Gamble Aware

England: Top Two Divisions Professional Football Clubs Sponsored by Betting Firms Rise

Posted by Maven Porter on in Blog, Local, News, UK Today / 0 Comment

The upcoming football season will see almost 60% of soccer teams in England’s top two divisions engage in sport gambling-related advertising. In a report that was recently released, 17 out of 24 teams in the Champions League and 9 of the 20 teams in the Premier League will be sponsored by gambling companies.

 

Following the report, problem gambling experts have termed the relationship between betting and sports as disturbing and worrying. The United Kingdom has recognized the detrimental effects of problem gambling and gone ahead to enact measures that will deter gambling-related advertising. However, authorities have remained silent sports sponsorship and the effects it can have on betting.

 

According to a report that was recently published by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, 430,000 people are classified as problem gamblers while another two million are at risk of becoming problem gamblers. Considering that the country has 65 million people, problem gambling is one of the country’s major challenges as it has affected a large proportion of the people.

 

The Gambling Commission also found out that 370,000 children of between ages 11 and 16 gamble at least once in a week. 25,000 of these children are problem gamblers.

 

As the sponsorship of professional football by betting firms increases, Sky Bet which is the gambling entity of Sky Betting & Gaming has continued to sponsor three of the English Football League (EFL) divisions. In addition, it has a huge presence in the Championship League. Its domination in sponsorship of England’s professional football and the effects it is having on football fans has remained a concern to the gambling addiction charities in the UK.

 

Britain’s online gambling industry is one of the most liberal and largest in the world. Last year, it generated a record £14 billion in revenue. Sponsoring professional football is one of the gambling firms’ strategies for increasing revenue.

 

Gambling experts have raised over the issue indicating that the relationship between gambling and professional sports was getting out of control. While commenting on the situation, Gambling Watch UK’s representative Professor Jim Orford said that the nation was in a worrying state. He indicated that there was evidence that gambling was becoming “normalized” in the country.

 

According to him, young people are the most affected and are increasingly developing a perception that “betting is part and parcel of following and supporting one’s favorite sports or team.”

 

Professor Orford expressed concern that free-to-play social media gambling is becoming popular among young people as players are encouraged to purchase virtual goods as part of their betting experience. Football has remained the most popular spectator sport in the UK over the years. As a result, more families are now attending matches every week or watching them from their homes. The increasing entry of betting firms in the professional football industry has led more gambling advertisements in each game.

 

Marc Etches, CEO at GambleAware commented that the society is having a generation of fans that believe for them to enjoy a football game they must place a bed. “Watching football and having a bet is becoming normalized but we’re not talking about it,” he said.

 

The EFL opined that sponsorship by gambling firms made a significant contribution to realizing financial stability in professional football. It, however, added that it is working with betting firms to ensure a “socially responsible” relationship between professional football and gambling is created.

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Gambling firms Now Exposed over Consumer Welfare Attitude

Posted by Craig Gustling on in Blog, Local, News / 1 Comment

The Gambling Commission of the UK is working hard to enhance safer and fairer gambling in the industry, in a bid to improve consumer protection.

 

The Gambling Commission Chief Executive has insisted that they are focusing on making gambling much safer and fairer to all clients. He also goes further to say that the business of gambling should collaborate and invest an equal amount of resources into data, research, and technology to enhance and solidify the protection of their client. This should be given priority just as this company do to create new products, marketing campaigns, and advertising.

 

Leaders of gambling companies, have been called into action to set the tone and lead in a culture of following the rules for compliance and putting the welfare of the customers first. They should strive in continuously raising the standards for the benefits of their clients.

 

The gambling firms which fail to comply with the rules risk of being exposed to various sanctions. That includes, hefty fines or eventual withdrawal of their operating licenses indefinitely or for a fixed period of time. For instance, the Gambling company 32Red faced a fine of £2 million for failing to provide protection to a problem gambler. Another gambling firm known as William Hill received a penalty of £6.2 million for breaching the social responsibility and anti-money laundering regulations.

