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The tribe and the entertainment company added US$10 million to their campaign to limit casinos.
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As registration was closed, organizers were able to confirm the size of the event’s overall field as well as the prize pool and the places paid. As many as 763 entrants registered into the $400 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry. They generated a prize pool of $251,790. The top 81 finishers will leave with a cash from the event, with minimum payouts starting from $627. The champion will collect $50,359 and a WSOP Circuit gold ring.
And here is the place to mention that after Flights A and B, there are now as many as 93 players left in contention. Of them, 34 survived from Day 1A and the other 59 from Day 1B. The survivors from the two starting flights will combine together for the first time today when the final day on the tournament’s schedule is slated to be played.
Action resumes at 2 pm local time at Horseshoe Southern Indiana. The remaining hopefuls will have a long day ahead as they will have to first burst the money bubble, then to set the official final table, and finally to determine the champion.
Andrew Jacobs Emerges as Overall Chip Leader after Successful Day 1B
As it can be seen, Jacobs’ advantage is very tiny, and it is rather curious whether he will pull further ahead at the start of Day 2, or it will be Pupillo or another player from the 93 survivors who will assume the chip lead.
As mentioned earlier, action is scheduled to resume at 2 pm local time. It is also interesting to note that Pupillo is playing for his third WSOP Circuit gold ring. The player topped the field of a WSOP Circuit Main Event and of another tournament in previous seasons of the popular poker series to capture his first two pieces of gold.
Horseshoe Southern Indiana is playing host to the fifth WSOP Circuit stop of the 2018/2019 season. The ongoing live poker festival will run through October 8, when Day 3 of the $1,700 Main Event is to be played and the name of the Main Event champ is expected to become clear. The highlight tournament is slated to kick off on Friday, October 5 with the first of two starting flights.
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Western Australia’s regulator revealed that unclaimed prize money grew 12% to €1.1 million in the year to June 30.
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The second gold ring tournament on the schedule started on Friday at the host venue. The $400 buy-in event began with the first of two starting flights and drew as many as 278 tournament entrants. The second starting flight is slated to be played today from 11 am. It will provide a last chance for interested players to join the event’s field.
The total amount of $91,740 was generated on Day 1A and it will be added to the money generated during the second starting flight of the tournament to comprise together the overall prize pool. And the prize pool itself as well as the places paid and how much the winner will collect will be announced upon the beginning of Day 2 on Sunday.
Of the 278 participants who registered for the tournament on Day 1A, there were just 34 players left at the time organizers called it a day on Friday at Horseshoe Southern Indiana.
The Day 1A Chip Leader
Nicholas Pupillo finished off Day 1A as the chip leader. The player bagged and tagged 389,500 in chips last night to top the temporary chip counts chart after a particularly good run throughout the day. Charles Dawson with 245,500 and Kendall Staggs with 229,000 were the other two players to make it top three of the Day 1A leaderboard.
It is interesting to note that Pupillo is eyeing his WSOP Circuit gold ring number three. He won his first piece from the series in 2015 when he bested the field of a $580 No-Limit Hold’em event. He also collected a cash prize of $15,600 for his triumph back then. Gold ring number two arrived last fall when he emerged victorious in the $1,675 Main Event at Thunder Valley Casino. His victory also secured him with a payout of $170,286.
Over the course of his career, Pupillo has cashed in 36 WSOP Circuit tournaments and seven WSOP ones and has collected cash prizes of more than $512,083 from the two major poker series. It is to be seen whether the player will manage to score his third WSOP Circuit victory.
Action at the host casino resumes at 11 am local time and Day 2 action will kick off on Sunday at 2 pm at Horseshoe Southern Indiana.
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Lottery spokesperson Randy Burnside told the media outlet earlier this week that sportsbooks were expected to be opened at Mardi Gras Casino in Nitro and Wheeling Island Casino in Wheeling by the end of the month. However, Delaware North, the owner of the two gambling venues, had informed the state gambling watchdog that it would delay the opening of sports betting facilities at the two properties. The company had not specified why the launch would be delayed.
Mr. Burnside further pointed out that the Lottery is waiting to hear from Delaware North to schedule testing of the sports betting operations in October.
