Zitro, a global supplier to the gaming industry, announces an exclusive distribution agreement with SFM Caps to distribute its casino gaming machines in the French market.

Nadège Teyssedre, Commercial Director of Zitro for EMEA, states that: “France is a very important market for Zitro within our European expansion plans, not only for its great potential, but also for the prestige of the operators and our close relationship with them. We are very pleased to have SFM Caps as our distributor. SFM Caps has been operating in the market for several years and has proven to be a benchmark in care and service, earning the trust of customers and ours.”

Thierry Bugelli, Commercial Director of SFM Caps adds that: “We have been closely observing the surprising growth of Zitro in Europe, and the world, for a long time. It is a privilege for us to be able to associate with a company that has become, in record time, an essential provider for any casino in France. We are convinced that by working together we will make this relationship beneficial to Zitro, to SFM Caps, and, above all, to French casino operators.”

Online Casino and Sportsbook Betzest™ announced a new partnership with leading payment provider SiruMobile offering easy, instant, secure transactions  for online gaming industry in Finnish market.

SiruMobile is already available on Betzest cashier, offering real-time payments for Finnish players.

Online Casino Betzest continues increasing its operations since its launch in July 2018. Betzest is quickly becoming one of world’s leading online gambling company offering top sports betting and casino games.

After a number of major key payment methods and casino provider’s launches over the past few months, this new cooperation represents another big step in Betzest™ rapid extension in Finnish market. The company is looking forward to even more planned partnerships with top game providers and payment methods already by the end of Q3, 2020.

Marius Filip, Founder/CMO at Betzest, said: We are excited to conclude another new partnership with SiruMobile™. We are always looking to improve the Betzest™ product for our players and this innovative & secure mobile payment provider will play a vital role in helping Betzest™ to facilitate transactions in Finnish market. A big thank you to our Betzest team for this great achievement and to SiruMobile Team for their constant support during the process.”

About Betzest:
Betzest is your leading premier Online Sportsbook and Casino operator run by a team of experienced i-gaming experts.
Due to its unique product and marketing proposition, Betzest is rapidly establishing itself as one of the most trustworthy, innovative and reliable online gaming company.
Betzest is offering unrivalled sports betting and casino games experience now under reputable MGA license. The company operations continue to expand in variety of markets and online gambling verticals such as Live Betting, Live Casino, E-sports and Virtual Sports. Betzest boasts its robust and multi-functional online sports betting & Casino operating on SportingTech platform. Today Betzest has more than 70 employees across four offices all committed to delivering amazing player experiences on each of their verticals, partnering with top gaming providers.
Betzest has gotten a very strong year 2020 and the work that they do was acknowledged by the industry being shortlisted as EGR Marketing & Innovation Awards for 8 categories.

Buzz Bingo today announces a proposal to restructure its retail estate through the implementation of a company voluntary arrangement (‘CVA’). This follows a period of productive consultation with Buzz Bingo’s various stakeholders, including its landlords, aimed at securing a sustainable long-term future for the business following the outbreak of Covid-19 and resultant lockdown.

Under the proposed terms of the CVA, while the majority of clubs (91) will continue to trade, 26 clubs will close permanently due to what the company expects will be an unsustainable operating environment for the foreseeable future.

Across the rest of the portfolio, Buzz Bingo has been engaged in constructive dialogue with landlords to better align the rents of certain clubs relative to forecast trading. Regrettably, the proposed CVA will potentially impact 573 of Buzz’s c.3400 colleagues across the business, whom Buzz Bingo is committed to supporting at this difficult time.

The challenges facing businesses at this unprecedented time of lockdown due to COVID-19 are well understood. Like many others in the leisure and entertainment sector, Buzz Bingo was forced to close all its clubs across the UK, which have remained closed since Saturday 21 March. It put immediate measures in place: minimising costs where possible, reducing senior management pay and making use of the Government’s furlough scheme for the vast majority of employees.

Despite this, Buzz Bingo’s daily operations and its ability to generate revenues from its retail club portfolio has been severely impacted.

While Buzz Bingo intends to commence the reopening of its clubs from 6 August, it expects that it will take time for footfall to return to pre Covid-19 levels due to social distancing measures and customer confidence to socialise indoors taking time to rebuild, particularly among Buzz Bingo’s customer group.

The management believe the proposed CVA provides the best possible outcome for all of Buzz Bingo’s stakeholders as it looks to secure a sustainable long-term future for the business and its remaining c.2800 employees.

Buzz Bingo’s owner, Caledonia Investments, has indicated its willingness to provide an additional £22m of equity capital (in addition to the £5m that it invested in Buzz Bingo in May, 2020) once the CVA becomes effective. The new equity capital will be augmented with an additional £10m of debt provided by Buzz Bingo’s existing lender.

Chris Matthews, Chief Executive, Buzz Bingo commented: 

“The ongoing pandemic has had far-reaching consequences for the entire leisure and hospitality sector and an immediate and significant impact on our business. 

Following a thorough review of our options, the proposed CVA will restructure our retail portfolio to ensure we are well positioned for a return to growth, while adapting to the ongoing, challenging environment as we start to reopen the majority of our clubs.

Our lenders are supporting our plans and our owners, Caledonia will be investing into the new structure to further strengthen our future business.

The restructure will, very sadly, impact a number of our colleagues and my priority is to support all those affected and keep them fully informed as we continue with this process. I would like to thank every single one of our colleagues for their continued understanding and commitment over this period.”

Melanie Leech, Chief Executive, British Property Federation (BPF) comments:

“These situations are never easy, particularly now for the retail, hospitality and leisure businesses on our high streets at the sharp end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Property owners, however, need to take into consideration the impact on their investors, including the millions of people whose savings and pensions are invested in commercial property, as they vote on any CVA proposal. 

Buzz Group and AlixPartners engaged with the BPF before launching this CVA proposal. This has provided us an opportunity to improve understanding of property owners’ interests and concerns, but ultimately it will be for individual property owners to decide how they will vote on the CVA.”

Buzz Bingo will seek creditor approval of the CVA Proposal which is due on 3^rd August. The online business will continue to trade as usual during this period.