Aristocrat’s chief executive officer, Trevor Croker, has addressed the company’s recent performance, expressing optimism in its ability to digitalize its traditional casino games.

In his address during the annual general meeting, Croker commented on Aristocrat’s FY results, praising the company’s growth. He pointed out that FY23 saw the company deliver revenue of $6.3 billion and an EBITDA margin of 33.4%.

Net profit before amortization stood at $1.3 billion, representing a profit improvement of 21%. The iGaming segment skyrocketed, reporting revenue and profit growth of 22% and 23% respectively. International Class III products, on the other hand, posted revenue growth of a whopping 87%, underpinned by strong performance in EMEA and Asia.

The company’s NA presence increased, placing Aristocrat’s growth well ahead of that of its competitors.

We once again generated robust operating cash flow, which was applied to fund our growth initiatives, including capital investments in our installed base in North America and the strategic acquisition of Roxor Gaming.

Trevor Croker, CEO & MD, Aristocrat

The Roxor acquisition closed in January 2023, allowing Aristocrat to grow its European iGaming footprint. Following that, Aristocrat also moved in to acquire NeoGames in a deal that it is yet to complete.

The Largest Growth Opportunity Lies in the RMG Sector

As for the future, Croker is optimistic about Aristocrat’s business in North America. The company recently forayed into Quebec’s VLT market. The company is also set to launch VLTs in Georgia in 2024.                                               

The company also plans to continue its investments in D&D as it seeks to differentiate itself from its rivals. Croker cited the recent launch of NFL-themed electronic gaming machines as a perfect example of this.

However, the largest growth opportunity lies in the RMG sector, Croker believes. He said that the performance of its first releases quickly proved that Aristocrat’s land-based casino games would resonate online.

We will take our successful gaming portfolio online through a multi-year roll out plan, ensuring a steady stream of new game launches, both in North America and in Europe, where our acquisition of Roxor has established a foothold from which we can further expand penetration of our leading content.

Trevor Croker, CEO & MD, Aristocrat

In the meantime, Aristocrat reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability and ESG, saying that they are a fundamental expression of the company’s values. Croker added that his team is genuinely concerned about the dangers of excessive gambling and will continue to involve itself in responsible gaming initiatives.

The post Aristocrat CEO Highlights the Company’s Progress in Annual Address appeared first on Keno Wizard.

In a move aimed at tackling the growing issue of harmful gambling, the UK’s National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft guidance recommending that healthcare professionals in the UK ask patients about their gambling habits during health checkups and GP appointments. 

Healthcare Professionals Encourage Patients to Assess Gambling Habits

NICE’s draft guidance emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals to identify and address the risks associated with gambling when patients exhibit signs of mental health problems or possible addiction. According to the guidelines, individuals should be encouraged to assess the severity of their gambling habits by completing a questionnaire available on the NHS website. This questionnaire, based on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), helps individuals determine their risk level. A score of 8 or above indicates a need for specialized support, while those with lower scores can also benefit from available resources.

The guidance further recommends discussing the use of blocking software or tools to limit online gambling and suggests cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment option. CBT has proven effective in helping individuals identify triggers and manage the thoughts and urges associated with gambling episodes, making it a valuable tool in addressing harmful gambling habits.

“Harmful gambling causes immense misery to all those who experience it. We want those needing help or who are at risk to be identified sooner and receive appropriate help,” stated Professor Jonathan Benger, chief medical officer and interim director of the Center for Guidelines at NICE.

NHS Expands Treatment Clinics and Involves Families

According to a recent review by Public Health England, approximately 300,000 adults in England are grappling with problem gambling. Additionally, an estimated 3.8 million individuals, including adults, children, and young people, are adversely affected by someone else’s gambling habits. To address this issue, NHS England has established 12 gambling treatment clinics across the country since 2019, with plans to open three more in the coming months. These specialized clinics, fully funded by the NHS, are expected to assist around 3,000 people annually.

NICE’s draft guidance also emphasizes the importance of involving family members, partners, or close individuals in the treatment process if both the patient and the involved parties consent to it. While the NHS takes proactive steps to support individuals struggling with gambling addiction, the UK government is also making efforts to curb the issue.

