Greek lottery and betting operator OPAP started 2019 off with its best quarterly revenue performance in nine years.

On Wednesday, OPAP released its first quarter financial report card, which showed overall revenue rising 5% year-on-year to €396m in the three months ending March 31. Earnings improved 28% to €156m while net profit shot up 43.5% to €57.2m, although this would have risen by a slightly more modest 25% excluding a £7.4m one-off benefit.

The revenue figure is OPAP’s strongest quarterly result since 2010, reflecting the ongoing rollout of its 25k video lottery terminals (VLT). VLT revenue hit €68.9m, up 59% year-on-year and VLT share of overall revenue was up nearly six points to 17.4%.

A court ruling in April cast doubt on the legality of the government’s awarding of OPAP’s VLT concession, but OPAP insists the ruling is “purely procedural.” OPAP had installed nearly 20k of its VLTs by the end of Q1, only 1k higher than at the end of 2018, but the company expects to have installed the full complement of machines by the end of the year.

As of the beginning of this year, Macau has had a stringent no-smoking policy that particularly impacted the city’s gambling venues. Despite having more than a year to prepare for the full ban to be implemented, however, it appears that certain casinos are still not onboard and continue to try to circumvent the restrictions.

According to a report released by Macau’s Health Bureau this past Tuesday, casinos are the biggest source of rule violations on the ban through May 31. It added that its personnel had conducted 724 visits of gaming floors across the city in the five-month period, along with representatives from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym), and found 666 instances of violations, representing 26.5% of all the violations in the city. All of the casinos involved received some type of admonishment for their inability to play by the rules.

Just in May, SJM Holdings-promoted Grand Lisboa was especially good at breaking the rules, earning a “black spot” moniker for the violations.

Across Macau, there are 47 active gaming facilities and many have multiple gaming floors or areas, including dedicated VIP spaces that are segregated from the main gaming areas. Only the VIP spaces were allowed to offer a smoker’s environment until December 31, when Macau’s full ban came into effect. All of the gaming venues were forced to update their facilities to include separate, enclosed smoking lounges that included advanced smoke-extraction systems, and all of the lounges had to be approved by city regulators. Despite having all of 2018 to make preparations, a handful of venues never fulfilled their responsibilities regarding the lounges.

As of the beginning of this year, Macau has had a stringent no-smoking policy that particularly impacted the city’s gambling venues. Despite having more than a year to prepare for the full ban to be implemented, however, it appears that certain casinos are still not onboard and continue to try to circumvent the restrictions.

According to a report released by Macau’s Health Bureau this past Tuesday, casinos are the biggest source of rule violations on the ban through May 31. It added that its personnel had conducted 724 visits of gaming floors across the city in the five-month period, along with representatives from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym), and found 666 instances of violations, representing 26.5% of all the violations in the city. All of the casinos involved received some type of admonishment for their inability to play by the rules.

Just in May, SJM Holdings-promoted Grand Lisboa was especially good at breaking the rules, earning a “black spot” moniker for the violations.

Across Macau, there are 47 active gaming facilities and many have multiple gaming floors or areas, including dedicated VIP spaces that are segregated from the main gaming areas. Only the VIP spaces were allowed to offer a smoker’s environment until December 31, when Macau’s full ban came into effect. All of the gaming venues were forced to update their facilities to include separate, enclosed smoking lounges that included advanced smoke-extraction systems, and all of the lounges had to be approved by city regulators. Despite having all of 2018 to make preparations, a handful of venues never fulfilled their responsibilities regarding the lounges.

The global gambling market is seeing a lot of variation in performance, with some entities reporting flat-lined revenue, others seeing drops and a few being able to improve on last year’s performance. One entity, however, has apparently drawn considerable favor with an industry analyst, who expects its investors to enjoy substantial dividend growth in the years to come. Las Vegas Sands, which has the largest market cap among all the US casinos operators, could continue to see improved performance.

