Month: July 2022

The white paper has faced a series of delays since the Gambling Act review started in 2020, with the aim of bringing rules and regulations up to date with the modern market. The current version of the Gambling Act was published in 2005.

Chris Philp, the minister in the UK government who was responsible for gambling, stepped down from his position earlier this month and revealed that the document is currently “with No 10 for final approval”.

However, the recent resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson further disrupted the process, with a Conservative party leadership contest currently ongoing to appoint a replacement. 

Damian Collins was last week appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Online Safety at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and will lead the UK government’s efforts on gambling and lotteries policy but could push for late changes to the white paper.

However, reports have suggested the white paper may not be published until Johnson’s replacement takes over.

Disruption in government has raised concerns at GambleAware, a charity working to reduce gambling harms in Great Britain. As such, the organisation has pushed for the white paper to be published as soon as possible.

“We are deeply concerned by the risk of further delays to the gambling white paper; failure to act now puts more people at risk of gambling harms and only exacerbates what is an increasingly serious public health issue,” GambleAware chief executive Zoë Osmond said. 

“We are concerned that the combination of the growing cost of living, ongoing impact of the pandemic and rise of online gambling may be creating a perfect storm, meaning more people are at risk of suffering gambling harm.

“We, and other third sector organisations need a committed and consistent approach to funding. This would ensure future certainty and stability to provide support and treatment, prevent further gambling harm and make more people aware of the risks of gambling.”

One reform which GambleAware has pushed for has been a mandatory levy to fund research, education and treatment around gambling harms.

Currently, operators provide voluntary funding towards research, education and treatment, but GambleAware said paying the levy should instead be a mandatory condition to receive a licence in the UK.

Last week, industry share prices rebounded from an initial dip following a report that the new white paper will include a £125 monthly soft cap on affordability, with harder checks for players losing £2,000 in three months.

Industry commentators Earnings + More reported a number of details on 13 July related to the content of the white paper.

Industry sources confirmed to iGB it matched up with their understanding of the document.

Bloomberg and The Straits Times last week reported that MGM Resorts had approached the operator over a potential deal, and while no agreement was reached, a number of other parties have also begun to explore the possibility of a takeover.

Following the reports, stock in the business jumped as much as 9.3% in morning trading on 15 July, the most in nearly two years, before Genting Singapore called for a trading halt at 1pm.

This led to Singapore Exchange issuing a query to the operator over what it described as “unusual price movements”, asking if Genting Singapore was aware of any information that may have caused this activity.

In its query, the Singapore Exchange said events that are potentially material and price-sensitive, such as discussions and negotiations that may lead to joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions or purchase or sale of a significant asset, as potential causes for the price rise.

While Genting Singapore responded by saying it was not aware of, nor has it been party to, any ongoing discussions concerning such a potential transaction, it did reveal details of an “unsolicited” approach regarding the holding of its indirect controlling shareholder.

The operator said its executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, who is also the indirect controlling shareholder of the business did receive an unsolicited approach for its shareholding in the, but this was not pursued.

However, it also said that it was not aware of any information not previously announced concerning the business, its subsidiaries or associated companies that might explain the trading on 15 July.

Genting Singapore added that it would make any necessary disclosures at the appropriate time, in line with Singapore Exchange rules.

The initial lockdown had been due to end on Monday 18 July – but despite a falling case count of just 27 on Sunday, the government decided that the city must continue the wider lockdown as well as the shutdown of its economic core: the casino sector.

The DICJ announced the news in a press release where it stated that the closure was subject to the approval of chief executive Ho Lat-Seng, in which it also explained procedures and methods for accessing some of the Bureau’s services as well Covid-safe methods of making licence applications.

While covid has become endemic throughout much of the world, China and its special administrative regions have largely continued to adhere to a “covid-zero” policy that has led to frequent lockdowns.

According to official figures, there have been over 1,500 covid cases recorded in Macau since June, with more than 19,000 in quarantine. Some residents had been quarantined in the Grand Lisboa casino earlier this month.

In January, Macau passed a new gaming bill that will include a number of major changes for the sector, such as limits on gaming tables and machines and new rules for junkets.

