Company Reports

The German sports betting operator Tipico owned by one of the largest private-equity firms on a global scale has joined the £1.5-billion competition for the UK-based assets of William Hill. According to media reports, Tipico, which is currently majority-owned by CVC Capital Partners, has become one of the bidders who have expressed interest in the acquisition of the UK high-street betting shops and European assets of William Hill. As revealed by sources familiar with the situation, Tipico Group has placed a “credible” acquisition bid for William Hill that was purchased…

The Royal Commission that is investigating Crown Perth was told that local businessman John Poynton agreed to provide James Packer with sensitive information about Crown businesses as part of a consultancy agreement worth AU$50,000. The consultancy contract was agreed on between Consolidated Press Holdings and Mulloway Ptw in May 2018, around the time when Mr Packer was replaced by Mr Poynton on his position in the Crown Resorts board. As revealed by Patricia Cahill, an assisting counsel to the Royal Commission, Poyton was supposed to provide confidential information regarding the…

Facebook revealed that it intends to impose stricter control on the types of ads seen by children as young as 13 on Instagram and other platforms. The decision of the social network comes at a time when new research has found that alcohol companies in Australia are not restricting their content published on social media outlets from reaching underage individuals. Earlier today, Facebook announced that the photo and video sharing social network service Instagram will stop advertisers from targeting children under 18 years of age based on their interests. As…

At the beginning of the week, Australian casino giant Crown Resorts shared that the state of Western Australia had extended the time provided to the state’s Royal Commission that is currently investigating the operations of its Perth casino venue. Reportedly, the deadline was extended to March 2022. The announcement was made after a similar thing was done by the state of Victoria after the authorities said they would give more time and funding to the Royal Commission so that it would be able to investigate a wider range of issues…

A counsel assisting the Victoria Royal Commission’s investigation into Crown Resorts has suggested that the cancellation of the Australian gambling giant‘s Melbourne casino licence could be postponed by up to 18 months in order to provide the company with time to bring some improvements into its structure or allow the state’s government to choose a new operator for the licence. According to the counsel familiar with the situation, such a delay would help the authorities bring the expected disruption associated with the casino licence cancellation and the negative consequences this…

The Star Entertainment Group has dropped its offer to merge with its Australian rival Crown Resorts after the Victorian Royal Commission heard the casino giant had been involved in illegal conduct. As Casino Guardian reported, in May, Star Entertainment, which currently operates its casinos in Sydney and on the Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane, made a merger proposal to its main competitor. If successful, the deal would have created a gambling conglomerate worth about AU$12 billion. However, earlier today Star Entertainment informed the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that some issues,…

Recently, the US multimedia messaging application Snapchat has unveiled a new feature that provides British users with the chance to block gambling adverts. The country’s gambling regulatory body – the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) – has welcomed the changes made by the app, while the Betting and Gaming Council‘s boss Michael Dugher support the change and urged more social media websites to unveil similar opt-out features for gambling ads. Before the official roll-out of the option, the multimedia messaging app and the BGC had been working in partnership for a…

SkyCity Entertainment Group announced that it is suspending all gaming and entertainment activities as its Adelaide casino for no less than the following four days due to state-wide restrictions because of a coronavirus outbreak in Sydney that continues to spread across the state. The SkyCity Adelaide closure comes as a response to the newest restrictions that are being imposed by the government of South Australia after the authorities detected three cases of Covid-19 at the beginning of the week. Now, under restrictions categorised as Level 4, non-essential retail outlets are…

The lawyer leading the investigation into Crown Casino in Victoria said that the gambling operator is not fit to hold a casino operating licence in the state due to evidence for unlawful conduct encouraged by a corporate culture that put generating profit ahead of keeping the company’s integrity and the fact it has lost the trust of the local community. In his final submissions on the matter, Adrian Finanzio SC explained that the gambling firm’s efforts to bring some changes to its policies and corporate culture may not be enough…

Flutter Entertainment, the owner of Paddy Power, Betfair, PokerStars, FOX Bet and a number of other gambling and betting brands, revealed that it is set to save approximately €58 million on an annual basis after a transaction associated with debt refinancing. In a statement released earlier today, the gambling operator revealed that the aforementioned transaction is set to minimise its effective cost of debt and provide the gambling group with extra liquidity, which would help it become more financially flexible. As revealed by Flutter Entertainment, the key elements of the…