Online Gambling Legislation Tightened in Netherlands and
Online Gambling Legislation Tightened in Netherlands and
The Evolution of Gambling Regulations in Europe - Unigamesity
Online Gambling Laws - Jurisdictions By Different Regions
Online Gambling Regulation is Sweeping Through Europe in
How is online gambling regulated across Europe?
Dutch online gambling market set to become Europe’s
Dutch online gambling market set to become Europe’s
European Gambling Laws and Online Regulations
U.S. Online Gambling Legislation: What to Expect in 2020
Online Gambling In Eastern Europe - Brief Guide To Legislation
online gambling legislation europe
online gambling legislation europe - win
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1. https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%) NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar. https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866 NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis !!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should. In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase. Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below: https://www.playboy.com/ https://www.playboytv.com/ https://www.playboyplus.com/ https://www.iplayboy.com/ Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success. “Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.” https://www.scientificgames.com/ https://www.microgaming.co.uk/ “This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.” https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/ As per their SEC filing: “Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.” https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1 They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon. https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again: https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea “Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.” “According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently: https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress. Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait. https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/ Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video: https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05 Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing: “For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.” “In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.” “In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.” “In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.” They are profitable across all three of their current business segments. “Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.” https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world. "Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.” Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame: “As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn. The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :( He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :) Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw. I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003 Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this: “Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy. “Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.” https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative. https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html Y’all like that China money? “Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.” Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.” https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose. I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing “Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.” “Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.” Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong. Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will. Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way. Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains. TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here: WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf Or here: https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.” STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon. Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.
I think that this one has been under-reported somewhat but since I work in the online gaming industry, it showed up on my radar. This SPAC has reached a deal to bring back Paysafe to the market, at a valuation of 9 billions. What is Paysafe? Paysafe Group has been consolidating the market for e-wallets and alternative payment methods for years and went back into private hands 3 years ago. They regroup all the main e-wallets used for online gambling and Forex: Skrill and Neteller and also prepaid cards (to be bought in 7/11 and the like) under the Paysafe brand. Why e-wallets matter in the online gambling market? E-wallets and prepaid cards represent about 25% of the volume of payments in online gambling in UK, Europe, Canada and Skrill/NetellePaysafe are by far the biggest names in this field. https://www.fisglobal.com/-/media/fisglobal/WorldPay/Docs/Miscellaneous/Gaming%20Payments%20Report%202019 Neteller and Moneybookers (as Skrill was known then) were dominating the US alternative payment methods gambling market in the US before they got pushed out in 2007. They still have high name recognition amongst the gambling crowd and web searches in the US for these brands remain high, even if they can’t process much transactions there for gambling since many states don’t have online gambling legislations yet, or very limiting ones. E-Wallets are often the preferred payment method for gamblers since it allows to move money from one operator site to the other quickly and cheaply. They can also use it as a bankroll segregated from their main bank account/CC and on top of that, Paysafe offers loyalty benefits to users based on their transaction volumes. As such, their user retention is very good. The prepaid card business is also a major factor for this stock attractiveness. Prepaid cards to be bought in gas stations or the like are often preferred by gamblers who want to strictly control their gambling or those who don’t have access to a CC (maybe because they gambled too much) or those that prefer cash transactions out of privacy concerns… Why not invest in the gambling operators instead? Operators such as Draftkings or legacy casino groups are going to make money but the regulatory environment is harsh and gambling taxes are crazy in some states and might keep going higher. Moreover, the regulations being so fragmented, many smaller operators push in certain states and not others and the competitive environment is broad. Remember that gambling is a fungible good. There is no difference in the casino games that the operators can offer (same game studios, same rules) and aside from bonuses and the margins on sports bets, the only differentiation is in branding, which is a thin moat on a product that often leaves the users disgruntled (losers). Payments on the other hand are not taxed for their relationship to gambling and there are far fewer players. How does Paysafe make money? The margins on their products are pretty high and Paysafe charges both sides of the transaction in the case of the e-wallets and the merchant side in the case of the prepaid cards. For the use of Skrill and Neteller wallets, Paysafe charges on average 4.5% on the merchant side for deposits and a whooping 9.9% on deposits with prepaid cards… Larger merchants certainly can negotiate these rates down but this is still a healthy fee, much higher than credit card processors. In markets where Paysafe has established domination they charge a small deposit fee to the user and a withdrawal fee. For now, they charge no fees to the US users in a bid to grow market share surely but that will probably end some day. Growth opportunity: For now, the US online gambling market is still very limited. Most states have not legalized, the majority of those who have legalized only did so for sports betting and then a handful have legalized online casino gaming (where the real money is made). The opening up of the market is bound to grow as states need money and more of the world moves online. https://www.playusa.com/us/ It is estimated that the online gaming market could reach 25 billions a year in the US in a few years time and 150 billions worldwide. https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/online-gambling-market#:~:text=The%20North%20America%20online%20gambling,CAGR%20during%20the%20forecast%20period. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-online-gambling-market These revenues do not equal to deposited amounts, they equal net deposits (deposits minus withdrawals). The hold % of online casinos can be anywhere between 50% and 80% depending on how degenerate the market is in a given country but we can conservatively assume 60%. This means that deposits volume in the US alone would reach about 40 billions, Europe about 50 Billions and worldwide 250 billions. That should give Paysafe around 8-10 billions in transaction volume per year in the US alone , another 10-12 billions in Europe and conservatively, another 20 billions worldwide. Valuation estimates: Rough estimates are therefore revenues of about 1.5 billions per year for Paysafe group in a few years for gambling alone. Paysafe claims 1.5 billions in revenues total projected for 2021, with only a third from gambling. Even assuming no growth from the other verticals, this means that the total revenues of Paysafe should grow by 66% with gambling alone in the next 5 years or so. Pysafe is investing a lot into expansion in other areas than gambling, notably video-gaming and remittance so assuming they don’t fuck it up completely, we are likely to see a 3 billions dollar in revenues in the next 5 years. Using Paypal’s marketcap vs revenues, that would mean 50 billions in marketcap for Paysafe… Of course, Paypal is ingrained deeply in the whole of ecommerce and Paysafe is more specialized in gambling which might be shakier and herefore command a lower valuation. The deal details are not fully known but it looks like a current valuation of 9 billions for Paysafe Group upon listing. Based on my estimates, the marketcap could reach 50 billions in a few years time, one US market for gambling fully opens. $BFT is trading at a 25% premium right now, therefore the estimate is 4x on investment over a few years. Obviously you retards are not the most patient bunch but I believe the stock will jump when it morphs and so keep an eye out for the options.
TEKK - Tekkorp Digital Acquisition Corp: Who's Who of Gaming Mgmt Teams!
