November 22, 2017

Unnamed Northern Ireland Bookmaker Arrested for having FOBTs

In a landmark case a bookmaker in Northern Ireland has been arrested for having Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs).

A file has already been sent to the Public Prosecution Service who will decide if the unnamed bookmaker will be charged and go to court for trial.

Currently there are some 600 FOBTs in Northern Ireland who has devolved powers on gaming which differ from the rest of the UK.

In Northern Ireland it is stated that a “Gaming Machine” has a maximum stake of £0.30, however a FOBT currently has a maximum of £100.

The bookmakers in Northern Ireland, Ladbrokes, William Hill, Paddy Power, Sean Graham, McLean’s and Toal’s argue that FOBTs are not classified as Gaming Machines and so do not fall in to the £0.30 stake.

It is understood that this arrest and case will be a test for the classification of FOBTs in Northern Ireland. The decision is not expected to be a quick one from the Prosecutors Office and if and when the Bookmaker in question will be named.

November 13, 2017

German banks involved in illegal online casino payments

On Wednesday, German newspape Süddeutsche Zeitungand public broadcaster NDR fingered DZ Bank, Postbank, Hypo-Vereinsbank and Wirecard for processing payments from internationally licensed online casino operators, in apparent contravention of Germany’s current gambling laws.

Evidence of the four financial institution’s connections with the online gambling sites came via the release of the so-called Paradise Papers, the latest document dump by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in its ongoing efforts to shine a light on the financial dealings of the world’s 1%.

So far, the banks have issued statements denying that their activities were in violation of current German gambling laws, which prohibit online gambling outside of sports betting.

But the Interior Ministry of the state of Lower Saxony begs to differ, suggesting the banks could be found guilty of facilitating illegal gambling operations, as well as potential money laundering charges, although no one’s so far suggested any such charges are forthcoming.

Among the online operators’ namechecked in discussion of the banks’ activities are Bwin, Tipico, Royal Panda, Casino Club, amid others. Some of these, like Bwin and Tipico, hold online gambling licenses issued by the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which enacted its own, more liberal licensing regime rather than sign on to the sports-only federal gambling treaty approved by Germany’s other 15 states in 2012.

Germany has targeted international online casino operators in the past by going after these sites’ local customers, but both German and European Union courts have questioned the government’s ability to sanction international sites due to lingering questions over the legality of Germany’s federal betting rules.

Schleswig-Holstein and three other states recently announced that they intended to follow their own path toward online gambling regulation, effectively dooming the revised federal treaty, which was to take effect January 1, 2018, provided it could secure the unanimous consent of all 16 German länder.

Last month, a Federal Administrative Court upheld the constitutionality of Germany’s ban on online casino and poker products, but the German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) was quick to issue a statement saying the court hadn’t given thumbs-up to the government’s original plan to issue 20 sports betting licenses, which only left the country in its current state of limbo.

November 08, 2017

Paddy Power unwilling to bet big on US growth plan

Earlier this week, the US state passed laws legalising certain betting activity such as online poker, casino games and betting on fantasy sports leagues. Paddy Power-Betfair has a strong presence in the US — via its TVG online horse racing outlet, its New Jersey-based online casino offering and Draft, a New York-based outlet focused on fantasy sports league betting, which it acquired earlier this year — and has welcomed the move in Pennsylvania.

However, outgoing chief executive Breon Corcoran told analysts on the company’s third quarter earnings call that it is unlikely to usher in a wholesale loosening of US betting laws.

“With respect to sports betting [in the US], in particular, I think we’re probably less bullish than most people. We think there’s an awful long way to go from where we are today to a legalised framework for sports betting that’s accessible to offshore operators,” he said.

“Draft is showing that we can acquire customers that we wouldn’t have acquired through the horse racing business. But, we still think sports betting, as we know it in Europe, is a long way away [in the US],” Mr Corcoran — who is formally leaving the company in early January — added.

Chief financial officer Alex Gersh, however, said that if that opinion was to be proven wrong, the group has substantially more ability than its competitors to invest in the US.

Paddy Power-Betfair’s third quarter trading update showed a 9% year-on-year increase in group revenue to £440m (€502m) and a 7% rise in underlying earnings to £121m. Mr Corcoran called the performance “encouraging” — particularly with the absence of any major football tournament in the late summer months.

Online revenue fell 3%, year-on-year, to £216m and gaming revenue was flat at £60m, with management saying it has no idea when that part of the business will return to growth. Overall, management expects full-year group earnings to be between £450m and £465m. Last year it generated earnings of £400m.

Third quarter retail revenues rose 12%, with the group announcing it has reached agreement — with an unnamed party — for the acquisition of another five UK shops. On a geographical basis, US revenues rose 18% and Australia-based revenues were up 29%. Most of the bets the group took on September’s Conor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather boxing match came via its Australian online avenue.

