Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. In today’s edition we take a look at a Maltese rescue package, optimism from Evolution Gaming and the Kansspelautoriteit’s annual report.
11
The European Gaming Commission has warned that global gambling revenues could be set to drop 11 per cent from previous forecasts due to global concerns about the coronavirus.
2020 global gambling gross win has been downgraded from its previous pre-COVID-19 forecasts of $473bn to $421bn, representing figures close to 2016 levels, according to industry analysts H2 Gambling Capital’s new weekly COVID Impact Tracker.
The company asserts an expectation that worldwide online activity is set to surge, with the sector shifting from 13.2 per cent to a 15.7 per cent share of global gambling revenue.
H2 Gambling Capital comments that the unprecedented shutdown of major sports events across the globe will inevitably have a significant hit on overall revenues across the entire gambling sector, both offline and online.
Currently major sports events suspended or cancelled due to the virus include a variety of European football league, including the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, as well as the European Champions League, The Masters golf major, and the UK’s Grand National – all billed as major events for European bookmakers.
3.5
The Netherlands Gaming Authority Kansspelautoriteit has published its 2019 annual report and the 2020 monitoring agenda, revealing that activities under the Remote Gambling Act continue to have priority.
The report has been published following the decision to modernise the Dutch gambling policy in February 2019 as the Senate passed the Remote Gambling Bill, an amendment to the 1964 Gambling Act.
The annual report explains that activities in 2019 are reported on the basis of the statutory task of the Ksa, these are: protecting consumers, preventing gambling addiction, combating illegality and crime and providing information.
It reveals that in 2019, Ksa imposed a record amount of fines in the region of €3.5m for the illegal provision of online games.
49
Evolution Gaming has lauded continued success and expansion on a global basis as the company reasserts a previously emphasised vision, despite ongoing uncertainty worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Making clear its perpetual mission “to increase the gap to the competition” via three core areas of product innovation, operational excellence and customer optimisation, it follows COVID-19 having the first major impact on the firm.
This came as Georgian authorities ordered the temporary closure of floor operations at Evolution’s Tbilisi site, with the potential acknowledged of further disruption across its other locations in Belgium, Canada, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Spain and USA.
Evolution, which boasts double figures of global licenses, finished 2019 with operating revenue for Q4 seeing a 51 per cent year-on-year jump from €70.2m to €106m, which helped push full-year figures to €365.7m, representing a 49 per cent increase from €245.4m.
Praising its continued investment in growth of its global studio portfolio, the live casino specialist has also stressed that continued success of its game shows category, the launch of a variety of new titles and new deals and extended partnerships contributed to a successful 2019.
66,000
A new economic rescue package to support important industries in Malta due to the only COVID-19 pandemic has had further wholesale upgrades sanctioned by the Malta Labour Party.
The Prime Minister Robert Abela announced a new set of economic measures yesterday in a bid to protect Malta’s business community and workforce with its Treasury pledging to commit €61m per month to support the employer for its hardest-hit sectors.
Abela stated that the Labour Party had sanctioned the drastic measures in order to secure private-sector jobs, in an attempt to protect over 66,000 workers employed in hospitality, retail, leisure and travel.
The new package has been supported by Malta’s trade union and industry bodies, which had previously criticised the Labour Party for focusing its COVID-19 business support on tax deferments over workforce subsidies and cost cancellations.
Support measures will see the government pledge €17m per month to help business sectors that have been impacted by reduced consumption during the crisis. Furthermore the second fund will help payroll subsidies for private businesses operating in manufacturing, finance and IT-related sectors.