Team has been involved in a substantial number of the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries’ most significant merger and acquisition transactions, holding key positions at, and transacting with Scientific Games Corp, Inspired Gaming Group, FOX Bets, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts International Holdings, PokerStars, DraftKings, Mohegan Sun, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment,Tropicana Entertainment, Inc., TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming, Facebook, Inc, Wynn Resorts, Dubai World/MGM Resorts Here's all the Bios. These guys are stellar! TEKK closed at $10.30 today. Still cheap! If you don't like to read... you don't like to make money!!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Davey — Chief Executive Officer and Director Mr. Davey has over 25 years of experience within the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming ecosystems, as well as experience in the public sector. He is an experienced public company executive officer and board member. He has served in executive management positions across the gaming technology arena. Over the course of Mr. Davey’s career, he oversaw more than ten mergers and acquisitions and over $1.2 billion in debt and equity capital raised to support the companies he has led. Most recently, Mr. Davey was Chief Executive Officer of SG Digital, the Digital Division of Scientific Games Corp. (“Scientific Games”) (Nasdaq: SGMS). SG Digital was established following the purchase by Scientific Games of NYX Gaming Group Limited (“NYX”) (formerly TSXV: NYX), where Mr. Davey served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. The NYX acquisition provided Scientific Games with a vehicle to significantly accelerate the scale and breadth of its existing digital gaming business, including the strategic expansion into sports betting. In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of NYX, Mr. Davey developed and implemented a corporate strategy that generated strong revenue growth. Mr. Davey shaped company strategy to focus on digital gaming supplier platforms and content that provided various gaming operators with the underlying gaming and sports betting systems for their online gaming business. In 2014, Mr. Davey oversaw the initial public offering of NYX, and his experience in the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries helped NYX recognize momentum as a public company. After the public offering, from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Davey oversaw seven acquisitions which helped establish NYX as one of the fastest growing global B2B real-money digital gaming and sports betting platforms. These acquisitions included: • OpenBet: In 2016, NYX completed the $385 million acquisition of OpenBet. This was one of the more complex and transformative acquisitions that Mr. Davey oversaw at NYX. Through securing co-investments from William Hill (LSE: WMH), Sky Betting & Gaming and The Stars Group (formerly Nasdaq: TSG, TSX: TSGI), Mr. Davey was able to get the acquisition from Vitruvian Partners completed successfully, winning the deal against much larger and well capitalized competitors. By combining two established and proven B2B betting and gaming suppliers, NYX was well positioned to provide customers with exciting player-driven solutions across all major product verticals and distribution channels. This allowed NYX to become the leading B2B omni-channel sportsbook platform in the market and the supplier to over 300 gaming operators globally with an extensive library of desktop and mobile game titles, including more than 700 on NYX platforms and more than 2,000 on the OpenBet platform. • Cryptologic/Chartwell: In 2015, NYX completed the $119 million acquisition of Cryptologic and Chartwell. The acquisition provided NYX with more than 400 titles of additional leading gaming content, a broader customer base, and direct exposure to PokerStars and Intercasino, part of the Gamesys Group (LSE: GYS) — two of the world’s largest online casino offerings. • OnGame: In 2014, NYX completed the distressed acquisition of OnGame, a premier poker content, platform and service provider. This acquisition provided NYX with one of the best poker products in the industry, access to several regulated jurisdictions, and a valuable talent pool that was instrumental in the growth of NYX. The addition of OnGame further established a path for NYX to continue its growth in both European and U.S. markets. These acquisitions, together with meaningful organic growth, increased NYX’s revenue from $24 million in 2014 to $184 million annualized in 2017. During that time, Mr. Davey helped build NYX to have over 200 customers in the global gaming industry and a team of 1,000 employees. Mr. Davey’s success at NYX ultimately led to its sale to Scientific Games for $631 million in 2018. Mr. Davey joined Next Gen Gaming, the predecessor to NYX, in 2000 as the Vice President of Technology, was appointed as Executive Director in 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Prior to that, he was the Senior Consultant for Access Systems, a company that specializes in the provision of back-end software for licensed online casinos. Prior to joining Access, Mr. Davey worked for the Northern Territory Government specializing in matters pertaining to the internet and e-commerce along with roles in the Department of Racing and Gaming. Mr. Davey received a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Northern Territory University, Australia (also known as Charles Darwin University). Robin Chhabra — President Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) and William Hill, and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra served on the Group Executive Committees of each of these companies. From 2017 to May 2020, Mr. Chhabra served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at TSG and, from 2019 to August 2020, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fox Bet, a leading U.S. online gaming business which is the product of a landmark partnership between TSG and FOX Sports, a transaction which he led. During that period, Mr. Chhabra led several transactions which transformed TSG into the largest publicly listed online gambling operator in the world by both revenue and market capitalization and one of the most diversified from a product and geographic perspective with revenues of over $2.5 billion. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across the digital gaming value chain and includes the following: • TSG/Flutter Entertainment Merger: In 2019, Mr. Chhabra led the TSG M&A team that was responsible for TSG’s $12.2 billion merger with Flutter Entertainment (LSE: FLTR). The merger between TSG and Flutter Entertainment is the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. The combination created the largest publicly listed online gaming company with approximately 13 million active customers and leading product offerings, which include sports betting, online casino, fantasy sports and poker. The combined entity includes some of the world’s most iconic digital gaming brands such as Fanduel, Fox Bet, Sky Bet, PaddyPower, Betfair, PokerStars and SportsBet. TSG/Flutter Entertainment is one of the most geographically diverse digital gaming and media companies with leading positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Georgia. • TSG/Sky Betting and Gaming (“SBG”): In 2018, Mr. Chhabra led the acquisition of SBG from CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, Europe’s largest media company, in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion. At the time of the acquisition SBG was the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom and one of the fastest growing of the major operators having doubled its online market share in three years. The acquisition of SBG provided TSG with (a) greater revenue diversification, significantly enhanced expertise and exposure to sports betting just ahead of the judicial overturn of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, (b) a leading position within the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market, (c) improved products and technology as a result of the addition of SBG’s innovative casino and sports book offerings and a portfolio of popular mobile apps, and (d) expertise in deeply integrating sports betting with leading sports media companies, positioning TSG to create more engaging content, deliver faster growth and decrease customer acquisition costs. • William Hill (LSE: WMH): At William Hill, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Chhabra served as Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Development where he led several transactions which contributed to William Hill’s transformation from a land-based gambling operator in the United Kingdom to a leading online-led international business. Mr. Chhabra led William Hill’s entry into the U.S. sports betting and online lottery markets with the acquisition of four businesses, including the simultaneous acquisitions of three U.S. sportsbooks, Cal Neva, American Wagering and Brandywine Bookmaking, in 2011 for an aggregate purchase price of $55 million. These businesses ultimately led William Hill to achieve a leading position in the U.S. sports betting market with a market share of 24% in 2019. Additionally, Mr. Chhabra played a key role in structuring William Hill’s successful joint venture with PlayTech Plc (LSE: PTEC) in 2008. The combined entity created one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe at the time of its formation and led to William Hill’s buyout of Playtech’s interest for $637 million in 2013. Prior to the transaction, William Hill had struggled in its attempt to establish a strong online gaming platform and a meaningful presence outside the United Kingdom. Mr. Chhabra has also successfully completed four transactions worth over $1.2 billion in Australia, the world’s second largest regulated online gambling market, and various partnerships in Asia. Additionally, he completed several technology and media related transactions, including William Hill’s investment in NYX, where he worked with Mr. Davey on NYX’s transformational acquisition of OpenBet. Prior to working in the gaming sector, Mr. Chhabra was an equities analyst and a management consultant. Mr. Chhabra received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Eric Matejevich — Chief Financial Officer Mr. Matejevich is a seasoned gaming executive with extensive experience in both the online gaming and traditional casino industries. From February to August 2019, he served as Trustee and Interim-Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Casino Resort (“Ocean”) (formerly Revel Casino, which had a construction cost of $2.4 billion) in Atlantic City, where he successfully led the management team through an ownership change and operational turnaround effort. Over the course of seven months, Mr. Matejevich managed to reduce the property’s weekly cash burn of $1.5 million to an annualized cash flow run rate in excess of $20 million. Prior to Ocean, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Matejevich served as the Chief Financial Officer of NYX. At NYX, he focused his efforts on integrating the company’s many acquisitions and multiple debt refinancings to simplify its capital structure and provided liquidity for growth initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Matejevich was instrumental to the executive team that sold NYX to Scientific Games for $631 million. Prior to NYX, from 2004 to 2014, Mr. Matejevich was the Chief Financial Officer of Resorts International Holdings and later, from 2011, also the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club Casino, a property under the Resorts International Holdings umbrella — a Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) entity. As Chief Financial Officer, he provided managerial oversight for all finance functions for a six-property casino company with annual gaming revenue exceeding $1.3 billion, 10,000 gaming positions, 7,000 hotel rooms and over 11,000 staff members during his tenure. Mr. Matejevich led the transition effort to integrate a four-casino, $1.3 billion acquisition from Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR). As Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Club, he lobbied for and was successful in obtaining the first internet gaming legislation passed in the United States. The Atlantic Club was the sole New Jersey casino proponent of the legislation. Prior to serving in various gaming positions, Mr. Matejevich was a Vice President of High Yield Research for Merrill Lynch, where he managed the corporate bond research effort for the gaming and leisure sectors and marketed high yield and other debt transactions totaling $4.8 billion. Mr. Matejevich received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Our Board of Directors Morris Bailey — Chairman Over the past 10 years, Mr. Bailey has been a leader in turning around Atlantic City, as well as being among the first gaming executives to embrace online gaming and sports betting in the United States. In his efforts, Mr. Bailey partnered with two of the largest digital gaming companies in the world, PokerStars, part of the Stars Group, and DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG). In 2010, Mr. Bailey bought Resorts Atlantic City (“Resorts”) and initiated a comprehensive renovation which allowed for the property to be rebranded and repositioned. In 2012, Mr. Bailey signed an agreement with Mohegan Sun to manage the day-to-day operations of the casino. In addition to Mohegan Sun’s operational expertise and ability to reduce costs via economies of scale, Resorts gained access to their robust customer database. