Three more entities applied for sports betting licenses in Ohio over the past week. That includes the first company seeking to install kiosks in bars and other by-the-drink liquor establishments across the state.

Elys Gameboard Technologies applied on Wednesday to serve as a Type C proprietor, meaning it wants to offer kiosks to bars that are licensed to sell Ohio lottery tickets.

Elys is a global company that has operated in Europe for more than 20 years and has been growing in the States recently. Four months ago, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement approved it to run the sportsbook at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City. It also manages sportsbooks for several tribal casinos, including the Santa Ana Star Casino and Isleta Resort and Casino in New Mexico and the Sky Ute Casino Resort in Colorado.

The gaming company also operates in the District of Columbia in a manner similar to what it seeks to do in Ohio. Last October, Elys opened a pilot sportsbook project at the Grand Central Restaurant in the nation’s capital.

Under the Ohio sports betting law, kiosks can be installed in certain bars across the state. Up to 20 kiosk proprietors will be approved to offer sports betting in the state. Approved applicants will pay $100,000 for a five-year license and $25,000 to renew it.

Unlike traditional sportsbooks and online apps, the kiosks will be restricted in what they can offer. Bettors at kiosks will also face limits as well.

Launch Date: Jan. 1, 2023

Sports betting launches in Ohio now in less than six months. The Ohio Casino Control Commission has stated that entities interested in Type A, online sports betting, or Type B, retail sportsbook, licenses need to apply by July 15 in order to have their licenses approved in time for the Jan. 1, 2023, universal launch date.

Applications for the Type C proprietor licenses face a similar schedule. Starting on July 15, the OCCC will begin taking applications from bars that want to work with kiosk providers.

Is Sports Betting Bound for the Hall of Fame?

The company behind a development project tied to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton is the latest proprietor to apply to host a retail sportsbook and an online app.

HOF Village Newco submitted its paperwork to the OCCC on Friday. That company operates the Hall of Fame Village, which describes itself as “a multi-use sports, entertainment, and media destination” in the northeastern Ohio city.

The application did not list either a management services provider (MSP) or a mobile management services provider (MMSP). However, the Hall of Fame Village announced a partnership last December with Rush Street Interactive to operate the sportsbook.

If approved for both licenses, HOF Village would pay $1.6 million for both licenses, which also run for five years. The company would pay the same amount to renew the licenses as well.

The village includes a football stadium that hosts several games each year, including this year’s USFL Championship and the annual NFL Hall of Fame Game, and a sports complex. It also hosts numerous concerts and other events, such as concerts. More than 80,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space will open there next month.

The week before, two JACK Entertainment properties became the first in Ohio to file their proprietor applications.

Barstool Applies in Ohio

The day before the Hall of Fame Village submitted its application, Penn Sports Interactive filed its MMSP application. The company operates the Barstool Sportsbook. It did not list a Type A proprietor partner on its application. However, Penn National Gaming has two racinos and two casinos in the state. It’s likely one of which would serve in that capacity.

If regulators approve Barstool, and it partners with a Penn Hollywood casino or racino in the state, it would pay $1.5 million for a five-year license. If it were to partner with one of the state’s 10 professional sports operators, it would pay a $2 million fee for the license.

Other MMSPs that have applied are BetMGM, PointsBet, and DraftKings.

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After more than half a year under review, the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) has determined that Star Entertainment Group is still not “suitable” to hold a license there. Further cementing changes in risk management and the internal business culture are needed.

The last day of hearings into the matter saw assistant counsel for the inquiry headed by Adam Bell, SC, complaining about a failure to completely admit wrongdoing and of the limited admissions coming too late in the process. More troubling to overseers was that Star didn’t seem to have a grasp of why healthy casino management went wrong or even quite, how.

The inquiry was told by Naomi Sharp, SC, “To date, very little has been said about why these problems have happened, and why the misconduct occurred. Very little has been said about why the culture was dysfunctional to the extent that it was and why the second line of defense under the risk management framework failed so fundamentally,” according to a report in The Age.

Sharp added, “We submit, there is still the need for a further period of reflection and investigation to understand how this could have gone so wrong.”

What Has Gone Wrong…

What “has gone wrong” is a host of problems including alleged fraud, organized criminal activity, and money laundering at The Star Sydney. The inquiry into mismanagement was triggered after reports by multiple news organizations including 60 Minutes, The Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald into the alleged criminal activity.

While the casino giant has replaced top management amid a board shake-up focused on greater responsibility, Sharp disagreed that replacing the CEO and Chairman was enough to bring the entity to a level of suitability to hold a license without further work.

