Ireland takes first steps toward legalizing casinos

Ireland’s government is proceeding with plans to reform the country’s gambling laws with a decision to begin regulating and licensing the private members clubs that operate as casinos.

A phased approach will see the creation of a special casino gaming control section within the Ministry of Justice to oversee the operations of the casinos ahead of drafting legislation to revise the gambling code, according to a report in The Irish Times.

Compliance with a proposed code of standards and ethics will be voluntary, but the section's oversight will be strict, and compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules will be compulsory. Large-scale casino developments will not be permitted. Nor is licensing for existing clubs a given. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern suggested that some might not pass muster and may have to close.

In the meantime, Ahern said he will move forward with plans to liberalize the gambling code, working from a government report published last year that recommends licensing and regulating casinos. Existing operators have been pressing for the same thing. They’ve sponsored a report which claims that regulation could generate up to €280 million for the economy and create 13,000 new jobs by 2020.

Ahearn said the aim is to put in place “a modern, responsive code that recognises the fact that some people gamble and enjoy gambling.” There is, however, no broad agreement with the opposition Labour Party on the issue, and plans to establish an all-party committee on gambling reform in the Dail have foundered.

Despite the fact that casinos are illegal in the country, up to 50 private members clubs are in existence offering casino-type games. Their legitimacy will be tested soon when the Atlantic Casino Club in Clonmel, which was raided by police last year, is prosecuted in court in a case that will be closely watched.

A plea for more time from gambling zone in southern Russia

A gambling association in southern Russia has asked for a delay in the opening of a government-designated gambling zone, saying the region needs another three years of development.

The official news agency RIA Novosti reported that gambling companies in the Rostov and Krasnodar regions have published a letter to local authorities, lawmakers and the envoy of President Dmitri Medvedev asking them to support a bill drafted by the legislature of the Primorye Territory in the Far East proposing a delay in casino closures in major metropolitan areas until the end of 2012.

Under the terms of legislation pushed by former President Vladimir Putin and passed by the Duma in 2006, Russia’s booming casino industry must vacate Moscow and St. Petersburg and other major cities by July 1 of this year and relocate to four outlying zones. These are in Primorye, in Altai in Central Asia, in the East European enclave of Kaliningrad and in the south near the Sea of Azov in Rostov-Krasnodar in a development called Azov City.

“The infrastructure of the Azov City gambling zone has not been built,” the association said in its letter. “Its construction cannot be accelerated due to the global financial crisis and regional budgets deficits. … There will still be an uncultivated field in the area designated for the gambling zone by July 1, 2009.”

A widespread government crackdown has forced the closure of about one-third of Russia’s casinos since the beginning of 2007, according to Novosti, and many operators have switched to other businesses, invested in casinos outside the country or gone underground. In Moscow, home to 32 casinos and slightly more than 500 slot parlors (down from almost 3,000 a couple of years ago), many operators have begun to transition to poker, which is considered a sport in Russia.

Codere holds its own with help from Argentina and Mexico

Codere Group topped the €1 billion mark in revenues in 2008 on the strength of continued growth in South America and Mexico.

The Spanish multinational lost money on the year, however, partly the result of losses in its Italian bingo and betting businesses, the impact of the economic downturn in Spain and the euro’s appreciation against local currencies. EBITDA was up 17.2 percent to €234.7 million despite cutbacks in total investments totaling more than 50 percent year over year. The end result was a net loss of €10.6 million.

Argentina was one of the group’s biggest success stories. Revenues were up 17.9 percent to €352.5 million, boosted by a changeover to ticket in/ticket out technology. EBITDA was up 11.7 percent to €110 million.

Mexican revenues grew 60.6 percent to €232.8 million, driven by a 21 percent increase in Codere’s electronic bingo terminal inventory and efficiencies achieved as a result of a consolidation of its operations in the country. EBITDA was up 19.2 percent to €69 million.

