Month: June 2022

For the 12 months to 30 June 2022, Rank said operating profit is expected to amount to approximately £40m (€46m/$49m), lower than the previously guided range of between £47m and £55m.

This estimate, Rank said, comes after the group witnessed softer performance across is UK venues during the second half of the year, with visitor numbers lower in its Grosvenor Casino properties.

Rank said there had been some improvement in Grosvenor’s performance after April, but it was considerably weaker than expected, mainly due to a slower than expected return of higher spending overseas customers to its London casinos, continued softness in visitor numbers across the UK and a lower-than-average casino win margin in the quarter to date. 

However, Rank also noted that the performance of its other business segments has been broadly in line with management’s expectations for the full year. Rank also operates the Mecca Bingo land-based network, as well as online gambling for both the Grosvenor and Mecca brands.

After also taking into account continued inflationary cost pressures across its operations, Rank said that subject to normal casino win margins between now and the year end, like-for-like underlying operating profit would miss initial guidance.

Rank will announce its preliminary results for the 12-month period on 18 August.

The announcement comes after Rank in April reduced full-year earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) guidance despite reporting a 220.5% year-on-year increase in revenue during the third quarter.

Group net gaming revenue for the three months through to 31 March 2022 amounted to £156.4m, up significantly from £48.7m.

However, Rank noted that Q4 is traditionally low seasonal period for its Grosvenor venues, while uncertainty over how the trends in the rate of return of office workers to city centres and overseas customers to London would develop towards the summer, meant it lowered guidance.

EBIT guidance was cut from between £55m and £65m to the range of £47m to £55m, which Rank does now not expect to reach.

Under the agreement, mobile and retail sports betting, as well as igaming, will be available on more than 50 ships ported in the US, spanning the Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises brands.

Carnival Corporation will offer BetMGM-branded digital and cash-based sports betting, as well as digital real-money gaming on-board Carnival’s US-branded ships in international waters. 

In addition, BetMGM and Carnival Corporation will collaborate on a range of co-marketing and promotional activations.

BetMGM’s platform will roll out in phases over the coming months.

“We’re very proud to be able to deliver the excitement and engagement of sports betting and igaming to our guests through our partnership with BetMGM,” Carnival Corporation’s senior vice president of global casino operations Marty Goldman said.

“Our two leading global hospitality organisations will provide a wide array of immersive digital content as a complement to our exceptional shipboard casinos.”

BetMGM chief executive Adam Greenblatt added: “We’ve found an ideal partner in Carnival Corporation and look forward to providing our sports betting and igaming products to its millions of passengers.”

Welde will join the board with effect from 1 July, having most recently served as executive vice president of global digital transformation and digital business at Unilever.

During more than 30 years at Unilever, Welde also spent time as vice president of media, executive assistant to the chairman and business manager for the popular foods division of the business.

Upon taking on his new role at Entain, he will join the group’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee.

“On behalf of the board, I am delighted to welcome Rahul to Entain,” Entain chairman Barry Gibson said. “Rahul brings with him exceptional knowledge of customer experience excellence, ecommerce and digital transformation. 

“I am confident that his skills and expertise will further enhance the board’s ability to support and oversee the delivery of our strategy.”

The appointment comes after Entain last week announced that it had agreed a deal to acquire Dutch online sports betting and gaming operator BetEnt, trading as BetCity, from Sports Entertainment Media.

Under the agreement, Entain will pay an initial €300m (£258m/$315m) in cash at completion, with the deal also including deferred contingent consideration of up to €550m.

Pointsbet will issue 38,750,000 shares at AUD$2.43 for a total of AUD$94 million ($65m/£53m/€63m), representing 15% premium compared to the 5-day volume weighted average price. When issued, the investment will be 12.75% of PointsBet’s issued capital – meaning that SIG will be the company’s largest single investor.

SIG co-founder and managing director Jeff Yass commented on the funding: “SIG Sports is pleased to have made what we consider to be a long-term investment in PointsBet. We have been following their journey for some time and have developed a very positive view of the overall business operations and the capability of the PointsBet leadership team.”

“We believe PointsBet has great potential for future growth and success in the North American sports betting market and SIG has both the analytics and capital to help realize that potential.”

