Month: December 2021

At GambleAware’s conference on Wednesday (8 December), Rhodes stated that the Commission needs to “do more” in terms of illegal gambling and the black market.

However, he said that this would not prevent the regulator from ensuring a high level of compliance and standards in the industry.

“We are not going to be deflected away from that mission, in some sort of race to the bottom because someone else is worse,” said Rhodes. “That’s the whole point of having a regulated market.”

“I absolutely believe if you introduce the wrong friction, you can drive people into the black market. But we are nowhere near that scale of problem.”

Rhodes also revealed that the Commission had recovered £100m in penalty packages since 2017 and had retracted 10 operator licences, adding that this was not cause for celebration.

“This year so far is already on course to be our busiest year ever in terms of enforcement activity, and that’s something that should concern us,” said Rhodes.

Rhodes added that the Commission had seen an increase in repeated offences, with more fines, rather than regulatory settlements, being issued as a result.

“We are seeing the same companies committing the same offenses for the second and third time, and my concern is that those operators are starting to see fines as a compliance tax, and that’s something that I’m not prepared to tolerate,” he said.

“It must also be incredibly frustrating for those in the industry who are working hard to comply and to raise standards.”

Rhodes also stressed business to customer relations in the gambling industry, revealing how customers are affected when they gamble,

“The gambling industry yields £14.1billion after winnings are paid out, which means the gambling industry takes £450 a second off consumers within the UK,” said Rhodes.

Elsewhere Rhodes referred to the collapse of Football Index earlier this year, criticising the company for not being transparent with, and misleading, customers.

“People have had horrendous experiences in losing money as the company collapsed,” said Rhodes. “But what we found here is we’ve got a company encouraging consumers to believe they were investing and not gambling when there were no assets to support an investment.”

Yesterday the Commission published its Compliance and Enforcement Report for 2020-2021, which revealed issues in anti-money laundering enforcement.

The regulator stated that the shortcomings may be due to valuing profit over regulatory compliance.

“Our casework reveals that operators are either not making suitable resources available or are simply putting commercial objectives ahead of regulatory ones,” read the report. “This is simply unacceptable and will be seen as such by others in the industry who work hard to achieve compliance.”

Rhodes was appointed as the Commission’s interim chief executive in June on an 18 month period.

Gambling Minister Chris Philp also spoke at the GambleAware conference this week, stating that the government will look into putting a single customer view approach and soft affordability cap in place, but that the cap was likely to be set higher than £100.

Philp was appointed to the role of Gambling Minister in September.

The operator, which owns brands such as Paddy Power, Betfair, PokerStars and FanDuel, has also appointed MGM Resorts and McDonald’s veteran Atif Rafiq as a new director. Rafiq will join the repurposed committee.

The risk and sustainability committee will focus on the management of material risks that impact its reputation, while strengthening its governance arrangements for oversight of sustainability matters on behalf of the board, Flutter chair Gary McGann explained. 

The committee is chaired by independent non-executive director Zillah Byng-Thorne, with Dave Lazzarato, Michal Cawley, Nancy Cruickshank, Richard Flint and Holly Keller Koeppel serving as members. 

They will be joined by Rafiq, who has been named an independent non-executive director of Flutter, also effective 10 December. 

He serves as non-executive director of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Kins Technology Group, and previously served as president of customers, commercial and growth for MGM Resorts International. 

Rafiq has also worked for fast food giant McDonald’s as chief digital officer, and for car manufacturer Volvo as chief digital and global chief information officer. He also held leadership positions at Amazon and Yahoo.

“Following an international search as part of our on-going board renewal process, I am delighted to welcome Atif as a non-executive director,” McGann said. 

“He brings an extensive wealth of digital, innovation and technology-led transformation experience to the board,” McGann continued. “Atif’s appointment is in line with our board renewal programme having regard to the scale, geographic breadth and growth of the business.”

A total of 46,874,998 shares went live earlier today (10 December) at a price of PLN23.00 (£4.26/€4.99/$5.62), representing an overall value of PLN1.1bn and accounting for 30% of the entire share capital in STS.

The offer values the business at PLN3.6bn, with STS chief executive and largest shareholder Mateusz Juroszek, together with his family, to retain a 70% holding in the group.

STS is primarily focused on its native Polish market but is also active elsewhere through its licences in Great Britain and Estonia.

“The first day of listing of STS Holding shares on the WSE is the culmination of many months of hard work of our entire team, together with our partners who supported us through this process,” Juroszek said. 

