As of the end of 2018, six legislators in five states had pre-filed sports betting bills. Those bills run the gamut, with tax rates on gross revenue as low as 6.25 percent and as high as 25 percent. In Missouri, two bills call for an additional fee above taxes – in one case, that money would be used to maintain and build new sporting venues, and in another, it would be a payoff to the professional sports leagues and the NCAA.
In either case, the sponsors of the bills are sure to get pushback from operators, and other lawmakers who represent those operators’ interests.
Besides those five, lawmakers in about 15 other states, from New York to Montana, have promised to file bills. In Montana and North Dakota, those lawmakers are already having legislation drafted.
What appears to be becoming a theme among states that want to legalize sports betting is a nod toward mobile/internet betting. Among the lawmakers who pre-filed bills, two said they don’t want casinos dotting their states’ landscape, they’d prefer that sports betting take place on phones or computers. Conceptually, this idea would also save money – neither Tennessee nor Virginia have a network of casinos or racetracks in place.
Montana lawmakers, who plan to file and pass bills during their 90-day session, don’t want casinos, either.
“My vision is more of a free market, where you don’t need to go to a kiosk to deposit money or place a bet,” Representative Kenneth Bogner (D-District 19) told US Bets. “It’s more about doing it on your phone or at your desktop computer.”
In Michigan, which has three commercial casinos in Detroit and tribal casinos scattered throughout the state, Representative Brandt Iden (R-District 61) just got his internet/mobile gaming bill through the state legislature. The bill requires the governor’s signature, but lays the groundwork for mobile sports betting in one of the country’s most populous state.
State legislatures across the country open their 2019 sessions as early as Jan. 3. After a pre-filing frenzy in November and December, expect sports betting to be in the news across the country. And before things get really crazy, here’s a look at bills that have already been filed.
Kentucky: The first state in which a bill was pre-filed, Senator Julian Carroll refiled and updated a bill he put before his colleagues during the 2018 session. This bill calls for a 25 percent tax on net revenue. The bill would create the Kentucky Gaming Association to oversee sports betting. Carroll’s bill likely won’t get to a vote, but he’s not the only Kentucky lawmaker pushing for sports betting. Representative Adam Koenig held a comprehensive hearing in the fall and promises to file his own bill. Expect that one to have a more reasonable tax rate.
Tennessee: Though Tennessee took little action on sports betting in 2018, Representative Rick Staples’ (D-District 15) HB 0001 covers a lot of key points needed in sports betting legislation. The bill outlines a 10 percent tax rate on adjusted gross revenue, state-wide mobile/internet betting, and the creating of the Tennessee Gaming Commission. What’s unique about the bill is that it calls for sports betting to be legalized “only in jurisdictions that approve sports betting by local option election.” This would seem to mean that should the bill become law, sports betting wouldn’t be statewide, but county by county. It’s not completely unprecedented to put the decision in the hands of local voters — a Nov. 6 Louisiana ballot measure allowed voters to determine, parish by parish, if daily fantasy sports should be legalized.
Missouri: Within days of each other and at the start of the pre-filing period, two Show-Me State lawmakers filed comprehensive sports betting bills. But they’re at odds with each other, and there’s no telling how many other bills might be filed. Senator Denny Hoskins (D-District 21) was the first to file doing so Dec. 1, and his bill, which calls for a 14 percent tax and state-wide mobile/online sports betting, is the most unique filed to date. Throughout 2018, the professional sports leagues lobbied for a fee – an “integrity fee” or a royalty, depending on who was asking and when – but it didn’t fly anywhere.
Hoskins decided to turn the idea on its head and write a ½ of 1 percent fee into his bill – but rather than go to the pro leagues, it would go back to Missouri through a fund that would be used to upgrade, maintain and build sports facilities. The state is still saddled with debt for the Dome at America’s Center (formerly the Edward Jones Dome) two years after the NFL Rams left for Los Angeles, and finding a solution for how to use that property is of paramount importance.
In the House, Representative Cody Smith (R-District 163) filed his own bill 10 days later and he wrote in the full 1 percent “royalty,” to be paid to the professional leagues and the NCAA. Smith’s bill has the lowest tax rate – 6.25 percent – of any legal or proposed law, and effectively mandates that sportsbooks buy “official league data” and limits mobile/internet sports betting to on-site sportsbook premises.
Virginia: Delegate Mark Sickles (D-District 43) prefiled HB 1638 in November and he’s already aware that he’ll have to make changes the bill going forward. Sickles’ bill calls for a 15 percent tax rate, a $250,000 application fee and limits the number of sports betting licenses to five. He told Sports Handle that will be the first change – he’ll up the number of licenses to 10 after hearing from stakeholders. But he’s also cognizant of the fact that his is the first sports betting bill in a state with no casino infrastructure, so there is still much work to be done. Sickles’ bill would allow for state-wide mobile/internet betting, and he’d prefer that to building casinos across his state.
Senator Chapman Petersen (D-District 34) has also been promising a sports betting bill, but hasn’t filed to date.
South Carolina: The least developed of all the bills filed, South Carolina’s primary sports betting bill, S 57, sponsored by Gerald Malloy, seeks to amend the state constitution to allow sports betting and casino gaming, and the issue would go to the state’s voters on the 2020 ballot. S 71, which would create a sports betting study committee, is the one more likely to get legs in 2019, with passable legislation coming in 2020.
December 31, 2018
December 24, 2018
For Farage and Brexit Pollster, a World of Gamblers and Gambling
Behind the luxury hotels lining London’s Park Lane, just across from a service entrance, Nigel Farage stood outside a squat office building streaked with soot. Britain’s famous anti-European Union campaigner was flanked by a couple of minor sports celebrities and two young women in matching dresses who held up a blue ribbon. Farage lifted a pair of scissors and paused with a smile, mouth agape, his face frozen for the cameras in a silent chortle.
It was Sept. 29, 2016, three months after the U.K.’s shock vote to exit the EU, and Farage was the guest of honor at the opening of a small bookmaking shop owned by a man who calls himself “the most exclusive private bookmaker in the world.” Ben Keith and his operation, Star Sports, specialize in high-end, high-profile clients. Keith, a diehard Farage supporter, was in the picture too, next to his idol.
Gambling is legal in the U.K., even corporatized, but most politicians aren’t elbowing each other out of the way to help open betting shops. Farage is different. Throughout his professional and political lives, he has surrounded himself with men who make or take wagers, big and small, on everything from dog races to elections. They have played leading roles in promoting or financing Farage’s ascent in the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), the rise of his party to the center of the British political agenda, and his campaign to leave the EU, which has thrown the nation into a political crisis.
At least two advisers who were with Farage on the day of the Brexit vote were betting or trading on the collapse of the British pound—fortuitous positions, given how badly the rest of the world got it wrong. The surprise vote sparked the largest crash of any major currency in modern history. Their positions may have benefited from Farage’s actions, as premature concessions he made before the votes were tallied that night helped drive the pound to its highest mark all year, just hours before it plummeted. The false sentiment made bets against the British currency cheaper and more lucrative.
Some hedge funds, which made small fortunes in a matter of hours betting the same way as Farage’s pals, had a good idea the concessions were misleading because they’d hired Britain’s best-known polling firms to provide near hour-by-hour voting data, via secret exit polls, according to a Bloomberg investigation published in June. Farage has said he had access to the results of one such poll that night, run by his party’s polling firm, Survation, which showed Leave had won.
Farage has denied having any personal financial interest in the vote, aside from a £1,000-bet he made at a professional bookmaker for campaign publicity. He also has said he did not intentionally drive the pound up ahead of the crash. Farage, who called Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiated agreement with Brussels “the worst deal in history,” has publicly spoken of late about a possible return to the front-line of British politics. He didn't respond to detailed requests to comment for this article, though he viewed them and shared some of their contents with associates.
In addition to the world of supporters around Farage regularly making or taking big bets, add one more gambler he was in touch with that night: Damian Lyons Lowe, the owner of Survation. He also was a key political operative and adviser to Farage as well as the man who, according to Farage, tipped him about the private hedge fund poll. Lyons Lowe declined to comment for this story, but in an interview with the Financial Times in June, he denied giving Farage specific data from that poll.
Six sources familiar with Lyons Lowe’s betting record say he has a history of gambling on politics—in the very contests in which he’s polling.
The timely betting by Farage's inner circle around the crucial election raises new questions amid concerns from lawmakers and regulators about whether private polling is undermining the integrity of the country's markets and its democracy.
Farage discovered the thrill of risking his money as a teenager at Dulwich College, an exclusive private boys school in South London, where he founded an investment society, buying and selling company shares through his father, a stock broker, according to Farage’s 2010 memoir, Fighting Bull. After leaving school at 18, he joined a firm on the London Metal Exchange, a centuries-old marketplace for trading commodities and associated derivatives. Farage went on to work for units of Drexel Burnham Lambert and Credit Lyonnais.
As Farage told Bloomberg in an April interview and recounted in Fighting Bull, he spent quiet work days in the 1990s at the pub with fellow traders, drinking and “spread betting on just about everything.” Spread betting, also legal in the U.K., is a form of gambling that can mirror trading in financial markets, though the participants have no money at stake on financial instruments themselves. Instead, they simply bet on the prices of those instruments, or even a price “spread,” such as the range a stock price might land in on a given day. Spread betting is treated as gambling in the U.K. and, as such, winnings are not taxed. By contrast, investment earnings are subject to taxation, creating some of the appeal for wagering on markets through spread-betting firms.
Farage was first elected UKIP leader in 2006, and one of his first major donors was Alan Bown, a retired bookmaker from Kent who has given the party nearly £2 million, records show. “He wore houndstooth jackets so often that anybody spotting him from 100 yards would have known he could only have been a bookie,” Farage wrote of Bown in the Telegraph newspaper in 2017.
In 2013, Bown also commissioned surveys for UKIP that were carried out by Lyons Lowe and Survation. Bown attracted controversy in 2014 when leaked emails showed him appealing to UKIP representatives in Brussels to divert EU cash to the party’s coffers.
Stuart Wheeler, a former banker who founded Britain's largest spread-betting firm, IG Group, also was an early major backer of Farage, having jumped over from the Conservative Party, which kicked him out in 2009 after he donated £100,000 to UKIP. Wheeler made his UKIP contributions, which have totalled almost £1 million to date, because of his anger over the nation’s EU membership.
Wheeler was appointed UKIP treasurer in 2011, and later contributed at least 400,000 pounds to pro-Brexit campaigners. (He also is the uncle of Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, who wasn't involved in the editing of this story.)
Farage quietly kept his own hand in spread betting and markets even after he became an elected member of the European Parliament. In 2003, he set up Farage Ltd. with his brother Andrew, with Nigel using an offshore trust to control his shares. The firm profited by hundreds of thousands of pounds through betting on the price of various metals. It then collapsed into bankruptcy in 2015. (Nigel resigned as a director in 2011.) Records show the firms’ liquidators discovered that there were £124,337 of unlawful dividends, withdrawn by Andrew Farage, who was himself declared bankrupt in May 2016. Andrew Farage disputed the amount, but never provided evidence to the contrary, according to the liquidators.
Nigel Farage also worked in a customer-facing role at London-based ACM Group, a trading platform that specializes in spread betting and currencies, according to regulatory records, which show him in that post until November 2008, two years after he took over as UKIP’s leader. (The firm didn’t respond to requests for comment.)
After Bloomberg’s investigation was published, Farage denied that he had any personal financial incentive to push the British pound higher through his premature, and ultimately wrong, concessions on the night of the Brexit vote. He said they were motivated by pessimism about the outcome, though he specifically told one interviewer on the night that his concessions were based on “a calm and rational feeling” and were informed by “what I know from some of my friends in the financial markets who have done some big polling.”
In his interview with Bloomberg, Farage relished his role in driving the pound higher ahead of its record collapse, and in June a photograph surfaced, apparently posted on Facebook, showing him grinning and pointing to a television screen bearing a chart with the collapsing pound. It was dated June 24, 2016, and showed the time as 3.35 a.m., when markets were in a steep decline because of the voting results. “I was laughing that all the experts had got it wrong,” Farage explained to the BBC in July.
A different photo from the night of the referendum shows Farage side-by-side at a small private party with Hermann Kelly, one of his closest political aides. They’re posing in a selfie posted on Twitter at 10:06 p.m.—hours before the results came in. It’s around the time Farage knew about Survation’s hedge fund poll, he told Bloomberg in April. “We have all changed the directn [sic] of Europe. We shook up the world! So proud to have done my part with @Nigel_Farage,” said the tweet from Kelly, director of communications for an umbrella group of far-right European political parties that was controlled by Farage and UKIP.
What Kelly didn’t tell the world that night via social media was that he was betting on foreign exchange markets, according to one person present, and an account Kelly later gave the author and British political journalist Tim Shipman, who said Kelly earned £9,500 off his Brexit trading when so many market professionals around the world got it wrong. In addition, a document seen by Bloomberg shows Kelly had opened an account for his trading across the Atlantic—in Chicago—at R.J. O’Brien & Associates, which billed itself as one of the world’s largest derivatives and foreign-exchange brokers. He wired $81,000 to the account from his bank in Brussels on Aug. 14, 2015—the same time panic-stricken Leave campaigners believed, incorrectly, that the U.K. government was about to call the referendum.
Kelly declined to comment for this article.
Another close Farage associate, who also was with him on the night of the referendum, was watching how financial and betting markets were responding to the day’s events. George Cottrell was a young UKIP activist who ran Farage’s private office. In a July 2017 interview with the Daily Telegraph he boasted that he’d made a “six-figure sum” during the evening of June 23 and early hours of June 24. “At 10pm, I couldn’t believe I was still getting 9/1 [odds for a majority leave vote],” he told the newspaper.
“We were in our campaign office and I was tracking all the major stock indices, the dollar and pound currency markets,” Cottrell said, according to the Telegraph. “When it got to 3 a.m., I was getting my managers out of bed to get me another 50 grand on here, another 50 grand there, to short sterling.” Cottrell, the son of a British aristocrat, said he lost most of his winnings betting on a horse the next day.
Cottrell happened to be with Farage in Chicago in August 2016, during a visit to the U.S. for the Republican Convention, when Cottrell was arrested and charged with money-laundering offenses. Federal prosecutors said Cottrell had offered, via the dark web, to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug traffickers. He pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud and served eight months. Cottrell didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Farage, who also appeared in advertisements for the Paddy Power bookmaking group, attended some Star Sports corporate events and was friends with its owner, Keith, according to a former employee. Keith was one of the bookmakers offering odds on Britain voting to leave the EU in June 2016. On June 8, the bookmaker posted on Twitter that it had taken individual bets of up to 4,000 pounds on Leave at odds of 11/4. Later the same day, responding to a comment on the social media site, the account posted: “No one wants #Brexit more than Ben Keith!”
In internal Star Sports emails seen by Bloomberg, Farage was described as one of Keith’s “chosen few” advisers for events the firm was taking bets on. Keith has been praising Farage and attacking the EU on the Star Sports website since 2013, when he called on the U.K. to stop “pissing away billions into the bottomless-drain, which is the EU.” After the election, Keith drew a comparison between Farage and Mahatma Gandhi, and later called for Farage to become the U.K.’s prime minister.
Keith told Bloomberg he’s friends with Farage, but that the politician had no formal role at Star Sports and did not give him bookmaking advice. Farage attended events, including Keith’s birthday party, in a personal capacity, Keith said, adding that they didn’t know each other until after the 2016 referendum.
Lyons Lowe, the pollster for Farage’s UKIP and his pro-Brexit group, began conducting polls as a sideline during the late 2000s—while he was still doing different work for banks in the City of London. Gambling was at the heart of his new hobby. Lyons Lowe conducted online surveys and also ran a website with others called “Special Bets.” That’s the name bookmakers give to unconventional wagers—basically, all wagering other than sports.
He started Survation in 2010. The firm’s profile grew as it began publishing polls in British media outlets showing increasing support for Farage’s UKIP, which then hired Survation to carry out research, becoming a top client.
Lyons Lowe continued to gamble as Survation’s prominence rose in politics, wagering tens of thousands of dollars on elections in which he was conducting public surveys, according to six different sources with knowledge of his wagers. He bet on special elections to fill vacant parliamentary seats, which are called by-elections in the U.K., on at least one market-moving referendum, and on general elections, those individuals said. Most notably, he wagered thousands of pounds on the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, and the 2015 U.K. general election.
In what would become a trial run of sorts for Brexit, Survation secretly carried out private polling around the Scottish independence vote for top money managers, including Nomura Securities and Brevan Howard, Bloomberg has reported. Lyons Lowe placed at least five separate wagers around the 2015 general election over eight days totaling almost £20,000 with Betfair and IG Group, according to two sources with detailed information about these bets. Betfair is a betting exchange that offers odds on political events.
