Where to in this Odyssey?
Talk about a Greek tragedy at OPAP. As the company considers placing 650 of its 900 staff on a voluntary redundancy scheme, the plan isn’t part of a thought-out restructuring project but rather a knee-jerk response to its own lack of planning and foresight. More specifically, the group and its investors didn’t seem to think the European Commission would ever oppose the Greek government awarding it an igaming monopoly to go with those it holds for VLTs and retail betting. We know the EC can be slow and half-hearted but it does get there eventually (sometimes anyway). Meanwhile, it is “the dozen or so online betting companies operating with temporary authorisations that have taken the lion's share of stakes on the World Cup, not OPAP via its new betting site” writes iGB’s Graham Wood. Cue the “genius” redundancy scheme decision from OPAP investors and senior execs. Just imagine the board meeting: “Chaps, yes we haven’t planned properly for, well, just about everything to do with our biggest market, but hey we’ve got the solution now. Let’s sack three quarters of our workforce! That’ll sort things out! Actually, why didn’t we think of it before?” As the old saying goes, it would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
GiGSE reveals intractable US market
Several contacts travelled to San Francisco to attend GiGSE, the US equivalent to EiG, this week and told us that the content and event were good but that the US market is as intractable as ever. It’s not that surprising really, what with casino magnate Sheldon Adelson throwing major spanners in the American Gaming Association’s and general igaming efforts to support regulation in the US, poor financial numbers in the three states that have backed progressive legislation and up to four land-based casinos in New Jersey possibly closing down, which would result in some 7,000 job losses. But not everything is lost, a California tribe this week launched its own poker site hoping it can get around current regulations by being based and operating on sovereign land. At the same time PokerStars is readying itself for US re-entry sometime between this autumn and early 2015. Of course we all want the US market to be a success but as in 2006 when it passed UIGEA, its political workings can be even more mind-boggling and convoluted than one could have imagined. As one US contact told us with just a hint of sarcasm: “It’s amazing the effect regulation can have on our industry.”
Game on in California?
With all (realistic) US igaming hopes resting on California, the Diary was wondering how the major Indian tribes supporting/opposing PokerStars’ regulation to operate in the 8th biggest economy in the world could ever square the circle. Stars’ new owner Amaya Gaming will want to see the poker giant in that market, but if one powerful set of tribes opposes another equally powerful one and consistently refuses to countenance such a possibility, how would the issue be resolved? One contact posited the following scenario: with the anti-Stars camp adamant that it doesn’t want the PokerStars machine and brand anywhere near the Cali poker scene, Amaya would offer to run the sites of its partner tribes and card clubs (should these be allowed) through Ongame, the network it bought from bwin party in 2012. ... and set in motion Stars’ return to the US big time... You never know, stranger things have happened.
Content-free content
Apparently the Gambling Commission has responded to the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association’s letter saying it would challenge the Pont of Consumption Tax in the courts. Great, sounds like a good story with plenty to get stuck into. Hold on a minute, the Commission has refused to reveal the contents of the response. Oh... never mind it’s the weekend!
read more : www.igamingbusiness.com
Talk about a Greek tragedy at OPAP. As the company considers placing 650 of its 900 staff on a voluntary redundancy scheme, the plan isn’t part of a thought-out restructuring project but rather a knee-jerk response to its own lack of planning and foresight. More specifically, the group and its investors didn’t seem to think the European Commission would ever oppose the Greek government awarding it an igaming monopoly to go with those it holds for VLTs and retail betting. We know the EC can be slow and half-hearted but it does get there eventually (sometimes anyway). Meanwhile, it is “the dozen or so online betting companies operating with temporary authorisations that have taken the lion's share of stakes on the World Cup, not OPAP via its new betting site” writes iGB’s Graham Wood. Cue the “genius” redundancy scheme decision from OPAP investors and senior execs. Just imagine the board meeting: “Chaps, yes we haven’t planned properly for, well, just about everything to do with our biggest market, but hey we’ve got the solution now. Let’s sack three quarters of our workforce! That’ll sort things out! Actually, why didn’t we think of it before?” As the old saying goes, it would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
GiGSE reveals intractable US market
Several contacts travelled to San Francisco to attend GiGSE, the US equivalent to EiG, this week and told us that the content and event were good but that the US market is as intractable as ever. It’s not that surprising really, what with casino magnate Sheldon Adelson throwing major spanners in the American Gaming Association’s and general igaming efforts to support regulation in the US, poor financial numbers in the three states that have backed progressive legislation and up to four land-based casinos in New Jersey possibly closing down, which would result in some 7,000 job losses. But not everything is lost, a California tribe this week launched its own poker site hoping it can get around current regulations by being based and operating on sovereign land. At the same time PokerStars is readying itself for US re-entry sometime between this autumn and early 2015. Of course we all want the US market to be a success but as in 2006 when it passed UIGEA, its political workings can be even more mind-boggling and convoluted than one could have imagined. As one US contact told us with just a hint of sarcasm: “It’s amazing the effect regulation can have on our industry.”
Game on in California?
With all (realistic) US igaming hopes resting on California, the Diary was wondering how the major Indian tribes supporting/opposing PokerStars’ regulation to operate in the 8th biggest economy in the world could ever square the circle. Stars’ new owner Amaya Gaming will want to see the poker giant in that market, but if one powerful set of tribes opposes another equally powerful one and consistently refuses to countenance such a possibility, how would the issue be resolved? One contact posited the following scenario: with the anti-Stars camp adamant that it doesn’t want the PokerStars machine and brand anywhere near the Cali poker scene, Amaya would offer to run the sites of its partner tribes and card clubs (should these be allowed) through Ongame, the network it bought from bwin party in 2012. ... and set in motion Stars’ return to the US big time... You never know, stranger things have happened.
Content-free content
Apparently the Gambling Commission has responded to the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association’s letter saying it would challenge the Pont of Consumption Tax in the courts. Great, sounds like a good story with plenty to get stuck into. Hold on a minute, the Commission has refused to reveal the contents of the response. Oh... never mind it’s the weekend!
read more : www.igamingbusiness.com
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