Month: February 2022

CDI will assume control of P2E’s assets in Virginia and New York, in addition to the operations of its Hard Rock-branded Sioux City casino property in Iowa.

The Virginia assets include the Colonial Downs Racetrack and six Rosie’s Gaming Emporium venues across the state, offering historical horse racing machines. The company has the opportunity to build five additional Rosie’s venues in Virginia.

CDI have also purchased the rights to build a large gaming resort in the state, known as the Dumfries project. P2E previously announced plans to invest up to $400m to build the initial phase of the development, which is scheduled to open in 2023.

The rights to develop the ONE Casino and Resort, a $565m property in Richmond, Virginia are also included in the transaction. While plans were advanced in 2021, the project hit a roadblock when voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure that would have cleared the way for work to begin.

In New York, CDI will acquire the del Lago Resort and Casino, a 96,000 square foot casino with a 6000 square foot sportsbook, that is active in the sports betting market in partnership with DraftKings.

The underlying real estate of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City, meanwhile, will be sold to a third party, with CDI to lease the operations from this unnamed owner.

P2E’s gaming license in Louisiana, and its casino development rights in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are not included in the transaction.

The deal is subject to closing conditions being met and the company obtaining regulatory approval from the Virginia Racing Commission, the New York State Gaming Commission, and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

“This unique set of assets expands our geographic footprint and provides additional scale,” CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen said. “P2E has done an exceptional job developing and managing this collection of assets, which we are very excited to acquire and plan to strategically grow in the years ahead.”

CDI is to fund the transaction through a combination of new debt and cash on hand, including proceeds from the sale of land near Calder Casino in Florida.

Macquarie Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor to CDI for the transaction, with Sidley Austin LLP served as legal advisor.

CDI, who recently launched in New Jersey with its TwinSpires product, reported record revenue and profits for the third quarter of its 2021 financial year.

Submitted last month, the preliminary, non-binding proposal would see the New York-based investment firm take full ownership of Bally’s. Standard General currently owns more than 20% of the business and its chair, Soo Kim, is also chair of the operator.

The proposal would see Standard General pay $38.00 for every share of the business that it does not currently own, valuing Bally’s as a whole at just over $2bn.

A special committee formed earlier this month to assess the proposal today (February 22) approved the retention of both Macquarie Capital and Potter Anderson & Corroon to advise on the bid, as well as any potential strategic alternatives to the original proposal.

The committee, however, reiterated that no decisions have been made with respect to the bid and there is no guarantee that the proposal would lead to a takeover. 

“There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made or accepted, that any agreement will be executed or that any transaction will be consummated,” the committee said.

Bally’s has faced a series of transformational changes in recent years, rebranding from Twin River after acquiring the Bally’s brand name from Caesars. 

Following this, Bally’s began an acquisition spree, as it purchasing betting supplier Bet.Works, fantasy operator Monkey Knife Fight and UK-based online gaming operator Gamesys. 

With the Gamesys deal, agreed in March last year, Bally’s paid £18.50 per Gamesys share, valuing the business at £2.00bn ($2.74bn/€2.31bn).

The strategic partnership will allow RSI to offer its BetRivers platform in the three states for up to 20 years through potential second skins in each jurisdiction. In return, RSI will compensate Penn National Gaming with industry-standard payments for market access.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, also provides RSI with a right of first offer for a potential skin in Texas through Penn National.

Maryland launched its legal sports betting market in December 2021, while Ohio’s market is set to go live in April after following state’s House and Senate reaching an agreement over sports betting legislation. Missouri’s sports betting bill awaits approval from the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee.

RSI president Richard Schwartz said: “We are pleased to gain potential market access to three new states as we continue the execution of our strategy to gain access and bring our best-in-class online gaming offerings to key markets across the United States.

“The addition of Ohio, Maryland and Missouri to our market access portfolio, specifically, builds on RSI’s success in neighboring states and will create enhanced marketing efficiencies for our BetRivers.com brand.

The deal represents the latest step in RSI’s North American expansion. The company recently launched in Arizona, New York, Connecticut and Canada.

Schwartz added: “We continue to engage in productive dialogue with industry participants, such as tribal and commercial casinos and other stakeholders, to further our expansion into new states. We expect to continue entering into additional market access arrangements in the future, as other opportunities arise.”