Woman wins £574,278.41 from £1 bet after she picked 12-match accumulator by choosing teams whose names she liked the sound of

A woman with little interest in football has managed to win £574,278.41 from a £1 accumulator bet.

The unnamed 58-year-old housewife put together a 12-team football accumulator, which she only bets on because she is sick of having to deal with her husband and son watching football on television every weekend.

Most of the teams selected on the betting slip were odds against outsiders. And one of the results only came in during the 92nd minute as Steve Cook scored for Bournemouth at Newcastle.

There was no skill or knowledge involved in the selection process either. Her son read out the weekend's fixtures and the woman picked 12 teams from the sound of their name alone.

Carli Faulkner, the employee from William Hill's Leysdown-on-Sea shop who paid out the bet, said she was delighted for the winner.

Faulkner said: 'It is incredible that the lady got them all up. Usually customers laugh when they see a payout figure on the bottom of their slip like £574,000, but this just goes to show it can happen.

'They will be having a cracking Christmas and I am delighted for them as it's real girl power landing a bet like that. My biggest ever payout before this was around £25,000.'

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: 'Apparently, the lady's husband had been doing the £1 weekend acca since he was 18, so 40 years of practice on football punting.

'His wife started doing the same bet about six years ago, so she certainly had lady luck on her side as her hubby has never had a win anything like that.

'It just goes to show if you can't beat them join them and the payout in this case is absolutely fantastic.

'We wish them well.

'In my 15 years in the business working for William Hill I have never encountered a bigger football win by a female punter for just a quid.'

November 03, 2017

Malaysian gambling crackdown forces Playtech to issue profit warning

Problems in Asia and a troublesome bingo contract have forced gaming and spread-betting company Playtech to issue a profit warning sending the shares plunging by a fifth.

Management at the Isle of Man-based business, which was founded by billionaire Teddy Sagi, said it expected annual profits to be 5pc lower than the bottom end of market expectations, prompting analysts to wipe about €20m (£17.8m) off their full-year earnings forecasts and sending Playtech shares down 218.5p to 768p.

A key problem for the company is understood to be Malaysia, which is presently an unregulated market and has seen its government move to prevent citizens from accessing online gambling sites and mobile apps.

The country’s leaders are considering changes to its Common Gaming House Act 1953 to plug loopholes which enable citizens to gamble online.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is quoted as saying that the government hasn’t decided on whether the change of the law will be in the form of an amendment or if the parliament will craft a new preventive law that will specifically target online gambling activities.

Analysts at Investec predicted the Malaysia issue was responsible for the bulk of the value of the profit downgrade by the company.

Investec added it thought Malaysia represented 5pc of Playtech’s total revenue, which came in at €709m in 2016.

Elsewhere, its contract with Sun Bingo, which involves Playtech providing the technology for the game, has continued to be problematic.

Earlier this year Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer admitted it had been forced to spend more money than planned to attract customers and that it was a year behind where it wanted to be with the project.

In its update this week, the company said the contract “remains challenging” partly due to the re-launch of the new Sun Bingo site.

The company’s financial division Tradetech, which serves professional traders, has performed as expected.

GVC drops Turkey operations amid merger rumor with Lads Coral

UK-listed online gambling operator GVC Holdings has disposed of its Turkish-facing business, fueling speculations that it will once again attempt to acquire UK rival Ladbrokes Coral Group.

In a regulatory filing, GVC announced that it sold Headlong Limited to Ropso Malta Ltd., a company backed by investors who run the operation’s IT, for €150 million ($174.9 million).

Headlong accounts for 9 percent of GVC’s net gaming revenues. The Turkish-facing company and its associated business had gross assets of €21 million ($24.47 million) as of December 31, 2016 while its estimated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization totalled €35 million ($40.77 million).

GVC drops Turkey operations amid merger rumor with Lads CoralBoth GVC and Ropso Malta agreed that the payment will be payable on a monthly basis and in a span of five years. They also agreed that transitional service arrangements will take place for no longer than six months following the completion.

With the disposal of Headlong, GVC’s revenue from “grey” markets will fall to around 25 percent.

“The decision to sell Headlong and associated businesses has been taken against a backdrop where, in an increasingly maturing and regulating online gaming world, the Board has concluded it is now appropriate for GVC to further increase its focus on regulated markets,” GVC said in a statement. “In addition, the Board believes that the Disposal will increase the attractiveness of the Group to investors and potential consolidation partners.”

The sale of Headlong, however, has revived rumors that GVC is attempting to acquire Ladbrokes for the third time since last year, according to The Evening Standard.

One of the contentious issues that both GVC and Ladbrokes are reportedly trying to iron out is the former’s businesses in unregulated markets like Turkey. Though profitable, unregulated markets are unstable and subject to sudden clampdowns.

Ladbrokes is basically telling GVC that if the company wants a marriage, then the former has to say bye-bye to unregulated markets.