Author: Olivia Cole

Radio and television stations across Australia have made attempts to secure a number of exemptions to the ban the country’s government has imposed on gambling advertising during live sports events. The exceptions the broadcasting bodies insist on were listed in their latest draft with codes of practices. Some of the broadcasting bodies that proposed the exemption include the Commercial Radio Australia, Free TV Australia, and the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association or ASTRA. One of the said exemptions seeks to enable Australian television stations to broadcast a gambling advertisement…

Leading gambling operator Paddy Power announced it is to team up with Chime Sports Marketing, one of the fastest expanding sports and entertainment marketing companies in the world. The announcement follows the news of Paddy Power’s split with Lucky Generals after a four-year partnership. Its new one-off advertising project is being handled by the creative agency WCRS. The split with former advertisers Lucky Generals has resulted from the agency’s refusal to repitch for the operator’s account. From this moment on, the advertising duties are officially a responsibility of the UK-based…

In its decision issued yesterday morning, the EU General Court partly backed the UK online gambling operator bet365 by annulling the part of a ruling according to which the “Bet 365” trademark was descriptive and had not been sufficient to get distinctive character in class 41, which regards to betting services. This gave the UK gambling and betting operator partial victory in the trademark war that has been going on for a decade now, with the Court partially dismissing a previous ruling against the company. The remainer of bet365’s appeal,…

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) scolded one of the brands of the gaming operator ProgressPlay for an offensive promotional tweet posted on September 8th, 2017. The tweet displayed a picture of several women dressed in swimwear and text, saying “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. #LooseWomen18”. The person who filed the complaint challenged the advert, calling it offensive due to the fact it showed disrespect to women. The operator Progress Play made an apology for possible offence that may have been caused by the…

Less than 24 hours after the shareholders of the Australian gambling operator Tatts Group gave the green light to its long-expected merger with Tabcorp Holdings, the Supreme Court of Victoria officially approved the takeover’s Scheme of Arrangement. Today, Tabcorp Holdings revealed that the merger’s Scheme was given the nod from the Supreme Court, with the Court orders being lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). As announced by the gambling and betting company, the Scheme which is now effective, is to be implemented on December 22nd, 2017. Shareholders…

After a couple of days ago MGM Resorts International called Connecticut Legislators to support its Bridgeport Casino Project, the global casino and gambling operator has renewed its call to state authorities to initiate a competitive bidding process for a gaming venue in Bridgeport. The Indian tribes in the south-eastern part of Connecticut have already indicated they would be interested in joining such a bidding process. As a matter of fact, the tribes requested yesterday to be part of the discussion, which according to the Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel…

The boards of GVC Holdings and Ladbrokes Coral announced that they have entered detailed negotiations in regards to a possible merger of the two companies. The discussions were given a start a non-binding proposal was sent from GVC Holdings to Ladbrokes Coral regarding a possible offer for the entire capital of Ladbrokes, which could end up with a combination of the businesses. The merger talks are now on the table only a few months after similar negotiations failed in the summer. In case that the merger discussions are now successful,…

The New South Wales (NSW) District Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the UK-based gambling operator Ladbrokes against the allegations it faced in terms of illegal advertising. The British gambling company was convicted for publishing illegal advertising materials which encouraged the local residents to place bets. Ladbrokes’s appeal was dismissed by Judge Martin Blackmore on December 5th, with the Judge confirming the decision of the Local Court which in April 2017 to rule against the operator and impose it a fine of AU$35,000. Apart from the monetary penalty, the…

The Australian casino operator Crown Resorts faced another hurdle, after being hit with a class action lawsuit from shareholders on Monday. Allegedly, the company had failed to inform its shareholders of its China marketing campaign that led to staff arrests in October 2016. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Crown’s shareholders who invested in the company in the period from February 6th, 2015 to October 16th, 2016. The federal court action was filed by the law firm Maurice Blackburn on behalf of some shareholders who claimed that the casino…

The Irish bookmaker Paddy Power had one of its TV ad taken down by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), after the regulator found out that a company’s TV ad seen in August 2017 breached the BCAP Code rules. Two complainants challenged a Paddy Power TV advert seen in August 2017, saying that it was socially irresponsible, because it implied to customers that it was acceptable for them to place bets while at work. The TV commercial featured a bored casino security guard using his mobile phone to wager on the…