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bailey and his team focused on bringing online gaming to the property. In 2015, Resorts established a platform to engage in online gaming by partnering with PokerStars, now part of the $24 billion Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR), to operate an online poker room in Atlantic City. In 2018, Resorts announced deals with DraftKings and SBTech to open a sportsbook on-property and online. For 2020 year-to-date, Resorts has performed in the top quartile in internet gross gaming revenue in New Jersey. Mr. Bailey’s efforts in New Jersey helped set the framework for expansion of online sports and gaming throughout the United States. In addition to his gaming interests, Mr. Bailey has over 50 years of experience in all facets of real estate development, asset M&A, capital markets and operations and is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Principal of JEMB Realty, a leading real estate development, investment and management organization. Mr. Bailey has notable investment experience within the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors through investments in the Astoria Energy Plant, Basis Investment Group and Xentris Wireless. Tony Rodio — Director Nominee Mr. Rodio has nearly four decades of experience in the gaming industry. Most recently, Mr. Rodio served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) (Nasdaq: CZR), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company, from April 2019 until its acquisition by Eldorado Resorts, Inc. in July 2020. Mr. Rodio led Caesars through its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts, one of the largest transactions in the gaming industry to date. Additionally, Mr. Rodio was instrumental to Caesars’ expansion into the digital gaming industry and oversaw the implementation of new digital segments such as its Scientific Games powered retail sportsbook solution that now operates in various states throughout the U.S. From October 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Rodio served as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming. Prior to Affinity Gaming, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tropicana Entertainment, Inc. (“Tropicana”) for over seven years, where he was responsible for the operation of eight casino properties in seven different jurisdictions. During his time at Tropicana, Mr. Rodio oversaw a period of unprecedented growth at the company, improving overall financial results with net revenue that increased more than 50% driven by both operational improvements and expansion across regional markets. Mr. Rodio led major capital projects, including the complete renovation of Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana’s move to land-based operations in Evansville, Indiana. Each of these initiatives, among others, generated substantial value for Tropicana. Ultimately, Mr. Rodio’s efforts at Tropicana led to its sale to Eldorado Resorts in 2018 for $1.85 billion. Prior to Tropicana, Mr. Rodio held a succession of executive positions in Atlantic City for casino brands, including Trump Marina Hotel Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment (predecessor to Caesars), the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Penn National Gaming. He has also served as a director of several professional and charitable organizations, including Atlantic City Alliance, United Way of Atlantic County, the Casino Associations of New Jersey and Indiana, AtlantiCare Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming Hospitality & Tourism. Mr. Rodio brings extensive knowledge of and experience in the gaming industry, operational expertise, and a demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement company strategy. Mr. Rodio received a Bachelor of Science from Rider University and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University. Marlon Goldstein — Director Nominee Mr. Goldstein is a licensed attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming space. He joined The Stars Group (Nasdaq: TSG)(TSX: TSGI) in January 2014 as its Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until his retirement from the company in July 2020 following the merger of TSG with Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR). Mr. Goldstein also previously served as the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of TSG. Mr. Goldstein was also the senior TSG executive based in the United States and was one of the primary architects of TSG’s strategic vision for its U.S.-facing business. During his tenure, TSG grew from an approximately $500 million market-cap company to an approximately $7 billion market-cap company through a combination of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Goldstein participated in numerous M&A transactions and capital markets offerings at TSG, including several transformational transactions in the digital gaming industry. Notable transactions in which Mr. Goldstein was involved include: • TSG/Flutter Merger: In 2019, TSG merged with Flutter for a $12.2 billion transaction value, the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. • TSG/Fox Bet Partnership: In 2019, TSG entered into a partnership with FOX Sports to create FOX Bet in the U.S., a leading U.S. online gaming business. Wall Street Research estimates an approximate $1.1 billion valuation for Fox Bet post-partnership with The Stars Group. • TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming: In 2018, TSG acquired Sky Betting & Gaming, the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom at the time, for $4.7 billion. • TSG/CrownBet and William Hill: In 2018, TSG simultaneously acquired CrownBet and William Hill, two Australian operators, for a total of $621 million in a multi-part transaction. • TSG/PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker: In 2014, TSG acquired The Rational Group, which operated PokerStars and Full Tilt and was the world’s largest poker business, for $4.9 billion. Through his ability to legally structure large and complex transactions, Mr. Goldstein was integral to TSG’s vision of becoming a full-service online gaming company. Additionally, he assisted in structuring TSG’s capital markets activity, which generated liquidity for acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet. Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Goldstein was a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A., where he practiced for almost 13 years. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and financing transactions. Additionally, Mr. Goldstein was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Practice, a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys representing owners, operators and developers of gaming facilities, manufacturers and suppliers of gaming devices, investment banks and lenders in financing transactions, and Indian tribes in the development and financing of gaming facilities. Mr. Goldstein brings experience and insight that we believe will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target business. Mr. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate with highest honors from the University of Florida, College of Law. Sean Ryan — Director Nominee Mr. Ryan is a digital media and technology operator with extensive global experience in online payments, e-commerce, marketplaces, mobile ad networks, digital games, enterprise collaboration platforms, blockchain, real money gaming and online music. Since 2014, Mr. Ryan has been serving as Vice President of Business Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) (Nasdaq: FB), where he leads a more than 500 person global organization that manages the Payments, Commerce, Novi/Blockhain, Workplace and Audience Network businesses. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ryan was hired in 2011 as the Director of Games Partnerships to lead and grow the global Games business at Facebook. While the Director of Games Partnerships, Mr. Ryan focused on re-shaping Facebook’s games and monetization strategies to derive more value for Facebook, its users and its partners, including the addition of a Real Money Gaming offering in regulated markets. Mr. Ryan’s team helped accelerate a major trend in engagement through cross-platform games and therefore the opportunity to increase users through establishing games on multiple platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Ryan created the new social and mobile games division at News Corp, an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by Rupert Murdoch. While at News Corp, Mr. Ryan led the acquisition of Making Fun, a San Francisco social-game start-up, that created News Corp’s games publishing division. Before joining News Corp., Mr. Ryan founded multiple digital businesses such as Twofish, Meez, Open Wager and SingShot Media. Mr. Ryan co-founded Twofish in 2009, a virtual goods and services platform that provided developers with data analytics and insights for individual application’s digital economies. Twofish was later sold to online payments provider Live Gamer, where Mr. Ryan served on the board of directors. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ryan founded and led Meez.com, a social entertainment service combining avatars, web games and virtual worlds. The white label social casino gaming company Open Wager was spun out of Meez and was later sold to VGW Holdings, Mr. Ryan also co-founded SingShot Media, an online karaoke community, which was sold to Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) and merged into its Sims division. We believe Mr. Ryan’s experience will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target and would provide an expanded perspective on the digital gaming landscape. Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles. Tom Roche — Director Nominee Mr. Roche has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry as a regulator, advisor and independent auditor. Mr. Roche joined Ernst & Young (“EY”) as a partner in 2003 and opened its Las Vegas office. He was subsequently appointed as the Office Managing Partner and Global Gaming Industry Market Leader. In 2016, Mr. Roche relocated to the EY Hong Kong office to supervise the expansion of the EY Global Gaming Industry practice in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Roche has been integral to numerous transactions that have shaped the current gaming landscape, including: • Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) initial public offering: Mr. Roche was the lead partner on Wynn Resort’s initial public offering, which raised $450 million in 2002. • Harrah’s Entertainment/Apollo Management Group & Texas Pacific Group: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory advisory services on the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company at the time, for $17.1 billion. • Dubai World/MGM Resorts: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory and due diligence advisory services to Dubai World in its approximately $5.1 billion investment in MGM. Dubai World bought 28.4 million MGM shares, or 9.5 percent of the casino operator, for $2.4 billion. It then invested $2.7 billion to acquire a 50% stake in MGM’s CityCenter Project, a $7.4 billion 76-acre Las Vegas development of hotels, condos and retail outlets. • MGM Growth Properties (NYSE: MGP) initial public offering: Mr. Roche provided tax and structural transaction services to MGM Resorts in the creation of MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. MGM Growth Properties raised $1.05 billion in its 2016 initial public offering. Mr. Roche also directed EY advisory services to boards and management teams for profit improvement and technology related initiatives. In addition, Mr. Roche provided advisory support to the American Gaming Association on several research projects, including those specifically related to sports betting, the revocation of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and anti-money laundering best practices in the gaming industry. Equally, he has assisted government agencies in numerous international locations with enhancing their regulatory approach to governing the industry especially in the online gambling sector. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Roche served as Deloitte’s National Gaming Industry Leader and as the co-head of Andersen’s Gaming Industry Practice in Las Vegas. In 1989, Mr. Roche was appointed by then Governor of the State of Nevada, Robert Miller, to serve as one of three members of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for a four-year term, where he was directly responsible for the Audit and New Games Lab Divisions. As a board member, he spent a substantial amount of time assisting global jurisdiction regulators enact gaming legislation in the design of their regulatory structure. During his career, Roche has been involved in numerous public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His background includes providing casino regulatory consulting services to casino licensees and to federal and state agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and industry associations such as the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association. We believe Mr. Roche’s highly regarded reputation as a gaming auditor and advisor in the gaming industry will be valuable for us and a potential business combination target. Mr. Roche is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed by the Nevada State Board of Accountancy and Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.
Nudism in Malta (or rather lack thereof) I live in Malta but am not a local. Ironically (and sadly) this is the only county in Europe (EU even) where any kind of nudity is expressly illegal, to the point that (women) sunbathing topless are severely dealt with (meaning fines) and nudists who dare to bare all are prosecuted. There’s even cases of people getting into trouble if they are seen unclothed within the confines of their own home (a risk I indulge in on an permanent basis every day, but I digress). Anyway, thought I’d share this misery, particularly as this is a warm and sunny island in the middle of the Mediterranean that lives of tourism (and offshore banking and various kinds of fiscal ‘optimisation’, as well as being an online gambling hub for the whole of the EU and beyond) (both owing to very lax and permissive legislation). It’s kind of miserable, and it would seem t be an opportunity, particularly as there’s a sizeable community of expats (many of whom herald from traditional nudist-friendly countries in the North of Europe such as Sweden, Germany, the Baltic States, and so on... most of which have a very relaxed image of nudity and might relish the opportunity to enjoy the sea & sun in the fullest manner possible).
