Month: April 2022

The review and potential sanctions were revealed in the documents related to an update on 888’s acquisition of William Hill’s non-US business.

This update mostly covered an agreement between 888 and current William Hill owner Caesars to reduce the cash portion purchase price for the WIlliam Hill assets by £250m.

888 said the change was intended to “reflect the change in the macroeconomic and regulatory environment” since the deal was agreed last year.

In the document, 888 revealed that William Hill is subject to an ongoing licence review, launched following a compliance assessment conducted in July and August 2021. The operator is addressing certain action points relating to its social responsibility and anti-money laundering obligations.

As a result, William Hill has put aside a £15m provision in its financial statements for potential sanctions. The largest regulatory settlement ever issued by the Gambling Commission was to Betway, which paid £11.6m for failings related to social responsibility and money laundering regulations for high-spending customers in 2020.

In addition, 888 added that Caesars has also granted an indemnity for “certain licensed entities” within the William Hill business. This agreement would mean Caesars would cover further costs if the any of the licences held by William Hill entities – which include both the William Hill brand and Mr Green – were suspended.

888 itself had also been the subject of regulatory action recently. Earlier this year, it was fined £9.4m over a series of social responsibility and money laundering failings, including setting its deposit threshold for financial checks at £40,000.

Upon handing down the fine, Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes warned that if similar failings happen again, the regulator may have to “seriously consider the suitability of the operator” to fulfill its responsibilities as a licensee.

In response, 888 accepted the decision and said that since the regulator’s compliance assessment concluded in 2020, it took “immediate and appropriate” action to update its policies and procedures.

Actions included Implementing additional customer source of funds checks and loss limits, reducing the thresholds to trigger alerts and customer interactions, and investing in its safer gambling and compliance teams.

The VR was created in conjunction with JockeyCam, and allows bettors to have a first-hand experience of being a jump jockey.

Players can also go head-to-head with friends and other virtual riders.

The VR technology will tour around the UK and will be available at several Coral-sponsored events throughout 2022. Its next stop will be at the Newcastle Races on Good Friday.

This is a follow-up to a number customer engagement efforts spearheaded by Coral, following its recent 3D advertisement on the Piccadilly Lights which formed part of its “Your Horse” campaign.

“The growth and engagement in our UK sports brands shows just how powerful the combination of our core customer offer and immersive experiences can be,” said Dominic Grounsell, deputy managing director of digital at Entain.

“We have a really exciting opportunity to do something different and, through our brands, are committed to reaching both new and existing customers in interesting, fresh and engaging ways.”

Founded in April last year, the initiative, managed by Made by Sport in partnership with the UK Community Foundations (UKCF), made grants available to community clubs across the UK, with the aim of supporting organisations impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the first year of the project, more than £4.0m was awarded to 1,822 community clubs, with 63% of grants going to the smallest and most difficult to reach clubs that had, on average, annual turnover of less than £25,000 and were largely run by volunteers.

However, according to a new report commissioned by Made by Sport, for every £1 invested in sport for good, an average of £6 was returned in social value. This, the report said, meant that the £4.0m in grants led to £24.0m worth of social impacts.

The £4.79m that Flutter committed to the scheme represented the full amount of business rates relief that the business benefitted from between March 2020 and March 2021 as the British government sought to help ease the financial pressure on companies impacted by the pandemic.

Flutter was forced to close the 349 Paddy Power shops it operated across the UK for large parts of 2020 and 2021 due to lockdowns and other Covid-19 measures.

Further findings in the report included that while the grants helped to secure the financial futures of many clubs, funding also played a role in helping young people and communities rebuild after Covid-19 restrictions were eased.

As a result, 40% of grants were provided to clubs whose primary social outcomes are to develop life skills and youth employability, while 35% are focused on community building, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, and the remaining 25% improving mental health.

“I truly believe that access to sport can be life-changing for young people, both mentally and physically, and contribute towards better life outcomes,” Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson said. “The army of volunteers who dedicate their time and passion to community-based sports are a true inspiration, and I am delighted that this funding has been able to positively impact so many in such a short space of time. 

“This report demonstrates the power of sport to alleviate social inequalities and build community cohesion, and I hope it inspires others to get behind the funding of sport for social good.”

Made By Sport chairman Justin King added: “We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved through the ClubsinCrisis campaign. We truly believe that sport has the power to change the course of young lives, so it’s been heart-warming to see just how many young people’s lives have been enriched by the sports clubs and communities saved by the ClubsinCrisis fund.”

This means that poker players in Michigan will be able to share liquidity pools with players in these three other states.

