Company Reports

Several racecourse bookmakers that were facing some monetary fines for accepting bets from underage test customer at the Royal Ascot in 2019 will not have to pay them, as the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) had decided to reduce their punishments. The regulator of the UK gambling sector shared it had made the decision amid the significant challenges that are being faced by on-course bookmakers due to the coronavirus crisis. Last summer, the UKGC carried out test purchasing at the Royal Ascot, with a 16-year-old individual was able to place a…

Casino operator SkyCity Entertainment has revealed that it set to resume its operations in selected centres across New Zealand as of May 14th. The company shared plans to restart operations in Auckland, Queenstown and Hamilton as of Thursday, with the country authorities have shifted the coronavirus pandemic measures to Alert Level 2. In late March, the Government of New Zealand moved the measures to alert level 4. The gambling operator also shared that it would restart the offering its services in stages, with the venues set to be run in…

The publicly listed and Malta-licensed online gambling firm Esports Entertainment Group, which operation is primarily focused on esports betting and 18+ gaming, revealed that it is to acquire the owner of online casino and sports betting operator Argyll Entertainment AG, LHE Enterprises Ltd. The Maltese gambling company did not reveal the price of the deal but shared that the operating support subsidiaries of Argyll Entertainment would also be included in the acquisition. The last few years have seen the company, which officially rolled out sportnation.bet as its flagship brand in…

UK gambling operators have been criticised for undermining their promise to cease their advertising during coronavirus lockdown. According to Members of Parliament who have called for the Government to intervene in the gambling advertising sector, gambling companies are undermining their promise to stop promoting their services to local customers during coronavirus shutdown by what they described as “thinly veiled” ads masked as social responsibility messages. The members of the trade body of the gambling industry of the UK – the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) – that currently constitute the…

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has called for the Welsh Government to protect jobs in the gambling industry by reconsidering the rate relief for such companies and possibly include businesses such as casinos, high-street betting outlets and bingo halls. According to the gambling industry’s trade body, such a step would help them to offset the negative impact that the coronavirus lockdown has had on them. Michael Dugher, the chief executive officer of the Betting and Gaming Council, has reached the Welsh finance minister Rebecca Evans in a letter and…

Gambling operators have faced a warning from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) that they will face regulatory action in case they do not make sure they manage carefully third-party websites they are responsible for. The warning of the gambling watchdog comes after the UKGC took action against FSB Technology that will be forced to change the way it operates under some additional licence conditions. The company will also have to pay £600,000 for social responsibility, money laundering and advertising failures. The business model of FSB Technology includes contracting provisions of…

As of 8:00 AM on May 5th, the merger between Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group was finalized. A few days ago, the owner of the Paddy Power Betfair business revealed the deadline for the acquisition and subsequent merger with The Stars Group, after which the multiple gambling brands owned by the two parties are expected to start integration. The announcement has come after the shareholders of The Stars Group overwhelmingly backed the company’s decision to sign the agreement worth £10 billion. The merger ended up creating an extremely powerful…

The CEOs of a couple of the largest gambling operators in the UK have said they do not intend to cut their paychecks despite using local taxpayers’ money to support their businesses and prevent them from suffering significant losses. On one hand, reports say that William Hill is taking advantage of the business rates holiday and the wage subsidy scheme to the extent of more than £30 million on a monthly basis. On the other hand, Flutter Entertainment’s Paddy Power is saving business rates of £400,000 every month. The two…

Aussie gamblers could be grateful to the coronavirus lockdown in a certain way, as it has saved them millions in the weeks of social isolation measures. Even though the situation with the Covid-19 pandemic is serious, anti-gambling campaigners find the nationwide closures of clubs and pubs that offer poker machines as a positive thing because, after the lockdown that was imposed on March 23rd, local gamblers were unable to spend money on the dangerous electronic gaming terminals. For some time now, Australians have been reported as the biggest gamblers on…

Five individuals have been charged with match-fixing criminal offences as part of the first investigation into esports on the territory of Australia. The Victoria Police Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit’s detectives charged the five men with offences that could see them go to prison for 10 years. Last year, a local media revealed that the Victorian police suspected that some match-betting arrangements had been made in a semi-professional esports league, with associates of the team having been told to place bets on them. The investigation was given a start in March…