Company Reports

Almost a month ago, on April 1st, an enormous change was brought to the retail gambling sector in the UK, after the Government finally rolled out the long-awaited crackdown on the notorious fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). The beginning of April saw the reduction of the maximum stake of the controversial machines from £100 to £2 after a lengthy consideration process and thorough reviews of the industry. The machines have been blamed for fuelling gambling addiction in the country, by offering extremely high betting stakes and quick gameplay to UK gamblers.…

Last night, the boss of the largest gambling operator in the UK called for a complete ban to be imposed on betting advertising on TV during live sports broadcasts at any time. The Chief Executive Officer of GVC Holdings, Kenny Alexander, had previously urged the authorities to suspend gambling adverts from being aired during football matches before the 9:00 PM watershed. Such a ban is set to be officially imposed at the start of the next season. Yesterday, Mr Alexander once again raised a red flag and insisted that the…

After being appointed a treasurer of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association, a gambling addict from Bootle, Merseyside, misappropriated a little over £12,000 from the bank account of the charity. The man, Philip Lea, spent the money on betting, shopping, and food. The former treasurer of the association was addicted to gambling and his crime was the result of his addiction, according to his lawyer Jamie Baxter. Lea, who is a 33-year-old disabled man from Bootle, took the position of the charity treasurer in September 2017. The Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association…

According to analysts, the main effort of the largest casino operators in Australia to once again become attractive to wealthy Asian high-rollers is to remain on the agenda amid the overall economic decline in China. However, experts are now more optimistic about the chances of a recovery in the upcoming fiscal year. At a time when China has recorded the slowest growth rate of its economy in almost thirty years, partly driven by its controversies with the US, Australian casino behemoths, including Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment have faced a…

The UK arm of Genting Group – Genting UK – has provided more details about the planned refurbishment of its casino facility in Luton. The operator has revealed that the renovation works, which have been estimated to £750,000, are set to create a greater variety of gambling options for the casino visitors. As explained by the owners, the refurbishment of Genting Casino Luton is already underway, with improvements planned to be brought to both the gaming and the poker room of the venue, as well as to its lounge and…

The Scottish football club Celtic F.C. has faced strong criticism after posting a tweet to promote the online casino operator Mr Green yesterday afternoon. Using the official Tweeter account of the club for such promotion has come as a great surprise, as the Celtic F.C. has been associated with the working class and charity, something which gambling does not complement at all. Supporters of the club were surprised to find out that it has chosen to work in collaboration with Mr Green to advertise the roll-out of the “official Celtic…

Betfred evaded facing further regulatory action after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) decided not to uphold a complaint against a company’s advert. The questionable Betfred advert was seen on TV on January 20th, 2019. It depicted several characters who gambled while carrying out their everyday activities. The complainant challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, as they believed that it could make gambling look normal to customers, and especially to more vulnerable ones. The gambling operator responded to the complaint, saying that the TV advert did not suggest that people should…

The beginning of the week saw the Kãpiti Coast District Council update its gambling policies, in an attempt to clarify the rules regarding the local club and pub operators aimed at transferring or cancelling their pokie machines licenses. The Mayor of the district, K Gurunathan, has revealed that the changes brought by the coastal District Council to its Class 4 Gambling Policy and its TAB Venue Gambling Policy of 2011, are aimed at bringing more clarity to the conditions under which such licenses could be transferred to another venue or…

An investigation has been rolled out by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) into the claims that bets amounting to £20,000 has been accepted the online gambling operator LeoVegas from a gambling addict who had stolen the money from his mother. The company has also been accused of targeting the player with emails afterwards to encourage him to keep betting. Details regarding the case were unveiled by the Guardian, only to fuel new controversy and make politicians and anti-gambling campaigners call for more in-depth checks into players’ ID and background before…

This week, it became clear that the Australian casino giant Crown Resorts is up for sale following reports that Wynn Resorts had approached James Packer’s AU$6.4-billion gambling empire with a preliminary offer. However, as Casino Guardian reported, the American gambling behemoth exited the confidential takeover negotiations after the news for the talks leaked in the media. Now, despite the fact that Crown Resorts’ shares are trading higher in comparison to the days before the news of the possible takeover, it could remain a possible target for operators that fail to…