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FTSE100 betting group Paddy Power Betfair Plc (PPB) has announced the launch of its Cluj Romania ‘Alpha Hub’ accelerator program, focusing on enhancing the industry’s responsible gambling and sustainability dynamics. The accelerator programme sees PPB partner with Romanian technology enterprise groups’ Techsylvania and Risky Business Romania to open its initiative to the top development and engineering talent. For a number of …

Regulus Partners, the strategic consultancy focused on international gambling and related industries, takes a look at some key developments for the gambling industry in its ‘Winning Post’ column. Ireland: betting duty – they never had it so good…. On Tuesday the Irish government announced a doubling of betting duty to 2% of turnover in its 2019 Budget (with exchange duty …

Legacy UK bingo operator Gala Leisure has announced that it has completed its full £40 million makeover to ‘Buzz Bingo’. Gala Leisure, the former bingo subsidiary of Gala Coral, which was sold to private equity firm Caledonia Investments in December 2015 for £240 million, will now operate its 103 UK clubs under the Buzz Bingo domain. Furthermore, this week sees …

Boylesports, Ireland’s second largest bookmaker, has warned its staff that jobs are at risk following the government’s decision to double the nation’s betting revenue tax to 2%. Last week, Ireland’s Minister of Finance Paschal Donohoe delivered a damaging budget for industry stakeholders, implementing higher taxes on retail and digital betting verticals. Dundalk-headquartered Boylesports, which operates 250 betting shops across Ireland, …

This weekend Nasdaq-listed Caesars Entertainment launched its ‘next generation’ sportsbook property ‘The Book’ at its LINQ Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas promenade. Joined by NFL legend Terrell Owens, Caesars CEO & President Mark Frissora stated that The Book would represent the next evolution of sportsbook, reimagining the proposition of sports betting as an entertainment vertical for US consumers. …

As Industry platform and software developers seek to deliver the next level of betting consumer engagement and functionalities, seasoned sector technology veteran Andrew Dagnall (CEO – Bettorlogic) believes that betting’s product journey should begin with entertainment giants – Spotify and Netflix… __________________ SBC: Andrew, thanks for the catch-up. As a tech consumer, why are Netflix and Spotify recommendation engines so …

European online payments platform provider Trustly has confirmed the promotion of Sara Berg as new Chief Operations Officer (COO). Berg has served as Trustly’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) since 2012, and will be tasked with leading the fast-growth fintech firm’s multi-market and multi-sector European operations, reporting to Trustly CEO Oscar Berglund.  Prior to joining Trustly, Berg was a Senior Associate at …

Spanish news sources report that the upcoming 2019 budget will likely carry severe advertising restrictions for licensed gambling/betting incumbents, as the PSOE minority government seeks to revamp Spain’s advertising code. Last week, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (PSOE – Socialist Workers Party) struck a budget proposal deal with socialist Podemos party leader Pablo Iglesias. Branded as Spain’s ‘socially progressive budget’, PSOE …

The governance of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) has stated that ‘Responsible Gambling Week 2018’ (RGWeek – 1-7 November 2018) will showcase the sector’s latest sustainability, social responsibility and community-focused initiatives. Following the success of last year’s inaugural RGWeek, the IGRG details that all UK licensed gambling operators will participate in 2018’s edition, aiming to promote the public …