The agreement is governed by the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association, which is based in Delaware.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The agreement is both the Blue Jays’ first gaming partnership and theScore Bet’s first professional team partnership.

It will allow theScore Bet to have exclusive national marketing rights across sports betting, casino, online casino and fantasy sports.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

LL Lucky Games will pay a purchase price of 2.5 million newly issued shares, issued at a price of SEK3.30 apiece. After the deal closes, LL Lucky Games will have 51,366,506 issued shares.

ReelNRG, which holds licences in Great Britain, Gibraltar and Malta, was founded in 2016  by Calvin Kent and Harsharan Gill. It has nine staff members, including eight developers based in its Hyderabad studio in India. The supplier has a portfolio of 46 games.

 “To get LL Lucky Games as the new owner of ReelNRG marks an important new start for us,” Kent said. “The additional support from LL Lucky Games will bring us back stronger than ever and enable an improved delivery of our entertainment packages to our clients and their customers.

“Our new server infrastructure has now been completed and optimized and is ready to scale. Our team and our shareholders are super motivated to continue running the business as part of LL Lucky Games.”

Among ReelNRG’s co-owners are the Klein Group, which is the parent company of Cherry AB, Yggdrasil and ComeOn.

Following the acquisition, ReelNRG will continue to operate independently, but LL Lucky Games said it “sees great synergies in the form of cross-selling, cost optimization and the opportunity to share technology and licences in the future”.

“Through the acquisition of ReelNRG, we secure important customer integrations and licences for the LL portfolio,” Mads V. Jørgensen, chief executive of LL Lucky Games, said. “As a merged company, we now operate over 100 games and will be able to derive great mutual benefits from both the commercial synergies via cross-selling, but also on the cost side. 

“This is a big step for LL Lucky Games, which further consolidates our position as a truly independent gaming studio who focus on the regulated markets. To operate via own licences secures larger revenue shares and market reach. We look forward to welcoming Calvin and his team together with Klein Group and the other shareholders in ReelNRG.”

The Appeal aims to raise €1m (£834,611/$1.8m) for those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The funds will go to raising money and providing medical aid for children’s hospitals in Ukraine, including The Children’s Hospital in Lviv.

The initiative is supported by consultant pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Owase Jeelani, who works at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

He is also the director of Gemini Untwined, a charity that funds the separation of conjoined twins.

The Ukraine Hospitals Appeal has three main objectives – raising funds to support The Children’s Hospital in Lviv, setting up cloud-based communications for Ukrainian medical teams to communicate with UK-based healthcare teams and providing medical professionals and equipment to hospitals in Ukraine.

Multiple UK partners of the Appeal have donated €250,000 worth of medical equipment to The Children’s Hospital.

“Since the beginning of the war, we are looking for ways to help injured children survive, and exploring the opportunities to support Ukrainian doctors and nurses,” said Katerina Biloruska, chairwoman of the Parimatch Foundation. “Lviv and other cities in the west of Ukraine turned into the humanitarian and logistical hubs dedicated to saving lives and welcoming the internally displaced persons.”

“We launched this fundraiser, united with medical experts, and received support from our caring partners across the world to save the Ukrainian children and women. We urge everybody in the free civilised world to join our efforts.”

Based in Ukraine, Parimatch has taken a number of steps in response to the war.

At the beginning of the month Parimatch removed its brand from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Parimatch had been operating in Russia through the Betring LLC.

At the time of the withdrawal Parimatch announced that it had set aside UAH30m to provide vital resources for those fighting for Ukraine. Parimatch later announced that it had doubled this to UAH60m (£1.5m/€1.8/$2.0m).

Last month, the operator ended its partnership with Russia-based esports team Spirit.

The business – which started taking bets in April 2019 – noted that its sales were up 90% from 2020. This, it said, was due to an 85% year-on-year increase in customers. The number of markets it offered, meanwhile, was up by 20%.
In addition, it said it achieved profitability in “record time” as no previous Polish bookmaker had made a profit within three years.
“When we started our business three years ago, we had very ambitious plans and we have been consistently pursuing our objectives ever since,” Betfan co-owner and chairman Łukasz Łazarewicz said. “We benefit from the fact that the betting market has grown by around 50% last year and this year it is expected to grow by between 15% and 20%.
“However, Betfan has been growing much faster than the industry itself and we will aim to maintain this trend in the coming years as well. At the same time, we have a strong advantage in terms of business efficiency and cost effectiveness.
Łazarewicz added that the business had grown despite being careful with expenditures, which he said was not a common approach in the Polish market.
“It is not that difficult to pour huge amounts of money into marketing and sponsoring to boost sales while still losing on the deal,” he continued. “And this is exactly what happens on the Polish market. We have a completely different strategy – we plan expenditures very carefully and we only use measurable marketing tools with an adequate rate of return. We also place great emphasis on technological development.
“Our strategy has always been focused on the mobile segment, which is becoming increasingly important and is driving the majority of our sales. This approach currently places us among the main players on the bookmaking market, even though we are competing with many brands that have a longer track record and much more capital than we do.”
Betfan added that it expected to again record double-digit revenue growth in 2022, thanks in part to the launch of a new mobile app and investment in a network of self-service betting terminals.
Łazarewicz said that the business’ profits should also increase in 2022, as 2021’s profit figure was impacted by investments in the retail sector which are now set to bear fruit.

