Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. This week we take a look at Triplebet’s UK licence suspension, NetEnt calling for a change in Sweden and GiG’s B2C divestment to Betsson nearing an end.
739,099
The UK Gambling Commission has published reasons behind the suspension of the Triplebet licence following social responsibility and money laundering failings, with additional conditions imposed as well as a financial penalty of £739,099.
Taking the action with immediate effect when first revealed earlier in the year, Triplebet, operator of a betting exchange and remote casino under the ‘Matchbook’ moniker, saw a licence review by the regulator commence on August 13, 2018.
An investigation is said to have found serious failings in Triplebet’s approach to anti-money laundering, the monitoring of business relationships and due diligence checks into members of gambling syndicates. Serious failings were also found in the operator’s approach to social responsibility.
In one case, the UKGC stated that a player was able to gamble a large sum of money over the course of two days without any interaction whatsoever.
Another registered user, who played and then self-excluded on the same day, was subsequently able to reopen his account six months later, before playing for 10 hours a day on consecutive days and losing a large sum before self-excluding again, without any monitoring or interaction taking place.
92
NetEnt believes a change in Swedish licensing needs to be introduced, calling on the establishment of a B2B licensing system to create fairer conditions and a higher channelisation rate.
Lauding continued improvements in live casino, growth in the US and a consistent focus on sustainability, it follows the company reporting a slight revenue increase to to SEK 1.79bn recently.
With revenues made up of slots (92 per cent) and table games (eight per cent), on a region-by-region basis that sees the UK boast 15 per cent and Sweden eight per cent, with other Nordics encompassing 15 per cent, other Europe 48 per cent and the rest of the world 14 per cent.
Forming a key portion of the casino content developer’s focus, the Swedish market re-regulated in January 2019 with NetEnt suggesting that a number of restrictions imposed “led to challenges for the entire industry and significantly lower revenues compared to previous years”.
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Gaming Innovation Group has provided an update on its divestment agreement with Betsson Group, entered earlier in the year, stating that completion is to be finalised by the midway point of this month.
The share purchase agreement, which has been formally approved by antitrust regulators, was initially inked on February 14, with Betsson paying €33m on closing, including €2m for the cash deposit securing GiG’s Spanish casino license.
When previously disclosing details of the transaction it was said that the package alongside the online betting and gaming firm consisted of a €22.3m cash payment plus a prepaid platform fee €8.7m, and includes operator brands Rizk, Guts, Kaboo and Thrills
GiG will use part of these proceeds to repay the company’s SEK 300 million 2017 – 2020 bond, which the company asserts will strengthen the balance sheet and reduce its financial leverage ratio.
The sale of the B2C vertical comes as a direct result of GiG’s strategic review to reduce complexity and improve efficiency.
6
Colorado’s sports betting market boasts the capacity to become a multi-billion dollar jurisdiction, helped by the avoidance of some of the pitfalls of earlier adopters, such as imposing maximum bet limits, a decision regulators left to operators.
According to analysts at PlayColorado, at maturity the Centennial State could potentially annually generate up to $6bn in bets, $400m in gross operator revenue and $40m in tax revenue.
Despite the sports world being indefinitely shuttered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, regulators are preparing for a May 1 launch of online and retail sports betting at which time Colorado will become the 18th state to have some form of legal market.
“With a significant base of existing land-based casinos, a regulatory framework that will be attractive to operators, and one of the largest metropolitan markets in the country to draw from, Colorado is well-positioned to capitalise on sports betting,” said Dustin Gouker, chief analyst for PlayColorado.com.
“But assuming the industry does launch on May 1, it will be doing so in unprecedented circumstances with almost no sports to wager on. There are some advantages to a forced soft opening, but it also means that it will be some time before we learn with confidence just how Colorado’s bettors will respond to legal sports betting.”
