Month: March 2022

Joe Andrews has been promoted to head of sales for Africa, while Angel Calderon will take on the position of head of sales for Latin America and Iberia, and Helen Ridley has moved into a similar role to lead the UK and European team.

In addition, SIS has appointed Conall McSorley, Dave Richardson, Harri Hulatt and Andrew Kelly as commercial managers.

SIS said the new appointments would help to support the provider’s network of operator partners across its key sales territories.

“These new appointments will significantly strengthen our commercial capability across our key markets globally, as we aim to further drive our presence in new and existing markets,” SIS commercial director Paul Witten said.

“I am confident that the knowledge and expertise that they bring to the team will be of real benefit to SIS and to our operator partners.”

The appointments come after SIS earlier this month also announced Julian Wheeler as its new chief technology officer.

SIS in October also appointed two new non-executive directors to support its expansion plans in the US market. Laila Mintas, CEO of PlayUp USA, and Giovanna D’Esposito, general manager for Uber in Southern Europe, were both handed roles with SIS.

From 1 April, Play’n Go will be able to offer titles such as Raging Rex 2, Book of Dead and Rise of Olympus to B2C operators regulated in the territory.

“We are very thankful to the Licensing Authority of Gibraltar for this licence,” said Sissel Weitzhandler, chief risk and compliance officer for Play’n GO. “Gibraltar is an important jurisdiction to our strategy, and we look forward to working with existing and new partners through our own licence.”

This marks Play’n Go’s second new market entry this month, having obtained a licence to operate in Ontario from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario two weeks ago. Ontario’s igaming market is set to launch on 4 April.

“Following closely after securing our supplier licence for Ontario last month, it’s exciting to now be able to add a Gibraltarian licence to the breadth of our offering,” said Magnus Olsson, chief commercial officer for Play’n Go. “Play’n Go’s ability to work with operators across jurisdictions in regulated markets all around the world is unrivaled, especially with the addition of a Gibraltarian licence.”

“Add in the power of our full content portfolio, in addition to the strength of our technology, and operators now recognise the true value of working with a supplier that is laser focused on regulated markets.”

This marks the fourth state WSOP.com now operates in, having already went live in Pennsylvania, Nevada and New Jersey.

Customers in Michigan will be able to play a number of live-action games on WSOP.com, including No Limit Hold and Pot Limit Omaha.

Players can also link their WSOP online rewards credits to their Caesars Rewards account.

“With two world champions coming out of this state, Michigan is a special market for the WSOP,” said Ty Stewart, SVP of the World Series of Poker at Caesars Entertainment. “We’re sorry it’s taken so long, but WSOP.com is ready to make up for our late entry with industry-leading promotions, the biggest weekly tournaments, and player appreciation benefits like freerolls to the Main Event in Las Vegas.”

With the launch, WSOP.com offer several exclusive sign-up promotions, including $50 in free credits. WSOP has also partnered with Joe Cada, 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, for the launch. WSOP is offering $1,000 to any Michigan resident that can outlast Cada in the WSOP Main Event 2022.

“It’s go time in Michigan,” said Cada. “I know a lot of local players are excited that WSOP.com is finally live in the state and I’m personally looking forward to getting to know all of the great poker players at tournaments and online events soon.”

Interstate poker was permitted in Michigan through a bill that was signed into law in January 2021.

Star said its board accepted the resignation earlier today (28 March), confirming Bekier will step down from the board immediately and work with Star to transition his responsibilities. 

Bekier’s final departure date as chief executive is yet to be determined, with Star saying it will make a further announcement in due course.

The resignation was in direct response to a review into Star’s casino in Sydney, which launched in June last year amid concerns over ongoing over the venue’s possible breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws at its casinos.

Upon tendering his resignation, Bekier said as managing director and CEO, he is accountable for the “effectiveness and adequacy of the company’s processes, policies, people and culture”. 

Bekier added the right thing to do was for him to take responsibility and as such handed in his resignation notice.

Allegations raised so far at the headings include senior managers employed at the Star Sydney casino purposely deceiving regulators over illegal cash transactions in a junket room and were aware these breached money laundering rules.