The U.K. has no laws preventing anyone from gambling on political contests, even if they’re participating in them. But some polling firms, including others involved in hedge-fund polls for Brexit, bar staff from wagering on political events in which they’re conducting polls that are released to the general public.
In a statement emailed to Bloomberg, Survation said it was proud of its record: “The provision of accurate insight and prediction services is the primary business activity of Survation and the company will continue to abide by all rules and regulations that relate to our activities.” The Market Research Society maintains a code of conduct that says pollsters should always “protect the reputation and integrity of the profession.” Jane Frost, CEO of the group, said in an emailed statement that it was the business of each firm to manage its own policy on gambling.
Based on Bloomberg’s investigation of Brexit polling, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said in October that it is examining the secret relationships between pollsters and hedge funds. The FCA, which is the U.K.’s financial prosecutor and regulator, is specifically looking at whether such arrangements could violate laws or regulations against market abuse and insider dealing, or whether loopholes need to be closed, officials have said. Financial firms from Europe, the U.S. and Asia were all involved.
According to current and former officials familiar with the FCA’s inquiry, the main concerns are likely to center on two types of market-moving, non-public information that pollsters sold to hedge funds—data that revealed the contents of market-moving polls before they were made public, and exit-polling data that it would have been illegal for pollsters to share with the public.
Those concerns remain as the country faces the prospect of another Brexit-driven vote, be it a general election or a second referendum.
It was Sept. 29, 2016, three months after the U.K.’s shock vote to exit the EU, and Farage was the guest of honor at the opening of a small bookmaking shop owned by a man who calls himself “the most exclusive private bookmaker in the world.” Ben Keith and his operation, Star Sports, specialize in high-end, high-profile clients. Keith, a diehard Farage supporter, was in the picture too, next to his idol.
Gambling is legal in the U.K., even corporatized, but most politicians aren’t elbowing each other out of the way to help open betting shops. Farage is different. Throughout his professional and political lives, he has surrounded himself with men who make or take wagers, big and small, on everything from dog races to elections. They have played leading roles in promoting or financing Farage’s ascent in the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), the rise of his party to the center of the British political agenda, and his campaign to leave the EU, which has thrown the nation into a political crisis.
At least two advisers who were with Farage on the day of the Brexit vote were betting or trading on the collapse of the British pound—fortuitous positions, given how badly the rest of the world got it wrong. The surprise vote sparked the largest crash of any major currency in modern history. Their positions may have benefited from Farage’s actions, as premature concessions he made before the votes were tallied that night helped drive the pound to its highest mark all year, just hours before it plummeted. The false sentiment made bets against the British currency cheaper and more lucrative.
Farage has denied having any personal financial interest in the vote, aside from a £1,000-bet he made at a professional bookmaker for campaign publicity. He also has said he did not intentionally drive the pound up ahead of the crash. Farage, who called Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiated agreement with Brussels “the worst deal in history,” has publicly spoken of late about a possible return to the front-line of British politics. He didn't respond to detailed requests to comment for this article, though he viewed them and shared some of their contents with associates.
In addition to the world of supporters around Farage regularly making or taking big bets, add one more gambler he was in touch with that night: Damian Lyons Lowe, the owner of Survation. He also was a key political operative and adviser to Farage as well as the man who, according to Farage, tipped him about the private hedge fund poll. Lyons Lowe declined to comment for this story, but in an interview with the Financial Times in June, he denied giving Farage specific data from that poll.
Six sources familiar with Lyons Lowe’s betting record say he has a history of gambling on politics—in the very contests in which he’s polling.
The timely betting by Farage's inner circle around the crucial election raises new questions amid concerns from lawmakers and regulators about whether private polling is undermining the integrity of the country's markets and its democracy.
Farage discovered the thrill of risking his money as a teenager at Dulwich College, an exclusive private boys school in South London, where he founded an investment society, buying and selling company shares through his father, a stock broker, according to Farage’s 2010 memoir, Fighting Bull. After leaving school at 18, he joined a firm on the London Metal Exchange, a centuries-old marketplace for trading commodities and associated derivatives. Farage went on to work for units of Drexel Burnham Lambert and Credit Lyonnais.
As Farage told Bloomberg in an April interview and recounted in Fighting Bull, he spent quiet work days in the 1990s at the pub with fellow traders, drinking and “spread betting on just about everything.” Spread betting, also legal in the U.K., is a form of gambling that can mirror trading in financial markets, though the participants have no money at stake on financial instruments themselves. Instead, they simply bet on the prices of those instruments, or even a price “spread,” such as the range a stock price might land in on a given day. Spread betting is treated as gambling in the U.K. and, as such, winnings are not taxed. By contrast, investment earnings are subject to taxation, creating some of the appeal for wagering on markets through spread-betting firms.
Farage was first elected UKIP leader in 2006, and one of his first major donors was Alan Bown, a retired bookmaker from Kent who has given the party nearly £2 million, records show. “He wore houndstooth jackets so often that anybody spotting him from 100 yards would have known he could only have been a bookie,” Farage wrote of Bown in the Telegraph newspaper in 2017.
In 2013, Bown also commissioned surveys for UKIP that were carried out by Lyons Lowe and Survation. Bown attracted controversy in 2014 when leaked emails showed him appealing to UKIP representatives in Brussels to divert EU cash to the party’s coffers.
Stuart Wheeler, a former banker who founded Britain's largest spread-betting firm, IG Group, also was an early major backer of Farage, having jumped over from the Conservative Party, which kicked him out in 2009 after he donated £100,000 to UKIP. Wheeler made his UKIP contributions, which have totalled almost £1 million to date, because of his anger over the nation’s EU membership.
Wheeler was appointed UKIP treasurer in 2011, and later contributed at least 400,000 pounds to pro-Brexit campaigners. (He also is the uncle of Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, who wasn't involved in the editing of this story.)
Farage quietly kept his own hand in spread betting and markets even after he became an elected member of the European Parliament. In 2003, he set up Farage Ltd. with his brother Andrew, with Nigel using an offshore trust to control his shares. The firm profited by hundreds of thousands of pounds through betting on the price of various metals. It then collapsed into bankruptcy in 2015. (Nigel resigned as a director in 2011.) Records show the firms’ liquidators discovered that there were £124,337 of unlawful dividends, withdrawn by Andrew Farage, who was himself declared bankrupt in May 2016. Andrew Farage disputed the amount, but never provided evidence to the contrary, according to the liquidators.
Nigel Farage also worked in a customer-facing role at London-based ACM Group, a trading platform that specializes in spread betting and currencies, according to regulatory records, which show him in that post until November 2008, two years after he took over as UKIP’s leader. (The firm didn’t respond to requests for comment.)
After Bloomberg’s investigation was published, Farage denied that he had any personal financial incentive to push the British pound higher through his premature, and ultimately wrong, concessions on the night of the Brexit vote. He said they were motivated by pessimism about the outcome, though he specifically told one interviewer on the night that his concessions were based on “a calm and rational feeling” and were informed by “what I know from some of my friends in the financial markets who have done some big polling.”
In his interview with Bloomberg, Farage relished his role in driving the pound higher ahead of its record collapse, and in June a photograph surfaced, apparently posted on Facebook, showing him grinning and pointing to a television screen bearing a chart with the collapsing pound. It was dated June 24, 2016, and showed the time as 3.35 a.m., when markets were in a steep decline because of the voting results. “I was laughing that all the experts had got it wrong,” Farage explained to the BBC in July.
A different photo from the night of the referendum shows Farage side-by-side at a small private party with Hermann Kelly, one of his closest political aides. They’re posing in a selfie posted on Twitter at 10:06 p.m.—hours before the results came in. It’s around the time Farage knew about Survation’s hedge fund poll, he told Bloomberg in April. “We have all changed the directn [sic] of Europe. We shook up the world! So proud to have done my part with @Nigel_Farage,” said the tweet from Kelly, director of communications for an umbrella group of far-right European political parties that was controlled by Farage and UKIP.
What Kelly didn’t tell the world that night via social media was that he was betting on foreign exchange markets, according to one person present, and an account Kelly later gave the author and British political journalist Tim Shipman, who said Kelly earned £9,500 off his Brexit trading when so many market professionals around the world got it wrong. In addition, a document seen by Bloomberg shows Kelly had opened an account for his trading across the Atlantic—in Chicago—at R.J. O’Brien & Associates, which billed itself as one of the world’s largest derivatives and foreign-exchange brokers. He wired $81,000 to the account from his bank in Brussels on Aug. 14, 2015—the same time panic-stricken Leave campaigners believed, incorrectly, that the U.K. government was about to call the referendum.
Kelly declined to comment for this article.
Another close Farage associate, who also was with him on the night of the referendum, was watching how financial and betting markets were responding to the day’s events. George Cottrell was a young UKIP activist who ran Farage’s private office. In a July 2017 interview with the Daily Telegraph he boasted that he’d made a “six-figure sum” during the evening of June 23 and early hours of June 24. “At 10pm, I couldn’t believe I was still getting 9/1 [odds for a majority leave vote],” he told the newspaper.
“We were in our campaign office and I was tracking all the major stock indices, the dollar and pound currency markets,” Cottrell said, according to the Telegraph. “When it got to 3 a.m., I was getting my managers out of bed to get me another 50 grand on here, another 50 grand there, to short sterling.” Cottrell, the son of a British aristocrat, said he lost most of his winnings betting on a horse the next day.
Cottrell happened to be with Farage in Chicago in August 2016, during a visit to the U.S. for the Republican Convention, when Cottrell was arrested and charged with money-laundering offenses. Federal prosecutors said Cottrell had offered, via the dark web, to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug traffickers. He pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud and served eight months. Cottrell didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Farage, who also appeared in advertisements for the Paddy Power bookmaking group, attended some Star Sports corporate events and was friends with its owner, Keith, according to a former employee. Keith was one of the bookmakers offering odds on Britain voting to leave the EU in June 2016. On June 8, the bookmaker posted on Twitter that it had taken individual bets of up to 4,000 pounds on Leave at odds of 11/4. Later the same day, responding to a comment on the social media site, the account posted: “No one wants #Brexit more than Ben Keith!”
In internal Star Sports emails seen by Bloomberg, Farage was described as one of Keith’s “chosen few” advisers for events the firm was taking bets on. Keith has been praising Farage and attacking the EU on the Star Sports website since 2013, when he called on the U.K. to stop “pissing away billions into the bottomless-drain, which is the EU.” After the election, Keith drew a comparison between Farage and Mahatma Gandhi, and later called for Farage to become the U.K.’s prime minister.
Keith told Bloomberg he’s friends with Farage, but that the politician had no formal role at Star Sports and did not give him bookmaking advice. Farage attended events, including Keith’s birthday party, in a personal capacity, Keith said, adding that they didn’t know each other until after the 2016 referendum.
Lyons Lowe, the pollster for Farage’s UKIP and his pro-Brexit group, began conducting polls as a sideline during the late 2000s—while he was still doing different work for banks in the City of London. Gambling was at the heart of his new hobby. Lyons Lowe conducted online surveys and also ran a website with others called “Special Bets.” That’s the name bookmakers give to unconventional wagers—basically, all wagering other than sports.
He started Survation in 2010. The firm’s profile grew as it began publishing polls in British media outlets showing increasing support for Farage’s UKIP, which then hired Survation to carry out research, becoming a top client.
Lyons Lowe continued to gamble as Survation’s prominence rose in politics, wagering tens of thousands of dollars on elections in which he was conducting public surveys, according to six different sources with knowledge of his wagers. He bet on special elections to fill vacant parliamentary seats, which are called by-elections in the U.K., on at least one market-moving referendum, and on general elections, those individuals said. Most notably, he wagered thousands of pounds on the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, and the 2015 U.K. general election.
In what would become a trial run of sorts for Brexit, Survation secretly carried out private polling around the Scottish independence vote for top money managers, including Nomura Securities and Brevan Howard, Bloomberg has reported. Lyons Lowe placed at least five separate wagers around the 2015 general election over eight days totaling almost £20,000 with Betfair and IG Group, according to two sources with detailed information about these bets. Betfair is a betting exchange that offers odds on political events.
The U.K. has no laws preventing anyone from gambling on political contests, even if they’re participating in them. But some polling firms, including others involved in hedge-fund polls for Brexit, bar staff from wagering on political events in which they’re conducting polls that are released to the general public.
In a statement emailed to Bloomberg, Survation said it was proud of its record: “The provision of accurate insight and prediction services is the primary business activity of Survation and the company will continue to abide by all rules and regulations that relate to our activities.” The Market Research Society maintains a code of conduct that says pollsters should always “protect the reputation and integrity of the profession.” Jane Frost, CEO of the group, said in an emailed statement that it was the business of each firm to manage its own policy on gambling.
Based on Bloomberg’s investigation of Brexit polling, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said in October that it is examining the secret relationships between pollsters and hedge funds. The FCA, which is the U.K.’s financial prosecutor and regulator, is specifically looking at whether such arrangements could violate laws or regulations against market abuse and insider dealing, or whether loopholes need to be closed, officials have said. Financial firms from Europe, the U.S. and Asia were all involved.
According to current and former officials familiar with the FCA’s inquiry, the main concerns are likely to center on two types of market-moving, non-public information that pollsters sold to hedge funds—data that revealed the contents of market-moving polls before they were made public, and exit-polling data that it would have been illegal for pollsters to share with the public.
Those concerns remain as the country faces the prospect of another Brexit-driven vote, be it a general election or a second referendum.
December 13, 2018
NBA Signs Deal With Second Sports Betting Partner
he NBA on Tuesday signed its second sports betting partner that will buy the official data to the league’s games and be able to use team and league trademarks.
The deal is with The Stars Group, a Canadian-based company that currently has an operating license in New Jersey under its BetStars brand.
BetStars will be called an “Authorized Gaming Operator” of the NBA, a designation that the league intends to sell to others.
The NBA was the first U.S. sports league to do an official deal with a betting partner, signing MGM as the “official gaming partner” in July. MGM went on to do similar deals with the NHL and Major League Baseball.
“This is the second company that has done a deal that has seen the value of working together with the league,” Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA’s head of fantasy and gaming, told The Action Network. “They’ve understood that, aside from the data, they get the rights to the marks and logos on their platform, which helps differentiate them from the offshore sites and others and leads to having a more authentic looking product.”
The deal includes promoting BetStars on NBA assets, including NBA.com. How intricately the NBA will promote odds available on the site is unknown, but the technology exists that will allow the league to geotarget so that odds can be shown to someone with an IP address of a state that has legalized gambling, while shielding the odds from a consumer in a non-legalized state.
The Stars Group spokesman Vaughan Lewis told The Action Network that the deal “further enhances consumer confidence in our offering and acts as an official endorsement of our sportsbook offering here in the States.”
Kaufman-Ross said that selling data is not taking the place of the league’s pursuit of an integrity fee, whereby the league would get a small percentage of the total handle bet on its games from operators.
“We will still pursue the so-called integrity fee in parallel,” Kaufman-Ross said. “We hope states will recognize the role we play in legislation.”
None of the eight states that currently offer legal sports betting pay the leagues an integrity fee. Washington D.C., which could legalize sports gambling next Tuesday, recently removed the integrity fee requirement. Some states, like Missouri, Kansas and Michigan, are currently debating whether they should set aside the fees from operators to go to leagues.
The deal is with The Stars Group, a Canadian-based company that currently has an operating license in New Jersey under its BetStars brand.
BetStars will be called an “Authorized Gaming Operator” of the NBA, a designation that the league intends to sell to others.
The NBA was the first U.S. sports league to do an official deal with a betting partner, signing MGM as the “official gaming partner” in July. MGM went on to do similar deals with the NHL and Major League Baseball.
“This is the second company that has done a deal that has seen the value of working together with the league,” Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA’s head of fantasy and gaming, told The Action Network. “They’ve understood that, aside from the data, they get the rights to the marks and logos on their platform, which helps differentiate them from the offshore sites and others and leads to having a more authentic looking product.”
The deal includes promoting BetStars on NBA assets, including NBA.com. How intricately the NBA will promote odds available on the site is unknown, but the technology exists that will allow the league to geotarget so that odds can be shown to someone with an IP address of a state that has legalized gambling, while shielding the odds from a consumer in a non-legalized state.
The Stars Group spokesman Vaughan Lewis told The Action Network that the deal “further enhances consumer confidence in our offering and acts as an official endorsement of our sportsbook offering here in the States.”
Kaufman-Ross said that selling data is not taking the place of the league’s pursuit of an integrity fee, whereby the league would get a small percentage of the total handle bet on its games from operators.
“We will still pursue the so-called integrity fee in parallel,” Kaufman-Ross said. “We hope states will recognize the role we play in legislation.”
None of the eight states that currently offer legal sports betting pay the leagues an integrity fee. Washington D.C., which could legalize sports gambling next Tuesday, recently removed the integrity fee requirement. Some states, like Missouri, Kansas and Michigan, are currently debating whether they should set aside the fees from operators to go to leagues.
