On July 29, Login Casino.com.ua, the first Ukrainian online business magazine about gambling, organizes the online webinar in the format of a round-table discussion “The draft law No. 2285-d. Panel discussion. Roadmap for gambling business”.

During the webinar, famous experts will analyze the new bill from the point of view of government and business, consider the cases of creating a gambling business in the framework of the new law and answer questions from the audience. The event will start at 11.00 a.m – it is possible to register following the link.

The panel discussion will be attended by lawyers working in the gambling field, government officials who participated in the preparation of an alternative bill and amendments, as well as representatives of the gambling business of Ukraine.

Speakers:

• Hanna Buiadzhy – a managing partner of the law firm VigoLex, which specializes in the provision of legal services for high-risk businesses, in particular in the field of gambling.
• Ilya Machavariani – head of CIS Gambling Practice at the international law firm Dentons. He advises international gambling companies on entering new markets and government agencies on the preparation and amendments to the legislation on gambling.
• Taras Tarasenko – a People’s Deputy of Ukraine and a co-author of an alternative bill and amendments.

Participation in the event is free of charge. All representatives of the gambling industry are invited to participate in a panel discussion and detailed consideration of the law. To get access to the webinar – follow the link.

It should be noted that the LoginCasino.com.ua team previously held an online webinar “Gambling in times of the 2020 crisis: forecasts and actions”, where the speakers discussed the prospects of legalization of the gambling business in Ukraine, marketing problems and traffic arbitrage, given the 2020 crisis.

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After clearing all regulatory hurdles, Nevada casino operators Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Eldorado Resorts on Monday announced that they have completed their combination to create the largest casino and hospitality company in the US by number of properties.

The enlarged group now operates and trades as Caesars Entertainment, Inc. and its portfolio comprises more than 55 hotel and casino resorts across 16 states and in other counties, including the iconic Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.

Eldorado announced last June that it would acquire the larger Caesars in a deal that values the now combined group to around $17.3 billion including debt. That announcement put an end to months of speculations about the fate of Caesars after New York activist investor Carl Icahn had built a majority stake in the Las Vegas casino giant to push for its sale/merger with another company.

Mr. Icahn is the largest shareholder in the new Caesars with a 10% stake.

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The recently closed tie-up has transformed Eldorado from a regional casino operator to a gaming and hospitality powerhouse with a Las Vegas Strip address.

Commenting on the mega-deal, Tom Reeg, CEO of the enlarged Caesars and of the former Eldorado, said in a Monday statement that they are:

pleased to have completed this transformative merger, thus making us the premier leader in gaming and hospitality. We look forward to executing on the numerous opportunities ahead to create value for all stakeholders.

The merger of Caesars and Eldorado has also enlarged the former’s Caesars Rewards making it the largest loyalty program in the sector with more than 60 million members worldwide.

What Lies Ahead

Despite all the positives that a company of the enlarged Caesars’ portfolio and reach can offer, Mr. Reeg and his team will have the challenging task to navigate the group through an extremely tough operating environment occasioned by the worst health crisis the world has faced in many years.

In addition, Caesars’ management will also have to deal with a behemoth debt of nearly $9 billion. Mr. Reeg’s team has maintained that the combined group would feel $500 million in savings in the first year after the Caesars-Eldorado marriage, but many on Wall Street have voiced skepticism about the achievability of that goal.

One of the ways to achieve that “magic” number will be job redundancies. Both Caesars and Eldorado have been cutting jobs since the deal was announced. The Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing nationwide casino closures resulted in more lay-offs and furloughs at both companies and that will certainly continue in the months to come.

It should also be noted that most of the executive jobs at Caesars gave way to their Eldorado counterparts after the deal closed, the enlarged group’s COO, Anthony Carano, said Monday.

Mr. Carano could not provide an exact head count of how many of their employees were laid off, but noted that “the hardest part in getting to the finish line was definitely having to furlough about 90% to 95% of our workforce in April of this year” and that while “that was a terrible day for both companies”, he was “very excited about how the business is coming back and how we are able to bring back our teams in a safe manner.”