Codere also improved its balance sheet by concluding an agreement with Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux for up to €1 million in cash.

World Poker Tour expands calendar to include Africa, Italy

The World Poker Tour is coming to Africa for the first time.

WPT Enterprises and Chilipoker.com are teaming up to bring the tour to Marrakech, Morocco, for the next three years. Casino de Marrakech will host the televised event in October. Satellites began last month on Chilipoker and the iPoker network.

WPT Enterprises also is entering Italy for the first time through a tournament partnership with bwin Interactive Entertainment.

WPT Venice will take place May 6-10 at the Casino di Venezia, with live streaming of the tournament and the final table and the crowning of the first WPT Venice Champion available on bwin’s site.

Additional cash games and side events will take place alongside the main event. Players also will be able to take part in live betting on the players at the final table while watching the action live.

Ladbrokes, Hills buck the downturn to enjoy strong years

The recession did not persuade Britons to pull back on their betting last year.

Ladbrokes, the country’s largest bookmaker, beat analysts’ estimates with a pre-tax profit of £250.2 million for 2008, down from £345.2 million the year before but well ahead of the City’s expectation of £215 million.

Excluding the biggest bettors, Ladbrokes’ win was up from £1.02 billion in 2007 to £1.14 billion. Retail operations reported a 4.7 percent increase in revenues year over year to £773.9 million, driven mostly by gaming machine win, which was up 15.2 percent. The eGaming division posted revenues of £172.2 million, a 20 percent increase, which the company attributed to new customer acquisitions, increased television advertising and a more diverse product mix.

The country’s second-largest bookmaker, William Hill, plans to raise £350 million to refinance debt through a share sale on the strength of an increase in net profit to £234 million in 2008, up almost 49 percent from £157.4 million the year before.

Proceeds of £86.5 million from a sale of 29 percent of the company’s online unit helped boost the bottom line, but gross revenue across all divisions was up 3.5 percent to £1.02 billion, while revenue from continuing operations rose from £933.6 million to £963.7 million. Profit before tax was up 40 percent year over year to £293.3 million.

Expansion plans off: Gambling or nothing for Holland Casino

Holland Casino has some ambitious plans in the works to diversify its way out of a difficult operating climate, but Justice Minister Ernst Ballin has vetoed them.

The state-owned monopoly, which is wrestling with a costly smoking ban and a 10-15 percent fall-off in visitor numbers and turnover, planned to invest hundreds of millions of euros to expand into theater performances and clubs, according to news reports.

But Ballin told lawmakers the company should “stick to what it knows”.

The country’s Labour and Socialist parties also opposed the expansion, claiming it did not fit with the company’s responsibility to reduce problem gambling.

Lottomatica wins big in ’08; revenues up 24 percent to €2B

Italian lottery and betting giant Lottomatica posted revenues of €2.06 billion for 2008, an increase of more than 24 percent.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 8 percent to €756 million. In the fourth quarter, EBITDA was up 15 percent as revenues jumped by 50 percent, driven largely by increased product sales.

The company’s GTECH subsidiary saw revenues grow by 78 percent in the fourth quarter to €385.8 million for the year.

“Our performance in the fourth quarter gives us confidence in the resiliency of our businesses, particularly during these uncertain economic times,” said Stefano Bortoli, the company’s chief financial officer. “These results, and our overall annual growth, reflect our intensified focus on financial discipline, cost control and cash management.”

Earlier this year, Lottomatica joined forces with Turkish media-to-energy conglomerate Dogan Holding to tender a bid for Turkey's National Lottery.

British government requests study of gambling machines

FOBTs are under scrutiny again in Britain.

At the request of Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe the country’s Gambling Commission has assembled a blue-ribbon panel to study the sector, headed by Jonathan Parke of the University of Salford and clinical experts from as far away as Sydney, Adelaide and Auckland.

“The panel will advise the Commission on further research focused on gaming machine regulation and the evaluation of potential harm-minimisation measures,” said Matthew Hill, the Commission’s director of Research, Strategy and Analysis.