Not Financial Advice (NFA) Warning: Wall of Text. If you hate reading just skim through the bolded/italicized Ever since I publicized my findings on DKNG, the stock has underperformed & probably has fucked a lot of people here, especially given the overly bullish stance back in June. Unless you took my advice & got into Puts then, congrats, welcome to tendie town. For the ADHD retards, here’s what the next wall of text is going to summarize: I believe at the current price of ~$30, the stock is oversold. A tech-focused, high-growth Company that has made sports betting easy to understand with an aesthetically pleasing interface similar to how Robinhood has neatly laid out stock market gimmicks so even high-schoolers can make sense of it I believe, is underpriced at these levels. Let’s get into some details as to why the stock has underperformed: First off, the news slate revolving sports with the rumored delay/cancellation of the MLB season & the NFL watching from the sidelines is in my view, just a part of why the stock has underperformed. We’ll revisit this later in this post, but I want to focus on the drivers of the stock’s recent underperformance, & why these factors are now in the rearview mirror. Part I – The Past Has Passed – SPAC-related Equity Dilution History lesson first: DKNG went public via a SPAC merger, which has exploded in popularity recently. Anyone serious about analyzing stocks going forward needs to do their homework on this, Google is your friend. A feature of most SPAC merger to public listings that creates a headwind to near-term share prices are embedded equity dilution events, usually in the form of earn-outs (stock bonuses to execs, the SPAC sponsor) & conversion of Warrants. On 5/24, the earn-outs were triggered, adding 6m shares to the share count. On 6/26, 16.3m warrants converted to DKNG, netting them ~$188m of cash. Stepping back a little, in addition to the above, on 6/18 DKNG launched a follow-on equity offering of 16M shares @ $40/Share [1], receiving $621M in proceeds. The last part is tricky to understand from a dilution perspective. To simplify, historically it’s almost a coin toss whether a Company’s shares outperform on the onset of an equity offering. While issuing shares does dilute the existing shareholder base, it theoretically shouldn’t, if the proceeds from the offering are earmarked for investments/projects that yield outsized returns. This is the reality for the long term, theory for the short-term. For the short-term, the ‘reality’ isn’t that the proceeds will be used for investments/projects that yield outsized returns, it is more about how convincing management is to investors that the investments they intend to pursue with the proceeds will outweigh the dilutive effects of issuing incremental shares. That’s a mouthful, but hopefully you get what I’m trying to convey. All of this stuff put together – the Company has increased its share count by ~39M, but now has a whopping ~$1.4Bn of cash [2]. More on this in the next section. Part II – MLB News Should Not Fucking Matter & DKNG Is Positioned As the Leading Online/Mobile Sports Platform DKNG should not be so tied to MLB news or any of this shit as the ongoing success of the NBA/NHL season + Soccer in Europe has effectively created a blueprint on how to regulate player behavior so that they maintain professionalism amidst the pandemic. I’m going out on a whim here, but I truly think the MLB threatening a cancellation of the season is pure posturing to get these fuckers to behave appropriately. Maybe a ‘bubble’ is what it takes to get these players to focus on their jobs instead of going out & contracting COVID, but I argue that isn’t necessarily required given Soccer in Europe. So there’s already a proven path here without the need for a bubble in Soccer, so MLB/NFL should be fine, and execs need to study how they got it done in Europe. Okay, back to some facts. Anecdotally, I’ve kept in touch with a handful of sports bookies from California to New York & even internationally about what they’re seeing – all of them say that since the NBA season started on 7/30 & since Soccer (especially the Premier League) resumed in June, along with other leagues like La Liga & Serie A, they’ve seen massive increases in betting. These numbers are also showing up in the official data [3]:
Average % increase in sports betting handle from April 2020 to June 2020 (handle is the total $ wagered in sports bets) from the states that reported up to June 2020 (NJ, PA, MS, RI, WV, IA, IN, NH) of +258%!
Note: NV is left out due to the site I sourced showing a weirdly negative number – so I dug into the official filings & show specifically, Sports Mobile betting growth from June since April has growing by at least +73% [4]
REMEMBER: This is for June only! No NBA, No NHL, No MLB, just Soccer, Golf, NASCAR & UFC. The data clearly shows that there was a ton of pent-up sports betting demand, which leads one Wall St. analyst to think that betting on the NBA/NHL could ABSORB the MLB’s sports betting handle (handle = total $ size of sports bet) [5]. Remember, the MLB season is still ongoing, with games being played. The entire focus is on the Miami Marlins & St. Louis Cardinals. Fucking retards. Additionally, I want to remind everyone that DraftKings.com is the #1 Fantasy sports website in the U.S. [6]. Also, since April 2020 site visitations are up +86% [7] & Google Search Trends for “Draft Kings” is up ~3xcompared to PRE-COVID levels [8]. What does this mean? They are piquing more people’s curiosity than prior to COVID/ongoing slate of sports. This is important because remember that ~$1.4Bn chest full of cash I mentioned DKNG had assembled earlier? Well, that money is being put to work & results are already coming in, which is exactly what DKNG intended to do with it. Part III – Legalization of Sports Betting in the U.S. I could write a fucking bible on this topic alone, but for now we’ll stick to some basics. Due to COVID, it’s easy to understand that each State’s financial situation is clearly in shit. Because of this, you better believe that these guys are going to start taking a hard look at how they can extract additional tax revenues, & what’s one of the easiest ways to do this? Legalization & taxation of gambling. The big players: CA, TX, FL & NY. First, CA pushing its legislation out to 2023 was fucked up, but here’s a twist I want to add to this: Anything that has to do with gambling in CA you better believe is lobbied against by not just the Tribal casino owners in CA, but by the deep pockets of Las Vegas money. Similar thing can be said for FL, but let’s take a look at some actions by LV/nationwide gambling companies that are starting to align financial incentives with guys like DKNG.
MGM / GVC Holdings JV in BetMGM - $450m total invested
PENN invests $163m into BS Sports
Caesars has a 20% stake in William Hill plus partnership deals with The Stars Group (TSG) & our winner DKNG for operating its sports books
So it’s safe to say going forward, nationwide legalization of sports betting will reap rewards for everyone involved, & no longer be something LV money is completely focused on safeguarding. Let’s also not forget that DKNG didn’t become the Company they are today because of their fancy app, but because their management team has a HISTORY of navigating the U.S.’s legal framework to get what they want out of it.
The Crown Jewel – The Internet Gambling Prohibition & Enforcement Act: I said it in a previous post, but I want to emphasize that them getting Fantasy Sports to be labeled a ‘game of skill’ by FEDERAL Law as opposed to gambling is just something for the history books. Fucking genius shit. When this happened I bet every casino from LV to every Indian Tribe that has one was against it, yet DKNG & other DFS providers won.
There’s more, but more recently: Getting into IL:
In IL, there’s an 18-month ‘penalty box’ for Companies that offer DFS to offer sports betting. Our guys at DKNG created a workaround to this situation with their partnership with Casino Queen [9]. DKNG being savvy again.
Online gambling legislation and regulation. Starting your own gambling product.
Mobile gambling If you plan to develop an app with the ability to deposit and withdraw real money, then such a product automatically falls into the category of gambling and you will need to license your business for successful operation. Mobile and Web Based Apps So let’s talk about the different kinds of online gambling apps available on web and mobile. We’ll be covering both free-play gaming apps and real money casino app games you can find for iOS, Android devices and web browsers. Mobile gambling is more common for poker, casino, bingo, and skill games. They have advantages in terms of a low barrier to enter the market, instant liquidity, product knowledge, and marketing expertise, minimal infrastructure costs, and the ability to bring a brand to the market quickly. Consequently, this form of gambling does not sit neatly with jurisdictional boundaries. Multiple gambling opportunities are available, including betting on various events and markets, in a relatively simple format. Gambling products can also be integrated into betting on television shows or virtual racing and sports games as well as offering lotteries, bingo, poker and casino games. Most Popular Gambling Apps Sports betting, casino, poker and lotteries are the most popular forms of online gambling. However, other forms are available too. These include the following: Bingo, slot machines, different card games, roulette and other game of chance. One of the best things about online gambling and betting apps is the number of choices you have.
Sports Betting
Betting means making or accepting a bet on the outcome of a race, competition, or other event or process, the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring, or whether anything is or is not true. Today most sports betting is done via mobile-friendly sites and apps.
Today most sports betting is done via mobile-friendly sites and apps.
The introduction of live betting for sports like soccer and tennis means that bettors who are sitting inside stadiums watching games can now pick up their mobile devices and find real-time betting value with the best sports gambling apps. This has really unlocked a door to the future of sports gambling and the popularity of online gambling apps.
Poker
Many sites offer free poker, where no real money is wagered, although in some cases players can accumulate credits that can be exchanged for prizes. This is the case why people are going to play for real money. There is an ongoing debate over whether poker should be classified as a game of chance or skill. The parameters of legal poker playing are still unclear and differ between jurisdictions. Since you are not gambling with money, I’m pretty sure under the law it’s just a video game for now.
Blackjack
Blackjack is the game of choice to many high-rollers and do you know why? Because blackjack is a challenging, logic and skill-based game where your thinking, strategy, and calculations determine the outcome of the game.
Bingo
Bingo is one of the most popular and socially accepted games in the world. Bingo is a traditional form of gambling that has seen considerable innovation in recent years. It is also the only form of gambling recognized in the Gambling Act that does not have a specific statutory definition, the Act providing simply that “bingo” means “any version of that game, irrespective of by what name it is described”. Bingo must be played as an equal chance game. For game to be classed as “bingo” it must meet the Act’s definition of “equal chance gaming” (as opposed to casino gaming). Thus, it: must not involve playing or staking against a bank, and must be a game in which the chances are equally favorable to all participants in the sense that each ticket or chance has the same probability of success as any other. Licensed bingo is a well-regulated and socially responsible form of gambling that takes place in a safe environment. Many sites offer multiple forms of bingo with different features, types of games, and costs of play. These sites often cater specifically for women and some research suggests that they may appeal to markets who would not typically engage in traditional forms of gambling.
