CasinoBeats delves into the fascinating numbers that are behind the stories of some of the most interesting industry news. This week, the roundup includes financial results from Groupe Partouche as well as Dutch Financial Action. It also contains an update on UK General Election.
17
As all three major parties released their manifestos, the UK gambling industry was still in a state of confusion with 17 days to go until the UK General Election.
On Thursday, June 13th, the Labour Party 2024 was launched by KeirStarmer, who is predicted to win a massive victory over the Conservatives in July. The manifesto focuses on green energy, wealth creation, and reducing NHS wait times.
The gambling industry is only mentioned in one paragraph of Starmer’s proposed plan.
The manifesto stated: “Labour will reduce gambling-related harm.” Labour, in recognition of the changes to the gambling industry since 2005 will strengthen protections and reform the regulation.
We will continue working with industry to promote responsible gaming.
Labour’s Manifesto did not provide any updates on the Gambling Act Review, but it provided more insight into gambling that its Conservative counterpart.
The Conservative Party’s “Our Plan” Manifesto published on 11th July made no mention whatsoever of gambling or the proposed changes that were referred to last year’s White Paper, such as the affordability check or the Research, Education and Treatment Levy.
The Liberal Democrats, in contrast to the Green Party, focused more on gambling, including plans to reduce the black market and introduce “effective” affordability controls.
PS585m
Entain faces a lawsuit to compensate institutional investors who were affected by its PS585m fine for a HMRC investigation into bribery in the former Turkish operations.
Fox Williams of London has launched a claim period accusing Entain for failing to comply with its legal duties in reporting bribery charges and corruption allegations related to Headlong Limited, its Turkish subsidiary.
The litigation asserts that Entain’s shareholders have a right to compensation due to its failures in transparency, since section 7 of UK Bribery Act 2010, was broken by Entain.
The section 7 says that “a company may commit an offense under the section 7 for failure to prevent corruption if any employee, subsidiary or agent (or ‘associated persons’), bribes a person in another country or region to gain or maintain business, or to get a competitive advantage.
This claim allows institutional investors to recover significant losses, and more importantly improves transparency and governance within the UK gambling industry. The disclosure requirements of public companies must be taken seriously. This will hopefully improve corporate behavior, since shareholders won’t accept misconduct”, said Andrew Hill who is leading the proceedings.
Entain has been haunted by the affairs of Headlong, a former subsidiary of GVC Holdings. Entain reached a “definitive agreement” with Crown Prosecution Service in December 2023 through a Deferred Prosecution Agreement.
Entain will pay Entain PS600m as part of this settlement. This includes a PS585m DPA penalty financial, disgorgement profits, PS20m of charitable donations, and PS10m of costs to HMRC or CPS.
Entain will pay instalments over a period of four years starting 2024. Entain declared corporate losses in excess of PS900m, but these were booked as 2023 account due to DPA settlement.
6
Nolimit City is making its debut in the US, after Evolution released the slot releases of the studio across six US states.
Evolution, the slot-developer owned by Evolution, has released a list of titles that will be launched in Connecticut, Delaware Michigan, New Jersey Pennsylvania West Virginia and West Virginia.
Nolimit City has described the decision as “a massive moment” for its growth. It allows the company to reach players in the US, allowing it access to them for the very first time.
Malcolm Mizzi is the COO at Nolimit City and the Commercial Director. He said: “Our online slot games are known for their high-volatility maths models, daring gameplay and content, and we’re really excited to see the reactions of US players.
Since the beginning, we’ve been heavily influenced with US themes. You only have to take a look at our titles to realize how important the US launch is for our team.”
EUR294,000
Kansspelautoriteit has fined LCS Limited as well as Blue High House a total amount of EUR294,000 for illegally operating in the Netherlands.
LCS Limited received a fine of EUR2,07m (about $2.07m) in October 2023 after it was found that in 2022, Dutch players were offered illegal gambling games via the Sons of Slots brand of online casino.
The KSA determined that LCS Limited was still operating illegally on the Dutch market via Yugibet. LCS was fined EUR165,000 on top of its initial EUR2,07m.
In October 2023 at the same time, Blue High House, a Panama registered operator, was issued a stop and desist letter with monetary penalties for providing illegal online games of chance through Concret Line.
KSA has fined the operator EUR 129,000 and suggested that “another fine may also be imposed”.
Rene Jansen Chairman of KSA says: “An Order subject to Penalty is More Than a Warning to an Illegal Provider.” The Ksa will punish illegal providers that do not follow the correct measures in order to block Dutch players. They will also feel the consequences where they are most affected, their wallets.
2.3%
Groupe Partouche reported an increase of 2.3% in revenues for the first and second quarters in 2024, following renovations to the casino.
Operator declared revenue for H1 of EUR220.6m, a 2.3% increase over the previous year (H1 2020: EUR215.6m). The operator’s net gaming revenues for H1 also increased by 2.1% compared to the same time last year, to EUR179.7m.
Groupe Partouche reported that in Q2, revenue increased by 2.6% YoY, to EUR101.9m. (Q2 2020: EUR99.2m). GGR was EUR173.7m. This is a 2.7% increase compared with the same time period last year. (Q2 2019: EUR169.1m).
The operator reported that in France the GGR increased by 1.7% YoY to EUR154.8m during the quarter, accounting for 89 percent of the total GGR generated during the period.
The slot machine GGR accounted for 80 percent of France’s GGR, with EUR124.6m. This is a 2.5-percent increase. The GGR for table games fell by 1.4% to EUR30.2m.
GGR abroad grew 11.5 percent YoY, to EUR18.9 million. This was due to a 48.9-percent increase in Swiss online gambling and a 31.7% rise at the Middelkerke Casino in Belgium.
After deductions, Groupe Partouche’s NGR increased by 2.8% YoY in Q2 (Q2 2020: EUR79.3m) while revenue from non-gaming activity stood at EUR21.1m. This was mainly because of “regained dynamism” for hotels.
