Through its acquisition of PSG, Penn National will gain 1,100 terminals across Illinois.
Penn nationwide Gaming, Inc. will acquire Prairie State Gaming (PSG), an Illinois operator of video gaming terminals (VGTs), for a fee that is undisclosed. The company adds the acquisition to its collection of some 31,000 gaming devices in 26 facilities across America.
While Illinois lawmakers squabble about their budget plans, with the resulting standoff meaning that big tax revenues from hawaii’s VGTs will be held in limbo until they are able to agree terms, Penn National is wanting to get its own slice of the industry that is lucrative.
The deal, for an undisclosed transaction that is all-cash will see the Pennsylvania-based casino, racetrack, and racino operator acquire 1,100 terminals across a network of 270 different pubs and retail gaming establishments statewide.
In Illinois, anywhere having a liquor permit is permitted to use a VGT, and it is big business. But that reality has generated one thing of a challenge to the state’s casino industry.
The VGT industry raked in $72.8 million in revenue in July, compared to the combined $118.1 million in revenue of Illinois’ ten casinos, based on Fantini Gaming Research. For Penn National, which owns three of those casinos, it’s a thought process of ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.’
PSG, which is amongst the biggest VGT operators in Illinois, produced nearly $10 million in income for the fiscal year ending June 30th.
According to Jay Snowden, chief operating officer of Penn National, the acquisition represents the phase that is latest in a long-term strategy for ‘growth through accretive acquisitions.’
In April, the company agreed to buy the Tropicana in Las Vegas for $360 million, making it the operator’s 2nd Sin City property. The organization first bought off the debt for and in June of 2011 finalized its purchase associated with the M Resort and Casino in the South Las Vegas Strip.
Penn National currently runs 26 casino, racinos, and racetracks in 16 US and one Canadian jurisdiction, with the majority located in the Midwest and the South of the United States.
The offer will further cement the business’s position in Illinois, said Snowden. ‘We believe this acquisition provides us a platform that is solid future development in the Illinois VGT market and potentially other states where this form of gaming is authorized.
‘PSG is one of Illinois’ most VGT that is respected, having a strong track record of regulatory compliance and a reputation for dependable 24 / 7 service supported by one of many industry’s most experienced teams,’ he added.
Penn National’s present performance that is financial made the investment community sit up and simply take notice. Its Q2 results for 2015 have exceeded expectations, bringing in revenues of $701 million, and the company says it remains favorably positioned for continued growth in the second half of the year.
As well as the purchase for the Tropicana, Penn State opened Massachusetts’ first casino at the end of June. Called Plainridge Park Casino, the establishment that is slots-only onto the racecourse, and reported $6.1 million in gambling revenue in its first week of operation.
Optimal Payments acquisition of Skrill has gotten the go-ahead from British financial regulators, as the payments industry looks to consolidate into the face of increased competition that is mobile . (Image: totallygaming.com)
NETELLER moms and dad Optimal Payments has announced that its €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) reverse takeover of Skrill, previously Moneybookers, will be finalized next Monday, August 10, after obtaining the green light from UK economic regulators.
Optimal received approval to acquire Skrill’s US business from American regulators in June. Both companies provide their payment solutions to your new US online video gaming areas.
The deal highlights a time period of consolidation into the digital payments industry, as competition increases and innovation that is mobile disruption make the pooling of resources attractive. A month after the Optimal deal was announced in April, Skrill completed the acquisition of UK competitor Ukash.
The launch of Apple’s ‘wave and pay’ system on iPhone has spooked the digital wallets industry, which views the incursion of large non-traditional payment service provides into the re payment room as being a threat that is highly disruptive. The ‘wave and pay’ system allows users to load credit card details onto their device, acting as a de facto e-wallet.
Optimal Payments has denied that the acquisition is a defensive move, citing steady growth. Instead, analysts have said the company that is enlarged which marries two of the UK’s biggest electronic re payment services, will benefit from greater scale. It’s estimated the combined group will have a cash flow of around £117 million ($182 million); Optimal’s standalone figure is around £58 million ($90 million).
The offer will relieve both businesses’ reliance on the gambling that is online, consolidating their more mainstream ecommerce interests.