December 06, 2018
Gambling firms agree 'whistle-to-whistle' television sport advertising ban
The Remote Gambling Association (RGA), which includes Bet365, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, has struck a deal to stop adverts during live sports broadcasts.
It follows political pressure about the amount of betting advertising on TV.
More than 90 minutes of adverts were shown during the football World Cup and anti-gambling campaigners say sport's use of adverts "normalises" betting.
There are also fears it contributes to the rise in the amount of problem gamblers - with a Gambling Commission report suggesting 430,000 Britons can be described as such - and helps fuel under-age gambling.
The deal follows extensive talks between firms - also including SkyBet, Betfred, Betfair, Stan James, Gala Coral and William Hill - to ensure no adverts will be broadcast for a defined period before and after a game is broadcast.
The proposal is similar to those made by the Labour party and, importantly, will include any game that starts prior to the 9pm watershed but ends after that time.
The RGA has previously said it was "very mindful of public concerns".
Horse racing will be exempt from the restrictions - given the commercial importance of gambling on its viability - but all other sports will be included.
However, it is the impact on football where the ban will be felt the most, especially given the financial value of the sport to both the gambling companies and broadcasters.
Nearly 60% of clubs in England's top two divisions have gambling companies as shirt sponsors.
Final ratification is needed from the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) before the ban comes into force.
That should be a formality, according to industry insiders, and could come as early as this month or in early 2019.
On Thursday, the RGA said: "The Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising is reviewed annually, and several options are currently being considered as the basis for possible enhancements in 2019.
"However, nothing has yet been finalised."
Tom Watson MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said he was "delighted" by the move as the number of adverts during live sports had "clearly reached crisis levels".
He added: "There was clear public support for these restrictions and I'm glad that the Remote Gambling Association has taken its responsibilities seriously and listened."
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright MP, said it was a "welcome move".
"Gambling firms banning advertising on TV during live sport is a welcome move and I am pleased that the sector is stepping up and responding to public concerns," he said.
"It is vital children and vulnerable people are protected from the threat of gambling related harm. Companies must be socially responsible."
Sarah Hanratty, chief executive of the Senet Group - the industry's responsible gambling body, funded by the four largest UK gambling companies - said: "It has been clear for some time now that the volume and density of advertising and sponsorship messaging from gambling companies around live sport has become unsustainable.
"This is a welcome move from the leading industry operators who are taking the initiative to respond to public concern."
Could shirt sponsorship be next?
Matt Zarb-Cousin is a spokesperson for Fairer Gambling, a not-for-profit entity campaigning to reduce gambling-related harm and crime.
Will it make a difference?
Marc Etches is the chief executive of GambleAware, a leading charity committed to minimising gambling-related harm.
It follows political pressure about the amount of betting advertising on TV.
More than 90 minutes of adverts were shown during the football World Cup and anti-gambling campaigners say sport's use of adverts "normalises" betting.
There are also fears it contributes to the rise in the amount of problem gamblers - with a Gambling Commission report suggesting 430,000 Britons can be described as such - and helps fuel under-age gambling.
The deal follows extensive talks between firms - also including SkyBet, Betfred, Betfair, Stan James, Gala Coral and William Hill - to ensure no adverts will be broadcast for a defined period before and after a game is broadcast.
The proposal is similar to those made by the Labour party and, importantly, will include any game that starts prior to the 9pm watershed but ends after that time.
The RGA has previously said it was "very mindful of public concerns".
Horse racing will be exempt from the restrictions - given the commercial importance of gambling on its viability - but all other sports will be included.
However, it is the impact on football where the ban will be felt the most, especially given the financial value of the sport to both the gambling companies and broadcasters.
Nearly 60% of clubs in England's top two divisions have gambling companies as shirt sponsors.
Final ratification is needed from the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) before the ban comes into force.
That should be a formality, according to industry insiders, and could come as early as this month or in early 2019.
On Thursday, the RGA said: "The Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising is reviewed annually, and several options are currently being considered as the basis for possible enhancements in 2019.
"However, nothing has yet been finalised."
Tom Watson MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said he was "delighted" by the move as the number of adverts during live sports had "clearly reached crisis levels".
He added: "There was clear public support for these restrictions and I'm glad that the Remote Gambling Association has taken its responsibilities seriously and listened."
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright MP, said it was a "welcome move".
"Gambling firms banning advertising on TV during live sport is a welcome move and I am pleased that the sector is stepping up and responding to public concerns," he said.
"It is vital children and vulnerable people are protected from the threat of gambling related harm. Companies must be socially responsible."
Sarah Hanratty, chief executive of the Senet Group - the industry's responsible gambling body, funded by the four largest UK gambling companies - said: "It has been clear for some time now that the volume and density of advertising and sponsorship messaging from gambling companies around live sport has become unsustainable.
"This is a welcome move from the leading industry operators who are taking the initiative to respond to public concern."
Could shirt sponsorship be next?
Matt Zarb-Cousin is a spokesperson for Fairer Gambling, a not-for-profit entity campaigning to reduce gambling-related harm and crime.
It is long overdue, there has been a huge amount of pressure on the sector over the volume of advertising which has increased exponentially year on year.
But for it to be truly effective, it should also include shirt and league sponsorship and digital advertising around a pitch.
It is better that there are going to be no ads during live sporting events but that falls some way short of being effective. If the whistle-to-whistle TV advertising ban is justified then the other things are as well.
I think it is worth bearing in mind that it is the broadcasters that have been most resistant to the clampdown on advertising.
I think the writing is on the wall. If they hadn't done this, the government would have acted anyway, perhaps next year.
There is no legislation in the pipeline but the strength of feeling cross-party and in both houses suggests that it is unsustainable.
Will it make a difference?
Marc Etches is the chief executive of GambleAware, a leading charity committed to minimising gambling-related harm.
We have been saying for a long time now that gambling is being increasingly normalised for children. They are growing up in a very different world than their parents, one where technology and the internet are ever present.
So while we welcome this move by betting companies, it is important to pay attention to analysis that shows the marketing spend online is five times the amount spent on television.
The fact that it is reported that one in eight 11 to 16 year olds are following gambling companies on social media is very concerning.
December 05, 2018
Green Light for Japan Casinos Offers Jackpot to Businesses
Let the competition begin.
Now that Japan has passed a law outlining a road map for casino resorts, foreign operators from Las Vegas Sands Corp. to MGM Resorts International can start to seek out partners in their bid to tap a gaming market that may be worth as much as $25 billion. It could also be a boon for Japanese industries - from companies that oversee a resort project to construction giants building infrastructure.
There is still a long road ahead, but talks between Japanese companies and Western operators will become more serious now that the government has given the green light. Local municipalities will eventually start requesting proposals from consortium groups that want to pitch their plans.
“This business becomes a legitimate viable business after the bill passes,” said Masaru Sugiyama, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Companies that weren’t willing to come public with their aspirations - we’ll see them be more active with press releases, briefings, blue prints coming out for what kind of projects they want to do and where, and who they want to partner with.”
Now that Japan has passed a law outlining a road map for casino resorts, foreign operators from Las Vegas Sands Corp. to MGM Resorts International can start to seek out partners in their bid to tap a gaming market that may be worth as much as $25 billion. It could also be a boon for Japanese industries - from companies that oversee a resort project to construction giants building infrastructure.
There is still a long road ahead, but talks between Japanese companies and Western operators will become more serious now that the government has given the green light. Local municipalities will eventually start requesting proposals from consortium groups that want to pitch their plans.
“This business becomes a legitimate viable business after the bill passes,” said Masaru Sugiyama, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Companies that weren’t willing to come public with their aspirations - we’ll see them be more active with press releases, briefings, blue prints coming out for what kind of projects they want to do and where, and who they want to partner with.”
November 30, 2018
First sports betting integrity group launched in United States
U.S. sportsbook operators on Tuesday announced the formation of a new national non-profit organization to help monitor integrity and fight fraud as the country’s new sports wagering market expands.
The group, called the Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association, or SWIMA, will partner with state and tribal gaming regulators, law enforcement and other stakeholders.
It is the first such group in the United States and aims to ensure “a safe and secure betting environment for consumers across the country,” SWIMA Chief Integrity Officer George Rover, a former New Jersey assistant attorney general and gaming regulator, said in a statement.
The association is taking shape as more and more states are legalizing, regulating and taxing sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court in May overturned a 1992 law that had barred it in most places outside of Nevada.
Sportsbooks, leagues and regulators already do their own fraud monitoring, looking for odd betting patterns, abnormalities, insider activity and other suspicious data.
The new group will let member sportsbook operators from any state submit information about suspicious wagers to a central hub and alert regulators in many states, not just their own.
“The key is to ensure that sportsbook operators are able to connect,” Rover told Reuters in an interview.
He said SWIMA expects to be operational within 90 days.
The group received help from and is modeled after ESSA, a sports betting integrity group in Europe with which SWIMA will also share information to identify potential fraud that could have a global reach.
On it board of trustees are Stephen Martino, MGM Resorts International’s chief compliance officer and a former state regulator in Maryland and Kansas, and former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, now Caesars Entertainment Corp’s executive vice president of public policy and corporate responsibility.
So far, member operators, or companies with affiliated licensees, include MGM, Caesars, William Hill PLC, DraftKings and FanDuel Group, a unit of Paddy Power Betfair PLC.
The group, called the Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association, or SWIMA, will partner with state and tribal gaming regulators, law enforcement and other stakeholders.
It is the first such group in the United States and aims to ensure “a safe and secure betting environment for consumers across the country,” SWIMA Chief Integrity Officer George Rover, a former New Jersey assistant attorney general and gaming regulator, said in a statement.
The association is taking shape as more and more states are legalizing, regulating and taxing sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court in May overturned a 1992 law that had barred it in most places outside of Nevada.
Sportsbooks, leagues and regulators already do their own fraud monitoring, looking for odd betting patterns, abnormalities, insider activity and other suspicious data.
The new group will let member sportsbook operators from any state submit information about suspicious wagers to a central hub and alert regulators in many states, not just their own.
“The key is to ensure that sportsbook operators are able to connect,” Rover told Reuters in an interview.
He said SWIMA expects to be operational within 90 days.
The group received help from and is modeled after ESSA, a sports betting integrity group in Europe with which SWIMA will also share information to identify potential fraud that could have a global reach.
On it board of trustees are Stephen Martino, MGM Resorts International’s chief compliance officer and a former state regulator in Maryland and Kansas, and former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, now Caesars Entertainment Corp’s executive vice president of public policy and corporate responsibility.
So far, member operators, or companies with affiliated licensees, include MGM, Caesars, William Hill PLC, DraftKings and FanDuel Group, a unit of Paddy Power Betfair PLC.
Lotteriinspektionen publishes first licences for re-regulated Swedish market
Swedish gambling regulator – Lotteriinspektionen has this morning announced its first sixteen approved operators, which will be allowed to service Sweden’s re-regulated online gambling marketplace from 1 January 2019.
As anticipated, established Stockholm-listed enterprises’ Kindred Group Plc, Betsson AB and LeoVegas AB feature on Lotteriinspektionen approved list.
In a statement released this morning, Kindred Group confirmed that it had secured approval to operate the following domains; unibet.se, mariacasino.se, storspelare.se, bingo.se, igame.se
“Today is a historic day for Kindred. We have been pushing for a modern and sustainable gambling market in Sweden from the very start of Unibet in 1997, in which the focus is on consumer protection and harm minimisation”, commented Henrik Tjärnström, Group CEO of Kindred Plc
Meanwhile, Stockholm incumbent Betsson AB has moved to confirm that it will operate three brands, consisting of flagship Betsson and NordicBet (Sportsbook) and SverigeAutomaten (slots) establishing its new home market profile.
“It is good that Sweden opens up the gaming market for free competition in a controlled environment. We look forward to operating on our Swedish home market as a recognised operator on equal terms,” added Betsson CEO Pontus Lindwall.
State-owned gambling asset – Svenska Spel has been approved services for betting, lotteries and online casino is accompanied by national racing firm AB TRAV operating its atg.se domain.
European incumbents are represented by German bookmaker Interwetten Sports, alongside GVC Holdings’ bwin and partygaming (poker + bingo) domains securing licenses.
In addition, the first set of licensee instalments, feature a UK presence with leading online bookmaker bet365 securing its Lotteriinspektionen approval from sportsbook and gaming, joined by Sunderland online gaming group Tombola (bingo/games).
This November, Lotteriinspektionen executives provided a public stakeholder update, detailing the changes the regulatory body expects to undertake once Sweden’s re-regulated gambling framework is established.
Changes for Lotteriinspektionen include a rebrand to Spelinspektionen (translation – ‘The Gambling Inspectorate’), with the regulator expecting to increase its resources and capacities significantly.
“This is a historic day. I am very proud that the Lotteriinspektionen’s staff under severe pressure, with a whole new legislation, worked out the first license decisions,” said Camilla Rosenberg, director general of the Lotteriinspektionen.
As anticipated, established Stockholm-listed enterprises’ Kindred Group Plc, Betsson AB and LeoVegas AB feature on Lotteriinspektionen approved list.
In a statement released this morning, Kindred Group confirmed that it had secured approval to operate the following domains; unibet.se, mariacasino.se, storspelare.se, bingo.se, igame.se
“Today is a historic day for Kindred. We have been pushing for a modern and sustainable gambling market in Sweden from the very start of Unibet in 1997, in which the focus is on consumer protection and harm minimisation”, commented Henrik Tjärnström, Group CEO of Kindred Plc
Meanwhile, Stockholm incumbent Betsson AB has moved to confirm that it will operate three brands, consisting of flagship Betsson and NordicBet (Sportsbook) and SverigeAutomaten (slots) establishing its new home market profile.
“It is good that Sweden opens up the gaming market for free competition in a controlled environment. We look forward to operating on our Swedish home market as a recognised operator on equal terms,” added Betsson CEO Pontus Lindwall.
State-owned gambling asset – Svenska Spel has been approved services for betting, lotteries and online casino is accompanied by national racing firm AB TRAV operating its atg.se domain.
European incumbents are represented by German bookmaker Interwetten Sports, alongside GVC Holdings’ bwin and partygaming (poker + bingo) domains securing licenses.
In addition, the first set of licensee instalments, feature a UK presence with leading online bookmaker bet365 securing its Lotteriinspektionen approval from sportsbook and gaming, joined by Sunderland online gaming group Tombola (bingo/games).
This November, Lotteriinspektionen executives provided a public stakeholder update, detailing the changes the regulatory body expects to undertake once Sweden’s re-regulated gambling framework is established.
Changes for Lotteriinspektionen include a rebrand to Spelinspektionen (translation – ‘The Gambling Inspectorate’), with the regulator expecting to increase its resources and capacities significantly.
“This is a historic day. I am very proud that the Lotteriinspektionen’s staff under severe pressure, with a whole new legislation, worked out the first license decisions,” said Camilla Rosenberg, director general of the Lotteriinspektionen.
November 28, 2018
Major League Baseball picks MGM for betting partner
As the post-PASPA land-grab continues, Major League Baseball has become the third and latest US professional sports league to team up with MGM Resorts in a wide-ranging sports betting partnership.
The multi-year deal casts MGM Resorts as the first Official Gaming Partner of MLB and the Official Entertainment Partner of MLB.
The agreement combines the MLB with MGM Resorts and playMGM brands across league and team sponsorships, data usage in gaming, promotion across MLB media platforms and domestic and international activations at MLB events.
The deal with MLB follows similar betting partnerships between MGM and the NBA and NHL leagues; sealed in July and October respectively.
“We are pleased to partner with MGM Resorts International, a clear industry leader in the sports gaming area, to work together on bringing innovative experiences to baseball fans and MGM customers,” said baseball commissioner Robert D Manfred Jr.
“Our partnership with MGM will help us navigate this evolving space responsibly, and we look forward to the fan engagement opportunities ahead.”
MGM Resorts chairman and CEO Jim Murren added: “We are excited to enter into this historic partnership with MLB. We are thrilled to create a new one-of-a-kind fan experience for baseball fans.
“Combining MGM Resorts’ world class entertainment and technology with MLB data will continue to transform a rapidly changing industry. This partnership further amplifies the significance of our GVC joint venture, firmly establishing MGM Resorts and playMGM as the market leader in partnerships with major professional sports leagues.”
MLB intellectual property will appear in MGM advertising and promotional campaigns. MGM also will secure multiple MLB Club partnerships, will have a presence at MLB Jewel Events, including the All-Star Game and World Series.
In the US, MGM Resorts will promote the MLB brand and gaming options on MLB’s digital and broadcast platforms, including MLB Network, MLB.com and the MLB At Bat app.
MGM Resorts will also be identified as an MLB-Authorised Gaming Operator and utilise MLB’s official statistics feed, on a non-exclusive basis, across its digital and live domestic sports gaming options.
In Japan, MGM Resorts will be an official partner at grassroots baseball events like the MLB Road Show.
