CasinoBeats

An independent review has endorsed the push-to-web methodology within the UK Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

Conducting the review was Professor Patrick Sturgis of the London School of Economics, who described the GSGB developments as being “exemplary in all respects”, and that the move to push-to-web will bring “a number of important benefits”.

In November last year, the UKGC commissioned Sturgis for the review after expressing confidence that the push-to-web GSGB methodology would be “relevant and robust” and help produce “better data”.

The review’s purpose was to analyse the push-to-web approach against best practices considering the context of current survey approaches, explore the approach’s likely impact on estimates of gambling participation and prevalence of gambling harms, as well as provide improvement recommendations.

Sturgis commented: “The Gambling Commission has engaged with a broad range of stakeholders and followed industry standards of best..

The New South Wales Independent Casino Commission has told The Star Entertainment Group it has appointed Adam Bell SC to lead another inquiry into The Star Sydney casino.

The inquiry, under sections 143(1) and 143A of the Casino Control Act 1992 (NSW), will assist the NICC in determining the suitability of management and operations of The Star Sydney, in which Bell will have “the powers and authorities of a royal commissioner in NSW”.

The NICC will examine if structural changes have been made by The Star Sydney over the past 18 months since the operator was deemed unsuitable to hold its casino licence within NSW following a review.

The review, also conducted by Bell, found “governance, risk management and cultural failings” at the Sydney casino.

Following the review, the NICC suspended The Star’s licence indefinitely and appointed Nick Weeks as an independent manager to provide the operator with a chance to show it was “suitable or was capable of reaching suitability within a reaso..

Every week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most fascinating stories. Our latest headline reflection features financial results from the likes of Betsson, PENN Entertainment and Gaming Innovation Group, as well as an Australian AML fine.

251.9

Publishing its Q4 and full-year 2023 financial results, Betsson declared a group revenue of €251.9m for the quarter, a 14 per cent uptick year-over-year (Q4 2022: €220.6m) and an organic increase of 36 per cent in comparison to the previous year.

EBITDA for Q4 was €71.9m, up 40 per cent YoY (Q4 2022: €51.1m), with a margin of 28.6 per cent.

Operating income for the quarter was €57m, up 42 per cent YoY (Q4 2022: €40m) with a margin of 22.6 per cent, while net income was €43.3m (Q4 2022: €32.7m).

Q4 operating cash flow was €47.6m (Q4 2022: €75.5m), while net cash was €59.6m (Q4 2022: €65.7m).

For the full year, group revenue rose by 22 per cent to €948.2m (2022: €777.2m) with an organic increase of 40 per ce..

The Star Entertainment Group has entered into binding documentation with New South Wales Treasurer, The Honourable Daniel Mookhey MLC, agreeing to a jobs guarantee and a cashless and carded play trial at its Sydney casino.

Entering a Jobs Guarantee Agreement with the State of NSW and the United Workers Union, The Star has agreed to a minimum headcount and certain ratios of full-time, part-time and casual employees at The Star Sydney casino until June 30, 2030.

“The jobs commitment is subject to certain permitted adjustments in certain circumstances (including for force majeure and material adverse change events) following consultation with the NSW government and the United Workers Union,” The Star said in a statement.

If The Star fails to comply with these requirements, it will be subject to certain penalties under the recent amendments to the Casino Control Act 1992 (NSW). Within 10 business days following entry into the Jobs Guarantee Agreement, a copy of the agreement must be ta..

Comtrade Gaming has launched its Central Monitoring System in Uganda, aiming to ‘vastly strengthen regulatory compliance’ in the nation’s igaming industry.

Working closely with the Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board Uganda, Comtrade Gaming’s latest move will establish the National Central Electronic Monitoring System to analyse and monitor gambling activities and regulatory compliance in Uganda.

Covering the entire Ugandan jurisdiction, the NCEMS offers ‘extensive and multi-layered monitoring’ of problem gambling, while helping operators adhere to regulatory requirements and ensure transparency and compliance.

Ivan Lah, Director of Systems at Comtrade Gaming, commented: “We are excited to introduce our innovative Central Monitoring System to the Ugandan market. With its advanced features and robust capabilities, we believe that our solution will play a pivotal role in promoting responsible gambling practices and fostering a safe and transparent gambling environment in Uganda.”..