A White Paper released earlier this year outlined comprehensive reforms, including the introduction of a statutory levy on gambling operators to fund research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harm. The government plans to initiate a consultation on the specifics of the statutory levy in the coming weeks.

The post NICE Directs UK Healthcare Providers to Address Patient Gambling Habits appeared first on Keno Wizard.

New legislation in Indiana is aiming to ease the burden of caring for the evidence of illegal animal fighting rings in Indiana, covering expenses for caretakers while the cases wind down through the legal system.

Matching Bond to Costs

Indiana Senate Bill 423 seeks to expand the scope of “reasonable expenses” of bonds set by courts for the animals impounded during busts of illegal animal gambling rings by explicitly stating medical care, quarantine, shelter and food as costs covered by the bond.

The forthcoming legal changes are expected to facilitate the cooperation of gambling regulators with the different groups involved in the process of raiding an illegal animal gambling ring. Animal fights fall within the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC)’s oversight of every activity involving wagers.

And while such fights are illegal, they are not uncommon: over the past seven years, the IGC worked on 50 animal fighting cases, with illegal gambling rings being busted in Hendricks, Owen, Morgan, Montgomery, Wells and other counties, leading to about 2,000 birds and 20 dogs being seized.

According to IGC’s General Counsel, Dennis Mullen, the undercover Gaming Control Unit investigates, substantiates and works with Indiana’s Board of Animal Health, local police departments or sheriff’s offices, and local prosecutors while planning every sting.

“We’ll run down every tip — and it’s a really coordinated effort,” Mullen said, quoted by Indiana Capital Chronicle, explaining that due to the bond not covering the real costs on several occasions, organizations working with the regulator such as the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) ended up footing the bill.

Euthanasia Requirements Eased

Besides better matching the bond to costs, Senate Bill 423 also eases requirements for euthanasia which, according to regulators, are too limiting and present risks to other animals and humans at the moment.

The current law which specifies timelines during which animals cannot be put down and allows euthanasia only for animals suffering from extreme pain is seen as very limiting, and the amendments brought by the bill will provide an additional level of discretion.

The bill allows euthanasia at any time in cases where an animal is found to present a serious threat to other animals or people by a licensed veterinarian, or if euthanasia is seen as in the animal’s “best interest.”

The new bill will also provide civil immunity to the private professionals that make those decisions, without exonerating them from adhering to ethical standards under veterinary practice legislation and regulation.

The post Indiana Bill to Better Address Cases of Illegal Animal Gambling appeared first on Keno Wizard.

The Gaming Regulators European Forum (GREF) is comprised of gaming and betting authorities in some of Europe’s most active markets. The forum recently outlined a commonly agreed upon commitment on how they plan to address problem gambling across the continent.

A statement released by GREF detailed some of the ways members would work together through cross-border cooperation that includes coordinating “joint actions” against what it deems to be illegal gambling websites operating in Europe. Each country is free to use its own definition of “illegal gambling”.

Regular Meetings and Other Communications to Keep the Forum Cohesive

Other items outlined include the sharing of expertise, information, and best practices as well as setting up alerts so that all member states can be on the same page at the same time when an issue needs to be addressed. The team also stated that the various national regulatory bodies would hold regular meetings to keep each other apprised and in the loop.

None of the language we have seen addresses grey markets – jurisdictions where gambling operations are not allowed unless they are licensed locally or sometimes even by another EU member state, but players are free to choose where they play. However, some of the participants are indeed from countries most widely seen as grey markets.

With the advent of countries such as Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the UK undertaking regulatory reform, Europen gambling industry participants have been bringing up the subject of the black market and outright illegal operators in some discussions.

The statement from GREF reads: “This joint action will enable us to better identify and minimize illegal gambling activities while acknowledging that each regulator remains free to define what amounts to illegal gambling and to use the enforcement tools provided by its own national regulatory framework.

“We expect that this common action will enable a constructive dialogue with online platforms, including social media platforms. We also expect that this common action will raise consumer awareness regarding the risks associated with illegal gambling.”

