Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. Continue reading to discover land-based ramifications for Casino 36, new guidelines issued in the Netherlands and Twin River purchases.
£300,000
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has handed operator Casino 36 a £300,000 penalty package and imposed added licence conditions, after discovering money laundering and social responsibility failures.
An investigation undertaken into Casino 36, which operates properties in Wolverhampton and Stockport and recently started work on a £12m Dudley-based establishment, revealed that adequate enhanced due diligence, source of funds and source of wealth checks hadn’t been carried out on 33 customers.
Furthermore, the UKGC, which states that personal management licence holders must undertake extra training as part of the penalty, also stressed that the organisation has also failed to ensure sufficient customer interaction was taking place when individuals were potentially displaying signs of suffering gambling harm.
2
Dutch gaming authority, Kansspelautoriteit, has published two new sets of guidelines aimed at licence applicants, educating on terms of the licensing process as well as the prevention of money laundering and financing of criminal activities through gambling verticals.
The Ksa emphasises that in order to secure the green-light to proceed onto the upcoming Dutch online market applicants must have refrained from offering online games of chance, specifically aimed at consumers in the Netherlands, during the two years prior to the date of submission.
Making online gambling legal under a series of strict conditions, the ‘motion postema,’ adopted by the Dutch Senate earlier in the year, is to be taken into account.
This states: “In this motion, the government is requested to ensure that licensing for the provision of remote games of chance is only given to parties who have not focused on the Dutch market for an unbroken period of at least two years.”
230
Twin River Worldwide Holdings has entered into a definitive $230m agreement to acquire two casinos from Reno, Nevada headquartered casino entertainment firm Eldorado Resorts.
The deal is to see Twin River gain the operations and real estate of Isle of Capri Casino Kansas City in Missouri and Lady Luck Casino Vicksburg in Mississippi, with the purchase, financed through available cash, expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.
The transaction is subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, including compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, and is expected to close in early 2020.
11
GambleAware has publishing an interim report examining the format and frequency of gambling advertising and marketing, which places a particular focus on exposure among children, young people and vulnerable individuals.
With research carried out under the guidance of Ipsos Mori and the Institute for Social Marketing at the University of Stirling, volume of spend is said to be on the rise across multiple forms of media during the 2015-2018 time frame examined.
Also identifying further contributing factors, such as the role of family and friends, within the data captured no examples of gambling adverts being placed within children’s media were found.
However, researchers deemed that a portion of the content could have a direct appeal to children and young people, including celebrity endorsements, memorable songs and catchphrases.
This was said to be found in 11 per cent of ads on mainstream media and 59 per cent of esports gambling content on Twitter, due in large part to the use of animated style graphics.