‘We’re becoming more relevant in the space that is e-commerce we see organic growth both there and in gaming following the deal,’ Joel Leonoff, chief executive of Optimal, insisted recently.
Optimal also wants to minimize its present reliance on an unnamed customer that is asian which reportedly now represents over 33 % associated with company’s product sales.
‘Over the past four years, we have effectively delivered growth that is significant revenues and earnings for our investors,’ said Leonoff. ‘This growth resulted from executing our strategy to generate high degrees of natural growth and also to supplement this with accretive purchases.
‘The acquisition of Skrill will produce a global tech champion within the fast growing digital payments space so we believe represents a transformational step forward that greatly accelerates our strategic plan. The Optimal Payments management team is extremely worked up about the prospects that are future the business.’
NETELLER was formed back in 1999, at the same time as PayPal. But while PayPal shied away from the grey appropriate area of online gambling in America, NETELLER embraced it.
By 2005, the business was processing 80 % of on line gambling transactions globally, which accounted for 95 percent of its revenue flow, but was forced to grab of this market that is US after UIGEA made the processing of online gambling deals unlawful.
Yahoo has joined an increasing number of major businesses trying to break to the daily dream activities industry. (Image: Eric Risberg/AP)
FanDuel and DraftKings have actually turned daily fantasy recreations from a little niche product to the fastest growing segment for the fantasy activities industry.
Now, aided by the valuations of each of those companies reaching $1 billion or more, the gaming industry is needs to take serious notice, with some believing that the daily fantasy games deserve the exact same kinds of strict regulation casino companies deal with on a regular basis.
In accordance with officials at many major gaming firms, there’s nothing really wrong with day-to-day dream sports (DFS), and they don’t want to see the offerings banned or restricted from the marketplace.
However, they genuinely believe that legislation is an important part of any sort of gambling product, one thing they feel applies to DFS sites just as much as it does a casino or racetrack.
‘I think daily fantasy sports betting should just be legal like I believe traditional sports betting must be legal,’ William Hill US CEO Joe Asher told Reuters. ‘But let’s not pretend one is OK while the other is not. Drawing some line that is artificial the two makes no feeling as a matter of law or policy.’
All major DFS sites state that their tasks are totally legal, and both DraftKings and FanDuel stay out of five states where they feel laws do not allow fantasy sports games to supply real money prizes.
That argument seemingly have a lot of sway, as sports leagues and media organizations are both getting on board en masse: most leagues now have partnerships with a number of sites, ESPN has a major advertising and content deal with DraftKings, and both Yahoo and CBS have launched their own DFS services and products in recent days.
But you can find people who are going for a closer look at the industry that is growing.
In Nevada, the state gaming control board is analyzing the legality of DFS games, although the industry thinks it really is quite clear that the contests are legal under a fantasy sports exemption in the 2006 Internet Gambling Enforcement that is unlawful Act.
‘When you begin offering day-to-day dream contests, then you start to blur the line between skill and chance,’ said Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman AG Burnett. ‘ When chance begins to govern the outcome more than skill, a form is had by you of video gaming, and that is whenever need for regulation kicks in.’
Lobbyists for the fantasy recreations industry dispute that characterization, however, saying that their games are clearly more about skill than luck.
‘ They’re not like games of chance, where no matter how skillful the players is, losing or winning almost always comes down to luck,’ said Jeremy Kudon, a partner at Orrick who lobbies for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.
For their part, FanDuel and DraftKings issued a statement that is joint the Reuters report.
In that declaration, they said on the dream sports industry as our products are fundamentally separate from, and never competitive with, https://real-money-casino.club/club-player-online-casino/ gambling enterprises and gaming organizations. they work dealing with officials into the video gaming industry ‘to educate them’
But you will find other threats to your industry too.
DraftKings is facing class action lawsuits in at least three states, including Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois, from players who feel they were deceived by the business’s aggressive advertising campaign, particularly due to misunderstandings over the nature of just how deposit bonuses work.
And while the Fantasy Sports Trade Association thinks fantasy that is daily must be legal and don’t represent gambling, even they have expressed concerns on the advertising campaigns employed by the two major web sites.
‘The money motivation ended up being never a important element of dream sports,’ said FSTA President Paul Charchian. ‘ Now a complete lot of the marketing in daily fantasy sports is truly excessively concentrated on financial gain.’