The news comes days after reports in Australia claimed the business rejected an A$220 million ($153m/ £125m/ €145m) offer from News Corp Australia for its Australian wagering division.

PointsBet chairman Brett Paton said: “We are delighted to pair up with a visionary investor which has committed ongoing support and is eminently qualified in analytical trading in financial markets, and now in sports.”

“The cultural alignment between both organisations is strong, and this investment will assist with expanding and growing our North American operations as we seek to lead in in-play betting and enhancing the overall customer experience.”

Jansen made the remarks in a speech where he emphasised the duty of care that both the regulators and the public have towards consumers as well as the public at large.

He noted that recent television programmes in the country have illustrated some player protection failings with certain online operators.

As Jansen stated: “a recent episode of the investigative journalist programme Pointer put the spotlight on operators that allowed a gambler to lose tens of thousands of euros without intervening or taking sufficient action.”

Jansen then discussed loss limits. Currently, players are required to set a limit but there are no rules governing how high or low this can be,

“On previous occasions, I expressed my misgivings about the way operators enforce playing limits. There have been instances of playing limits that made it possible to lose up to €100,000 (£85,740/$105,170) and gamble 24/7.”

He continued, comparing the regulatory environment to peer countries: “In Austria, players can deposit a maximum of €800 a week. In Germany, the maximum is €1,000 a month. In Norway, the maximum loss that players can incur is slightly less than €2,000 a month.”

“In Sweden, the operator has a statutory duty to initiate an investigation if a gambler exceeds the deposit limit of €930. These examples serve to illustrate that other avenues are open to the legislator.”

While Jansen did not commit to any explicit policy course, he said that further investigation was required.

“It goes without saying that the KSA, as the regulator, has its own responsibility. That is why we will spend the next period investigating explicitly how our online gambling license holders are putting the main facets of their duty of care into practice.”

“We will not hesitate to intervene if there are evident signals that operators are not complying with the duty of care. This concerns both land-based and online operators. The KSA will make itself heard in the near future.”

The speech comes in the wake of the news that the KSA is investigating potential self-exclusion violations by land-based operators.

Flutter Entertainment, including its Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet brands, along with Entain-owned Ladbrokes and Coral were among the operators to sign up to an initiative whereby all profits from the race would be distributed to a number of charities. 

Bet365, William Hill, 888, BetVictor, Kindred, Betway, Rank Group, Virgin Bet, the Tote, Fitzdares and Bet with Ascot were also part of the scheme. 

Jockey Ryan Moore rode 14-1 shot Thesis to victory, meaning £1.2m was split between ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity, Sue Ryder, Ascot Racecourse Supports Community Fund, The Ivors Academy Trust and Cotswold Riding for the Disabled.

The donation means members of the organisation have now raised £5.5m for charity since the BGC was founded in November 2019, through donations from the Britannia Stakes and the virtual Grand National.

“It’s great news that BGC members have once again made such a big donation to a number of brilliant charities,” BGC chief executive Michael Dugher said. “BGC members support the jobs of nearly 120,000 people and we are proud to back so many good causes in so many local communities all year round. 

“We are also equally proud of the close relationship we have with the great British sport of horse racing. But with crowds back, with millions more watching it live on ITV, and with this year being Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, Royal Ascot 2022 was extra special. 

“I am sure that the money we raised will once again make a huge difference to the incredible work done by all the charities involved. I’d like to thank all the BGC members who took part – as well as their customers who enjoyed a flutter on the race – and I’d like to thank Ascot for their continued support.”

Under the four-year deal, Kanu will become a global ambassador for the brand and feature across a range of promotions and special activities.

Sportsbet.io also made a donation to the Kanu Heart Foundation, an organisation founded by Kanu to help Nigerian children with cardiac diseases obtain life-saving surgeries inside and outside the country.

“Signing for Sportsbet.io was the perfect opportunity to join the crypto revolution,” Kanu said. “I’ve already seen how crypto can be a force for good in our world, with the Kanu Heart Foundation receiving significant Bitcoin donations.”

Sportsbet.io’s head of Africa Albert Climent added: “Nwankwo Kanu needs no introduction, he’s a true football legend and it’s an absolute honour to see him join Team Sportsbet.io.”

