Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. The latest string in Entain’s M&A strategy, a pair of developments in the Swedish market, a performance update in New Jersey, vows by Star Entertainment to earn back trust and much more feature in our latest headline recap.
800
Entain made its maiden move through the newly formed central and Eastern Europe division after formalising the €800m purchase of SuperSport.
The online casino and sportsbook operator is intended to be a “springboard” for expansion across the region, which will be led by Radim Haluza, Supersport CEO.
The purchase was initially detailed on August 11, 2022, when Entain teamed-up with Emma Capital in a bid to “drive expansion in the highly attractive CEE market”.
The acquisition comes alongside the establishment of Entain CEE, whose ownership is split 75 per cent to 25 per cent between the former GVC and Emma Capital, and takes Entain’s total transactions for the year-to-date to five. SuperSport is lauded as boasting a near 50 per cent share in the regulated Croatian market.
18.9
The Swedish gambling authority issued a total of SEK 18.9m (£1.49m) to a trifecta of organisations after a wide spread investigation was undertaken regarding money laundering and how firm’s ensure sufficient knowledge of customers
This review also covered internal procedures and guidelines as well as the management of a customer’s risk profile and awareness measures, with PinBet, ATG and Kindred’s Spooniker all deemed to have fallen foul.
This has seen the former penalised SEK 2m (£158,615), with ATG receiving a SEK 6m (£475,606) sanction while Kindred was the recipient of a SEK 10.9 (£864,019) penalty fee, which the Spelinspektionen noted is “the highest possible amount”. Each firm was also in receipt of a warning.
“According to the Act on measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (the Money Laundering Act), gambling companies must prevent their operations from being used for money laundering or the financing of terrorism,” the Swedish regulator updated.
“Among other things, gaming companies must obtain enough information to be able to assess and manage the risks associated with the customer.”
445.7
Downfalls across land-based casinos and sports wagering saw total revenue in New Jersey’s gambling space decline less than one percentage point to $445.7m (2021: $448.69m) through October.
An increase of 15.9 per cent to $147.17m (2021: $127m) across online casinos and poker rooms couldn’t counteract these declines as the state edges ever close to surpassing its 2021 total figure.
For the ten months of the year thus far, revenue across the region stands at $4.31bn, which should surpass the $4.73bn gained in the whole of 2021 next month after could well topple $5bn by the close of the year.
6
“We will transform our culture, be more transparent, have more robust governance, greater accountability, be open and honest with our regulators and act swiftly when issues arise,” asserted Robbie Cooke, new MD and CEO of Star Entertainment, in a maiden AGM address.
Alongside Chair Ben Heap, the pair united to offer unreserved apologies for the turbulent time that has enveloped the group, as well as vowing to lead Star to a time of prosperity.
In addition to acknowledging that “we need to earn back the trust and confidence of all our stakeholders”, Cooke affirmed that the firm would “work openly and transparently with our regulators” to implement much publicised remediation frameworks.
“From an operational perspective, let me assure you that the whole team understands and acknowledges the need for change. Cultural change is part of that,” Cooke said. “So too is the focus on having all areas of our business operating with the highest levels of integrity.
“As CEO, I want our regulators and the governments we work with to see us as an operator of the highest repute. At the same time, we should never lose sight of the blue skies on our horizon.”
Despite a A$6bn Brisbane-based investment progressing, Heap, who kicked things off, first stressed importance and openness at need to address “some issues that have received significant attention and caused understandable concern”.
2023
Sweden’s Culture Committee advised that additional measures should be introduced in a bid to ensure strong consumer protection and a long-term sustainable gaming market, with measures approved by the Riksdag, the country’s highest decision-making assembly.
However, despite recommending that issues such as B2B licensing and bans on the promotion of illegal offerings should proceed, proposals designed to moderate the marketing of games and end a current agreement with Finland were rejected.
Commenting on this latest development, the country’s regulator, Spelinspektionen, said that “the Riksdag’s decision means, among other things, that more measures are introduced to exclude unlicensed gambling from the Swedish gambling market”.
One proposal recommended is that of licensing requirements for gaming software provider’s, a topic that has been much discussed and debated through the current year.
It is suggested that the changes to the law regarding B2B licensing would come into force on July 1, 2023, with the Committee noting that such certifications would be for a period of no more than five years.
1.2
Kindred expressed that it will “passively accept” Norwegian customers and stressed the “coercive fine” imposed by the Norwegian Gambling Authority cannot be enforced outside of Norway.
Placed upon Kindred in February of this year, Lottstift warned Kindred’s Trannel International that it will be sanctioned with a fine of NOK 1.2m (€120,000) per day if it does not cease its unlicensed activities immediately.
Since then, the international gambling group, founded in Sweden but headquartered in Malta, will uphold its challenge to the fine in court, adding that it will also continue to ‘passively accept’ Norwegian customers.
282
Gambling was deemed a “normal part of prison life” according to a UK-based report from Russell Webster.
Entitled ‘Gambling and crime: An exploration of gambling availability and culture in an English prison’, the research, which included 282 volunteer participants, found that 30.3 per cent of contributors reported that gambling, such as card/dice games, as well as sports and ball games, were seen as a prison norm.
The volunteers, who were recruited at a category B, adult male prison located in England, faced questions from the survey that were administered between March 2018 and February 2019, had 66 per cent of participants (185) report gambling before imprisonment.
Of the aforementioned 185 participants, just over a quarter, 28 per cent, were in the moderate or problem gambling risk categories, with the common types of gambling including machines, sports, horses/greyhounds, lottery, casino, online and card/dice games.
3
The Dutch gaming regulator, Kansspelautoriteit, had to intervene on three offences concerning four organisations for World Cup-based violations in the build-up to the footballing showpiece.
The first of these saw an unnamed entity violate a ban on the use of role models when “well known Dutch people advertised the event” alongside an image of the logo of the gambling entity in question.
The name or logo of a gambling company cannot be in the same communication as the image, voice or name of a role model.
Following the discovery, the Ksa noted that, on Thursday 14 November, the company was ordered to cease such activity immediately, which was subsequently followed. Had that not been the case, an order subject to periodic penalty payments would have been imposed.
