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WMS TAKES MAJOR SWEDISH SLICE
WMS Gaming has signed an agreement with Sweden’s Svenska Spel to install its latest games at Casino Cosmopol locations Sweden - Slot operations
WMS Gaming has announced that Casino Cosmopol, a wholly owned subsidiary of Svenska Spel, has released the final results of its tender for slot machines, with WMS winning 30 per cent of the total order size, the single largest share award- ed in the tender.
POLAND – CENTURY RELOCATES POZNAN LICENCE Century Casinos’ 66 per cent-owned subsidiary, Casinos Poland, successfully launched a new casino in Poznan, Poland, on April 12. Century Casinos is currently operating nine casinos under the Casinos Poland brand in most major cities all over Poland. Casinos Poland has now relocated its casino license in Poznan from an unfavourable location to the four stars Hotel Andersia, one of the best hotels in town. During the opening party, guests were served local gastro- nomic specialties and entertained with live music. The open- ing celebrations were part of a ‘Fashion TV’ show and parade to be broadcasted all over Europe. The casino is currently offering nine gaming tables and 50 ticket in–ticket out slot machines.
DENMARK - MARGINAL RISE IN GAMING REVENUES According to new statistics from the Danish Gambling Authority, Denmark's gambling market saw a marginal increase in revenue in its full year results for 2013. Total gross gaming revenue (GGR) grew one per cent to €1.02bn in 2013. Gaming machines comprise the third-largest seg- ment of the market after online gaming and the Danish Lottery, accounting for 22 per cent of total revenue. This rep- resents a slight decline from 2012, when gaming machines accounted for 25 per cent of the total revenue of the gam- bling market.
EU - EUROPEAN COMMISSION VOTES ON 4TH AMLD The European Parliament has debated and voted upon the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4th AMLD) in plenary in Strasbourg. With regards to gambling, the Commission said that it preferred not to allow any exemptions as they might be interpreted too widely, or be misused. During the debate, several MEPs of the Socio-democratic political group (S&D) expressed their support for the Commission's views. On the other hand, MEP Sampo Terho (EFD, FI) mentioned that the Directive could have the potential to hamper legal activities, for instance in Finland, where the state-owned gambling industry should not be subject to the Directive.
All the gambling-related amendments that were adopted during the LIBE/ECON vote in February were adopted by a large majority of all MEPs in the Parliament. To recall, the adopted amendments include the option for Member States to exempt providers of certain gambling services (except casinos) from national provisions transposing the Directive, on the basis of a low risk posed by the nature of the opera- tions, or a risk assessment. Prior to applying such exemp- tions, Member States shall seek approval from the European Commission. Customer due diligence measures are required from casinos and online gambling operators. When winnings of €2.000 or more are paid out, providers of other gambling services are also required to apply customer due diligence.
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Sweden-based Casino Cosmopol, which has casi- no properties in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmoe and Sundsvall, currently operates approximately 125 gaming tables and 1,100 slot machines, with slots accounting for about 60 per cent of its net gaming revenue. In order to provide its players with a cutting-edge gaming experience, Casino Cosmopol is looking to continually replace their slots and to offer a selection of machines on the forefront of technological developments within gaming.
The proven-performing Blade cabinet and the Game Chest Multi-Game Series, specifically tai- lored to the European marketplace, are among the WMS products to be featured at Casino Cosmopol. The Wizard of Oz Emerald City and Haunted Forest themes on the player-favourite Gamefield xD cabinet are already in operation at the Cosmopol casinos.
Sebastian Salat, President, WMS International, said, “We are delighted and honoured to have achieved this fantastic result in the Cosmopol ten- der process. We worked very closely with our Scientific Games colleagues in preparing our suc- cessful tender proposal, which we believe bodes well for continued success for our recently merged company.”
Eight gaming companies submitted tenders for the deployment of slot machines to the four Cosmopol Casinos; WMS and five other companies were awarded a contract.
Joachim Elm, Senior Gaming Manager of Casino Cosmopol, said: “We were impressed by the pro- fessionalism of the WMS tender proposal. It will be a great pleasure to work with the WMS team in the near future.”
Italy At the end of March, the lower house of the Italian Parliament approved an amendment to the problem gambling legislation, which effectively blocks the installation of any further video lottery terminals (VLTs) or slots. The amendment states that no current licensees will be able to install new video lottery or slot machines for a period of five years. The legislation currently awaits approval from the upper house of the Italian Parliament, the Senate.
New Dutch draft to regulate the country’s online sector
THE NETHERLANDS The Dutch government has noti- fied the European Commission of its draft act to regulate online gambling. Requirements are imposed on the operator, compa- ny and the gambling offer.
The operator is - among others - required to be a company with legal personality, registered in an EU or European Economic Areas (EEA) Member State, and is obliged to store the data in a con- trolled database in the Netherlands.
Companies are also required to pay a license fee, a gaming tax, and may be required to make payments to charitable organisa-
tions. Furthermore, the proposal aims to prevent gambling addic- tion where possible, by obliging operators of the most risk-prone categories of gambling (in gaming arcades, casinos and remote gambling), to identify the players, monitor their gaming behaviour and intervene where necessary.
Finally, a number of measures are introduced to strengthen the enforcement of gambling legisla- tion, such as the ability for the gaming authority to place com- pany premises and objects under seal and seize goods.
Following the publication of the Dutch remote gambling bill and its notification to the European
Commission, the VAN trade association stated that it will relentlessly pursue the lobby on this bill. VAN disagrees with the differentiated gaming tax rate (20 per cent for the online sector ver- sus 29 per cent for land-based) and states that the bill fails to sufficiently address the differ- ences in product offer, player verification through registration, identification and central registry and the starting position for licensing.
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