Fines on bribery charges also include requirement to leave Latin America
Global gaming giant Entain faces a $730 million fine over bribery allegations over previous operations in Turkey. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has now added a new condition: Entain must exit the Latin American market.
Entain, the company behind popular gaming brands such as Ladbrokes and PartyPoker, has previously expressed its intention to exit the market without a regulatory framework. However, the company continues to operate in certain jurisdictions.
CPS has now ordered the company to leave Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru within a year. Failure to comply will result in the execution of a prosecution order.
The CPS is willing to show flexibility if Entain can convincingly demonstrate that the target country is on the verge of establishing a regulated market. Entain must comply with the request within one year from the date of the court order on December 5.
When the ruling was handed down, Entain chairman Barry Gibson said the company had "changed fundamentally and profoundly" but gave no further details.
Next step
The company has yet to provide any feedback on its next steps. However, Entain is unlikely to exit immediately in the face of investor revolt.
However, the news has impacted the company's stock. The price at the end of January was $19.18. As of today, the stock price is $10.03.
Entain currently operates several brands across Latin America, including Sportingbet and Betboo. Neither company performed as well as the company expected, but they still provided significant financial support to Entain's bottom line.
Latin America Game Market
Four countries in Latin America are trying to establish a regulated gambling framework.
In Brazil, temporary measures allowing sports betting to operate temporarily have just expired. After a long legislative process, sports and betting can finally be officially legalized. The Chamber of Commerce recently approved MP’s Bill 3626/23. The final text of the law remains to be adopted. If the bill passes the Senate, sports betting and online casino gaming will be directly licensed for the first time.
The legislation has experienced significant delays over the past five years.
Chile has also made progress on online licensing, but debate continues over the content of the bill. The current proposal provides operators with a one-year cooling-off period, which further complicates the legislative environment. This period means that any currently active operators will have to wait one year from the date of legalization before re-entering the market.
The situation is more difficult in Mexico, where the existing legal framework allows licensed operators to partner with third parties to offer online gambling services through their licenses. Entain has partnered with a local casino through its Bwin brand.
However, a recent presidential decree appears to ban the practice, meaning the government can no longer issue new licenses and existing licenses cannot be renewed once they expire.
Peru has enacted a regulatory decree allowing online gambling operators to obtain licenses, with issuance expected to begin next year. Despite the positive progress, regulatory timelines remain uncertain, which may require Entain to exit the market in the meantime.
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Source: www.casino.org
