A new report released by the Guardian reveals details regarding research that probed into gambling addiction among veterans in Australia.

Gambling Addiction Results in Suicide Attempts for One in Five Veterans

The study led by Dr Olivia Metcalf is yet to be published, but what’s known so far is that one in five veterans addicted to gambling has attempted suicide. The new research uncovered that approximately 40% of the veterans in Australia that are suffering from gambling addiction had experienced suicidal thoughts.

Additionally, the study uncovered that veterans are significantly more vulnerable to developing gambling addictions when compared to the civil population. Dr Metcalf pointed out that within the first five years of ending their military service, some 13% of the veterans showed signs of addiction.

According to Dr Metcalf, the study uncovered a disturbing trend for veterans, especially considering that they may be more vulnerable to suicide when compared to the other population. “That statistic is particularly high and while we don’t have great comparable civilian data, it looks like the rate among veterans is higher,” she explained.

Changes to Gambling Face Rejection, but Concerns about Harm Remain

Details of the upcoming study emerged after only recently, New South Wales RSL and Services Clubs showed disapproval of proposed changes related to cashless gaming cards. Karen Webb, the NSW police commissioner, showed approval for cashless gambling in an effort to fight against crimes such as money laundering. Cashless technology can significantly reduce the possibility of such crimes. At the same time, technology can be beneficial and help curb the rate of problem gambling. However, the proposal caught the attention of RSL Clubs which voiced their disapproval. NSW RSL and Services Clubs’ CEO, Margot Smith, disagreed with the proposed changes to gambling and called for a “balanced view of gambling.”

RSL Clubs have been operating for more than two decades. The locations are established in an effort to provide “current and ex-serve personnel and their families to enjoy a safe and comfortable place to gather.” Yet, many of those locations offer poker machines which not unexpectedly raises eyebrows.

According to Professor Malcolm Battersby, Flinders University’s head of psychiatry, who happened to participate in the aforementioned research, it is worrying to see RSL Clubs offer gambling services. Battersby said that such locations offering gambling are “exploiting vulnerable people who are most likely to contribute to gambling losses and harm to themselves.” Considering that those clubs are after providing care and support for current and ex-servicemen and women, raking profits from gambling is against their prime goal, said the professor in conclusion.

Now, the brand has announced the extension of the same license. Automatically, Betway will be able to keep providing its top-tier offerings to customers in the country’s regulated market.

Betway Is Proud to Secure a License Extension

CEO Werkman spoke about the license expansion with excitement, explaining that it would further help them offer their “much-loved products to sports betting fans in Germany”. Werkman described the brand’s sponsorship portfolio as an “industry-leading” one that would help them enhance their commitment to supporting the types of sports that domestic customers know and appreciate.

Plus, he added that the gaming market in Germany, which is known for nurturing a safe and responsible gambling environment, will benefit from their leading products thanks to their new German office opened in Düsseldorf and the talented crew there. The company plans to promote its future expansion in the country using enhanced localization for its sportsbook offerings, simplified access options, and a number of new job openings.

The Super Group-owned brand is known for showing its support for a number of high-profile sports in the country. Their impressive portfolio in German soccer features the winner of the 2022 Europa League, Eintracht Frankfurt, together with Hertha Berlin, VfB Stuttgart, Schalke 04, and Werder Bremen. 

Tennis is another sport that has harnessed the support of the brand in Germany. Betway is currently Boss Open’s Official Betting Partner, as well as the betting partner of the Hamburg Open and the Terra Wortmann Open. Together, the three tournaments represent three of the four Association of Tennis Professionals tournaments that are held in Germany. 

Last May, the sports betting and gaming brand announced it turned into Hamburg European Open’s official sponsor for 2022. The partnership was an expansion of the “fantastic relationship” that the two parts were already enjoying and harnessing since 2021. The event which spread across nine days between July 16 and July 24, 2022, reunited a number of high-profile and promising tennis players. 

The list included Danish player Holger Rune, Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, German player Andrea Eprkovic who was the tournament’s ambassador, and Top 10 American player Danielle Collins who made it into the Australian Open final. 

Now, the company that creates “exciting slot games for the global online and mobile markets” has inked a new agreement with NorthStar Gaming, building more momentum on Canadian soil.

Ontario: a Key Market in Blueprint Gaming’s Growth  

According to the new deal, the company that owns and operates NorthStar Bets will see Blueprint eventually launch its entire portfolio of slots for its players in Ontario. Currently, gamers can enjoy a series of popular games from the studio, including The Goonies, Fishing Frenzy: The Big Catch, Ted, Eye of Horus Megaways, and Wolf Legend Megaways. 

Other games part of the current offering include Deal or No Deal, a gameshow title that has already attracted a large audience in the region since its launch, together with another industry-leading title, Jackpot King. The latter is a progressive jackpot system that has been rebranded as Jackpot Royale and is fully customized to match the requirements of the Ontario market. The Ontario-based brand will this way continue to provide its players with a one-of-a-kind, local, top-tier user experience on its casino platform while reaching a more diversified audience eager to get access to content tailored to the Canadian market.