West Virginia became the fourth state to launch sports betting after the mid-May ruling of the US Supreme Court that authorized individual states to legalize wagering on professional and college sporting events, if they feel inclined to do so. Legal sports betting services went live in West Virginia in the end of August and Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races was the first local property to jump on the betting bandwagon.
The sportsbook at the casino is operated by British bookmaker William Hill. The Greenbrier is the only other property currently offering sports betting within West Virginia borders. It cut the ribbon of its FanDuel-run sportsbook on September 14.
Sports Betting Market Looks Healthy during First Few Weeks
Handle figures are expected to improve even further in the coming weeks as the state’s sportsbooks are to go live with digital/mobile betting. Eric Zimny, Vice President of Racing and Sports Operations at Hollywood Casino, said during a recent ICE Sports Betting USA webinar that they will likely launch their mobile betting app in the coming weeks. The casino official pointed out that he still did not have a firm date and that the launch will not take place next week, but it will not take place in three or four months from now, as well.
It is still unknown when a FanDuel-powered mobile app will go live at The Greenbrier, but said app is anticipated to boost betting operations at the property significantly.
It now (and for now) seems that West Virginia has a healthy nascent betting market. And betting activity in the state is only poised to grow with the launch of mobile betting and the anticipated opening of two more sportsbook.
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On the other hand, it seems that this might change soon, as at least three large-scale properties are to be built in South Europe in the next few years, all aiming to draw high roller gambling customers, particularly from the Asia-Pacific region and other corners of the world known to be inhabited by high-spending members of the global population. With that said, it seems that while most European countries are focused on creating well-regulated and well-functioning digital gambling markets, some of them might be ready to finally embrace the integrated resort model in a manner similar to Macau and Las Vegas and reap the benefits of offering diverse offering within the limits of a large property located in an attractive enough destination.
Integrated Resort Projects in Europe
The City of Dreams Mediterranean complex is being developed and will be managed by Hong Kong gaming and hospitality giant Melco Resorts & Entertainment and a local partner, known to be a subsidiary of Cypriot holding CNS Group. The property will feature 500 hotel rooms, suites, and villas, 11 restaurants and bars, 1,200 square meters of retail area, 7,500 square meters of gaming space with 1,200 slot machines and 140 gaming tables, a 3,000-square-meter expo center, and 9,600 square meters of convention, meeting, and event space, among other facilities.
The property is expected to open doors in 2021 and to attract 300,000 international tourists to the Republic of Cyprus. Owners have also said that City of Dreams Mediterranean will look to combat the issue of seasonality as the tiny island nation is looking for means and ways to drive tourists not only during the summer months but all year round.
The southern part of Europe traditionally has warmer climate and more sunny and hot days, which is a perfect condition for attracting visitors from different parts of the world throughout the year. Aside from Cyprus, there are two more European countries that are looking to take advantage of the weather and other favorable conditions by adopting the integrated resort model.
As part of its privatization drive, Greece is looking to transform the long-abandoned former Ellinikon International Airport near Athens into an €8-billion integrated resort that, among other things, will feature a €1-billion casino. Preliminary discussions are currently taking place between the Greek Gaming Commission and companies interested to operate the gaming portion of the complex. And it is also important to note that some of the world’s largest gaming and hospitality companies, including Melco, Hard Rock International, and Caesars Entertainment Corp., have lodged interest in the major development scheme.
It is expected that the bidding process for the gaming license is to be finally launched later this fall after years of delays.
Last but not least, Florida’s Hard Rock International was selected earlier this year as the winning bidder for the development of a 745,000-square-meter integrated resort in Spain’s Tarragona province. The company has put a €2-billion price tag to its newest development. The property will operate as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tarragona and will be developed over several phases, the first of which will see a €700-million investment and will feature a casino with 1,200 slot machines, 100 table games, 1,100 hotel rooms in two hotels, retail space, and a number of other facilities. The whole grand scheme is expected to be carried out in five years. Hard Rock is yet to break ground on the project.
