Month: August 2021

McCann will undertake the role while serving in his current capacity as Crown Resorts CEO. He will relocate from Sydney to Melbourne as soon as possible in keeping with Covid-19 restrictions.

McCann succeeds Xavier Walsh, whose departure was announced earlier this month. Walsh will still remain with the business until 9 December, in keeping with the terms of his contract.

Walsh’s departure coincided with an inquiry into Crown Melbourne’s operations. The ongoing inquiry has heard evidence that Crown is “not a suitable licensee” to operate in the state. In addition to breaches of anti-money laundering rules, Crown was found to be circumventing Chinese currency restrictions with a ‘voucher for chips’ exchange system with VIP customers.

When adding in that the operator failed to pay its casino tax bill in full, the inquiry found Crown to be untrustworthy and “unfit to hold a licence”. Crown later paid the remaining AUD$61.0m (£32.5m/€38.1m/$43.8m) of its tax bill.

The Melbourne inquiry followed the New South Wales-based Bergin inquiry which led to the resignation of former Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton. Here it was found that Crown Resorts had further ties to money laundering as well as dealings with junkets with criminal connections.

This led to Crown being deemed unsuitable to hold a licence to operate a casino at Barangaroo in central Sydney. Last week, New South Wales implemented all of the recommendations from this inquiry, including the creation of a new regulator.

Crown Melbourne recently had to close temporarily for a second time following a local lockdown imposed by the Victoria government.

This represented a 99.3% year-on-year increase compared to the first half of 2020, when sales amounted to COP$9.77tn.

The regulator also revealed that during H1, online gaming grew by 148% in the first half of 2021 compared to the full-year 2020 online gaming results of COP$8.30tn (£1.5bn/€1.8bn/$2.1bn).

Speaking at the GAT Expo event, Jhon Jairo Altamiranda, commercial vice president of Coljeugos, said he was hopeful this growth would continue into the second half of the year.

“We hope that in the second half of 2021, this manner continues with the same sales rhythm, positioning itself in the market as one of the great strengths of our sector.” 

President of Coljuegos César Augusto Valencia Galiano, who was appointed in November 2020, spoke of how the industry has been impacted by the effects of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

“We have lived through challenging times where we have encountered uncontrollable aspects that have had an impact on this industry,“ said Galiano.

“In the midst of that situation, we work hand in hand with guilds and operators for economic reactivation.”

In addition, Galiano noted that the past year had seen a decline in sports betting, due to events being cancelled. This was offset by random number generator (RNG) games rising in popularity and increasing market share.

“As an effect of the cancellation of sporting events at a national and international level, a considerable increase was generated in the participation of RNG games,” said Galiano.

“For this reason, players loyal to online games had no choice but to migrate to the RNG games, which increased their market share.”

Last week, Coljuegos carried out raids on seven gambling establishments that were operating illegally.

Stempeck will work with the senior team at Compliable to drive the provider’s growth plans in the US, with the business having secured funding to continue developing a platform that helps US sportsbooks prepare applications and secure employee licences.

He joins Compliable after a spell as director of licensing for DraftKings, a role in which he oversaw the licensing process across all products including sportsbook, online casino and daily fantasy sports both in the US and globally.

Prior to this, he was associate general counsel at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. where he developed policy initiatives and provided guidance for legal issues.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Following investigations carried out by detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), a KRAIL official, who NABU said at the time was acting chairman of the regulator, was detained while receiving a bribe.

The arrest took place last week, under the procedural guidance of Ukraine’s Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

NABU said its detectives had received information about a system of receiving bribes for the issuance of permits and licences for gambling during the summer of this year, and subsequently developed and carried out a set of covert investigative actions using undercover detectives.

As part of the investigation, detectives found evidence that a member of KRAIL offered to grant licences and approve business premises in the city of Chernihiv and the Zaporozhye region for operation as gaming establishments, in exchange for an estimated $90,000.

NABU said that investigative actions are underway to expose other members of what it called an organised criminal group.

KRAIL was set up after Ukraine legalised gambling last year.