The multi-year deal casts MGM Resorts as the first Official Gaming Partner of MLB and the Official Entertainment Partner of MLB.
The agreement combines the MLB with MGM Resorts and playMGM brands across league and team sponsorships, data usage in gaming, promotion across MLB media platforms and domestic and international activations at MLB events.
The deal with MLB follows similar betting partnerships between MGM and the NBA and NHL leagues; sealed in July and October respectively.
“We are pleased to partner with MGM Resorts International, a clear industry leader in the sports gaming area, to work together on bringing innovative experiences to baseball fans and MGM customers,” said baseball commissioner Robert D Manfred Jr.
“Our partnership with MGM will help us navigate this evolving space responsibly, and we look forward to the fan engagement opportunities ahead.”
MGM Resorts chairman and CEO Jim Murren added: “We are excited to enter into this historic partnership with MLB. We are thrilled to create a new one-of-a-kind fan experience for baseball fans.
“Combining MGM Resorts’ world class entertainment and technology with MLB data will continue to transform a rapidly changing industry. This partnership further amplifies the significance of our GVC joint venture, firmly establishing MGM Resorts and playMGM as the market leader in partnerships with major professional sports leagues.”
MLB intellectual property will appear in MGM advertising and promotional campaigns. MGM also will secure multiple MLB Club partnerships, will have a presence at MLB Jewel Events, including the All-Star Game and World Series.
In the US, MGM Resorts will promote the MLB brand and gaming options on MLB’s digital and broadcast platforms, including MLB Network, MLB.com and the MLB At Bat app.
MGM Resorts will also be identified as an MLB-Authorised Gaming Operator and utilise MLB’s official statistics feed, on a non-exclusive basis, across its digital and live domestic sports gaming options.
In Japan, MGM Resorts will be an official partner at grassroots baseball events like the MLB Road Show.
November 22, 2018
Report on Youth Gambling by UKGC Paints an Inaccurate Picture
According to a new report published by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), children in the country are gambling more than they used to. However, experts believe that the findings are mildly exaggerated.
Earlier this week, the UKGC came out with the Young People and Gambling 2018 Report, which claimed that around 14% (450,000 individuals) of children aged 11 to 16 spent their money on gambling activity, just a week prior to taking part in the survey.
The reported figure is 2% higher than what was reported in 2017. However, the UKGC itself stated that the number was very low when historical standards were taken into consideration. For instance, in 2011, it was found that 23% of youth in the UK indulged in gambling.
Similarly, the new study also pointed out that 1.7% of the surveyed youths were problem gamblers, an increase of 0.9% compared to 2017, and that 2.2% were at risk of becoming problem gamblers, up from 1.3% in 2017.
However, it must be considered that a larger number of respondents had taken part in the survey this year, which allowed the UKGC to acquire a more accurate picture.
As for children who spent money gambling in the week prior to the survey, 39% had spent £2 or less, while 29% spent £10 or less. An estimated 15% stated that they have spent over £50, which placed the weekly average at £16.
However, spending, in this context, does not necessarily equate to losses. The consideration of potential winnings was left to the respondents’ interpretation.
According to those who reported gambling last week, 6% engaged in private bets with friends, 4% engaged in purchasing National Lottery scratch cards, 3% used fruit machines at pubs/arcades, and another 3% reported playing cards (for cash) with friends.
Only a mere 1% reported that they participated in real money gambling, online or otherwise.
Minors are prohibited from accessing fruit machines at pubs/arcades. However, older reports indicate that some pubs/arcades were failing to enforce the rules. Though the maximum stake permitted is £1, the UKGC warned that not all pubs/arcades were adhering to this.
The statistics for online gambling participation among youth fell by a point to 6% in the last 12 months. It has been reported that 2/3rds of participants had engaged in online gambling with their parents’ permission.
In conclusion, the UKGC seems to have gone overboard with its goal to protect children from gambling. However, if the above statement is to be believed, the onus is not to be placed exclusively on the operators – parents/guardians have a role to play as well.
Earlier this week, the UKGC came out with the Young People and Gambling 2018 Report, which claimed that around 14% (450,000 individuals) of children aged 11 to 16 spent their money on gambling activity, just a week prior to taking part in the survey.
The reported figure is 2% higher than what was reported in 2017. However, the UKGC itself stated that the number was very low when historical standards were taken into consideration. For instance, in 2011, it was found that 23% of youth in the UK indulged in gambling.
Similarly, the new study also pointed out that 1.7% of the surveyed youths were problem gamblers, an increase of 0.9% compared to 2017, and that 2.2% were at risk of becoming problem gamblers, up from 1.3% in 2017.
However, it must be considered that a larger number of respondents had taken part in the survey this year, which allowed the UKGC to acquire a more accurate picture.
As for children who spent money gambling in the week prior to the survey, 39% had spent £2 or less, while 29% spent £10 or less. An estimated 15% stated that they have spent over £50, which placed the weekly average at £16.
However, spending, in this context, does not necessarily equate to losses. The consideration of potential winnings was left to the respondents’ interpretation.
According to those who reported gambling last week, 6% engaged in private bets with friends, 4% engaged in purchasing National Lottery scratch cards, 3% used fruit machines at pubs/arcades, and another 3% reported playing cards (for cash) with friends.
Only a mere 1% reported that they participated in real money gambling, online or otherwise.
Minors are prohibited from accessing fruit machines at pubs/arcades. However, older reports indicate that some pubs/arcades were failing to enforce the rules. Though the maximum stake permitted is £1, the UKGC warned that not all pubs/arcades were adhering to this.
The statistics for online gambling participation among youth fell by a point to 6% in the last 12 months. It has been reported that 2/3rds of participants had engaged in online gambling with their parents’ permission.
In conclusion, the UKGC seems to have gone overboard with its goal to protect children from gambling. However, if the above statement is to be believed, the onus is not to be placed exclusively on the operators – parents/guardians have a role to play as well.
Bet365 founder paid herself an 'obscene' £265m in 2017
Denise Coates, the multibillionaire founder and boss of the gambling firm Bet365, paid herself £265m last year in a record-breaking pay deal for the chief executive of a British company.
The huge pay package, which equates to nearly £726,000 a day, dwarfs the previous UK record set by Coates when she collected £217m a year earlier.
Coates was paid a base salary of £220,004,000 in the year to March 2018, accounts filed at Companies House on Wednesday reveal. On top of this, she collected dividend payments of £45m from her more than 50% shareholding in the Stoke-based company.
Her pay is more than 9,500 times the average UK salary, 1,700 times that collected by the prime minister and more than double that paid to the entire Stoke City football team, which Bet365 owns and which was relegated from the Premier League last season. Coates’s pay is also 27 times that earned by Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, the world’s most valuable company.
Vince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Coates’ “eye-watering pay package” was “irresponsible and excessive”.
“In any circumstance it is hard to justify, but more so given the money comes from people struggling with compulsive gambling,” Cable said. “This is an industry body needing tighter regulation. We have started high-stake gaming machines. We now need to move into online gambling, and curbing the advertising around it.”
Luke Hildyard, a director of the High Pay Centre, said: “Why does someone who is already a billionaire need to take such an obscene amount of money out of their company? It is difficult to find a reason beyond pure greed.
“A payment of this size would be impossible to justify for someone whose business was in unquestionably life-enhancing products or services. It is doubly offensive when awarded to a betting company CEO at a time when problem gambling is spiralling out of control.”
Coates, who started out as a cashier marking up results in betting shops owned by her father before taking control and turning it into one of the world’s largest gambling groups, did not comment on the size of her pay. She told shareholders: “Increased remuneration for individuals [has] been key to the development of the overarching corporate strategy that has successfully driven the group forward.”
In Bet365’s accounts, she said: “I am pleased to report that the group continued to experience significant growth during the period, with overall revenue and operating profit increasing year-on-year by 25% to £2.9bn and 31% to £660m, respectively.”
Even before the bumper pay day, Coates and her family were listed as the 21st richest in Britain with a £5.8bn fortune – more than Sir Richard Branson with £4.5bn or easyJet’s Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou with £3bn.
Coates, 51, who keeps herself out of the public eye and very rarely gives media interviews, owns just over 50% of the company. With the rest of her family – including her brother John (co-chief executive), husband Richard Smith (a Stoke City director) and father (chair of Stoke City) – she controls 93% of Bet365.
The total pay to Bet365’s directors and “key management personnel” was £449m, up from £322m a year earlier. Salaries are high across the board at Bet 365, with its 4,030 employees sharing £648m, which works out at £161,000 each if shared equally.
After graduating with a first-class degree in econometrics – the application of statistical methods to economic data – from Sheffield University, Coates expanded the family’s Provincial Racing shops chain to nearly 50 betting shops. As the millennium approached, she decided the future of betting lay online and bought the Bet365.com domain on eBay for $25,000 (£19,000), a move that catapulted her and her family up the UK wealth league.
She was awarded a CBE in 2012 for services to the community and business, and has become known as the “patron of the Potteries” for her decision to continue to base Bet365 in Stoke, where it is the largest private-sector employer. “We mortgaged the betting shops and put it all into online,” she said at the time. “We knew the industry required big startup costs but we gambled everything on it.”
Bet365’s customers wagered almost £52.3bn last year – £5.5bn more than the year earlier. The company’s TV ads are fronted by the actor Ray Winstone and broadcast during high-profile sporting events.
The revelation of Coates’ huge pay comes as an official report says the number of problem gambling children has quadrupled in two years. An audit by the Gambling Commission found there were 55,000 problem gamblers aged 11-16, and a further 70,000 young people at risk.
The report, published on Wednesday, found that 450,000 children – one in seven of the total – bet regularly on fruit machines, online, in betting shops or at bingo. All gambling is illegal for under-18s.
Mike Dixon, the chief executive of the addiction charity Addaction, said: “It’s astonishing that a CEO of one gambling company is paid 26 times more than the entire industry’s contribution to [addiction] treatment. We know problem gambling affects more than 2 million people. We need a proper levy on gambling industry profits so more people can get help and support.”
bet365 made a £75m donation to the Denise Coates Foundation, which mostly funds medical and education charities. The charity has not made any donations to gambling or addiction charities.
The huge pay package, which equates to nearly £726,000 a day, dwarfs the previous UK record set by Coates when she collected £217m a year earlier.
Coates was paid a base salary of £220,004,000 in the year to March 2018, accounts filed at Companies House on Wednesday reveal. On top of this, she collected dividend payments of £45m from her more than 50% shareholding in the Stoke-based company.
Her pay is more than 9,500 times the average UK salary, 1,700 times that collected by the prime minister and more than double that paid to the entire Stoke City football team, which Bet365 owns and which was relegated from the Premier League last season. Coates’s pay is also 27 times that earned by Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, the world’s most valuable company.
Vince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Coates’ “eye-watering pay package” was “irresponsible and excessive”.
“In any circumstance it is hard to justify, but more so given the money comes from people struggling with compulsive gambling,” Cable said. “This is an industry body needing tighter regulation. We have started high-stake gaming machines. We now need to move into online gambling, and curbing the advertising around it.”
Luke Hildyard, a director of the High Pay Centre, said: “Why does someone who is already a billionaire need to take such an obscene amount of money out of their company? It is difficult to find a reason beyond pure greed.
“A payment of this size would be impossible to justify for someone whose business was in unquestionably life-enhancing products or services. It is doubly offensive when awarded to a betting company CEO at a time when problem gambling is spiralling out of control.”
Coates, who started out as a cashier marking up results in betting shops owned by her father before taking control and turning it into one of the world’s largest gambling groups, did not comment on the size of her pay. She told shareholders: “Increased remuneration for individuals [has] been key to the development of the overarching corporate strategy that has successfully driven the group forward.”
In Bet365’s accounts, she said: “I am pleased to report that the group continued to experience significant growth during the period, with overall revenue and operating profit increasing year-on-year by 25% to £2.9bn and 31% to £660m, respectively.”
Even before the bumper pay day, Coates and her family were listed as the 21st richest in Britain with a £5.8bn fortune – more than Sir Richard Branson with £4.5bn or easyJet’s Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou with £3bn.
Coates, 51, who keeps herself out of the public eye and very rarely gives media interviews, owns just over 50% of the company. With the rest of her family – including her brother John (co-chief executive), husband Richard Smith (a Stoke City director) and father (chair of Stoke City) – she controls 93% of Bet365.
The total pay to Bet365’s directors and “key management personnel” was £449m, up from £322m a year earlier. Salaries are high across the board at Bet 365, with its 4,030 employees sharing £648m, which works out at £161,000 each if shared equally.
After graduating with a first-class degree in econometrics – the application of statistical methods to economic data – from Sheffield University, Coates expanded the family’s Provincial Racing shops chain to nearly 50 betting shops. As the millennium approached, she decided the future of betting lay online and bought the Bet365.com domain on eBay for $25,000 (£19,000), a move that catapulted her and her family up the UK wealth league.
She was awarded a CBE in 2012 for services to the community and business, and has become known as the “patron of the Potteries” for her decision to continue to base Bet365 in Stoke, where it is the largest private-sector employer. “We mortgaged the betting shops and put it all into online,” she said at the time. “We knew the industry required big startup costs but we gambled everything on it.”
Bet365’s customers wagered almost £52.3bn last year – £5.5bn more than the year earlier. The company’s TV ads are fronted by the actor Ray Winstone and broadcast during high-profile sporting events.
The revelation of Coates’ huge pay comes as an official report says the number of problem gambling children has quadrupled in two years. An audit by the Gambling Commission found there were 55,000 problem gamblers aged 11-16, and a further 70,000 young people at risk.
The report, published on Wednesday, found that 450,000 children – one in seven of the total – bet regularly on fruit machines, online, in betting shops or at bingo. All gambling is illegal for under-18s.
Mike Dixon, the chief executive of the addiction charity Addaction, said: “It’s astonishing that a CEO of one gambling company is paid 26 times more than the entire industry’s contribution to [addiction] treatment. We know problem gambling affects more than 2 million people. We need a proper levy on gambling industry profits so more people can get help and support.”
bet365 made a £75m donation to the Denise Coates Foundation, which mostly funds medical and education charities. The charity has not made any donations to gambling or addiction charities.
November 15, 2018
Record digital returns and ticket sales increase for National Lottery
Camelot UK has announced a £175.9m increase on National Lottery ticket sales to £3,456.3m for the first six months of its 2018/19 financial year (1 April to 29 September 2018).
Camelot’s success in building on last year’s sales progress comes as the group seeks to benefit from its wide-ranging strategic review which it conducted in 2017.
Over the same period, sales across The National Lottery’s digital channels grew to a record £831.4m, an increase of £77.4m, driven by a better game range and mix, improved merchandising and the launch late last year of a full version of the Android app.
Mobile sales increased by £99.8 million to an all-time high of £431.6m, with sales through smartphones and tablets now accounting for over 50% of all digital sales.
Camelot CEO Nigel Railton commented on the firm’s progress: “Thanks to the work we’ve been carrying out following our comprehensive review of the business, we’ve made a very positive start to the financial year across the board,” he said.
“Delivering over £2.8 billion to Good Cause projects, players and retailers in just six months is a fantastic achievement – and underlines the massive difference that The National Lottery continues to make to the lives of people and communities throughout the UK.
“Everyone at Camelot is committed to ensuring that this success story continues, so we’ll be looking to build on this momentum by continuing to focus on those areas that we identified in the review. We’ll continue to make improvements across our retail and digital channels, and build on the good headway we’ve made to date in making The National Lottery brand more relevant and visible.
“On top of that, we’ve got some great plans for the second half of the year to ensure that we’re offering a more balanced and appealing range of games that offers something for everyone – starting with exciting changes to Lotto next week to give our players a better winning experience.”
He added: “While there is much work still to do – and while we’ll continue to face challenges that are beyond our control, such as economic uncertainty and unrelenting competition from both the gambling sector and industrial-scale society lotteries that operate on a national basis – I’m very encouraged by the further progress we’ve made over the first half of this year.
“I’m confident that the strong foundations we’ve put in place and the exciting plans we have lined up will help us deliver even more for our players and the millions of people for whom National Lottery funding is so crucial.”
Camelot’s success in building on last year’s sales progress comes as the group seeks to benefit from its wide-ranging strategic review which it conducted in 2017.
Over the same period, sales across The National Lottery’s digital channels grew to a record £831.4m, an increase of £77.4m, driven by a better game range and mix, improved merchandising and the launch late last year of a full version of the Android app.
Mobile sales increased by £99.8 million to an all-time high of £431.6m, with sales through smartphones and tablets now accounting for over 50% of all digital sales.
Camelot CEO Nigel Railton commented on the firm’s progress: “Thanks to the work we’ve been carrying out following our comprehensive review of the business, we’ve made a very positive start to the financial year across the board,” he said.
“Delivering over £2.8 billion to Good Cause projects, players and retailers in just six months is a fantastic achievement – and underlines the massive difference that The National Lottery continues to make to the lives of people and communities throughout the UK.
