Referendum Not Needed For BCN World EMEA
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has ruled out a plebiscite over the future of the leisure and entertainment macrocomplex BCN World in Vila-seca and Salou
A local referendum concerning BCN World is ruled out after consensus found amongst all parties on the project’s future.
SPAIN CASINO OPERATIONS
BULGARIA – The Bulgarian Basketball Federation has announced its partnership with Sportradar Security Services. Under the terms of the partnership, Sportradar’s Fraud Detection System will monitor all regular season and play-off matches for the 2016/17 Men’s National Basketball League, as well as the matches of the Women’s 2016/17 Championship. Altogether, the FDS will monitor pre-match and live betting across over 450 betting operators for over 240 matches this season.
Bulgarian Basketball Federation President Georgi Glushkov emphasised: “Bulgarian basketball values fair play and wants to develop according to the sport’s principles - we want matchfixers to fear us. We want them to understand that Bulgaria is dedicated to clean basketball where the abilities of the players and coaches win in a fair game”
Sportradar Security Services Managing Director Andreas Krannich added: “It was two years ago that we developed and launched the first version of basketball’s Fraud Detection System, completely attuned to the realities of this unique sport and its global betting markets. We appreciate this vote of confidence from the Bulgarian Federation and the brave way they protect the integrity of both their men’s and women’s competition.”
FINLAND – Veikkaus has been the state-owned national betting agency since it was founded in 1940, but from the start of next year, Veikkaus is the new brand for the single organisation that will regulate and monitor the provision of all gambling operations within Finland’s borders.
Veikkaus will replace Raha-automaattiyhdistys (better known as RAY), responsible for the casino operations conducted in the country; Veikkaus Oy, in charge of the national lottery as well as of local betting operations; and Fintoto Oy, which manages pari-mutuel betting options. Veikkaus is to start operations on January 1, 2017, with the merged entities looking to appoint a new CEO at the top of an organisation that will employ 2,000 people.
The merged business will reach approximate 1.9 million players and is expected to generate more than a billion euros per annum. Almost 5,000 Finns voted in a multi-stage study to rebrand the entity, with the lottery operator's brand, Veikkaus, found to be most suitable as it represented ‘security and responsibility,’ to the respondents. At present, the merged entity operates under the name FRV Evo Oy, with Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Chairman of the FRV Evo Oy Board, stating that responsibility and reliability will be the foundation stones of Veikkaus, adding that the main goal will be to ensure that revenue from the country’s gambling operations benefits all Finnish citizens.
P18 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has ruled out a plebiscite over the future of the leisure and entertainment macrocomplex BCN World in Vila-seca and Salou. Puigdemont said that the local referendum would “not be necessary” after “a lot of work” had been carried out “to reach a consensus amongst all parties ”on the project’s future.
Te project was placed on ‘stand-by’ in February due to growing political differences over the nature of project while the final urban planning had yet to be approved. However after government assurances that only six per cent of the proposed site would be used for gaming, and that BCN World would be first and foremost a tourist destination consensus has been reached with the Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (Te Popular Unity Candidates ) a left, pro-Catalan independence political party and members of Esquerra Republicana (Te Republican Left of Catalonia). Puigdemont confirmed in Parliament that the plebiscite would no longer be necessary.
Despite the fact that the licensing process has been fraught with delays, difficulties and uncertainties both Melco and Hard Rock are
Austria - Novomatic progresses AGT acquisition
Austria
Novomatic has confirmed that it will proceed with the proposed acquisition of a 53 per cent stake in Ainsworth Game Technology (AGT) following the approval by minority shareholders at the shareholders meeting earlier today. Tis relationship is expected to accelerate AGT’s development and support the creation of a stronger company with deeper product breadth enabling it to better compete against international gaming conglomerates.
Novomatic CEO Harald Neumann said that through Novomatic ’s majority shareholding, AGT will benefit from collaboration across a range of markets that will be
competing for the new licence with Hard Rock confirming that it would be willing to invest €2.5bn in the project. Te process has been made more complex still by the fact that both companies under the “Melco-Hard Rock Resort Cyprus Consortium” name are bidding together for the first integrated casino licence resort in Cyprus leading to fears that Spain could well lose out.
In May 2014 the Catalan Parliament passed the law that would allow up to six casino licenses in the area of the Recreational and Tourism Centre in Vila-seca and Salou, south of Barcelona. Te regional government then set about the process of approving the BCN World Master Plan in order to define the zoning, and the public tender for the licenses.
One of the largest obstacles has been the high tax rate. Taxation on casinos is generally very high in Spain, and in Catalonia stood at about 55 percent of gross gaming revenue. Under new rules passed in the same year, the Catalan Parliament ruled that casinos in Catalonia would pay 10 per cent on their revenues from gambling activities once the casinos are up and running.
substantially positive for long term shareholder wealth creation.
Mr. Neumann emphasised: “We value the trust and support by the minority shareholders through the positive vote of approving the share transaction and will make every effort to meet their expectations. We will commence implementing the binding commitments as outlined in the Notice of Meeting to crystallise the benefits of the relationship.”He further stated that completion of the share sale is subject to a range of regulatory and gaming licence approvals.
AGT Chief Executive Officer Danny Gladstone said: “We are delighted to have received shareholder support and look forward to working with Novomatic on the completion of this transaction and delivering on the expected benefits for our shareholders.”
Spain
Independent Consultants, Spring Capital, has released details concerning its client, Codere, after the Madrid-based company announced the successful completion of its financial restructuring. Te company had become distressed when macro and regulatory conditions in its key markets deteriorated, but is now posting results close to pre-crisis levels. “We are proud to have been part of this effort which resulted in over €350m of value creation backed by €75m of cost savings, 30 per cent improvements in labour productivity and doubled capital efficiency,” said Spring Capital’s Oliver Zugel. “Our consulting team designed and implemented Codere's Global Performance Enhancement Program (PEP) with client task forces dedicated to workforce optimisation, reduction in slot procurement costs, capital expenditure reviews and overhead cost savings.”
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