“We welcome our diversified group of global investors and believe that we will jointly develop the group so that we not only continue to grow dynamically in Poland, but also increase further the scale of operations and brand recognition in international markets,” Juroszek added.

“We are delighted to have achieved our strategic goal of an IPO on the WSE and the strong investor demand we saw through the IPO demonstrated the quality of our business. Now we are focused on further increasing the value of the Company for all shareholders. 

“Our unique business model and highly developed strategy will continue to strengthen our position as a leader in the sports betting industry.”

Summit Ascent, a SunCity subsidiary that operates the Tigre de Cristal resort in Vladivostok, Russia, also issued an identical notice.

Chau was one of 11 people arrested in Macau on 27 November as part of an investigation into an illegal cross-border gambling syndicate.

Following the arrest, Chau announced he would step down as SunCity and Summit Ascent chairman, while remaining the controlling shareholder of the SunCity Group.

The group allegedly created an illegal live betting platform in the Philippines, which attracted customers from mainland China via a Macau-based junket. It is then said to have used local bank accounts to transfer its revenue from the operation.

Following this incident, Wooco Secretarial Services, which had lent Chau’s Star Soul Investments business HK$300m (£29.1m/€34.1m/$38.5m) on 30 July, served a “demand letter” to Star Soul.

This letter demanded full repayment of the loan, plus interest, for a total of HK$313.6m, arguing that the arrest could be considered a default. SunCity was informed of the letter on 8 December.

“Failing this, appropriate action will be taken against the borrower without further notice, including (but not limited to) legal action against the borrower for recovery of the aforementioned sums together with all related costs, expenses and fees,” SunCity noted.

SunCity pointed out that Star Soul is not a part of the SunCity Group, but Chau was listed as the guarantor for the loan.

As a result, it is possible that the 74.9% stake in SunCity held by Fame Select Limited, jointly owned by Chau and Cheng Ting Kong, could be sold or otherwise disposed of. 

Other assets that SunCity noted may be under threat include company bonds held by Fame Select.

“As at the date of this announcement, no information is available to the Company as to how Wooco will deal with the above securities in the event of enforcement of them by Wooco,” SunCity said. “Enforcement by Wooco of the above securities may lead to a change in control of the company.”

After becoming aware of the default, SunCity suspended trading of its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday (9 December), but with these details now revealed, the business will resume trading again on Monday (13 December). When trading was suspended, SunCity shares were worth HK$0.14, half the price they traded at before Chau’s arrest.

Under the deal, which will come into effect from January 2022, Genius will provide a wide range of technology and services to the CFL.

Genius will have the exclusive rights to commercialize the CFL’s official data worldwide and video content with sportsbooks in international markets. The provider has similar deals in place with other properties such as the National Football League and soccer’s English Premier League.

The partnership will also see Genius acquire a minority stake in CFL Ventures, the CFL’s new commercial arm.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

End 2 End was founded in 2019 and is based in Buenos Aires and Miami. It is currently licensed in a number of markets, including Colombia and Great Britain.

End 2 End’s bingo offering provides technology for online bingo, retail bingo and hybrid bingo games.

“This is yet another step in Aspire Global’s strategy to control the entire B2B value chain in the igaming industry,” said Tsachi Maimon, CEO of Aspire.

“It is also an important part of achieving our goal of becoming the world’s leading igaming supplier.”

Aspire will now offer End 2 End’s bingo solution through its subsidiary Pariplay’s aggregation platform.

“We are happy to add our technology and expertise to a giant in this industry,” said Alejandro Revich, CEO of End 2 End.

“End 2 End will have the opportunity to reach new customers and markets, hand-in-hand with Aspire Global. No doubt it’s a perfect match for us, and I hope this deal will take our company to the next level.”

Yesterday (9 December) Aspire also completed the migration of its partner brands to BtoBet’s sportsbook platform. Aspire acquired BtoBet in October 2020.

“I’m very happy to see that we have already managed to complete this significant step in our growth strategy,” Maimon said. “The migration to BtoBet’s proprietary sportsbook platform opens up for numerous growth opportunities in regulated markets with both existing and new customers, especially in Europe, the US and Latin America.”

Last week, the business completed the sale of its B2C assets, including Karamba, Hopa and BetTarget, to Esports Technologies for $75.9m.

Oliver Rowe is YouGov’s Global Sector Head for Leisure & Entertainment. He brings three decades of research experience working with some of the world’s largest brands. He has been with YouGov since 2007, previously running its reputation practice but now developing new research tools and solutions for forward-thinking clients across the entertainment spectrum from gambling to music.

