Greek Financial Crisis May Impact IGT. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says
2020/02/18
Greece’s ongoing monetary crisis and standoff with European leaders could have repercussions that impact the global economy.
That effect extends even to the gaming industry, as Greece’s attempts to further avoid defaulting on its debts may prove costly to organizations like International Game Technology (IGT) and Scientific Games.
Those manufacturers had been hoping to provide video lottery terminals throughout Greece, with all the games just days away from a launch that is planned. But, the Hellenic Gaming Commission announced lottery that is new into the wake regarding the country’s financial crisis, leaving much uncertainty as to the short-term future of the industry.
Brand New Regulations Limit Enjoy, Jackpot Size
Each day under the new regulations, daily loss limits were to be added to the machines, and gamblers would be limited as to how much time they would be allowed to play on a machine. Jackpot levels would additionally be reduced under the brand new regulations.
That didn’t stay well with OPAP, the Greek firm that operates the video lottery terminal system. The company said that the new regulation would make operating the terminals ‘no longer viable,’ and immediately stopped the deployment of 16,500 machines throughout the country in a statement.
Evaluating the situation realistically, the timing of the new regulations and OPAP’s choice may just be coincidental, and it’s really hard to see how it would be directly related to the battle over Greek debt. But it doesn’t signify the crisis that is ongoingn’t be a factor in how a lottery terminal battle is resolved.
‘The delay doesn’t have anything regarding the current debt crises apart from maybe OPAP playing hardball with all the regulators hoping that they will cave because they require the new tax income,’ stated Todd Eilers of Eilers Research.
IGT, Scientific Games Could Lose Revenue
Should this be simply a negotiating tactic on the component of OPAP, maybe it’s a pricey one for slot machine game manufacturers like IGT and Scientific Games. Both of the companies were creating terminals for the Geek market, and the delays could potentially price those two organizations millions in income.
IGT was awarded a vendor contract to deliver 5,500 lottery machines, while Scientific Games was slated to make 5,000 devices for the market. Two European manufacturers, Inspired Gaming and Synot, were also awarded first-phase vendor contracts.
IGT was likely to make up to $30 million in annual revenues through the machines provided to Greece, while Scientific Games could generate as much as $27 million.
The delays plus the financial crisis have definitely brought some uncertainty to the Greek movie lottery terminal market, but Eilers says that in the long run, Greece should still be a lucrative market for manufacturers.
‘We still believe the VLT market will move ahead and represents a sizable growth opportunity for vendors,’ he said.
The negotiations within the future of Greece’s lottery terminals comes at time whenever bigger battles are now being waged throughout the country’s economic future.
Greeks voted ‘no’ on the lending that is strict made available from international creditors on Sunday, with more than 61 percent of voters developing against the terms.
But that vote doesn’t mean that Greece isn’t prepared to negotiate. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras states that the Greek federal government is still ready to make some changes in an effort to get assistance from Europe, and asked for a three-year loan from the eurozone’s bailout fund on Wednesday.
$5 Billion Pinnacle Entertainment Takeover Is Odds On
Pinnacle Entertainment is having an advertising so far as their stock price is soaring year. (Image: Pinnacle.com)
Pinnacle Entertainment’s share price rose to an annual at the top of following a revised $5 billion takeover bid from Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLPI); a bid that analysts say Pinnacle would be mad to turn down tuesday.
The offer that is new a growth of $900 million for a bid Pinnacle rebuffed in March.
The news headlines of the proposal sent Pinnacle’s stock price up by 5.82 percent regarding the New York inventory Exchange, as investors took the view, shared by JP Morgan, that the takeover is practically a deal that is done.
‘We have a time that is tough a situation where Pinnacle’s board and management could create the same value in the same time frame that GLPI’s deal would, and we don’t see the probability of a superior bid from another entity,’ JP Morgan Gaming Analyst Joe Greff told the nevada Review Journal on Tuesday.
Bing Crosby No On Board
GLPI, a corporate spin-off of penn nationwide Gaming formed in 2013, trades on the NASDAQ and has 21 casino and racino properties across the US, such as the Penn nationwide Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania.