The event – held at Les Ambassadeurs in London – allowed a number of c-level executives to discuss a variety of topics about the future of the gaming industry and ICE London. It made use of the “open space” model, in which discussion topics are chosen by participants.

Clarion Gaming managing director Stuart Hunter noted that the executives involved had more than 1,000 combined years of experience in the sector.

“On behalf of everyone associated with the ICE brand I would like to say how energising it was to participate in an initiative alongside stakeholders who have such depth of knowledge and insight,” he said.

“I calculated that we had over 1,000-years of combined experience in the room all feeding ideas, opinions and proposals into the discussions. 

“This was thought leadership of the highest level and all subject matter, ideas and opportunities are already being fed into the final planning stages for ICE 2023. They will impact the product mix on the show floor, the customer experience, learning and engagement delivered at ICE VOX, new feature initiatives and enhanced opportunities for hosted meetings.” 

European Casino Association chairman Per Jaldung said tat responsible gaming, money laundering and new technology were key discussion points.

“This was a really wonderful day and thanks are due to Clarion and to Les A as well as the industry leaders who took time out of extremely busy schedules,” he said. “I think this illustrates how important an event the Symposium was. 

“All of our conversations centred around the future of land-based casinos – what they will look like, what entertainment they will provide and who their customers will be. Significantly there was a common focus on responsible gaming, anti-money laundering and new opportunities for enhanced and seamless customer experience through technology and digitalisation. 

“It was also great to see that diversity and inclusion was on the table throughout the day, and regarded as being a critical aspect when we look at our business going forward. These are all fundamental discussions that we need to have ahead of ICE and for the industry to use the opportunity provided by ICE to navigate the route forward.”

Meanwhile, Tracy Damestani, chief corporate affairs officer for Ambassadeurs Group, said that she was proud that Les Ambassadeurs was used as the site of the Symposium.

“It was a great honour for Les A to host the first ICE ECA Summer Symposium and for me to be able to show the international guests our stunning heritage premises which is a major architectural London landmark,” she said.

“In terms of the Symposium itself I think it was an important and valuable undertaking made by Clarion Gaming and the ECA. We talked at length about some of the macro issues and challenges that the casino sector faces and it was crucial to be able to get an international perspective in order to help us all prepare for ICE – the most international business event for our industry.”

The approval came on 15 July, after a parliamentary debate. A law to approve the verticals received 91 votes in favour, and zero opposing votes.

The new law will become the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (Mincetur), the country’s foreign trade body, which will also regulate its enactment in Peru.

The gaming tax will be set at 12% of each operator’s tax base – which is net income minus maintenance costs – and will be collected monthly.

Maintenance taxes will be 2% of an operator’s monthly income.

Sunat, Peru’s tax body, administers the tax.

Operators with the appropriate licence will be allowed to offer bonuses for online gaming, as long as the bonuses cannot be exchanged for money.

For sports betting, operators must display a warning message on all platforms, which reads, “excessive online sports betting can cause pathological gambling.”

The legislation also allows remote sports betting rooms to be established, wherein players can place bets on sports games using betting terminals.

If this law is broken, a minor infraction could result in a warning, a fine of up to SOL200 (£42.79/€50.47/$51.24), a licence disqualification of up to 10 years or a permanent disqualification.

Mincetur also has the power to impose precautionary measures on an operator, which include temporarily closing an establishment and confiscating assets.

This legislation will come into force 60 days after it is published in the official gazette, El Peruano.

Net gaming revenue for the six-month period through to 30 June amounted to SEK3.90bn (£312.9m/€368.8m/$372.3m), down from SEK3.94bn in the first half of 2021.

The Tur lottery business remained the main source of revenue for Svenska Spel, generating SEK2.33bn, a decline of 3.2% from SEK2.41bn last year. The operator said this was mainly down to lower ticket sales than in 2021, due to the way public holidays fell this year.

Revenue from the operator’s online sport and casino segment also fell year-on-year, with the SEK1.04bn posted being 16.5% lower than SEK1.25bn in 2021. This was put down to the cancellation of some sporting events at the start of the year as a result of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions, as well as strengthened responsible gambling measures.

However, revenue for the Casino Cosmopol land-based business, plus its Vegas brand of slot halls and its chain of restaurant casinos, rocketed by 85.9% to SEK526.0m, following the reopening of these facilities in line with easing Covid-19 restrictions.

