Pennsylvania fines five casinos $1.1m

Regulators from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) have issued fines totalling $1,167,000 against five casino operators in the state, following various violations.

The largest of these fines totalled $1m, and was handed down to Downs Racing LP, operators of the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino, who were issued with a $550,000 fine for failure over a multi-year period to follow approved internal controls regarding free slot play, cashier functions and internal audits and an additional $450,000 fine for conducting business with unlicensed gaming service providers.

Hollywood Casino operators, the Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, were issued with the next biggest fine of $90,000 for underage gaming, failing to stop an underage individual from entering the casino and failing to properly safeguard its assets in an incident when a patron was given an overpayment of $9,000 by a cashier at the cage.

Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment, operators of the Parx Casino in Bucks County were issued with two fines totalling $35,000. The first of these was a $25,000 fine for failing to deal with an intoxicated patron, while the second $10,000 fine was for permitting two employees to work without being authorised or licensed by the PGCB.

Valley Forge Convention Center Partners and Mount Airy #1 LLC were both issued with fines totalling $32,000 and $10,000 respectively for violations pertaining to casino activities.

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Michigan sets its sights on a legalised sports betting future

Amendments made to a bill passing through Michagan’s House Regulatory Reform Comittee (HRRC) could potentially see a legalised sports betting market in the state.

Earlier this week, Rep. Brandt Iden’s bill H4926 was signed off the the HRRC, with the most up to date version including the provision for sports betting.

Amendments made to the bill are as follows: “The division may permit an internet gaming licensee to conduct internet wagering under this act on any amateur or professional sporting event or contest, if that internet wagering is not prohibited by federal law.”

As things heat up at the Supreme Court with New Jersey’s mission to repeal the age-old federal ban on sports betting in the US, Iden has now made allowances for sports betting in the bill that would legalise online gambling, whilst imposing a 10% tax on all operators.

The bill also outlines that online gambling operators would be required to pay a $100,000 licensing application fee. If granted a five-year licence, the fee for the first year would be $200,000 and then $100,000 each year thereafter.

Iden told the Legal Sports Report: “A number of casinos have reached out to me and expressed interest in opening up a sportsbook, and we want to make sure they not only have the opportunity to do that in the brick-and-mortar casino but with hand-held devices and online as well.

“I think this is a good first step in that direction, but we have to get this component done first. We’ll make sure we can shepherd through and get to the governor’s desk an agreement to do online gaming, and I think from there the next step will be sports gaming.”

If it passes, the bill will go to the Senate, before heading to the governor’s desk for final approval. Although it’s extremely unlikely that the bill will pass through the House by the end of 2017, Iden is confident that with the progress with New Jersey’s legal battle, the light at the end of the tunnel is not too far away.

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Catena Media acquires Squawka for £1m

Affiliate heavyweight Catena Media has announced the acquisition of football and DFS website Squawka.com for an upfront fee of £1m.

In addition to the upfront payment of £1m, the acquisition is expected to generate annual sales of €2m, with an estimated margin of 60%.

The Squawka website currently attracts four million users a month and has approximately 800,000 followers on Twitter. Squawka and its related sites currently only generate revenues through banner advertising.

Catena Media have confirmed that Squawka’s four employees will relocate its London office upon completion of the transaction.

Announcing the companies’ second merger this month, Henrik Persson Ekdahl, Acting CEO, Catena Media said: “We see potential for Squawka as a high-volume traffic site with a global audience, to which we look forward to implementing an affiliation business model.

"The company has invested in automatic data feeds for their user-friendly graphical interfaces, which is something we aim to integrate into other Catena Media products. Squawka will sit alongside our existing brands, increasing our coverage in the football vertical while entering the upcoming sports year.”

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Macau continually exceeds financial targets and is set to generate $53bn by 2020

During the first two weeks of September, Macau’s casino operations have performed remarkably well in terms of local revenue growth.

According to a report published by the International Bernstein Bank, gross gaming revenue in Macau reached $1bn, averaging out at approximately $102.3m a day in the month of December.