When allegations of anti-money laundering failings and ties to organised crime against the venue were first raised, Star responded by calling the claims “misleading”.

Public hearings into alleged goings on at Star Sydney continue.

The policy change will now allow operators to run adverts related to online sports betting, online casino and daily fantasy sports.

However, operators are required to first secure a provincial online gambling licence being able to legally place these ads. Ontario will be the only Canadian province where these forms of online gambling are permitted for licensed operators.

Operators can apply to Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario for a licence, and should they secure a permit, they would then need to apply for and secure a Google Certificate in order to place the ads.

Ontario’s legal online gambling market is scheduled to launch next week on 4 April, with a number of operators having secured licences ahead of the opening.

Bet365, Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel, Unibet, BetMGM, PointsBet and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. 

Other named licensees include LeoVegas, Rush Street Interactive, Rivalry, theScoreBet, 888, Coolbear and Fitzdares. Annexio Limited will operate as Lottogo while NSUS Limited will be active under the WSOP brand.

In addition, supplier licences have been issued to Inspired Entertainment, Play’n Go, Kambi and High 5 Games.

The provincial government first revealed plans to scrap the lottery’s online gambling monopoly nearly three years ago, and legislation to pave the way for a licensing regime was introduced in 2020. 

The province published its final standards for online betting and gaming in September 2021, but some legal experts have expressed doubts about whether the provincial government’s approach conflicts with the Criminal Code of Canada.

Revenue came to HK$7.6m (£732,720/€882,546/USD$971,010), a 81.1% drop compared to HK$40.4m generated in 2020, which was itself a steep drop from 2019. This was projected in a profit warning released last week.

Technical sales and distribution of electronic gaming equipment made up HK$5m of the total revenue, while consultancy and technical services made up HK$1.8m. Repair services totaled at HK$651,495 of the revenue.

APE Macau’s smart vending machine business added HK$145,305 to the revenue.

Most of the company’s revenue – HK$6.4m – was generated in Macau. Operations in the Philippines took in HK$1.0m in revenue, while Vietnam, Korea and other countries saw revenue of HK$121,122 in total

Costs of sales came to HK$6.7m, down from HK$27.9m in 2020. This brought the overall gross profit to HK$850,536- a decrease of 92.3% year-on-year.

Operating expenses fell by 10.2% to HK$18.6m. Finance costs also decreased, by 27.5% to HK$85,620. Impairment losses on property, equipment and right-of-use assets hit HK$2.0m, with no comparable figure from 2020.

Other impairment losses, meanwhile, came to HK$1,303 for the year, compared to a loss of HK$22.8m in 2020.

A further loss of HK$3.2m was due to the write-down of inventories. However, the business did make HK$148,407 in other income.

After considering all this, the total loss for the year was HK$23.0m, which was less than the HK$32.0m loss in 2020. There was no income tax expense in 2021

“The group remains somewhat concerned about the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on the operations of its businesses,” said Allen Tat Yan Huie, chairman and executive director of APE Macau. “While the group has taken proactive steps to diversify its businesses, the businesses themselves may be affected by the macro conditions such as border closings and travel restrictions.”

“Therefore, it is imperative that the group should look for opportunities that are more digital in nature; opportunities that are less affected by physical constraints.”

“Once the pandemic resides, we believe that mass gaming will come back to Macau, and our electronic gaming equipment business is well positioned to profit from it.”

More than 300 officers from police departments in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg carried out a coordinated operation on 23 March 2022, under the direction of Freiburg police. Local police forces and tax investigators also assisted with the raids.

The raids took place after 30 search warrants were issued.

It was reported that a number of key pieces of evidence had been seized, including manipulated slot machines and amusements machines.

Investigations are being conducted into individuals thought to be associated with the raids, who are under suspicion of providing illegal gambling services. These investigations are ongoing.

Last year a German police officer was one of several people arrested after 41 houses in Saarland were raided following suspicions of illegal gambling and commercial fraud.

Earlier this month, Parimatch Tech announced it was to exit the Russian market in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Betring LLC had been operating the Parimatch brand in Russia under a deal agreed with Parimatch Tech in 2016, whereby all rights to use the Parimatch trademark in the country were transferred to Betring.