The headlines for the industry emerging from YouGov’s US sports betting survey will undoubtedly centre around the 46% of the US public being unaware of the rules on sports betting in their home state, as well as their perceptions of the sector’s advertising, brands and player protections.

However, several other findings underline how limited the engagement of the wider US population with legal sports betting still is, despite its explosion in availability from just four to more than 30 states since the lifting of PASPA in May 2018.

Among a representative sample of 2,233 members of the US public, a  majority of 70% of those polled say they have never bet on sports online or in person, with 56% not even remotely interested in doing so. By contrast, only 16% express an interest in betting legally on sports, with only 8% having recently opened an online betting account with a legal operator.

“These numbers obviously show the limit of the sector currently but as sports betting becomes more established and integrated into sports media coverage in particular, then we can expect the market to grow further”, says Oliver Rowe, YouGov’s Global Head for Leisure & Entertainment.

As for the US public’s attitudes towards the raft of advertising and sponsorship campaigns by legal betting brands aimed at securing footholds in regulated states, nearly half (47%) say they haven’t seen any at all in the last 30 days, with 50% also not recalling seeing any sponsorship, ranging from static logos at stadiums or on a player’s clothing to that of a TV or radio show. In states where online sports betting is legal and there are multiple providers the survey shows just 21% haven’t seen either any advertising or sponsorship.

Among those who have seen advertising for legal sportsbook brands in their state in the last 30 days, 32% of them think the amount they are exposed to has increased in the past few weeks, compared with 8% who are of the view it has gone down.

However, among the 38% of the US public who understand they could bet legally on sports in their state either online and/or in person at a racetrack, casino or sportsbook, 34% of them say they have seen a large or reasonable amount of advertising and sponsorship in the past 30 days:

“Two thirds (68%) of those who believe online sports is now legal in their state say they’ve recently seen at least one ad each day, and over half (56%) say they see at least one sponsorship message daily”, Rowe observes.

Some 19% of those surveyed also agree that they are seeing and/or hearing too much advertising from some betting providers in particular, with this rising to 42% among sports bettors in states where it is legal.

The most visible brand to those who recall seeing ads by legal providers in the preceding 30 days is DraftKings, perhaps unsurprisingly given its marketing and acquisition spend of close to $500m in the 2020 full-year and $400m through the first two quarters of 2021. Some 37% say they have seen ads by this operator in the last 30 days, with 30% having seen ads by FanDuel, with Caesars Sportsbook creative recalled by 19% of the sample, BetMGM by 16% and Barstool Sportsbook by 10%. 

Advertising by the Costa Rica-based Bovada.lv is recalled by 4% of the sample with 14% also remembering campaigns by brands other than the US-licensed properties referenced in the questionnaire, indicating the continued presence of the once-dominant offshore books in the US market.

“When we look at states where online sports betting is already live we find advertising recall for smaller brands grows substantially, particularly among existing gamblers”, Rowe says.

“DraftKings and FanDuel have a much greater lead generally across these states when it comes to ad recall, suggesting that they will attract more of the new players coming to the category but will have greater competition for existing gamblers”, he adds.

The survey also provides insight into the US public’s perception of what the regulated sector is doing to protect US consumers and promote responsible gambling among the fast-expanding player base, presenting something of a warning shot across the bows of online operators following developments over in Europe. 

Concern that advertising would cause people to spend too much on gambling is expressed by 44% of the sample, while 54% agree with the view that advertising and sponsorship needed to be more carefully targeted to avoid underage demographics. Only 14% are confident that operators have effective measures in place to ensure bettors don’t get themselves into trouble by wagering beyond their means.

“These issues need to be monitored as more states come on line to ensure the industry can see and understand any possible downturn in sentiment. A preemptive approach seems sensible”, says Rowe.

The overall weight of public opinion is however more in support of the nascent sector than against it, with almost half (45%) supporting some form of legal wagering in their state, well ahead of the 29% who came out against it, and just 19% who would like all betting banned.

All of which, notwithstanding the US public’s perceptions of its direction of travel on advertising and RG, bodes well for the continued growth and development of the legal betting sector across the US.

You can view and download the full survey report here.

Methodology: YouGov interviewed a representative sample of 2,233 members of the US public aged 18+, conducted online between 19-23 November 2021 using YouGov’s daily Omnibus research service. Respondents were drawn from YouGov’s exclusive panel of 5 million survey takers.