Kanu made more than 500 club appearances during his playing career, scoring over 124 goals, while he also scored 26 goals in 86 games for the Nigerian national team.

With Ajax, Kanu won three Eredivisie league titles, the Uefa Champions League, Uefa Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup, before also claiming the Uefa Cup with Inter Milan.

Kanu moved to Arsenal, where he won two English Premier League titles and two FA Cups, before also winning the FA Cup with Portsmouth.

With the Nigerian national team, he won an Olympic gold medal in 1996. 

Sportsbet.io has a range of partnerships in place across professional football, including with Kanu’s former team Arsenal. The operator is also the main front-of-shirt sponsor of Premier League club Southampton.

Under the agreement, logistics real estate assets owner Link Logistics, established by private equity giant Blackstone in 2019, will take ownership of 115.7 acres of land near to the land-based casino.

CDI will retain ownership of approximately 54 acres of land on which its Calder Casino sits. The operator also has the option to sell between 15 and 20 acres of additional land in the Miami Gardens area in the future for retail development.

Funds from the sale, CDI said, would go towards its acquisition of assets from Peninsula Pacific Gaming (P2E)for $2.49bn.

Announced in February this year, 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. CDI will also have the opportunity to build five additional Rosie’s venues in Virginia.

In addition, CDI 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 deal remains subject to closing conditions being met and regulatory approval from the Virginia Racing Commission, the New York State Gaming Commission and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

The total combined gross receipts can be divided into $127.4 million from online casino sources and $33.5 million for sport betting. While the online casino segment decline 3.8% from April, sports betting revenue increased by 9.1% increase.

This pattern can also be seen in the adjusted gross revenue, which takes into account free bets. The combined adjusted revenue total was $137.2 million for May; with $114.7 million from online gaming and $22.5 million from sports betting. While internet gaming declined by 3.9%, sports betting rose by almost 35%.

Comparing to May 2021, internet gaming revenue was up by 28.8% – with sports betting rising 127.4%. One factor in the size of the sector’s increase is the ending of most Covid-era restrictions, which affected the sporting calendar in 2020-2021.  

The total sports betting handle, that is the total amount that has been bet, was $333.4 million, dropping by 10.2% when compared with the previous month.

TTB was initially given until 5pm today (17 June) to announce whether it would submit a bid, but with discussions still ongoing with Playtech, the group has been given another month to reach a decision.

Playtech said the independent committee believes allowing additional time for discussions to further develop is in the best interests of its shareholders and other stakeholders. The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers agreed to extend the deadline until 5pm on 15 July.

This deadline could be extended again should the Panel allow additional time for talks.

Playtech added that there is still no certainty that TTB will submit a takeover offer for the business. 

TTB first approached Playtech over a possible bid in February this year when it approached the tech giant with a request to release it from certain restrictions in order to allow TTB to form and potentially make an offer.

These restrictions– part of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers – came as a result of its role in advising Gopher Investments, a minority shareholder in Playtech, over its potential takeover offer for the business. Gopher registered an interest in making a bid in November last year but dropped out of the running a few weeks later.

The restrictions on TTB, which would have blocked it from making an offer itself, were due to remain in place for six months from the withdrawal date, through to 20 May. Playtech opted not to lift the restrictions, but when the six-month period passed, the initial deadline of today was announced.

The request to be released from the restrictions came after a bid from Aristocrat Leisure for Playtech, which had been recommended by the Playtech board, was rejected by shareholders.

Should the TTB deal go through, Playtech is expected to remain publicly listed, rather than going private.

Prior to confirmation of the TTB talks, Playtech’s board said the business could be broken up and sold off in parts, a prospect first raised last month.

The deadline extension comes after Playtech this week announced that it had received all required regulatory approvals to complete the sale of its Finalto financial trading division to Gopher.

The all-cash sale was approved by shareholders during a general meeting in December last year and, in line with the sale and purchase agreement, is expected to complete on 30 June.

Gopher, a minority shareholder in Playtech, tabled its $250m (£208m/€239m) bid for Finalto in June last year. The Playtech board agreed to sell the business to Gopher in September of 2021.