Through its acquisition of PSG, Penn National will gain 1,100 terminals across Illinois.
Penn National Gaming, Inc. will acquire Prairie State Gaming (PSG), an Illinois operator of movie gaming terminals (VGTs), for a fee that is undisclosed. The company adds the acquisition to its collection of some 31,000 video gaming machines in 26 facilities across America.
While Illinois lawmakers squabble about their budget plans, with the resulting standoff meaning that big tax profits from the state’s VGTs will be held in limbo until they are able to agree terms, Penn National is looking to get its own slice of the profitable industry.
The deal, for an undisclosed transaction that is all-cash might find the Pennsylvania-based casino, racetrack, and racino operator acquire 1,100 terminals across a network of 270 different bars and retail gaming establishments statewide.
Big Company
In Illinois, anywhere having a alcohol license is permitted to operate a VGT, and it’s really big business. But that reality has established something of a challenge to the state’s casino industry.
The VGT industry raked in $72.8 million in revenue in July, when compared with the combined $118.1 million in revenue of Illinois’ ten casinos, in accordance with Fantini Gaming Research. For Penn National, which owns three of those casinos, it’s a thought process of ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.’
PSG, which is one of the biggest VGT operators in Illinois, generated nearly $10 million in income for the fiscal year ending June 30th.
According to Jay Snowden, chief operating officer of Penn National, the acquisition represents the phase that is latest in a long-term strategy for ‘growth through accretive acquisitions.’
In April, the company agreed to buy the Tropicana in Las Vegas for $360 million, making it the operator’s second las vegas property. The company first bought off the debt for and in of 2011 finalized its purchase of the M Resort and Casino on the South Las Vegas Strip june.
Penn National currently operates 26 casino, racinos, and racetracks in 16 US and one Canadian jurisdiction, with almost all found in the Midwest and the South of the United States.
Positioned for development
The deal will cement the company further’s position in Illinois, said Snowden. ‘We believe this acquisition will provide us a platform that is solid future development in the Illinois VGT market and potentially other states where this form of gaming is authorized.
‘PSG is certainly one of Illinois’ most VGT that is respected, with a strong track record of regulatory compliance and a reputation for reliable 24 / 7 service backed by among the industry’s most experienced groups,’ he added.
Penn National’s present performance that is financial made the investment community sit up and simply take notice. Its Q2 results for 2015 have exceeded expectations, bringing in revenues of $701 million, and the company says it remains favorably positioned for continued growth in the half that is second of year.
Plus the purchase of this Tropicana, Penn State opened Massachusetts’ first casino at the end of June. Called Plainridge Park Casino, the slots-only establishment tacked onto the racecourse, and reported $6.1 million in gambling revenue in its first week of operation.
Optimal Payments’ Skrill Takeover to Complete by August 10
Optimal Payments acquisition of Skrill has gotten the go-ahead from UK financial regulators, as the payments industry looks to consolidate into the face of increased mobile competition . (Image: totallygaming.com)
NETELLER moms and dad Optimal Payments has announced that its €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) reverse takeover of Skrill, formerly Moneybookers, will be finalized next Monday, August 10, after having the light that is green UK financial regulators.
Optimal received approval to acquire Skrill’s US business from American regulators in June. Both companies provide their payment solutions to your US that is new online areas.
The deal highlights a period of consolidation in the digital payments industry, as competition increases and innovation that is mobile disruption result in the pooling of resources attractive. A month after the Optimal deal was announced in April, Skrill completed the acquisition of UK competitor Ukash.
The launch of Apple’s ‘wave and pay’ system on iPhone has spooked the digital wallets industry, which views the incursion of large non-traditional payment service provides into the payment space as being a extremely disruptive hazard. The ‘wave and pay’ system allows users to load credit card details onto their handset, acting as a de facto e-wallet.
‘ Not a Defensive Move’
Optimal Payments has denied that the acquisition is a defensive move, citing constant growth. Instead, analysts have said the enlarged company, which marries two of the UK’s biggest electronic payment services, will benefit from greater scale. It’s estimated the group that is combined have a cash flow of around £117 million ($182 million); Optimal’s standalone figure is around £58 million ($90 million).
The offer will relieve both organizations’ reliance on the online gambling industry, consolidating their more conventional ecommerce interests.
‘we are becoming more relevant in the e-commerce room and we come across organic growth both here and in gaming following the deal,’ Joel Leonoff, leader of Optimal, insisted recently.
