The operator of online casinos, online bingo and sports betting blamed the decline of 43% in profit before tax to the global slowdown in online poker. Pre-tax profit was 6.6 million Euro in the first six months of the year, compared to 11.7 million Euro last year. 888 said that demand for its poker and casino sites had further declined during the World Cup in June, but the poker revenue is up 15% since then, so it returns to normal levels for this time of the year.

888 said they hope the new software and new 3D online casino interest will improve in the market worldwide is declining. Between January and July this year the number of poker players worldwide reduced 25%, during the World Cup 2010 it was worse. Sales were also affected by the exchange rate of the Euro and the Pound in respect to the dollar.

CEO of 888, Gigi Levy said: “The market has been challenging on a number of fronts, from the weak economic environment and overall poker weakness to the impact of the World Cup on poker and casino activity. Our decline was roughly in line with general online poker trends but we have taken steps to address it.” 888 is considering possible mergers to secure a spot in the online casino industry after a merger between PartyGaming and Bwin created the biggest online gambling company in the world. Levy concluded with: “We look at consolidation as one of the possible routes to realising our full value and feel that longer term this is the direction the industry will take. We have always stated that we will look into all relevant deals and expect the recent merger news to accelerate such discussions in the industry.”

The provider of online gambling and sportsbetting lost out at the Grand National and Royal Ascot race tracks, but thanks to a record number of bets on the World Cup, half year sales rose 1% to £135.6 million. The bookmaker said they made £32.2 million gross profit on the football tournament, £19,3 million of which came in the first half of the year. Spain’s victory generated a profitable period for bookmakers after the European champions were beaten by Switzerland, which deters many gamblers.

The bookmaker also had many benefits thanks to patriotic English punters betting for the under performing English team, the loss of Brazil in the quarter-finals against Holland and the defeat of the 2006 World Cup finalists France and Italy in the group stage. In the seven weeks after the World Cup, the net revenue from William Hill went up by 26% and net income of its betting shops rose by 20% through the wake of the World and strong sales of casino gambling devices. Analysts expects the casino gambling group will have a final year result of around £258 million.

William Hill itself was more cautious with forecasts for 2010 and 2011. Ralph Topping, CEO of William Hill said: “We are on track to deliver against the board’s expectations for the full year, but we remain cautious moving into 2011 given the ongoing consumer uncertainty.”

The Gauteng Gambling Board (GGB) has been fighting a long time for the ban on online casinos and internet gambling sites in an attempt to protect the casino gambling industry against competition from online casinos. The casino industry in South Africa is good for 1.5 billion Euro in revenue per year. The GGB has won the matter eventually through a court decision from Judge Tuchten. The result states that any person who violates the new anti-gambling law will risk a fine of more than 1 million Euro or a prison sentence of 10 years.

Besides players who play online gambling, there is a list of people that will be held responsible if a gambling law is broken. This list consists of Internet Service Providers (ISP) and payment processors that focus on the online casino industry. Besides offering and playing online gambling, advertising for online casinos or Internet gambling sites is strictly prohibited.

Lucky Lukhwareni of GGR said: “That’s why we approached the media to alert them of the judgement which makes online casino operations illegal, and if they continue we will have them arrested and fight for conviction.” For more deterrence, any company that violates the gambling rules will no longer be able to apply for a gambling license in case the government decides to issue licenses in the future.

Several casino operators have already pledged to fight the legislation. One online casino in South Africa said that until an appeal has been heard, he will simply continue to operate its online casino.

In the beginning of August Genting New York, a subsidiary of Genting Malaysia was selected as the winning bidder by the New York Lottery Division for the 30-year rights to develop and operate a gambling company within city limits of NY at the Aqueduct racetrack. Genting was the only remaining casino operator with a valid bid after the previous proposals were rejected because they did not meet the requirements of the city. According to a copy of the proposal published by the New York Lottery Authority, Genting New York will pay a license fee of $ 380 million. In addition, Genting New York plans to invest another $ 350 million on building the casino, which after completion will occupy 413,000 square feet of space and more than 4,500 video lottery machines or slot machines.

The new facility will be called Resorts World New York and is a three storey building. Besides casino gambling the facility will be used for restaurants, water features, an outdoor terrace connected to the Aqueduct racetrack with seating for 10,000 people and a parking garage for 2200 cars. Genting New York says Resorts World New York will be entirely completed within 12 months after the official approval for the plan.

As part of a broader development plan, Genting New York has proposed to build three hotels of different standards, shopping, entertainment, spas and other resort locations for a price of $ 650 million. All together, the projected cost of the project will be more than $ 1.3 billion.

Although steps are taken in the U.S. to legalize online gambling, legislators in New Hampshire chose to cancel the launch of PlayNowNH. PlayNowNH would be launched by the state lottery to give people an easier way to play their favourite casino games and scratch cards. It seemed a strong idea that would offer much revenue for the state and the lottery, but after review it was found that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.

Charles McIntyre, general manager of the lottery commission said in an interview: “It was my belief that the game would have produced modest revenue. In light of our other challenges at this time, it is clear that the resources needed to introduce and sustain a product like PlayNowNH would be a poor return on investment.”