Final Thoughts
It seems that developers might be ready to explore new territories and Europe might be ready to catch up with Las Vegas and Asia and finally embrace the multi-purpose complex model that could help it further boost its tourism industry and draw wealthy and big-spending clientele from the Asia-Pacific region. City of Dreams Mediterranean will be Europe’s experimental venture into the integrated resort model and this particular resort’s future performance will play instrumental role in the further recreation of this model on European soil.
The post Is Europe’s Casino Industry Ready to Embrace the Integrated Resort Model? appeared first on Casino News Daily.
The poker enthusiasts of Casino News Daily love poker-related lists and writing about poker lists. This is why they have prepared a brand new such list for their readers. This time, it will revolve around those three players who have cashed in the largest number of different countries around the world since the beginning of the year. Here are these three players and where they have cashed in over the past nine months.
Henri Ovaska
He took down a €170 R.O.E. tournament for a cash prize of €2,700. He collected his largest cash of this year in January, when he finished third in the African Series of Poker/Unibet Deepstack Open €550 Main Event for €9,000. The tournament took place in Grand Bay, Mauritius an exciting destination without any doubt.
Andrew Christopher Hills
A victory in a Wynn Summer Classic $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em secured the player with his largest cash this year. He bested a field of 302 entrants, including fellow countryman Stuard Taylor, whom he clashed into in the heads-up match, to collect the total amount of $72,799 from a total prize pool of a little over $300,263.
Manig Loeser
It is also important to note that Loeser has long been particularly active on the international high roller scene. Over the past nine months, the player has participated in some of the major high rollers on the live tournament poker calendar. Most prominently, Loeser finished runner-up to Michael Lim in Aussie Millions Poker Championship A$100,000 Challenge for a cash prize of A$558,600 (approximately $445,334).
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After paying down its debt, which was created as a result from The Stars’ acquisition of the owner of the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands in 2014 for nearly $5 billion, the Canadian gambling company has shown that it is ready for some risk-taking and some geographical expansion and diversification of its core operations.
Over the past several months, The Stars announced two major acquisitions, revealed increased focus on sports betting across regulated markets, and once again indicated that it was ready to return to the United States after being shamefully banished from the nation in the aftermath of April 11, 2011, a day that has been commonly known as the Black Friday of online poker.
The Canadian gambling group is on its way of becoming the largest publicly traded online gambling company, but here is how it plans this to happen.
Two Major Acquisitions
Early this year, the company announced that it would return to the Australian gambling scene by purchasing a major local bookmaker. The Stars originally planned to buy 61% in CrownBet, an online gambling website previously owned by Australian casino operator Crown Resorts. However, in a separate move, CrownBet announced that it had been selected as the winning bidder for William Hill’s ailing Australian business. As a result from that latter acquisition deal, The Stars decided to increase its interest in CrownBet to 80% and thus participate in funding the William Hill Australia transaction.
The Canadian gambling group paid $315 million in cash and newly issued common shares for its newly acquired Australian business. The two related acquisition deals created Australia’s third largest corporate bookmaker, with Tabcorp and Paddy Power’s local brand Sportsbet being the largest ones.
The Stars Group broke the news in April that it has entered into an agreement to buy major UK online gambling operator Sky Betting & Gaming for the total amount of $4.7 billion. The move would create the largest publicly traded online gambling company.
The deal is expected to generate annual cost synergies of at least $70 million, to expand SkyBet’s presence across multiple regulated jurisdictions (the company currently serves only the UK, Italian, and German markets), and to help The Stars to leverage SkyBet’s huge customer base in the UK and massive experience in the provision of online sports betting services.
The deal was finalized in mid-July. However, the UK Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation into the takeover on the very next day after its finalization, thus blocking the transfer of ownership and the integration of the two businesses. The UK competition watchdog is expected to release the results from its probe in October.
Focus on Sports Betting
According to company estimates, on a pro forma basis including the acquisitions of SkyBet, CrownBet, and William Hill Australia, its 2017 revenue mix by product would have been 37% poker, 34% sports betting, and 26% casino. As it can be seen, online poker would still have been the leading product, but sports betting would have trailed not far behind. And with the company’s increased and growing interest in the sports betting vertical as well as the addition of companies specializing namely in online sports betting, this particular product could very soon become the main driver of growth for the gambling giant.