Pinnacle, meanwhile, traces its history straight back to 1938 when Jack L Warner, head of the Warner Brothers Studio, opened the Hollywood Park Racetrack. Initial shareholders in the company included Walt Disney and Bing Crosby.
The group was known as Hollywood Park Entertainment, and later Hollywood Park Inc, before it changed its name to Pinnacle Entertainment when the racetrack ended up being sold to Churchill Downs in 2000.
Today, it owns 15 casino properties in the US, also a managing stake in the racing license owner. Additionally has 26 percent stake in Asian Coast developing Ltd, the owner and developer of the Ho Tram Strip in Vietnam, which has benefited from the recent economic downturn in Macau, as Chinese high-rollers seek to evade the scrutiny regarding the Chinese government.
Better Deal
In 2013 Pinnacle acquired Ameristar Casinos for $869 million and $1.9 billion of assumed debt, adding nine properties that are new its portfolio and basically doubling in size.
A 28 percent stake of GLPI under the new proposition, Pinnacle shareholders would also receive a better deal; GLPI is offering $47.50 per share of Pinnacle, and would also give Pinnacle shareholders.
However, the language GLPI has used, even its press releases, causes it to be clear that this is usually a aggressive takeover.
‘GLPI has committed financing set up and is ready to finalize this deal immediately, and we would expect to close our transaction within approximately six months of signing,’ the company said in a declaration. ‘Nevertheless, Pinnacle continues to help make new demands, delaying the signing of a definitive agreement and denying its investors a value-creating transaction that is actually better than Pinnacle’s previously announced separation plan that is standalone.
Bwin.party Confirms GVC Bid
Bwin.party board says it can ‘see the prospective advantages’ of this GVC /Amaya deal, because it files another disappointing financial report. (Image: pokergruond.com)
GVC’s Amaya-backed bid for bwin.party had been confirmed by the board today.
Yesterday, The Financial occasions broke the story that GVC had made a $1.4 billion offer to get the entire share capital of the online gambling firm; today, the bwin.party board said it absolutely was considering the offer and might see the ‘potential benefits’ to shareholders that are bwin.party.
It ended up being presently committed to resolving a true number of ‘transaction-related issues,’ it included.
It is not clear whether 888 Holdings, which made an offer for bwin.party in March, is still at the negotiation table.
‘Any offer made by GVC for bwin.party Today would include part of the consideration in new GVC shares,’ said Kenneth Alexander, Chief Executive of GVC Holdings. ‘Based on the successful Sportingbet acquisition to our experience and restructuring, we believe that the potential combination of GVC and bwin.party would result in substantial financial and running synergies and represent an excellent opportunity for both GVC and bwin.party shareholders.’
Amaya Offering ‘Some for the Capital’
Alexander was additionally in a position to concur that Amaya Inc is supplying ‘some of the capital’ in the deal, and would therefore take ‘some of the assets’ should it proceed.
It’s understood that in the event of a takeover, GVC would own the majority of bwin.party, while Amaya would get the business’s poker operations, thus free spins planet 7 oz providing it a foothold in the New Jersey that is regulated market.
It is believed Amaya would also be given the option to buy the sportsbook from GVC within the future.
The deal could be a reverse takeover comprised of a combination of new GVC shares and cash, although all parties have stressed that there may be no certainty that the deal will be accepted.
Poor Sportsbook Results
The news coincided with another disappointing report that is financial bwin.party, which said that unfavorable sports results had led up to a decline in gross win margins for the first half of the year.
The company’s mobile operations have grown, however, with mobile accounting for 31 percent of total gross gaming revenue in June, up from 23 per cent into the year that is previous.
‘Despite challenging comparatives along with the impact of EU VAT and POC taxation, we are pleased with our company performance in the first half,’ bwin,party CEO Norbert Teufelberger stated. ‘ We now have completed our brand new organisational set-up and streamlined our decision-making processes, significantly improving our operational performance.’
Despite the sports that are poor outcomes Alexander remained positive about the potential of the bwin.party acquisition. ‘It’s been an extremely market that is difficult bwin nonetheless it’s also been an extremely tough market for all,’ he said. ‘ From the GVC viewpoint, one which
