ICE London: Casino executives call for industry to strengthen message

February 6, 2023 12:34 PM
Photo: CDC Gaming Reports/Staying Relevant, Resilient & Profitable: Visions from European Casino leadership
  • Jake Pollard, CDC Gaming Reports
February 6, 2023 12:34 PM
  • Jake Pollard, CDC Gaming Reports
  • United Kingdom

Opening the International Casino Conference, Per Jaldung, chairman of the European Casino Association, said European casinos were “strong local employers” and played a key part in “pushing the service industry” forward. “This is not public relations. It’s front and center and guides everything we do as an industry.”

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The pandemic, labor and supply-chain shortages, and the war in Ukraine have combined to produce what Jaldung described as the toughest trading environment that European casinos have had to contend with in many years.
“Between 2020 and 2022, the gaming sector has been the hardest hit of all leisure and entertainment segments.”

Jaldung noted that 80 European casinos closed during the pandemic, calling it a “startling contrast” to the online-gaming sector.

“Online operators experienced 52% growth during the pandemic and grew considerably because of the lack of land-based options. However, it’s also important to underline that the ECA is not against online (gambling operators). Sixty percent of our members have online offerings.”

He renewed his call for online gambling to be regulated at a national level. He noted, “There is no such thing as a pan-European license” that would allow operators to work from an offshore EU jurisdiction targeting markets such as Germany or Sweden.

Jaldung will step down as chairman of the ECA at the association’s annual general meeting Tuesday. He thanked his “colleagues for their support and friendship” through the 13 years he occupied the role.

“Change is coming”

Discussing how the casino industry can stay relevant and resilient, Tiina Sikanen, general manager at Casino Helsinki, said Finland’s legislators, politicians, and monopoly operator Veikkaus “can see a change is coming” and will start the process of regulating the country’s online betting and gaming sector after the country’s parliamentary elections in April.

Sikanen said Finland was one of the few countries that still had a gambling monopoly, but pointed out that Veikkaus’s market share had dropped to 50%, due to the many online operators targeting Finnish players. “We say we have a monopoly, when actually we’re already operating in a competitive environment, but we’re the only ones to be regulated. Not all companies are operating by the same rules.”

Laurent Lassiaz, CEO of JOA Group, the second largest casino operator in France, said his group made a point of maintaining contact with its clients during lockdowns and the land-based sector should strengthen the quality of the experience it provides to consumers. “When you play (online) in your room and you lose, that’s it. When you’re in a casino, you also lose, but you can also watch others playing and consume some food and beverage, and the trip home is a totally different experience,” he said.

He was also critical of the country’s gambling regulator. “France is the biggest market for land-based casino in Europe. Online casino is not regulated, but the illegal market is big.

“By way of comparison, land-based casinos generate 2.5 billion euros in GGR, while the illegal (online) operators generate 1.5 billion euros in France. There are ongoing discussions with the regulator, but they have limited impact, due to the lack of time to understand the business, lack of resources, and also curiosity to learn from other jurisdictions.”