“Everyone at Camelot is committed to ensuring that this success story continues, so we’ll be looking to build on this momentum by continuing to focus on those areas that we identified in the review. We’ll continue to make improvements across our retail and digital channels, and build on the good headway we’ve made to date in making The National Lottery brand more relevant and visible.
“On top of that, we’ve got some great plans for the second half of the year to ensure that we’re offering a more balanced and appealing range of games that offers something for everyone – starting with exciting changes to Lotto next week to give our players a better winning experience.”
He added: “While there is much work still to do – and while we’ll continue to face challenges that are beyond our control, such as economic uncertainty and unrelenting competition from both the gambling sector and industrial-scale society lotteries that operate on a national basis – I’m very encouraged by the further progress we’ve made over the first half of this year.
“I’m confident that the strong foundations we’ve put in place and the exciting plans we have lined up will help us deliver even more for our players and the millions of people for whom National Lottery funding is so crucial.”
Football agent Will Salthouse accused of a lack of care after 'cashing in by introducing bookmaker to players'
A top football agent has been severely criticised by a gambling addiction charity for receiving payments from a leading bookmaker — in the form of free bets — after introducing them to his players at race meetings.
Will Salthouse, who has some major Premier League stars among his clients, considers himself one of the biggest deal-makers in the game.
He is said to have the ear of at least two prominent Premier League chairmen and owns an agency, Unique Sports Management, that boasts Wilfried Zaha and Glenn Murray on its stellar client list. Negotiating their deals can earn millions for agents like Salthouse.
But Salthouse received payments of £6,000 in 2015 and £4,000 in 2016 in free bets after inviting footballers into private boxes he hired at Cheltenham and enabling the bookmaker to introduce themselves to young footballers who might want to gamble.
At the Cheltenham Festival in 2016, a group of professional players in Salthouse’s box were banned by racecourse bosses after being caught urinating into empty pint glasses and tipping the contents over a balcony, an incident that brought shame on English football.
At a time when the worrying link between gambling and football is in the spotlight — only this week Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge was charged by the FA with misconduct for alleged breaches of betting rules — the revelation about the arrangement between the bookmaker and Salthouse has brought severe criticism.
The Sporting Chance Clinic, which was set up to support players with problems such as gambling addictions, described an agent’s willingness to receive financial reward from a bookie who was introduced to his clients as ‘appalling’. They have said it raised concerns about a ‘poor attitude to player care’.
There is also debate over whether Salthouse, who received the payments into his personal gambling account with the bookmaker, and claims they were in exchange for renting the hospitality boxes, should have declared the payments to HMRC.
Salthouse maintained that he was advised by an accountant there was no need and HMRC have declined to comment.
Sporting Chance chief executive Colin Bland said: ‘Firstly, there is no doubt that gambling is an issue among the playing population of football. Good research would show that a professional sportsperson is three times more likely to have a gambling problem than a member of the general population.
‘We do, as an organisation, have an issue with free bets. Free bets encourage people to gamble. It is a way of enticing people. It is a way of enticing what we would consider an already vulnerable population.
‘The dynamic of an agent being involved, it shows a lack of awareness to player care. We find that appalling. Seventy per cent of current players who have come to our service with an addictive disorder present with gambling problems. This is particularly poor behaviour (from the agent).’
When Salthouse reserved the Long Run Box, No 91, for March 10 at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival, his PA requested on his behalf that the bookmaker make a contribution of £6,000 plus VAT. The bookmaker requested an invoice.
Invoices dating back to 2013 had also been sent to the bookmaker, while arrangements appear to have been made for at least one event at Chester races.
The bookmaker Salthouse had the arrangement with is a favourite among high-net-worth individuals, with the average stake reported to be £3,000.
Representatives of the exclusive betting firm requested the names and numbers of all Salthouse’s guests — one year it totalled around 50 — including footballers he represents. The players were given a free bet if they completed an online application form that would enable the bookmaker to set them up with an account.
The bookmaker also requested that Salthouse send a text to his guests informing them that the bookmaker would be in touch.
On the notorious day at Cheltenham in March 2016, footballers in Salthouse’s box — including Samir Carruthers and James Collins, who were playing for MK Dons and Northampton at the time — sparked a major controversy when they were seen urinating into glasses on the balcony of the private box.
Collins was then pictured pouring a glass of liquid over the balcony. The pair were banned from all courses in Britain by the British Horseracing Authority and Cheltenham barred USM from hosting the box they had booked for the following day, Ladies’ Day.
Salthouse indicated through his lawyers that everyone who attended the Cheltenham boxes was aware of the existence of the payments he received.
Responding to the allegations, Salthouse’s solicitors said: ‘Three years ago Will Salthouse hosted a box at the races for experienced players.
‘Those who chose to gamble wagered small sums in what was a social occasion. Others did not bet at all. He has done nothing wrong and would never try to encourage a player who does not bet to gamble. He has never profited from players’ losses.’
The PFA declined to comment.
He is said to have the ear of at least two prominent Premier League chairmen and owns an agency, Unique Sports Management, that boasts Wilfried Zaha and Glenn Murray on its stellar client list. Negotiating their deals can earn millions for agents like Salthouse.
But Salthouse received payments of £6,000 in 2015 and £4,000 in 2016 in free bets after inviting footballers into private boxes he hired at Cheltenham and enabling the bookmaker to introduce themselves to young footballers who might want to gamble.
At the Cheltenham Festival in 2016, a group of professional players in Salthouse’s box were banned by racecourse bosses after being caught urinating into empty pint glasses and tipping the contents over a balcony, an incident that brought shame on English football.
At a time when the worrying link between gambling and football is in the spotlight — only this week Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge was charged by the FA with misconduct for alleged breaches of betting rules — the revelation about the arrangement between the bookmaker and Salthouse has brought severe criticism.
The Sporting Chance Clinic, which was set up to support players with problems such as gambling addictions, described an agent’s willingness to receive financial reward from a bookie who was introduced to his clients as ‘appalling’. They have said it raised concerns about a ‘poor attitude to player care’.
There is also debate over whether Salthouse, who received the payments into his personal gambling account with the bookmaker, and claims they were in exchange for renting the hospitality boxes, should have declared the payments to HMRC.
Salthouse maintained that he was advised by an accountant there was no need and HMRC have declined to comment.
Sporting Chance chief executive Colin Bland said: ‘Firstly, there is no doubt that gambling is an issue among the playing population of football. Good research would show that a professional sportsperson is three times more likely to have a gambling problem than a member of the general population.
‘We do, as an organisation, have an issue with free bets. Free bets encourage people to gamble. It is a way of enticing people. It is a way of enticing what we would consider an already vulnerable population.
‘The dynamic of an agent being involved, it shows a lack of awareness to player care. We find that appalling. Seventy per cent of current players who have come to our service with an addictive disorder present with gambling problems. This is particularly poor behaviour (from the agent).’
When Salthouse reserved the Long Run Box, No 91, for March 10 at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival, his PA requested on his behalf that the bookmaker make a contribution of £6,000 plus VAT. The bookmaker requested an invoice.
Invoices dating back to 2013 had also been sent to the bookmaker, while arrangements appear to have been made for at least one event at Chester races.
The bookmaker Salthouse had the arrangement with is a favourite among high-net-worth individuals, with the average stake reported to be £3,000.
Representatives of the exclusive betting firm requested the names and numbers of all Salthouse’s guests — one year it totalled around 50 — including footballers he represents. The players were given a free bet if they completed an online application form that would enable the bookmaker to set them up with an account.
The bookmaker also requested that Salthouse send a text to his guests informing them that the bookmaker would be in touch.
On the notorious day at Cheltenham in March 2016, footballers in Salthouse’s box — including Samir Carruthers and James Collins, who were playing for MK Dons and Northampton at the time — sparked a major controversy when they were seen urinating into glasses on the balcony of the private box.
Collins was then pictured pouring a glass of liquid over the balcony. The pair were banned from all courses in Britain by the British Horseracing Authority and Cheltenham barred USM from hosting the box they had booked for the following day, Ladies’ Day.
Salthouse indicated through his lawyers that everyone who attended the Cheltenham boxes was aware of the existence of the payments he received.
Responding to the allegations, Salthouse’s solicitors said: ‘Three years ago Will Salthouse hosted a box at the races for experienced players.
‘Those who chose to gamble wagered small sums in what was a social occasion. Others did not bet at all. He has done nothing wrong and would never try to encourage a player who does not bet to gamble. He has never profited from players’ losses.’
The PFA declined to comment.
November 13, 2018
Daniel Sturridge: Liverpool striker charged with breaching betting rules
Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge has been charged by the Football Association with misconduct for alleged breaches of its betting rules in January this year.
It is alleged he breached one rule relating to betting on football, and one which covers providing information relating to football which has been "obtained by virtue of his position" and "is not publicly available".
A Liverpool spokesman said Sturridge, 29, had co-operated fully "throughout this process" and "stated categorically that he has never gambled on football".
The England international has been given until 18:00 GMT on Tuesday, 20 November to respond to the charge.
The Liverpool spokesman added: "As with any issue of this nature, we will allow the process to be concluded in its entirety before making any further comment."
Sturridge, who joined Liverpool from Chelsea in 2013, spent the second half of last season at West Brom after moving on loan on 29 January.
He has won 26 caps for England, the last of which came against Lithuania in October 2017.
An FA statement said the charge against him was "specifically in relation to Rule E8(1)(a)(ii) and Rule E8(1)(b)" which are:
There has been no confirmation of what precisely Daniel Sturridge is alleged to have done.
However, in stating the offence took place in January this year, the Football Association appears to have provided a major clue.
January was when Sturridge sprang something of a surprise by joining West Brom on loan, when it had been expected he would move to Newcastle.
The FA has also pointed out that not only is it a breach for players to gamble on anything to do with football themselves, it also breaks the rules if they pass on 'insider information' to third parties.
Punishments are quite wide ranging.
Joey Barton was banned for 18 months in 2017 after he was found guilty of placing 1,260 bets over a 10-year period. Former Manchester City defender Martin Demichelis was fined £22,000 in May 2016 for gambling on 29 matches.
The additional issue for Sturridge, who has made 12 appearances for Liverpool this season, is that his contract expires at the end of the season and there has been no word from the Reds about whether he is likely to get another.
It is alleged he breached one rule relating to betting on football, and one which covers providing information relating to football which has been "obtained by virtue of his position" and "is not publicly available".
A Liverpool spokesman said Sturridge, 29, had co-operated fully "throughout this process" and "stated categorically that he has never gambled on football".
The England international has been given until 18:00 GMT on Tuesday, 20 November to respond to the charge.
The Liverpool spokesman added: "As with any issue of this nature, we will allow the process to be concluded in its entirety before making any further comment."
Sturridge, who joined Liverpool from Chelsea in 2013, spent the second half of last season at West Brom after moving on loan on 29 January.
He has won 26 caps for England, the last of which came against Lithuania in October 2017.
An FA statement said the charge against him was "specifically in relation to Rule E8(1)(a)(ii) and Rule E8(1)(b)" which are:
Rule E8(1)(a) - a participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on - (i) the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in or in connection with, a football match or competition; or (ii) any other matter concerning or related to football anywhere in the world, including, for example and without limitation, the transfer of players, employment of managers, team selection or disciplinary matters.
Rule E8(1)(b) - where a participant provides to any other person any information relating to football which the participant has obtained by virtue of his or her position within the game and which is not publicly available at that time, the participant shall be in breach of this Rule where any of that information is used by that other person for, or in relation to, betting.
There has been no confirmation of what precisely Daniel Sturridge is alleged to have done.
However, in stating the offence took place in January this year, the Football Association appears to have provided a major clue.
January was when Sturridge sprang something of a surprise by joining West Brom on loan, when it had been expected he would move to Newcastle.
The FA has also pointed out that not only is it a breach for players to gamble on anything to do with football themselves, it also breaks the rules if they pass on 'insider information' to third parties.
Punishments are quite wide ranging.
Joey Barton was banned for 18 months in 2017 after he was found guilty of placing 1,260 bets over a 10-year period. Former Manchester City defender Martin Demichelis was fined £22,000 in May 2016 for gambling on 29 matches.
The additional issue for Sturridge, who has made 12 appearances for Liverpool this season, is that his contract expires at the end of the season and there has been no word from the Reds about whether he is likely to get another.
November 08, 2018
Ladbrokes may be forced to pay out on hundreds of ‘cancelled bets’
Ladbrokes could be forced to pay out on hundreds of bets which were turned down by its trading team if the Independent Betting Arbitration Service (IBAS) finds against the firm in three near-identical disputes over bets which are currently being considered by its adjudicators.
The three cases concern requests to place online bets which were referred to Ladbrokes’ traders for approval. An increasing number of punters on racing and other sports are familiar with this practice, and such bets are often either declined or re-offered, either at reduced odds or at a reduced stake that can be as little as 10 pence.
In the cases being considered by IBAS, the requested bets on horse races were declined. However, in each case, the customer attempting to place the bet claims to have received an official “bet number”, which they took as an indication that the bet had been accepted.
After the races, when it became clear their bets had in fact been declined, the punters claim they were described as “cancelled bets”, which suggests that their money could have been accepted at some point in the process.
The timescale involved when a case is considered by the arbitration service suggests Ladbrokes could, or should, have been aware of a possible problem with the processing of declined bets for several months, but the bookmaker has failed to address the issue. There is also anecdotal evidence that the cases currently being considered by IBAS may be the tip of the iceberg.
Paul Fairhead, who runs the BoycottBetFred Twitter account to assist punters with betting disputes, said on Wednesday that he had seen “at least a dozen identical cases involving Ladbrokes” and that he was receiving new claims almost on a daily basis. “That leads me to believe that hundreds of punters could have been affected over many months,” he said.
Should IBAS decide in favour of the punters bringing the cases against Ladbrokes, any customer of the firm who has had a similar experience when attempting to place a bet in recent months could also be entitled to claim a payout. Since bets which are referred to the trading team for approval can often involve significant sums, an adverse ruling could potentially cost the firm a significant amount.
IBAS is understood to have been considering the three cases for several weeks but there is little sign as yet that a final ruling is imminent. Ladbrokes did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The latest concern regarding possible software flaws at Ladbrokes follows the embarrassment suffered by its Australian arm on Tuesday, when the ladbrokes.com.au website crashed in the run-up to the Melbourne Cup, the country’s most famous horse race.
The three cases concern requests to place online bets which were referred to Ladbrokes’ traders for approval. An increasing number of punters on racing and other sports are familiar with this practice, and such bets are often either declined or re-offered, either at reduced odds or at a reduced stake that can be as little as 10 pence.
In the cases being considered by IBAS, the requested bets on horse races were declined. However, in each case, the customer attempting to place the bet claims to have received an official “bet number”, which they took as an indication that the bet had been accepted.
After the races, when it became clear their bets had in fact been declined, the punters claim they were described as “cancelled bets”, which suggests that their money could have been accepted at some point in the process.
The timescale involved when a case is considered by the arbitration service suggests Ladbrokes could, or should, have been aware of a possible problem with the processing of declined bets for several months, but the bookmaker has failed to address the issue. There is also anecdotal evidence that the cases currently being considered by IBAS may be the tip of the iceberg.
Paul Fairhead, who runs the BoycottBetFred Twitter account to assist punters with betting disputes, said on Wednesday that he had seen “at least a dozen identical cases involving Ladbrokes” and that he was receiving new claims almost on a daily basis. “That leads me to believe that hundreds of punters could have been affected over many months,” he said.
Should IBAS decide in favour of the punters bringing the cases against Ladbrokes, any customer of the firm who has had a similar experience when attempting to place a bet in recent months could also be entitled to claim a payout. Since bets which are referred to the trading team for approval can often involve significant sums, an adverse ruling could potentially cost the firm a significant amount.
IBAS is understood to have been considering the three cases for several weeks but there is little sign as yet that a final ruling is imminent. Ladbrokes did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The latest concern regarding possible software flaws at Ladbrokes follows the embarrassment suffered by its Australian arm on Tuesday, when the ladbrokes.com.au website crashed in the run-up to the Melbourne Cup, the country’s most famous horse race.
November 07, 2018
Online betting sites crashed in lead-up to Melbourne Cup
Online sports-betting sites crashed nationwide in the lead-up to the Melbourne Cup, the busiest betting event of the year.
Wagering services run by Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and online betting exchange Betfair all went down, with punters temporarily unable to place bets on their smartphone apps or computers.
Twenty minutes before the main race on Tuesday, Tabcorp also reported problems with its third-party payment providers. It is understood the payment issues were fully restored just before the Cup.
Online bookmaker BetEasy, the third-largest provider behind Sportsbet and Tabcorp, was signing up as many as 500 new customers a minute in the lead-up to the 3pm race as a result of its competitors’ technical problems.
