On Tuesday, November 2^nd, 2021 the former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, and the former president of UEFA, Michel Platini, were formally charged with fraud as well as other criminal offences by Swiss federal prosecutors following a 6 – year investigation of an extremely controversial payment of $2 million.

The 85-year-old Blatter and the 66-year-old Platini face a federal trial within the upcoming months at a federal criminal court located in Bellinzona, Switzerland. This federal Swiss court case originated in September of 2015 taking down Blatter immediately and ahead of schedule as the president of FIFA.

It also ended the ex-UEFA president Platini’s campaign to succeed his former mentor in Blatter. If found guilty these two individuals could be sentenced to time in prison for several years.

This Swiss criminal court case centers on Platini’s written documented request to FIFA in January of 2011 to be paid back-dated additional salary for his work as a presidential adviser during Blatter’s first term which spanned from 1998 to 2002. In turn Blatter authorized this payment to be made from FIFA to Platini within only a matter of weeks’ time. Blatter was preparing for and planning his campaign for reelection in a highly–contested battle versus his opponent, Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, in which Platini’s influence with the large pool of European voters would be a major contributing factor in the election.

Both Platini as well as Sepp Blatter have been denying these allegations and any other wrong-doings for a long time now. They both also cited a verbal agreement the two indicted parties had made with one another for the money to be paid for currently now over approximately 20-years-ago.

Blatter has been charged in Switzerland with multiple offenses including fraud, mismanagement, misappropriation of FIFA funds, and the forgery of an official document. Platini has been charged with fraud, misappropriation, forgery, and for acting as an accomplice to Blatter’s alleged mismanagement. Trial for these two indicted and charged former high-powered executives is scheduled to begin sometime over the next few months as both the Swiss federal prosecutors as well as the defense for Blatter and Platini prepare for an intense battle in court over these serious criminal offenses that could potentially lead to prison time.

Media Statements

“This payment damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini,” says Swiss federal prosecutors in a recently released statement.

“The evidence gathered by the (attorney general’s office) has corroborated that this payment to Platini was made without a legal basis,” Swiss federal prosecutors proclaimed.

“I view the proceedings at the federal criminal court with optimism – and hope that, with this, this story will come to an end and all the facts will be worked through cleanly,” the former FIFA official Sepp Blatter explained in his defense via a statement that he just released.

Sources:

Dunbar, Graham. “Sepp Blatter, Platini indicted for fraud in Switzerland”. The Associated Press. November 2, 2021.

The Associated Press News Services. “Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, ex-UEFA president Michel Platini indicted on fraud charges”. ESPN. November 2, 2021.

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Red Rake Gaming announced last week that they have inked a deal with the SISAL Group through Sisal.es to provide their cutting-edge online gambling content through the company’s online Spanish casino.

Sisal Group has a long list of accomplishments in gaming stretching back some seven decades and includes lottery, gaming machines, and online game provenance.

Red Rake Gaming is a Valencia-based studio launched in 2011 with games now available in over 200 online casinos in more than 100 individual countries. The company’s titles include a universal suite of native language versions from Portuguese to Dutch and everything in between. Red Rake’s random number generator (RNG) and games have long been approved by Spain’s Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) through the Spanish Gambling Act, Law 13/2011 of 27 May.

Slots with 1 Million Ways to Win

Sisal has been operating in Italy since 1946 and was the first company to operate there as a state concessionaire. The company entered the Spanish market in 2019 after attaining a license from the DGOJ after online gambling was liberalized and fully regulated there.

Some of the popular Red Rake Malta games that Spanish players can expect to see include those in the studio’s Super Series as well as slots with a million ways to win. The “1 million ways to win” genre is a chart-topper in Spain and is popular all around the globe. Other Red Rake titles could include Megaways slots.

Red Rake continues to expand its global footprint in regulated jurisdictions. The Spanish expansion follows on the heels of the company entering the highly regulated online Greek market this fall. As well as a summer 2021 entry into Italy with Sisal.it.

In line with the broader expansion, the Sisal Group tie-up will allow the company to help its partners realize full market potential with frequent new releases featuring innovative game maths and mechanics.

Spain Red Rake’s Home Regulated Market

Managing Director of Red Rake Malta, Nick Barr commented on the deal saying: “We are thrilled to expand on our existing relationship in Italy and assist SISAL in their growth in the Spanish market.

