Australian lottery and betting operator Tabcorp Holdings has confirmed that multiple parties are interested in buying its wagering division, with UK gambling giant Entain plc confirming it’s among the suitors.

On Tuesday, Tabcorp issued a statement in response to local media reports which claimed the company had been approached about a possible acquisition of its Wagering & Media unit, which controls nearly 44% of the local sports and racing market. Tabcorp confirmed receiving “a number of unsolicited approaches and proposals in relation to a potential transaction.” 

Tabcorp noted that said pitches “were expressed to be confidential, indicative, non-binding and subject to numerous conditions.” Tabcorp’s board is assessing these proposals and will update the market as needed, while adding the usual caveat that there was no certainty that there would prove to be any fire behind this smoke. 

Entain subsequently issued its own statement confirming that the company had made “a non-binding indicative offer” for Tabcorp’s betting division. Entain already has a small down under presence via its Ladbrokes Australia and Ned brands and noted that adding Tabcorp’s betting unit “would create a leading, integrated multi-channel and multi-brand wagering company.”

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.