Month: April 2022

The business had previously operated with Liashko and Roman Syrotian both sharing the duties of chief executive. 

However, Syrotian will now leave this position, though he will retain his spot on Parimatch’s supervisory board. In this role, he will continue to deal with “strategic aspects of the business,

shareholder relations and resource allocation”.

Liashko, meanwhile, will oversee operational taste as chief executive.

The move comes as Parimatch has been severely impacted by Russia’s invasion of its home nation of Ukraine. In response to the war, the business withdrew its franchise from Russia.

Both Syrotian and Liashko said the move to a single CEO would allow the business to react more quickly during a time of crisis.

“War impacts the fates of people and the fates of companies,” Syrotian said. “The changes in the top management structure and move to the single CEO model will allow us to become even more flexible, speed up the operational and decision-making processes. I am confident that Maksym and the team are ready to lead Parimatch Tech during these tough times. 

“I will continue my work in the company in a non-operational role as a member of the supervisory board.”

Liashko said he was confident the move would help the business withstand the impact of the war. 

“In times of war, the structure and development procedures within the company had to be reviewed and adapted to the new reality. With Roman refocusing all his attention and skills toward the Supervisory Board activities, I am certain that Parimatch Tech will withstand these difficult times and continue to be a successful global business,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Anna Motruk and Evgen Belousov will leave their roles of chief financial officer and chief revenue officer respectively to become deputy chief executives.

“I would also like to congratulate Anna Motruk and Evgen Belousov with their appointments as deputy CEOs,” Liashko added. 

“Their skills and knowledge shaped Parimatch Tech into what it is today – a successful international business – so together we will ensure that Parimatch Tech continues to grow and attract success.”

All of Sportech’s revenue, expense and income figures for 2021 and its comparison figures for 2020 removed parts of the business which were sold, before counting these as discontinued operations. These included the Global Tote business, which was acquired by Betmakers in June 2021, and Bump 50:50, which Sportech agreed to sell to Canadian Banknote in February 2021.

This downsizing led to Sportech removing its shares from the London Stock Exchange and moving to the Alternative Investment Market, after which CEO Richard McGuire and chief financial officer Tom Hearne stepped down from their roles.

As a result, the revenue figure of £22.9m was up 32.1% from the restated figure given for 2020.

Sportech chief executive Andrew Lindley said that while the business was now small for a publicly traded company, he believed it was the right size for its operations.

“2021 was a transitional year for the business with the completion of a significant amount of M&A and corporate actions to reduce the size of the business and de-risk our shareholders’ investments,” he said. “The business, although now small in the context of a plc, is tidy and fit for growth. The two divisions are right-sized for their operations and 2022 brings with it an attendant opportunity to garner new value for the group and its shareholders.”

Wagering made up almost all of Sportech’s revenue, with £19.5m, up 25.0% from the amount the same business segments brought in in 2020. Sports betting commission brought in an additional £280,000, while food and beverage revenue from Sportech’s venues came to £2.1m, up 46.8%.

As a result, total revenue from the Sportech Venues business – which operates racetracks and jai alai in Connecticut – was £21.9m, up 28.0%

In addition, Sportech digital brought in £1.0m, which was more than three times the total from 2020. 

The business paid £11.5m in costs of sales, leading to a gross profit of £11.5m, up 32.4% from 2020. Sportech venues contributed £11.0m of this and Sportech Digital £484,000.

After marketing and distribution costs of £276,000, the business was left with a contribution of £11.2m, up 34.0%

The business then paid £15.7m in operating costs, but also made £4.1m in other income.

As a result, it was left with an operating loss of £402,000. This was much smaller than the £11.4m operating loss recorded in 2020.

Finance-related costs came to £305,000, while finance-related income was £461,000.

This meant Sportech made a pre-tax loss from continuing operations of £246,000, compared to an £11.9m loss the year before.

After paying £192,000 in tax, the business was left with a £438,000 loss from continuing operations, less than 5% of the £10.9m loss it made in 2020.

