Good news at last for online casino operators

After a year of political attacks this month’s online casino news contains some good news at last for our online casino operators. A report from the Responsible Gambling Trust has concluded that the number of times gamblers playing fixed odds casino games machines suffered large losses in one session was very low, and that there was no ‘silver bullet’ solution to reduce problem gambling. In response shares in William Hill and Ladbrokes both jumped significantly, up by 3.6% and 1.2% respectively. All our major online casino operators who have a high street presence and have fixed odds casino games machines in their betting shops will be breathing a sigh of relief and hoping that this report will reduce the clamour surrounding these terminals which they see as essential to maintain the viability of their betting shops. In the meantime another major player in the online casino and online gambling sector also provided some excellent news for their shareholders. Shares in Betfair finally managed to return to the level of their flotation price of four years ago under the guidance of chief executive Breon Corcoran, and the closing price of £13.50 last Friday valued the company at £1.4 billion. Whilst both of these pieces of good casino news are obviously welcome, the problems for all our online casino operators are not yet over. This week sees the introduction of the new ‘point of consumption’ tax rules introduced by the UK government, which charge internet gambling companies according to where their customers are located rather than where the company is based. Nobody yet knows the full effect of these new levies, but analysts are predicting that Betfair for example will take a £19 million hit in the second half of their financial year as a result of these new levies. There is also concern that some of the smaller online casino and online sports gambling companies could go to the wall as a result of these changes.