Month: March 2022

According to rule 13.49(1) of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s listing rules, a listed company is required to publish its full-year results no more than three months after the financial year ends.

As rule 13.50 of the listing rules outlines, businesses that do not do so will have trading of their shares suspended. The suspension is set to begin on 1 April 2022 and last until the results are released.

Macau Legend stated that it is not able to consolidate its financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2021 due to travel and quarantine restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

After accounting for the time needed to fully consolidate the statements, the casino investment holding company stated that it expects its full year 2021 financial results will not be released on or before 31 March 2022.

Rule 13.49(3) of the listing rules states that if a company is unable to release audited results within the three months, it must release unaudited financial results.

However, the Macau Legend board stated that this would not be appropriate in this case, as its unaudited financial accounts “may not accurately reflect the financial performance and position of the company”.

Macau Legend stressed that its operations remain normal, adding that shareholders can expect announcements regarding the date of the board meeting to approve the full year results and the date of the results’ release.

In January Chan Weng Lin, formerly Macau Legend’s chief executive, was arrested and accused of commanding a Triad organisation. He resigned from his roles at Macau Legend shortly after his arrest.

Chan had allegedly partaken in a criminal syndicate that recruited Chinese residents to take part in online gambling. Alvin Chau, former chairman of SunCity, was also arrested for involvement in the same syndicate late last year.

Replacing Chan Weng Lin, Melinda Chan Mei Yi returned to the role of chief executive earlier this month.

Macau Legend did not mention the arrest of its chief executive as a factor in its delayed results.

Svenska Spel’s update of the tool to analyse customer’s gaming behavior and identify risky gaming patterns comes 15 years after Playscan was launched in 2007.

The launch of the newly rebranded Min Spelkoll tool follows the introduction of mandatory player cards earlier this year, with account-based play allowing for a greater range of data being collected.

The operator said it prevents harmful gambling by identifying where limits are exceeded, and subsequently forcing a game break and follow-up customer care.

If gambling is associated with any risk, Svenska Spel now examine customer strategies through self-reflection, in the form of question pop ups interrupting on screen play, such as:

“You’ve been playing for [X] hours this month. Most play [Y] minutes or less. A self-test can be a step towards better game control. Do you want to test?”

Katja Franklin, communications manager, sustainability and gaming responsibility at Svenska Spel, says that the new platform “gives perspective and creates reflection.

“In the self-test, you can compare your gambling with others – it is a more effective way to contribute to self-reflection than to come up with cues and admonitions,” she said.

This news comes after the operator announced a full-year growth for its 2021 financial year, with revenue up 6.1% from 2020, with the majority of revenue being made online.

The company commented, “We want gaming to be fun for everyone and look forward to continuing to offer entertaining gaming experiences in a responsible way in 2022.”

Gross gaming revenue from sports betting was 44.4% lower than $1.8m in February of last year and also 87.5% down from $8.0m in January this year.

Retail accounted for the vast majority of revenue in February, generating $1.0m, while just $14,595 came from online betting.

In terms of handle, consumers wagered $70.9m on sports during the month, an increase of 39.0% from $51.0m in February 2021 but 28.7% down from $99.5m in January and the lowest monthly total since September last year.

Players spent $59.1m betting online and $11.8m at retail sportsbooks across the state.

New Hampshire was able to generate $458,353 in tax from sports betting in February, with $452,026 coming from retail activity and just $6,327 from online as players proved more successful with their bets.

For the financial year to date, revenue for the eight months to the end of February was $32.3m, with players wagering $579.4m in the process.

The BestOdds site includes content that covers all sports and casino topics such as brand-specific reviews, player deposit options, game previews and betting strategies articles.

The site also features content and brands around sweepstake and social casinos, while sports betting players can find parlay and hedging calculators, as well as odds and lines from licensed sportsbooks.

“Since launching seven months ago, BestOdds have secured partnerships with the biggest US operators in the market,” BestOdds co-founder Will Armitage said. “We are working hard to create the best product and be the destination for US bettors, no matter their betting experience. 

“The content is second to none, and we are in the process of launching V2 of the site in the coming months, which will further increase our users’ experience throughout the site.”

Alongside Maryland, BestOdds is also licensed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, West Virginia, New York, Iowa, Illinois, Virginia, Connecticut and Mississippi. 

Under the deal, Sportradar will monitor a range of sports and competitions in Sweden and flag any suspicions of match-fixing to Spelinspektionen.