However, discontinued operations made a £35.0m profit for Sportech during 2021. This was mostly related to the sales of divisions including the Global Tote business and Bump 50:50.  These businesses had made a £2.0m loss in 2020.

As a result, Sportech’s final profit was £34.6m in 2021, after having lost £12.8m in 2020.

This is a rise of 95.3% year-on-year compared to Covid-hit 2020, when revenue was $10.2m.

Operations in North America and the Caribbean accounted for $10m of the revenue, while operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa totaled at $9.9m.

Online gaming accounted for $8.1m of the overall revenue total.

Expenses for the year came to $15.6m, up by 25.2% from 2020. Selling, general and administrative costs made up $10.6m of this, up by 18.7%. Depreciation and amortisation costs came in second at $2.8m, rising by 28.6% year-on-year.

The remaining $2.1m was made up of ancillary product costs, research and development expenses and share-based compensation.

After considering expenses, the total profit from operations was $4.3m, an increase of $6.6m year-on-year after a $2.2m loss the year before.

Other expenses, consisting mostly of interest expenses at $1.5m, came to $2.1m.

This brought the profit before income taxes to $2.1m, $4.9m more than in 2020 when the business reported a $2.8m loss.

Following income taxes of $48,637, and a foreign currency translation adjustment at $184,884, the total net income for the period was $1.9m, amounting to a year-on-year increase of $4.0m.

For Galaxy’s fourth quarter, revenue came to $5.6m – a rise of 73%. Online gaming made up $2.1m of the revenue.

The total net income was $598,000, almost half that of the year before, though Q4 income in 2020 was boosted by the forgiveness of a government loan provided through the Paycheck Protection Program for Covid-19 relief.

Todd Cravens, president and CEO of Galaxy Gaming, praised how the business performed in the fourth quarter amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We finished 2021 with positive momentum,” said Cravens. “Even with some of our clients’ properties still affected by Covid-19, we delivered gross revenue of $6.1 million in the fourth quarter, a record.”

“Our igaming business performed very well, with igaming gross revenues of $8.1m in 2021, also a record. We believe, as the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to subside for our clients, we will experience a strong recovery in our GG Core business (felt and electronics) and continued growth in our igaming business.”

Looking ahead to 2022, Harry Hagerty, the company’s CFO, expects increases across the board.

“Our financial position is strong,” said Hagerty. “We have significant cash balances and modest debt maturities this year,”

“For fiscal 2022, we are forecasting revenue (net of igaming royalties) in a range of $23.5m to $25.0m, and adjusted EBITDA in a range of $11.5m to $12.5m.”

Mark Lipparelli, chair of the Galaxy board, also spoke of the company’s settlement payment to Triangulum Partners and its former chairman and CEO, Robert Saucier.

The settlement came about after Triangulum sued Galaxy, stating that Galaxy had tried to force Triangulum to sell its shares following a regulatory disagreement.

“We also, through substantial efforts of our collective team, set the Saucier litigation and related refinancing in our rear-view mirror in the midst of the tough operating environment of our customers which, in some cases, included complete closures.” said Liparelli.

The update is expected to be completed at the end of May.

Spelpaus.se allows users to voluntarily block themselves from gambling websites in Sweden.

Spelinspektionen stated that the update will make Spelpaus.se more user friendly by adding more information and guidance about how to seek help for gambling harm.

Users will also be able to extend their suspension periods with the new update.

Spelpaus.se was first introduced on 1 January 2019, when the licensed Swedish online market opened. According to Spelinspektionen, there are currently 73,000 users singed up to the programme.

Earlier this month Hasse Lord Skarplöth, CEO of Swedish horse racing operator ATG, published a blog post stating that Spelpaus was not enough to protect players, due to the fact that the service can’t ensure players are excluded from black market play.

In July of 2021, Tabcorp first announced plans to spin off its Lotteries and Keno arm following a strategic review of its operations.

The review had begun four months earlier and looked at a number of structural and ownership options for Tabcorp to create more value for shareholders, including potentially selling off its Wagering and Media business. At the time it said a number of unsolicited proposals had been made for the division. These included a AU$3.5bn bid from Entain as well as $4bn bids Betmakers and Apollo Global, but the business argued none of these represented the true value of the division. 

