Latest Industry Events: Gambling News in Ukraine, Greece, USA, Denmark, and Finland

What amendments is Ukraine planning to introduce in the law on legalization of the gambling business? In which American city was a 44-storey Circa Resort & Casino built? When will the first casino resort be built in Greece? You will find answers to these and other questions in our weekly digest.

Plans to make amendments to the gambling law in Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy formed a workgroup intended to draft a bill that will make changes in the gambling law. This step is necessary to eliminate the collision contained in the document.

We would like to remind that during the second reading of the bill about regulation of gambling activity in summer of 2020, people’s deputies mistakenly voted for two contradictory norms regarding the formation of the regulatory body. One of them stipulates that the Cabinet of Ministers is entitled to form the commission. The other states that this responsibility is imposed on the special committee of the Verkhovna Rada.

The first casino resort to be built in Greece in three years

Instead of the former airport near Athens, the first casino resort called Inspire Athens will be built in Greece. CEO of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment Mario Kontomerkos, the gambling operator that will manage the casino, says the construction will take three years.

Building works are expected to start after acquisition of license preliminary in 2022.

The resort will occupy the area of 620,000 square meters, and the casino will take 15,000 square meters. Project investments are estimated at €8 billion.

Hotel with casino and sports betting outlet opened in Las Vegas

On October 28, a 44-storey Circa Resort & Casino was opened in Las Vegas. The resort is expected to accept up to 4,000 visitors every day. The facility became the first totally new casino resort that opened in the city over the last 40 years.

LoginCasino online magazine reports that the resort involves a betting outlet with 1,000 seats and a huge screen for broadcasting sports events. Besides, there are six swimming pools on the roof, where visitors will also have a possibility to watch sports matches.

The casino on the territory of the hotel offers 1,350 slot machines and 55 game tables.

The interest in online gambling increased in Denmark

The report of the Danish Gambling Authority shows that the Danes used services of online operators in 54% of cases in 2019. To compare, this figure amounted to 31% in 2012.

Furthermore, the research showed that players use smartphones more often to gamble. For example, 61% of all bets were placed using portable devices in 2019.

“The evolution of the gambling market seems to follow the general technology development, when the most part of our everyday life takes place online,” acting director of the Danish Gambling Authority Jan Madsen noted.

Proposal to cancel gambling monopoly in Finland

Finnish gambling operator Paf said the country had to put an end to online gambling monopoly, which belongs to the state company Veikkaus.

The company offered to reconsider regulation of gambling activity and develop a licensing system for gambling business. Such measures should help to fight against illegal operators.

CEO of Paf Christer Fahlstedt says that the introduction of the licensing system in Finland will allow authorities to set new requirements to activities of operators. For example, they will be able to determine the limits for losses in gambling or to restrict advertising.

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