Online gambling accounted for SEK1.91bn in net gaming revenue, while retail lottery agents generated SEK1.46bn in revenue. Elsewhere, revenue from restaurant and bingo halls hit SEK279.0m and land-based casino SEK247.0m.

Turning to spending and operating expenses were 12.5% higher at SEK1.70bn. This included SEK577.0m in personnel costs, SEK946.0m worth of other external expenses and SEK173.0m worth of amortisation and write-downs of intangible and tangible fixed assets.

Operating profit was 3.8% lower at SEK1.13bn, while only minimal financial expenses meant pre-tax profit was also SEK1.13bn. Svenska Spel paid SEK233.0m in tax, leaving SEK892.0m in net profit, down 4.0% year-on-year.

In terms of the second quarter, revenue was up 1.3% to SEK1.96bn. Tur revenue was level at SEK1.19bn, and while online sport and casino revenue fell 19.1% to SEK484.0m, revenue from Casino Cosmopol jumped 94.6% to SEK286.0m.

Operating expenses were 12.4% higher at SEK877.0bn, while operating profit was 7.5% down at SEK531.0m. Financial income of SEK4.0m meant pre-tax profit was SEK536.0m, while after paying SEK111.0m in tax, this left SEK425.0m in net profit, down 6.2% year-on-year.

Svenska Spel president and chief executive Patrick Hofbauer said that while revenue was down, the share of revenue from players deemed to be “healthy” gamblers increased.

“The share of healthy revenues and healthy customers increased during the second quarter of the year,” he said. “The group’s revenues increase as Casino Cosmopol was open this year.

“The group’s earnings and operating margin decreased somewhat as a result of increased costs in priority investment areas, but also as an expected effect of our focus on sustainable gaming.

“Our great commitment and our investment in research continues, because it is important that we constantly increase knowledge and learn more about preventing problems and gambling addiction – but also to be able to spread the insights from the research to the entire gambling industry.”

Conleth Byrne, product director at live content supplier Sports Information Services (SIS), speaks to iGB about how the company has assessed the live betting market- and where it could go to next.

In the live betting content market, standing out is key. Byrne sees diversification as the best way to set SIS apart from its competitors. 

“We’ve made great progress over the last few years at continuing to diversify our business,” he says. “We have substantially grown our operator partner base internationally.” 

At the core of this is SIS’ offerings- including its compact solutions, which focus on different forms of live betting content. 

“It’s our 24/7 end-to-end solution that differentiates us,” says Byrne. “We can provide everything the operator needs and we have 24/7 market-leading racing content as well as esports and live numbers draws, with live data, pictures, pricing.” 

“Within our betting content we can provide over 65,000 annual racing events, 150,000 esports and over 300,000 live number draws.” 

Off the back of its diversification, SIS has made a number of strategic appointments since the beginning of 2022, spanning across commercial, racing and esports. 

Last week, SIS also announced two new senior hires in the US as part of its SIS Content Services subsidiary- Brenda Strickland to the role of regulatory and business affairs manager, and Sean Beirne to the role of US commercial manager. Before this, the company appointed two new heads of racing trading and esports and three new head of sales. 

Byrne says these appointments are a marker of how the business is set to etch a name for itself in the global betting market. 

“The new appointments are key to helping us continue to drive that success,” he continues.  

“We’re aiming to have additional members of the team very soon across other key territories to support the continued growth of our customer base, as well as more frequent face to face contact with our rights holder partnerships.” 

“To help our expansion internationally, it was important to make sure we had dedicated staff in key jurisdictions, such as Latin America, the US and Europe.” 

The end goal, says Byrne, is optimisation. 

“Our aim is to optimise our content for the rightholders, the operators and the end users.” 

It’s clear that SIS is planning to expand its space in the market- but this involves a continuous belief in, and support of, core products. 

Standing out 

To be a trusted, profitable supplier in the live betting market, Byrne emphasises that having a unique selling point is crucial. 

He goes back to SIS’ end-to-end solution, which he says provides multiple services in one for ease of use. This, he continues, encourages customers to remain within one supplier – which benefits both parties. 