However, after the review it opted to keep the wagering arm, but instead spin off the lotteries business. This would result in two separate companies.

Tabcorp outlined that the first of these businesses would be renamed The Lottery Corporation, and would comprise most of the former Tatts business, but without gaming services.

The second business was named New Tabcorp, and would include the wagering and media arm alongside gaming services.

Earlier this week, a New South Wales court approved the meeting in which shareholders may vote on the demerger. Following this, the business published its scheme booklet, which explains the rationale for the proposed demerger and the Tabcorp board’s reasons to recommend the break-up.

Discussing The Lottery Corporation, Tabcorp chairman Steven Gregg said the business should continue to generate strong returns thanks to impressive cash-flow generation.

“The Board anticipates that The Lottery Corporation will be well positioned to continue to generate attractive returns for shareholders, driven by its strong cash-flow generation, demonstrated ability to drive growth through product innovation and active game portfolio management as well as future potential upside from further enhancing the customer experience and increasing digital penetration,” he said.

The Lottery Corporation would pursue growth through five main strategies. These are to innovate its game portfolio, enhance its customer experience, increase digital penetration, evolve its retail footprint and pursue new licence and acquisition opportunities.

Looking at New Tabcorp, meanwhile, Tabcorp’s board said the focus would be on customer experience, sustainability, innovation and efficiency including “rigorous cost management”. Regarding sustainability, the board said it believed that New Tabcorp could be a major beneficiary of any reforms to Australian betting, such as simplification of licences or changes to funding structures.

“The Board anticipates that New Tabcorp will also be well positioned to deliver a compelling customer experience via its omni-channel model, simplify and streamline [gaming services division] MAX, as well as gain future potential upside from any future industry change in the

Australian wagering and gaming industry,” Gregg said.

In addition to the board’s own options, advisory firm Grant Samuel was called in to provide an independent report to shareholders.

The advisory business noted that – based on Tabcorp’s recent AU$5.00 share price and typical industry EBITDA multiples – The Lottery Corporation could be valued somewhere between AU$11.00bn and AU$11.61bn. For New Tabcorp, meanwhile, the valuation was expected to fall between AU$2.71bn and AU$2.10bn.

It noted that this would suggest daily low multiples for both businesses, particularly given the wagering and media division already attracted bids at a higher price. As a result, he deduced that “there is a reasonable argument that the combined value of The Lottery Corporation and New Tabcorp shares could exceed the current Tabcorp share price levels of around $5.00”. 

The provider’s gaming-related supplier licence will allow it to deliver its aggregation offering throughout Ontario and work with operators that are licensed in the market.

Pariplay said it already has deals in place with a number of operators and partners across the province ahead of the launch of its regulated online gambling market on 4 April.

The Pariplay Fusion product features titles and localised content from over 80 vendors, as well as a range of engagement tools.

Approval in Ontario comes after Pariplay in recent months also went live in Alberta in Canada, while it secured new licences in West Virginia and Michigan licences.

“We are very pleased to be granted our Ontario licence, which allows us to build on our success and bringing relevant and varied content to regulated markets,” Pariplay’s managing director Adrian Bailey said.

“We’ve made a concerted effort to grow our reach in Canada both through signing new partners and gaining new licences, and this approach continues to generate success for us. It is an exciting time at Pariplay and we can’t wait to get started in Ontario.”

Ontario’s market will open on Monday next week, with a range of operators and suppliers having secured approval to launch on opening day. 

Licensed operators include Bet365, Flutter Entertainemnt-owned FanDuel and Unibet, while approved suppliers include sports betting and igaming service provider FSB and content provider Relax Gaming, both of which picked up licences this week.

Online casino revenue wasn’t able to keep pace with January’s record total, declining by 22.3% to €147.7m in February. However, this total was still up by 3.3% from February 2021.