Offloading Properties

Caesars is also set to reduce its property portfolio. To secure regulatory approvals, the company’s management has agreed to offload casinos in several states, including Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey and Nevada.

Caesars and Eldorado needed approvals from the regulators in all 16 states where the now enlarged group operates properties as well as from the Federal Trade Commission. Several regulatory bodies and the FTC expressed concerns on the impact of market concentration the mega-merger would have and have placed property sales as conditions for regulatory approvals.

Company management agreed to all these conditions and even said that the combined group could sell a Las Vegas Strip property in future. Mr. Carano noted Monday that there “certainly have been buyers expressing interest” in Caesars’ Strip casino resorts, but they “want to get to know the teams at each property and determine which property we’ll sell at a later time.”

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The Virginia Lottery Board has pre-certified a joint proposal by the Danville City Council and Caesars Entertainment Corp. for the development of a casino resort in the city.

This means that city leaders can now move forward onto getting a casino question on the November ballot.

The Danville City Council will consider a resolution asking a Circuit Court to authorize a November casino referendum in the city on its upcoming August 4 meeting. If such a resolution is approved, the city attorney will send it to the Danville Circuit Court where a judge will have to sign an order for a writ of special election. The order must be issued before August 14 in order for the casino question to go on the November 3 ballot.

Danville is one of five Virginia cities that were allowed to host Las Vegas-style casino resorts under legislation approved by state lawmakers this past spring. However, any casino plan in any of the cities must be approved by voters in citywide referendums in order to materialize.

The Danville City Council formally named Caesars its preferred casino partner this past June. The Las Vegas casino giant has unveiled plans to build a $400 million hotel and casino complex at the site of the former Dan River Mills industrial complex.

Certainly Good News

Of the recent pre-certification of the casino plan, Danville City Manager said that it was “certainly good news” and that they are glad “Caesars was able to pull together the necessary information and show the state that they are capable of developing a high-quality project in our community.”

However, the pre-certification of the project is just one of many more steps Danville and Caesars need to make in order to bring a casino to the city. The Virginia Lottery Board said in a statement that the pre-certification does not necessarily mean that a city’s preferred casino operator would be granted a gaming license when the time for license application and review comes.

The regulator will conduct a “more in-depth financial vet and suitability review of each city’s chosen casino partner” after a successful referendum, that is to say after city voters have given their blessing to the casino plan they have been presented with.

The Lottery Board has also recently pre-certified the casino projects presented by the cities of Bristol, Norfolk, and Portsmouth. The Bristol City Council this week approved a resolution asking a Circuit Court for a referendum for the development of a Hard Rock-branded casino in the city.

As mentioned above, Caesars plans to build a $400 million casino resort at the former Dan River Mills industrial complex in Schoolfield. The property will feature a 500-room hotel, a casino with 2,000 slot machines, 75 table games, 16 poker tables, and a sportsbook, a number of food and beverage outlets, a 35,000-square-foot conference center, and a 2,500-seat live entertainment venue.

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Yggdrasil’s YG Masters program is rapidly building a formidable roster of studio partners and one more such partner has recently joined the program to gain access to the innovative GATI technology for swifter scalability and growth.

Online casino games maker Gamevy has become the latest member of the YG Masters program, news emerged this week.

Yggdrasil’s YG Masters program was created to help innovative indie game development studios to design, produce, and distribute content using the provider’s proven technology and its ever-growing network of clients.

As a member of the YG Masters program, Gamevy will be provided with access to the GATI standardized and language-agnostic technology. Yggdrasil’s innovative solution was built to enable developers to quickly and safely craft iGaming content and easily distribute it across Yggdrasil’s entire distribution network.

In addition, YG Masters studio partners can collaborate and cross-sell their gaming titles to any YG Franchisee. This paves the way for new revenue streams for everyone involved in the cross-selling process.