The US Betting Market
However, the mid-May ruling of the US Supreme Court, allowing individual states to legalize sports betting, came as extremely good news not only to The Stars but also to the rest of the sports betting world.
Taking advantage of its existing New Jersey operation, the Canadian company struck a partnership with Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel to extend their collaboration and jointly offer online sports betting services. The Stars’ BetStars online sportsbook went live in the state in mid-September, initially allowing bettors to place their wagers via mobile devices.
Back in August, the Canadian gambling giant announced a partnership that would allow it to enter Pennsylvania’s online sports betting and gaming market. The Stars has joined forces with Mount Airy Casino Resort. The two companies are yet to submit their sports betting license application to the state Gaming Control Board, but this is expected to happen anytime now as the local regulator is set to review applications from other businesses during its October 3 meeting.
The Stars Group is clearly showing that it is ready to leave the insider trading incident and its debt difficulties behind and take some risk as well as focus on diversifying its gambling revenue mix. And as it can be seen, sports betting is playing and will play an important role in its current and future efforts to expand its presence and establish itself in key regulated markets, including the US which many expect to become a behemoth regulated sports gambling field in the next few years.
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Two recent polls revealed that Enid city residents are in favour of a casino being developed in the area.
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A look at the US all-time money list shows impressive tournament bankrolls and seven- and even eight-figure payouts scored by great poker players. Here are the three of them to have accumulated the largest bankrolls and highlights from their poker careers.
Justin Bonomo – $43,120,591
Bonomo has indisputably had his best year in poker in 2018, and it has not even ended yet. The player collected more than $20 million in live tournament earnings over the past nine months, besting Fedor Holz’s accomplishment from a few years ago, when the young German collected $16 million over the course of a single year.
Bonomo pretty much won every major high roller tournament to have taken place this year. In February, he bested the field of the Super High Roller Bowl China HK$2 million No-Limit Hold’em for a cash prize of $4,823,077. In May, he took down the elite $300,000 Aria Super High Roller Bowl in Las Vegas for $5 million.
Then in July, he emerged the victor in this year’s edition of the WSOP Big One for ONE DROP, a $1 million buy-in tournament that takes place biannually as part of the WSOP series. His cash prize from the event totaled $10 million.
Bonomo took down a number of other tournaments over the past several months to cement his position as the world’s winningest tournament player.
Erik Seidel
It is thus no surprise that Seidel is one of his homeland’s (and one of the world’s) highest grossing players. He won his largest cash of A$2.5 million (approx. $2,472,555) back in 2011 when he bested the field of the Aussie Millions Championship A$250,000 Super High Roller.
In 2015, the player triumphed in the EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller for €2,015,000 in prize money. This year, Seidel has not won any major events, but he still managed to score several six-figure cashes. His best one came from a third-place finish in the partypoker MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona €25K Super High Roller in April. His performance in the tournament was rewarded with €300,000 from the overall prize pool.
Dan Colman – $28,925,059
It should also be noted that 2014 was the young player’s best year in poker. Prior to his Big One for ONE DROP triumph, he won the EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller for a cash prize of €1,539,300. A few month later, he also topped the field of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $5,300 Main Event for a top prize of $1,446,710.
The post The Winningest US Poker Players of All Time appeared first on Casino News Daily.
The past nine months have seen some of the major players of the online gambling field look for and find partners to reduce the negative impact from changes of different nature in the global market. Here are several of the biggest deals that have been undertaken since the beginning of the year and how they are expected to change those involved in them as well as the global online gambling landscape.
Playtech – Snaitech
The total purchase price was estimated at €846 million, which Playtech funded with existing cash resources and new debt facilities.
Snaitech generated revenue of €890 million and EBITDA of €136 million last year. The deal is expected to result in annual cost synergies of €10 million for the combined entity. The Italian company operates more than 1,600 betting points around the country. In addition, it also provides sports and horse race betting, online sports betting, and online casino games. Aside from its domestic market, Snaitech also operates in a number of other jurisdictions where it is fully regulated.