 

The gambling commission is keen on tackling the issue of firms having the ability to spot betting patterns which seem unusual, which could likely be caused by people getting into financial hardships through betting. It could also be as a result of money laundering. The chief executive says that betting firms need to know their customers in such a way that they can know how capable they are to afford the money being used. The companies need to use all the data they have to get to understand their customers well at an early stage. This is to enhance controlling the amount a certain customer can bet with by imposing limits.

 

Child protection has been the main issue of focus on tackling the gambling problems. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is also part of this revolutionary strategy. It has recently banned some online slot adverts as they looked appealing to younger children. This included some coral gambling adverts which featured animated images such as the leprechaun that particularly showed a high appeal to the teenagers.

 

The Gambling Commission assumes that, total responsibility has been taken by the Advertising Standards Authority to discipline those who breach the rules of targeting vulnerable customers. Educating the public is an initiative that has been taken seriously by the Gambling Commission. Gamble Aware which is a charity in the industry, orders to provide treatment to the people who have already been affected, as well as do an extra thorough investigation into matters pertaining gambling problems.

 

 

River UK Casino Limited Acquires a 70% Majority Stake in Gaming Realms PLC.

Posted by Craig Gustling on in Blog, Local, News, UK Today / 1 Comment

The gambling sector of the United Kingdom is set to experience a major shift. The UK gambling giant, River iGaming has established a new subsidiary, River UK Casino Limited which it has used to acquire a 70% majority stake in the Gaming Realms plc.

 

This takeover encompasses X Factor Games sites, Pocket Fruity, Britain’s Got Talent Games, and Spin Genie over and above the gambling giant. The takeover shall cost £23.1 million, subject to the approvals by the shareholders. At the conclusion of the takeover, the remaining 30% stake and the flagship Slingo brands shall be held by Gaming Realms.

 

This 30% stake shall be subjected to a call option and mutual put arrangement. This privilege, as per the sales arrangement, shall be exercised on or before 31st October 2020. It shall further be subjected to the uncapped valuation of around 5.5 times the earnings-before-interest-and-taxes of River UK Casino. The entire privilege shall run for the duration of 12 months preceding the 30 June 2020 deadline.

 

A press release from the company stated that it shall pay out a minimum of £8.4 million to effect the takeover. It plans to spend half of this amount as soon as the deal is sealed and the remaining half progressively on an earn-out basis. It further anticipates spending yet another £14.7 million on the basis of earn-outs on or before August 31st, 2019.

 

Gaming Realms CEO, Patrick Southon had this to say:

“This sale is indeed revolutionary. This is because it will grant us the leeway to channel all our resources on matters of international licensing as well as the development of newer gaming contents. This shall subsequently place us in a stronger position as to let us generate further profitable growths in the future.”

 

In all, River iGaming which is the parent company of the River UK Casino Limited expects to make no less than £1m in annual revenue with the new acquisition. This stems from the profitable nature of the particular business. For this to happen, the acquisition shall have to generate earnings-before-interest-and-taxes of no less than £6 million in the 12-month duration prior to 30 June 2019.

 

For instance, in the financial year ended 2017, Gaming Realms plc made net gaming revenue to the tune of £13.9m. In the same year, its adjusted profit before tax and the corresponding interest amounted to £2.2m.

 

During the transition phase, the present management team of the business will oversee the River UK Casino till June 30, 2020. At the same time, River iGaming and Gaming Realms plc will jointly raise a working capital loan facility of around £3 million to fund investments in marketing for the business until at least 30 June 2019.

 

This loan facility shall be repaid in full no later than 30 June 2020. Of the £3 million, £2.1 million shall be contributed by River iGaming with the remaining £0.9 million by Gaming Realms plc.

With regards to this, Gaming Realms had this to say:

“We plan to spend the first batch of the £4.2m of the sales proceeds to develop new gaming contents and enhance the current platforms. We shall also provide a loan of approximately £0.9m to fund the River UK Casino’s marketing budget as stipulated previously.”

 

This, the company argues, is consistent with its strategy of channeling its resource base on content developments and international licensing. The final resolution to sell the 70% stake, however, rests with the general meeting and is expected to be endorsed on July 18 in London, United Kingdom.

 

Given the highly lucrative and competitive nature of the online gambling sector in the United Kingdom, we all wait to see just how much impact this acquisition is going to have.