Slots
Slot machine is one of the most beloved game among the gambling community and it has been a part of the industry for a long time. They provide fun and entertainment and their simplicity allows gamers to start playing at once. This can play out in different ways depending on the machine you’re playing. For instance, there’s Pick a Fortune, a five-reel, 20 line game that puts players right in the studio of a television game show, including the potential to play a Deal or No Deal-style bonus round. A super trend over the past few years is mobile-friendly slot games. These apps and websites were developed to enable players to enjoy their favorite games on their smartphones at any time. Another dominant slot trend is licensed branded slots that are based on popular movies, television, and musicians. Virtual Money vs Real Money Let’s find out the difference between social gambling and real money gambling, as well as the differences between gambling through apps and gambling through a web browser. It can be quite confusing trawling through all the casinos, slots, and lotteries available, both through your mobile web browser as well as through mobile app stores, in the form of downloadable apps.
Virtual money
The main difference between virtual money and real money gambling is that the in-game virtual currency in social games and gambling-type games is used only like credits that are not paid out as winnings or anything given to player in cash, making these games exempt from gambling regulations.
Virtual money is loaded on user game accounts via in-app purchases in mobile applications or the game balance funding from a card via web based applications.
Real money gambling
Real money gambling via your mobile device is only allowed in countries where laws have been passed that allow for this type of gambling online, or there are no laws in place that prevent it. The payment systems are the legal way of services payment in the gambling app, performing as the intermediary between the gambling facility and the client. With their help, users replenish deposits and withdraw funds to personal accounts in financial institutions. If the application uses the payment system of a well-known brand, that gives players additional confidence in the resource. Nowadays, there is a wide range of payment systems, some of which operate all over the world, other systems are oriented towards the citizens of one or several countries. A number of services accept money of different world currencies, while others allow currency transactions of one state only. What is an Online Gambling Licensing The internet has a global audience, there’s no single piece of legislation that covers the legality of online gambling for the entire world. Mobile gambling doesn’t typically accept customers from every single country in the world. It often focuses on certain specific regions.
Instead, most countries have their own local laws that deal with the relevant legal and regulatory issues.
Ultimately, questions of legality all go back to the location of the casino or where the website operates out of. In closed regulatory systems, such as Italy, France, and the Netherlands, licenses, and advertising rights are limited to domestic providers, which must be located within their country’s geographical boundaries and these are only permitted to offer some types of products. Some jurisdictions, for example, Norway, Sweden, and Canada legalize and regulate online gambling, but this is limited to a single site that is owned by the government. Under such an approach, the government becomes the operator and regulator and all revenues are returned to the government. Remote gambling is generally permitted. That means that an operator that is licensed may provide gambling services to citizens in the country via all forms of remote communication (and using equipment that may be located in the country or abroad). Equally, a remote operator may be licensed to offer gambling services to citizens in any jurisdiction in the world using equipment located in the country. The law provides that, for each type of gambling (betting, gaming, and participating in a lottery), there will be two forms of license available: remote and non-remote forms (land-based). If you provide facilities for remote gambling, online or through other means, and advertise to consumers you will need a license from the licensing jurisdictions or local licensing authorities. Before an online gambling site signs up its first customer, before it accepts its first bet before the first card is dealt, it must be licensed by a recognized governmental entity.
Certain regions in the world have specific legislation in place that allows them to license and regulate companies that operate online gambling sites or provide industry services (such as the supply of gaming software). These regions are referred to as online gambling jurisdictions or licensing jurisdictions.
Depending on what type of entertainment you are going to implement in your internet establishment, you will have to apply for the corresponding permissions. Online gambling laws in Europe vary from one country to the next. The industry is well regulated in some countries and less so in others. There are several online gambling jurisdictions located in Europe. Some of these are members of the European Union (EU), and thus subject to the various rules and regulations of that body, while others are independent. Each of these jurisdictions has an authority that’s responsible for approving gambling sites for licenses that enable them to offer their services legally. They also regulate their licensees. Countries that Provide Gambling Licensing Today there are lots of licensing jurisdictions located all over the world and offering different terms for their customers. Depending on the country, licenses can be local, international (distributed in several countries), have a different set of documents for registration, costs of registration and further support, various operating conditions and other special details.
Which gambling license is both internationally recognized?
The government of Ireland offers casino operators, software, and service providers in the gambling industry, with a gambling license that allows gambling operators to conduct business related to casino, lotto, and other gaming-related activities. Ireland Gambling License is one of the most popular license for online casinos worldwide. Ireland has long been recognized as one of the preferred locations for Online Gambling operators to base their operations. This success has been due to a combination of factors, such as a progressive legislative system, political stability, first-rate telecommunications facilities, and a well established financial services industry. A wide range of gambling sites operates out of Ireland including sports betting, casino sites, poker, bingo, and more. In stark contrast, the UK is the largest regulated market for online gambling in the world, and corporations are already comfortable exploiting the intersections of gambling and gaming, betting in-play, social gaming, Bitcoin, financial trading and spread betting, betting exchanges, e-sports and, most profitably, mobile gambling. 40% and 60% of online gambling in the UK took place in Gibraltar.
International licensing
Europe is home to the following online gambling jurisdictions: Alderney, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Malta. Malta is currently the country that is most accommodating to gambling companies, and the license offers whitelisted online gambling in sports and casino games in many European territories. But takes an extreme amount of time in paperwork and background checks. Also, you pay 5% of all your gross profit to the EU.
Among countries offering gambling licensing services, the attention should be paid to Curaçao jurisdiction, which is considered to be one of the most promising for the online gaming business.
Curaçao Internet Gaming Association (also known as Curaçao eGaming) is both a regulator and a licensor, and its licensing works worldwide except Curaçao itself, USA, France and Netherlands. Using Curacao as an example, let us examine in detail the process of obtaining a license, the necessary documents and expenses. How to get a License on Curaçao
Documents necessary for company registration:
criminal record;
passport scans;
bank account confirmation;
documents proving payments for utility services.
After the company is registered, an operator can apply for the license providing the following documents:
a document certifying the right of domain possession;
description of games planned to be used in the project;
a list indicating countries of potential operation;
illustration of server locations to be used in the project;
a copy of the agreement with a software provider.
Gambling license cost:
Bank account opening $1000
Company registration $3600
Company management per year $3600
Application processing fee $1000
License fee per year $4800
Equipment/software fee starting from $1500
Server maintenance per year $6000
Apart from that pay for technical support and maintenance every year. The entire license issuing process takes between 2-4 weeks. Curacao Internet Gaming Association (CIGA) also has the power to review a license and, if it finds that an operator has breached a license condition, has the power to impose a range of sanctions including revocation of the license. Apple and Google Gambling Rules You’ll be surprised at the limited number of real money gambling app options available on the AppStore and Google Play Store. Most real money casino gaming is done through gambler’s mobile web browsers and not through mobile gambling apps that you’ll find for iPhone and Android phones. Apple allows online gambling applications in a few forms, and not just in places where it is explicitly permitted. They do not allow any payments through the applications – those have to be done on the websites. Apple has far stricter developer guidelines for iOS apps than Google does for Android apps, so it’s fine to assume that whatever you choose to download from iTunes is usually safe, secure, and meets a certain standard.
Any real money casino in the iTunes app is required to have proper licensing and permissions before Apple will approve the app for use or downloads. While Google Play is technically regulated, it is much more loose in what can be hosted.
Apple Store
Gambling, gaming, and lotteries can be tricky to manage and tend to be one of the most-regulated offerings on the App Store. Apple has rules for apps that support real money wagering, including sports betting and poker. Those apps and lotteries must have necessary licensing and permissions in the locations where the App is used, must be geo-restricted to those locations, and must be free on the App Store, and Apple rate even simulated gambling apps as appropriate only for users 17-years-old and up.
Play Store
Google keeps the reigns tight. To be able to successfully upload apps to the Google Play store, developers need to have a valid license for the specific countries they are targeting and comply with their regulations. The app must be free to download and must prevent under-age users from gambling in the app. As a final precaution, all gambling apps are required to display prominent information regarding responsible gambling practices. This brings its policy in line with the Apple App Store. Countries where gambling is illegal It is also important to remember that while gambling is growing rapidly in many places, in others it is totally or partially prohibited. As well as in the majority of the US, sports betting is illegal in India, Pakistan, and China, three of the largest gambling markets in the world. Most countries have rules against gambling. Almost all Islamic countries prohibit gambling of every kind, but many turn a blind eye to online gambling or simply do not have regulations in place for this grey area. In the United Arab Emirates, however, any kind of gambling is prosecuted. National lotteries are the only legal forms of wagering on the Asian country’s mainland. Cambodia, North Korea strictly forbids online and offline gambling amongst its own citizens but allows tourists to participate in these activities. Qatar is the strictest country of all when it comes to gambling laws. All forms of gambling activities are considered illegal, and even sports betting is not permissible. Starting your own gambling product Numerous online casino platforms in the market offer fantastic casino games like bingo, poker, roulette, and many more.
If you have an idea, but don’t know where to start, we advise you begin with a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) to pilot your proof of concept for investors. MVP spotlights your core features and lets your investors know there are bigger and better things to come.
