Author: Olivia Cole

The largest bookmaker in the UK has launched a last-minute bid for the operating licence of the National Lottery as an effort to bring it back into domestic ownership at a time when the auction for the much-desired assets reaches its culmination. According to reports, the chief executive officer of Flutter Entertainment, Peter Jackson, has gotten in contact with the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) to highlight his support for a deal after reaching an agreement to purchase one of the contenders for the largest single public sector operating licence in…

The biggest private employer in Tasmania, poker machine operator Federal Group, rejected the ransom demand of a cyber hacker at the time when its systems were seized in April 2021. The hacker attack, however, cost the company quite a lot of money, media reports say. As revealed in Federal Group’s annual financial statements covering the 2020/2021 fiscal year that were presented to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the company was subject to a massive cyberattack that resulted in the encryption of several of its systems. The ransomware attack…

Crown Perth is expected to learn the fate of its casino licence in a month’s time. The Western Australian Royal Commission is set to present the report of its findings to Premier Mark McGowan and Governor Kim Beazley at the beginning of March, making a recommendation on whether Crown Perth is fit to keep its operating permit for the iconic casino. Although it would be up to Premier McGowan and the state government to make the final decision on the fate of the only casino licence holder in Western Australia,…

The takeover offer of Aristocrat Leisure for Playtech failed to get the necessary support from the British gambling software company’s shareholders who turned down the £2.1-billion acquisition bid of the Australian gambling operator. The proposed acquisition offer had to get support from 75% of Playtech shareholders at their meeting on February 2nd in order to be approved. However, the takeover bid was favoured by less than 55% of shareholders’ votes, which basically made one of the most-expected deals of the year impossible. After confirming the rejection of Aristocrat Leisure’s acquisition…

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) of the UK has chosen the online self-exclusion body GAMSTOP to run a single customer view (SCV) trial – a project that is aimed at reduction of gambling-related harm that has raised some concerns. As revealed by the trade body representing the UK gambling sector, the idea of the single customer view is to prevent individuals, who have displayed signs of severe gambling addiction or are considered at risk of being affected by gambling-related harm, from moving to another gambling operation without an intervention.…

British gambling and sports betting giant Entain Plc revealed some plans to develop products for the metaverse, with the investment in the company’s new innovation centre estimated at up to £100 million. At the time when it made the announcement, the gambling company, which currently owns the Ladbrokes and Coral sports betting brands and partypoker and bwin online gambling and poker brands, revealed that the innovation hub is set to be called Ennovate. Entain also shared that an investment worth about £40 million pounds would be earmarked for the UK,…

A Malaysian business magnate is taking a UK casino to court for letting him spend an excessive amount of time gambling on baccarat, which resulted in him losing a mind-blowing sum. Lim Han Joeh is suing the Mayfair casino Crown London Aspinalls at the High Court in London for doing nothing to prevent him from spending a total of 72 hours, as a result of which he lost £3.9 million (RM21.91 million). The 62-year-old Malaysian tycoon now claims that the private casino club violated the UK Gambling Act of 2005.…

Playtech is trying to develop a strategy for possible disposal of its operations in case the proposed £2.1-billion acquisition deal with Aristocrat Leisure is blocked by some Asian investors. As reported by Sky News, some directors and investment banking advisers of Playtech are discussing a full break-up of the British gambling software provider, whose market value is currently estimated at a little less than £1.9 billion. According to people close to the process, such a break-up could force the company to sell its business-to-business division and its Italian consumer division…

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has warned the country’s gambling industry that it intends to use all tools it has at its disposal in order to ensure customer safety. The statement was made after an enforcement action of the British gambling regulatory body resulted in тhe suspension of the operating licence of an online casino. The gambling company faced a £3.8-million fine, as well. Currently, Genesis Global Limited runs a total of 14 UK-facing online gambling platforms, including genesiscasino.com, casinocruise.com, funbet.com, and sloty.com. Apart from having its operating licence suspended…

The US technology giants Google and Apple, which have often been blamed for putting profits before social responsibility and facilitating gambling companies, may actually back consumers’ interests this time. As The Irish Independent revealed, the two companies provided Irish gambling applications with a reliable tool to filter payments using credit cards for the purposes of gambling. According to reports, at least one large gambling operator refused to use the proposed method, saying it is not legally obliged to adopt such tools. The revelation comes at a time when leading anti-gambling…