Blueprint Gaming’s director of key accounts and marketing UK Jo Purvis called Ontario a key market that has proven to be critical for their “growth across regulated markets in 2022”. Purvis added that the new partnership with NorthStar Bets represents an essential factor in their expansion across the North American region as it would help them place their slots portfolio into the hands of an “impressive swathe of new players”. 

NorthStar, “Proud” to Offer a Premium Gaming Experience to Ontario Players

NorthStar Gaming’s chief executive officer and founding partner Michael Moskowitz expressed the company’s excitement to be able to offer a “uniquely local, content-driven, and premium gaming experience” to players in Ontario. He further explained that as the company is continuing its growth and expanding its offering in the region, it is essential to team up with “reputable and established suppliers of quality gaming experiences”, thus welcoming Blueprint Gaming to the NorthStar Bets roster of reputable partners.

Last October, Blueprint Gaming further boosted the visibility of its top products with soccer fans. The brand offered sports aficionados the unique opportunity to turn into online casino players by securing the necessary licensing rights to the personality and likeness of Diego Maradona. The legendary player would be featured in a future branded slot release that is expected to attract a lot of soccer lovers. 

During the same month, Light & Wonder, Inc. signed an agreement with OpenGaming, adding Blueprint Gaming to the list of slot providers that will offer their games to global audiences via its content aggregation platform.

In light of the COVID-related restrictions and decrease in traveling, the Macau SAR Government has seen a decrease in tax revenue recently.

Macau Gambling Taxes Halt at $194M in November

Overall, Macau’s six casino concessionaires contributed a total of MOP$1.56 billion ($194 million) in November 2022, a recent report released by IAG reveals. When compared to the same period the year before, this result marked a decrease of more than 10%. Not unexpectedly, the sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19 in China contributed negatively to the result. What’s more, Macau has seen a decrease in visitation, primarily driven due to a decline in traveling which further helped shrink the tax revenue collected.

Uncertainties regarding regulation combined with the residue of the pandemic also impacted Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR). In 2022, the city reported a drop in GGR to MOP$42.2 billion ($5.3 billion), representing a staggering 51.4% decrease when compared to the result from 2021. Furthermore, the GGR result from 2022 was the lowest result for Macau for the last decade.

Focusing on taxes, Macau implemented a change that coincided with the start of 2023. As a result, concessionaires now pay an additional casino floor fee. The new fee is determined based on the size of the casino floor and undergoes indexing depending on the concession year. Those fees apply for the next 10 years of concession and come in addition to the already existing tax of 35% and an additional 5% on GGR for the operators.

The Region Keeps High Hopes for the Future

On the bright side, with the pandemic residing, Macau expects to see an uptick in tourism and visitation. Recently, Macau’s head of the Government Tourism Office, Maria Helene de Senna Fernandes, said that this year, the SAR hopes to see up to 40,000 visitors daily.

Additionally, although the taxes reported in November marked a decline year-over-year, the result increased month over month. When compared to the result from October, taxes in November 2022 increased by nearly 30%.

Eliminating the partial COVID-related restrictions in combination with an increase in traveling will undoubtedly help Macau. At the same time, some licensed gambling operators have confirmed plans to introduce amenities different from gambling that will further help attract new visitors and consequently boost their revenues.

Real Property reported that this came as a surprise as the $120 million deal was announced in October 2021 and on October 12 this year the state-funded convention and tourist agency LVCVA made an announcement that the sale has been finalized with just some regulatory approvals still pending.

LVCVA Has Been Trying to Sell the 10 acres Since 2019

LVCVA acquired the land back in February 2015 when the notorious Las Vegas Strip Riviera Hotel-Casino, which had been in business for 60 years, went bankrupt. The property was 26 acres in total and LVCVA paid $182.5 million for it. LVCVA demolished the venue in 2016 and expanded the West Hall of its Las Vegas Convention Center but only used up 16 acres of the land. 

Ever since then, it has been trying to sell the remaining 10 acres, which are located on Las Vegas Boulevard and Elvis Presley Boulevard. Currently, the land is being used as an extra parking lot for the convention center. It was cleared and paved for that purpose. 

As the deal with Fischer fell through LVCVA immediately relisted the land for sale with its broker CBRE. LVCVA was hoping to sell the land as it had plans to invest the money into the renovation of the exhibit halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. However, it will not be left completely empty-handed as the Chilean billionaire has to pay a separate fee of $7 million.

Chilean billionaire Claudio Fischer Had Plans for a New Las Vegas Strip Resort

The Chilean mogul Claudio Fischer is the co-founder of one of the biggest casino resort operators in Latin America – Sun Dreams. The operator runs 19 properties across plenty of Latin American countries, including Chile, Argentina, Panama, Colombia, and Peru. 