In the aftermath of a scandal that hit Star as well as Crown Resorts recently, Sharp expressed concerns about the company’s directors possibly misleading the board, by omission, when it didn’t inform NAB about the use of China Union Pay (CUP) cards to skirt deposit limits by using deceptive billing practices.

It was alleged in March that Star had billed nearly a billion dollars of gambling deposits as hotel expenses to get around limits on the cards. Crown Resorts was recently fined a record $80m for a similar scheme.

Other Casinos Under Review

Bell’s report is expected to be complete by end of August this year. In it, we will see other issues addressed such as why The Star continued to do business with junket operator SunCity after a 2018 internal report indicated there was an unacceptable risk that the arrangement was facilitating money laundering.

A criminal breach of New South Wales’ Unlawful Gambling Act may have occurred in the situation when The Star allowed SunCity to run their own cashier cage inside the casino. Some reports earlier indicated regulators had seen CCTV footage of people transferring paper bags full of cash.

Suncity Group was the largest junket operator in Macau until former head, Alvin Chau was arrested last November. In late May Chau was formally charged by Chinese authorities with organizing illegal gambling, money laundering, and “founding and heading a secret association”.

The Star’s other casinos in Queensland are also under review. The state plans to make gambling laws tougher there prior to allowing Brisbane’s only casino to relocate from the Treasury building to the Queen’s Wharf next year. The $3.6 billion development will be located on one or two upper floors and offer a place for working-class gamblers to find entertainment.

Source: ‘Not running a flower shop’: Star still not suitable to run a casino, inquiry told, The Age, June 27, 2022

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Stockholm’s Evolution AB, the publicly traded parent company of wholly-owned subsidiary Evolution Malta Holding Limited announced late last week that the subsidiary had entered into an agreement for a full buyout of premium online casino game developer, NoLimit City.

The transaction could be worth as much as €340m with an initial cash payment of €200m and potential cash earnout payments of an additional €140m. No shares were offered in the all-cash deal.

The acquisition follows Evolution’s long-term strategy to become the world’s premier supplier and provider of online casino games. Evolution began as a live dealer casino game provider and eventually acquired NetEnt, Red Tiger, and Big Time Gaming, the innovator and license owner for all Megaways slot games.

The addition of NoLimit City is a perfect match as the studio has created its own niche in the gaming space with innovative and sometimes humorous slots in a variety of maths models. The games offer well-developed graphics, themes, and animations and the portfolio includes well-known titles such as San Quentin, East Coast/West Coast, and the high volatility player favorite, Mental.

Highlights of the Deal and Strategy

It’s unclear if the development will change Evolution’s 2022 game release roadmap which was already on track to release 88 new games between all of the brands.

Evolution’s chairman, Jens von Bahr commented: “With the addition of Nolimit City to the Evolution family we extend our portfolio of truly innovative and cutting edge games from the top brands and game makers in the industry. We have followed Jonas, Emil, and their team for a few years and [have]

been impressed as they have established a completely new style of slot games. I am proud that yet another of the very best minds in our industry has chosen to join the Evolution network.”

The deal is expected to be positive regarding earnings per share for the calendar year with NoLimit City contributing €30m in revenue with an EBITDA of €23m for the year.

Co-Founder of Nolimit City, Jonas Tegman added: “I cannot think of a better match between two companies than between Nolimit City and Evolution, we are fully aligned in terms of people, product, technology, and how to get the job done. The slot vertical is under massive change, and we can’t wait to take on the challenge of global expansion together with Evolution, helping out with navigating towards the best slot product offering in the market.”

Financing the Deal – All Cash

Evolution will pay out €200m in debt-free cash and make the payment from cash at hand. In the next three following years, another €140m could be paid out based on Nolimit City’s EBITDA for 2022, 2023, and 2024 with those payments due and payable in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

A full readout of the terms can be found on the Evolution website in PDF format (here).

The acquisition is expected to take place in the third quarter of this year upon regulatory approvals. NoLimit City currently holds certifications and licenses from the Malta Gaming Authority, the Gambling Commission in Great Britain, the ONJN of Romania, and is under license in Ontario, Canada by AGCO.

Source: Evolution has entered into an agreement to acquire Nolimit City, EU Gaming, June 22, 2022

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Industry investment veteran, Jason Ader of 26 Capital Acquisition Corp., recently expressed confidence that Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp., will be back in control of Okada Manila soon.

The parties had agreed in principle for Ader’s special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) or “blank-check company” to take the $3.3 billion Philippines casino resort public on the NASDAQ in America through a merger of the two entities.

Control of the asset was thrown into confusion with a physical takeover of the boardroom and physically ejecting board members out the door on May 31, 2022. Those actions, which included the participation of private security agents and about 50 local police officers in the siege came as a surprise to most but might have been predicted based on an April court ruling.