BetCity becomes the latest operator to join the organisation, whose members account for more than €115bn of yearly global betting turnover and almost 50% of all regulated commercial operator online betting activity. 

Operators within the Netherlands have been required to partner with an international integrity monitoring body since the gaming market launced in October 2021.

Kylian Olierook, head of operations at BetCity said: “At Betcity we are proud to become a member of the IBIA and combat corruption to protect the integrity of sports, together with our sportsbook partner Kambi.

“We are committed to protect sports and the consumers and are excited to join forces with the leading voice in this area.”

The majority of Dutch operators have partnered with IBIA, which also recently launched its services in the US and Canada.

Figures from H2 Gambling Capital suggest that the Netherlands gaming market is expected to hit around €2bn in turnover in 2022 (from €230m in 2021) which will then double to €4bn by 2025.

BetCity was one of the ten original operators that received licences ahead of the launch of the Dutch market on 1 October 2021.

The survey took place in late 2021. A total of 860 responses were recorded, with most participants being in the 55-64 years old age bracket.

Participants were asked a variety of questions regarding their experiences as AFL fans.

When asked what their key concerns were, 37% of participants chose gambling advertising. This was second only to umpiring and rule changes at 40.5%.

In choosing their top concern 11.6% chose gambling advertising, the third-most common concern behind game access being impacted by Covid-19 at 11.7% and umpiring and rule changes at 25.6%.

A number of participants called for the removal of gambling advertising altogether during games, suggesting that all gambling-related features and sponsorships be banned.

Others suggested that gambling advertising be reduced.

One comment under the kids and family portion of the survey suggested that gambling should no longer be normalised by the AFL for the sake of children.

Elsewhere, “the blaring ads at the ground and the non-stop betting messaging” was named as a common complaint in the the fan experience section of the survey. The noise of advertisements and music was named as a disruptive factor several times.

“More than one in three fans worry about gambling ads, which was more than we expected,” said Cheryl Critchley, president of the AFLFA. “Many have told us that they don’t like them and are concerned that they are normalising gambling for children.”

“Researchers are demonstrating this, and the AFLFA supports the work of various state government initiatives and campaigns focused on countering the normalisation of gambling and sport.”

Falchetto has experience in online betting and casino, and has worked in managerial and consultancy roles throughout the industry.

Bet-at-Home co-founder Franz Ömer and fellow board member Michael Quatember will leave the management board at the expiration of their terms. Ömer’s term will end later this month.

Earlier this month, the operator also announced a forecast for its 2022 fiscal year, taking into consideration the layoffs of 65 employees stemming from the withdrawal of its online casino service from the Austrian and Maltese markets.

It now expects gross gaming revenue to fall between €50m-€60m, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be in the range of minus €2m and €2m.

The removal of its online casino service from the Austrian market came as a result of a legal dispute, wherein players sought reimbursements for money lost while playing with unlicensed operators. Casinos Austria is the only operator currently licenced to offer online gaming in the country.

An investigation led by Finansinspektionen found that Trustly had not complied with the authority’s regulations or Sweden’s Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (Anti-Money Laundering Act).

Shortcomings were identified in the areas of risk assessment, procedures and guidelines, customer due diligence and monitoring and reporting.

The investigation revealed that Trustly had failed to include a “large portion” of its customers in anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing measures, violating the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Trustly had not carried out a risk assessment on these customers, it said, nor had the payment provider considered them in terms of its procedures and guidelines. These customers have also not been monitored in general.

Trustly was also found to have violated Finansinspektionen’s own anti-money laundering regulations when it came to transaction monitoring, while many of the above Anti-Money Laundering Act failings were also classed as violations of Finansinspektionen’ rules.

Finansinspektionen described Trustly as being in an “industry associated with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing”, in which it acted in a position “that can almost be described as a hub” between banks and gambling operators.

Finansinspektionen decided that the violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the authority’s own regulations needed to be dealt with separately.

It ruled that the Anti-Money Laundering Act infringements were not as serious as the infringements of the authority’s own money laundering regulations, and a warning is sufficient for these.

For the violation of its rules, however, it was handed a SEK130m fine, accompanied by a warning.

“Trustly’s role in the payment chain between the gambling industry and a large number of banks makes it possible for the company to see flows that are not available to other market participants,” said Erik Thedéen, director general of Finansinspektionen.

