This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
CR62-p12-Euro7:SJC-Casino Review 25/11/07 00:51 Page 1
casinoreview
The Latvian subsidiary of increase OEG’s market On the Lucky Day of December 13 2007 Casino
Olympic Entertainment share to 25 per cent, Innsbruck is celebrating its 15th birthday with an
Group (OEG) have signed making it Latvia’s second
a pre-contract to acquire biggest operator. Admiral
Innsbruck
elegant party. The festivities will be opened by
Mayor Hilde Zach, Governor Dr Herwig van Staa,
Latvia’s third largest operates 60 casinos in celebrates Dr Karl Stoss, Dr LeoWallner and casino director
Olympic takes up a quarter
casino operator Admiral Latvia with turnover in the
15 years
Kurt Steger. In the last 15 years Casino
Klubs. The initial value of first nine month of 2007 Innsbruck has welcomed four million guests. The
of Latvian market the transaction is 40m at 16.4 m euros. share of women has increased from 30 to 40
euros in a deal which will per cent in the last few years.
Swedish
A wintry looking Sundsvall, home to
Olympic
one of Cosmopol’s four casinos
opens
politicians
first
looking to
rebranded
Empire
carve up
venue
monopoly
olympicbrandsback
ROMANIA
The first casino rebranded
as an Olympic Casino has
Having introduced its first international casino
now opened its doors in
in June of 2001, Sweden is now on the brink
Bucharest, the capital of
of opening its entire betting sector up to
Romania. Modernising the
former slot casino of
international competition with talk of a Romanian casino operator
licensing system replacing the current state
Empire International Game
monopoly Svenska Spel. Phil Martin reports
World cost 1m euros.
Last spring, the
on how it could subsequently be privatised. Romanian subsidiary of
Olympic Entertainment
privateeye Moderate party confirmed it Jesper Kärrbrink, chief Sweden’s finance minis- to wait for this and voted for Group (OEG) acquired three
SWEDEN wants to de-monopolise the executive officer of Svenska ter, Anders Borg, has always change to take place more gaming locations as a result
country’s industry and sell- Spel, said: “The question of ruled out the privatisation of rapidly,” he added. of taking over the country’s
The Swedish state owned off Svenska Spel. The pro- who the owner of Svenska the gambling monopoly and Tobé said it was too early leading casino operator. In
monopoly on gaming could posal to quash the state Spel will be and how the reg- so the new move by govern- to say how many licenses addition to the newly
soon come to an end follow- gambling monopoly was put ulation of the market will be ment has come as a surprise. might be made available but opened and refurbished
ing growing political belief to a vote by members of the designed - as a monopoly, a Tobé said that the decision did stress that any compa- casino, the company plans
that sole operator Svenska party and was passed by a licence system or anything now paved the way for dis- nies looking to operate in to open another acquired
Spel should be floated and majority vote. else - are issues that only cussions between the gov- Sweden must be aware of gaming location under the
the market opened up to Tomas Tobé MP informed Swedish politicians can ernment, Svenska Spel and strict marketing laws and Olympic Casino brand
foreign competition. delegates that the future was address. Most important is foreign gaming companies. Swedish tax rules. name by the end of this
With the European Com- to abolish the monopoly and that we will get a system “We are open to discussions Svenska Spel conducts year. “We also own
mission keeping a watchful open the Swedish market to where all licensed actors with the gaming companies business through its parent Napoleon, one of the most
eye on gaming activities in competition through a follow the same rules. We are in order to establish an effec- company, AB Svenska Spel, luxurious casinos in
several countries with regard licensing system. prepared, regardless of any tive method of taxation and its subsidiaries Casino Bucharest, located in the
to the provisions of the EC Svenska Spel is expected future regulation or system.” rather than a broad turnover Cosmopol AB, CC Casino Sofitel Hotel in the World
Treaty, many in Swedish poli- to be privatised to allow the In 2006, Svenska Spel gen- based approach,” Tobé Restaurant AB and Svenska Trade Centre,” said Andri
tics believe it would be ben- company to compete more erated a profit of SEK4.8bn explained. Spel Fastighets AB. Since the Avila, member of the
eficial for government to effectively in the new market (523m euros) and con- “By December 2008, an in- end of March 2003, the sub- Management Board of
address the issue ahead of either through a stock tributed more than SEK1bn depth report on the gam- sidiary responsible for oper- OEG. “This casino will also
being forced to by a ruling market listing, or by a pur- to sports and youth pro- bling market will be released ating the casinos, Casino be rebranded as an
from the European Court of chase by another operator, grammes. Analysts value following an investigation by Cosmopol, has operated with Olympic Casino in the
Justice. although the latter is Svenska Spel at approxi- Jan Nyrén, legal counsel of four casinos in the cities of future.”
Speaking at its annual con- believed by analysts to be mately 7.05bn euros, almost the police authority, but the Sundsvall, Malmö, Göteborg The first Olympic Casino
ference in Gävle, the ruling unlikely. double the size of Ladbrokes. party congress did not want and Stockholm. in Romania is located in
the centre of Bucharest
and is named Olympic
Casino Hawaii. The casino
Estonian wins 8th Baltic Sea Black Jack
has been rebuilt to comply
with the high standards of
Tournament as Poland clinches team award
Olympic Casino. The
gaming location with 285
square metres of floor
space is equipped with 41
polepower five players through to the semi and latest slot machines,
Malmo, home of the
SWEDEN
eighth Baltic Sea
three players at the final table. For including Atronic’s Cash
Black Jack
Ilves the day started slow and he was Fever and IGT’s Fort Knox.
Polish aggression paid off in the
Tournament
one of only a handful players to record In addition, there is an
eighth Baltic Sea Black Jack Tourna- zero points in the first qualification electronic roulette and a
ment as they racked up a convincing round. But he redeemed himself in spacious bar area in the
team win. But individually, they would the 2nd round, clinching a spot in the casino.
all be denied by Estonian Tonu Ilves semi final with ease. Olympic Casino
who posted an impressive ‘come- In the final, he was top three all along Bucharest SRL, the
from-behind-win’ at the annual Baltic but it wasn’t until the last few hands Romanian subsidiary of
Sea Black Jack Tournament in Malmo, that he edged out the Pole Krzysztof OEG, signed the contract
Sweden. Pirog with a small margin and clinch- for the acquisition of the
The tournament starred 49 partic- ing the first prize of 20,000 euros. local casino operator
ipants, seven from each of the fol- The Polish team got some consola- Empire International Game
lowing countries - Estonia, Finland, tion and won the team prize with a World on April 12, 2007.
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and landslide. The team was awarded The acquisition price was
Sweden. The group comprised 48 10,500 euros for the victory. 3.85m euros.
men and one woman - Swede Gunilla Home team Sweden didn’t draw any Romania has 22m people
Lennartsson from Gothenburg. luck this time.The y finished sixth among of whom more than 2m live
After two qualification rounds of hands before seven players took a tickets they could also purchase extra the teams and individually, 76-year old in the country’s capital
21 hands each, the 49 players were seat at the final table. Each round the points until the 15th hand was dealt. Gert Holgersson from Malmo was the Bucharest. Today Olympic
cut down to 14. The remaining four- players started with 2,000 points but The Polish team had an immediate only Swede reaching the semi and even- Casino employs around 130
teen played a semi final round of 21 with a limited number of re-buy impact on the leader board, getting tually finishing at a distant 11th place. people in Romania.
12 December 2007 europeannews
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64
Produced with Yudu - www.yudu.com. Publish online for free with YUDU Freedom - www.yudufreedom.com.