Optimal also really wants to minimize its present dependence on an unnamed customer that is asian which reportedly no deposit bonus codes 2018 club player now represents over 33 per cent regarding the business’s sales.
Online Gaming Payments Giant
‘Over days gone by four years, we have successfully delivered significant growth in revenues and earnings for our shareholders,’ said Leonoff. ‘This growth lead from performing our strategy to generate high levels of natural growth and also to supplement this with accretive purchases.
‘The purchase of Skrill will produce a global tech champion within the fast growing digital payments space and now we believe represents a transformational leap forward that greatly accelerates our strategic plan. The Optimal Payments management team is extremely stoked up about the prospects that are future the business.’
NETELLER had been formed back 1999, at the same time as PayPal. But while PayPal shied away from the grey area that is legal of gambling in America, NETELLER embraced it.
By 2005, the company was processing 80 percent of on the web gambling transactions globally, which accounted for 95 percent of its revenue flow, but was forced to grab of this US market completely after UIGEA made the processing of online gambling transactions unlawful.
Gaming Business Wants to See Regulation of Everyday Fantasy Sports
Yahoo has joined an increasing number of major organizations wanting to break to the fantasy that is daily industry. (Image: Eric Risberg/AP)
FanDuel and DraftKings have turned day-to-day fantasy sports from a little niche item to the quickest growing segment regarding the fantasy recreations industry.
Now, using the valuations of each of the organizations reaching $1 billion or more, the gaming industry is starting to take notice, with some believing that the daily fantasy games deserve the exact same sorts of strict regulation casino businesses deal with on a basis that is regular.
Based on officials at many gaming that is major, there’s nothing actually incorrect with daily fantasy sports (DFS), and they do not desire to see the offerings banned or restricted from the marketplace.
However, they believe that regulation is an important part of any sort of gambling product, one thing they feel applies to DFS sites just up to it does a casino or racetrack.
‘I think daily fantasy sports betting should just be legal like I believe old-fashioned sports betting must be legal,’ William Hill US CEO Joe Asher told Reuters. ‘But let us not pretend one is OK while the other is not. Drawing some artificial line between the two makes no feeling as being a matter of law or policy.’
DFS Embraced by Leagues, Media Titans
All major DFS sites state that their activities are entirely legal, and both DraftKings and FanDuel stay out of five states where they feel laws do not allow fantasy sports games to offer money that is real.
That argument appears to have plenty of sway, as sports leagues and media organizations are both getting on board en masse: most leagues now have partnerships with more than one web sites, ESPN has a major advertising and content deal with DraftKings, and both Yahoo and CBS have actually launched their very own DFS items in recent months.
But you can find those that are going for a closer look at the growing industry.
In Nevada, the state gaming control board is analyzing the legality of DFS games, though the industry thinks it really is quite clear that the contests are legal under a fantasy sports exemption within the 2006 illegal Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
‘When you begin providing fantasy that is daily, then you begin to blur the line between skill and chance,’ said Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman AG Burnett. ‘ When chance begins to govern the outcome more than skill, a form is had by you of video gaming, and that is whenever need for regulation kicks in.’
Lobbyists for the fantasy sports industry dispute that characterization, but, saying that their games are clearly more about skill than luck.
‘ They’re not like games of chance, where no matter how skillful the players is, losing or winning almost always precipitates to fortune,’ said Jeremy Kudon, a partner at Orrick who lobbies for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.
For their part, FanDuel and DraftKings issued a joint declaration for the Reuters report.
For the reason that declaration, they said on the dream sports industry as our products are fundamentally separate from, and not competitive with, gambling enterprises and gaming companies. which they work working together with officials within the gaming industry ‘to educate them’
Lawsuits Target Free Money Marketing Promotions
But there are other threats towards the industry as well.
DraftKings is facing class action lawsuits in at least three states, including Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois, from players who feel they were deceived by the business’s aggressive advertising campaign, particularly due to misunderstandings over the nature of how deposit bonuses work.
And while the Fantasy Sports Trade Association believes fantasy that is daily must be legal plus don’t represent gambling, even they have expressed issues on the marketing campaigns employed by the 2 major sites.
‘The money motivation had been never an element that is key of sports,’ stated FSTA President Paul Charchian. ‘ Now a lot of the advertising in daily fantasy sports is actually exceptionally focused on monetary gain.’
