Tenerife Casinos Face Prosecution
A number of serious infractions regarding the running of three public casinos the Playa de Las Américas, Casino Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Casino Taoro have been reported by a councillor for the Podemos (We Can) Party Julio Concepción
Serious anomalies have been reported by council officials investigating Tenerife’s three public casinos
SPAIN CASINO OPERATIONS
A number of serious infractions regarding the running of three public casinos the Playa de Las Américas, Casino Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Casino Taoro have been reported by a councillor for the Podemos (We Can) Party Julio Concepción. Mr Concepción said that audits carried out on the casinos in the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 have found a number of serious anomalies in the accounts which “are impermissible in public companies like these.” Tese breaches with current legislation had negatively affected the financial management, of the casinos which in turn he said had affected the hiring of staff and including in the most serious of cases irregularities in the granting of contracts for services.
“Te management of these public companies even handpicked contracts outside of any legally established tender process,” he said.
"Tis legal violation that negatively affects the solvency of companies that supply goods and
Switzerland’s 21 casinos post slight increase
Switzerland
In 2016, the 21 Swiss casinos generated a turnover of CHF689m, up 1.2 per cent year-on-year with taxies to the cantons coming in at CHF 323m.
Although the continuous decline in recent years has been halted, the market is still characterised by the migration of guests to online casinos, to foreign casinos on the Swiss border and to illegal slot halls.
During the year, 12 casinos recorded a slight increase and nine casinos a slight reduction in their Gross Gaming Revenue compared to the previous year. Te turnover of Swiss casinos peaked in 2007. Since then, sales have fallen by a third. In 2016, it was below the value of 2004, the first year after the opening of the Swiss casino. Since their opening in 2004,
services is difficult to understand, because casino companies have sufficient liquidity and sufficient staff to meet their economic obligations in a timely manner," he went onto say. Concepción said that contract irregularities affected almost all contracts including cleaning contracts, security, catering and advertising and said that legal action could be forthcoming.
During a general meeting regarding casinos held last Friday Concepción also stated that the economic data over recent years and, especially, for 2016, confirmed the high profitability of the casinos in Tenerife despite the efforts of the President of the Council of Tenerife Carlos Alonso to dismantle these public companies in order to privatise them. Casino companies on the island closed 2016 with an increase in revenue of more than €500,000 and a decrease in expenses of another €500,000, which means in general terms that last year that income generated by these publicly owned companies stood at €13m.
Switzerland’s casinos have paid a total of CHF 5.7bn in taxation.
Marc Friedrich, Managing Director Swiss Casino Association, said: “Online casinos are a growing competition for the Swiss casinos. Although they are illegal in Switzerland, they are freely accessible on the Internet.
An estimated CHF 250m is spent abroad each year. Organized gangs operate in Switzerland to a growing extent illegal slot clubs.
Te illegal turnover is expected to move around CHF 150m per year. Over the last few years, new casinos, numerous gambling halls and thousands of money-playing machines have been put into operation on the German, Austrian, Italian and French side of the national border, which appeal to many guests from Switzerland. Tis means that at least CHF 100m in sales to neighbouring countries flows from Switzerland every year.”
France
A new decree, published in the Official Gazette, concerning casinos installed on board merchant ships carrying French passengers, comes into force on July 1, 2017. Te decree specifies the operating conditions for casinos on board commercial vessels flying the French flag, irrespective of their registration registry and casinos installed on board. Ships operating on a regular intra-community route, such as ferries, may operate up to 15 gaming machines. Ships operating in international waters may operate in addition to traditional table games.
Applications for authorisation to operate games must be addressed to the French Minister of the Interior. Te operating agreement between the ship owner and the casino operator is a maximum of 15 years.
Finally, the staff must also be approved by the Ministry of the Interior, while the controller station at the entrance to the gaming area can be combined with that of the cashier.
SPAIN – Luckia Group has chosen JCM Global’s award-winning iVIZION bill validator for three of its casinos in Spain: Casino de Bilbao, and Casino de Ceuta, and Casino de Mallorca.
JCM’s iVIZION will replace a competitor’s product at each of the casinos. Luckia made the decision to upgrade to iVIZION after a month’s-long live field test during which iVIZION demonstrated its high quality, fast acceptance speed, and technical capabilities, all backed by JCM’s high level of service and support.
JCM EMEA General Manager Payam Zadeh said, “We are excited that Luckia Group has chosen iVIZION for these three distinguished Spanish casinos. Operators worldwide rely on JCM’s iVIZION bill validator to offer unparalleled levels of protection against counterfeiters and other types of cheats, all with the exceptional speed that makes iVIZION the better, smarter, faster solution.”
CZECH REPUBLIC – STS, the biggest bookmaker in Poland, has bought into Czech company Greep, a leading software provider for gambling companies from the Central Europe region.
The deal saw STS became one of the major shareholders in the Czech company, making it a co- owner of the company and the bookmaker system Betsys that it uses. The investment allows for further dynamic development of activity of STS on Polish market and, in the future, also on European market.
Mateusz Juroszek, the President of STS, said: “For STS, the deal means greater independence from providers, as well as stability in future development.”
ISLE OF MAN – New laws being approved at the first stage of the Island’s parliament aim to see more venues open on the island. The Casino Amendment Bill will be given a second hearing having been passed by the House of Keys. The changes would give greater freedom to the island’s only existing casino, the Western Palace Hotel & Casino in the capital, Douglas, to relocate and would also allow it to open multiple satellite casino sites, via just one gaming licence. The new laws would also give greater power to the Gambling Supervision Commission allowing it to revoke a casino licence.
Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan commented: "While online gambling has become a significant part of the Isle of Man’s economy, the island has always supported a small but well-regulated domestic gambling sector, which includes licensed casinos."
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM P17 EMEA
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