Mikael is the CEO of AstroPay, a pioneer in payment solutions for consumers who want to make online purchases on international sites. Leveraging his background in engineering and experience in providing cross-border payments as well as connecting global merchants to emerging markets, Mikael combines a unique blend of technical expertise and practical experience to drive innovation and solutions in payments.

Latin America’s igaming sector is poised for explosive growth. Colombia is up and running, with strong momentum in Brazil, Argentina and Chile set to expand the addressable market further. As ever, technology moves at a faster pace than regulation, potentially creating barriers such as legal restrictions, limits on transactions in a specific currency and even cultural differences that limit card usage. 

Digital wallets avoid these issues through a centralised currency, minimising conversion rate costs, increasing convenience and speed when playing online and enhancing security for both the operator and player. 

New data from US financial services giant FIS finds that 32% of the global population use mobile wallets (increased from 21% in 2020). The simplicity and speed of ewallets, combined with increased security measures, have made it an essential asset in newly regulated markets. .

Digital payments specialist AstroPay was an early mover in the digital wallets space, pioneering its first solution in 2009. This meant that when the pandemic shifted transactions from cash to cashless, it had more than a decade’s experience.

“We found a niche in 2009, where some people wanted a bank account, and they didn’t have access to credit and debit cards,” AstroPay chief executive Mikael Lijtenstein explains. “So understanding the users’ needs in that time was key for us to start creating the company. We’ve now had that product for 13 years.”

Having started in Brazil with the AstroPay Card, the company then began expanding into  other markets throughout Latin America, allowing customers to access funds in any currency. It is now one of the biggest payment providers in Latin America and Asia, and rapidly developing its global reach across Europe and Africa. 

“We are in Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Exploring other markets and understanding what they needed helped us understand that the gaming industry in these jurisdictions needed payment methods in each market. It was key for us to cover a range of regions” Litjtenstein  says.

Competitive advantage 

AstroPay now has access to more than 5 million users, 1.000 merchants and over 200 payment services. With the global data collected from the launch of their ewallet, they can now operate across a range of emerging markets with an upgraded user experience.

Major suppliers and organisations have upscaled their payment solutions to adapt to the digitised landscape, introducing cashless payments on gaming machines and service kiosks with QR codes and tokenised wallet transactions to improve user experience. 

Regardless of whether epayments are set to become the mainstream form of payment, they are established as a key transaction option for igaming.

Lijtenstein says AstroPay aims to remain a frontrunner by maintaining a customer-centric approach, through gathering customer insight regularly. Doing so, he adds, allows the business to innovate faster than its peers.

“After receiving feedback we took the decision to upgrade our product to One Touch integration, the digital wallet solution. 

“What makes us strong is how agile we are – we are an adaptable company due to years of moving very fast. Digital wallets are one of the biggest innovations in the world.”

Lijtenstein says that having teams in each jurisdiction is important to the success of AstroPay due to giving them a threshold above their competitors. ”We are processing in Brazil, India, Europe and Africa- having dedicated teams in each market helps us to bring to the users the most successful product.”

From fiat to crypto

This focus on agility and innovation has resulted in AstroPay integrating cryptocurrency payments into its offering. These digital currencies are growing in popularity, especially with younger generations. 

“We launched our crypto offering recently and are now offering 6 cryptocurrencies,” Lijtenstein says. 

“Crypto has become a trending topic for many years. As a company we have been discussing creating dedicated teams to understand what we can do for our users – we want to give the users the trends.”

But this creates new risks. Cybersecurity has become more important than ever. Lijtenstein says that protecting their customers is their primary goal, and their digital wallets are made with the intention of creating additional levels of authentication. 

“We have our own risk prevention system. By using our own devices, we have a better understanding and it enables us to maintain an easy and fast service.”

What’s coming for AstroPay?

Lijtenstein says that as a company, the lessons they have learnt in Latin America and other emerging markets have prepared them for Europe. “The lessons learnt in these regions help us  improve our technology, and offering” he says.

