LATEST GAMING NEWS
Massachusetts will enter online gambling but not yet
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assachusetts head of the gambling commission says that the state should wait until after awarding casino licenses to operators later in 2014.
Teddy Sagi the founder of Playtech has said that he is planning to float on the stock market his other major investment that of SafeCharge. The billionaire who has a 90% stake in the payment processor company which was founded in 2006 by David Avgi and still retains a 10% share in SafeCharge hopes to raise in the region of $100 million in share offerings, with Mr. Sagi retaining 63% of the companies shares. The Aim listing will be launched Tuesday 11th March and the total amount of value for SafeCharge is estimates at £210 million to £230 million. Safecharge which handles online gambling transactions along with consumer retail prides itself on handling 300 transactions per second with no downtime on the service. Last year SafeCharge handled over $5 billion in transactions with revenues of $43.1 million which was up 31.4% from the year before.
Stephen Crosby, chairman of the commission, said lawmakers have been urged not to do “anything serious” about online gambling until after the licenses are awarded, noting casino companies will be investing hundreds of millions
of dollars in Massachusetts, “and it’s only appropriate that they be at the table when we figure out what do with Internet gaming.” The state only last month issued a license to Penn National Gaming which plans to build a slots parlor at the Plainridge racetrack. Mr Crosby says that new casinos will take some revenues off the state’s lottery but expects casino’s will increase overall tax
revenues. State Senate Majority Leader Stanley Rosenberg said that Internet gambling seems likely to become a reality in the future, but warned of the impact on the lottery and new casino licensed operators. Crosby concluded by saying any venture into online gambling should take place “hand in glove” with efforts to address gambling addiction.
Macau says no increase to concessions
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acau’s Secretary for Economy & Finance Francis Tam Pak has said that there will not be an increase to the six current casino operators in Macau, the news comes as a blow to struggling casino giant Caesars Entertainment as they had hoped to possibly seek an entry into Macau when the number of gaming concessions comes up for renewal in 2020 and 2022. During his recent trip to Beijing Mr Francis Tam Pak said there “should be no increase” in the number of gaming concession-
aires. . The government has not determined whether [the gaming concessions] should be renewed for five years. The government has no stance on this matter.” He continued by saying in reference to extending the current length of existing operators licenses. Gaming Observers say this is a blow to Caesars in particular as they failed to gain a license to the world’s largest gambling hub in the first round of licenses issued to overseas operators in 2002, Wynn Resorts was the first to gain approval.
BUSINESSMAG • ISSUE MARCH 2014
Teddy Sagi to float SafeCharge
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