“Our 24/7 end-to-end solution really is key,” Byrne reiterates. “The benefit is that through a single integration, operators can get a range of products to engage customers and drive incremental revenue.”  

To further this offering Byrne adds that SIS has implemented more support for suppliers through a partnership with Racelabs, a company that provides racing overlays for streamers. 

“We’ve always produced pricing and derivatives for all our content; and now we will be able to provide a fully managed trading service offering, so that customers won’t have to risk manage themselves,” he continues. 

“This capability has been enhanced and accelerated through our partnership and investment with Racelab, a range of pricing software and risk management solutions that enable a customised trading service to be almost fully automated, ensuring an affordable solution for both big and small operators.” 

Byrne is aware that in any well-established content market, it is crucial to anticipate trends and secure a base in them. And as the groundwork is being put in place for expansion, SIS is set to secure its place in the market. 

Revenue was up 30.5% year-on-year from $843,118 in June 2021 and marginally higher than the $1.09m generated in May of this year, while the total was shy of the $1.2m record set in April 2022.

Consumers spent a total of $35.0m playing igaming during the month, an increase of 52.2% from $23.0m in the same month last year and also 9.7% higher than the $31.9m wagered in May this year.

Online video lottery games accounted for $924,272 of revenue for the month and $21.7m of all wagers placed. Table games drew $151,625 in revenue from $13.3m in bets, while poker rake and fees revenue reached $43,121.

Players won $33.9m from igaming in June, while licensed operators reported a total of 952 new account registrations. 

Breaking down the performance of licensees, Bally’s Dover, previously known as Dover Downs, claimed top spot by a narrow margin, posting $407,367 in revenue from $11.1m in bets.

Delaware Park was just behind in second with $407,212 in revenue, with consumers having spent $15.9m, while the Harrington Raceway placed third with $304,439 in revenue from $7.9m in wagers.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that sports betting handle in Delaware dropped to its lowest point since August 2020 while revenue fell by two thirds year-on-year during June 2022. 

During the month ended 26 June, players staked a total of $3.5m, which was 41.1% less than in June of 2021. In addition, this figure was the lowest since August 2020, which was the first full month following the reopening of casinos and racetracks in the state after Covid-19 lockdowns.

The number of wagers placed also reached a new low for the year, at 112,200.

The supplier states that it plans to expand to other American regulated markets beyond Michigan, continuing the business’s North American expansion in the future.

In March, Play’n Go received an Ontario supplier licence. Later that same month, the company was awarded a Gibraltar supplier licence.

Play’n Go CEO Johan Törnqvist hailed the expansion as a “landmark moment” in the history of the company.

“We started by designing casino games specifically for mobile before the smartphone even existed, and now are breaking into America as the leading supplier to more than 25 regulated markets globally which is such a credit to everyone at Play’n Go. We believe we are uniquely positioned to succeed in the US,” Törnqvist added.

“Our aim is to see Play’n Go games become as beloved in the US as they are in every other regulated market around the world. We know that each regulated market is different, and that this will take time in the US, but we are absolutely committed to expanding our footprint across the country.”

“We’ve become a leader in regulated markets by focusing on the player and creating games that entertain above everything else. We believe this gives us an edge in the US, but we’ll be taking nothing for granted and look forward to listening, learning and adapting so we can provide the very best casino entertainment to US players.”

Play’n Go’s has a large portfolio of existing titles, having released 27 in 2022 alone. Some of the better-known games in its catalogue include Rich Wilde, Book of Dead, Reactoonz, Rise of Olympus and Legacy of Dead.

Spire Institute is an Ohio sports-focused high school, with its athletic programs attracting top recruits including basketball star LaMelo Ball. The organisation also offers a general sporting development programs and operates sporting complexes on its grounds, outside of its presence as a high school.

Under Ohio’s sports betting laws, sporting organisations or land-based gaming venues may offer betting in the state, partnering with online operators for an online product.

It has partnered with Out the Gate, a startup sports betting operator that says it uses an in-house trading solution and plans to accept “all action” with lined that “lead the market on US sports”. Out the Gate is led by Christopher Kape and Robbie Manis, formerly of data provider Don Best Sports.

Read the full story on iGB North America