The Philippine Supreme Court handed down a ruling in April stating that founder and former head, Kazuo Okada should be reinstated as the chairman of the casino’s parent company.

Chairman Ousted in 2017

Okada had been ousted from the company in 2017 after accusations of misappropriation of funds. Okada has denied all such accusations.

While some type of move by Okada might have been expected, there were no prerequisite administrative or judicial permits or orders authorizing the takeover.

Especially troubling according to the operating company is that the concern in control of over 99% of voting rights was not even a Philippine company and in their view not subject to the order from the Supreme Court. They also claim the Supreme Court decision was a provisional order and that the Court was still considering the restoration of Mr. Okada’s position.

The unprecedented “hostile takeover” of the premises led to the publication of a Notice Regarding Extension of Agreement Deadline for Subsidiary’s Merger (De-SPAC).

If the merger/acquisition were to proceed, Okada Manila would be able to access an untold number of different types of funds and increase investment in the company.

Okada Manila sits on over 100 acres of land and is one of only four casino resorts in Manila’s Entertainment City. The casino has about 3,000 slot machines and 500 gaming tables.

Slow but Stable Revenue Recovery

While the Philippines casino sector continues to rebound, it is a slow recovery with gross gaming revenues only up about 14% in 2021 to a level roughly half of the amount generated in 2019 before the pandemic.

While the US gambling economy has more than recovered from the health emergency shut-downs, Asian gaming has not been as robust. Macau, a special administrative district of China has had sporadic returns but travel restrictions have kept it from returning to anywhere near the levels of previous years. Experts only expect 2022 gross gaming revenues to reach 27% of their pre-pandemic levels.

Source: Nasdaq-listed 26 Capital to pursue $2.5 bln SPAC deal with Manila casino, Reuters, June 15, 2022

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Players in the Netherlands who visit land-based casinos may be familiar with popular slots such as Seventy Seven, Master of Books, Seven Seven, and Fresh Fruit will now be able to play their favorite Swintt titles online at a Dutch-regulated casino. The developer’s portfolio of games is now available at Fair Play Casino in Holland’s debut online.

This is Swintt’s first foray into the recently regulated Dutch online casino market and gives players a chance to spin their favorite slots in the comfort of their own homes. It represents a significant development for the company with headquarters in Malta and development partners around the globe.

We find about twenty Fair Play Casino locations throughout the Netherlands making Fair Play one of the biggest operators there. The two companies have worked together in the past with Swintt slots appearing in Fair Play’s brick-and-mortar venues where they already enjoy a large and growing fan base. In addition to giving existing fans a new avenue to play their favorite games, the placement will also open doors to new players who don’t visit casinos on the street.

Fans of games like the newly released Lucky Jimmy, and the fan-favorite Master of Books can play their favorite premium titles as well as try out games they may not have seen such as Aloha Spirit XtraLock.

Online players in Holland will catch a wave with the Swintt/Fair Play partnership and be among the first to play the fairly new release titled “The Crown”. The game, launched in April features Vinnie Jones, the former football star who has been working with casino game developers lately as well as continuing his acting career.

Join Vinnie Jones on a quest to snag the Crown Jewels

Join Vinnie Jones on a quest to snag the Crown Jewels through participation in five unique bonus rounds.

The Crown is the first Swintt slot to offer multiple base-game locations with each location having its own wild symbol. Look to spice up gameplay with expanding and sticky wilds, multiplier wilds, and random wilds that can cover the reels for big wins, giving players a lot of ways to bring down the house and grab the prize.

Jones is also a philanthropist and was able to arrange for a portion of the slot’s future revenues to go to the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity through Swintt-Play-it-Back.

Chief Commercial Officer at Swintt, David Mann said: “We’re thrilled to be taking games from our slot and premium slot collection live at Fair Play Casino Casino. The latter are already hugely popular with Dutch players due to their presence in Fair Play Casino’s live venues, while the former will introduce them to a world of great games as we make our first steps into the regulated online market.”

Business Development Manager at Fair Play Casino, Pascal Jahnsen said: “With Swintt slots having already proved a popular fixture at Fair Play’s bricks-and-mortar casinos, we’re delighted to be able to extend our partnership to bring their games into the regulated Dutch iGaming market. Having recently debuted their much-anticipated release, The Crown, the timing couldn’t be any more perfect for us and we’re sure the full Swintt line-up will go on to be a huge hit with players at Fair Play Online Casino.”

Source: Swintt slots now live at Fair Play Casino, European Gaming, June 20, 2020

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