The regulator will also have the opportunity to work with Sportradar on initiatives to assess the risk of manipulation in certain sports.

“Through the information we will receive via Sportradar, we increase our knowledge of match fixing that we can use in, among other things, our regulatory work,” Spelinspektionen investigator Daniel Frisö-Grön said.

“It also gives us opportunities to expand the exchange of information with sports and the police within the framework of our collaboration against match-fixing.”

Earlier this month, Sportradar published its annual integrity report, revealing that a record-breaking 903 suspicious matches had been flagged in 2021.

The supplier’s collection of Easyswipe titles – including games such as Goal Mine, Fruitstaxx and Egyptian Reels – are now available to licensed operators in Sweden.

ESA is already certified in Columbia, Greece, Portugal and Romania, with additional jurisdictions set to be added in 2022.

“Further expanding the reach of our content to new territories is high up on our agenda for 2022 so we are pleased to now be able to partner with operators in Sweden, a market we have had our eyes on for a long time.

“Both sports betting and online casino are popular verticals in Sweden and our EasySwipe games will be a perfect fit for operators wanting to boost their cross-sell capabilities and offer players a brand-new experience,” said Zorica Smallwood, director at ESA Gaming.

ESA Gaming’s Swedish certification follows on from its recent ISO 27001 approval in January, which the provider noted will facilitate entry into a “wave of additional jurisdictions”.

In February, ESA also gained a Romanian licence.

ANJ completed its second annual review of operator marketing strategies, in which it examines the marketing activities that every licensee has planned for the year, last week.

The review came soon after the regulator announced a crackdown on advertising after what it perceived to be an “oversaturation” in 2021.

Under new rules announced last month, any ads “trivialising” gambling will be banned, as will “those containing unfounded statements on the chances of winning” or equating gambling an improvement in social status, or as an alternative to paid work.

ANJ also proposed a number of “recommendations” – which are not binding – including a suggestion that the industry should set a combined limit of three gambling ads per advertising slot on television and radio, and three per day per site online.

The review of strategies, ANJ said, was based on the rules and recommendations that had been adopted last month.

“The new conditions set for operators in the decisions of ANJ are consistent with the guidelines and recommendations it adopted on February 17 and constitute a first illustration of the regulator’s desire to ‘de-intensify’ the advertising market by gambling in order to better protect vulnerable groups and minors,” it said.

As previously announced, the regulator rejected one strategy – that of sports betting operator Winamax. It said that Winamax’s strategy included “excessive targeting of young adults with a real risk of underage gambling” as well as “almost permanent stimulation of gamblers”. The regulator also noted that Winamax proposed increasing the frequency of ads from 2021, despite already showing a “very high” level of ads that year.

“The combination of these risks and the absence of sufficient preventive and public protection measures led ANJ to reject the operator’s strategy,” ANJ said.

Every other policy was approved, but the regulator said it added “demanding conditions” to a number of strategies.

In particular, it raised concerns about the fact that operators planned to increase their advertising budgets by 7% from 2021, despite ANJ’s warning that ads had already been too frequent in 2021. It said that there were a number of “large-scale campaigns” that focused around the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

In addition, it warned of a “systematic mobilisation” of digital marketing levers, with a particular focus on social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Twitch and Instagram, which are popular with minors and young adults.

“ANJ will make a progress report mid-year to check that these conditions have been effectively taken into account,” the regulator said.

The regulator also paid specific attention to strategies submitted by lottery operator La Française des Jeux (FDJ) and pari-mutuel horse racing monopoly Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU), noting that the operators’ monopoly status means that their marketing strategies should “remain measured and limited to what is necessary to channel the demand for gambling towards the legal offering”.

It found two points of attention with FDJ’s policies. First, it said that the prevalence of its ads “can be regarded as exceeding, in certain respects, what is needed to achieve the channeling goal”. 

In addition, ANJ said that some of FDJ’s ads “emphasise… marvellous gains”.

For PMU, meanwhile, the regulator warned that it must not suggest that gambling is a “family leisure activity”, or otherwise involve minors in its promotion of its products.

In addition, ANJ warned the operator that its bonus policy must not “lead to the intensification of gambling practices which already characterises horse race betting”.

In its 2021 marketing review, ANJ had focused mostly on the two monopoly operators, saying it had “serious concerns” about the advertising practices of both, especially when it considered that monopolies were supposed to offer only “measured and strictly limited” advertising.