The online casino market was more fragmented than ever, as market leader PokerStars’ share of revenue declined to just 8.67%. Sisal – which is soon to come under the same owner as PokerStars when its acquisition by Flutter closes – was in a close second, with an 8.57% share.

Only 0.13 percentage points separated PokerStars from the third-placed operator, Playtech-owned Snai, which held an 8.54% share.

Further behind, Lottomatica’s market share was 7.41% while for SKS365’s Planetwin365 brand, this figure was 5.94%.

Looking at sports betting, combined online and retail revenue dipped by 3.0% from January to €204.7m, but this was 10.3% more than February 2021’s total, when the retail sector was closed due to Covid-19 measures.

Looking just at online betting revenue, this declined more sharply, by 5.2% to €122.1m, the lowest figure since October 2021.

Snai held onto its lead as the largest online betting operator with a 13.8% market share ahead of Sisal’s 13.4%.

However, for the overall betting market, Snai slipped into second with a 15.6% share, just being pipped to the post by Goldbet with 15.7%.

Poker tournament revenue declined fairly steeply month-on-month, by 28.1% to €8.2m, though January’s figure had been the highest for a year. Year-on-year, February’s total represented a 12.8% decline.

Looking at cash games, revenue declined significantly again to to €5.6m. This was a 25.3% drop when compared to January or a 16.5% decline against February 2021.

Pokerstars continued to dominate among poker operators. While its share of tournament revenue dropped back below 50% in February, its revenue from that vertical was still more than five times that of second-place Sisal.

Similarly, Pokerstars’ share of the cash games market dipped slightly to 42.51% but this was well ahead of second-placed Goldbet’s 7.40% market share.

Bingo revenue was down 19.7% both month-on-month and year-on-year to €4.9m.

Ficom Leisure is a leading European corporate advisory firm specialising in all segments of the betting and gaming sector.

Ficom Leisure also provides exclusive monthly estimates on the Spanish online market in the Spain iGaming Dashboard, including operator market shares across casino, sports betting and poker. It also provides monthly estimates on several US states, including New Jersey in the New Jersey iGaming Dashboard, Pennsylvania in the Pennsylvania iGaming Dashboard and Iowa in the Iowa iGaming Dashboard.

The operator – which has been the sole licensee for the National Lottery since its launch in 1994 – has issued High Court proceedings against the Gambling Commission. This comes after the Commission last month chose Allwyn – formerly the Sazka Group – to become the first non-Camelot business to operate the lottery in its 28-year history.

“We are launching a legal challenge today in our capacity as an applicant for the fourth licence because we firmly believe that the Gambling Commission has got this decision badly wrong,” Camelot chief executive Nigel Railton said. “When we received the result, we were shocked by aspects of the decision.

“Despite lengthy correspondence, the Commission has failed to provide a satisfactory response. We are therefore left with no choice but to ask the court to establish what happened.”

Railton went on to point out that – as Camelot was the current licensee – the change was likely to impact a large number of employees, and so these people deserved a more complete explanation of Allwyn’s selection.

“Irrespective of Camelot’s dual roles as current operator and applicant for the next National Lottery licence, the competition is one of the largest UK government-sponsored procurements and the process deserves independent scrutiny,” he said. “Separately, more than 1,000 Camelot employees work tirelessly to successfully operate the National Lottery under the current licence and, at the very least, they are owed a proper explanation.”

Camelot did not detail which aspects of the selection process would form the main points of its legal challenge. 

However, a report last week in the Sunday Telegraph, which said Camelot was preparing to launch a legal challenge, claimed that Camelot had initially received the highest score in a system where all bids were assessed with scorecards under the planned scoring system. This system included a “risk discount” that was applied to scores in order to take into account the possibility that an operator falls short of its projected target for good causes.

According to the report, the impact of the “risk discount” was then reduced and bids were rescored, pushing Allwyn into first place.

In response to the challenge, the regulator defended the process by which it made its decision and said it was confident it would win .

“We regret Camelot’s decision to bring legal proceedings following the outcome of a highly successful competition for the fourth national lottery licence,” a spokesperson said. “The competition and our evaluation have been carried out fairly and lawfully in accordance with our statutory duties, and we are confident that a court would come to that conclusion.  