“With Spain being our first regulated market, we are very well positioned in the market and very confident the SISAL’s Spanish players will be happy to learn of our games being live and will continue to enjoy our high engagement localised content on SISAL.es. We very much look forward in continuing our strong partnership with SISAL in this new market.”

In addition to Spain, Italy, and Greece the company also holds licenses in the premier jurisdictions of Romania (ONJN), Malta (MGA), and the United Kingdom (UKGC).

Source:

Red Rake increase Spanish footprint with leader SISAL.ES, Red Rake Gaming, October 26, 2021

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Sports betting in Florida is still not a go quite yet. However, a major milestone was crossed Thursday when the Seminole Tribe of Florida announced the first partners of what would be a statewide retail network.

Five parimutuel operators have signed marketing agreements with the sovereign nation that owns Hard Rock International and holds a Class III gaming compact with the state. They are: the Palm Beach Kennel Club, Hialeah Park Casino, Ocala Gainesville Poker and Ocala Breeder’s Sales, Tampa Bay Downs, and TGT Poker and Racebook in Tampa.

Those are the first “spokes” in a “hub-and-spoke” concept detailed in the compact, which was amended earlier this year to include both retail and mobile sports betting statewide, new casinos, and the introduction of roulette and dice table games at its tribal casinos.

Seminole Gaming CEO and Hard Rock International Chairman Jim Allen said in a statement that the Seminoles are committed to working with parimutuel operators as partners in sports betting.

They are an important component for the coming launch of sports betting throughout the state of Florida,” he said.  “We have already exceeded the Compact’s requirement for a minimum of three pari-mutuel agreements and we look forward to developing more relationships with pari-mutuels around Florida.”

The amended compact required the Seminoles to increase its payments to the state by 2 percent to 15.75 percent of net win if it did not secure three parimutuel partners within three months of its federal approval.

Florida is expected to receive $2.5 billion in revenue from the tribe’s gaming operations over the next five years and up to $6 billion overall by 2030. Earlier this month, the Seminoles made the first payment of $37 million to the state.

“The Gaming Compact is a mutually-beneficial partnership between the State and Seminole Tribe that positively impacts all Floridians,” Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr., said. “In addition to our revenue sharing contributions, we are hiring hundreds of Floridians and investing millions of dollars in the state.”

Federal Officials Question Hub-and-Spoke

Under the hub-and-spoke agreement, the parimutuel operators will market sports betting to their customers and retain 60 percent of the profits generated from their facilities. They will serve as retail sports betting outlets along with the Seminole Gaming casinos, which are located on tribal lands.

The US Department of the Interior announced in August that it deemed the compact approved when it took no action after a 45-day review. However, that approval is only “to the extent that the compact is consistent with the” Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

In the letter, Principal Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Bryan Newland specifically pointed out that the federal government did not endorse the hub-and-spoke model because it raised questions about whether the Seminoles maintained “sole proprietary interest” by sharing such a high percentage of the revenue.

Federal officials were also concerned with a provision of the compact that gave Florida jurisdiction over patron disputes, with Newland saying in the letter that that part of the compact was likely not enforceable.

Florida Compact Attracts Lawsuits

The statewide partnership with parimutuels and the statewide mobile sports betting portions of the compact have also attracted lawsuits in federal court.

The Magic City Casino and the Bonita Springs Poker Room, two parimutuel operators owned by the same company, filed two suits. The first was against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of Business and Professional Regulation Julie Brown in July in a Florida federal court. The second came a month later against the US Interior Department and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in DC federal court.

Last week, a Florida federal judge moved to dismiss the case claiming the parimutuels lacked standing to sue state officials because their activities regarding the sports betting portions of the compact. Judge Allen Winsor gave the parimutuel operators seven days to amend their complaint, and after that passed without a new filing, Winsor dismissed the case without prejudice. That means the plaintiffs could refile again at any point.

Meanwhile in the DC courts, Haaland and the Interior Department have moved to dismiss the case against them as well, also claiming that the plaintiffs have no case against them.

The compact has attracted another lawsuit as well, also in the DC federal court. Last month, No Casinos, a Florida anti-expanded gaming group, and others who opposed the compact filed suit against Haaland and the Interior Department. The plaintiffs in that case claim the federal government, by approving the Seminole compact, allowed the state to circumvent a constitutional amendment that requires Florida voters to approve any efforts to expand gaming.