Breaking down this revenue total by game type, lotteries were the largest contributor, bringing in €549.2m, which was 5.9% more than in 2020.

This was followed by retail betting, which brought in €283.0m, up 5.6%, as pandemic-related restrictions continued to have an impact.

“Our retail business demonstrated high resilience, with recovery ramping up, even though our stores had to suspend operations for several months and adjust to strict healthcare restrictions after reopening,” OPAP chief executive Jan Karas said. “Our comprehensive commercial plan and well-accepted loyalty programs played a key role to this end.”
Online betting, meanwhile, experienced a sharp increase in revenue, by nearly 500% to €238.4m. Similarly, revenue from online gaming grew more than sevenfold to €184.8m.

Instant win betting was up 16.4% to €88.8m.

Both of these online increases were mainly due to the business acquiring the remainder of sports betting operator Stoiximan through a number of deals executed during 2020 and 2021.

“Online remained a key growth driver for OPAP, even after retail reopening,”Karas said. “Our online customer base grew further, supported by upgraded front-ends and targeted CRM activities. Additionally, our dual strategy continued paying off, with Stoiximan’s full consolidation clearly aiding our performance.”

Meanwhile, video lottery terminals was the only segment to experience a decline, as revenue dipped by 2.7% to €194.6m.

The business then paid €494.9m in contributions, levies and taxes based on gross gaming revenue for net gaming revenue of €1.04bn, up 41.1%.

The business then paid €277.9m in commission to retail agents – mostly lottery retailers – as well as €160.2m in other direct costs, which mostly came from its online segment.

In addition, OPAP made €173.7m in other operating income, up 40.7%, most of which came from telecommunication and eMoney services. However, it also paid €74.4m in operating costs from this segment, though this was slightly less than last year.

It then made a further €213.7m in other operating income connected to its exclusive lottery concession, more than five times what it made in 2020 from this area.

It made a further €443,000 through businesses in which it has a non-controlling stake, leading to a net profit of €872.1m, up 68.4%.

OPAP then paid operating expenses of €321.8m, which was 25.2% more than in 2020. Of this total, €95.3m came from lotteries, €53.9m from retail betting, €54.9m from online betting, €42.0m from online gaming and €34.2m from video lottery terminals. In addition, €9.5m came from instant games, €11.6m came from telecommunications and eMoney services and €20.9m came from other sources.

This led to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of €550.3m, up 14.8%.

On top of this, the business incurred depreciation and amortisation expenses of €149.5m, which was 2.5% less than in the prior year.

This meant its operating profit was €400.8m, up 60.4%. Lotteries were the most profitable segment, bringing in €254.9m, while €118.4m came from retail betting, €44.6m from online betting and €20.5m from online games. On the other hand, the video lottery terminal segment recorded a loss of €14.2m while the instant game segment reported a €21.7m loss.

After finance-related income of €2.3m and finance costs of €45.9m, OPAP made a pre-tax profit of €357.3m, a 65.3% year-on-year increase.

The operator paid €96.4m in income tax, resulting in a final net profit of €260.9m. This was 31.0% more than in 2020.

“OPAP reaffirmed the strength of its business model, posting robust results and a solid financial position in 2021, despite persisting pandemic challenges,” Karas said.

Looking specifically at the fourth quarter, gross gaming revenue more than doubled to €498.5m. After taxes and levies, net gaming revenue was €346.2m, up 143.3%.

When commissions and non-gaming revenue were accounted for, its gross profit, meanwhile, came to €195.3m, a 151.4% increase.

After €93.2m worth of operating expenses, OPAP’s EBITDA came to €170.4m, more than triple Q4 of 2020’s total.

However, following depreciation and amortisation, financial costs and tax, the operator made a net profit of €81.2m, which was 38.5% less than in 2020.

“Overall, Q4 of 2021 was historically one of the best performing quarters, in terms of GGR, and cash reserves were further expanded,” Karas continued.

Looking ahead to 2022 and beyond, OPAP said it hoped to increase its focus on online betting and gaming after the Stoiximan deal, in order to “turn online into the second strong pillar of our business”.

This includes steps such as the launch of a new sports betting platform, which is set to go live in early 2023.

The survey – the third of its kind after editions for 2019 and 2020 – was conducted via YouGov’s online survey pool, with 18,038 adults surveyed and data weighted by age, gender, UK region, NRS social grade and ethnic group.

The study found that 59% of adults in Great Britain – or 30.5 million people – had participated in gambling in the prior 12 months.