The Christian Democratic Appeal party’s push to ban all gambling advertising in the Netherlands has fallen short, as the Dutch parliament voted against the party’s mandate.

Led by CDA MP Derk Boswijk, the mandate pushed for a blanket ban on all Dutch gambling advertising to form part of the upcoming safer gambling amendments to the Remote Gambling Act (KOA Act).

Unfortunately for the CDA, the mandate fell narrowly short of a 76-vote majority in the House of Representatives, with support from 70 out of 150 MPs not enough to get it over the line.

However, Dutch ministers within the Kamer (parliament) agreed that ‘overarching playing limits’ must be included in the ongoing amendments to the KOA Act.

The CDA’s proposal had support from various parties, including ChristenUnie, Socialist Party, New Social Contract, and the SGP.

Three mandates related to amending the KOA Act were voted in the House, aiming to reshape the Act which has governed the Netherlands’ online gambling market si..

GamCare has expanded the responsibilities of its Director of Communications and External Affairs Mark Weiss, appointing him as Deputy CEO.

Having been a part of the GamCare team since May 2022, Weiss brings over 10 years of health policy and communications experience to the Deputy CEO position.

Since joining GamCare, Weiss has helped the gambling charity with its external engagement and communications programme, leading its response to the government’s White Paper, as well as reflecting the views of the lived experience community on how the government could help make gambling safer.

Working closely with Executive Chair Margot Daly, Weiss will offer strategic leadership and direction across GamCare’s services in his new role, in addition to serving as a GamCare ambassador, raising the charity’s profile and that of the people it supports.

Commenting on his new role, Weiss said: “I am delighted to take on the role of Deputy CEO. Since joining in 2022 I have seen first-hand the incr..

GambleAware is looking to fund a research project to develop a new framework for gambling-related harm in Great Britain.

The goal of the project is to build on the previous findings from a scoping review published in July 2023 conducted on behalf of GambleAware by the National Centre for Social Research and the University of Plymouth titled ‘Frameworks and Measurement of Gambling Related Harm: A Scoping Study’.

The new research project will “address identified issues with the Problem Gambling Severity Index in the screening and assessment of harm” and “build on and adapt other frameworks that have been established in other jurisdictions and adjacent policy areas”.

GambleAware noted that the scoping study focused “on individual behaviour and overlooked a variety of socio-environmental factors which contribute to gambling-related harms, with methodologies often lacking robustness and failing to engage with people with lived experience”.

The gambling charity added: “The reliance on t..

Spillemyndigheden, the Danish gambling authority, has declared a year-over-year improvement of over 22 per cent across the industry in December, but only a slight increase across 2023 as a whole in comparison to the previous year.

Publishing its data for December 2023, Spillemyndigheden noted that the total GGR amounted to DKK 665m (€89.23m), up 22.6 per cent YoY (December 2022: DKK 543m). December’s figure is also an improvement on November’s GGR of DKK 606m.

For the full 2023 year, the gambling authority posted a GGR of DKK 6.8bn, up one per cent in comparison to 2022’s DKK 6.7bn.

December GGR was driven by growth across betting, online casinos and land-based casinos, but gaming machines did decline slightly in comparison to the same month in 2022.

In terms of GGR share, online casinos led the way with a 45.85 per cent share, followed by betting with 34.02 per cent, gaming machines with 14.93 per cent and land-based casinos with 5.2 per cent.

December’s online casino GGR came in..

SkyCity Entertainment Group has been informed by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs that it intends to file civil penalty proceedings against the operator for non-compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act.

To be filed in the High Court on February 16 against SkyCity Casino Management, the penalty outlines five separate causes of action which allege “significant compliance issues in relation to the act”, mostly related to historical matters, but some refer to previously self-reported non-compliance incidents as well.

SkyCity Casino Management is a subsidiary of SkyCity and the casino operator licence holder for the SkyCity Auckland, SkyCity Hamilton and SkyCity Queenstown casinos in New Zealand.

SkyCity noted that it is “disappointed that it has not met the standard to which it needs to hold itself”, resulting in the penalty filing, and that it wishes to engage constructively with the department to resolve the matters expeditiousl..