The move to privatise state-owned Holland Casino in the Netherlands has been postponed to 2020. The country’s justice minister Sander Dekker cancelled the vote for privatisation because of many objections that the measure suffered in the Senate.

The Financieele Dagblad said that senators are concerned about the fact that privatised casinos may encourage gambling and are worried about the way that the government was planning to proceed with the privatisation process, Dutch News informed.

The original plan included the selling of 10 of the 14 branches under the Holland Casino name, while the other four locations would be sold as a group. The cabinet from the Netherlands is also considering opening up the casino market to new providers and offer two licences.

Justice minister Dekker has until June to come up with a new proposal, present it to the senate and gain backing. “We may adapt the law, withdraw it altogether or go for a vote after all,” Dekker said in a note to senators.

The Gibraltar based gaming solutions developer, 888 Holdings, has appointed Andrew Anthony as its Responsible Gaming Director. He will be overseeing the company’s player protection efforts through the improvement of responsible gaming operations, systems and processes.

He will report to Yaniv Schwartz, SVP Customer Risk Management, who said about the appointment: “During the course of his career at 888, Andrew has gained numerous insights into the behaviour of the Company’s player base.”

“In addition to this, he brings a wealth of quantitative experience and methodology to his new role heading up our Responsible Gaming team.

“888 strives to ensure that those for whom our games are not intended will not be drawn into the gaming environment and that those customers who develop a gambling problem are quickly identified and helped.

“I am looking forward to the successful delivery of the responsible gaming initiatives we have planned and continuing to drive Responsible Gaming culture throughout the organisation.”

Anthony said he is thrilled about the new role: “I am thrilled to take on this role which is at the centre of how 888 operates. In particular, I am looking forward to working together with my industry peers and stakeholders so we can share ideas and promote best practice initiatives.”

The online gaming sector in France has maintained its solid growth trajectory as it posted record growth in the fourth quarter of 2018.

ARJEL, the gambling authority of France, has recently results the fourth quarter financial results.

As per the figures, betting companies in France posted a betting turnover of €3.9 billion, representing 56 per cent rise year on year. This is the highest betting revenue recorded in the country since online betting was legalised in 2010.

During the last quarter the value of wagers placed on sporting events was €1.06 billion, which is also a record for quarterly turnovers. The overall revenue generated for the quarter was €215 million, a jump of 32 per cent. The number of active punters also increased by 39 per cent to an average of 546,000 each week.

Volleyball posted the biggest gain percentage of all sports, with an impressive €18.8 million in bet values, registering a robust growth of more than 100 per cent from Q4 of 2017.

Football remained the most popular game for betting, as it generated a turnover of €663 million. The figure marked an increase of 54 per cent. It was followed by Basketball which came a distant second with €162.7 million in bets value. The third most popular market among punters was tennis which realised a turnover of €111.4 million, marking a 70 per cent improvement.

Online poker and horse racing did not record high turnovers as the other markets. The revenue from poker dropped by 1 per cent to €65 million, and tournaments seemed to rake in more profits than cash games. However, the number of active players per week increased by 2 per cent to 256,000.

In horse racing, the value of bets collected by operators in Q4 rose by 2 per cent to €275 million, while the increase in revenue was a meagre 1 per cent to €67 million.