The leading gaming services provider that operates in the Baltic States, Olympic Entertainment Group AS, revealed that Riga City Council has decided to ban gambling operations in Riga’s historical centre.
As explained by the Olympic Entertainment Group, the decision to ban gambling in the historical centre of Riga was adopted on May 23rd, with the ban intended to be complied within a five-year period. The only exception from this policy will be made for gambling facilities situated in four- and five-star hotels.
The company revealed that closing regulations for each gambling venue in the historical centre of Riga are being prepared by the legal department of Latvia’s capital city authorities. Then, the City Council will be required to have a vote on the closure of each venue separately. According to the information released by the Olympic Entertainment Group, each gaming operator will be given a five-year period to close its operations in the above-mentioned location.
For the time being, it is still unknown when final decisions on casino closures will be made.
Currently, the Olympic Entertainment Group is one of the leading gambling operators in Europe. At the end of March 2017, the company and its subsidiaries operated a total of 120 casinos and 31 betting points. 24 of them were located in Estonia, 54 in Latvia and 18 on the territory of Lithuania. Slovakia hosted 8 casinos, Italy was home to 15 casinos of the Group, while only one casino was being operated in Malta at the time.
A total of 7 out of 54 casinos in Latvia fall under the City Council’s intentions of the upcoming closures. As revealed by the company itself, the 2016 revenues before tax generated by the Latvian subsidiaries of the Olympic Entertainment Group amounted to €66.2 million, while their operating profit was estimated to €24.1 million.
In case that Riga City Council follows its initial plan for the casino closures, the Olympic Entertainment Group would have to close its gaming venues no earlier than June 2022. Currently, the company operates on a total of seven slot casinos in the historical centre of the capital city. Fortunately for the operator, the Olympic Voodoo Casino, which is the flagship casino of the Olympic Entertainment Group in Riga would remain intact. In addition, the closure of the company’s casinos in Riga’s historical centre could actually have a positive impact on the overall revenues of the flagship’s casino.
Earlier this year, the Eastern European casino operator revealed that it is to withdraw its online gambling and gaming services from Poland. The company announced its intentions to close its services for Polish players before the new gaming law was introduced and joined the ranks of other leading gambling operators, such as Pinnacle, bet365 and William Hill, which also exited the local market.
The new Polish legislation was put under a lot of criticism by international gambling companies due to the increased tax regime that would make the local market too unfavourable for foreign operators.
- Author
Olivia Cole