Ladbrokes told punters, via its social media channels, that it was doing all it could to bring services back online as soon as possible, but it was unable guarantee they would be available in time for the main race at 3pm. Ladbrokes’ website and app also went down in the run-up to last year’s Melbourne Cup Day, setting off a storm of social media complaints from punters.
Shortly after 2.15pm on Tuesday, Sportsbet’s mobile betting platform was back up and running, while technical teams were continuing to work on the desktop platform. In a statement, Sportsbet said it had experienced technical issues due to “unprecedented demand and we fixed these issues as a priority”. “Hundreds of thousands of our customers enjoyed a punt on the big race,” a spokesman said. “We sincerely apologise to those who experienced issues or inconvenience.”
Betfair’s site crashed temporarily just before 2pm but the company said it was back working again within about five minutes.
For the nation’s wagering industry, Melbourne Cup Day is easily the biggest betting day on the calendar.
Australian sports-betting companies ramp up staffing and technology to cater for the extraordinary volume of bets placed on the day. Australia’s biggest gambling company, Tabcorp, which runs retail and online wagering services, said it expected to process 15 million bets on Tuesday, with a peak of 4300 bets in the busiest single second.
Wagering data from last year's Melbourne Cup Day showed that, in the immediate lead-up to the main race, a peak of 850 bets a second were being placed through the largest online bookmaker, Sportsbet. The busiest single minute saw 26,000 bets placed.
Punters took to social media to vent their frustration at the meltdown on Tuesday afternoon, with some claiming their deposits were taken in the moments before the betting apps crashed.
“So I placed a bet online 10 mins ago and my deposit is gone but bet is stuck in pending telling me to 'check back in a few minutes,” one punter tweeted. “Did it go through or is it lost?”
Ladbrokes apologised for the crash, and said it understood that the timing “couldn't be worse”
One furious punter demanded his bets be refunded, and for his account with Sportsbet to be closed.
According to figures released on Tuesday afternoon, the biggest bet placed via Tabcorp on the Cup was $100,000 on Yucatan at $6/$2.25. The largest placed on the winner, Cross Counter, was $50,000 at $10.
Wagering services run by Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and online betting exchange Betfair all went down, with punters temporarily unable to place bets on their smartphone apps or computers.
Twenty minutes before the main race on Tuesday, Tabcorp also reported problems with its third-party payment providers. It is understood the payment issues were fully restored just before the Cup.
Online bookmaker BetEasy, the third-largest provider behind Sportsbet and Tabcorp, was signing up as many as 500 new customers a minute in the lead-up to the 3pm race as a result of its competitors’ technical problems.
Ladbrokes told punters, via its social media channels, that it was doing all it could to bring services back online as soon as possible, but it was unable guarantee they would be available in time for the main race at 3pm. Ladbrokes’ website and app also went down in the run-up to last year’s Melbourne Cup Day, setting off a storm of social media complaints from punters.
Shortly after 2.15pm on Tuesday, Sportsbet’s mobile betting platform was back up and running, while technical teams were continuing to work on the desktop platform. In a statement, Sportsbet said it had experienced technical issues due to “unprecedented demand and we fixed these issues as a priority”. “Hundreds of thousands of our customers enjoyed a punt on the big race,” a spokesman said. “We sincerely apologise to those who experienced issues or inconvenience.”
Betfair’s site crashed temporarily just before 2pm but the company said it was back working again within about five minutes.
For the nation’s wagering industry, Melbourne Cup Day is easily the biggest betting day on the calendar.
Australian sports-betting companies ramp up staffing and technology to cater for the extraordinary volume of bets placed on the day. Australia’s biggest gambling company, Tabcorp, which runs retail and online wagering services, said it expected to process 15 million bets on Tuesday, with a peak of 4300 bets in the busiest single second.
Wagering data from last year's Melbourne Cup Day showed that, in the immediate lead-up to the main race, a peak of 850 bets a second were being placed through the largest online bookmaker, Sportsbet. The busiest single minute saw 26,000 bets placed.
Punters took to social media to vent their frustration at the meltdown on Tuesday afternoon, with some claiming their deposits were taken in the moments before the betting apps crashed.
“So I placed a bet online 10 mins ago and my deposit is gone but bet is stuck in pending telling me to 'check back in a few minutes,” one punter tweeted. “Did it go through or is it lost?”
Ladbrokes apologised for the crash, and said it understood that the timing “couldn't be worse”
One furious punter demanded his bets be refunded, and for his account with Sportsbet to be closed.
According to figures released on Tuesday afternoon, the biggest bet placed via Tabcorp on the Cup was $100,000 on Yucatan at $6/$2.25. The largest placed on the winner, Cross Counter, was $50,000 at $10.
October 12, 2018
SSC Napoli looks to Africa, Latin America in new regional betting deal
Serie A club SSC Napoli has added another regional betting partner to its sponsorship portfolio, after signing a deal with Curaçao-based KTO.
As part of the deal, the length of which was not disclosed, KTO will become Napoli’s Official Betting Partner in Africa and Latin America.
Curaçao is a Dutch-Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela, renowned for its relaxed laws on gambling and licensing.
KTO intends to use its partnership with Napoli to expand into Africa and Latin America – two regions where the sports betting industry is seeing strong growth, and where Napoli has a large fan base.
Michael Rasmussen, senior marketing consultant at KTO, said: “The Neapolitan following is huge, especially in Latin America, where Napoli counts over ten million fans.
“It is therefore no coincidence that in partnering with Napoli, we have an excellent match.”
The deal comes after Napoli signed with Nextbet as its first Asian betting partner earlier this month.
As part of the deal, Nextbet will promote itself across Asia using official club imagery, digital assets and offline campaigns.
Brokered by marketing consultancy firm SEM, the deal was Nextbet’s first in football.
As part of the deal, the length of which was not disclosed, KTO will become Napoli’s Official Betting Partner in Africa and Latin America.
Curaçao is a Dutch-Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela, renowned for its relaxed laws on gambling and licensing.
KTO intends to use its partnership with Napoli to expand into Africa and Latin America – two regions where the sports betting industry is seeing strong growth, and where Napoli has a large fan base.
Michael Rasmussen, senior marketing consultant at KTO, said: “The Neapolitan following is huge, especially in Latin America, where Napoli counts over ten million fans.
“It is therefore no coincidence that in partnering with Napoli, we have an excellent match.”
The deal comes after Napoli signed with Nextbet as its first Asian betting partner earlier this month.
As part of the deal, Nextbet will promote itself across Asia using official club imagery, digital assets and offline campaigns.
Brokered by marketing consultancy firm SEM, the deal was Nextbet’s first in football.
September 27, 2018
Online gambling scammer Fred Khalilian booted by Monster after “threats of mutilation, death”
Online gambling scammer Fred Khalilian has been booted from Monster Technology Group less than a year after selling the company his worthless gambling technology.
On Tuesday, electronics firm Monster Products issued a press release celebrating its 40th anniversary, while casually mentioning that its chief operating officer, one Fereidoun ‘Fred’ Khalilian, had been “successfully exited out of the company as of July 27, 2018.”
The release went on to say that Khalilian was the subject of a temporary restraining order issued in California’s Superior Court “for the protection of numerous employees of Monster against threats of mutilation, death, and threats to family.”
Furthermore, Monster has filed reports with the South San Francisco Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, “including the FBI,” concerning “allegations of fraud, theft and conspiracy.” Accompanying Khalilian on his way down Monster’s shame chute was “the team he brought into the company to do a hostile takeover.”
The press release goes on to cite a raft of unfavorable online articles concerning Khalilian’s past exploits. The linked articles detail Khalilian’s ‘colorful’ history, including a handful of assault charges, his $4.2m settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission to resolve a deceptive telemarketing case, and Khalilian’s ongoing cons of would-be tribal gaming operators involving hyping in-development online gambling sites that never actually develop into a going concern.
Last October, Monster raised eyebrows by announcing that a subsidiary had struck a deal to acquire the online gaming software assets (such as they were) of Khalilian’s Universal Entertainment Group (UEG), with the plan to use said assets to launch PokerTribe.com on behalf of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
PokerTribe was the second incarnation of Khalilian’s efforts to pull a fast one on unsuspecting tribal groups. Khalilian collected $9.5m from his original Oklahoma tribal partner before new tribal leadership pulled the plug on the site (PokerTribes.com – plural) which never actually opened for business. This led to lawsuits and a probe by the National Indian Gaming Commission.
This spring, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma launched GreySnowPoker.com, apparently deciding that the PokerTribe brand had been irrevocably tainted. PokerTribe.com (singular) currently redirects to InSkyCasino.com, another of Khalilian’s improbable can’t-miss schemes, in which gamblers strapped into airline seats would be allowed to play online casino games, you know, as opposed to doing so via their mobile devices with any one of thousands of existing online gambling operations that managed to launch without Fred’s help.
Despite the fact that he walks around with red flags positively shooting out his ears, Khalilian has proven remarkably resilient in rebounding from his very public setbacks. But with any luck, this will mark the end of Khalilian’s dalliances on the fringes of the online gambling industry.
On Tuesday, electronics firm Monster Products issued a press release celebrating its 40th anniversary, while casually mentioning that its chief operating officer, one Fereidoun ‘Fred’ Khalilian, had been “successfully exited out of the company as of July 27, 2018.”
The release went on to say that Khalilian was the subject of a temporary restraining order issued in California’s Superior Court “for the protection of numerous employees of Monster against threats of mutilation, death, and threats to family.”
Furthermore, Monster has filed reports with the South San Francisco Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, “including the FBI,” concerning “allegations of fraud, theft and conspiracy.” Accompanying Khalilian on his way down Monster’s shame chute was “the team he brought into the company to do a hostile takeover.”
The press release goes on to cite a raft of unfavorable online articles concerning Khalilian’s past exploits. The linked articles detail Khalilian’s ‘colorful’ history, including a handful of assault charges, his $4.2m settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission to resolve a deceptive telemarketing case, and Khalilian’s ongoing cons of would-be tribal gaming operators involving hyping in-development online gambling sites that never actually develop into a going concern.
Last October, Monster raised eyebrows by announcing that a subsidiary had struck a deal to acquire the online gaming software assets (such as they were) of Khalilian’s Universal Entertainment Group (UEG), with the plan to use said assets to launch PokerTribe.com on behalf of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
PokerTribe was the second incarnation of Khalilian’s efforts to pull a fast one on unsuspecting tribal groups. Khalilian collected $9.5m from his original Oklahoma tribal partner before new tribal leadership pulled the plug on the site (PokerTribes.com – plural) which never actually opened for business. This led to lawsuits and a probe by the National Indian Gaming Commission.
This spring, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma launched GreySnowPoker.com, apparently deciding that the PokerTribe brand had been irrevocably tainted. PokerTribe.com (singular) currently redirects to InSkyCasino.com, another of Khalilian’s improbable can’t-miss schemes, in which gamblers strapped into airline seats would be allowed to play online casino games, you know, as opposed to doing so via their mobile devices with any one of thousands of existing online gambling operations that managed to launch without Fred’s help.
Despite the fact that he walks around with red flags positively shooting out his ears, Khalilian has proven remarkably resilient in rebounding from his very public setbacks. But with any luck, this will mark the end of Khalilian’s dalliances on the fringes of the online gambling industry.
September 19, 2018
Banning companies from sponsoring sports won’t tackle problem gambling
With the battle on fixed odds betting terminals over, the debate around gambling has shifted to TV advertising and sports sponsorship. This was given added fuel by England's relative success in the World Cup which led to high viewing figures on terrestrial TV.
No one can deny that there is a high concentration of gambling advertising around sport, particularly football. And some argue banning gambling TV advertising before the watershed, and stopping gambling companies from sponsoring clubs, would protect children and vulnerable people.
But I do not believe a watershed or the banning of sponsorship would be the most effective way of getting to grips with problem gambling.
Societies and governments around the world have grappled with how to regulate online gambling. There are many things wrong with the industry in this country. But one major positive is that the vast majority of it – over 95pc – is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and pays a point of consumption tax to the UK Government. This is the result of sensible regulation, including the ability to advertise.
Countries that take a more restrictive approach on advertising still have a gambling industry and they still have problem gambling. Eight out of the nine "front of shirt" gambling sponsors in the English Premier League come from overseas – predominantly Asia – as a means of targeting consumers in their home countries that watch the games.
But because these countries do not allow advertising and it is not tied to a regulatory regime, they have no means to force these companies involved to improve their behaviour.
This is where the greatest promise lies in the UK. Fundamentally, we should use the carrot of being able to advertise on TV as a means to drive up standards across the industry. You cannot advertise on television in the UK without a licence from the Gambling Commission. So the standards needed to secure a licence should rise markedly.
With the rapid shift to online betting, it is my firm belief that companies should only be licensed in the future if they are able to demonstrate higher standards that make the most of technology to help customers.
This should include defined processes that identify likely problem gamblers, a willingness to interact with customers who show signs of harm and offer them tools to modify their behaviour – and in serious cases a preparedness to intervene with customers to stop them from harming themselves.
At Sky Betting & Gaming we have increased the number of interactions we have with customers who show signs of gambling related harm. These conversations, and the marketing campaign we have implemented to highlight them, has in turn markedly increased the use of responsible gambling tools on our platforms.
Most importantly, we have stopped a number of customers from harming themselves by returning sums of money they either could not afford or should not be betting with.
To take a recent example, during the World Cup, our risk and responsibility team identified a young customer had placed a large bet on Spain and Portugal to win their respective matches. After a conversation with that customer he decided he couldn't afford that bet, so we returned the money, and agreed a deposit limit. This has happened with a targeted number of other customers too.
We do not have all the answers though and will never over-claim. That is why we would support these standards being made uniform and legal requirements across the online gambling sector in the UK.
There are other measures you could also take to beef up the requirements to secure a Gambling Commission licence. We would, for example, support the Gambling Commission's intention to introduce an affordability test. And we'd like more help from the banks to allow vulnerable customers to block themselves from spending money with gambling companies via their bank accounts.
Finally, there is a legitimate debate to be had over the content of gambling advertising. The Committee for Advertising Practice issued new guidance earlier this year over the standards expected. But I believe all operators should be required to dedicate a proportion of their advertising budget to educational adverts on how to gamble responsibly.
We already spend a defined portion of our marketing on safer gambling advertising and would be relaxed about that being codified into law.
This is a debate I welcome. We should always keep a sense of perspective: problem gambling rates have remained broadly stable over the last decade and are low by international standards.
Being able to advertise our products helps create a more vibrant and competitive market for the five million people that enjoy betting on the football or otherwise gambling online, and who do so safely and without harm. This advertising helps keep sport on TV, particularly horse racing, and helps keep football clubs afloat.
But nonetheless over the years I have met people whose lives have been greatly harmed by gambling, and as an industry it is clear than we can and should do more to help the most vulnerable customers.
A watershed for gambling advertising, or a ban on football sponsorship may make for an easy headline – but other measures would be more effective to help the people who need it most.
No one can deny that there is a high concentration of gambling advertising around sport, particularly football. And some argue banning gambling TV advertising before the watershed, and stopping gambling companies from sponsoring clubs, would protect children and vulnerable people.
But I do not believe a watershed or the banning of sponsorship would be the most effective way of getting to grips with problem gambling.
Societies and governments around the world have grappled with how to regulate online gambling. There are many things wrong with the industry in this country. But one major positive is that the vast majority of it – over 95pc – is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and pays a point of consumption tax to the UK Government. This is the result of sensible regulation, including the ability to advertise.
Countries that take a more restrictive approach on advertising still have a gambling industry and they still have problem gambling. Eight out of the nine "front of shirt" gambling sponsors in the English Premier League come from overseas – predominantly Asia – as a means of targeting consumers in their home countries that watch the games.
But because these countries do not allow advertising and it is not tied to a regulatory regime, they have no means to force these companies involved to improve their behaviour.
This is where the greatest promise lies in the UK. Fundamentally, we should use the carrot of being able to advertise on TV as a means to drive up standards across the industry. You cannot advertise on television in the UK without a licence from the Gambling Commission. So the standards needed to secure a licence should rise markedly.
With the rapid shift to online betting, it is my firm belief that companies should only be licensed in the future if they are able to demonstrate higher standards that make the most of technology to help customers.
This should include defined processes that identify likely problem gamblers, a willingness to interact with customers who show signs of harm and offer them tools to modify their behaviour – and in serious cases a preparedness to intervene with customers to stop them from harming themselves.
At Sky Betting & Gaming we have increased the number of interactions we have with customers who show signs of gambling related harm. These conversations, and the marketing campaign we have implemented to highlight them, has in turn markedly increased the use of responsible gambling tools on our platforms.
Most importantly, we have stopped a number of customers from harming themselves by returning sums of money they either could not afford or should not be betting with.
To take a recent example, during the World Cup, our risk and responsibility team identified a young customer had placed a large bet on Spain and Portugal to win their respective matches. After a conversation with that customer he decided he couldn't afford that bet, so we returned the money, and agreed a deposit limit. This has happened with a targeted number of other customers too.