However, Parimatch Tech, which was founded in Ukraine in 1994, sent termination documents to Betring to cease operating the brand in Russia, while it also pursued restrictions for the use of the Parimatch brand in local sponsorship contracts.

This means Russia is banned from using Parimatch advertising materials, symbols, colours, global ambassadors and slogans, while all local ambassadors in the country can no longer use any Parimatch branding.

“The war that Russia started against the Ukrainian people and state made it unacceptable for us to use the brand and tech solutions in Russia,” Parimatch co-chief executive Roman Syrotian said. 

“We stopped the support of all processes on operational and technical levels, and we withdrew the Parimatch brand.”

Parimatch Tech co-chief executive Maksym Liashko added: “The board’s decision to leave the Russian market was implemented on all levels. From here on out, any presence of the Parimatch brand in Russia will be considered as a violation of the intellectual property. 

“This is not a rebranding or restyling. This is a complete shutdown from the franchise. We have no ties or connections to any further Betring LLC activities.” 

Parimatch Tech has announced a series of other initiatives to support Ukraine in recent weeks, including that it had committed UAH60m (£1.6m/€1.9m/$2.0m) to helping people in Ukraine amid the ongoing invasion. The business initially set aside UAH30m to help Ukrainians but increased this amount to provide additional assistance. 

In addition, the business’s Parimatch Foundation non-profit launched a charitable fundraiser to help purchase and deliver food and medicine, as well as to assist with the evacuation of victims.

Meanwhile, Parimatch Tech denied reports it would end its partnership with Chelsea but did confirm it would be limiting joint marketing activity with the English Premier League football club in order to focus on its efforts helping Ukraine.

Reports suggested Parimatch Tech would suspend or terminate its deal with Chelsea due to the club’s ownership by Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who has reported links with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, Parimatch Tech said that while it would scale back joint marketing activity with the club in order to focus more on its efforts in Ukraine, it would remain in partnership with the team.

The state’s handle was 24.3% higher than $34.1m in February 2021 but 27.7% lower than the $58.6m wagered by players during January of this year.

Online was again the most popular form of betting among consumers, with $23.4m wagered via the internet, compared to the $18.8m that was bet at the state’s two retail sportsbooks at the Twin River and Tiverton Casino sites.

Revenue jumped 125.0% year-on-year from $1.6m in February 2021 to $3.6m, though this total was 30.,8% behind the $5.2m generated in January this year.

Online revenue for the month amounted to $1.9m, while retail betting revenue reached $1.6m.

Twin River was again the more successful of the two retail sportsbooks, posting $1.4m in revenue from $14.4m in bets. Revenue at the Tiverton Casino reached $278,031 off $4.4m in wagers.

For the year to date, players wagered a total $355.9m during the eight months to the end of February, while revenue amounted to $28.7m.

The agreement will run through to May 2030, extending the current deal that was due to expire in May 2025 by an additional five years.

WatchandWager, which has held the lease since 2012, brokered the latest extension with the board of the California Exposition and State Fair. Key commercial terms of the deal have been agreed, with the contract between the venue’s the landlord and WatchandWager expected to be a formality.

As WatchandWager is already approved by the California Horse Racing Board to conduct its operations, the extension does not require any further approval from the state’s regulator.

“WatchandWager has operated live Racing at the Cal Expo venue since 2012 and continues to improve the quality of Racing at the venue,” Webis said. “In addition, this sector of the business has proven to be profitable in the past and indeed currently.

“The board sees no reason why this positive trend should not continue to be the case into the extension. The racetrack also enjoys an excellent health and safety record for equine and human participants, and this continues to be a key focus for the operation

“This approval secures the WatchandWager physical licensed presence in California for a further significant period, alongside its existing online license. This commitment to the state is important, as the State Capitol continues to consider its options for the legalisation of sports betting in California, the biggest market in the US.”

The extension comes after Webis last month reported a small net loss of $70,000 for the first half of its 2022 financial year, while revenue also fell 8.1% year-on-year.

Revenue for the six months through to 30 November amounted to $6.8m, which was down from $7.4m in the corresponding period in the 2021 financial year, while the amount bet by customers also fell 12.3% to $39.8m.