Latest News
Rank Group Slips to Loss in Pandemic

The Rank Group has slipped to a £48.6 million pre-tax loss in the last six months of 2020 after a challenging first half of its financial year.
The group’s underlying net gaming revenue was down 58% from £371.2m to £156.9m although digital was up 1% to £66m.
Rank, which had made a £39.8m pre-tax profit in the last six months of 2019, had most of its venues shut for much of the six months. It saw a 10% growth in active customers in UK digital brands.
In light of the pandemic, the board has not proposed an interim dividend but is committed to restarting dividends when circumstances permit.
Chief executive John O’Reilly said: “There is no doubt that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been far beyond anything we or any other leisure operator could have imagined or planned for. The ever-changing restrictions coupled with curfews, which in particular have a seismic impact on our Grosvenor venues, have resulted in an exceptionally challenging first half for the group.
“I have remained incredibly impressed with our teams who have displayed high levels of professionalism and adaptability under the continuously changing circumstances. Despite the difficulties we are facing, they have continued, through a range of initiatives, to help our local communities, front line workers and those who are vulnerable.
“We have taken a stringent approach in applying affordability restrictions, particularly on higher staking customers, which has impacted revenues in our UK facing digital business in the half. We have been making good progress in the development of our proprietary technology platform to prepare the digital business for its exciting future. Once we have successfully completed the migrations of Mecca and Grosvenor, our in-house technology and development capability will give us much greater agility and speed in delivering developments, providing the group with a platform for growth both in the UK and internationally.
“There continues to be uncertainty looking ahead, particularly as our venues remain closed and we have no firm guidance as to when we will be able to reopen.”
Latest News
SoftSwiss updates Pay N Play by Trustly for online casino projects

SoftSwiss has recently introduced new technical updates for the Pay N Play payment method by payments service provider Trustly.
The new developments will enable SoftSwiss online casino clients to activate all currently available markets seamlessly and hassle-free at once.
SoftSwiss Online Casino Platform future and prospective clients can now activate all available payment markets. The new add-ons will boost the productivity of the Platform as well as increase its player retention and conversion rates. The Pay N Play by Trustly is being offered to the operators running brands on the SoftSwiss Online Casino Platform since the beginning of 2020. Since then, it has proved itself to be a major time-saving tool, eliminating time-consuming player verification procedures.
Pay N Play is a technology developed by the payments service provider Trustly that allows players to deposit almost immediately after arriving at your online casino. In short, everything the player has to do is log in to the casino by securely using their own bank ID. The game starts instantly and effortlessly.
Vadim Drozd, PSP Team Lead at SoftSwiss noted: “SoftSwiss’s motto is to always strive to provide our clients with up-to-date technological solutions that will help them to have a positive impact on their business development. The new Pay N Play update will help our clients to save precious time as well as build and increase player loyalty”.
About SoftSwiss
SoftSwiss is an international tech brand supplying widely acclaimed, certified software solutions for managing iGaming operations. SoftSwiss holds a number of gaming licenses, providing a “one-stop-shop” white label solution by taking care of all technical, legal, and financial processes on behalf of its customers. The company has a vast product portfolio, which includes an Online Casino Platform, Game Aggregator with thousands of casino games, an affiliate platform, and a recently launched sportsbook platform. In 2013 SoftSwiss was the first in the world to introduce a bitcoin-optimized online casino solution. The company has thus been regarded as the leading technical expert when it comes to the use of cryptocurrencies in online gaming.
Latest News
Gambling Venues in Denmark to Remain Closed Until April 5

The Danish Government has announced that casinos and gaming halls across the country will remain closed until April 5 at the earliest, in line with extended novel coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions.
Venues temporarily shut in December last year after the government extended national Covid-19 measures until February 28, with the aim of opening early in 2021.
However, as Covid-19 case rates remained higher, venues have been kept closed in an effort to prevent further spread while Denmark commenced its vaccination programme.
In its latest update, the Danish Health and Medicines Authority announced that despite some relaxation of measures, casinos, gaming halls and restaurants will remain shut until at least 5 April.
A selection of other venues such as some non-essential shops and outdoor visitor attractions will be able to reopen in some regions, while certain year groups will also be allowed back into schools in select areas. All other measures, including travel restrictions, will remain in place until early April.
Asia
Five Groups Qualify to Enter Next Phase of Nagasaki IR Process

All the five groups that entered Nagasaki prefecture’s request-for-proposal (RFP) process with the aim of participating in its bid for an integrated resort (IR) licence have qualified for the next phase of the process.
The five groups are: a consortium led by Oshidori International Holdings Ltd; Casinos Austria International Japan; Current Group; the Niki Chau Fwu (Parkview) Group; and One Kyushu, a consortium between Tokyo-listed Pixel Companyz Inc and French gaming operator Groupe Partouche SA.
The prefecture will complete a “first round” of evaluation of would-be partners this month to reduce the list of bidders to three. After that, a second round will include a “competitive dialogue” with would-be partners. The groups will then have to present their projects in August for the prefecture to make a final decision.
Japan plans to initially approve three integrated resorts in the country. Proposals must include a casino, tourism attractions, hotels and meeting spaces.
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