The Belgian Gambling Commission (BGC), l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) of France, Germany’s Gemeinsame Geschäftsstelle Glücksspiel (GGL), the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) of Greece, Ireland’s Regulator of the National Lottery, and the Great Britain Gambling Commission (UKGC) are among the most prominent members of the forum.

Ireland’s Department of Justice has recently stated that it will include support for the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) [Údarás Rialála Cearrbhachais na hÉireann]

in its Justice Plan 2023, carrying on the work begun in 2021 to repeal existing gambling law in Ireland and replace it with a modern framework that addresses both land-based and online betting and gambling.

The Irish Department of Justice and Equality is a member of the forum as is the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Both government bodies have been heavily involved in the push for new regulatory frameworks in their countries.

GREF: Unlicensed Operators put Consumers at Risk

As one voice, forum members assert that “illegal gambling” (as defined by each member-state) undercuts the development of a fair gaming market as well as consumer protections.

“In light of these considerations, we commit ourselves today to working together against illegal gambling, in order to ensure effective implementation of our national regulations,” the organization stated.

Germany’s nascent regulatory authority, the GGL said upon its taking over responsibilities from regional ‘placeholders’ that it would create and implement tough standards and aggressively pursue unlicensed firms serving games or sports betting opportunities in the country.

Holland’s KSA has recently stepped up enforcement actions against licensed providers that breach the rules as well as foreign gambling websites they deem to be targeting Dutch players without a license.

However, not all regulated stakeholders are in unanimous agreement that stricter rules and enforcement are in players’ best interests.

According to research from PwC as provided to the UK’s Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) in early 2022, British gamblers who used unlicensed punting sites more than doubled in just two years. The count went from 220,000 to 460,000 in that timeframe. PwC estimated that the amount bet at non-UK-licensed online websites was billions of pounds annually.

The report stated: “This analysis suggests that the UK has a more ‘open’ online gambling market and currently has a smaller unlicensed market share than our European benchmarks.

“Whilst it is not possible to isolate the impact of individual regulatory characteristics, the above assessment suggests that jurisdictions with a higher unlicensed market share tend to exhibit one or more restrictive regulatory or licensing characteristics.”

Referring to the long-awaited UK Gambling Review, BGC Chief Executive, Michael Dugher said: “We support the Gambling Review but there is a real danger that it leads to the regulated industry being smaller and the illegal black market growing substantially.

“This research is stark about the dangers of the black market, we have to learn lessons from abroad, and make the right choice at this dangerous crossroads.”

Stringent Regulations May Drive Players to Black Market Sites

The PwC report didn’t stop at the UK’s borders however and it examined several other European countries. It found the following:

After Norway created a state monopoly and restricted all gambling stakes, implemented affordability checks and advertising restrictions, the black market grew to more than a 66% share of all stakes.

The country’s plans for DNS blocking to keep Norwegian players at state-sanctioned websites recently hit a speed bump when it was determined that the landing page searchers would be redirected to, the Norwegian Lottery Authority’s website, which did not conform to national privacy standards.

Norway currently enjoys a 100/100 rating at Freedom House with 40/40 for political rights and 60/60 for civil liberties. It’s unclear if DNS blocking would affect that score.

In France, 57% of all money staked is at unlicensed websites rather than at France’s state-monopoly gambling portals.

Advertising for betting and gambling is strictly prohibited in Italy but the black market accounts for nearly a quarter of all money staked online, according to the report.
The report did not state the percentage of unlicensed betting that occurred prior to the increased regulatory restrictions.

However, it did also note that Spain has seen 20% of all stakes being placed at unregulated websites since a 2020 Royal Decree in Spain severely restricted all gambling advertising. The BGC asserts that those numbers are the result of players not having access to information on safe gambling due to the advertising ban.

In 2020 Denmark also placed restrictions on licensed operators banning deposit incentives such as match bonuses while the Danish Tax Authority warned of the potential of a 9% increase in the black market share.

In Sweden, 38% of self-excluded gamblers who chose to close their accounts at locally licensed operations were still able to bet online with operators not licensed in Sweden.

Source: Cross-Border Regulators Body Gref Outlines Black Market Strategy, SBC News, April 11, 2023

The post European regulators have a meeting of the minds to address illegal gambling appeared first on Keno Wizard.