The fire sale over in Greece continues, with the government announcing it will split up the real estate assets and betting operations of the Hellenic Horse Racing Company (known in Greece as ODIE) before privatizing the state-run horse betting monopoly. Costas Mitropoulos, CEO of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, told Bloomberg News that the intention was to “sell the company and it will rent the horse track and when we decide what to do with the land, we’ll put it on the market.”
The Casino Association of South Africa (CASA) released figures on Wednesday showing the domestic gambling industry had boosted gross revenues 5% in 2011. The eighth annual Survey of Casino Entertainment (read it here) reported gross revenues of R17.14b (US $2.176b), from which the industry contributed R4.5b ($571m) in taxes to the government. While 55% of South African gamblers play the lottery, casino gambling was far and way the most lucrative form of gambling, accounting for 89.8% of total revenues. The province of Gauteng was the star performer, generating 41% of total revenues, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (19%) and the Western Cape (15%).
CASA CEO Derek Auret warned that the “macro-economic stability” that allowed revenues to keep rising appeared to be at risk, as punters struggle with more pressing concerns, such as inflation and increases in property rates and utility costs. Reminding the government that the casino industry not only handed over a fat wad in taxes every year but also accounted for some 52k jobs, Auret said it was in the national interest that legislators “should approach with great caution the imposition of further regulatory restrictions or demands that may threaten the profitability of the casino industry and its ability to create jobs.”
Auret also highlighted the findings of an Ipsos Markinor report as to the socio-economic profile of the average casino gambler. The report found 85% of casino gamblers imposed spending limits of R600 or less per visit, and 23% of that spending went for non-gambling amenities. Auret said the findings also revealed that the “overwhelming majority of casino visitors live in built homes, use their own transport to get to casinos and have a very high awareness of the National Responsible Gambling Programme … given the relatively high cost of entry and participation, casinos do not attract the very poor.”
Online gambling on anything other than sports is prohibited in South Africa, and CASA takes the position that should legislators see fit to broaden the scope of this offering, the number of online gambling licenses should be strictly controlled, and land-based casinos “because of their already licensed and regulated status, should be given priority to bid.” (Anyone else think CASA execs would fit in well in Nevada?)
As far as online sportsbooks already in operation, Ladbrokes’ fledgling offering has infuriated local punters after removing the option to make in-running bets on the recent one-day cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka. Ladbrokes SA marketing manager Anli Kotze told Business Day that Lads’ technicians had taken the in-running market offline to better manage traffic on the Ladbrokes.co.za site, a move that Kotze admitted had resulted in Lads losing “some important business … [the technicians] should have removed other matches that were less popular.” Further fueling punter pouting was the fact that the wagers remained an option on Ladbrokes.com, where South Africans are barred from opening an account. Foul play…
