Wednesday, April 22, 2020
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By Andrew Tottenham
Managing Director, Tottenham & Co
The question on everybody’s lips is, when will we come out of lockdown?
As I have stated before, this is a difficult question to answer. Due to the lockdown, measured infection and death rates are declining, but the novel coronavirus is still in our communities. We still do not know enough about it or the real rate of infection to say with any accuracy what will happen when we do open our doors again. But one thing is for sure: If we go back to behaving exactly as we did before the pandemic, without a vaccine, the virus will spread and more people will get sick and die.
Even when an effective vaccine is developed, scaling up production and vaccinating our population will take time. For example, if in the UK we manage to vaccinate 200,000 people per day, it would take almost a year to vaccinate the whole population. Each year, about 9 million people in the UK receive a flu shot during a three-month window utilising hospitals, doctors’ offices and retail pharmacies to provide the vaccination, so one year does seem like it would be doable.
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The Euro News Revue
by Hannah Gannagé-Stewart and Andrew Tottenham
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SBC News - 17 April 2020
Digital challenger bank Revolut has suspended all payments to and from UK gambling sites, following the Gambling Commission of Great Britain’s (GC) ban on credit card transactions for the industry. The credit card ban, which was approved in January, came into force on 14 April and covers Revolut and such providers, considered “money-service businesses” rather than traditional bank accounts. When it announced the ban at the start of the year, the GC said that ‘”2% of online gamblers using credit cards to gamble are classed as problem gambler — with even more at some risk of harm”.
(HGS)
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IntergameOnline.com - 16 April 2020
How will the Spanish gaming industry come back from lockdown? This is a question not just for Spain, but for countries in the same position. Professor José Antonio Gómez Yáñez, professor of sociology at Madrid’s Carlos III University, believes that Spain’s gaming industry will experience a slow recovery, with the industry partially opening up in August or September and 65% of the market returning at that point and growing back to previous levels by some time in 2021. I am not that confident. I hope I am wrong, but until we have reliable tests for both the disease and the antibodies, treatments that reduce the devastating effects of the disease and an effective vaccination program, the risk of the spread of infection getting out of control will be too great for the industry to open its doors to all comers in the next few months.
(AT)
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iGamingBusiness - 16 April 2020
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has disputed the notion that COVID-19, and the consequential lockdown, will lead to an increase in online gambling. The trade association says claims about an inevitable boom were “unfounded”, flagging the cancellation of sporting events as one major loss to the industry. The EGBA said sports betting makes up almost half of Europe’s online betting activity, the decline of which would far outstrip a rush to casino sites. However, the organisation supported extra measures to protect customers at this time, saying the responsible-gambling guidance launched in March was “now even more important, as millions of Europeans are isolated at home”.
(HGS)
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iGaming Business - 17 April 2020
Åland Islands-based operator Paf has revealed that just 0.04% of its players lost €30,000 or more in 2019, with revenue from that segment also falling by 67.2% to €3.2m. Paf has sought to reduce its reliance on high rollers in recent years, introducing a €30,000 mandatory loss limit in June 2018 and reducing that to €25,000 in October 2019. In 2018, 0.13% of its customers lost €30,000 or more, accounting for €9.7m of its €99.2m gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the year. In 2017, prior to the initiative, the operator raised €13.9m in GGR from players losing €30,000 or more, accounting for 14% of its €99.7m GGR for that year.
(HGS)
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SBC News - 20 April 2020
Predrag Popovic, one of the founders of Fincore, argues that online security is not something that you have conquered. It is more like an arms race and you need to stay ahead of those who are attempting to gain advantage. The challenge, as I see it, is that when your security functions are working well, you start to take them for granted. It’s a bit like being in the middle of a COVID-19 lockdown and saying the threat is not as great as we have been led to believe, because not that many people are getting ill or dying.
(AT)
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SBC News - 17 April 2020
Sportech PLC always appeared to me to be a company in search of a strategy. The company had plenty of ideas and good technology and seemed well-placed to capitalise on the opening of the US sports betting market. That has not proved to be the case. However, under the leadership of Group CEO, Richard McGuire, Sportech is a much more focussed company and has signed an agreement with UK Tote Group to utilise Sportech’s “Quantum System,” enabling the comingling of betting pools for pari-mutuel operators such as the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
(AT)
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GamblingNews.com - 15 April 2020
In a bid to protect the vulnerable during lockdown, the Portuguese government passed a bill to limit online gambling during the pandemic. The exact restrictions are yet to be outlined, but both sportsbooks and casinos are expected to be affected. Passed on 15 April, the details were intended to be confirmed on 20 April. The bill looks to reduce “unlimited and uncontrolled access to online gaming”, arguing that its dangers are increased when combined with an economic slowdown. The bill cited similar protections introduced in Spain, where advertising for gambling products is now allowed only between the hours of 1am and 5am.
(HGS)
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iGaming Business - 14 April 2020
The Lithuanian Gambling Business Association and National Gambling and Games Business Association have called on their members to stop advertising online during lockdown. The move follows recommendations made by the European Gaming and Betting Association in March, which encouraged operators to remain responsible in their approach to advertising during the pandemic. The Lithuanian Gambling Authority wrote to operators on 1 April, flagging the recommendations, but said they were not heeded; they found that online ads were taking up more space on webpages than previously. Latvia has also banned online-gambling advertising during lockdown.
(HGS)
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Tottenham & Co
232 Cranmer Court
London SW3 3HD, UK
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