The operator said the restructuring plan was necessary in order to “adjust the group’s structure to lower revenues”, after announcing it would pull its online casino offering from the Austrian market.

That decision, made in October, followed a legal case in Austria in which a number of players sought reimbursement for losses incurred with unlicensed operators. Casinos Austria is the only operator licensed to offer online casino in the country.

At the time, Bet-at-Home said it was confident it would eventually win the case, but added it was now unclear how long this would take. As a result, it said, continuing to offer online casino would lead to a “steadily increasing risk potential that appears indefensible overall”.

As a result it reduced its revenue and earnings expectations for the 2021 calendar year. The business now projects revenue of between €93m and €98m, compared to the €100m-€110m range projected after it published its first-half results in August.

The operator also said that it was possible it would have to repay as much as 40% of customer losses from its Austrian casino operations, which could amount to €24.6m.

Given these factors, the operator made the decision to reduce its headcount by 65. 

However, Bet-at-Home added that it remained confident in its future growth opportunities having made this adjustment.

“With almost 200 highly qualified and dedicated employees, the Bet-at-Home Group is very well positioned for positive economic development,” it said.

This is the third suspension of trading in the past two weeks for SunCity – which was the largest operator of VIP junkets to Macau casinos – and its subsidiary Summit Ascent, which operates the Tigre de Cristal resort in Vladivostok, Russia.

In this case, the two boards said the suspension was made “pending the release of an announcement in relation to a possible loan default by an associate of the controlling shareholder of the company and possible enforcement of securities charges, which constitute inside information of the company”.

The earlier suspensions have been linked to the arrest late last month of Alvin Chau, who was chair of both businesses until he stepped down last week. 

Chau was one of 11 people arrested under suspicion of running an illegal cross-border gambling business. 

The group is suspected of creating an illegal live-betting platform based in the Philippines. They are alleged to have attracted customers from mainland China to this site via a Macau-based junket. 

The group is then said to have used Macau-based bank accounts to transfer its revenue from the operation.

The Macau Procurator General noted that the group is suspected of committing four crimes, with sentences ranging from 10 to 12 years imprisonment. 

In addition to Alvin Chau, two other Summit Ascent non-executive directors stepped down from the operator’s board. Wong Pak Ling Philip stepped down last week, in a move the operator said would allow him to address “personal matters”.

This week, Dr. U Chio Ieong also announced his resignation, in order to “spend more time on other business matters”.

Summit Ascent did not indicate that either event was linked to the Chau arrest and said that no further details of either resignation needed to be brought to the attention of Summit Ascent shareholders or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, the Macau Bureau of Gaming Supervision (DICJ) has announced that employees of SunCity VIP rooms at Macau casinos should not be affected by the junket operator’s decision to close these rooms in the wake of the scandal. SunCity previously operated rooms at all six gaming concessionaires or sub-concessionaires within Macau, but the DICJ announced that it had closed these on 1 December.

The regulator said that employees should not be affected, however, as they would work for the operators in question, which should be obliged to protect their employment rights.

Madrid-based gaming operator Codere Online is offering sports betting and online casino services through www.codere.be.ar.
“Beginning operations in the City of Buenos Aires represents a fundamental milestone in our business plan,” said Moshee Edree, managing director at Codere Online.

Codere Online was previously a subsidiary of Codere but spun off earlier this year. The company made its Nasdaq debut earlier this month after it merged with special purpose acquisition company DD3 Acquisition Corp II.

Meanwhile, Bplay is launching its online casino product at Bplay.bet.ar. Bplay is a collaboration between 888 and B-Gaming, which is owned by the Boldt Group, the operator of two casinos in Argentina.

Elsewhere, online gaming technology company Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) is powering Grupo Slots’ online casino and sportsbook launch, which is available on Jugadon.bet.ar.

GiG and Grupo Slots received approval for the launch in March this year, after GIG agreed to a deal with Grupo Slots in August 2020.

“I am excited to have gone live in the city of Buenos Aires with a prominent brand like Grupo Slots,” said Richard Brown, CEO of GiG.

“Buenos Aires is a dynamic market, set to be one of the largest within Argentina with significant growth potential in the interactive space driven by regulation and growth of a digital online gaming penetration.”

The City of Beaunos Aires’ gambling regulator Loteria de la Ciudad (LOTBA) outlined licensing criteria for online gaming licences in February 2020.

Argentina is currently regulating gambling on a state-by-state basis.

This week the Argentinian province of Córdoba proposed a bill that would allow online gaming in the region.

The province of Buenos Aires has also issued licences of its own for the vertical.