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On Wednesday, October 27^th, 2021 the French national defender and current member of the Bayern Munich Football Club, Lucas Hernández, won his current court appeal in Spain, and Hernandez will not have to serve any prison time for his criminal charge of violating a restraining order.

The Bayern Munich footballer had his 6 – month prison sentence reduced to just a fine of 96,000 euros ($111,000), according to the appeals court and legal system of Madrid, Spain. Lucas will not be permitted to commit any other crime over the course of the upcoming 4 – years in order for this recent ruling to remain lawful and valid.

This defining and strong ruling came a just one day prior to Hernández having to voluntarily turn himself in to the proper authorities in order to start serving his prison time. Lucas appeared at a court in Madrid, Spain at some point last week only to be handed the mandatory court order to voluntarily turn himself in to the Spanish authorities in Madrid.

Hernández was originally arrested following a disturbing domestic violence incident that occurred in Spain way back in 2017 when the defender was playing for Atlético Madrid at that time of his football career.

Hernandez was originally sentenced to complete some mandatory community service, and then two years later he was given a 6 – month prison sentence after Lucas apparently violated a restraining order with the other individual related to that court case. Both his partner as well as he had a legally binding restraining order that was initially put in place by a judge of the courts in Madrid, Spain, but they both evidently violated this said restraining order by traveling together to the United States of America recently.

The appeals court stated that it took into consideration the fact that both Hernandez and his partner had mutually agreed to see each other in person or even on lesser terms when the said restraining order was initially broken by legal standards, and that they both have been living together recently, they have a common son which they are raising together, and there have been no other signs of domestic violence or any other criminal activity in their relationship recently.

Hernández was a reserve player on the French national team that won the Nations League earlier this month. In other words, life is presently pretty good for Lucas Hernandez.

Sources:

The Associated Press News Services. “Lucas Hernández wins appeal, escapes prison time in Spain”. The Associated Press. October 27, 2021.

“Lucas Hernandez”. Wikipedia. October 27, 2021.

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The Wolfsburg football club has just fired their head coach, Mark van Bommel, on Sunday, October 24^th, 2021 following only 13 – games with van Bommel in charge of managing Wolfsburg’s team. This firing of van Bommel marks just the 1^st Bundesliga coach to lose his coaching job so far this season, but analysts are expecting there to be some more coaches fired in the near future.

Mark was the former midfielder of the Netherlands international team, and van Bommel had previously won his 1^st 4 league games as the head coach in charge of Wolfsburg’s football club. Wolfsburg fleetingly led the league early on, but Mark leaves his former team on an 8 – match winless streak after a 2 to 0 loss to Freiburg on Saturday, October 23^rd, 2021.

The chief executive of Wolfsburg, Jörg Schmadtke, stated that their upper – management personnel were not persuaded that van Bommel was the correct coach, “To get out of this difficult sporting situation and to bring about a turnaround as soon as possible.”

Van Bommel explained to the sports media world that the firing came as an unbelievable shock to him last Sunday. Mark knew he was on the hot seat, but van Bommel was under the impression that he had some time to try and turn things around for Wolfsburg prior to being let go of his head coaching role with the football club.

“I am surprised and disappointed by the decision because I am convinced that we would have managed together to get back on the path to success,” the former head coach of the Wolfsburg football club, Mark van Bommel, proclaimed in his comments recently released by the Wolfsburg football club. “I wish the team soon manages to get things turned around.”

Wolfsburg is currently sitting in the 9^th spot in the Bundesliga standings at the moment, and they have just been eliminated from the 1^st – round of the German Cup that begins in August of 2022. The Wolfsburg football club also sits in last place in the Champions League Group G following their 3 to 1 loss to Salzburg on last Wednesday, October 20^th, 2021.

Van Bommel arrived in the past off – season following their previous head coach, Oliver Glasner, vacating the head coaching position of the Wolfsburg football club to move to Eintracht Frankfurt. It was just his 2^nd head coaching job after a 17 – month stint with PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands in 2018 and 2019.

Sources:

The Associated Press News Services. “Wolfsburg fires coach van Bommel after 13 games in charge”. The Associated Press. October 24, 2021.

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