iCasino amendements tabled in French digital bill
France iCasino amendements, Infront signs LFP and ITF, SBC Summit, betting and iCasino Brazil, Montreal says no to Loto-Québec &Co
Hello, on Gaming&Co today :
France digital bill: Amendments give context to potential regulatory framework, but casinos unhappy at being left out of industry roundtables.
Double break: Infront Bettor signs data deal with LFP and ITF.
Summit top: The SBC Summit is taking place in Barcelona this week.
Brazil: Sports betting and online casino included in regulation.
Montreal Public Health says no to Loto-Québec, Partouche Q3s, NIBs &Co.
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Online casino amendments tabled as part of digital bill
French MPs have tabled their amendments relating to the possible regulation of online casino in the country.
Key amendments: Members of the special commission examining France’s bill to secure and regulate the digital space (SREN) have tabled a series of amendments that shed further light on how online casino regulation could be introduced in France.
Text study: The SREN bill plans to regulate web3 products whihc the French call monteisable digital objects (JONUM) such as the NFT-backed fantasy sports offerings of Sorare and Socios and the possible regulation of online casinos falls within this framework.
MPs examining the text had until the end of last week to table their amendments. This has now been done and the rapporteurs of the special commission studying the draft law will be tabling their own amendments from today (Tuesday).
The Commission will then edit the text and present the final version, which will be examined in public hearings from early October.
Parallel paths: The proponents of online casino regulation recommend that only French land-based casino operators are authorised to offer online casino games for an exclusive three-year period that would run in parallel with the JONUM experiment.
An amendment tabled by Eric Woerth, who spearheaded the country’s online gaming and betting regulation in 2010, commented that "regulation (of online casinos) is better than no regulation".
Striking a balance: "By authorising the extension by electronic means of access to games present in 'physical' casinos and reserving approval for physical casino operators, we are preserving the overall balance of the sector," he added.
"This amendment subjects online casino games to the same levies operated by the State and local authorities (on land-based casinos), and therefore completes the list of games that make up (the sector’s) GGR."
The MP Philippe Gosselin (Les Républicains) added that "the digital offer would correspond to games against the house and slot machines" and "would be linked to the physical offer of land-based casinos in order to preserve returns (to French regions) and maintain jobs in the industry".
Levy parity: With regard to taxation, the levy on online casino GGR would not exceed those on land-based casinos.
The amendments on the tax levels specify that online games against the house (jeux de contrepartie) will be taxed, as in the physical casinos, at 93.5% of their GGR and at 85% of their GGR for online slot machines.
Taxes will then be set in progressive brackets according to operators' GGR levels and on a scale ranging from 6% to 83.5%.
“All, except the casinos”
Many of the amendments are advocated by the Casinos de France (CdF) trade body and follow a series of roundtables organised by the special commission and attended by all the stakeholders in the sector.
However, in a statement published on Monday, CdF and the Association des Casinos Indépendants Français (ACIF) said that “all” stakeholders had taken part in the roundtables, “except the land-based casinos, even though they have proposals to preserve their industry while developing the JONUM framework".
The trade bodies added: "It would have been fair to hear from the casinos, which have repeatedly called on the special commission in the same way as the other gaming sectors. This omission is inexplicable, given that the industry generates nearly €1.4bn in tax revenues each year, including almost €500m for local authorities, and directly and indirectly employs 60,000 people in 63 French départements."
The two trade bodies added that casinos are "already suffering a distortion of competition within the sector because it is the only one unable to offer its products in digital form".
Infront Bettor at the double
The sports betting data provider has signed contracts with France's Ligue de Football Professionnel and the International Tennis Federation.
Double break: Infront Bettor has signed a five-year contract with the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) to provide sports betting data on the French championship from the 2024/25 season and has won the contract for the tennis betting data right from the International Tennis Federation.
Already active in France: Infront Bettor is the sports betting subsidiary of sports sponsorship and media group Infront. The group is the current holder of betting rights for the Coupe de France, and is a partner of LFP Média for AV content and media management of Ligue 1 matches.
Infront Bettor will also provide its data tracking and visualisation as part of its computer vision solutions for the LFP.
First serve: lnfront Bettor has also won the data rights with the International Tennis Federation following a tender process. The group succeeds Sportradar as the distributor of the ITF's worldwide betting data rights.
In 2022, the ITF generated almost $21m from the sale of its data rights compared with $11m in 2021.
The data will cover more than 58,000 matches a year and Infront will stream more than 23,000 matches to sports betting sites.
SBC Summit Barcelona
Now in its seventh year, the SBC Summit takes place in Barcelona this week.