Playtech pointed out that the move was part of its newly implemented strategy to focus its business on regulated markets and reduce its reliance on unregulated markets. The company suffered a heavy blow following a massive gambling crackdown in Malaysia, which had previously been one of its key Asian markets. As a result, its share price has dropped more than 50% over the past year and it was forced to issue two profit warnings over that period.
The gambling tech giant, founded by Israeli businessman Teddy Sagi in the late 1990s, now hopes that the addition of Snaitech would help it diversify its geographical revenue and improve the quality of its earnings with a particular focus on regulated markets. It is to be seen whether that strategy will prove successful and will help Playtech leave the financial issues behind.
The Stars Group – Sky Betting & Gaming
The two companies said that the deal would produce $70 million of annual cost synergies, among other financial benefits.
The transaction was closed on July 11. However, a day later, the UK Competition and Markets Authority announced that it had opened a probe into the deal, without giving much detail about the nature of said probe. The ongoing investigation blocked the beginning of the integration of the two businesses and the transfer of ownership that needed to take place as part of the deal. They will have to wait until the completion of the CMA probe in order to be able to move forward.
Although the watchdog has provided limited details on the matter, it is believed that the investigation was launched due to concerns over the effects a deal of this scope would have on competition in the UK gambling market, which is currently SkyBet’s main market of focus.
The CMA published earlier this month the two sides of its initial enforcement order, which means that The Stars Group and SkyBet can start the planning process for their eventual integration. It is believed that the competition watchdog will release the full results of its investigation in October.
Once the deal is finally closed and the two businesses are successfully merged, The Stars Group will be able to use SkyBet’s experience in the online sports betting vertical to improve its own sports betting business. It is also important to note that the company is among the gambling giants looking to expand their geographical presence in the United States in as many states where sports betting is legal as possible.
The Stars Group currently operates a mobile betting app in the New Jersey regulated market, which it rolled out earlier this month. But it has long been clear that the company is looking to return to the US after it was shamefully banished from the nation after the Black Friday of US online poker back in 2011.
As for SkyBet, it will be able to extend its footprint in a number of jurisdictions after joining The Stars Group. The company currently operates in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany.
The Stars Group – CrownBet – William Hill Australia
The final round of bids placed CrownBet against Paddy Power’s local business Sportsbet, but it was the former to win the bidding war. CrownBet agreed to buy William Hill’s ailing Australian operation for A$300 million.
It was announced at around the same time that The Stars Group had reached an agreement with CrownBet’s owners to acquire a 61% stake in the company. It then became clear that the Canadian gambling giant would actually acquire an 80% stake in a move that would allow it enter Australia’s regulated betting market.
The two deals resulted in the creation of the third largest licensed bookmaker in Australia. To mark the beginning of a new era, CrownBet announced in May that it would rebrand. It first picked Sportingbet as its new name, but Paddy Power’s Sportsbet contested its choice in court, arguing that the two brands were too similar and could confuse customers. The court sided with Sportsbet and CrownBet decided that it would eventually rebrand as BetEasy.
It is quite clear that The Stars Group is looking to cement its positions in the global sports betting market by entering as many regulated jurisdictions as possible. In Australia, in particular, the company might face certain difficulties as a result of the massive competition in the local sports betting industry and growing regulatory pressure, including the introduction of a point of consumption tax in almost all Australian states and territories.
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The company has appointed Monica Digilio as its new CHRO and Executive Vice President.
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The WSOP Europe has 10 gold bracelets up for grabs and it is to be seen who the lucky ten players to capture the pieces of jewelry will be. Of course, the €10,350 Main Event is the most highly anticipated tournament. The event is slated to kick off on October 27 and to run through November 2. Aside from the Main Event gold bracelet for the winner it will also feature a guaranteed prize pool of €5 million. Hopes are that the guarantee will be crushed and that the tournament will see great interest among players from all around Europe and all other corners of the world.
Elio Fox – €1.4 Million
It is also important to note that Fox has remained quite consistent in his pursuit of poker prestige in the years after his WSOPE Main Event victory. Most recently, the poker professional finished runner-up in this year’s WSOP $100,000 High Roller event for a cash prize of $1,798,658 and took down the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $50,000 buy-in Super High Roller for $500,000.
