Here’s a look back at the European and Asian gambling stories that most piqued our interest in 2015…

UK CONSOLIDATION

There were a lot of major stories in the UK market this year but they all shared a common theme: terrified operators realizing that the government was bent on bleeding them dry. leading operators to conclude that banding together was the only way to survive.

Throughout the year, the major public companies’ quarterly earnings reports expressed how deeply the new 15% online point of consumption tax – plus increased tax on fixed-odds betting terminals for companies with retail operations – was cutting into the bottom line.