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SAZKA Group: COVID-19 update

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SAZKA Group teams up with Sir Keith Mills in bid for Fourth UK National Lottery Licence
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SAZKA Group wishes to give an update to its stakeholders regarding the measures our companies and retail partners have taken with regard to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

First and foremost, in order to protect the health and safety of our customers, employees, partners and the public, all our companies have fully complied with all the decisions and recommendations of the public authorities in the countries of their operations. We have successfully implemented contingency and business continuity plans with no significant impact to our business processes, and almost all our employees are currently working from home.

While all our digital channels continue to operate without interruption, our physical retail networks have adopted various measures to safeguard public health and the health of our employees.

We anticipate that these developments will impact our financial performance. The extent of the impact will depend on factors including the duration of the outbreak, how longer current restrictions remain in place, further measures taken by governments, and the extent of economic disruption.

Robert Chvatal, CEO commented: “Management are working on mitigating steps to minimise the financial impact for our companies, our employees, and our partners. SAZKA Group is in daily contact with its local operating companies to coordinate timely response to the developments in individual markets.”

Below is a brief overview of the current situation in our markets:

Greece

On Friday 13 March 2020, the Greek government published its decision to impose a temporary ban on the operation of a wide range of shops, indoor venues and other locations. As a result, all of the OPAP stores and PLAY gaming halls in Greece will be closed for two weeks, from Saturday 14 March until Friday 27 March 2020 inclusive. The horseracing facility at Markopoulo Park will also be closed.

Consequently, during this period, the company’s gaming activities will only be operating through its online platforms, which offer sports betting and certain other lottery games, and via the street vendor network of Hellenic Lotteries, which offers scratch cards and passive lotteries.

OPAP’s stores in Cyprus have been temporarily closed as of.

Austria

On Friday 13 March 2020, the Austrian government published its decision to impose a temporary ban on the operation of a wide range of shops, excluding those providing basic services such as food retail, pharmacies, post offices, banks, petrol stations and tobacco stores. The decision went into force on Monday 16 March 2020. The ban has so far had only a limited impact on the availability of Austrian lotteries products through its main retail channels, as more than 90% of all point-of-sales are excluded from the ban.

Austrian Lotteries’ online gaming activities remain available to the public during the entire period. They include draw based games (including Austrian Lotteries’ major products Lotto and Euromillions), instant scratch cards, online casino, poker, bingo and sports betting.

In coordination with the authorities, Casinos Austria has decided to close all its casinos in Austria and its subsidiary Austrian Lotteries has decided to close all its 19 gaming halls on March 13, 2020. The casinos and gaming halls will be closed at least until April 13, 2020. The Austrian government is introducing measures to support part time work, which may allow reduce Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries to reduce the financial impact of the closure

Casinos Austria International, which operates casinos and VLT businesses in multiple countries, is closely monitoring the situation and acting in accordance with the instructions of local governmental bodies.

Czech Republic

As of Monday 16 March, the State Security Council of the Czech Republic has decided to severely limit free movement in the Czech Republic in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic. Citizens are allowed going to work and shop for supplies limited to food, vital supplies, fuel and medicine, as well as use of necessary financial and postal services. We estimate that 70% of SAZKA’s Czech retail network, including newsstands and post offices, continues providing their services to the public.

At the same time, we are actively promoting the use of online platforms for lottery products as well as digital-only offerings. In recent weeks we have seen a 25-30% increase in sales via digital channels compared to previous weeks.

Italy

Most shops, restaurants and cafes in Italy are currently closed as a result of a number of recent measures. Tobacconists, which are a key channel for LOTTOITALIA, are allowed to remain open, however traffic has declined.

 

About SAZKA Group:

We are one of the largest pan-European lottery operators. Our businesses operate lotteries in all the major continental European countries where lotteries are privately operated, including the Czech Republic, Greece, Austria and Italy, and in Cyprus. Our businesses focus on the lottery segment, including numerical lotteries (draw-based games) and instant lotteries (scratch cards), and also provide complementary products, including sports-betting and digital-only games. They sell their products both through various retail networks and through digital platforms.

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The Nomination Committee’s Proposal of Catena Media’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting 2024

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The Nomination Committee’s Proposal of Catena Media’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting 2024
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The Nomination Committee of Catena Media proposed re-election of the following members of the Board of Directors:

Øystein Engebretsen

Theodore Bergquist

Adam Krejcik

Sean Hurley

The Nomination Committee proposed that Erik Flinck and Dan Castillo be elected as new members of the Board of Directors.

Göran Blomberg, Esther Teixeira-Boucher and Austin Malcomb have declined re-election as board members.

The Nomination Committee proposed that there will be six (6) members of the Board of Directors, changed from seven (7).

The Nomination Committee also proposed Erik Flinck to be elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Erik Flinck, born in 1980, currently provides high end business consulting combined with serving as Chairman for the digital health startup, dr HUD. Mr Flinck previously served as Head of BCG Sweden and has extensive experience from corporate management, growth and turnarounds from nearly 20 years of Management Consulting and serving as Head of Group Strategy and M&A at Sandvik AB. He has a Masters Degree in Engineering (Software development and Financial Mathematics) from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a Masters Degree in Business and Administration from Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Business.

