Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. In the latest entry we take a look at further fines in Sweden, a South African sale by Caesars and the completion of a long awaited, and much debated, acquisition.
SEK 14m
The Spelinspektionen has continued its clampdown on a variety of licensees in the jurisdiction, after Betway and Mandalorian Technologies became the latest to fall foul of the regulator.
Violating bonusing rules in Sweden’s market, it was found that the licence holders offered customers bonuses on repeated occasions, with it stipulated that those “with a Swedish license may only offer their customers a bonus at the first game opportunity”.
Stressing that it “considers the violations to be serious,” each party received a warning and fine, with Betway, which provides games via its betway.se portal, penalised SEK5m (£406k) and Mandalorian, which sees the noaccountcasino.com and prankcasino.comfall under its banner, ordered to pay SEK9m (£730k).
In its judgement the Spelinspektionen details that it had indications earlier in the year that a selection of gaming companies were not complying with the necessary legislation, with a letter, dated Tuesday 19 February, reminding all licensees of their responsibility surrounding bonus offers.
93
Zeal Network has now completed the acquisition of Lotto24, a leading online provider of state-run lotteries in Germany.
The all-share public takeover was approved by the extraordinary general meeting of Zeal on January 18, with the offer being launched later that month, on January 31.
Following the satisfaction of all completion conditions, as confirmed on April 11, the offer was accepted for 93 per cent of the Lotto24 shares by the end of the additional offer period on April 29.
Dr Helmut Becker, CEO of Zeal, said: “We are pleased that we were able to convince both Lotto24 and Zeal shareholders of the strategic value of this merger and would like to thank our employees in particular for their great commitment and untiring efforts over the past months.
£3.9m
GambleAware, the charity that funds research, prevention and treatment services to reduce gambling related harm, is to invest an extra £3.9m for up to three years to support expansion of the National Gambling Treatment Service via GamCare and its partners.
The money will enable the National Gambling Helpline to provide advice and brief interventions to more people (£705,000), while £435,000 will provide access to computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy where this is clinically appropriate.
A similar amount (£438,000) will develop peer support so that those recovering from gambling addiction can help others to access treatment and aftercare, while the lion share – £2,35m – will go towards expanding the provision of face-to-face treatment services in England, Scotland and Wales.
These GambleAware and GamCare initiatives will be funded immediately and supplement other developments that have already been announced, such as work with Adfam to improve support for those affected by the gambling of others, and a major investment to open the NHS Northern Gambling Clinic.
$49m
Nevada headquartered Caesars Entertainment has announced a trimming of its African interests, after offloading its stake in the Emerald Resort and Casino.
Acquiring the property is Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts, a Johannesburg based hospitality and entertainment firm, for a total cash consideration of $49m.
Implying a 7.9 multiplier on 2018’s $6.2m EBITDA figure, Caesars, which owns 70 per cent of the property with the remaining 30 per cent help by local minority partners, receives cash proceeds for its ownership stake and other adjustments total $39m.
The company is to continue to operate the property until the transaction closes, which is expected to be in the third quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
