal restrictions. With the acquisition of the arcades and the catering locations, we can compensate for at least some of the locations that were previously lost.

“We as a company are also pleased that we can secure around 200 jobs through the acquisition. We value the skills and experience of the individual employees and want to build on them together.”

The total was 2.0% less than $114.2 reported in June.

A total of $92.3m was generated by internet casino gaming, a 3.4% rise month-on-month, while sports betting receipts fell by 21.6% to $19.6m.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Net revenue for the six months to 30 June was HK$10.67bn (£988.5m/€1.16bn/US$1.37bn), up from $6.22bn in the corresponding period last year, during which Macau was hit hard by the pandemic.

The outbreak of Covid-19 led to a host of restrictions being introduced in Macau, including the temporary closure of casinos, limited capacity when venues were permitted to reopen and strict travel rules, significantly reducing tourism in the region.

However, with measures now being eased, casinos are operating again, albeit with some restrictions, while people are now being allowed to travel into Macau for tourism again.

As such, net gaming revenue jumped 81.4% to $7.84bn, while non-gaming revenue also shot up 104.6% year-on-year to $1.39bn and construction materials revenue 17.1% to $1.43bn.

Galaxy Macau remained the operator’s main source of income, with revenue at the facility increasing 89.5% to $7.23bn in H1. Revenue at the StarWorld Macau was also up 80.6% to $1.95bn, though revenue from the Broadway Macau entertainment and food resort fell 55.4% to $29.0m.

The operator did not disclose is costs and expenses for the period, but it did confirm that adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached $1.99bn, compared to a loss of $1.09bn last year.

This was similar in terms of net profit, which amounted to $900.0m for the half, up from a $2.90bn loss in the first six months of 2020.

Looking at the second quarter, revenue was 382.7% higher at $5.57bn, with gaming revenue rocketing 1,343.5% to $3.98bn, non-gaming revenue rising 508.5% to $791.0m and revenue from construction materials increasing 5.8% to $790.0m.

Galaxy Macau again led the way on $3.81bn, followed by StarWorld Macau on $932.0m and Broadway Macau with $14.0m.

Adjusted EBITDA turned from a loss of $1.37bn to a positive figure of $1.13bn, but Galaxy did not publish its net profit figure for the second quarter.

“Macau continues to gradually recover and effectively navigate through the pandemic,” Galaxy chairman Lui Che Woo said. “The Macau market experienced its fourth consecutive quarter of gross gaming revenue growth despite sporadic outbreaks of Covid-19 in mainland and, most recently, in Macau. 

“I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the health and emergency personnel who have worked so hard to ensure the safety of Macau community. I would also like to thank our staff for being so supportive of our company during these challenging times. 

“Our future remains very bright.”

This would be a rise of 22.2% compared to the $72m in revenue it made in the first half of the financial year.

In addition, AGT revealed that the revenue contribution from Australia for the second half of 2021 was $20.0m, which would see the total Australian revenue for the 2020-21 financial year at $39.0m. This is a 39.2% rise against full-year 2020 results.

The company also expects profit before tax of $1.6m for its second half of 2021 results, which would be an increase of 60.0% compared to the $1.0m previously projected in an update released on 18 May.

EBITDA for the second half is set to be around $14.4m, an expected rise of 37.5% in comparison to the $13.2m that was projected in May.

AGT expects to release its complete results for the financial year on August 26 2021.

AGT saw year-on-year struggles in its H1 2021 results, which were released in February. The business recorded pre-tax losses of $14m amid difficulties in Latin America, despite an increase in revenue.

In May, gaming technology supplier GAN entered into an exclusive online rights deal with AGT, which saw GAN become the official provider of AGT online games in the US.

GNOG participated as a minority investor in Boom’s most recent financing round along with the likes of online casino and sports betting operator Rush Street Interactive (RSI), which also became a minority investor.

The content part of the agreement grants GNOG access to Boom’s portfolio of products and services including its casino game library and remote game server, as well free-to-play and real money sports betting games.

GNOG will also secure market access in Ohio via Boom’s rights in the state, while Boom will develop a custom and exclusive games library in collaboration with GNOG.

“Boom’s team has an impressive track record in the gaming industry, and we believe this partnership will help GNOG continue to differentiate itself in the market with a premier, unrivalled gaming product,” GNOG president Thomas Winter said.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

SafetyPay provides e-commerce transactions through open banking and ecash solutions in 11 Latin American countries.