“A company that has chosen fast and simple as its business concept in the gambling industry needs to be very thorough in its work to prevent money laundering. We have identified in our investigation that this has not been the case.”

The fine comes days after Trustly announced that it would lay off 120 employees as part of restructuring efforts. It did not detail how many of these layoffs would affect its gaming division.

Most of the affected employees, however, are based its Stockholm office. Speaking to iGB, a spokesperson stated that Trustly was “reducing structural complexities” in its refocusing of geographical reach and product offerings.

Cawley is the chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of Irish airline Ryanair, a role he has held since 2003, having joined the business as chief financial officer in 1997.
Cawley was first appointed to the board of what was then Paddy Power in 2013, and during his time as a director he oversaw a number of mergers and acquisitions to create the current Flutter business, including its acquisition of The Stars Group in 2020.

However, he will not seek re-election to Flutter’s board at the 2022 annual general meeting, and will instead step down from its board.

Holly Keller Koeppel, who has been a non-executive director since May 2021, will replace Cawley as chair of Flutter’s audit committee.

Byng-Thorne, meanwhile, is the chief executive of Future plc, which owns a number of media brands such as PC Gamer and Marie Claire. She had been a member of Betfair’s board of directors before it merged with Paddy Power.

She will seek re-election in April. However, she will not do so in 2023. Byng-Thorne will also step down from the role of chair of Flutter’s risk and sustainability committee, being replaced in this role by  Dave Lazzarato, but she will remain on this committee.

“I wish to take this opportunity to thank Michael and Zillah for their exceptional contribution to the board over the past nine years,” Flutter chairman Gary McCann said. “We wish Michael well for the future and I look forward to continuing to work with Zillah during her remaining term as a director.”

Online gaming was legalised across Germany in July last year via the State Treaty on Gambling (GlüNeuRStv) that was approved by German lawmakers.

The treaty allowed state governments to choose how they regulated online table games, be it through creating a monopoly or issuing a number of licences equivalent to the number of land-based casinos in the state.

Nordrhein-Westfalen has opted for the latter approach, meaning five licences may be issued.

The law clarifies that this comes in response to demand from the public, in an attempt to direct players to regulated channels rather than black market operators.

The legislation says that licences will only be granted if the operator does not endanger public safety or impair public interests. The operator must also have an office registered in an EU member state, and conduct its operation in accordance with the State Treaty.

After its second reading, the bill was passed with support from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) proposed amendments to the bill, such as a ban on companies offering bonuses and discounts, a blanket advertising ban and the implementation of a cooling-off period, meaning those that offered online gambling before regulation could not receive licences for two years. The proposed amendment was rejected.

Part of the bill explained its reasoning, saying: “A permitted range of online casino games is to be created. The population’s demand for such a range of games is to be channeled into a permitted market in order to attract players who would otherwise continue to play with black market providers.

“These providers from abroad would play against the risk of fraud and manipulation as well as against particularly addictive game designs and advertising measures through regulatory requirements. Channeling players into the legal market can also deprive the black market of its financial basis.”

The state of Schleswig-Holstein recently passed similar legislation allowing for the operation of online casino games in the region.

The figure was the highest monthly total since Louisiana launched legal retail wagering on October 31 last year, with the January amount 24.8% higher than $39.5m in December and 78.6% more than $27.6m in November.

Revenue from retail sports betting in January amounted to $5.3m, which was 29.3% up from $4.1m in December, but 7.0% lower than $5.7m in November.

Football betting generated $1.5m in revenue during the month, while basketball revenue hit $313,941. Parlay betting was responsible for $3.5m of all revenue for January.

Figures published by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board also showed tax from retail sports betting in January amounted to $533,289.

Legal retail betting began in October of last year when Betfred Sports rolled out in-person wagering in partnership with Paragon Casino Resort, while Caesars followed soon after, launching retail betting at its Harrah’s New Orleans and Horseshoe Bossier City Hotel & Casino properties.

Last month, the state also opened its legal online sports betting market, with a number of operators having been cleared to launch.

Sports wagering was legalised in Louisiana in November 2020 following a parish-by-parish referendum, but the market’s launch was delayed to 2021 due to Louisiana only permitting the passing of a new tax in an odd-numbered year.

Penn National Gaming and its Barstool Sportsbook, Caesars, DraftKings, Rush Street Interactive and its BetRivers Sportsbook, and Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group in partnership with Boyd Gaming have all since launched in the state.