Author: Olivia Cole

One of the iconic cardrooms in London, Park Lane Club, is currently facing closures after the company that owns and runs it – Silverbond Enterprises – was left without an operating licence. At the beginning of November, as part of an ongoing probe, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) ruled that the gambling operator’s leadership, and the Latvian entrepreneur Vasilijis Melniks in particular, was not worthy of holding an operating licence. At the time, Mr Melniks had been facing an investigation over some alleged ties to money laundering and embezzlement in…

Ulster Bank, one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks, has resumed its commitment to Financial Capability by announcing a 48-hour delay gambling suspension on debit card use. The move is the latest in a series of measures unveiled by the bank to improve the financial capability of its customers. As Ulster Bank has revealed, the feature is effective for both physical and virtual debit cards and has been unveiled as the newest initiative of the Irish bank to tackle gambling-related harm that could be inflicted to customers. In…

The Australian gambling group Crown Resorts managed to recover goodwill payments of two weeks’ wages to the members of its staff, who were fired because of the coronavirus pandemic, from local taxpayers. The casino company claimed the money back thanks to the JobKeeper scheme of the Government. However, according to experts, Crown Resorts’ agreement to pay both its full- and part-time employees their salaries for a fortnight following the closures of the Melbourne and Perth casinos on March 23rd, came as positive PR for the group, which has been facing…

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has granted the Australian online lottery operator Jumbo Interactive a remote gambling software operating licence. On November 26th, Jumbo Interactive officially revealed that it has received permission to operate in the UK. The newly-issued software licence is an addition to the external lottery management operating licences, both for land-based and online operations, which have already been held by Gatherwell – the wholly-owned UK subsidiary of the company. Mike Veverka, who currently occupies the positions of chief executive officer and executive director of Jumbo Interactive, confirmed…

The American social media conglomerate Facebook allowed several thousand posts and ads, including ones involving gambling, which breached the existing UK legislation. The adverts even included some that offered suspicious cures for the novel coronavirus infection. After the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) addressed the company and informed that some of the promotional posts and advertisements violated its regulations, Facebook made sure it deleted over 2,000 ads and posts targeting UK users in the period from January to June 2020. The social media company itself revealed that almost 1,500 accounts, ads…

The operator of the UK National Lottery, Camelot, has announced the second-best sales figures in its entire almost 30-year history after it registered an increase in the number of older people playing online. The UK Lottery operator revealed that in the six months to the end of September 2020 its sales fell by 1.7% from the record half-year revenue generated by the company in 2019, reaching £3.95 billion. Camelot actually did great on that, despite an 18% sales decline registered over the first two weeks of the national lockdown in…

Profits generated from so-called poker machines in New Zealand have seen a massive increase in mid-year figures following the ending of a level 4 coronavirus lockdown. Earlier in November, the country’s Department of Internal Affairs – Te Tari Taiwhenua – revealed a massive 116% surge on the quarter after the lengthy coronavirus lockdown. As the Department shared, the quarter that ended in June 2020 saw the revenue generated by poker machines, also known as pokies, reach NZ$130,661,758, with the significant increase being associated with the end of the Covid-19 lockdown…

Crown Resorts revealed that it is set to reopen its Metropol Melbourne hotel on December 1st, with the coronavirus restrictions in the state of Victoria being eased gradually. The Australian gambling giant also revealed that a capacity of 1,000 players is set to be introduced in its Crown Melbourne casino. The gambling operator had previously only hinted there would be some limits on the number of patrons allowed to enter the small number of high-roller rooms that remained operational. The casino gambling company shared that its table tames will resume…

Considering the latest events, the pledges of Crown Resorts to get approval for its AU$1.6-billion casino tower seem hardly possible even on the eve of its launch. The uncertainty has originated from the fact that the gambling regulatory body in New South Wales (NSW) still has to decide whether the Australian gambling giant is fit to keep the Barangaroo casino licence. Now, a wide gap has opened between the promises made by the gambling company at the time it sought approval for its project seven years ago and what will…

William Hill and Caesars Entertainment revealed that, at a meeting held on November 19th, the shareholders of the British gambling operators gave their approval to the recommended cash offer of 272p that Caesars had made. Now, the finalisation of the deal will depend on the approval of the competent regulatory authorities after the two companies make sure their agreement meets the remaining outstanding regulatory conditions. The deal will also have to get the English Court’s final approval. The deal already received unanimous approval from William Hill’s board in September. At…