Europe

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has highlighted that casinos in East and Southeast Asia have become the main vessels of local underground banking and money laundering syndicates to facilitate their illicit activities.  In the report “Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and Transnational Organized Crime in East and Southeast Asia: A Hidden, Accelerating Threat”, the UNODC noted …

Kindred Group faces a high-profile legal challenge in Sweden as Stockholm’s District Court begins the hearing of a lawsuit brought by Per Holknekt. The fashion designer and founder of Odd Molly has accused Kindred Group and its subsidiary Spooniker Ltd of “feeding his gambling addiction, which spiralled out of control”. Prior to the lawsuit, Holknekt admitted to Swedish media that …

Irish bookmaker BoyleSports has renewed its deal with HRI Racecourses for the sponsorship rights of the Irish Grand National.  The partnership will run until 2027, taking the length of the collaboration between the two entities to a total of 13 years.  Thanks to the new arrangements, the Irish Grand National will accumulate a total prize fund of €500,000, which makes …

Ascot Racecourse and the Tote have signed a partnership which looks to strengthen and grow pool betting in the UK. The new deal ensures all pool bets placed on racing from Ascot Racecourse will continue to support liquidity in the UK pool – which has been operated by the UK Tote Group since October 2019.  This includes bets placed on-course …

The Dutch sports betting market has been placed under surveillance by the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the country’s gaming authority, to root out potential match-fixing in amateur sports competitions.  According to the national legislation on sports betting, “gambling providers who offer betting on sports competitions are not allowed to do so for just every match”.  This is why a number of providers …

France’s largest casino groups have written to the new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal excoriating Française des Jeux (FDJ) for its aggressive expansionary policies and the “monopolistic advantages” that enable the former state-owned company to operate across all verticals and channels in the country. The letter, seen by the newspaper Les Echos, was signed by the CEOs of the Barrière, Partouche, Tranchant …

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has summarised the relationship between racing and betting, and the effect of the Gambling Review so far.  Betting has seen a substantial shift from retail to online and mobile devices in the past 15 years. A betting market boom has also been followed by an ongoing period of regulatory pressure, much of which was amidst …

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating the acquisition of Sporting Index by Spreadex Limited and its impact on the UK’s spread betting market.  The deal was announced in November 2023, with SpreadEx agreeing on ‘undisclosed terms’ with Groupe FDJ to acquire spread betting rival Sporting Index. On 15 January, the CMA announced that it had launched an inquiry, …

Flutter Entertainment Plc has consolidated its leadership positions in the UK and US markets ahead of its NYSE listing date on Monday 29 January. Publishing its pre-close trading statement for 2023 trading, the soon to be FTSE & NYSE gambling group reported Q4 revenue growth of 11% to £2.67bn. On a year-on-year basis, Flutter’s FY2023 revenues stand at £9.51bn, up …

Flutter Entertainment has completed its €141m investment in MaxBet Kladionica to become the market leader in Serbia and advance its position within Balkan territories. The deal to acquire a 51% stake in Maxbet was first announced in September 2023, with Flutter securing exclusive rights to acquire the remaining share of the Serbian business. Branded a ‘local hero’ by Flutter, MaxBet …