“We are confident that we have run a fair and robust competition. We have taken every step possible to ensure a level playing field for all interested parties, to enable us to appoint a licensee who will engage and protect players, run the National Lottery with integrity and ensure the National Lottery continues to support good causes and their contribution to society.

The spokesperson added that the legal challenge “will not help” to ensure a seamless transition from the third to the fourth licence, but said the regulator still trusted Camelot to fulfill its licence conditions until its term ends in February 2024.

“Our priority is to continue to work to implement our decision and ensure a seamless and timely transition to the next licence, for the benefit of participants and good causes. These proceedings will not help that but we trust that Camelot will honour its obligations as the current licensee to cooperate in that transition, and we will continue to use the tools available to us to facilitate that process.

“In order to protect the integrity of the process, we will not be able to discuss the specifics until litigation has concluded.”

At the time of the report, a Gambling Commission spokesperson told iGB that the regulator was confident in the integrity of its competition.

Upon being selected, Allwyn said that the Gambling Commission had selected its bid because it “was judged to be the best way of growing returns to good causes by revitalising the National Lottery in a safe and sustainable way”.

O’Neill will lead the business in his new role following last week’s departure of long-serving chief executive and managing director Matt Bekier.

Bekier stepped down 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.

Executive search company Spencer Stuart has commenced the search for a new managing director and CEO, though Bekier will be available in the short term to provide handover assistance.

O’Neill be paid additional remuneration of AU$1.5m (£850,000/€1.0m/US$1.1m) per annum while he serves as executive chairman, bringing his total remuneration to AU$2.0m per year while in the role.

“While the board considers it critical that the company has stability in this transitional period to a new managing director and CEO, it acknowledges the need for accelerated board change,” Star said.

“As The Star continues to focus on its day-to-day business, it is also committed to its more than 8,000 team members after two years of Covid-related shutdowns and restrictions.”

Referencing the ongoing review of its operations, which was expanded in January this year to assess other entities within the group, Star said it continues to cooperate fully.

Public hearings into Star’s activities, which are ongoing, have so far heard a series of claims, including that Star allowed junket operator Suncity to operate its own cage at the Star Sydney casino, where it exchanged chips for cash, despite this contravening the New South Wales Casino Control Act.

The case also asserts that Star’s representations about policies being in place to mitigate risks such as money laundering, corruption, bribery, insider trading and restrictions on the use of gambling products were misleading or deceptive.

Also this week, Star was served with a securities class action lawsuit by Slater & Gordon on behalf of investors seeking compensation for alleged “misleading or deceptive representations” the operator made about its compliance with regulatory obligations.

The suspension was first mooted last week when Macau Legend announced a delay in the publication of its 2021 full year results. 

Rule 13.49(1) of the HKEX’s listing rules states a listed company must publish its full-year results no more than three months after the financial year ends. Businesses that fail do so face trading of their shares being suspended. 

As Macau Legend’s financial year ended on 31 December 2021, the rule has now kicked in and the suspension put into effect as of 9am local time today.

Macau Legend said it had not been 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.

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

However, Macau Legend last week said that this would not be appropriate as its unaudited financial accounts “may not accurately reflect the financial performance and position of the company”.

The delay in publication came after Macau Legend’s former chief executive Chan Weng Lin in January resigned from the position following his arrest on accusation of commanding a Triad organisation

Chan allegedly took part in a criminal syndicate that recruited Chinese residents to gamble online. SunCity’s former chairman Alvin Chau was also arrested for involvement in the same syndicate late last year.

Macau Legend did not mention Chan’s arrest as a factor in its delayed results, but it did state that its board established a special committee 11 February to internally assess the impact that the Incident may have on the business. 

Thc Committee appointed an international accounting firm as an independent consultant on 5 March to conduct a specific and limited review to identify and assess the impact of the incident.

Macau Legend said that it expects this review to be completed by mid-April, subject to the independent consultant’s schedule and barring unforeseen circumstances.