Marti Roca De Torres – €1,115,207
Torres has cashed in several tournaments since last fall when he became the WSOP Europe Main Event, but has not taken down any major event since then.
The 2017 edition of the WSOP Europe took place at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, the venue that has now turned into a permanent home of the major tournament series.
Annette Obrestad – £1,000,000 (approximately €1.1 million)
John Tabatabai from Wales was Obrestad’s final opponent on her road to victory. The two players’ final clash saw the Norwegian player’s pocket sevens hold up against Tabatabai’s [5s][6d].
The inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event took place in London. In fact, the first four editions of the series were all hosted by the capital of the United Kingdom.
Phil Hellmuth – €1,058,403
The tournament took place in Cannes where Hellmuth remained one of the two players to participate in the heads-up match. Ukraine’s Sergii Baranov was the other one. However, it was not meant to be for the Ukrainian as his [As][4c] sent him to the rail in second place after clashing against Hellmuth’s [Ah][10d]. The US player thus further cemented his reputation of a tournament poker legend. It should also be noted that Hellmuth is one of the few players to have won the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas and the WSOP Europe Main Event.
Adrian Mateos – €1,000,000
He became a WSOPE Main Event champion in 2013, when the tournament was held in France. The player beat a field of 375. Local player Fabrice Soulier was his heads-up opponent. The final hand of the tournament saw Mateos collect all his opponent’s chips with [Ad][Kc] to Soulier’s [9d][8d].
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Here are four of the major tournaments set to begin over the next few days and information about what one might expect from them.
PokerStars Megastack Namur
The festival will include four tournaments and several satellites to the Main Event. And action at the host casino will kick off namely with the PokerStars Megastack Main Event. The tournament will run from today all the way through September 30 and will feature six starting flights and two more days of action. It will be a €170 buy-in event and will start off with a guaranteed prize pool of €100,000.
Another thrilling tournament on the Megastack festival’s schedule will be the €550 High Roller. That one will run on September 29-30.
WPT DeepStacks Vietnam
One of Asia’s most thrilling destinations will welcome the WPT DeepStacks series with a 2-day Welcome WPT Vietnam VND7,700,000 tournament. As for the highlight tournament, the VND22,000,000 Main Event with a guaranteed prize pool of VND8 billion it is scheduled to take place on September 28 through October 2.
The VND44,000,000 High Roller is another event worth being mentioned in our overview. The tournament will take place over three days – October 1-3 – and will feature two starting flights and one more day of play. It will allow a maximum of 2 re-entries per starting flight and will certainly offer tons of quality poker action.
Wynn Fall Classic
Its schedule includes 16 different tournaments, 15 of which will be No-Limit Hold’em ones. There will also be one Pot-Limit Omaha tournament within this classy festival for fans of that poker game.
The Wynn Fall Classic will start with the $550 No-Limit Hold’em Seniors tournament. The event will be a single-day one and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $50,000. It is important to note that most of the events within the festival will be single-day ones. There will also be one two-day event, two three-day ones, and two four-day ones.
The Main Event will be one of the four-day tournaments. It will start on October 12 and will be completed on October 15. Interested players will be able to take part in it by paying a buy-in fee of $1,600. The tournament will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000 that will hopefully be crushed.
partypoker MILLIONS Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham
The festival is set to feature more than £7 million in guaranteed prize money. This speaks volumes about the quality of poker that players and spectators will be able to witness at the host venue.
The £1,100 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS UK Open will put the beginning of action within the festival. The event will feature a guaranteed prize pool of £1 million. There will be five starting flights and three more days of play.
The £5,300 Main Event will be the next big tournament to kick off. It will take place on September 30-October 6. There will be at least £5 million up for grabs for those who run deep enough into this prestigious tournament.
The £550 MILLIONS UK Finale with five starting flights and the £10,300 High Roller are two other exciting events that should be mentioned. The former will take place October 4-7 and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of £500,000, while the latter will run from October 5 through October 7 and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of £1 million.
