Madrid Rejects ‘Unviable’ Cordish Project EMEA
Te Madrid government has kicked out current plans by US operator Cordish Companies to develop a $2.2bn casino close to the capital city, slamming it as ‘unviable.’ It has said Cordish is free to resubmit if its concerns are addressed
Live! Resorts Madrid, Cordish’s first large-scale resort in Europe was welcomed by the Spanish capital in December, but there’s been a change of plans...
SPAIN CASINO OPERATIONS
POLAND – Along with many other online international gambling services, EnergyBet will be ceasing to offer services to customers in Poland, effective as of April 1 2017.
EnergyBet management have been watching developments regarding regulations in Poland closely for some time, and had hoped that the Polish government would listen to the advice of the European Union and other authorities. Sadly, however, this was not the case, and the new highly restrictive and hostile regulatory environment has made continued operations unviable.
EnergyBet CEO Marcin Sapinski explained “The Polish market has always been very important to us, and we share the frustration of Polish customers. We will continue to monitor developments, with the aim of returning to the Polish market if things change. In the meantime, we would like to thank our Polish customers for their understanding.”
EnergyBet will cease to direct advertising or promotions to the Polish market, and all EnergyBet affiliate partners have been instructed to remove advertising and promotions aimed at the Polish market, before April 1st 2017. Accounts for all Polish residents will be closed and any balances returned, with bets placed before the cut-off date being honoured.
The company added: “The decision to cease offering EnergyBet services to customers is Poland was not taken lightly, and any resulting inconvenience and disappointment is very much regretted.”
SPAIN – NMi is celebrating the opening of its new office in Madrid, to support the Spanish and Latin American markets, in line with its long-term expansion programme.
The addition of NMi's testing facility in Spain parallels the increasing customer demand for NMi's compliance services, supporting new and existing customers with one of the biggest challenges of 2017, the Spanish Biennial Audits.
Filippo Ferri NMi Regional Director, Spain & LatAm commented: "With the Spanish Biennial Audits just around the corner the Madrid based team will spearhead our operations in Spain. This is a very exciting time for NMi, we've been working in Spain for many years and have extensive experience and operations on Spanish territory, as well as established relationships with the Spanish regulator. NMi is in the best position to support operators to remain compliant in one of Europe's most advanced jurisdictions".
P18 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
Te US operator of casinos including Maryland Live! put forward its blueprint for a hotel and entertainment district in Madrid December, saying it would create 56,000 jobs. However, having originally welcomed the plan, Madrid’s regional government has now ruled it can’t go ahead in its current form.
Madrid’s Minister of Economy, Employment and Finance, Engracia Hidalgo said that after a ‘profound, serious and rigorous’ review of the proposal, the government didn’t think it was ‘viable from an economic and organisational point of view.’
It said that for the project to proceed it would need to be classified as Integral Development Center (CID), an ‘absolutely exceptional’ procedure that grants the developer a series of urban, fiscal and regulatory advantages in terms of land use flexibility and tax advantages. It added that only one CID is approved a decade. is no small decision, as Madrid is only allowed to issue a CID once every 10 years. It estimated that the government would have to spend €340m on
Veikkaus-win2day go live with industry-first cross-border network
Finland
Veikkaus and win2day have gone live with the industry’s first cross-border poker network powered by Playtech. In an industry-first, the respective Finnish and Austrian gaming brands have joined forces to launch a joint poker network using liquidity from both player bases. Tis has instantly doubled the number of customers playing the widest variety of omni- channel poker products via a dedicated Playtech-powered iPoker network.
Tis is the first time that two regulated entities have joined forces to share cross-border poker liquidity and follows win2day meeting a series of stringent responsibility standards accredited by Veikkaus and the Finnish
road and rail infrastructure to provide access to the out-of-town complex.
Te government added that it was ‘open to investment, both domestic and international.’
In response, Cordish removed any mention of the development from its corporate website. It said: “Te government does not understand our application in two major respects. One, we make no requests for any public infrastructure nor any public subsidy by the government and in fact none is needed. Two, we are fully committed to a total build-out of a massive $2.2bn integrated resort.”
Cordish added it was ‘optimistic’ that the government would approve its application.
“Te project is extremely important to the regional Madrid economy,” Cordish added. “Te shame for the citizens of Spain in any delay is that we are prepared to immediately deliver the project, with construction commencing the second quarter 2018.”
authorities. Te liquidity sharing agreement was approved by the Finnish Ministry of Interior and the Austrian Ministry of Finance last year. Veikkaus, that merged with RAY and Fintoto earlier this year to form a new entity, and win2day, previously had to limit online poker to domestic players only.
Playtech has recently invested significant development resources in poker, enhancing its award-winning iPoker client by introducing a new lobby and home tab, completing a full overhaul of the software’s poker tables and launching a series of new game views, enabling easier and fully personalised access to a wide variety of players’ favourite games.
Martin Jekl, Managing Director, win2day said: “Working with Veikkaus and Playtech has been a seamless process and we are very pleased with the results of the network in the first few days since launch.”
Ireland
GAN has announced that David O’Reilly has stepped down from the Board of Directors in order to pursue other business interests whilst existing director Mr Seamus McGill has been appointed as non-executive Chairman of the Board. Mr McGill is a long-standing veteran of the US casino Industry and formerly the COO of Aristocrat Technologies, Seamus is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada and has been a director of GAN since April 2014. Seamus McGill, Chairman of GAN, said: “David has made an incredibly positive contribution to GAN over many years, helping navigate the business through an initial public offering in 2013 and supporting Management in developing GAN into the leading enterprise supplier of Internet gaming solutions to American casinos. On behalf of all shareholders, employees and my fellow directors I would like to thank David for his service and wish him the best in his future.”
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