Monthly Archives: October 2016

Evolution Gaming inks live dealer deal with Cherry, expands Tempobet offering

Live dealer online casino specialists Evolution Gaming have added Scandinavian online betting operator Cherry AB as a client.

On Friday, Evolution announced that Cherry’s brands – which include Cherrycasino.com, Sunmaker.com, EuroLotto.com and others – will have access to the full range of live casino products from Evolution’s Latvia studio. Cherry will also partake of localized native-speaking options streamed from Evolution’s Malta studio.

In other Evolution news, the company has launched an extended live casino offering with Turkish-facing betting operator Tempobet. The new Tempobet-branded studio will feature 12 blackjack tables as well as Evolution’s Immersive Lite Roulette product, which features five HD cameras that allow roulette obsessives to follow the bouncing ball with stalker-like precision.

Evolution, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this summer, is set to release its Q3 financial figures on October 25. Evolution’s Q2 report showed revenue rising 50% to €27.1m, while earnings rose 38% to €10.6m and profit came in at a handsome €7.6m.

Sweden urged to set new online gambling tax rate between 15% and 20%

Sweden’s plans to liberalize its online gambling market would best be served by imposing a revenue tax rate of between 15% and 20%, according to a new industry-funded report.

In a report prepared by Copenhagen Economics, the authors note that the Swedish government has tasked a special investigator with coming up with proposals to help implement the country’s planned shift from an online gambling monopoly to a system that licenses multiple private operators.

The report suggests that the goal of this switch must address two main points: convincing enough international operators to apply for Swedish licenses and channeling online gamblers to these Swedish-licensed sites.

Using a formula of ‘tax-rate x channelization x volumes = tax revenues,’ the report says a high channeling rate (90% or above) is achieved at a tax rate of 15% of gross gaming revenue, and will result in “no significant substitution to gambling operators outside the licensing system.”

Crown Resorts staff detained in China for as yet unknown reason

Chinese authorities have reportedly detained several representatives of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts for as yet unknown reasons.

On Friday, the Australian Financial Review reported that Chinese authorities had detained “at least 18” Crown staffers, including three Australian nationals, one of whom was said to be a “senior Crown executive.”

The AFR quoted a Crown spokesperson saying only that the company “believes that a number of our employees in China are being questioned by local authorities” but had no other details to offer. An Aussie government spokesperson said it was “aware” of the reports and was trying to confirm specifics with the relevant Chinese authorities. The two nations have an agreement that requires each country to confirm that it’s holding the other’s citizens within 72 hours of their detention.

The AFR said most of the affected staffers were based in China as part of Crown’s local sales and marketing team. Chinese law prohibits advertising gambling services on the mainland but casino operators are permitted to promote their resorts’ non-gaming tourism offerings.

Macau junket thief invites victims to come to Vietnam to discuss repayment of $1.3b

The man who stole $1.3b in casino junket investor funds two years ago is promising to do whatever he can to repay those victimized by his theft.

In April 2014, Macau’s casino industry was rocked by reports that Huang Shan, a shareholder in the Kimren Group junket operation, had absconded with an estimated HKD 10b of investor funds. This week, word spread that Huang had been detained in Cambodia and transferred to Vietnam, where he was being held.

Word has now come out that Huang has issued a statement expressing his “late, sincere apology to my friends from all sectors that suffered from the loss.” Huang invited those he defrauded to travel to Ha Long Bay in Vietnam to discuss arrangements for repayment of the stolen funds. Huang promised to “spend all my revenues generated from [his Vietnam projects] to repay all my debts.”

Huang was reportedly tracked down by the Inspector Javert-like determination of three men working for the Heng Sheng Group junket operation. Heng Sheng released two photos of Huang, including one of Huang holding a copy of his Chinese-language statement.