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Earlier this year, the tech giant, which has for years been supplying major operators with a variety of products, completed the purchase of Italian gambling company Snaitech for €846 million. In its half-year results, Playtech CEO Mor Weizer attributed the company’s regulated revenue growth namely to that acquisition deal.
However, the debate over the introduction of massive restrictions on the distribution of gaming machines around Italy is becoming more and more intense with each day passing and this could cast heavy clouds over what Playtech hoped would be a purchase that would strengthen its footprint across the regulated gambling space. Snaitech derives nearly half of its overall revenue from the gaming devices.
Most recently, Playtech offloaded its entire stake in CFD trading platform Plus500 for £176 million, stating that it would use proceeds from the deal to reduce its debt and for general corporate purposes.
What is next for the gambling tech giant? The company is facing regulatory pressure and competition in key markets and will clearly have to direct its focus to where it can reap the greatest benefits. In addition, changes are clearly coming for Playtech, but it is yet to be seen how these will affect its operations, profitability and its lure to investors.
Shaky Profitability and Share Price Drop
Playtech attributed its shaky profitability to its operations in Southeast Asia. The gambling tech giant has maintained its footprint in that particular region for nearly a decade. However, growing competition in China combined with heavy pressure in Malaysia, where the local government has ramped up efforts to crack down on unregulated gambling, have had quite a negative impact on Playtech’s performance over the past year. In Malaysia, in particular, the company saw a significantly lower activity this year compared to two years ago.
On a more positive note, regulated markets offset the losses suffered in Asia. Excluding Asian revenue, the company recorded a double-digit growth during the first half of the year. Playtech further pointed out that it would look to focus on regulated markets which are traditionally more stable and that it expects to generate around 80% of its overall revenue for 2018 from such regulated markets. Around 69% of Playtech’s half-year revenue came from regulated markets, as reported by the gambling software developer.
New Shareholders with New Demands
According to media reports, Mr. Ader is expected to use his newly acquired stake in Playtech to demand disposal of assets or even sale of the gambling tech company. However, Playtech’s corporate governance is understood to be SpringOwl and its leader’s main focus for the time being. Mr. Ader has reportedly expressed concerns over the fact that Alan Jackson has been serving as the company’s Chairman for too long. In addition, the US investor has pointed out that Mr. Sagi’s continuing association with the gambling tech giant he had found is “a negative” for Playtech. The company’s founder currently holds a 6.3% stake in it after selling down his controlling stake bit by bit over the past several years. Mr. Ader has recently told Reuters that he does not have “a sense that the future of this company includes Teddy Sagi”.
In a separate round of news, it became known that London-based privately owned hedge fund Odey Asset Management has quietly bought a 5% stake in Playtech. Reports also emerged that the hedge fund’s co-founder, British businessman Crispin Odey has been in touch with Mr. Ader. Together the two investors own 10% in Playtech, which is more than enough to secure them with the influence required to press for important changes, including a corporate governance overhaul.
According to the latest reports on the topic, a change in the company’s leadership could indeed be asked for by Mr. Ader.
Plus500 Stake Sale
The move came days after five of the trading platform’s founders disposed of 9.4 million of their shares for the approximate amount of £145 million, citing personal reasons and “desire to diversify their investments” as the main reasons for their decision. Playtech previously made a £459-million offer to purchase Plus500. However, concerns raised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority combined with pressure from the trading platform’s investors, with Odey being one of them, resulted in the deal’s failure.
Playtech’s recent disposal of its stake in Plus500 has actually been applauded by Mr. Ader. The US investor has pointed out that the gambling tech firm should continue disposing of its financial businesses and focus solely on the gambling portion of its operations as its financial services holdings have proved to be a major distraction.
ConclusionBearing in mind the recent developments, it seems that Playtech’s eventful streak is far from over. With brand-new and very demanding investors, the company could be headed toward a sale, a disposal of some of its assets, and/or a corporate governance overhaul. In addition, it would be looking to improve its profitability by directing its focus mainly on regulated markets and gradually reducing the influence unregulated markets have on its business. Last but not least, there clearly will be pressure for Mr. Sagi to exit the company completely and it is rather curious to see whether and how this would happen.
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