We do not have all the answers though and will never over-claim. That is why we would support these standards being made uniform and legal requirements across the online gambling sector in the UK.
There are other measures you could also take to beef up the requirements to secure a Gambling Commission licence. We would, for example, support the Gambling Commission's intention to introduce an affordability test. And we'd like more help from the banks to allow vulnerable customers to block themselves from spending money with gambling companies via their bank accounts.
Finally, there is a legitimate debate to be had over the content of gambling advertising. The Committee for Advertising Practice issued new guidance earlier this year over the standards expected. But I believe all operators should be required to dedicate a proportion of their advertising budget to educational adverts on how to gamble responsibly.
We already spend a defined portion of our marketing on safer gambling advertising and would be relaxed about that being codified into law.
This is a debate I welcome. We should always keep a sense of perspective: problem gambling rates have remained broadly stable over the last decade and are low by international standards.
Being able to advertise our products helps create a more vibrant and competitive market for the five million people that enjoy betting on the football or otherwise gambling online, and who do so safely and without harm. This advertising helps keep sport on TV, particularly horse racing, and helps keep football clubs afloat.
But nonetheless over the years I have met people whose lives have been greatly harmed by gambling, and as an industry it is clear than we can and should do more to help the most vulnerable customers.
A watershed for gambling advertising, or a ban on football sponsorship may make for an easy headline – but other measures would be more effective to help the people who need it most.
September 10, 2018
888sport launches in New Jersey
Yaniv Sherman, 888's senior vice-president and head of commercial development, has relocated to the company's New Jersey office to spearhead the company’s expansion plans across the US after the 888sport brand was launched in the state.
With 888sport now available in New Jersey, it is the first time that 888 has offered sports betting to customers in the US. 888 CEO Itai Frieberger described the move as a “major milestone” for the company.
With FanDuel and Caesars also now live in New Jersey, there are now six operators offering online betting in the state, with DraftKings, SugarHouse and William Hill all available.
“This provides 888 with a unique and truly multi-product proposition in what is currently the largest regulated US state,” Frieberger said.
“888 has been committed to developing its position in the US since launching in Nevada, the first regulated US state, nearly six years ago and today we are the only operator with a presence in all three regulated US states.
“We now have our sport, casino and poker products all operational in the US and are continually developing our proposition, brands and technology to ensure that the group remains exceptionally well positioned to capture the potentially significant future growth opportunities as new regulation allows.”
888sport has been launched in New Jersey in partnership with Kambi, the company’s sportsbook provider across global regulated markets.
Kambi, which recently launched the Cash Out live ticket system in New Jersey, also went live with Teaser+ to mark the start of the 2018-19 NFL American football season this past weekend.
Teaser+, a new version of the teaser parlay, offers a different method of pricing the wager, with Kambi’s in-house trading team generating a price based on each individual leg of a player’s chosen parlay.
“When we considered how the market priced the classic teaser, we felt the processes involved had failed to evolve with the wider industry, or kept pace with technology, therefore we identified and implemented a more efficient and transparent way of offering these bets,” Kambi CEO Kristian Nylen said.
In a further development in New Jersey’s online sports betting market, DraftKings has become the latest sports betting provider to add PayPal to its list of payment deposit options – a move that is likely to provide a further boost to punters in the state.
FanDuel, SugarHouse and Caesars sportsbooks already offered PayPal, according to Legal Sports Report, which added that credit card decline rates are still understood to be at about 50% in the state for online gambling, having improved from about 75% five years ago.
This Wednesday, the figures covering the first full month of online sports betting in New Jersey featuring DraftKings will be revealed by the state. DraftKings said last week that it had already processed one million sports bets in New Jersey since launching its sportsbook in August.
With 888sport now available in New Jersey, it is the first time that 888 has offered sports betting to customers in the US. 888 CEO Itai Frieberger described the move as a “major milestone” for the company.
With FanDuel and Caesars also now live in New Jersey, there are now six operators offering online betting in the state, with DraftKings, SugarHouse and William Hill all available.
“This provides 888 with a unique and truly multi-product proposition in what is currently the largest regulated US state,” Frieberger said.
“888 has been committed to developing its position in the US since launching in Nevada, the first regulated US state, nearly six years ago and today we are the only operator with a presence in all three regulated US states.
“We now have our sport, casino and poker products all operational in the US and are continually developing our proposition, brands and technology to ensure that the group remains exceptionally well positioned to capture the potentially significant future growth opportunities as new regulation allows.”
888sport has been launched in New Jersey in partnership with Kambi, the company’s sportsbook provider across global regulated markets.
Kambi, which recently launched the Cash Out live ticket system in New Jersey, also went live with Teaser+ to mark the start of the 2018-19 NFL American football season this past weekend.
Teaser+, a new version of the teaser parlay, offers a different method of pricing the wager, with Kambi’s in-house trading team generating a price based on each individual leg of a player’s chosen parlay.
“When we considered how the market priced the classic teaser, we felt the processes involved had failed to evolve with the wider industry, or kept pace with technology, therefore we identified and implemented a more efficient and transparent way of offering these bets,” Kambi CEO Kristian Nylen said.
In a further development in New Jersey’s online sports betting market, DraftKings has become the latest sports betting provider to add PayPal to its list of payment deposit options – a move that is likely to provide a further boost to punters in the state.
FanDuel, SugarHouse and Caesars sportsbooks already offered PayPal, according to Legal Sports Report, which added that credit card decline rates are still understood to be at about 50% in the state for online gambling, having improved from about 75% five years ago.
This Wednesday, the figures covering the first full month of online sports betting in New Jersey featuring DraftKings will be revealed by the state. DraftKings said last week that it had already processed one million sports bets in New Jersey since launching its sportsbook in August.
August 15, 2018
Buffalo Wild Wings looks to get into sports betting
Buffalo Wild Wings is the country’s third most popular casual restaurant chain, behind Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar and Olive Garden. But BWW is looking to increase that ranking, and may be doing so via an unusual means.
Nation’s Restaurant News announces that the chain may explore getting into gambling, with the following statement from a BWW spokesperson: “As the largest sports bar in America, we believe Buffalo Wild Wings is uniquely positioned to leverage sports gaming to enhance the restaurant experience for our guests. We are actively exploring opportunities, including potential partners, as we evaluate the next steps for our brand.”
Lucky for B-Dubs, this past May, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1992 law that banned sports gambling in most states. Since the house almost always wins, these gambling excursions could only help boost Buffalo Wild Wings’ bottom line, an attractive possibility for the chain that recently saw sales dip 1.6 percent. We envision nationwide March Madness bracket sheets and wings-fueled fistfights erupting over Super Bowl squares in front of BWW’s multitude of large-screen sports-only TVs.
Nation’s Restaurant News announces that the chain may explore getting into gambling, with the following statement from a BWW spokesperson: “As the largest sports bar in America, we believe Buffalo Wild Wings is uniquely positioned to leverage sports gaming to enhance the restaurant experience for our guests. We are actively exploring opportunities, including potential partners, as we evaluate the next steps for our brand.”
Lucky for B-Dubs, this past May, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1992 law that banned sports gambling in most states. Since the house almost always wins, these gambling excursions could only help boost Buffalo Wild Wings’ bottom line, an attractive possibility for the chain that recently saw sales dip 1.6 percent. We envision nationwide March Madness bracket sheets and wings-fueled fistfights erupting over Super Bowl squares in front of BWW’s multitude of large-screen sports-only TVs.
Belgium gives Ladbrokes a slap on the wrist
Ladbrokes has been put in timeout – literally. Belgium has reportedly punished the sports betting company for breaking gaming regulations and has ordered it to not offer any gambling activities for a day next month.
Media outlet The Brussel Times reports that Ladbrokes was slapped on the wrist after admitting it had received bets from players in Belgium for the outcome of virtual machine events until March 14. Virtual match betting allows gamblers to place bets on the outcome of fantasy competitions and the practice has been outlawed in the country since June of last year after being “tolerated” for about five years.
Ladbrokes’ subsidiaries in the country, Tierce Ladbroke SA and Derby SA, will not be able to receive any bets for 24 hours on September 3 due to the infraction. Ladbrokes has 300 agencies and around 100 sportsbooks, and a number of digital operations, linked to it in Belgium. The country’s gaming regulator indicated that Ladbrokes had “not contested the materiality of the facts” and continued to offer the betting activity “until it was legally banned from doing so.”
In a response provided to 5 Star iGaming Media, Ladbrokes said that it had not been notified officially of the sanction. It explained that it had only learned of the punishment after it was informed by an unidentified third party on August 7.
Ladbrokes further complained that it was received an email from the regulator the same day the news starting making its rounds in the various media outlets, adding that it “‘deeply regrets that such confidential information is transmitted to the press and to third parties even before it is informed.” It alluded to the possibility of filing a lawsuit for breach of professional secrecy, but plans to honor the sanction. The sportsbook also said that it may challenge the punishment before Belgium’s Council of State.
The one-day penalty pales in comparison to that seen by Ladbrokes last year. In November, it was hit with a $2.9-million fine for not intervening after two gamblers blew a little more than half of that in stolen money on the Ladbrokes Coral-owned Gala Interactive casino website.
Media outlet The Brussel Times reports that Ladbrokes was slapped on the wrist after admitting it had received bets from players in Belgium for the outcome of virtual machine events until March 14. Virtual match betting allows gamblers to place bets on the outcome of fantasy competitions and the practice has been outlawed in the country since June of last year after being “tolerated” for about five years.
Ladbrokes’ subsidiaries in the country, Tierce Ladbroke SA and Derby SA, will not be able to receive any bets for 24 hours on September 3 due to the infraction. Ladbrokes has 300 agencies and around 100 sportsbooks, and a number of digital operations, linked to it in Belgium. The country’s gaming regulator indicated that Ladbrokes had “not contested the materiality of the facts” and continued to offer the betting activity “until it was legally banned from doing so.”
In a response provided to 5 Star iGaming Media, Ladbrokes said that it had not been notified officially of the sanction. It explained that it had only learned of the punishment after it was informed by an unidentified third party on August 7.
Ladbrokes further complained that it was received an email from the regulator the same day the news starting making its rounds in the various media outlets, adding that it “‘deeply regrets that such confidential information is transmitted to the press and to third parties even before it is informed.” It alluded to the possibility of filing a lawsuit for breach of professional secrecy, but plans to honor the sanction. The sportsbook also said that it may challenge the punishment before Belgium’s Council of State.
The one-day penalty pales in comparison to that seen by Ladbrokes last year. In November, it was hit with a $2.9-million fine for not intervening after two gamblers blew a little more than half of that in stolen money on the Ladbrokes Coral-owned Gala Interactive casino website.
August 09, 2018
Crown Resorts sues NSW government over iconic Sydney Harbor view
Australia-listed casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd. has challenged the New South Wales (NSW) government to a legal tug-of-war over the iconic Sydney Harbor view.
Crown Resorts sues NSW government over iconic Sydney Harbor viewThe Wall Street Journal reported that Crown Resorts has brought the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA) to court over concerns that any new property developments could obstruct the harbor views from its Barangaroo casino.
Crown is betting on the unobstructed Barangaroo views to attract affluent Chinese gamblers to visit its casinos in Australia after the casino operator has decided to fold up its overseas expansion plans.
In its lawsuit, Crown wants the court to compel BDA to comply with a contract requiring the government to consult any developments that may affect the panoramic views of the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge.
BDA, which is responsible for the management of the Barangaroo area, plans to develop 5.2-hectares of Central Barangaroo district into a public space for recreation, events, and entertainment, as well as residential, retail, and commercial spaces.
The supposed contract obligations “ensure that sight lines from the Harbor Bridge to the Sydney Opera House are retained for the Crown Sydney Hotel Resort,” according to Crown.
“The proceedings seek injunctive relief and declarations against the BDA that, in substance, require the BDA to comply with a number of its contractual obligations under the Crown Development Agreement,” Crown said in a regulatory filing.
Crown wasn’t the only one suing BDA over the iconic Sydney harbor views. Property developer Lendlease also filed an injunction seeking to stop the agency from constructing properties that could block the views of its apartment complex, which is located near Crown Sydney.
Despite filing a lawsuit, Lendlease remained hopeful that the parties would resolve the problem and reach an agreement through a negotiation.
BDA, for its part, claimed that it had been negotiating with Lendlease and Crown about the matter for the past two years. It vowed to defend its position in court, according to the report.
“At all times the Authority has acted in good faith and in accordance with its contractual obligations,” A BDA spokesman told ABC News online.
Crown Resorts sues NSW government over iconic Sydney Harbor viewThe Wall Street Journal reported that Crown Resorts has brought the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA) to court over concerns that any new property developments could obstruct the harbor views from its Barangaroo casino.
Crown is betting on the unobstructed Barangaroo views to attract affluent Chinese gamblers to visit its casinos in Australia after the casino operator has decided to fold up its overseas expansion plans.
In its lawsuit, Crown wants the court to compel BDA to comply with a contract requiring the government to consult any developments that may affect the panoramic views of the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge.
BDA, which is responsible for the management of the Barangaroo area, plans to develop 5.2-hectares of Central Barangaroo district into a public space for recreation, events, and entertainment, as well as residential, retail, and commercial spaces.
The supposed contract obligations “ensure that sight lines from the Harbor Bridge to the Sydney Opera House are retained for the Crown Sydney Hotel Resort,” according to Crown.
“The proceedings seek injunctive relief and declarations against the BDA that, in substance, require the BDA to comply with a number of its contractual obligations under the Crown Development Agreement,” Crown said in a regulatory filing.
Crown wasn’t the only one suing BDA over the iconic Sydney harbor views. Property developer Lendlease also filed an injunction seeking to stop the agency from constructing properties that could block the views of its apartment complex, which is located near Crown Sydney.
Despite filing a lawsuit, Lendlease remained hopeful that the parties would resolve the problem and reach an agreement through a negotiation.
BDA, for its part, claimed that it had been negotiating with Lendlease and Crown about the matter for the past two years. It vowed to defend its position in court, according to the report.
“At all times the Authority has acted in good faith and in accordance with its contractual obligations,” A BDA spokesman told ABC News online.
August 07, 2018
Advertising ban places Italy on the brink of huge problems
Recently the Italian Parliament has approved a new law called “Decreto Dignità ,” which has now been passed on to the Senate and will become effective immediately.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità ” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
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Casino2k – Advertising ban places Italy on the brink of huge problems
August 7, 2018
Copyright: everyonensk / 123RF Stock Photo
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The steps taken in Italy to introduce a blanket ban on all forms of gambling advertisements have certainly raised a few eyebrows, and formed a crucial part of many a conversation.
Now standing on the bring of introduction, after the reform was approved by the Chamber of Deputies last week and passed on to the Senate, Italian online web gaming guide casino2k details the numerous problems with the Dignity Decree, pitfalls now facing the country and potential solutions.
Recently the Italian Parliament has approved a new law called “Decreto Dignità ,” which has now been passed on to the Senate and will become effective immediately.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità ” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
We at casino2k.com, an Italian website which provides information about responsible gambling on regulated casinos, have studied the law and followed the three day discussion about “Decreto Dignità ” inside the Italian Parliament. Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
“FORBIDDING EVERY TYPE OF ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET WILL RESULT IN ILLEGAL GAMING COMING BACK“
Italy is the biggest gaming industry in Europe with 150,000 employees and hundreds of small companies, like ours, whose business will be affected significantly by the prohibition of every kind of advertising. The Italian government doesn’t seem to care about the future of all the other people working in this market.
The Italian market has been strictly regulated since 2011. Illegal activities have significantly decreased since then, with websites like ours helping drive people out of the illegal market into the regulated one. Forbidding every type of advertising on the internet will result in illegal gaming coming back!
Affiliate websites spread knowledge about online gambling and promote a responsible approach to it, playing an important role in the fight against gambling addiction, under age gambling and illegal operators. Those websites will now probably close, since advertising is not allowed anymore.
The aim of this law is noble, fighting gambling addiction, protecting fragile people from wasting all of their money. The main problem is that this law does almost nothing to fight it. In every Italian bar you can play slot machines and lotteries, and in Italy you can even buy scratch cards in supermarkets.
Blocking every type of advertising does nothing to reduce such things, which are often accessed by teenagers. An advertising ban is just propaganda, people will continue spending €20bn per year on slot games in bars and private mini-casinos (called VLTs), because the law doesn’t reduce the number of slots per town, it doesn’t set a minimum distance from public places, it doesn’t stop scratch cards from being sold in supermarkets. It just blocks advertising. And physical slots in bars don’t need any advertising to earn money and to destroy people’s life.
Starting soon, Italian players will not be able to recognise a legal casino from an illegal one. Right now Google AdWords has stopped accepting regulated operators ads, and unregulated ones have already appeared.
