News November 2024
Crown reduces losses by over $30m Operator News
Australian operator Crown Resorts, which owns casinos in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, has reported a loss of $164.8m in the year to June 30, reducing a loss of $199.4m from the previous year. Revenue came in at $2.78bn although the group’s accounts for the 2024 financial year confirm that its owner Blackstone invested around AU$500m into Crown over the past 12 months. Melbourne’s turnover fell by 4.4 per cent, Perth
was up by 4.9 per cent and Sydney up nine per cent. Crown said the financials reflect ‘the continued challenging operating conditions and macroeconomic environment’.
Heated legal battle in the Bahamas Operator News
RAV Bahamas is taking legal action against the US subsidiary of Malaysian Genting Bhd with a claim for damages of more than US$600m against its partner in the Resorts World Bimini (RWB) casino in the Bahamas. RAV owns 22 per cent of the operating force behind Resorts World Bimini, BB Entertainment. It has filed a lawsuit with the US District Court in the Southern District of Florida claiming Genting has treated the project as a ‘financial wasteland’ and accused Genting of ‘a massive and co-ordinated fraud.’ Te lawsuit states: “Trough its stranglehold
over BB Entertainment and its finances, Genting Americas has used BB Entertainment to conceal a medley of fraudulent activities To date, BB Entertainment has not distributed any profits to RAV from this venture because Genting Americas, who controls BB Entertainment’s finances, has used BB Entertainment as its financial wasteland. What is clear is that Genting Americas’ fraudulent accounting practices have drowned BB
Further extension granted to Parisian gaming clubs Operator News
Having waited for their definitive integration into the gambling landscape this year after seven years of experimentation, the future of Parisian gaming clubs was put on hold after the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9. Tey will now be able to continue their activities until December 31, 2025. In order to fill the legal void that was
emerging, the clubs obtained a new one-year extension, still as an experiment. Te text of the Finance Bill (PLF) was presented on October 10
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Entertainment in hundreds of millions of dollars in illegitimate debt. “Only a massive and coordinated fraud
could dump nearly a billion dollars of debt on a small island resort where RAV had already developed most of the significant infrastructure.” Genting Malaysia has come out swinging in
response, slamming the US$600m lawsuit as ‘malicious’ and ‘baseless.’ Genting said: “RAV Bahamas and Genting Americas have had a longstanding business relationship to develop and operate the Resorts World Bimini resort in the Bahamas, through BB Entertainment. RAV recently filed a Complaint in the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida asserting baseless allegations against GAI.” Genting added: “Tese malicious and
baseless claims are an attempt by RAV and its principals to extract an exorbitant payment from GAI and inflict severe reputational damage upon GAI. As the complaint is entirely baseless and without merit, we do not expect there to be any material impact on the financial results or operations of the GENM Group from such claims.”
by Antoine Armand, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry and Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister responsible for the Budget and Public Accounts. Law No. 2017-257, which provided for an
observation period of one year, starting January 1, 2018, had twice been amended to extend the experiment and bring it to seven years, due to the pandemic of Covid-19, which had prevented the smooth running of the activities of these establishments between 2020 and 2021. “We are not abandoning the idea of
perpetuating the clubs,” explained Philippe Bon, general delegate of the professional union Casinos de France.
Shares plummet in UK companies Operator News
Shares in UK gambling companies have fallen massively due to speculation that the government is planning to increase taxation of the sector by an extra £900m to £3bn. Labour’s first budget in 14 years will be announced on October 30 with Chancellor Rachel Reeves believed to be considering two separate proposals, one from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) that would see a rise in online gaming taxes of £900m and another from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) that would see taxies increased by £3bn. Shares in Flutter, which owns brands including
Paddy Power and SkyBet, dropped by nine per cent in New York, whilst Entain, owner of Ladbrokes plummeted by 14 per cent. Evoke, who owns William Hill dropped by 12 per cent whilst Rank, which operates Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo fell by seven per cent. Analysts at Jefferies warned that the move would ‘effectively wipe out listed operator profitability and likely pose an existential threat to many smaller operators.’
Concerns aired over French tax rise Legislation
Te French Online Gaming Association (AFJEL), has expressed concern about the government’s intention to drastically increase taxes on the legal online gaming sector. AFJEL stated it was 'surprised' by “the declarations in the press of the President of the National Gaming Authority (ANJ) in favour of this increase, while the consequences would be dramatic for the sector. Te AFJEL cited the destruction of businesses and
jobs, decline in support for sports and horse racing ecosystems, weakening of the sector, and an explosion of the illegal market as potential ramifications should the increase happen.
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