Sands has already paid out a special dividend of $2.75 per share this year on top of the $0.25 per share it began offering each quarter in 2012. The company now gives investors a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, or $3.08 annually. Investors are receiving dividends that have tripled since that 2012 $0.25 offering.

If that increase weren’t already enough, Dan Wasiolek from Morningstar Equity expects even better growth. He explains in a note released this week, “We project the company to more than double its dividend to over $7.00 per share in 2028, supported by its industry-leading balance sheet and regulatory intangible assets advantage.”

Sands, which operates the Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas, among others, is outperforming its rivals. Since the 2012 dividend payment began, it has not had to cut or suspend the payout, while companies such as Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts have, at times, had to tighten up their belts. Wynn cut its dividend from $1.50 to $0.50 in 2015 and MGM, which didn’t begin offering a dividend until 2017, only pays $0.13 – considerably lower than what Sands is offering.

The global gambling market is seeing a lot of variation in performance, with some entities reporting flat-lined revenue, others seeing drops and a few being able to improve on last year’s performance. One entity, however, has apparently drawn considerable favor with an industry analyst, who expects its investors to enjoy substantial dividend growth in the years to come. Las Vegas Sands, which has the largest market cap among all the US casinos operators, could continue to see improved performance.

Sands has already paid out a special dividend of $2.75 per share this year on top of the $0.25 per share it began offering each quarter in 2012. The company now gives investors a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share, or $3.08 annually. Investors are receiving dividends that have tripled since that 2012 $0.25 offering.

If that increase weren’t already enough, Dan Wasiolek from Morningstar Equity expects even better growth. He explains in a note released this week, “We project the company to more than double its dividend to over $7.00 per share in 2028, supported by its industry-leading balance sheet and regulatory intangible assets advantage.”

Sands, which operates the Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas, among others, is outperforming its rivals. Since the 2012 dividend payment began, it has not had to cut or suspend the payout, while companies such as Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts have, at times, had to tighten up their belts. Wynn cut its dividend from $1.50 to $0.50 in 2015 and MGM, which didn’t begin offering a dividend until 2017, only pays $0.13 – considerably lower than what Sands is offering.

Alabama has become the latest state looking to capture a piece of the fantasy sports action to boost its coffers. The state has legalized daily fantasy sports (DFS) and implemented a tax on it, three years after Luther Strange, then Alabama’s attorney general, began a crackdown on the activity that eventually forced both FanDuel and DraftKings to abandon their operations in the state.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey put pen to paper last Friday to sign a DFS bill only two days after it received its final approval by the state’s Senate. The new law allows the attorney general’s office to oversee and regulate the industry, as well as to ensure compliance with fiscal obligations. Large operators – those who make over $10 million nationwide – will have to pay a fee of $85,000 each year for their DFS license, while those with lesser earnings will only have to pay $1,000. All operators, however, will have to hand over 10.5% of their gross revenues in the form of taxes.

The legislation asserts that DFS is a game of skill, not a game of chance, and is, therefore, exempt from the state’s gambling laws – the laws that Strange said the industry was violating three years ago. The victory was somewhat surprising, given the fact that previous DFS bills have been shot down by the Senate over the past couple of years.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Representative Kyle South, felt confident that this was the year for DFS and he was right. He said of DFS, “One thing you can point to are all these major league baseball teams, these professional sports teams are going to an analytics-based system for choosing their players, and that’s all we’re doing here.”

Alabama has become the latest state looking to capture a piece of the fantasy sports action to boost its coffers. The state has legalized daily fantasy sports (DFS) and implemented a tax on it, three years after Luther Strange, then Alabama’s attorney general, began a crackdown on the activity that eventually forced both FanDuel and DraftKings to abandon their operations in the state.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey put pen to paper last Friday to sign a DFS bill only two days after it received its final approval by the state’s Senate. The new law allows the attorney general’s office to oversee and regulate the industry, as well as to ensure compliance with fiscal obligations. Large operators – those who make over $10 million nationwide – will have to pay a fee of $85,000 each year for their DFS license, while those with lesser earnings will only have to pay $1,000. All operators, however, will have to hand over 10.5% of their gross revenues in the form of taxes.