Without online advertising it will be very difficult to recognise legal and reliable sites, while the illegal ones will take advantage and gambling addiction will flourish.
Illegal casinos don’t care about the fun and the health of their users, they don’t care about responsible gaming, they don’t do anything against gambling addiction. Furthermore, they don’t pay taxes because their base is often placed in offshore countries.
The law is almost approved, the time for amendments is over, but we want to suggest a proposal. We hope that it will be considered by mass media, national and international newspapers and, in particular, that it will be evaluated by Parliament for a future law.
An alternative to an online gambling advertising ban could be allowing advertising only on specialised websites, magazines and newspapers, with these restrictions:
1. A license for affiliate websites and website owners with strict and specific requirements chosen by government.
2. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs a legal representative who will be personally responsible for every breaking of rules.
3. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs to pay taxes in Italy.
4. 2% of affiliates income to be used against gambling addiction.
5. Slower games to fight fast bets which lead to deep addiction.
6. Government campaigns to increase culture of responsible gaming.
The Government lacks knowledge of the market, they don’t understand how online gaming can be strictly controlled, players can ban themselves from gaming sites, operators can recognise addiction and block players. Artificial intelligence can also play an important role in preventing addiction and problematic players.
In conclusion, we think Italy needs better rules, because the ban on advertising would produce serious damages and would bring the market back to the early 2000’s. We hope that the government will try to understand how online gaming works, and why it’s safer than slot games in bars.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità ” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
casinobeats
Home Features Comment
FeaturesCommentHighlighted
Casino2k – Advertising ban places Italy on the brink of huge problems
August 7, 2018
Copyright: everyonensk / 123RF Stock Photo
Share
Tweet
The steps taken in Italy to introduce a blanket ban on all forms of gambling advertisements have certainly raised a few eyebrows, and formed a crucial part of many a conversation.
Now standing on the bring of introduction, after the reform was approved by the Chamber of Deputies last week and passed on to the Senate, Italian online web gaming guide casino2k details the numerous problems with the Dignity Decree, pitfalls now facing the country and potential solutions.
Recently the Italian Parliament has approved a new law called “Decreto Dignità ,” which has now been passed on to the Senate and will become effective immediately.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità ” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
We at casino2k.com, an Italian website which provides information about responsible gambling on regulated casinos, have studied the law and followed the three day discussion about “Decreto Dignità ” inside the Italian Parliament. Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
“FORBIDDING EVERY TYPE OF ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET WILL RESULT IN ILLEGAL GAMING COMING BACK“
Italy is the biggest gaming industry in Europe with 150,000 employees and hundreds of small companies, like ours, whose business will be affected significantly by the prohibition of every kind of advertising. The Italian government doesn’t seem to care about the future of all the other people working in this market.
The Italian market has been strictly regulated since 2011. Illegal activities have significantly decreased since then, with websites like ours helping drive people out of the illegal market into the regulated one. Forbidding every type of advertising on the internet will result in illegal gaming coming back!
Affiliate websites spread knowledge about online gambling and promote a responsible approach to it, playing an important role in the fight against gambling addiction, under age gambling and illegal operators. Those websites will now probably close, since advertising is not allowed anymore.
The aim of this law is noble, fighting gambling addiction, protecting fragile people from wasting all of their money. The main problem is that this law does almost nothing to fight it. In every Italian bar you can play slot machines and lotteries, and in Italy you can even buy scratch cards in supermarkets.
Blocking every type of advertising does nothing to reduce such things, which are often accessed by teenagers. An advertising ban is just propaganda, people will continue spending €20bn per year on slot games in bars and private mini-casinos (called VLTs), because the law doesn’t reduce the number of slots per town, it doesn’t set a minimum distance from public places, it doesn’t stop scratch cards from being sold in supermarkets. It just blocks advertising. And physical slots in bars don’t need any advertising to earn money and to destroy people’s life.
Starting soon, Italian players will not be able to recognise a legal casino from an illegal one. Right now Google AdWords has stopped accepting regulated operators ads, and unregulated ones have already appeared.
Without online advertising it will be very difficult to recognise legal and reliable sites, while the illegal ones will take advantage and gambling addiction will flourish.
Illegal casinos don’t care about the fun and the health of their users, they don’t care about responsible gaming, they don’t do anything against gambling addiction. Furthermore, they don’t pay taxes because their base is often placed in offshore countries.
The law is almost approved, the time for amendments is over, but we want to suggest a proposal. We hope that it will be considered by mass media, national and international newspapers and, in particular, that it will be evaluated by Parliament for a future law.
An alternative to an online gambling advertising ban could be allowing advertising only on specialised websites, magazines and newspapers, with these restrictions:
1. A license for affiliate websites and website owners with strict and specific requirements chosen by government.
2. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs a legal representative who will be personally responsible for every breaking of rules.
3. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs to pay taxes in Italy.
4. 2% of affiliates income to be used against gambling addiction.
5. Slower games to fight fast bets which lead to deep addiction.
6. Government campaigns to increase culture of responsible gaming.
The Government lacks knowledge of the market, they don’t understand how online gaming can be strictly controlled, players can ban themselves from gaming sites, operators can recognise addiction and block players. Artificial intelligence can also play an important role in preventing addiction and problematic players.
In conclusion, we think Italy needs better rules, because the ban on advertising would produce serious damages and would bring the market back to the early 2000’s. We hope that the government will try to understand how online gaming works, and why it’s safer than slot games in bars.
August 03, 2018
William Hill notes ‘solid progress’ despite booking + £900 million FOBTs adjustment
FTSE bookmaker William Hill will settle exceptional charges and adjustments of £916 million, including a ‘£882 million non-cash impairment’ for its Retail division, as governance adjusts to the UK government’s Triennial Judgement reducing wagers on FOBTs machines to £2.
Publishing its half-year 2018 results (26 weeks ending 27 June), William Hill governance has pre-booked corporate losses of £916 million, which will result in the FTSE bookmaker declaring a period statutory loss before tax of £820 million.
Aiding its corporate adjustments, William Hill was able to recoup proceeds of £241 million from the disposal of its Australian business division (acquired by CrownBet) and its enterprise investment in NYX Gaming Group (acquired by Scientific Games).
Despite settling high-cost exceptional charges, William Hill governance reports solid operational progress during a period of ‘substantial corporate change’.
Closing World Cup Russia 2018 trading, in which the bookmaker recorded ‘+1 million active online customers’ during the tournament, William Hill records group net revenues of £802 million, up 3% on corresponding H1 2017’s £778 million.
In its Interim update, William Hill governance outlines substantial growth across its digital assets, with the firm’s online sportsbook up ‘18% in net revenues and 16% in new accounts’. The firm’s online gaming assets detailed 4% increase net revenues, driven by improved ‘cross-sell efficiencies’.
Replicating industry trends, William Hill’s Retail division’s net revenues were down 3% due to a ‘challenging environment for the UK high street’, with a number of UK horseracing fixture cancelled during Q1 2018 due to severe weather conditions.
Moving forward, the legacy bookmaker seeks to become a leading player in the liberalised US sports betting market, expanding its footprint within New Jersey having launched a new sportsbook at Ocean Casino in Atlantic City.
Updating investors Philip Bowcock, Chief Executive Officer of William Hill, commented on H1 2018 trading: “William Hill has performed well during the first half of 2018 and, following major regulatory decisions in the UK and US, we now have greater clarity over the challenges and opportunities that lie before us.
“During the first half, our Online business continued to deliver double-digit growth. In Retail, we are beginning to put in place plans to mitigate the impact of the Triennial Review. In the US, we have moved quickly following the repeal of PASPA as we grow into newly regulating states. We will continue to invest in the US to ensure we are well placed to capture the substantial potential available to us.”
“Fundamental to delivering over the long term will be our sustainability strategy, which marks a significant cultural change for the company. Gambling-related harm is a serious issue and it is important that we face up to this challenge. We have set ourselves the ambition that nobody is harmed by gambling and set out a detailed programme of actions as we start out on this journey.”
Publishing its half-year 2018 results (26 weeks ending 27 June), William Hill governance has pre-booked corporate losses of £916 million, which will result in the FTSE bookmaker declaring a period statutory loss before tax of £820 million.
Aiding its corporate adjustments, William Hill was able to recoup proceeds of £241 million from the disposal of its Australian business division (acquired by CrownBet) and its enterprise investment in NYX Gaming Group (acquired by Scientific Games).
Despite settling high-cost exceptional charges, William Hill governance reports solid operational progress during a period of ‘substantial corporate change’.
Closing World Cup Russia 2018 trading, in which the bookmaker recorded ‘+1 million active online customers’ during the tournament, William Hill records group net revenues of £802 million, up 3% on corresponding H1 2017’s £778 million.
In its Interim update, William Hill governance outlines substantial growth across its digital assets, with the firm’s online sportsbook up ‘18% in net revenues and 16% in new accounts’. The firm’s online gaming assets detailed 4% increase net revenues, driven by improved ‘cross-sell efficiencies’.
Replicating industry trends, William Hill’s Retail division’s net revenues were down 3% due to a ‘challenging environment for the UK high street’, with a number of UK horseracing fixture cancelled during Q1 2018 due to severe weather conditions.
Moving forward, the legacy bookmaker seeks to become a leading player in the liberalised US sports betting market, expanding its footprint within New Jersey having launched a new sportsbook at Ocean Casino in Atlantic City.
Updating investors Philip Bowcock, Chief Executive Officer of William Hill, commented on H1 2018 trading: “William Hill has performed well during the first half of 2018 and, following major regulatory decisions in the UK and US, we now have greater clarity over the challenges and opportunities that lie before us.
“During the first half, our Online business continued to deliver double-digit growth. In Retail, we are beginning to put in place plans to mitigate the impact of the Triennial Review. In the US, we have moved quickly following the repeal of PASPA as we grow into newly regulating states. We will continue to invest in the US to ensure we are well placed to capture the substantial potential available to us.”
“Fundamental to delivering over the long term will be our sustainability strategy, which marks a significant cultural change for the company. Gambling-related harm is a serious issue and it is important that we face up to this challenge. We have set ourselves the ambition that nobody is harmed by gambling and set out a detailed programme of actions as we start out on this journey.”
July 31, 2018
Caesars races to cash in on NJ, Mississippi sports betting market
Casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp. (CEC) officially joined its rivals in the sports betting market derby, right on the heels of one Atlantic City casino that has started taking sports bets this week.
Bally’s Wild Wild West have started accepting sports bets on Monday morning, while its sister casino Harrah’s Resort will open its doors to punters on Wednesday, according to CEC. This makes the twin gambling facilities the third and fourth casinos to offer sports betting in Atlantic City.
Bally’s temporary sportsbook operation inside Wild Wild West reportedly has 30 leather chairs placed right in front of three large television screens and five smaller screens. Bally’s has converted its shuttered cashier windows to sports wagering windows. Harrah’s sports wagering space looks quite similar to Bally’s, although Harrah’s only has 28 leather chairs, six high-top tables and five screens for viewing.
CEC also plans to bring sports betting in Mississippi by mid-August through its casino properties, Horseshoe Tunica and Harrah’s Gulf Coast resorts.
The casino operator’s announcement came a day after its rival MGM declared it will create a $200 million sports betting and online gaming joint venture with UK-based GVC Holdings, one of the world’s largest bookmakers.
CEC has tapped gambling technology provider Scientific Games Corporation (Sci Games) to provide its OpenBet sportsbook platform in New Jersey and Mississippi. CEC President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Frissora described its partnership with Sci Games to be strategic since the casino operator also plans to roll out mobile sports betting throughout New Jersey and Mississippi.
Frissora pointed out that the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 allows CEC to expand its “sports betting digital and mobile offerings into new markets.”
One of the advantages that CEC have against its rivals in Atlantic City is its experience operating sportsbooks in Las Vegas, according to Frissora.
“We recognize that our customers expect exciting new experiences, which is why we will continue to offer new products through our mobile and digital platforms and inside our properties,” Frissora said in a statement.
Bally’s Wild Wild West have started accepting sports bets on Monday morning, while its sister casino Harrah’s Resort will open its doors to punters on Wednesday, according to CEC. This makes the twin gambling facilities the third and fourth casinos to offer sports betting in Atlantic City.
Bally’s temporary sportsbook operation inside Wild Wild West reportedly has 30 leather chairs placed right in front of three large television screens and five smaller screens. Bally’s has converted its shuttered cashier windows to sports wagering windows. Harrah’s sports wagering space looks quite similar to Bally’s, although Harrah’s only has 28 leather chairs, six high-top tables and five screens for viewing.
CEC also plans to bring sports betting in Mississippi by mid-August through its casino properties, Horseshoe Tunica and Harrah’s Gulf Coast resorts.
The casino operator’s announcement came a day after its rival MGM declared it will create a $200 million sports betting and online gaming joint venture with UK-based GVC Holdings, one of the world’s largest bookmakers.
CEC has tapped gambling technology provider Scientific Games Corporation (Sci Games) to provide its OpenBet sportsbook platform in New Jersey and Mississippi. CEC President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Frissora described its partnership with Sci Games to be strategic since the casino operator also plans to roll out mobile sports betting throughout New Jersey and Mississippi.
Frissora pointed out that the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 allows CEC to expand its “sports betting digital and mobile offerings into new markets.”
One of the advantages that CEC have against its rivals in Atlantic City is its experience operating sportsbooks in Las Vegas, according to Frissora.
“We recognize that our customers expect exciting new experiences, which is why we will continue to offer new products through our mobile and digital platforms and inside our properties,” Frissora said in a statement.
July 27, 2018
Paddy Power prices down ‘Referendum Part Deux’!
The UK government’s struggle to finalise terms on a 2019 Brexit arrangement, has seen Paddy Power Politics price down its odds on a ‘Second UK-EU Referendum’.
Updating its UK political markets, Paddy Power now rates the chances of a second referendum before April 1st 2019 at 9/4 slashing down its previous odds from 3/1.
This week the EU’s Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier stated that member states would reject PM Theresa May’s White Paper presenting the UK stance on a future EU customs arrangement.
Whilst at home, May faces a Conservative Party divide relating to EU-exit negotiations and Brexit red-lines.
Furthermore, with just eight months of exit negotiations left, the heads of UK industry and enterprise are adding pressure on May to deliver clarity on the terms of the UK’s leaving the European Union.
“If that second referendum were granted – presumably with some kind of terms of exit outlined – Paddy Power make Remain the overwhelming favourite to succeed (1/7) with Leave the rank outsiders (4/1). Though we’ve heard that before.” details the Irish bookmaker!
Spokesman Paddy Power said: “After more than two years of careful negotiation and strategising, the best thing achieved by the Brexit process has been to remove David Cameron and Boris Johnson from positions of power.
“With virtually no opposition, the Prime Minister has been able to dilly-dally and perform a prompt change of hearts regularly – so why wouldn’t she produce an EU-turn now?
“Such indecision should’ve been clear the moment she took charge, though. Because… Theresa May but, then again, Theresa May not.”
Paddy Power – Brexit Specials
1/2 No Deal to be reached by Brexit deadline
10/11 A Tory leadership contest to take place in 2018
9/4 A second EU membership referendum to be held before the Brexit deadline
5/2 The UK to apply to re-join the EU by 2027
10/3 A General Election to be held this year
Second Referendum Results
1/7 Remain
4/1 Leave
Updating its UK political markets, Paddy Power now rates the chances of a second referendum before April 1st 2019 at 9/4 slashing down its previous odds from 3/1.
This week the EU’s Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier stated that member states would reject PM Theresa May’s White Paper presenting the UK stance on a future EU customs arrangement.
Whilst at home, May faces a Conservative Party divide relating to EU-exit negotiations and Brexit red-lines.
Furthermore, with just eight months of exit negotiations left, the heads of UK industry and enterprise are adding pressure on May to deliver clarity on the terms of the UK’s leaving the European Union.
“If that second referendum were granted – presumably with some kind of terms of exit outlined – Paddy Power make Remain the overwhelming favourite to succeed (1/7) with Leave the rank outsiders (4/1). Though we’ve heard that before.” details the Irish bookmaker!
Spokesman Paddy Power said: “After more than two years of careful negotiation and strategising, the best thing achieved by the Brexit process has been to remove David Cameron and Boris Johnson from positions of power.
“With virtually no opposition, the Prime Minister has been able to dilly-dally and perform a prompt change of hearts regularly – so why wouldn’t she produce an EU-turn now?
“Such indecision should’ve been clear the moment she took charge, though. Because… Theresa May but, then again, Theresa May not.”
Paddy Power – Brexit Specials
1/2 No Deal to be reached by Brexit deadline
10/11 A Tory leadership contest to take place in 2018
9/4 A second EU membership referendum to be held before the Brexit deadline
5/2 The UK to apply to re-join the EU by 2027
10/3 A General Election to be held this year
Second Referendum Results
1/7 Remain
4/1 Leave
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