UK online gambling operators have been given new rules for their online slots offering that will likely take a big bite out of their online casino revenue. 

On Tuesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced a raft of changes intended to make certain online games “safer by design.” The changes follow a consultation launched last July that sought stakeholder and public input into how to ensure greater protections for vulnerable gamblers. 

Most of the changes involve online slots but the UKGC is also permanently codifying the prohibition on ‘reverse withdrawal functionality’ that was imposed as a precautionary measure last May as the UK went into its first pandemic lockdown.

The existing prohibition on reverse withdrawals will persist until October 31, 2021, the date by which the new rule will officially take effect. Operators must also strive to make the withdrawal process “as frictionless as possible.” 

There was once a show called Better Off Ted. It was one of those overly cerebral, biting social commentary comedies mocking corporate America. It was too smart for its own good and got cancelled after one season. In episode 4, “Racial Insensitivity”, the company decides to mitigate its environmental impact and save energy by installing motion sensors in all its offices. Lights only turn on when someone enters a room. Water fountains only work when someone is in close proximity. Doors open on motion sensors, and so forth. The problem is, the motion sensors work by recognizing light reflected off the skin, and so they do not see black people. A corporate oversight, surely.

The problem now is that that the company cannot simply scrap the entire system, because it is committed to environmental health and saving energy. So instead, the company hires white people to follow its black employees so that doors can open for them and lights can turn on. But this creates another major problem. The company now has an overrepresentation of whites in its work force, due to all of the additional white people hired to follow the black people. And so, their solution, in order to achieve a higher corporate social responsibility score, is to hire still more black people to follow the white people who follow the black people, after which they have to hire still more white people to follow the black people that are following the white people who follow the black people.

By the end of the episode, the company concludes:

“If the company keeps hiring white people to follow black people to follow white people to follow black people, then by Thursday, June 27th 2013, every person on Earth will be working for us. And we don’t have the parking for that.”

In the fast-moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements from the gambling industry. Our Press Release section is updated constantly, and we publish roundups of the latest partnerships twice a week.

FashionTV Gaming Group, Espresso Games and Sisal partner to launch first-ever FashionTV-branded slot in Italy 

This month marked the official entry of FashionTV Gaming Group into the Italian market with the launch of an exclusive FashionTV-branded slot, 3Diamonds. The slot was created with leading Italian content provider Espresso Games and proposed on the market by Sisal, the country’s premier operator. FashionTV Gaming Group continues to shake up the online gaming industry with its ‘Brand to Business’ model, backed by the FashionTV global network of two billion viewers. 

This is a guest contribution by Ali Hawa, Head of Regulatory Compliance at Amber Gaming, says the return of sports, regulatory shifts and responsible gambling will have the biggest impact on operators and suppliers over the next 12 months. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

For many, 2020 was a year to forget but it was also a year that the wider industry proved its resilience, ability to adapt and capitalize and, most importantly, that players can be properly protected even in the most difficult circumstances.

The new year has started with renewed optimism, but 2021 will not be without its challenges and operators, suppliers, affiliates and other stakeholders will have to rise to the occasion once again if they are to drive growth and meet responsible gambling standards.

Those that do will be able to leverage the opportunities on the table while those that don’t may find they slip further behind their rivals. Below, I discuss some of the key trends that I believe will shape the industry this year and what this means for organisations working in the sector.

Freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia’s 14th district, has already made an impact on her peers, but not in the way you’d usually hope for. The controversial, QAnon supporting legislator is already the matter of debate and scrutiny, leading to speculation that she may be stripped of her committee responsibilities, and even ejected from Congress.

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Expelling a member of congress requires a two-thirds majority of the House, or 290 votes. With Democrats in control of 221 seats, they would need to convince 69 Republicans to vote out Greene, which in all likelihood will only happen with the support of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

So what has Greene done wrong? Well for starters, she is seen as one of the lawmakers responsible for the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol building. She denies this, blaming it on Democrats. Other lawmakers noted they were also uncomfortable with Greene’s refusal to wear a mask when they sheltered from the domestic terrorists.

Super Bowl LV is approaching quickly. The Kansas City Chiefs will look to defend last year’s championship against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday in a game that is forecast to be a fight down to the wire. This is the first time that any NFL team has played in a Super Bowl in its home stadium, something that happened by sheer coincidence this year, and the Bucs are counting on six-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady to help them make history. Despite going into the game as 3-point underdogs, the Bucs are ready to put on a show and sports gamblers may have a place to park some gambling money on a “sure thing,” thanks to Brady.

