OFF THE MARKET Today International All Sports Ltd. announced that it would be withdrawing its Australian operations from sale.
The Melbourne-based bookmaker has been for sale since Sept. 11, 2007. According to a prepared statement from Barry Coulter, International All Sports chairman, the offers made or conditions sought on it “would not have been in the best interests of the company or its shareholders.”
MOST RESPONSIBLE The World Lottery Association has named Svenska Spel the world’s most responsible gaming company.
Sweden's betting and poker monopoly was awarded the association's Award for Responsible Gaming Excellence -- a new award established to encourage the industry’s work with responsible gaming.
”We are of course incredibly pleased and proud,” said Anders Hägg, managing director of Svenska Spel, in a prepared statement. “A lot of gaming companies around the world have, in recent years, invested a lot in developing gaming responsibility programs, so competition for this prize has been tough.”
REPAY DAY Codere S.A. announced on Friday that its owners have not met a deadline to repay the company’s former owners.
According to a prepared statement, the Martinez Sampedro family, the Madrid-based gaming group’s current owners, are negotiating a repayment solution with the Franco family for the 188 million euros it owes.
Under the agreement terms, the Martinez Sampedro family will have to renegotiate its debt or sell its stake if the payment is not received.
According to Reuters, shares in Codere were suspended ahead of the announcement, trading down 3.16 percent at 9.20 euros.
REPORTING Tipp24 A.G., a German online lottery operator, revealed third-quarter revenue rose 8.4 percent to 11.42 million euros against the previous-year period, though net profits fell 34.1 percent on significantly higher operating expenses.
The report highlights included that Giochi24, a subsidiary of Tipp24, was awarded a license for the operation and marketing of online gaming. The company said this license enables Tipp24 to market in Italy all state-licensed Italian gaming products via the Internet. According to Tipp24, the specific use of the license for lottery products depends on technical specifications being provided by the state, which the company expects by early 2009.
Additionally, Jens Schumann, Tipp24’s chairman, said in a prepared statement that a recent decision by Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court “was a blow to us.”
“We still believe that the State Treaty on Gaming contravenes higher-ranking E.U. law, especially with regard to the general Internet ban,” Mr. Schumann added. “The verdict of Berlin’s Administrative Court confirming this is still valid. We therefore continue to believe that our appeals for temporary legal protection from Germany’s administrative courts will be successful.”
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