Mes que un trade show? This week will be dominated by the SBC Summit that takes place in Barcelona from Tuesday to Thursday. As ever the conference content is extensive, with seven stages in which industry executives will discuss all the key topics relevant to operators, suppliers or consultants.
Some of main panels include:
SBC Leaders on Wednesday at 10am, where speakers such as Daniel Taylor, CEO International of Flutter, and Gustaf Hagman, CEO of Leo Vegas, will discuss major industry themes and trends.
On the same day at 11.20am, Francesco Postiglione and Allan Auning-Hansen, respective CEOs of Casumo and casual gaming supplier CEGO AS, will analyse the influence of Web3 and artificial intelligence on the online casino experience.
On Thursday at 11.20am, US speakers Seth Schorr, CEO of Fifth Street Gaming and Kresimir Spajic, CEO of Betfred US, will examine how operators are approaching 'Phase 2' of the industry's development in the US.
At 2pm Todd Cravens, CEO of Galaxy Gaming, and Albert Pesca, VP Commercial at Pragmatic Play, will look at live casino and whether introducing streaming and multipayer modes dilute the quality and performance of the vertical's most profitable product.
And of course there will be myriad other panels on payments, affiliates and marketing, as well as the SBC First Pitch for startups.
Gaming&Co will be at the SBC Summit, don't hesitate to contact us!
Brazilian bill approved by deputies
Regulation includes online casino and will now be examined by Senate.
Brazil ex-camera: The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies has voted in favour of the online gaming regulation bill, which should see sports betting as well as online casino regulated on the market in the next two months.
To the surprise of a number of observers, online casino has also been included in the regulation and the text will now be sent to the Senate, which has 45 days to examine it.
Taxing times: the level of taxation will be set at 18% of operators' revenues and could rise to 34% once additional contributions are taken into account.
Any company operating in the market will have to be headquartered in Brazil.
License fees will be R30m, or almost €6m, and will be valid for three years, instead of the five originally planned.
Bonuses and credit lines are also banned, and players will only be able to make payments if their banks are based in Brazil as part of the fight against illegal operators.
Operators will also be allowed to offer virtual sports betting products.
Montreal opposes mini-casino on ice
On ice: Public health officials in Montreal have said they are opposed to plans by Loto-Québec to open a 'mini-casino' near the Bell Centre, the ice hockey stadium of the NHL team the Montreal Canadiens.
In an assessment report, Montreal Public Health said that if approved the venue would normalise gambling for the team's fans; and that men aged 18 to 44 would be most affected as they are particularly vulnerable to gambling addiction.
Loto-Québec would like to install 350 slot machines in the Taverne Moderne 1909 bar, which is accessible from the Bell Centre.
Partouche Q3
Groupe Partouche’s revenues rose 4% YoY to €105m while its GGR was up 6.5% increase in to almost €179m in Q3.
The group’s international activities grew 15% to €17.2m and online GGR from its Swiss operations increased 48% to €4.2m.
In Belgium, the group's casino in Middelkerke recorded GGR of €1m vs. €200k in 2022 as it had only been open 23 days during that period.
Partouche said GGR from slot machines and traditional games had grown 5.3% and 6.8% respectively, while "electronic forms of gaming" had increased by almost 10% YoY.
News briefs
Better Collective has acquired the Danish sports daily Tipsbladet for €6.5m. The newspaper will be integrated into BC's structure from early October. The Tipsbalet.dk site was launched in 2000 and records average monthly audiences of 6.8 million visitors.
Gaming Innovation Group has confirmed that CEO Richard Brown has stepped down from his position and will take up a consultancy role within the group until December 31. New CEOs Richard Carter for GIG Platform & Sportsbook and Jonas Warrer for GIG Media have taken up their positions.
The group has again confirmed that it will spin off its platform-sportsbook and media entities by the end of the year.
OpenBet will supply its sports betting and player account management (PAM) solutions to online bookmaker Play7.Bet in Brazil. Play7.Bet will use OpenBet's betting engine and managed trading services, as well as the responsible gaming and anti-money laundering and fraud services of Neccton, the group OpenBet acquired in June.
Hack attack: MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment have been the victims of attacks by the Scattered Spider/UNC3944 hacker group in recent weeks.
According to Reuters and Bloomberg, nearly six terabytes of data were stolen from both groups, and Caesars paid a multi-million dollar ransom to the hackers.
MGM has reportedly not yielded to demands for payment and its services are still heavily impacted by the attack.
Dazn Bet has gone live in Germany, the launch follows Dazn go-lives in Spain, Italy and the UK.
BGaming will supply its range of online casino games to NetBet.
Calendar
Sept 19-21: SBC Summit, Barcelona.
Contact
Contact Jake Pollard to find out more about Gaming and Co: jake@gamingandco.info