For MVP you do not need a large team, just a few people are enough to create a fully functioning prototype. In the case of successful numbers of your prototype, the further development of a full-fledged product will require more team, resources and time, however you will be sure that your development and your costs will pay off.
With the growing trend of major centralised crypto exchanges dramatically changing their terms of service to exclude customers from the US (amongst others), there is still a belief among the community that the same forces will combine together on decentralised exchanges (DEX). There are several reasons why this isn’t going to happen on the scale that is needed, and only compliant centralised crypto exchanges will emerge victorious. Also, this is not the first-time offshore companies and P2P platforms have tangled with regulators, so I want to recap on a few of the correlations between past lawsuits and the current situation with crypto exchanges.
Online Poker
In 2006 the US passed the SAFE Port Act which contained the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), ultimately this prohibited the online gaming sites performing any transactions with American Financial Institutions. While many of the operators closed its doors completely to US customers, a few operators including the two then largest (PokerStars & Full Tilt) continued in defiance waiting for the bill . As with exchanges, poker sites rely heavily on centralised traffic to get the volume that the leaders are famous for. PokerStars, operating from the Isle of Man, had assured users that it could continue operating under the advice of their lawyers. Poker, at this time was debatable whether it was in the scope of the legislation of the bill, although the DOJ openly disagreed. By 2010 the Justice Department had spent years hunting down and prosecuting those involved in processing U.S. payments for PokerStars and other offshore websites. Then in early 2011, known as BLACK FRIDAY, the justice department intervened decisively, freezing funds around the world. This included 75 bank accounts associated with the gambling firms, including Swiss accounts linked to PokerStars companies. A little more than a year after Black Friday, PokerStars paid $547 million to settle the Justice Department’s civil claims , without admitting wrongdoing or liability. As part of the deal, it promised to never again take U.S. poker players’ money and to ensure that then owner, and still a fugitive, Isai Scheinberg – was no longer directly involved in running the business. What does this have to do with exchanges you ask? Should an exchange be seen to be operating outside of a countries law, they may be offshore and not directly answerable to that country, but if they are deemed to be turning a blind eye to money laundering, bank fraud, violating security laws etc. then the funds are NOT safu. Even without the seizures, compliant operators could be forced not to deal with funds originating from non-compliant exchanges, DEX, mixers etc. so your FIAT ramps in your jurisdiction would be effectively nullified. Given that the world currently (and for the foreseeable future) operates primarily in FIAT. The possibility of this alone would severely limit the majority interest in using these services, and resulting in little volume.
P2P File Sharing vs DEXs
As with using a DEX, P2P file sharing attempts to circumnavigate laws and regulations by leaving the transaction in the hands of the users. In many places this system falls over because as with most DEX, P2P file sharing platforms largely rely on a central site/operator to maintain the network/database such as KickAss Torrents and Napster. These operators can be prosecuted on the basis that if they are deemed capable of supervising/controlling any infringements or whether they stand to benefit financially. Napster in this case was deemed to be financially benefiting purely on the basis that they were gaining users and it could be used to serve future business models. This ruling throws questions over the culpability of operators such as IDEX and BINANCE DEX as they have more of a direct financial interest in their operations by giving listings and taking fees like a regular exchange does. The SEC has already landed charges on the ETHERDELTA founder for operating an unregistered exchange in November 2018, albeit a DEX. Yes, there are true P2P file sharing operators and true DEXs and they both suffer from similar issues. Primarily - speed, a true DEX cannot deliver the speed required for high volume assets and high frequency trading. Secondly, as a user of a P2P system you are not absolved of the laws regarding your transactions, you can still be prosecuted even if the operator can’t. The possibility of these two points alone will also severely limit the majority interest in using these services, and yet again less volume. Using a DEX is also not a solution for the mainstream, while P2P file sharing was very widespread and common, people were happy to take the risk for a free mp3 or movie, it mainly served a different client base to the investor community. Any serious investor (retail or institutional) coming into the crypto space will not be willing to risk a portion of their portfolio on non-complaint exchanges as regulations continue to tighten.
The Resistance
There will be many that disagree with compliance, mainly those that have been in the space the longest. Like the internet, its no longer the playground it was back in the early 90s as user numbers started dramatically increasing, yet here we are using the same basic tools discussing a new one. This doesn't mean the end of DEXs and underground trading. I do however think that these will not be the places where the next major IEOs are taking place and where the high volume assets will be traded. For the crypto space to continue to push through to the mainstream and get new money coming into the space so BTC could reach new highs, changes are going to happen. The ideology of the past will have to adapt, and lets not forget how tainted it is with scams, as with the early days of the internet. Trusted central hubs have been formed over the years, although they are not all without fault, they serve a purpose and have also had to adapt.
The Future
The next generation of exchanges will undoubtedly be taking the market share of future trading alongside with crypto-fiat services. Coinbase are one of the few major exchanges that are looking safe in the current climate of compliance. New competition will drive down the fees as well so Coinbase will have to adapt to maintain its share in the US/Europe, as with in Europe, the launch of Eterbase with integrated IBAN banking will surely shake up the industry. Exchanges that are currently side stepping compliance such as Binance, Gate.io, Huobi, and Kraken (although on May 15, 2018, Powell said that Kraken "would probably get registered as a broker dealer and then an ATS" with the SEC), will soon find themselves under more international pressure and possibly prosecution if they operate without due diligence in regulated markets. Trade Safu.
Brexit & Online Gambling - Consequences After the British Move
There are three areas that Brexit could affect the online gambling industry in the world. The reality is, gambling is not regulated centrally in many European Union countries; instead, each nation has its own licensing procedures and laws. As a result, most UK online gamblers will not realize much difference when the state breaks from the European Union. However, if you bet with a non-UK company, you could possibly be pulled out of the market. Brexit will also cause a significant impact on bookmakers, who will be needed to decide about where to situation their online operations. Most of them are likely to shift from the UK to other EU gambling hubs such as Malta, and the cost of the move could hurt betters. Trade and tax agreements could also mean increased gambling website costs that might end up costing punters. The Gambling Industry in the UK will enter Brexit in a very healthy condition. No EU country has as many resources and wealth in the gambling industry as the UK. Therefore, UK gambling companies are in an excellent position to deal with Brexit. Thus, the EU is less likely to turn against them. Regarding the current relationship between the UK and the EU, the EU does not always have a clear approach to gambling. They tend to avoid being directly involved in tax-related issues, so the UK has always been free to increase or decrease its taxes. The UK has the most regulated gambling industry in Europe, and that means that Brexit should not result in regulation issues at home since the laws and processes that are already in place will continue functioning. A significant aspect to understand concerning Brexit is that the EU has a big part of the gambling market, accounting for about 50% of the total gambling revenue in the world. The problem with the European Union online casinos is that each member country has its gambling legislation. Therefore, not much is expected to change the post-Brexit outcomes in terms of gambling in the European Union. UK's gambling legislation requires companies to have relevant authority or licenses to operate in various EU nations. Likewise, gambling companies from other EU nations with UK licenses will continue working in the UK. However, most online gambling companies such as Casinochap.com might need to establish offices in the EU – or EU companies establish themselves in the UK – to provide their services without restrictions. They might become subjects to higher taxes on profit and less access to foreign employees. However, nothing will change immediately from the perspective of the customer. Gambling companies have taken advantage of the EU in various ways, including establishing themselves in countries that have better taxing rules and cheap employment. For instance, most online casinos are based in European countries where wages are lower than the market average, such as Romania and Bulgaria. That enables them to employ individuals for less money than the case would be. Various bookmakers in the UK have been able to use the EU to sell their services to EU countries without additional tariffs.
Regulation and Crypto Exchanges - How do we move forward?
With the growing trend of major centralised crypto exchanges dramatically changing their terms of service to exclude customers from the US (amongst others), there is still a belief among the community that the same forces will combine together on decentralised exchanges (DEX). There are several reasons why this isn’t going to happen on the scale that is needed, and only compliant centralised crypto exchanges will emerge victorious. Also, this is not the first-time offshore companies and P2P platforms have tangled with regulators, so I want to recap on a few of the correlations between past lawsuits and the current situation with crypto exchanges.
Online Poker
In 2006 the US passed the SAFE Port Act which contained the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), ultimately this prohibited the online gaming sites performing any transactions with American Financial Institutions. While many of the operators closed its doors completely to US customers, a few operators including the two then largest (PokerStars & Full Tilt) continued in defiance waiting for the bill . As with exchanges, poker sites rely heavily on centralised traffic to get the volume that the leaders are famous for. PokerStars, operating from the Isle of Man, had assured users that it could continue operating under the advice of their lawyers. Poker, at this time was debatable whether it was in the scope of the legislation of the bill, although the DOJ openly disagreed. By 2010 the Justice Department had spent years hunting down and prosecuting those involved in processing U.S. payments for PokerStars and other offshore websites. Then in early 2011, known as BLACK FRIDAY, the justice department intervened decisively, freezing funds around the world. This included 75 bank accounts associated with the gambling firms, including Swiss accounts linked to PokerStars companies. A little more than a year after Black Friday, PokerStars paid $547 million to settle the Justice Department’s civil claims , without admitting wrongdoing or liability. As part of the deal, it promised to never again take U.S. poker players’ money and to ensure that then owner, and still a fugitive, Isai Scheinberg – was no longer directly involved in running the business. What does this have to do with exchanges you ask? Should an exchange be seen to be operating outside of a countries law, they may be offshore and not directly answerable to that country, but if they are deemed to be turning a blind eye to money laundering, bank fraud, violating security laws etc. then the funds are NOT safu. Even without the seizures, compliant operators could be forced not to deal with funds originating from non-compliant exchanges, DEX, mixers etc. so your FIAT ramps in your jurisdiction would be effectively nullified. Given that the world currently (and for the foreseeable future) primarily operates in FIAT. The possibility of this alone would severely limit the majority interest in using these services, and resulting in little volume.