The legislation asserts that DFS is a game of skill, not a game of chance, and is, therefore, exempt from the state’s gambling laws – the laws that Strange said the industry was violating three years ago. The victory was somewhat surprising, given the fact that previous DFS bills have been shot down by the Senate over the past couple of years.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Representative Kyle South, felt confident that this was the year for DFS and he was right. He said of DFS, “One thing you can point to are all these major league baseball teams, these professional sports teams are going to an analytics-based system for choosing their players, and that’s all we’re doing here.”

The Sahara Hotel & Casino was a major Las Vegas attraction for years – 59 in total, as a matter of fact. It was often visited by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. – part of the group that was better known as the Rat Pack – and finally succumbed to old age in 2011. It was then purchased by the SBE Group and renamed the SLS Las Vegas before being sold again last year to the Meruelo Group. SBE had spent $415 million to renovate the once-popular venue, including a rebranding to the SLS Las Vegas; however, that undertaking never produced the results intended and the venue’s new owners now hope that changing the name will help boost revenue. If so, there wouldn’t be a better choice than what drove the casino to its former glory. The SLS is now going to be called, once again, the Sahara.

According to Vital Vegas, a news outlet that covers virtually everything of importance that happens in Vegas, the change is already in the works and could prove to be very lucrative for the property. The site’s owner, Scott Roeben, states, “Renaming SLS as Sahara is a brilliant move. It plays upon the storied history of the casino, while saving a metric hell-ton of money by playing up an existing brand rather than trying to create a new one from scratch.”

Under SBE’s control, the SLS saw a steady outflow of cash that it could never reverse. While somewhat successful at first, it ultimately lost hundreds of millions of dollars and finally was able to unload the property on the Meruelo Group. Meruelo’s CEO, Alex Meruelo, had already proven himself with the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, which he purchased in 2011, and was ready for another challenge. He said when Meruelo purchased SLS, “I was told there was no way in hell that I would be able to turn the Grand Sierra around. If I can turn around the Grand Sierra Resort, I could do that at SLS.”

However, there are definite challenges ahead. The venue is located on the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip. This section has been struggling for the last couple of years as the Las Vegas commercial landscape changes and many projects have faltered. In addition to the SLS, this portion of the Strip was home to the Lucky Dragon, which never saw profits before going bankrupt less than two years after opening, and the Fontainebleau didn’t even manage to have construction completed before it met its demise. That property is becoming the Drew, but won’t be ready for another few years.

Hard Rock International is hooking up with a native Indian tribe out of California to build a new casino resort. The $600-million venue is being put together by the casino giant in collaboration with the Tejon Indian Tribe and is expected to be located in Kern County. If everything goes according to plan, it will provide over 3,000 jobs between its construction and day-to-day operations.

The Tejon tribe is a federally-recognized tribe and, as such, is being allocated 306 acres of land that will be held in trust by the government. The new casino will occupy 52 acres of the property, which is located about 25 minutes south of Bakersfield (two hours during rush hour). In addition to the resort, the tribe has set aside another 22 acres adjacent to the site to establish an RV park.

The resort will offer a casino, hotel, spa and fitness facilities and as many as 13 food and beverage spaces. In addition, it will include a concert venue and the “largest conference and meeting space in Kern County,” according to a joint statement from the Tejon tribe and Hard Rock.

It hasn’t been announced when development might begin. The project has to be approved by local officials and the federal government has to determine any environmental impact the facilities might have on the area. However, once it gets going, the two entities assert that it will have a positive impact on the area, with 2,000 permanent employs covering all operations.

The Tar Heel State has decided that daily fantasy sports (DFS) isn’t enough of an attraction to warrant legalization. Yesterday, North Carolina (NC) lawmakers in the House Judiciary Committee shot down a bill, House Bill 929 (HB 929), that would have allowed the industry to flourish, as well as to provide additional revenue to the state. However, it’s a safe bet that another DFS bill will be introduced in the near future.