Last month, KRAIL revealed it had blocked 594 illegal gambling websites in its fight against illegal gambling in the jurisdiction.

Also in July, the country’s legislature passed a bill setting a 10% tax rate on all forms of gambling.

Paysafe said the all-cash transaction would expand its growth prospects in Germany and create revenue-generating opportunities to cross-sell viafintech’s alternative banking and payments solutions to its merchants around the world.

Founded in 2011, Viafintech operates under the brands of Barzahlen/Viacash and Viacash, offering financial services across the Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (DACH) region.

Viafintech also has a presence in a number of other European countries and operates via a network of 20,000 points of sale with over 20 retail partners, and also has relationships in the banking, bill payments and ecommerce industries.

Paysafe said the combination of Viafintech’s banking framework and market position in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, together with Paysafe’s payments portfolio and global merchant base, is expected to create growth opportunities for each organisation in Europe and beyond.   

“We believe the team are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the shift away from the legacy banking system in Germany and beyond as more and more challenger banks enter the market and consumers opt to use mobile-based solutions for banking and payments,” Paysafe’s ecash and open banking chief executive Udo Müller said.

“By combining Viafintech’s leading solutions with our existing eCash and APM portfolio, we are well positioned as an essential payments partner to challenger banks around the world as consumer banking habits continue to evolve.”

As part of the deal, viafintech’s team, including managing directors Sebastian Seifert, Achim Bönsch and Andreas Veller, will form part of Paysafe’s eeash and open banking solutions team, which is headed up by Müller.

In addition, viafintech’s former majority shareholder – cash technology solutions provider Glory Ltd – will enter a new strategic partnership with Paysafe. Glory will offer paysafecard, one of Paysafe’s ecash solutions, as a form of payment within its in-store payments kiosks, while Paysafe will offer Glory’s cash technology solutions to its merchants. 

Meanwhile, Grenke Bank AG, which has been providing viafintech’s German bank licence and regulatory framework since 2017, as well as being a shareholder of the company, will continue to provide the same banking service going forward.

Viafintech co-founder Seifert added: “We are delighted to become part of the Paysafe Group and believe this move will enable us to build on our business achievements to date and accelerate our future growth as Europe’s number one, non-banking, cash-in/cash-out infrastructure, further fuelling the shift away from legacy banking and driving more financial inclusion in general.”

Subject to customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to close in the coming months.

The deal comes after Paysafe last week also announced its acquisition of ecommerce payment provider SafetyPay in an all-cash transaction. SafetyPay provides ecommerce transactions through open banking and ecash solutions in 11 Latin American countries.

This followed an agreement to acquire Peruvian alternative payment platform PagoEfectivo in a deal set to close this month.

Carried out in collaboration with asset manager Aberdeen Standard Investments, the new report, ‘The Geography of Gambling Premises in Great Britain’, looked at the retail betting sector in Britain, with a focus on the relationship between gambling and deprived areas.

This covered betting shops, as well as casinos, bingo venues, family entertainment centres (FECs) and adult gaming centres (AGCs).

The report found that while there had been a 15.8% drop in the number of retail gambling locations between March 2018 and November 2020, land-based venues still accounted for 44% of Britain’s gross gambling yield (excluding lotteries) prior to the first novel coronavirus Covid-19 lockdown – around £5.0bn (€5.83bn/$6.82bn).

Researchers also discovered a concentration of gambling sites in more deprived areas, with 21% of gambling premises located in the most deprived areas of Britain, while just 2% were in the less deprived, more affluent regions of the country.

The report said the association between deprivation and number of gambling premises was strongest for bingo venues, followed by FECs and AGCs, though this relationship was still significant for betting shops and casinos. Some 29% of AGCs were located in the most deprived areas, with bingo venues on 30%, FECs 34%, casinos 24% and betting shops 18%.

While the City of London had the lowest population rate per betting shop, with one betting shop for every 304 people that live in the area, researchers mainly discounted this, saying people mainly travel into the area for leisure or work.

