Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. We take a trip around the world in our latest look back at a selection of last week’s headlines, as as revisit news from Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and the US, where New York has been making the news once again.
16
New York would apply minimum licensing fees of “at least” $1bn each for those seeking approval to operate a downstate casino, according to a 2022/23 state budget proposal.
The Senate has modified proposals to authorise the issuance of additional casino licences by limiting the number of facilities per zone, as well as specifying parameters for application scoring, including a diversity category that it says has been done to “ensure that jobs and casino ownership are reflective of New York’s diverse workforce”.
Furthermore, the Senate also states that it has advanced a proposal “to permit additional applicants to apply for mobile sports wagering licences”.
This would be based on the number of licensed mobile sports wagering operators, with it hoped that no fewer than 14 will be operational by January 31, 2023, and no less than sixteen one year later.
5,000
The Spelinspektionen has stated that, due to its re-regulation, along with the impact of the pandemic, it was “difficult to fully comprehend” how the market was affected by temporary restrictions.
The three core measures implemented by Swedish authorities from July 2020 to November 2021 was a weekly deposit/loss limit of SEK 5,000 (€471), limitation on bonus offers to SEK 100 (€10) for commercial online gambling, and a mandatory login time limit for online games.
Publishing its interim report into the impacts of temporary limitations on online betting and gaming during COVID, the Swedish regulator highlighted that the introduction of loss limits and restrictions on bonus offers across all betting verticals would be the preferred option, citing the potential for any “future crisis”.
4
SBC agreed to terms to acquire the long-running Canadian Gaming Summit, Canada’s premier annual conference and trade show for land-based and igaming professionals, from current joint owners the Canadian Gaming Association and MediaEdge Communications.
The acquisition will be completed after this year’s edition of the Summit, which takes place June 7-9, 2022, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto. Included in the deal is the Canadian Gaming Business news website, e-newsletter, and print magazine.
As part of the arrangement, SBC will work with MediaEdge and the CGA to bring even more content and commercial opportunities to this year’s Summit. This includes all three organisations hosting a Special Gaming Industry Reception on April 4 to celebrate the launch of Ontario’s new online gaming regime.
900
Public hearings as part of an investigation into Star Entertainment, and more specifically the group’s Sydney casino licence, commenced last week in New South Wales, with local media reporting allegations that the group disguised $900m of transactions.
The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority mandated the launch of the inquiry in September 2021, which was subsequently updated to enable public hearings to be carried out.
The review is considering how effectively The Star is complying with its statutory obligations, and whether it remains suitable to hold its licence
In the hearings it was alleged that The Star, which also runs casinos in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, disguised A$900m of payments from UnionPay bank accounts through hotels adjacent to its venues, before transferring the money to patrons.
Local media reported that National Australia Bank, providers of the group’s terminals, made contact in mid-2019 to relay concerns of UnionPay regarding gambling transactions.
66
Dutch gambling laws on advertisement are “built more on principles than on very sharp boundaries”, according to D66 political party member Franc Weerwind, Minister for Legal Protection, as he highlighted measures to curb such activity in the country.
In an interview with Netherlands’ financial news outlet FD.nl, Weerwind noted, when quizzed if the time is now for new advertisement measures, that they “will come shortly” and expressed that there is “a clear call” from the House of Representatives addiction treatment centres for greater development in this area.
He continued: “They have told me that the sheer volume of gambling advertisements leads to unrest among ex-addicts and problematic gambling among people who identify with the role models appearing in the advertisements. That was the reason for me not to wait.”
3.9
Danish gambling saw gross gaming revenue decline 3.9 per cent during the past year’s final quarter, as upticks in online and land-based gaming failed to offset a drop in sports betting activity.
During the year’s final quarter, across the four reporting segments of betting, igaming, gaming machines and land-based casino, revenue fell to DKK 1.69bn (£192.22m) from DKK 1.73bn (£196.52m).
During 2021’s fourth quarter betting is only of the aforementioned segments to report a fall in GGR, after dropping 18.3 per cent year-on-year to DKK 583m (£67m) from DKK 726m (£82.13m) to record its second highest performance of the year following Q2’s DKK 657m.
Online casinos scored a 7.16 per cent YoY uptick to close at the largest of the four sectors with DKK 723m (£81.8m), with GGR by game type showing gaming machines on top with 73.24 per cent.
Gaming machines scored a Q4 rise of less than one percentage point to close at DKK 269m (£30.43m). Gaming arcades was the more dominant location of usage after accounting for 76.41 per cent, with restaurants at 23.59 per cent.
Land-based casinos soared 21.94 per cent YoY to close the final quarter of 2021 with revenue of DKK 84m (£9.5m), rising from the DKK 69m (£7.8m) recorded one year earlier.
3.1
The American Gaming Association has estimated that 17 per cent of American adults plan to wager $3.1bn on this year’s NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament.
The gaming industry association approximates that 45 million American adults plan to wager on March Madness; with 20.9 million Americans expected to bet on the tournament outside of bracket contests at a retail sportsbook, online, with a bookie or casually with friends; and 36.5 million Americans to wager via a bracket contest or similar pool.
711
The Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit, has continued its recent spree of awarding online gaming licences, with Belgium-based digital gambling entity 711 the latest to gain the regulatory green-light.
It is not yet known which domain will be operated by this latest licensee, which is based in Jabbeke in the Belgian province of West Flanders and forms part of the same group as online casino brand carousel.be.
This latest development has seen approval awarded to go live with igaming across the Netherlands, on a five year licence that is valid from March 16, 2022 to March 15, 2027.