BB113-p01-news_09/10 29/01/2014 17:32 Page 1
BEN DALE: Social gaming has the ability to attract customers from far and wide
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BETTING NEWS 22
ESSENTIAL GUIDE 32
BUSINESS 64
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There was an early frenzy over FOBTs in the House of Commons, but David Cameron appears to be waiting for evidence rather than rush into any changes.
Political threat to FOBTs ‘not heinous’ POLITICS
U
USA
he online gaming revolution got off to a slow start according to the earliest figures from New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. From the moment that the online casinos opened their servers to US citizens on 21 November until the end of the year, $8.4m (£5.1m) was gambled with the new licensed sites. Although extrapolated across the year this would be well below the inflated target of $1bn in revenue that governor Chris Christie said he wanted from the industry, it is also way too low to meet the forecasts of $200m-$300m predicted by analysts. Tony Rodio, president of the Tropicana Casino and Resort, injected some common sense into the debate: “Everybody needs to take into consideration that this industry is in its infancy. There will be mobile applications, and a lot of the slot content isn’t operational yet. I’m encouraged by how many user accounts that people have signed up for and that there’s interest in it. You’ll see this grow quickly.” Taking an early and commanding lead was the Borgata, which has teamed up with Bwin.party to dominate 44 per cent of market share, no doubt boosted by using the already familiar Partypoker branding for one of its sites. Second was 888’s US partner Caesars Interactive with 28 per cent of the market and the Ultimate Gamingpowered Trump Taj Mahal with just over 10 per cent. Tropicana and partner Gamesys attracted 9 per cent of the market with the Betfair-assisted Trump Plaza (5 per cent) and the Bally IGP Golden Nugget site (2 per cent) making up the numbers, although the latter was a few weeks later to the market than its contemporaries.
T IS DAVID CAMERON NOW GUNNING FOR FOBTS?
K prime minister David Cameron has been forced on the back foot over the future of FOBTs (or B2 gaming machines to give them their regulatory name), although industry analysts are of different minds as to what extent the popular if controversial products are under threat. While some have predicted a major slash in maximum stakes to £20 from £100, which they claim would render 40 per cent of the Ladbrokes retail estate essentially pointless (see page 3), the latest think is that ‘a retail Doomsday scenario is unlikely’. A research note from James Hollins of Investec reassessed the threat of further gaming machine curbs and their effect
New Jersey eases into online gaming
on Ladbrokes and decided to move their advice from Sell to Hold. He commented: “Our conclusion, while caveated that we could be surprised on the downside (ie machine maximum stakes drop from £100 all the way down to <£10 or worse), was that the legislative threat was not heinous.” Yet Cameron’s comments during a grilling from David Milliband at PMQs sent both William Hill’s and Ladbrokes’ shares down by around 6 per cent. In truth, though, the prime minister didn’t not say anything that was a surprise to the betting industry. The fact that he actually agreed with Milliband at the start of the discussion actually took the sting out of the attack. Cameron said: “I absolutely
share concerns about this issue and I think it is welcome that we are having this debate in the House of Commons today. I think there are problems in the betting and gaming industry and we need to look at them.” The review in question is the research commissioned by the Responsible Gambling Trust into high prize gaming machines, which has already been rubbished by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling before it has even come out. In fact, the Campaign has had a storming start to 2014, gaining the support of a somewhat cynical Labour Party which no doubt believes it can drive a wedge between the coalition partners using this issue. While the betting industry is losing the media battle over the
FOBT debate, politically its decision to impose new ground breaking player protection measures from next month should stand it in good stead. It can justifiably say it is pioneering new methods of social responsibility. There has even been some movement on criticisms over so called clustering of betting shops, with William Hill CEO Ralph Topping recently telling the Racing Post that a ‘cumulative impact’ restriction could be given to local councils, a suggestion backed by Betfred owner Fred Done. Although given the fact that the two companies already own the biggest estates in the country, it is perhaps not surprising that the suggestion has met with some cynicism.
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