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Stanleybet Pays Taxes in Bid to End Block on Entering Italian Betting Tenders
Stanleybet Malta Ltd., the Maltese subsidiary of the Liverpool based Stanleybet Group, has announced its decision to pay Italian retail betting tax to the Italian regulator, Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), for the first time ever in Italy. The first payment, made on 2nd January 2023, with the “F24” form under the same rules that apply to Italian licensed operators, refers to the revenue made by Stanleybet in its Italian retail shops for the period 1st to 31st December 2022, which by law is due for payment by 31st January 2023. ADM was informed of this decision on the same day of the payment, via letter sent to its General Manager and to the 2 top officials responsible for gaming and betting at ADM.
Four sentences of the European Court of Justice, later confirmed by the Italian Court of Cassation and, recently, by the Italian Council of State, ruled that Stanleybet had been discriminated against with respect to free access to the Italian retail licensing system: both in the initial experimental phase (1998), and with regards to subsequent public tenders: in 2000, 2006 – with the “Bersani” tender – and, lastly, in 2012, with the “Monti” tender.
In addition, ADM prevented Stanleybet from entering the 2015 and 2016 “amnesty” proceedings. In fact, with multiple trials initiated by the Italian Regulator between 2014 and 2017 against senior Stanleybet executives and against Stanleybet shop owners (CTDs), ADM effectively made Stanleybet’s participation in those proceedings impossible, due to a lack of fair and objective entry conditions. Those proceedings ended in December 2017, when the deadline for seeking participation in the “amnesty” expired.
It should be noted that Stanleybet has never actually filed a complaint against ADM – despite all the crime reports that have been filed against its business in Italy and yet were ultimately concluded in Stanleybet’s favour.
The company has always favoured the path of dialogue. In fact, around the time of the expiry of the Italian retail betting licensing system, on 30th June 2016, Stanleybet, which by then was officially recognised as a lawful operator by the Italian courts, formally asked ADM to allow it to start paying the Italian retail betting tax in the same way as the Italian licensed operators do, by being linked to the “national totaliser” (the centralised data control system for licensed operators). ADM ignored the letter for 3 long years, and then only responded when forced to do so by the Italian Ministry of the Economy, whom Stanleybet urged to intervene as a last resort.
ADM’s historical aversion to Stanleybet should come as no surprise. After all, how could ADM, the organisation which itself was responsible for the discrimination suffered by Stanleybet, then turn around and admit that Stanleybet’s activity was always lawful? In addition, as ADM is a government body should the Italian Government not share some of the responsibility?
With the 2011 Stability Law and subsequent amendments, the Italian legislator provided for payment of the retail betting tax, not only by operators licensed in Italy but also by operators that were not licensed by the Italian authorities. However, in the latter case the betting tax payable could instead be calculated by reference to shop revenue based on tripling the average betting shop revenue for the relevant province. ADM then chose to apply these “tripling” provisions to Stanleybet, thereby effectively admitting that it still considered Stanleybet to be an illegal operator. The result of ADM’s actions was a large and unnecessary tax dispute, which remains ongoing.
During 2022, Stanleybet proposed to ADM that it was prepared to immediately start paying the retail betting tax as a licensed operator, subject to a formal settlement agreement to deal with alleged historic liabilities, with the intention of drawing a line under the issue, once and for all. Although various meetings were held in “Piazza Mastai”, ADM’s headquarters, even with the initial participation of the ADM Director himself, ADM’s position remained totally against this proposal. Even numerous settlement proposals put forward to ADM in individual tax proceedings, often with the support of the relevant Judge, were met with an absolute refusal by ADM to reconsider the calculations and Stanleybet’s position as an Italian licensed operator.
Given that any attempt to get ADM to accept a reasonable solution to the dispute seemed futile, Stanleybet proposed during a Group Board Meeting of its Executive Directors in Liverpool, held on 15th December 2022, to start paying the Italian retail betting tax, exercising the right to pay taxes in Italy like any other licensed operator. The decision was formally approved, after further deliberation and planning, at a further extraordinary Group Board Meeting of its Executive Directors held on 28th December 2022. Stanleybet hopes that ADM will consider this proactive decision not as a challenge, but as an act of common sense made in good faith and in the best interests of the Italian State. The Maltese gambling regulator (MGA), which is well aware of Stanleybet’s history in Italy, fully understands Stanleybet’s decision and the reasons behind it, and was officially informed at the same time as ADM. Whilst Stanleybet Malta Ltd.’s aim is for full participation in the Italian regulated system, it remains and wishes to remain, a licensee of the MGA – which it thanks officially, and with deep gratitude, for its continued support.