The quarterback won all of his Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots, having been with the team from 2000 to 2019. He appeared in nine Super Bowls during that time and has a distinctive, perhaps intentional and methodical, approach to the game. In all nine games, he never led the Pats out of the gate quickly, with the opponents winning the first quarter each time. 

In eight Super Bowl appearances, Brady and the Pats were held to zero in the first quarter; only in one, Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles, did they get on the board, but that was limited to a field goal. BetMGM has taken notice, giving a first-quarter line to the Bucs of +0.5 points and an Over/Under of 10.5. Based on Brady’s history, taking the Chiefs to dominate the first quarter and going for the Under is a better bettor’s option.

That isn’t to say that the Bucs are going to lose the Super Bowl, even though they’re +3, as Brady is an accomplished veteran who knows how to make big plays. However, only looking at first-quarter stats, the Bucs have been slow this year. They rank 13 in points for the quarter, according to TeamRankings, at 5.5 points, with the Chiefs in a three-way tie for tenth place at 5.6 points. BetMGM boosted the odds for the Bucs in the Big Game after the first, with the Over/Under listed as 16.5 points, 10.5 points and 14.5 points for each consecutive quarter. 

Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment (MGE) has a lot on its plate right now. As the casino operator deals with COVID-19 like everyone else, it has had to shuffle around some priorities. However, it remains focused on its expansion plans, even if some delays are needed, and has developments beginning to merge around the globe. Moody’s Investors Services has weighed in on how things are going and gave MGE’s parent company, Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA), a little support.

With so much going at MGE around the world, at the same time it deals with a major global pandemic, the casino operator has sought financial assistance. It announced last month that it had inked an agreement on a senior secured revolving credit facility worth $262.87 million and that it had also issued second-priority senior secured notes worth $1.175 billion through a private placement. The credit facility matures in April 2023, while the latter notes mature in 2026. Both of those allowed the company, in part, to pay off some of MGE’s existing debt.

Partly in response to the additional funds, Moody’s bumped the MTGA’s corporate family debt rating from Caa2 to Caa1. The Caa category is used to categorize obligations that are “speculative of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk,” but the Caa1 rating means that there is a “stable” outlook. Moody’s also took the MTGA’s “probability of default” rating to Caa1-PD, a step up from the Caa2-PD it previously held. The Caa-PD classification covers corporate ratings that are potentially “speculative of poor standing subject to very high default risk, and may be in default on some but not all of their long-term debt obligations.”

The ratings company was a little more supportive of the revolving credit facility than it was the senior notes placement. IT gave the former a B1 rating, while the notes received a Caa1. Both, however, indicate that there is high credit risk involved. 

By now, no one can be shocked by the amount of economic damage caused by COVID-19 around the world. What had been viewed as just a momentary setback when the global pandemic began has turned into a massive saga of plummeting revenues and skyrocketing unemployment that has endured for a year. While COVID-19 vaccines are beginning to be introduced, it will take a while for their effects to be felt, which means the global economy will continue to suffer. The casino industry took a massive blow from the coronavirus and saw properties shut down for months on end, with some permanently closed. A new report just released by the American Gaming Association (AGA) shows the impact on the U.S. gaming segment caused by COVID-19, but also reveals how operators didn’t waste time implementing new social responsibility protocols to help communities deal with the situation. 

According to the AGA report from last week, 989 casinos in the U.S. closed because of the pandemic. Those closures led to around 650,000 employees being furloughed or permanently let go. As a result, $105 billion in economic activity was lost across the country, with 564 communities that had relied on revenue from gaming operations losing a major source of funding. Overall, the first 11 months of the year saw total gaming revenue drop 32% compared to the same period a year earlier. 

Despite struggling to keep their operations afloat, gaming operators didn’t hesitate to step up and provide assistance to the communities they served. The AGA points out that, partially through the operators’ efforts, the country was able to implement procedures quickly and effectively that will help the recovery process. Those efforts were initiated immediately, with casino operators donating protective gear, masks and other equipment needed to stave off a larger COVID-19 attack. They also tapped into their logistics and supply chain channels to ensure coronavirus test kits could be distributed everywhere without delays.