Born in 1980, Dan Castillo has accumulated over 20 years of experience across startups, growth companies and turnarounds. Since 2015, Castillo has invested in Catena Media, maintaining a close watch on its progression, especially after its IPO in 2016. He has previous experience of listed board work in Kotipizza which Orkla acquired in 2018. He currently serves on the boards of five companies in different sectors, including Quartr.com in Fintech and Hope Studios in movie production. His academic background includes studies in Finance and Economics at Linköping University.

The Nomination Committee of Catena Media consists of:

Nicklas Paulson, representing Investment AB Öresund (chair of the nomination committee)

Marianne Stenberg, representing Second Swedish National Pension Fund

Martin Zetterlund, representing Niklas Karlsson

Göran Blomberg, chairman of the board of Catena Media.

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IGT Announces Executive and Board Leadership Changes

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IGT Announces Executive and Board Leadership Changes
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International Game Technology PLC (IGT) announced that on March 21, 2024, its Board of Directors implemented changes to the Company’s Board and executive team.

Marco Drago announced that he will step down from his role as a non-executive director of the IGT Board of Directors. He will carry out his remaining term and depart from the Board at the conclusion of the Company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 14, 2024.

Enrico Drago has been appointed by the IGT Board of Directors as a non-executive director of the IGT Board. In addition, Enrico Drago will resign from his current role of CEO of IGT PlayDigital, and Gil Rotem, who is currently IGT PlayDigital President of iGaming, will expand his role to become IGT PlayDigital President and report directly to Vince Sadusky, CEO of IGT. These changes will be effective April 1, 2024. Enrico Drago will continue in his role as vice chairman of De Agostini S.p.A.

“As Marco Drago prepares to step down from his position on the IGT Board of Directors, I’d like to thank him for his many years of service and his unwavering commitment to driving results and creating value for all IGT stakeholders. Enrico Drago joining the Board and leaving his executive leadership position at IGT is a natural evolution that supports the Company’s vision for its next era of growth and transformation. Enrico’s value-creation mindset and understanding of global growth opportunities will enhance the Board and align with IGT’s strategic priorities,” said Marco Sala, IGT Executive Chair of the Board.

“Watching and guiding IGT through its evolution from a collection of companies that started with Lottomatica and GTECH grow into a unified global gaming leader has been very gratifying. We have been fortunate to have a great group of board members and business unit leaders that have helped drive IGT’s growth during this time. I thank them for their contributions and am certain that IGT is positioned for continued growth as we go forward with the bold initiatives we have undertaken,” said Marco Drago, IGT Non-Executive Director.

“Over the last five-plus years, IGT PlayDigital has established leadership positions in the global iGaming and North American sports betting sectors that will be foundational to the Company’s future successes. I thank the entire IGT PlayDigital team for all that we have accomplished in this time, and I look forward to supporting IGT in a new capacity and further helping the Company define its vision and strategy,” said Enrico Drago, CEO of IGT PlayDigital.

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Bidstack Executive Team Acquires Bidstack Limited and all its Subsidiaries

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Bidstack Executive Team Acquires Bidstack Limited and all its Subsidiaries
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The executive team of Bidstack has acquired Bidstack Limited and all the operating entities of the Group, from the administrators of Bidstack Group PLC. The deal sees James Draper, Founder & CEO, and the executive team of Bidstack Ltd become significant majority shareholders.

All contracts and client relationships will continue within the new ownership structure – safeguarding jobs for the UK and European-based staff.

Bidstack, the multi award-winning in-game middleware technology provider that initially set about bringing programmatic advertising revenue to the most renowned sports gaming franchises in the world, has diversified into a broader offering, taking advantage of the most advanced off-engine content management system in gaming.

Following the announcement of a partnership with the Washington Commanders, where the NFL franchise became the first-ever sports team to utilise a platform to control advertising within their virtual stadium, across official NFL games, from multiple studios and developers, the management team has been focusing on sports rights holders as a key customer type.

The executive team has the support of the world’s leading rights-holder professionals in the sports industry. It will continue to execute from its position as the leading technology for the sports industry, for fan engagement and brand activations, in video games.

The executive management consists of James Draper continuing as Chief Executive Officer, with Lisa Hau stepping up to Chief Financial Officer, Dave Garvey continuing as Chief Legal Officer, Will Stewart moving to Chief Product Officer and Daniel Barrigas to Chief Technology Officer.

James Draper, Bidstack’s Founder & CEO, said: “The acquisition is a pivotal moment for the next phase of growth for the business. Our technology is at the forefront of sports technology, and I couldn’t be more excited. I am proud that we are able to reward our ambitious and industry-pioneering team and have them as shareholders alongside myself.”

“I want to thank the staff and customers for standing by us during this strategic review, which has obviously been an uncertain period. For all of our customers to have stood strong alongside us is testament to the relationships we’ve built over the years, as well as the incredible staff we have here who have fostered those connections.

“The company can now focus on the enormous potential we have, to enable sports teams to get closer to their fans and improve the player experience by bringing their virtual IP to life, with real-time messaging, rewards and engagements.

“Thank you to the management team who have invested to protect the incredible work our talented group has produced. It’s extremely motivating to see the unwavering belief we collectively have in our vision and product. Sadly, the public market is an uncertain place currently, and it’s a challenging environment for growth businesses such as ours.

“The interest and support we’ve had from some of the leading players in the sports industry has given our team great confidence and motivation as we work with some of the world’s largest sporting franchises and leagues.

“Thank you to everyone’s support and to our Board of Directors, who have assisted myself and management throughout.”

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