P2P File Sharing vs DEXs
As with using a DEX, P2P file sharing attempts to circumnavigate laws and regulations by leaving the transaction in the hands of the users. In many places this system falls over because as with most DEX, P2P file sharing platforms largely rely on a central site/operator to maintain the network/database such as KickAss Torrents and Napster. These operators can be prosecuted on the basis that if they are deemed capable of supervising/controlling any infringements or whether they stand to benefit financially. Napster in this case was deemed to be financially benefiting purely on the basis that they were gaining users and it could be used to serve future business models. This ruling throws questions over the culpability of operators such as IDEX and BINANCE DEX as they have more of a direct financial interest in their operations by giving listings and taking fees like a regular exchange does. The SEC has already landed charges on the ETHERDELTA founder for operating an unregistered exchange in November 2018, albeit a DEX. Yes, there are true P2P file sharing operators and true DEXs and they both suffer from similar issues. Primarily - speed, a true DEX cannot deliver the speed required for high volume assets and high frequency trading. Secondly, as a user of a P2P system you are not absolved of the laws regarding your transactions, you can still be prosecuted even if the operator can’t. The possibility of these two points alone will also severely limit the majority interest in using these services, and yet again less volume. Using a DEX is also not a solution for the mainstream, while P2P file sharing was very widespread and common, people were happy to take the risk for a free mp3 or movie, it mainly served a different client base to the investor community. Any serious investor (retail or institutional) coming into the crypto space will not be willing to risk a portion of their portfolio on non-complaint exchanges as regulations continue to tighten.
The Resistance
There will be many that disagree with compliance, mainly those that have been in the space the longest. Like the internet, its no longer the playground it was back in the early 90s as user numbers started dramatically increasing, yet here we are using the same basic tools discussing a new one. This doesn't mean the end of DEXs and underground trading. I do however think that these will not be the places where the next major IEOs are taking place and where the high volume assets will be traded. For the crypto space to continue to push through to the mainstream and get enough money coming into this space so BTC could reach $100k or more, changes are going to happen. The ideology of the past will have to adapt, and lets not forget how tainted it is with scams, as with the early days of the internet. Trusted central hubs have been formed over the years, although they are not all without fault, they serve a purpose and have also had to adapt.
The Future
The next generation of exchanges will undoubtedly be taking the market share of future trading alongside with crypto-fiat services. Coinbase are one of the few major exchanges that are looking safe in the current climate of compliance. New competition will drive down the fees as well so Coinbase will have to adapt to maintain its share in the US/Europe, as with in Europe, the launch of Eterbase with integrated IBAN banking will surely shake up the industry. Exchanges that are currently side stepping compliance such as Binance, Gate.io, Huobi, and Kraken (although on May 15, 2018, Powell said that Kraken "would probably get registered as a broker dealer and then an ATS" with the SEC), will soon find themselves under more international pressure and possibly prosecution if they operate without due diligence in regulated markets. Trade Safu.
Malta leads on cryptoassets regulation while EU ponders
FILE PHOTO: Virtual currency Bitcoin tokens are seen in this illustration picture, December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoFebruary 26, 2019 By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) – As the European Commission ponders whether the European Union needs rules for cryptoassets and trading in virtual currencies, EU states are moving ahead with their own regulations, with the smallest of them, Malta, leading the pack. The risks of investing in the industry were made clear last year when Bitcoin, the most successful cryptocurrency, lost three-quarters of its value from a peak around $20,000 in late 2017. The market capitalization of cryptoassets dropped to $110 billion at the end of January from $830 billion a year earlier. These market developments have occurred in a “legal vacuum”, said Robert Ophele, the head of France’s financial regulator. Speaking at a financial-technology conference in Brussels, he urged the EU Commission to propose new regulations to address risks. Last month, EU regulators called for new rules to prevent money laundering and protect investors. But the Commission, the sole source of new EU legislation, so far has avoided taking action, fearing it will hamper the nascent industry. “We have to make sure that our financial sector rules do not inadvertently hinder useful innovation,” said the financial services commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis. Brussels was still considering whether EU action was needed, he said. MALTA HUB Individual EU states are moving into the vacuum, despite risks that uncoordinated action could weaken the EU market. The French parliament is passing cryptoassets legislation, and Germany’s finance ministry has begun a consultation on a blockchain strategy that will be published before summer. Smaller states are ahead of them. Luxembourg passed its rules this year, and the Baltic countries have long been active in the sector, industry consultant Peter Moricz said. The boldest is Malta, which has set up a broad regulatory framework and aims to become Europe’s cryptohub. “We are the first EU jurisdiction to have a complete framework that caters for all key areas of risk: the risks to consumers, market integrity, financial crime and cyber security,” Joseph Cuschieri, the head of the Maltese financial regulator, told the Brussels conference. The Mediterranean island is already home to the EU’s largest online gambling industry and a large financial-services sector, which have been drawn there by advanced regulation and low taxes. But these successes have partly been marred by foreign investigations of several gambling firms and banks on the island that have exposed weak enforcement by local authorities. “As a result of these failures, we have learnt how to strengthen our supervision,” said Christopher Buttigieg, a top supervisor at Malta Financial Services Authority. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, editing by Larry King) Source: OANN from MAGA First News https://magafirstnews.com/oan-newsroom/malta-leads-on-cryptoassets-regulation-while-eu-ponders/ via IFTTT
Malta leads on cryptoassets regulation while EU ponders
FILE PHOTO: Virtual currency Bitcoin tokens are seen in this illustration picture, December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoFebruary 26, 2019 By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) – As the European Commission ponders whether the European Union needs rules for cryptoassets and trading in virtual currencies, EU states are moving ahead with their own regulations, with the smallest of them, Malta, leading the pack. The risks of investing in the industry were made clear last year when Bitcoin, the most successful cryptocurrency, lost three-quarters of its value from a peak around $20,000 in late 2017. The market capitalization of cryptoassets dropped to $110 billion at the end of January from $830 billion a year earlier. These market developments have occurred in a “legal vacuum”, said Robert Ophele, the head of France’s financial regulator. Speaking at a financial-technology conference in Brussels, he urged the EU Commission to propose new regulations to address risks. Last month, EU regulators called for new rules to prevent money laundering and protect investors. But the Commission, the sole source of new EU legislation, so far has avoided taking action, fearing it will hamper the nascent industry. “We have to make sure that our financial sector rules do not inadvertently hinder useful innovation,” said the financial services commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis. Brussels was still considering whether EU action was needed, he said. MALTA HUB Individual EU states are moving into the vacuum, despite risks that uncoordinated action could weaken the EU market. The French parliament is passing cryptoassets legislation, and Germany’s finance ministry has begun a consultation on a blockchain strategy that will be published before summer. Smaller states are ahead of them. Luxembourg passed its rules this year, and the Baltic countries have long been active in the sector, industry consultant Peter Moricz said. The boldest is Malta, which has set up a broad regulatory framework and aims to become Europe’s cryptohub. “We are the first EU jurisdiction to have a complete framework that caters for all key areas of risk: the risks to consumers, market integrity, financial crime and cyber security,” Joseph Cuschieri, the head of the Maltese financial regulator, told the Brussels conference. The Mediterranean island is already home to the EU’s largest online gambling industry and a large financial-services sector, which have been drawn there by advanced regulation and low taxes. But these successes have partly been marred by foreign investigations of several gambling firms and banks on the island that have exposed weak enforcement by local authorities. “As a result of these failures, we have learnt how to strengthen our supervision,” said Christopher Buttigieg, a top supervisor at Malta Financial Services Authority. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, editing by Larry King) Source: OANN from MAGA First News https://magafirstnews.com/oan-newsroom/malta-leads-on-cryptoassets-regulation-while-eu-ponders/ via IFTTT
Malta leads on cryptoassets regulation while EU ponders
