Author: Olivia Cole

The review of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) into Aspers Stratford City Casino has found that the company failed to comply with some anti-money laundering and player protection rules. In December 2018, the UK gambling regulatory body started a review in the operating licence of Aspers Stratford after becoming aware of the circumstances of a person who took their own life after visiting a London-based casino operated by the company. After the review started, the UKGC looked at the casino operator’s compliance with regulatory rules and, unfortunately, found certain failures…

Peter V’landys, boss of Racing NSW, has warned that any potential agreement aimed at purchasing the betting business of Tabcorp would need to be approved by him. And, for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, he made it clear that he would not give this approval lightly. Currently, the Australian gambling giant relies on long-term betting licences issued by each state, with the local racing regulators playing a major role in the certification process. The company’s exclusive licence in Victoria is set to expire in 2024 but, for the…

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) forced British gambling operator Ladbrokes to take down a video-on-demand (VOD) advert after proving that the ad had breached current CAP Code rules. A person, who saw the VOD ad on All4 on October 25th, 2020, filed a complaint to the ASA, challenging whether the gambling company promoted socially irresponsible gambling behaviour through the advert. The advertising material depicted a number of people using the Ladbrokes mobile application, with one of them being nervous (most likely about an ongoing horse race) and looking distracted from…

The UK gambling giant Entain PLC, the owner of some of the most popular brands on the market, such as Ladbrokes, Coral, Sportingbet, is reportedly aimed at pursuing the betting operations of Tabcorp. As reported by the AFR Magazine, Entertain is willing to take over the betting division of Tabcorp and expand its horse and sports betting business to the largest one on the territory of Australia. The British gambling company’s interest in such an acquisition deal has made Tabcorp call in its bankers and start considering options for the…

The major gambling regulator in the UK revealed that it has reached a £1.3-million settlement with White Hat Gaming after the watchdog found the gambling company’s anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies inadequate. A previous assessment of the online gambling business that was carried out by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has resulted in some changes of the operator’s approach to social responsibility and prevention of money laundering violations. The regulator’s assessment, which came as part of the ongoing compliance work of the UKGC, identified certain failures in the way…

Today, the Rank Group revealed that it had suffered a particularly hard blow because of the strong impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the hospitality sector. The strict Covid-19 measures, including gambling venue closures, resulted in a 55% decline in the British gambling group’s net gaming revenue (NGR) for the six-month period that ended on December 31st, 2020. The operator shared that it had a challenging first half of the fiscal year and projected that the end of the lockdown is likely to lead to a recovery of its earnings…

This week, the gambling software operator Playtech released a statement to respond to the recent speculation in the Israeli media about the possible disposal of Finalto, its financials division. The company confirmed that it is in exclusive discussions with a management consortium of Israeli companies over the possible sale of the unit, which was previously known as TradeTech. The consortium that expressed interest in purchasing Playtech’s financial unit is backed by The Phoenix Insurance Company Limited, Barinboim Group, Menora Mivtachim Insurance Limited and Leumi Partners Limited. According to the gambling…

Australian gambling giant Crown Resorts may be required to repay over AU$175 million in case its credit rating is still marked down by the credit rating agencies. James Packer’s casino company is currently very dependent on selling apartments at the Barangaroo development in Sydney, with the money from the sales aimed to be used to shrink its debt load. The group’s financial difficulties come at a moment when everyone is holding their breath waiting for the final report from the inquiry that the authorities of New South Wales (NSW) held…

The National Lottery of Ireland has decided to suspend credit card payments on its Lotto draws and games. The change will affect new users of the National Lottery services. As revealed by the Lottery’s officials, as of February 4th, customers will no longer be permitted to link a new account to a credit card or commercial card. The ones who already have a credit card linked to their account will not be affected by the credit card ban for now but will have to make some changes soon. So far,…

The tech entrepreneur Brent Hoberman CBE, who is part of the business advisory board of Sazka Group, one of the companies that are competing to get the next National Lottery operating licence, has shared that the choice of the new NL operator would be a critical one for the UK Government. According to Mr Hoberman, the choice would result in breaking the current status quo and providing an important institution and funding resource to become more up to date with the current state of the market. In an article written…