The dangers posed by fixed-odds betting terminals are the biggest concern. They have proliferated in the UK in recent years, becoming a fixture in betting shops and accounting for the lion’s share of revenues in many of them.

The panel also will look at what are known as Category B3 machines in amusement arcades and betting shops and Category B3A machines generally found in private clubs.

The Gambling Commission is scheduled to report back to Sutcliffe by the end of June.

The country’s next nationwide Prevalence Survey also has been launched with the selection of the National Centre for Social Research to carry out the study.

The survey will measure the prevalence of participation in all forms of commercial and private gambling and estimate the prevalence of problem gambling, building on surveys conducted in 2000 and 2007.

The Commission plans to publish results before the end of 2010.

Research, education and treatment related to problem gambling is under review by a third group of experts who have been charged with advising Government on how best to structure a “national responsible gambling strategy” and fund it.

IN OTHER NEWS …

—The economic downturn combined with a ban on smoking in public places to drive down gambling revenues at Switzerland’s 19 casinos by 2.7 percent in 2008 to $US845.1 million. Slot win was $678 million and table win $167 million. Tax collections dropped to $440 million from $459 million in 2007.

—France’s gaming machine regulator, Courses et Jeux, has approved Atronic as its wide-area progressives provider and Atronic’s Monaco-based Systems Division to operate it. The approval will see Atronic connect about 400 slots across 100 properties on its Superjack WAP platform by June.

—TCSJohnHuxley has concluded a distribution agreement with Aristocrat Technologies Europe granting Huxley non-exclusive rights to distribute Aristocrat’s gaming machines in the Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Northern Cyprus.

—Playtech has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Marvel Characters, a  subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, which allows the company to employ the famed comic strip and film brand’s characters and imagery across all its game platforms.

—Aristocrat Leisure subsidiary ACE Interactive has received an order for 1,000 Indago interactive video terminals from Norway’s national lottery, Norsk Tipping. The installation is part of a continued rollout of the True Server Based Gaming joint venture between Norsk Tipping and ACE. The network eventually will include more than 6,500 terminals.

—U.S.-based Century Casinos has sold its Century Casino Millennium in the Marriott Hotel in Prague for approximately US$2.2 million to Viva Casino Group, whose operations span Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Viva plans to refurbish and expand the venue, which currently features 12 table games, including four poker tables, and 30 machine games.

—Gaming Laboratories International has completed an expansion of its GLI Italia lab, which includes added space, more engineers and support staff and an enlarged device storage area.

—Casino operator Trans World Corp. reported a 36.5 percent increase in net income for 2008 to US$3.7 million, or 42 cents per diluted share. The results were driven mainly by a 6.3 percent increase in live games and a 12.6 percent increase in slot game attendance. American Chance Casinos, a subsidiary of the New York-based company, operates four casinos in the Czech Republic and one on the Adriatic coast in Croatia.

—TransAct’s Epic 950 printer has been selected by Casinos Poland to handle the new all-TITO slot floor of its flagship Warsaw casino.

—Egasa has opened its third Goleen Sun Casino in Croatia, its second in the capital city of Zagreb. The property features 70 machine games and seven table games. The company also operates a casino in Dubrovnik.

—JCM Global has hired Vanessa Marks as sales director JCM Germany/Europe. Marks, founder of South Africa-based Money Automation and a former Europe/UK sales director for Money Controls, will oversee all JCM sales efforts in continental Europe from the company’s Dusseldorf office. 

—Under increasing pressure from the EU and international enforcement agencies, Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus has approved a law aimed at bringing casinos in the north under tighter financial control. The move came after weeks of wrangling among Turkish Cypriot politicians over whether the EU-, UK- and U.S.-inspired law was desirable. Under its provisions, casinos have to declare earnings, pay higher rates for licenses and must fulfill a host of conditions to prove that money laundering is not taking place on their premises.