Casino operators have also donated huge amounts of food to families in gaming communities that were impacted by the work stoppages. A number of casino companies agreed to continue to pay their employees during the shutdown, and more have created emergency relief funds that offer financial assistance to former and current employees. Even as the future economic situation still remains somewhat murky because of the prolonged pandemic, many casino operators have been working hard to keep communities moving forward.

Jim Murren, the former boss at MGM Resorts International before Bill Hornbuckle was handed the reins, has been busy since leaving the casino operator. He was reportedly to be tapped to lead Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak’s COVID-19 defense almost a year ago, but also has been involved in several other activities. One of these is a special acquisition company (SPAC) he founded, Acies Acquisition Corp., that was launched late last year. On the heels of its successful initial public offering (IPO), it has now found its target and is merging with social casino developer Playstudios, Inc. As a result, the developer can brag of being worth around $1.1 billion.

Murren’s Acies and Playstudios will complete the deal sometime in the second quarter of this year, according to an announcement (pdf). Part of the delay is because of the normal regulatory red tape found with any major deal such as this. But, there is also the fact that Murren has a non-compete agreement he signed with MGM that prevents him from getting involved in any business that is tied to “gaming facilities” until after March 22. 

The SPAC attracted a lot of interest from deep-pocketed investors to support the merger, which drew funds from BlackRock, ClearBridge Investments, Neuberger Berman Funds and even Murren’s old company. They all contributed to a $250-million private investment in public equity (PIPE) round that saw Acies shares sold at $10 each. The agreement has already started making money, with Acies’ stock price going from $11.50 yesterday morning to $12.10 by the time the markets closed.

Moving forward, once the arrangement is finalized, “the company is expected to have approximately $290 million of cash and a public equity currency to accelerate PLAYSTUDIOS’ growth initiatives, which include substantially expanding product development and acquisitions of other gaming and related companies,” adds the announcement.

A new year could be a new start for Macau. The special administrative region (SAR) is set to receive it’s first batch of COVID-19 vaccines just in time for Chinese New Year.

The gambling mecca will receive 100,000 doses from the China National Pharmaceutical Group to start. Plans are being made to roll out the vaccine. More doses are expected to arrive later in the month, and then another batch in Q3.

“We are negotiating with the suppliers so that the vaccine arrive as fast as possible. Vaccination is not just purchasing the doses, we still need to conduct many preparatory works. Establish appointments, registry, etc […] We will start vaccination around the CNY period,” Conde S. Januario Hospital Doctor, Alvis Lo Iek Long said in today’s pandemic update press conference.

Vaccines are optional, and those who receive shots will have a choice of which vaccine they prefer, but there is a priority system. Front line health personnel, high occupational exposure groups and those who need to visit high-risk areas are at the front of the line, with casino workers in this group due to their exposure to the public.

Emerging Payments Association (EPA) boss Robert Courtneidge is an advocate for payment solutions. Courtneidge took some time to share his three decades of experience and talk about the future of the space with Calvinayre.com lead reporter Becky Liggero Fontana.

Courtneidge says that even though the EPA had been around for more than 20 years, it had only started to grow in its current form recently:

“The Emerging Payments Association has been going for probably 20 years, in reality, but it’s only under its current name for the last few years. It’s something that’s been growing over time, it’s got a lot of ambassadors now and we have working groups and our aim is a mixture of creating social events to enable people in the industry to mix and network and grow their own brands within the industry.”

https://youtu.be/M5vsQnZiMgcVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Robert Courtneidge dives into the world of emerging payments (https://youtu.be/M5vsQnZiMgc)

The embattled former chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe says he’s been set up. Cedric Cromwell has filed a motion to dismiss charges of bribery leveled against him, claiming he was set up by the Trump administration.

Cromwell filed his motion to dismiss on January 19, asking to be freed from accusations made on November 13, 2020. He faces 10 charges in federal court, including two charges of accepting or paying bribes, another for conspiracy to commit bribery, and a couple of charges revolving around extortion.

 “The charges allege that Mr. Cromwell violated the trust he owed to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe by committing extortion, accepting bribes and otherwise abusing his position,” said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling in a press release on Nov. 13, 2020.

If you ask Cromwell, the Trump administration put him up to it. “This legal action is definitely a Trump set up,” Cromwell told Native News Online.