Fischer started his career as an airline pilot who eventually became an airline owner, which later on led him to diversify his business with acquisitions within the casino and hospitality industry. Fischer has been eyeing opportunities to step on the Las Vegas Strip for a while and the LVCVA property was the perfect chance. 

LVCVA president Steve Hill was also excited to welcome the Chilean entrepreneur as the new neighbor to the convention center. Hill commented that Fischer has over 20 years of experience in the gambling industry and was excited to see what the Latin American billionaire will achieve with the property.

However, first, the pandemic and now the global inflation crisis have thwarted Fischer’s plans. According to reports, Fischer backed out of the deal as the rising interest rates in the US diminished the potential profitability of the casino resort project.

The charity is primarily focused on educating young people about the dangers of gambling-related harm and helping establish meaningful safeguards that can help protect at-risk and vulnerable groups, such as youths. The news was first reported by ICE365.

ICE London 2023 and YGAM Continue to Tackle Gambling Harm

The organization is also the official charity partner for the iGB Affiliate London Awards. Commenting on this opportunity, Clarion Gaming managing director Stuart Hunter said that the company was delighted to have YGAM as the official charity partner. He added:

YGAM is a progressive organization that is well-known to and highly respected by many of the ICE London exhibitors and stakeholders.

Clarion Gaming managing director Stuart Hunter

Hunter hailed the importance of protecting youths and creating an environment in which safe and responsible gambling is a focus. Throughout all conversations with stakeholders, Clarion has established that companies and partners are interested in creating new ways to protect consumers, something that is “undertaken on daily basis” by YGAM’s team.

Clarion Gaming’s ICE show has been actively looking to expand its reach in promoting responsible gambling. The event now has an official Consumer Protection Zone set up back in 2018. Apart from being an official charity for the upcoming event, YGAM is also an ambassador for ICE.

YGAM’s brand and imagery will be visible throughout the show and participate in the exhibition opening and the Casino Awards and WRA reception, Clarion detailed.

Excellent Opportunity for YGAM to Continue the Good Work

Welcoming this news, YGAM director of business development and fundraising Ian Shanahan said that the company was happy to find a trusted partner such as Clarion Gaming and work with them once again.

Shanahan hailed this partnership as an important stepping-stone to continue the good work done on minimizing gambling harms and raising awareness about a persistent problem. He added:

We’re looking forward to joining colleagues from across the third sector in the Consumer Protection Zone in its prominent location.

YGAM director of business development and fundraising Ian Shanahan

Shanahan said that the company will use its resources to collaborate with ICE and develop even more impactful strategies in the year ahead and beyond.

Ohio launched its regulated sports betting market on January 1, 2023, and geolocation services company GeoComply provided data on how the launch went during the first days of the new year.

GeoComply Records 11.3M Transactions in Ohio over New Year’s Weekend

According to GeoComply data, during the New Year’s weekend, Ohio surpassed even New York in terms of geolocation volume. While in New York the transactions were 9.3 million, GeoComply recorded 11.3 million in Ohio. Pennsylvania came in third with 8.2 million, while New Jersey was fourth with 6.7 million transactions.

Ohio residents are now part of the 44% of the US population that is able to place online bets with regulated sports betting operators. Revenues going to the state coffer from regulated sports betting will benefit various state programs for education, war veterans, and problem gambling.

Lindsay Slader, SVP of Compliance at GeoComply, welcomed the new market launch in Ohio: “We are thrilled to welcome another state into the regulated online sports betting sector. As expected, residents of the Buckeye State enthusiastically greeted the market at the moment the calendar changed over to 2023.”

There are 16 licensed online sports betting operators in Ohio and the state has a population of 11.8 million people. In the first hour of the new year, GeoComply recorded 234,000 geolocation transactions coming from the Buckeye State. 

During the first two days of 2023, GeoComply noted that 784,000 unique sports betting accounts of Ohio residents were active. Bettors were most enthusiastic in Cincinnati where GeoComply registered 1,898,000 geolocation transactions. Ohio’s largest city Columbus came in second with total transactions of 1,033,000. Cleveland and Toledo came in third and fourth with 772,000 and 619,000 respectively.

Ohio Launched Responsible Gambling Program Ahead of Market Launch

There were many preparations leading to the sports betting market launch in Ohio. One of the most important programs that the state made sure to have in place ahead of the start was a program for responsible gambling created by Ohio For Responsible Gambling.

The state introduced a new campaign to help people be aware of the problems that can arise from gambling and the issues connected to gambling addiction. This campaign is called Pause Before You Play, and has its foundation in the Get Set Before You Bet education program, which was earlier created by Ohio For Responsible Gambling.

The new responsible gambling campaign is based on research evidence, which shows that sports bettors and retail casino gamblers are those at the highest risk of developing a gambling addiction. According to 2017 study results, the risk stands at 24% for people gambling at casinos and 24.3% for those placing sports bets.