“Europe is a huge market. We decided to start from three countries, the UK, Spain and Portugal, with the UK being one of the biggest markets in Europe.”

“There are a lot of competitors in Europe but there’s always space for a new one. For a different one. We want to be localised in terms of communication and culture, so we can understand what the user needs and wants.”

The Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence (RCCOL) found Crown devised what it called “the China Union Pay (CUP) process” to evade Chinese currency restrictions and enable the illegal transfer of funds from China. 

The RCCOL Report describes the CUP process as “the use of the Chinese-based bank card, China Union Pay, to allow international patrons to access funds in order to gamble at Crown Melbourne”. This, the report said, occurred between 2012 and 2016.

According to the report, Crown Melbourne issued a room charge bill to a customer, falsely asserting that the hotel had provided services to the person. The patron would pay the bill, using their China Union Pay card, and be given a voucher acknowledging receipt of funds. China Union Pay cards may not be used for gambling.

The patron, accompanied by a Crown VIP host, then took the voucher to the casino cage and exchanged it for cash or chips.

The CUP process, the RCCOL said, was devised because China had imposed restrictions on Chinese nationals transferring money out of China. Between 2012 and 2016, a Chinese national could not transfer more than US$50,000 (£38,274/€45,937) per year to another jurisdiction. 

The RCCOL noted that Chinese currency restrictions were well known to Crown Melbourne executives, and as such concluded that the CUP process was devised to enable the illegal transfer of funds from China.

As such, the RCCOL said this activity breached section 68 and section 124 of the Casino Control Act 1991 (CC Act), which it said Crown admitted in its written closing submissions to the RCCOL.  

Section 68 prohibits Crown from providing money or gambling chips in a transaction that involves a credit or debit card, as it did with the China Union Pay cards. This measure, the RCCOL said, aims to avoid gambling derived from criminal funds and to support responsible gambling and minimise harm.

Section 124 requires Crown to keep certain accounting records to ensure the handling of money in Crown Melbourne is effectively supervised, as well as that Crown’s taxes and other financial obligations to the state and public are paid in full.

In addition, the RCCOL found that the CUP process constituted “serious acts of misconduct”, given that “wealthy Chinese patrons were assisted in illegally transferring up to $160m in funds”.

Following the Royal Commission, the Casino Control Act was amended to enable the VGCCC to take disciplinary action on the grounds that investigation found Crown engaged in conduct that was illegal or constituted serious misconduct. 

The amended Act now also imposes stronger regulatory obligations on Crown and the maximum fine has been increased from $1m to $100m. The VGCCC also has the power to alter Crown’s casino licence in the state, as well as censure Crown and direct it to take rectification steps.

“I welcome the legislative amendments which impose stronger regulatory obligations on Crown and provide the VGCCC with greater enforcement powers,” VGCCC chair Fran Thorn said. “These powers are needed to deter Crown from engaging in the conduct that was revealed during the Royal Commission

“As a first step, we are acting on the Royal Commission’s findings that Crown’s China Union Pay process breached important Victorian regulatory obligations, was illegal and constituted serious misconduct.”

The VGCCC said it would make a further announcement after considering Crown’s response to its notice and determined the appropriate disciplinary action to take. In addition, it said there would be further disciplinary proceedings arising from other matters highlighted in the Royal Commission.

Victoria’s Royal Commission had already deemed Crown “unsuitable” to operate a casino in the state in an initial report published in October last year, but the operator was able to retain its licence over concerns the impact this would have on the local economy.

The Commission said Crown engaged in conduct that was “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative”, adding that the scale of the wrongdoing was so widespread and egregious that “no other finding was open”.

The report also built on findings uncovered during the Bergin Report in New South Wales, in which widespread failings were identified at Crown and was, as a result, also deemed as being “unsuitable” to operate a casino in Sydney’s Barangaroo region.

The Commission recommended Crown be permitted to continue operating under the oversight of a special manager for two years, while undertaking comprehensive reforms to make it suitable to hold a licence independently.

Responding to the latest findings, Crown referred to an announcement on 7 June last year that its board had received legal advice that the CUP process, which ceased in November 2016, contravened section 68 of the CC Act 1991 and it had notified the predecessor of the VGCCC and the Victorian Royal Commission of that matter.

Crown added that it is responding to information requests from the VGCCC and will fully cooperate with the VGCCC on this and any other matters arising from the Victorian Royal Commission Report.

“Crown’s priority remains the delivery of its reform and remediation program to ensure Crown delivers a safe and responsible gaming environment,” Crown said.