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Gaming bill filed as Texas gears up for 2023 legislative session

The Texas legislature will consider a bill that would amend the state’s constitution to legalize casinos at a limited number of locations and set the stage to permit sports betting.

The proposed law – Senate Joint Resolution 17 – would devise the framework for a new body named the Texas Gaming Commission, which would supervise legalized gambling in Texas.

Casino gambling would be authorized at a “limited number of destination resorts and facilities” with the proceeds going towards tax relief and funding for education and public safety.

The amendment’s author is Houston-based state senator Carol Alvarado, a Democrat who initially pre-filed the bill on 14 November 2022.

[Read full story on iGB North America]

November 9, 2022

AGA: Q3 US gaming revenue hits record $15bn

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US gaming revenue reached a record $15.17bn (£13.31bn/€15.1bn) in Q3, an all-time quarterly high, according to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker.

This is a 2% increase on the previous record of $14.81bn reached in the preceding quarter. Subsequently, 2022 is set to surpass 2021 as the highest grossing year of gaming revenue, already at 14.7% ahead of the same period the previous year. The total for the first nine months of the year is also ahead of 2019’s full-year revenue.

“While business challenges remain, high consumer demand continues to fuel our industry’s record success,” said AGA president and CEO Bill Miller. “Our sustained momentum in the face of broader economic volatility points to gaming’s overall health today and provides confidence as we look to the future.”

The industry’s year-on-year Q3 growth rate of 8.8% outperformed the broader US economy’s 2.6% growth rate in the same period.

[Read full story on iGaming Business]

June 23, 2022

Kyrgyz parliament votes to legalise casinos and igaming for foreigners

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Kyrgyzstan’s legislature has voted to re-legalise land-based gambling and launch online casino for the first time, though all offerings will only be available to foreign players.

The bill “On Gambling in the Kyrgyz Republic” – passed on its third reading – would legalise a wide range of forms of gambling. As well as casinos, slot halls and retail bookmakers – which had all been legal in the past before casinos were banned in 2012 and the latter two banned in 2015 – online casino games will also be legal.

However, all gambling will only be available to foreign players.

Land-based casinos must only be set up in restaurants or hotel complexes. The restaurant must have at least 100 seats, and the hotel must have at least 20 rooms. Slot halls, meanwhile, must be separate rooms or buildings from any other type of business activity.

Casinos located in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek must have at least 10 gaming tables, while those elsewhere must have at least five. Slot halls must contain a..

June 20, 2022

Italy stems flow of year-to-year drops in igaming GGR

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Italian igaming revenue rose year-on-year in April for the first time since November 2021. However, this figure was down month-on-month.

Italy’s igaming market revenue declined slightly month-on-month, at €292.2m in April compared to March’s €302.4m. This meant that revenue was up year-on-year for the first time in six months, after revenue came to €288.1m in April 2021.

This decline has been mostly driven by a 6.7% fall in online sports betting, with revenue now sitting at €118.9m: its lowest level since October 2021. This was still above the €103.6m recorded in April 2021, however.

Though online casino revenue remained stable, there were some interesting movements between operators within the market.

The biggest four online casino operators by GGR all lost ground to their competitors, Sisal and Snai being the worst affected as they drop to 8.5% and 8.3% market shares respectively, while Pokerstars’ share declined to 8.8% and Lottomatica 7.3%.

In contrast, on the online sports b..

June 17, 2022

Low betting margins continue to hinder Spanish industry in Q1

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Gambling revenue in Spain was down year-on-year again in Q1 of 2022, due to continued anaemic sports betting margins.

According to data from regulator the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), gross gaming revenue was down by 14.8% to €204.4m. However this marked a 16.3% quarter-on-quarter increase.

Revenue fell despite an increase in stakes, which grew 5.3% year-on-year to €7.41bn, a new record high. Deposits, meanwhile, grew by 4.3% year-on-year – or 7.1% quarter-on quarter – to €769.8m.
A similar trend emerged in 2021, when revenue was down despite a significant increase in stakes.

Breaking down revenue by vertical, sports betting revenue continued to be low at €65.2m, a 40.9% fall from Q1 2021, but up 49.1% from Q4 of that year.