Glasgow City had a rate of 3,264 for its 194 betting shops, followed by Westminster with 3,308 for 79 shops, Liverpool on 3,662 for 136 shops and Brent with 3,790 for 87 shops.

In terms of FECs, the report highlighted a significant concentration in coastal towns, with 72% of all British FECs located in these regions. Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards had the highest number of FECs, with a total of 10 in November 2020.

It was also noted that the highest proportion of gambling treatment centres – 17% – were located in the most deprived areas of Britain, with researchers putting this down to the fact there were more gambling venues in these regions.

Other key findings included that over 9% of schools in England were located within 250m of the nearest gambling venue, meaning 742,000 pupils are a five-minute walk away from their closest gambling outlet.

Researchers also cited a 2018 YouGov study that found only 15% of consumers wanted a betting shop on their ‘ideal’ local high street, with 73% stating they would not want such a venue. In contrast, 92% of respondents would like a bank and post office, 91% a pharmacy and 90% a restaurant or café.

As to what local authorities are doing to tackle this, researchers said while there are some examples of evidence and policy being used to prevent clustering of gambling premises, it still remains difficult to challenge a licence application.

“The research highlights the clear mismatch between the amenities available in ‘left behind’ areas, compared with those that are more affluent,” University of Bristol senior research associate Jamie Evans said. 

“Rather than having greater access to the facilities, services and opportunities that help people to improve their lives, those in more deprived communities are disproportionately faced with choices that can often prove harmful. 

“While the gambling industry may offer some much-needed employment in these areas, it usually takes much more than it gives, leaving a legacy of greater hardship and increased social problems.”

The government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport is currently in the process of reviewing the 2005 Gambling Act in order to bring rules and regulations up to date with the modern market.

Last year, a House of Lords select committee said that the new-look act should give licensing committees the same powers as they already have when deciding on the licensing of premises for the sale of alcohol. It added that local authorities should be able to decide where a betting shop is located based on what is good for the community as a whole.

Standard Life Foundation chief executive Mubin Haq added: “If we are to truly level up, the new gambling reforms currently being considered must take into account the geography of gambling venues and give local authorities more control over licensing.”

The renewed partnership is part of Cricket Victoria’s attempt to reduce children’s exposure to sports betting promotional content. This will be done through initiatives such as the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s ‘Join the Club’ campaign, which features cricket players and fans discouraging sports betting partnerships.

“Community sport and clubs are at the heart of what we do in Victorian cricket,” said Nick Cummins, CEO of Cricket Victoria.

“Through this partnership, we’re limiting the amount of gambling advertising seen by young people in our sport, and equipping them to recognise, and manage, gambling risks.” 

Along with Cricket Victoria, the extension involves Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades.

“Partnerships with organisations like Cricket Victoria are critical because they give young people an opportunity to enjoy sport without associating it with gambling,”  said Shane Lucas, CEO of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.

“The first generation of kids to grow up with gambling advertising is the largest group of sports bettors in Victoria, with almost one in three bets placed by young men aged 18–24 years and participation by young women rising.”

The three studios will form part of the Aristocrat Digital division, which Aristocrat said would support its development efforts in the casual gaming and social casino markets.

Founded in 2015, Finland-based Futureplay specialises in free-to-play mobile gaming and has released six games that have been played by more than 140 million people around the world, including Merge Gardens, Idle Farming Empire and Battlelands Royale.

Should the deal go through, Futureplay will operate as a studio within Aristocrat’s Plarium business, under the leadership of Jami Laes. This, Aristocrat said, would bring together Plarium’s game development infrastructure and marketing expertise with Futureplay’s casual mobile capabilities, enabling Plarium to expand and diversify its portfolio.

Playsoft is another mobile gaming studio, which, based in Poland, has developed more than 50 games for third party partners during its 13-year history, 

The acquisition will see Playsoft operate within Aristocrat’s Product Madness business and will continue to be led by founders Nicolas Bensignor and Pierre Olivier Monteil. Aristocrat said this would help accelerate Product Madness’s pipeline and help establish a footprint in Poland.