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The post Huge Jackpot at King Billy Casino: C$3,658,306! appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Play’n GO, the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, has today announced its latest US operator partnership, with Resorts Digital Gaming, in the state of New Jersey.
Resorts Digital Gaming was acquired by Boyd Interactive in September 2024, and this announcement sees the group’s players on the www.resortscasino.com and www.mohegansuncasino.com brands in New Jersey gain access to a multitude of classic Play’n GO game titles, such as the legendary Book of Dead, Rise of Merlin, and Rise of Olympus.
Play’n GO entered New Jersey in September 2022, shortly after first launching in the US via the state of West Virginia in July of that year. It has since seen its games live in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and most recently, Connecticut.
Magnus Olsson, Chief Commercial Officer at Play’n GO, commented “New Jersey has been of crucial importance to our US operations for over two years now, so it is with great pleasure that we make this announcement in conjunction with Resorts Digital Gaming.
“The company joins together two instantly recognizable operator brands, and the addition of Play’n GO’s games will be of enormous mutual benefit. We confidently describe ourselves as the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, and partnerships like this one are of great importance to us in establishing that idea. We’re excited to see this partnership flourish.”
Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer at Boyd Interactive, added “The whole Resorts Digital Gaming team is excited to bring Play’n GO games to our players. Play’n GO is one of the world’s leading iGaming brands, and we’re confident that our players are as excited as we are to see those Play’n GO titles on both www.resortscasino.com and www.mohegansuncasino.com.”
Match Hype has just won two industry competitions. Talk us through your product.
Match Hype brings engagement from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram into the sportsbook. Our technology automatically turns raw sports data into short videos full of sports and betting insights. We have the capacity to create up to a million videos daily in more than 30 languages. We also provide hosting and streaming of the videos, and we track everything in the video thanks to our own player. The high level of video experience and the scale make us unique in the market, and we believe that this innovation is extremely needed in the industry—and the judges in the competitions probably agree with us.
What technologies are you leveraging to deliver such a cutting-edge tool/product?
We have more than six years’ experience in developing dynamic video solutions for clients like Microsoft, HBO, and SAP, and a decade in high-end video production for similarly well-known clients. Match Hype is the essence of this. We have developed our own robust cloud infrastructure that enables us to work on a huge scale. We can also leverage the integration of third-party solutions that help us make the video content rich and engaging. The AI boom came at the right time to help us make the experience for the viewer even better.
Who is Match Hype aimed at?
We focus mostly on sportsbook operators, where we think we can bring the biggest value. But we also have clients on the affiliate and media side. Our “competition” at the moment are creative professionals who are able to create one video at a time. To cover hundreds or thousands of events daily, you need huge manpower. With Match Hype, you don’t need that—it’s all automated. Anybody who appreciates this level of efficiency will benefit.
The end users are any sports fans who enjoy engaging videos. So basically everybody.
Has this industry been slow to embrace video content and unlock the potential it offers? If so, why?
It’s hard for us to talk about the whole industry, as we haven’t been part of it for that long. But iGaming feels like a conservative industry where only truly meaningful innovations make it. Fingers crossed for Match Hype being one of them. We are confident because of our track record in other industries, and mostly thanks to the results of our dynamic videos that are already used by significant igaming industry players.
What makes video content so effective at customer acquisition? How can Match Hype be used in this regard?
People just love video content. In the last review, TikTok said that the average user spends around 90 minutes a day on their platform. Platforms like Spotify used to be music and podcasts only; now they are full of videos. You just can’t ignore that. Video killed the radio star, and a static sportsbook is next to die.
And what about retention? How can it be used to keep players engaged and coming back for more?
Imagine that a 30-second video gives you the exact insights to help you make a betting decision without spending dozens of minutes on different resources to gather all the information. People don’t want to read anymore. This is probably an even bigger strength of Match Hype than user acquisition.
What can we expect from Match Hype in the coming months?
We will establish Match Hype as an industry standard for dynamic video content. We’ll bring many more sports like tennis, basketball horse racing and. We are preparing real-time video use cases—for example, half-time updates in football—and new distribution channels like integration directly into streams. The potential is huge. Stay tuned.
Any final thoughts?
For the last year, we have talked with literally hundreds of iGaming experts, investors, and executives. Almost every one of them sees fan engagement as a huge topic in the upcoming months and years. And video will definitely play a key part in it.
Video says more than a thousand words. Give it a go—watch one of our 30-second videos and see for yourself.
The post Exclusive Q&A w/ Radek Pšurný, CEO at Match Hype appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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Huge Jackpot at King Billy Casino: C$3,658,306!
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