The challenge McIntyre spoke about had to do with the state Government. The lottery was imposed to postpone the launch of the site until a proposal was given to the state. In that proposal, the lottery needs to convince legislators that the game would bring enough revenue in for the state, in which they failed. Among the games which would be available if it was approved where speed bingo, super slots, poker and baseball. Games would not really be played and the determination of winning and losing tickets would have been predetermined. The casino gambling games were similar to scratch cards where you buy a ticket at a certain value. It lets you play the game online, or check in a lottery shop if it was a winning ticket.

Besides Estonia, Olympic also operates land casinos in Belarus, Slovakia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Lithuania. Representatives at Olympic put the blame on the global economic recession; a ban on all casino gambling in Ukraine why Olympic left there; and a lack of online gambling in Estonia. Estonia has some of the most restrictive laws against online gambling in the world. There are laws that require ISP’s in Estonia to block access to foreign online casinos and poker sites. Earlier this year the government authorized the operation of Playtech internet casino Olympic-Online.com. In June this year, Olympic introduced an iPhone app for the online casino with approximately 20 casino games including slot machines and blackjack.

Olympic says the results speak for themselves. The unprecedented popularity of online casinos combined with the unexpectedly high player number of slot machines and blackjack on mobile phones, provides the opportunity for profit in the third and fourth quarters of 2010. Olympic operates 64 casinos in Europe, which in 2008 was still 86.

Jim Ryan, CEO of PartyGaming commented on the financial results and said: “We delivered another robust financial performance in the first half and also made great progress in executing our online casino strategy. While poker was impacted by the football World Cup and remained difficult from a competitive perspective, our other verticals continued to perform strongly. Total revenue was up 30% and Clean EBITDA from Continuing Operations was up 14% versus the prior year. As previously announced, Clean EBITDA margins in the first half were slightly lower than expected due to the delayed launch of cash game poker in Italy. Our proposed merger with bwin is a transformational opportunity for the Group and we expect that it will provide significant strategic, operational and financial benefits for the shareholders of both companies. Whilst there is much work to do ahead of completion in early 2011, we are excited about the prospects for what will then be the clear market leader in online gambling with strong positions in all key product verticals and territories.”

About the prospect for remaining year, Jim Ryan said the casino group performed according to the forecast of the company and that a strong gain in newly legalized countries is the main focus for the company. He said: “Our strategy of combining a strong B2C franchise with significant local brands is already proving to be a powerful force as evidenced by our network’s position in French poker.”

Playtech

Online casino software developer, Playtech has reported that revenues for the second quarter had risen by 32% in respect to the same quarter last year, and 2% up on last quarter. Revenues for the casino went up 34% to the previous quarter to € 24.9 million. Revenues for poker decreased by 13% to 7.3 million euros, mainly due to the impact of the World Cup. Bingo gambling went best with an increase of 61% in revenue to EUR 2.8 million, reflecting the added value of cooperation with bingo provider Virtue Fusion. The share of profit in William Hill Online was 7.6 million, a gain of 43%.

Mor Weizer, director of Playtech said: “The results of the second quarter continue our strong start of the year and provide a solid foundation for the rest of the year.”

888

The internet casino gambling operator 888 did not do so well, with a revenue of 46.6 million euros in the second quarter, which is equal to the same period last year. Revenues from casino, poker and sports betting were disappointing, but had a 22% increase in the number of registered players. But because of the good results by online bingo, an increase of 372%, the online casino operator finished with a 10% increase in total revenues.

Gigi Levy, director of 888 said: “Trading throughout this period has been challenging, impacted by a number of factors including general online poker weakness, adverse F/X and, in relation to poker and casino, the World Cup. However, we have seen resilience in our emerging offering, especially sport throughout the World Cup, and we continue to refresh our B2C offering to attract and retain players.”

After the positive financial results for the Rank Group, in which the turnover for the half year went up 6% to 281 million pounds and profits rose from 27 million to 67 million pounds, director Ian Burke could allow the built of at least 5 casinos over the next two years. Subject to the licenses and building permits, the new casinos are to be built in Stockton-on-Tees, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Scarborough for a price of 32 million pounds. The group expects the gambling casinos will create 320 new jobs.

Besides these, Rank has 5 other casinos in the planning with 500 jobs at a cost of 30 million pounds. They are still looking for suitable locations in Southendon-Sea, Reading, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Birkenhead. Rank Group is also waiting on news reports that they have won over the competition for the license in Newham, east London. Rank has also changed the format of the casinos after the smoking ban, in order to attract younger audience. The purchase of the new gambling venues has also been made possible by a tax return of 38.2 million pounds.

The software was launched on July 27 and it’s almost a completely new version of what players are used to. The new software has more than 100 new features including new search features and a new layout. The biggest improvement is in the graphical part of the online gambling site, all poker tables are now in stunning 3D images. These are not 3D images such as in computer games, but in the big Hollywood films like Avatar and Toy Story 3. The lobby is adapted for both beginners and experienced players and is divided into one easy to navigate layout and an extensive layout with customizable features such as favourites.

Online casino players who play poker tournaments will be pleased to hear that 888poker also added late registration and a number of additional banking options. The online gambling site has also opened new online store, where players can spend loyalty points on several prizes such as merchandise, iPods, trips, cars and clothing. To celebrate the launch of the new online casino software, 888poker have launched a series of micro buy-in tournaments with a buy-in of 8 cents. Players in this tournament can win an iPad, Kindles, a Sony home theatre and an entrance into a special $ 15,000 free roll tournament poker.

The new software is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Portuguese, Russian and Italian.