Last month, Macau’s gambling market was worth nearly $2.9bn according to government figures. During that period of time, winnings from gamblers had increased 22.6% year-on-year, meeting the upper value of industry estimates of between 16-22%.

November was Macau’s sixteenth consecutive month of positive results, and the month of December doesn’t seem to be ending that winning streak at this rate.

Macau is on target to collect approximately $34bn in gaming revenue this year, which is around three times higher than the market in Nevada.

Looking to the future, analysts are predicting that Macau’s casinos could generate around $53bn by 2020. According to data posted by Morgan Stanley, they predict the region's success in 2017 is only the beginning.

Despite the positive financial results, Macau casinos reported 1,074 suspicious transactions during the period January – June 2017. This figure was up 37% from the 780 cases that were reported in the year prior.

According to Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office, the region is the leading source of transaction reports such as these, accounting for 70.3% of the suspicious transactions reports in the city state.

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Date set for Tabcorp/Tatts merger following Supreme Court approval

The long running A$11.3bn merger saga concerning Australia’s two biggest lottery operators, Tabcorp Holdings and Tatts Group looks to be coming to a close after the Supreme Court of Victoria approved the takeover schedule.

In a statement, Tabcorp confirmed that court orders have been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and as such the scheme of arrangement is now effective.

Both Tabcorp and Tatts Group have confirmed that the scheme of arrangement, essentially the merger between the two businesses will be implemented on Friday 22 December. Upon commencement of the merger proceedings, Tatts Group will be absorbed into Tabcorp.

Writing to shareholders, Tabcorp chairman Paula Dwyer said: “The combination brings together two highly complementary businesses and a strong pool of talent from within each organisation, ensuring that the combined group is well positioned to invest, innovate and compete in a rapidly evolving operating environment.

“The combination is expected to create significant value for Tabcorp shareholders, and benefits for our customers, racing industry, agencies, licenced venues, newsagents, and Federal, State and Territory Governments.”

This latest development follows Tabcorp completing its divestment of its interests in Odyssey Gaming Services, a key factor in the Australian Competition Tribunal’s decision to green-light the merger between the two companies.

Following the approval of the scheme of arrangement, Tatts Group have announced payment of a 16 cent special dividend to its shareholders and have confirmed the suspension in trading of the group's ordinary shares on the Australian stock exchange.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the merger is expected to take around two years to complete.

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Andrey Novak Wins partypoker Eurasian Poker Tour Prague €5,300 High Roller Eight-Max

Ukraine’s Andrey Novak was the last man standing in the €5,300 No-Limit Hold’em EAPT High Roller 8-Max that concluded the partypoker EAPT Prague festival last night. Following a two-way deal with his heads-up opponent – Ludovic Geilich from Germany – Novak was crowned the victor and received €117,365 and the trophy for his efforts.

As for Geilich, he left the tournament with €110,385, which he added to his poker bankroll of over $1.7 million. Here it is interesting to note that the German poker pro made another runner-up finish in a live tournament in Prague mere days ago. The player finished second in the PokerStars Championship Prague €1,100 National Championship event for a prize of €184,000. Geilich finished runner-up to Greece’s Georgios Vrakas.

As for the Ukrainian winner of last night’s Eurasian Poker Tour high roller, it should be noted that his triumph became his best live poker accomplishment so far. Including last night’s cash, the player now has a total of $223,491 in live tournament earnings. Novak previously cashed in events that took place in his homeland as well as in Cyprus and Las Vegas. He actually took part in this year’s WSOP and cashed in three events over the course of the series.

Here it is also important to note that Novak has been playing online poker for quite some time. A quick look at his PocketFives profile tells us that he has cashed more than $3.4 million online. Back in October, playing under the screen name Anjeyyy, he finished second in the World Championship of Online Poker Event #53: $2,100 NL Hold’em [Super Tuesday SE] with a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million. The player won $309,744.85 for his performance in the online tournament.

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