Company Reports

Online gambling operator 888 Holdings revealed yesterday that its 2020 core profit could suffer a blow in the high single-digit millions of dollars in case the disruptions in international sporting events schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic remain until September. The Covid-19 trading update published by 888 Holdings on March 24th made the company part of the gambling operators, such as GVC Holdings, Flutter Entertainment and William Hill, which have already issued warnings of an expected big hit to their earnings due to the cancellation of all major sports events.…

The largest gambling operators in Australia have been out of luck recently, with the local casino industry experiencing a shutdown. Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment are facing some difficulties in an effort to deal with the forced closures of their gaming floors and restaurants, with a long-time lockdown being considered as a major setback for both casino companies. Both Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment both halted trading after the announcement of the Federal Government that all clubs, pubs and casino venues across the country would be shut to tackle the…

Gambling operator Federal Group has required from owners of pubs in Tasmania to continue paying rent on leased poker machines, even at a time when hotel owners have been forced to shut their operations down due to spreading coronavirus. This move, however, has been described by Senator Jacqui Lambie as an effort to make easy money during a “wartime scenario”. The beginning of the week saw the federal subsidiary Network Gaming write to the leaseholders of state’s poker terminals to inform them that while Keno charges were set to be…

A Member of Parliament urged leading Scottish football clubs to cut their ties with the local gambling sector. Ronnie Cowan has written to all 42 professional football clubs and called them to sign a charter that is set to be released at Westminster on March 25th. Signing the agreement would see all sponsorship agreements between football clubs and gambling operators ended. Under the terms of the charter, football clubs would also stop displaying any gambling business’ promotional materials, both in print or digitally. Mr Cowan, who is a vice-chairman of…

The Australian telecom regulator has taken measures against a major broadcaster, threatening it with a massive monetary penalty for breaching the rules regarding gambling advertising during live sports events. On March 20th, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that it had taken action against the commercial broadcaster Nine Network because of the bad timing of some gambling advertisements during the online streaming of the State of Origin matches from the National Rugby League in 2019. As revealed by the telecommunications watchdog, an investigation held by the ACMA found…

UK gambling operators are now trying to lure customers to their online gambling services, including casino and poker games, at a time when they are trying to compensate for the loss of revenue from the cancellation of sports events and the closure of high-street betting outlets due to the coronavirus infection spread. As explained by the Chief Executive Officer of GVC Holdings, Kenny Alexander, the transition of customers from land-based to online casino and gambling services was working “reasonably well”. He further noted that the company did not stop operation…

Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for Crown Casino Melbourne to shut its operations amid the outbreak of the coronavirus, and at a time when many events that are important to the city are being cancelled or restricted. Social indoor gatherings at which more than 100 people are being present have been banned, with the measure affecting the entertainment and cultural life in Melbourne. The sports life has also been suffering due to the Covid-19 outbreak, with the Grand Prix being cancelled last weekend, and the AFL’s opening…

The UK gambling watchdog has revealed that another online gambling company has seen its operating licence suspended as part of regulatory action. This is the fourth regulatory action of this kind over the last five weeks. On March 17th, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) revealed that it has undertaken a licence review into International Multi-Media Entertainment Limited, which holds an operating licence No. 003-039526-R-319314 trades as Lotteries.com and also known as “The Lottery Centre”. The regulatory probe has been initiated under the provisions of s116 of the Gambling Act 2005.…

Apparently, the UK gambling company Betfred has managed to win the competitive auction for MoPlay’s database after the company that owns the online gambling brand, Addison Global, has fallen into insolvency. There has been strong competition between the companies willing to acquire the customer database involving the UK business of MoPlay. Apart from Betfred, who now seems to have won the competition, companies such as BetVictor, Virgin Media and Star Sports have also been involved in the auction that started after Addison Group sent an email to inform its customer…

The beginning of the week saw the sports betting and gambling giant GVC Holdings publish an update regarding the impact that the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent cancellation of sporting events are expected to have on its performance. Less than a fortnight ago, on March 5th, 2020, the gambling group issued a trading update for the period from January 1st to February 23rd, saying that its performance so far in the year to date was strong. At the time, GVC Holdings said that its group net gaming revenue increased by…