Sports betting stakes remained high at €3.06bn, up 10.6% year-on-year, as it had done in H2 2021. This suggests a sports betting margin of just 2.1%. Margins were low across all sports, but lowest in horse racing at 1.4%.

House-banked casi..

May 10, 2022

Lithuanian gambling revenue grows by 90% in Q1

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Gambling revenue in Lithuania grew 90.0% to €43.4m in the first quarter of 2022, as neither the return of the land-based sector or a wide-reaching marketing ban stopped the online sector from continuing to grow.

Online gambling revenue came to €26.8m, up 16.7% from Q1 of 2021.

The majority of revenue came from slots – which are split between category A and category B machines.

Category A slots, with uncapped payouts and stakes, brought in €15.5m, which was up 24.7% from 2021. This came on stakes of €210.4m.

Category B slots, which limit stakes to €0.50 per spin and have win amounts capped at 200 times the original stake, €683,313, up 57.9%.

Table games brought in €1.6m, up 25.5%, on €19.4m worth of stakes and betting revenue was €9.0m, up 2.1%, on stakes of €125.3m.

Turning to the land-based sector, revenue was €16.9m after the sector recorded negligible revenue in Q1 of 2021 with land-based gaming venues closed.

Again, most of this came from slots. category A machines brought ..

April 5, 2022

Equipment sales help Novomatic revenue rise in 2021

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Austrian gaming equipment supplier Novomatic has reported revenue of €1.84bn (£1.52bn/$2.02bn) for 2021, despite a dip in gaming operations revenue.

This was up by €98.7m, or 5.6%, from Covid-hit 2020, when revenue was €1.74bn.

Revenue from gaming operations was €1.03m, down slightly from €1.07bn the previous year. This was attributed to closures of gaming halls- from January to June 2021, an estimated two thirds of Novomatic’s arcades closed temporarily due to the pandemic.

Revenue from the sales of gaming technology made up the remaining €806.2m in revenue. This was up by 20.3%. The company attributed this rise to its Ainsworth business, which saw its sales rise from €67.9m in 2020 to €118.3m in 2021.

Novomatic acquired Ainsworth in 2018.

Total turnover from operators using Novomatic equipment or software in Europe came to €102.91bn. Much of this came from its lottery division, with €35.48bn. Betting operator turnover was €24.17bn, followed by casino turnover at €20.98bn.

Turno..

March 11, 2022

Inspired revenue grows in Q4 but business swings to loss

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Inspired brought in $67.0m (£51.2m/€61.0m) in revenue in Q4 of 2021 as all business segments experienced growth of more than 25%, but the supplier swung to a loss after a VAT rebate helped its 2020 bottom line.

This revenue figure was up 70.9% from 2020’s ordinary revenue from operations, but was down by 6.6% if the VAT rebate during the comparable period is included.

The gaming segment – made up of land-based slot machines – was the largest contributor to revenue, bringing in $26.8m, up 49.3%.

However, its leisure segment experienced the most rapid growth, with revenue up 183.4% to $23.5m.

Virtual sports revenue, meanwhile, was up 26.1% to $11.0m, while interactive gaming revenue grew by 35.8% to $5.7m.

During Q4 of 2020, the gaming division of the business also received a one-off $32.5m value-added tax (VAT) rebate after a court ruling determined that operators did not have to pay VAT on top of gaming taxes for machines, though this was not counted as revenue for that quarter. I..

January 27, 2022

Swedish government scraps deposit cap plans

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Sweden’s government has scrapped plans to impose new restrictions – including a SEK4,000 slots deposit cap – for online casino products.

The Swedish government announced earlier this month plans to reintroduce a number of temporary measures for the gambling sector, including a deposit cap, after a previous SEK5,000 cap had been in place for much of 2020 and 2021.

The cap – alongside other measures such as a SEK100 limit on sign-up bonuses – was set to be made official today (27 January) and come into force on 7 February, but the government instead opted to abandon the plan.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of industry association BOS, which met with state secretary Alejandro Firpo earlier today, said the government made the right choice as the cap did not reduce gambling harm.

“It is a wise and well-balanced decision that the government has made,” Hoffstedt said. “Partly based on the general development of the pandemic. Partly, and above all, because precisely these restriction..

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