In addition, Aristocrat will set up a new development facility in Finland. The Northern Stars studio will focus on the hybrid casual genre, under the leadership of Minwoo Lee, formerly of EA and Ubisoft, and Antti Nikander, who previously worked for Rovio). 

Aristocrat said the new studio will help to grow the group’s presence in Finland and further expand its game development capabilities.

“These deals are consistent with Aristocrat’s successful strategy of bringing more world-class game development talent and capability into the organisation to expand our game pipeline and sustain our strong growth momentum in digital,” Aristocrat Digital chief executive Michael Lang said.

“We are thrilled to welcome Futureplay, Northern Stars and Playsoft to the Aristocrat Digital family, given their impressive track records in game development, creativity and innovation. Coupled with Aristocrat Digital’s ambitious strategy, global scale, marketing and investment

capabilities, we look forward to helping our new colleagues reach new heights as part of Aristocrat.”

“We will continue to be active in pursuing global talent and studio deals that accelerate our growth strategy, alongside our sustained proven focus in driving organic growth and above market results.”

Revenue for the six months to 30 June grew to to SEK2.64bn (£218.8m/€255.2m/$297.8m).

The vast majority of this total came from its main vertical of horse racing, which brought in SEK2.15bn.

However, this was down slightly from H1 2020, when Swedish horse racing experienced a boom during lockdown as other sports were suspended.

Betting on non-racing sports, meanwhile, more than doubled to SEK319m.

 Casino revenue was down 18.4% to SEK169m as the country implemented a SEK5,000 monthly cap on online casino deposits.

Online channels continued to make up the vast majority of revenue, up 12.0% to SEK2.14bn. Retail revenue dipped by 21.0% to SEK496m.

Geographically, Sweden brought in almost all of ATG’s revenue at SEK2.47bn, but revenue from Denmark rose by 34.8% to SEK93m.

Besides the SEK2.64bn in net gaming revenue, ATG made a further SEK127m in revenue from non-gaming sales at its ATG Ombud retail outlets. It then made SEK282m from other sources.

The business then paid SEK524m in gambling taxes, up 3.8%, as well as SEK239m in personnel costs, up 9.1% and SEK1.24bn in other expenses, a 1.7% increase.

This, plus SEK152m in depreciation costs, up 10.4%, led to a SEK930m operating profit.

After SEK3m from financial items, ATG recorded a pre-tax profit of SEK927m, an 8.2% decline.

ATG’s income tax bill was SEK39m, leading to a final profit of SEK888m, a decrease of 8.5%.

Looking just at the second quarter, ATG’s net gaming revenue was SEK1.37bn, down 4.2%, while its total revenue was SEK1.584bn, a 9.2% decline.

ATG chief executive Hasse Lord Skarplöth noted that while revenue was down, this was mostly due to extremely high comparatives following a particularly strong quarter in 2020.

“A look in the rear-view mirror until last year shows that our figures for the second quarter of 2020 were exceptional,” he said. “To be able to match that quarter this year would be difficult.”

He added that despite the decline, ATG’s performance did exceed expectations.

“But the numbers were better than expected,” Skarplöth continued. “We had provided for an even larger decline during the quarter. And in comparison with the ‘normal year’ of 2019 we saw a growth in net gaming revenue of 25%.”

After expenses, ATG’s operating profit was down 27.1% to SEK495m.

Following financial items and tax, ATG recorded a final profit of SEK472m, 26.6% less than in Q2 of 2020.

Though the length of the deal was not disclosed, it was confirmed that VBet will serve as the title partner of Ukraine’s national ice hockey team.

The deal comes after VBet last month also agreed to become the new title sponsor of the Ukrainian Premier League (UPL) for the next three seasons

“With our new partner VBet, we strive to develop a new brand for the national team of Ukraine,” FHU president Heorhiy Zubko said. “We already have a lot of ideas and I think that this cooperation will bring very high results.”

VBet head of the partnership development in Ukraine added: “Everyone dreams of getting into the national team in hockey, and our company is no exception. We hope that with the new partnership our team will have great victories and new challenges.”