This is the latest Latin American acquisition for Paysafe, following its deal to acquire Peru-based Pago Efectivo earlier this month.

“We are very excited to welcome SafetyPay into the Paysafe family,” said Philip McHugh, CEO of Paysafe. “The team has successfully built a market-leading payment platform that has become the de facto open banking solution for Latin America.”

“Furthermore, by combining the capabilities and open banking network of both SafetyPay and PagoEfectivo with our existing solutions in processing, digital wallets and eCash, along with our deep expertise in specialized verticals such as iGaming, travel and digital goods, we can become the true market leader in the region and provide merchants with unique and powerful combinations to grow their business.”

Once the acquisition is complete, Paysafe will be able to offer ecash solutions in over 60 countries.

“We are really pleased to see SafetyPay and PagoEfectivo become part of Paysafe and expand our payment solutions across card payment processing, digital wallets, eCash and online banking payments with a strong foothold in high growth Latin American markets,” said Bill Foley, chairman of Paysafe’s board of directors.

“We see exciting synergies in key industry verticals like iGaming where we want to win.”

Paysafe went public in March after its merger with special purpose acquisition company Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corporation..

The supplier said that social media abuse is now recognised as one of the most serious problems facing sport and that fans, players, teams, leagues and governments have called for action to be taken.

Stats Perform said that the sports integrity field now needs to expand in order to include an increased focus on the problem given its impact on sport and its participants.

The supplier’s Integrity Unit will therefore partner with Signify to identify abuse in real time using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

Stats Perform will work with Signify to expand the data science specialist’s Threat Matrix, a proprietary service which detects online abuse at scale.

The organisations will work together to focus on providing sports industry stakeholders including rights holders, teams, player associations, international federations and governing bodies, with the service to unmask abusers and identify the trends, tactics and technologies used to send hate online.

Threat Matrix provides proactive monitoring and analysis of millions of open source social media posts across multiple platforms, and strips online abusers of their anonymity.

The service, which has been developed over the last two years, features capabilities including images and emoji recognition as well as keywords, phrases and abusive language.

Signify has conducted projects across multiple sports including athletics, basketball, cricket and football, and has run international open source investigations for Fifa. It is currently working with Premier League football clubs to protect players from online hate.

The Professional Footballers’ Association has also partnered with Signify to carry out the most comprehensive study of its kind into online abuse, analysing 6m tweets over the 2020-21 season, which led to the removal of thousands of posts and accounts from social media platforms.

Carl Mergele, chief executive of Stats Perform, said: “Our Integrity work at Stats Perform focuses on the protection of sport and that includes athletes and other participants.

“Sports are under increasing pressure from fans and sponsors to demonstrate moral and social responsibility and our partnership with Signify Group will see the deployment of game-changing AI to protect players, athletes and officials from online racist, homophobic, sexist and other abuse.”

Jonathan Hirshler, chief executive of Signify, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Stats Perform to offer Threat Matrix to their unrivalled portfolio of clients.

“The combination of Stats Perform’s sports industry expertise and Threat Matrix’s bespoke AI-powered proactive monitoring and analysis capabilities provides sports stakeholders with an industry leading solution to help protect their athletes and staff from online threat and discriminatory abuse.”

The campaign will run across national television, radio and digital platforms, as well as out-of-home and both inside and outside football stadiums around Great Britain. 

GambleAware said Bet Regret would retain its focus on consumers aged between 18 and 34 who frequently gamble on sports.

Adverts will again feature a wrestling theme, based around the concept of ‘tapping out for time out’ and encouraging bettors to pause before making an impulsive bet.

According to GambleAware, the campaign, which launched last September, delivered high levels of awareness, with recognition averaging at over 60% amongst the broader target audience and 75% amongst those in the highest risk band. 

The charity added that the campaign also proved successful in encouraging consumers to ‘tap out’, with 38% of the audience saying they ‘try to tap out’ of their app before placing a bet and 17% saying they use ‘tapping out’ as a tool to cut down on gambling.

“With the start of the football season and fans returning to stadiums, we must do all we can to encourage people to pause and consider before making a bet,” GambleAware chief executive Zoë Osmond said.

“With all public health campaigns, the biggest challenge is translating awareness and intentions into actions, which is why there is a continued need to promote behavioural nudges, such as ‘tap out’. 

“So far, we have seen promising results from the campaign to date, with more people recognising and using ‘tapping out’ as a technique to moderate their betting.”