News about Gamevy joining YG Masters emerge days after it became known that Bang Bang Games, another innovative iGaming studio, has become part of the program, as well.

A Perfect Fit for YG Masters

Commenting on their new YG Masters member, Yggdrasil Head of Partner Strategy and Sourcing Stuart McCarthy said that Gamevy has quickly grown “from being an emerging studio developer to a brand held in very high regard by players and the industry with a host of fun and engaging slots titles” and that as such, “they are a perfect fit for the YG Masters program.”

Mr. McCarthy also noted that YG Masters has now become a well-established program and has “attracted several fantastic independent studios” from all parts of the world that they are “thrilled” to have as partners.

Of joining YG Masters, Gamevy CCO Helen Walton said that their new partner, Yggdrasil, has built a reputation “not only for their fantastic titles, but also for really understanding how to give operators promotional tools that players love.”

Ms. Walton added that they are delighted to be working with Yggdrasil and to be offered the chance to bring their “own gorgeous games” to an even bigger audience. The official also noted that Gamevy will be able to scale its distribution faster now as it is a YG Masters partner and that they are looking forward to making the most of this opportunity.

Gamevy was founded in 2013 in the UK. Over the past seven years, the studio has grown tremendously and now employs more than 80 people at offices in the UK, Germany, and Spain. Its content is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority. Gamevy develops a wide range of products, including slots, lottery and bingo games, and more. In 2018, Gamevy announced its merger with Glück Games to form G and pursue further growth opportunities together.

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Casino and hospitality company Hard Rock International and two local partners have been pre-certified by the Virginia Lottery Board to build and run a casino in the Virginia city of Bristol.

Earlier this year, Hard Rock was selected as the preferred operator of the city’s first casino. However, the future of the company’s plan to build a gambling complex in Bristol now lies with city voters.

RELATED: Hard Rock to Seek Approval for Temporary Bristol Casino

Hard Rock being pre-certified is the latest of series of hurdles the company needs to overcome in the next few months, if it wants to get a final green light to expand in Virginia. This latest approval paves the way for Bristol to conduct a citywide referendum on November 3 during which voters will be able to voice their opinion on whether the city should host a gambling venue.

Following the completion of the Virginia Lottery Board’s review of Hard Rock’s proposal, the Bristol City Council now needs to approve a resolution asking the Circuit Court to order a November casino referendum. Council members are expected to act on this this coming Tuesday.

The proposed development of a casino in Bristol is part of a larger gambling expansion effort approved by Virginia lawmakers earlier this year. Legislators passed a bill that authorized the construction of Las Vegas-style casinos with slot machines and table games in five cash-strapped cities to help them improve their economies.

Casino Project to Give Bristol “Critically Needed New Funding”

Commenting on the approval of their pre-certification application, Hard Rock’s Bristol team said in a statement that they appreciate the work of the Virginia Lottery Board and that they now look forward to the November referendum when voters will “have a historic opportunity to vote yes for the thousands of new, good-paying jobs and millions of dollars in additional tax revenue that the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol will bring to the city.”

The statement read further that Hard Rock’s project “will provide Bristol with critically needed new funding for our schools, teachers, and first responders, all while growing the economy both here in the city and all across the region.”

RELATED: Bristol City Leaders Select Hard Rock as Preferred Casino Op

Hard Rock’s plan includes a casino with up to 2,700 slot machines, 100 table games, and a sportsbook, a hotel with up to 750 rooms and suites, seven restaurants, four bars, 30,000 square feet of retail space, 50,000 square feet of meeting and convention facilities, a 3,200-seat indoor entertainment venue, and an outdoor entertainment venue with capacity for 20,000 people.

Hard Rock said that its resort would be “a catalyst for the entire region” and that it will serve more than 4 million tourists a year that will be coming to Bristol to enjoy the city’s “outdoor beauty” and “visit the many wonderful entertainment, cultural, and recreational attractions across Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.”

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