HB 929 sought to legally define DFS as not a form of gambling according to state law. It would have allowed the NC Lottery Commission to morph into the NC Gaming Commission and establish regulations and collect fees for the activity. The bill had already passed a vote by the House Commerce committee before being rejected by the House lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee.

The denial wasn’t due to a desire to prevent DFS from being offered in the state; rather, it had more to do with the way the bill was worded. DFS is already popular in NC, but isn’t regulated and HB 929 only sought to put the regulations in place to protect consumers. It wanted to define DFS as a non-gambling activity, and amendments tried to strip out that provision, as well as to force a year-long study of the industry. However, the bill’s sponsors denied the amendments, asserting that, since DFS is already occurring, no study is needed.

After a public commenting period during the committee’s hearing on the bill, which only saw two members of the community speak, the House committee put the measure to a vote. A voice vote showed overwhelming opposition for the bill, so committee chairman Representative Ted Davis called for a second voice vote. That vote had mixed and unclear results, so a hand-count vote was called. That vote saw 16 oppose the bill and 12 approve of it, leading to HB 929’s failure in the committee.

When a bunch of money-centric businesses move in, like gambling, finance, or cryptocurrency, it’s important to keep everything well supervised. That’s what the European Commission has recently informed Malta, asking it to step up its anti-money laundering enforcement effort, reports Malta Today.

The motivation for the Commission to specifically address Malta on this issue was the recently growth of the island state’s gambling and financial industries, specifically in the area of cryptocurrency operators. They wrote:

“Governance shortcomings, particularly in the fight against corruption, may also adversely affect the business environment and weigh negatively on investment. In particular, there is a risk of conflict of interest at various levels of government.”

The advice comes with some compliments though, suggesting that while Malta might need to do more, it’s already moving in the right direction. “The recent increase in the human and budgetary resources of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit as well as the enhancement of its procedures and processes are positive steps,” they wrote.

The youth of Swedish football are about to get a valuable lesson in integrity, in the hopes that they learn that cheating is never worth it, even if it means potentially getting several big cartoonish bags of money. Svenska Spel, the Swedish sports book, will collaborate with Swedish Elite Football (SEF) to educate players about match-fixing and integrity, reports Intergame.

This collaboration will consist of lectures delivered at The Gothia Cup, Sweden’s annual youth football tournament. Anders Wikström, a former player, said of the collaboration,“As a young player you probably have not reflected so much around match fixing; you play football because it’s fun. By highlighting the issue early on, we hope to prevent future match fixing.”

Svenska Spel’s CEO, Patrik Hofbauer, emphasized that this is a necessary step to make games safer for the players and for betters. “If gambling safety is not guaranteed, we will refrain from offering games,” he offered. “Our customers should be confident that the games we offer are decided by fair play. It is something that sport also requires from gaming companies.”

A motivating factor to offering these lectures has been a recent spell of potential corruption in Swedish football leagues. Hofbauer said that although the season is only at its midpoint, several games are under investigation for potential fixing, including a match between Kalmar and Elfsborg that took place May 26.

Spain’s gambling regulator has published the outline of its plan for the next three years. The Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) linked to several documents on their official website, announcing their commitment to social responsibility and confirming the government has approved their plans.

According to the announcement, for the period of 2019-2022, DGOJ will focus on four areas to emphasize social responsibility. First, it will ensure gambling is developed to be safer for players. Secondly, it will encourage its licensees to produce new products across all channels. Third, it will build on its responsible gambling controls. Finally, it seeks to have a positive impact on Spanish society.

Director General of the DGOJ Juan Espinosa wrote in the release:

“Our commitment to society, public health and responsible gaming, as well as transparency and accountability, includes the annual dissemination of the degree of compliance with the service commitments declared in this Letter through our institutional website www.ordenacionjuego.es “