This, the authors noted, marked a rebound after only 56% of adults said they gambled 2020 amid the impact of Covid-19. 

The National Lottery was the most popular form of gambling activity, with 44% of respondents saying they had taken part, up from 41% the year before. Scratch cards followed with 16.9%, with other lotteries in third, though participation here was slightly down to 13.8%.

Meanwhile, online sports betting participation rose to 11.8% in 2021 and retail sports betting to 3.2%.

Online casino play increased from 3.6% in 2020 to 4.1% in 2021.

The survey also found that 12.7% of adults scored at least one point on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), which it described as a “small but statistically significant increase from 2020”.

Breaking this figure down, 7% of adults were classed as low-risk gamblers, while 2.9% were classed as moderate gamblers. Meanwhile, 2.8% of adults – which would represent 1.4 million people – were classed as problem gamblers. This was up from 2.4% the year prior.

This figure is much higher than the totals recorded in the Gambling Commission’s quarterly surveys, which most recently found that 0.3% of the population could be classed as problem gamblers, as well as the 2016 and 2018 Public Health Surveys for England. 

This pattern has been the case for all three instances of the GambleAware/YouGov study.

Following the initial study, the charity said that this discrepancy led to concerns over the real level of problem gambling in Britain. As a result, GambleAware commissioned research into the matter in 2021, and found that online surveys – such as the one it conducted – face a “particular risk” of selection bias, which can inflate the numbers of those experiencing harm if not properly accounted for.

The 2021 study also found that rates of harm were higher among men, young adults, “those employed in broadly ‘manual’ occupations” and ethnic minorities, with 7.1% of those aged 18-24 being classed as problem gamblers.

In addition to those directly harmed by their own gambling, 6% of adults, mostly women, were classed as “affected others”, meaning they had been harmed by someone else’s gambling activity. This rate was similar to 2020.

Television public health figure Dr Hilary Jones said that measuring gambling harm can be difficult and encouraged those affected to seek treatment.

“Despite impacting a significant number of people, gambling harms are often poorly understood and under-reported,” Jones said. “This is partially because the impact harmful gambling can have on people’s lives is incredibly varied, complex, and too often hidden. 

“Being one of the estimated 1.4 million experiencing harms from gambling could mean you may be struggling with a number of consequences which go far beyond just financial debt and could include both mental and physical health.”

Among problem gamblers, 64% had used some form of treatment, advice or support, while 34% had not.

Meanwhile, 15% of moderate-risk gamblers and 4% of low-risk gamblers had done so.

However, GambleAware noted that only 8,490 people had received support from the National Gambling Treatment Service in 2021. This, it said, meant that for every person experiencing gambling harm who accesses support, “there could be up to 160 others who could benefit but do not get the help they need”.

GambleAware chief executive Zoë Osmond reminded those affected that the Treatment Service is available to anyone who needs help.

“For many years, the National Gambling Treatment Service has been working in partnership with the NHS and other organisations to provide free, confidential support that is effective and easy to access,” she said. “While we’re proud to have enabled over 200,000 people over the past six years to get the help they need, we know there are many more out there who also need help. 

“Our message to anyone struggling or worried about their loved ones is that you are not alone. If gambling is taking up too much of your life, call the helpline or use the online chat, both available 24/7, and speak to an expert today.”

Delahunty has over two decades of strategic communications experience, having previously worked for Lloyd’s Register, a leading professional services advisor to the global maritime industry. In this role, she was responsible for advancing the company’s reputation.

At Flutter she will be responsible for corporate, financial, digital and sustainability communications.

“I’m delighted to welcome Kate to the Flutter team as we continue to grow by exploring new markets and opportunities to entertain our customers in a safe, responsible and sustainable way,” said Jonathan Hill, chief financial officer of Flutter. 

“She is a highly experienced professional, with an impressive track record in brand and reputation management for global businesses to help achieve their strategic objectives.”

Prior to Lloyd’s register, Kate served as a senior consultant to Vodafone on purpose-led communications and held the position of SVP corporate communications at global logistics giant DP World.

“Following a period of significant growth, Flutter operates some of the world’s most popular and innovative sports betting and gaming brands,” Delahunty said. “I’m excited to join the talented team at Flutter and look forward to working with colleagues around the world to continue leading the way in player protection, driving positive industry change and delivering the next phase of the group’s growth story.”

Last month, Flutter revealed its new safer gambling strategy, powered by five core principals: discover, educate, empower, understand and support.