FILE PHOTO: Virtual currency Bitcoin tokens are seen in this illustration picture, December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoFebruary 26, 2019 By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) – As the European Commission ponders whether the European Union needs rules for cryptoassets and trading in virtual currencies, EU states are moving ahead with their own regulations, with the smallest of them, Malta, leading the pack. The risks of investing in the industry were made clear last year when Bitcoin, the most successful cryptocurrency, lost three-quarters of its value from a peak around $20,000 in late 2017. The market capitalization of cryptoassets dropped to $110 billion at the end of January from $830 billion a year earlier. These market developments have occurred in a “legal vacuum”, said Robert Ophele, the head of France’s financial regulator. Speaking at a financial-technology conference in Brussels, he urged the EU Commission to propose new regulations to address risks. Last month, EU regulators called for new rules to prevent money laundering and protect investors. But the Commission, the sole source of new EU legislation, so far has avoided taking action, fearing it will hamper the nascent industry. “We have to make sure that our financial sector rules do not inadvertently hinder useful innovation,” said the financial services commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis. Brussels was still considering whether EU action was needed, he said. MALTA HUB Individual EU states are moving into the vacuum, despite risks that uncoordinated action could weaken the EU market. The French parliament is passing cryptoassets legislation, and Germany’s finance ministry has begun a consultation on a blockchain strategy that will be published before summer. Smaller states are ahead of them. Luxembourg passed its rules this year, and the Baltic countries have long been active in the sector, industry consultant Peter Moricz said. The boldest is Malta, which has set up a broad regulatory framework and aims to become Europe’s cryptohub. “We are the first EU jurisdiction to have a complete framework that caters for all key areas of risk: the risks to consumers, market integrity, financial crime and cyber security,” Joseph Cuschieri, the head of the Maltese financial regulator, told the Brussels conference. The Mediterranean island is already home to the EU’s largest online gambling industry and a large financial-services sector, which have been drawn there by advanced regulation and low taxes. But these successes have partly been marred by foreign investigations of several gambling firms and banks on the island that have exposed weak enforcement by local authorities. “As a result of these failures, we have learnt how to strengthen our supervision,” said Christopher Buttigieg, a top supervisor at Malta Financial Services Authority. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, editing by Larry King) Source: OANN from MAGA First News https://magafirstnews.com/oan-newsroom/malta-leads-on-cryptoassets-regulation-while-eu-ponders/ via IFTTT
Malta leads on cryptoassets regulation while EU ponders
FILE PHOTO: Virtual currency Bitcoin tokens are seen in this illustration picture, December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoFebruary 26, 2019 By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) – As the European Commission ponders whether the European Union needs rules for cryptoassets and trading in virtual currencies, EU states are moving ahead with their own regulations, with the smallest of them, Malta, leading the pack. The risks of investing in the industry were made clear last year when Bitcoin, the most successful cryptocurrency, lost three-quarters of its value from a peak around $20,000 in late 2017. The market capitalization of cryptoassets dropped to $110 billion at the end of January from $830 billion a year earlier. These market developments have occurred in a “legal vacuum”, said Robert Ophele, the head of France’s financial regulator. Speaking at a financial-technology conference in Brussels, he urged the EU Commission to propose new regulations to address risks. Last month, EU regulators called for new rules to prevent money laundering and protect investors. But the Commission, the sole source of new EU legislation, so far has avoided taking action, fearing it will hamper the nascent industry. “We have to make sure that our financial sector rules do not inadvertently hinder useful innovation,” said the financial services commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis. Brussels was still considering whether EU action was needed, he said. MALTA HUB Individual EU states are moving into the vacuum, despite risks that uncoordinated action could weaken the EU market. The French parliament is passing cryptoassets legislation, and Germany’s finance ministry has begun a consultation on a blockchain strategy that will be published before summer. Smaller states are ahead of them. Luxembourg passed its rules this year, and the Baltic countries have long been active in the sector, industry consultant Peter Moricz said. The boldest is Malta, which has set up a broad regulatory framework and aims to become Europe’s cryptohub. “We are the first EU jurisdiction to have a complete framework that caters for all key areas of risk: the risks to consumers, market integrity, financial crime and cyber security,” Joseph Cuschieri, the head of the Maltese financial regulator, told the Brussels conference. The Mediterranean island is already home to the EU’s largest online gambling industry and a large financial-services sector, which have been drawn there by advanced regulation and low taxes. But these successes have partly been marred by foreign investigations of several gambling firms and banks on the island that have exposed weak enforcement by local authorities. “As a result of these failures, we have learnt how to strengthen our supervision,” said Christopher Buttigieg, a top supervisor at Malta Financial Services Authority. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, editing by Larry King) Source: OANN from MAGA First News https://magafirstnews.com/oan-newsroom/malta-leads-on-cryptoassets-regulation-while-eu-ponders/ via IFTTT
Malta leads on cryptoassets regulation while EU ponders
FILE PHOTO: Virtual currency Bitcoin tokens are seen in this illustration picture, December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoFebruary 26, 2019 By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) – As the European Commission ponders whether the European Union needs rules for cryptoassets and trading in virtual currencies, EU states are moving ahead with their own regulations, with the smallest of them, Malta, leading the pack. The risks of investing in the industry were made clear last year when Bitcoin, the most successful cryptocurrency, lost three-quarters of its value from a peak around $20,000 in late 2017. The market capitalization of cryptoassets dropped to $110 billion at the end of January from $830 billion a year earlier. These market developments have occurred in a “legal vacuum”, said Robert Ophele, the head of France’s financial regulator. Speaking at a financial-technology conference in Brussels, he urged the EU Commission to propose new regulations to address risks. Last month, EU regulators called for new rules to prevent money laundering and protect investors. But the Commission, the sole source of new EU legislation, so far has avoided taking action, fearing it will hamper the nascent industry. “We have to make sure that our financial sector rules do not inadvertently hinder useful innovation,” said the financial services commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis. Brussels was still considering whether EU action was needed, he said. MALTA HUB Individual EU states are moving into the vacuum, despite risks that uncoordinated action could weaken the EU market. The French parliament is passing cryptoassets legislation, and Germany’s finance ministry has begun a consultation on a blockchain strategy that will be published before summer. Smaller states are ahead of them. Luxembourg passed its rules this year, and the Baltic countries have long been active in the sector, industry consultant Peter Moricz said. The boldest is Malta, which has set up a broad regulatory framework and aims to become Europe’s cryptohub. “We are the first EU jurisdiction to have a complete framework that caters for all key areas of risk: the risks to consumers, market integrity, financial crime and cyber security,” Joseph Cuschieri, the head of the Maltese financial regulator, told the Brussels conference. The Mediterranean island is already home to the EU’s largest online gambling industry and a large financial-services sector, which have been drawn there by advanced regulation and low taxes. But these successes have partly been marred by foreign investigations of several gambling firms and banks on the island that have exposed weak enforcement by local authorities. “As a result of these failures, we have learnt how to strengthen our supervision,” said Christopher Buttigieg, a top supervisor at Malta Financial Services Authority. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, editing by Larry King) Source: OANN from MAGA First News https://magafirstnews.com/oan-newsroom/malta-leads-on-cryptoassets-regulation-while-eu-ponders/ via IFTTT
The First 40,000 Characters Of The Enron Wikipedia Page
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. Before its bankruptcy on December 3, 2001, Enron employed approximately 29,000 staff and was a major electricity, natural gas, communications and pulp and paper company, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion during 2000.[1] Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. At the end of 2001, it was revealed that Enron's reported financial condition was sustained by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known since as the Enron scandal. Enron has since become a well-known example of willful corporate fraud and corruption. The scandal also brought into question the accounting practices and activities of many corporations in the United States and was a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. The scandal also affected the greater business world by causing the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, which had been Enron's main auditor for years.[2] Enron filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York in late 2001 and selected Weil, Gotshal & Manges as its bankruptcy counsel. It ended its bankruptcy during November 2004, pursuant to a court-approved plan of reorganization. A new board of directors changed the name of Enron to Enron Creditors Recovery Corp., and emphasized reorganizing and liquidating certain operations and assets of the pre-bankruptcy Enron.[3] On September 7, 2006, Enron sold Prisma Energy International Inc., its last remaining business, to Ashmore Energy International Ltd. (now AEI).[4] Contents
1 History 1.1 Pre-merger origins (1925–1985) 1.1.1 InterNorth 1.1.2 Houston Natural Gas 1.1.3 Merger 1.2 Post-merger rise (1985–1991) 1.3 1991–2000 1.3.1 Operations as a trading firm 1.3.2 Entrance into the retail energy market 1.3.3 Data management 1.3.4 Overseas expansion 1.4 Misleading financial accounts 2 2001 Accounting scandals 2.1 Accounting practices 2.2 Post-bankruptcy 3 Insider trading scandal 3.1 Peak and decline of stock price 4 California's deregulation and subsequent energy crisis 5 Former management and corporate governance 6 Products 6.1 Online marketplace services 6.2 Broadband services 6.3 Energy and commodities services 6.4 Capital and risk management services 6.4.1 Commercial and industrial outsourcing services 6.4.2 Project development and management services 6.5 EnronOnline 6.6 Enron International 6.6.1 Management 6.6.2 Projects 6.6.3 India 6.6.4 Project summer 6.7 Enron Global Exploration & Production, Inc. 7 Enron Prize for Distinguished Public Service 8 Enron's influence on politics 9 See also 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 External links 12.1 Data
History Pre-merger origins (1925–1985) InterNorth One of Enron's primary predecessors was the Northern Natural Gas Company, which was formed in 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska just a few months after Black Tuesday. The low cost of natural gas and cheap labor supply during the Great Depression helped to fuel the company's early beginnings. The company doubled in size by 1932 and was able to bring the first natural gas to Minnesota. Over the next 50 years, Northern expanded even more as it acquired many energy companies and created new divisions within. It was reorganized in 1979 as the main subsidiary of a holding company, InterNorth, which was a diversified energy and energy-related products company. Although most of the acquisitions conducted were successful, some ended poorly. InterNorth competed with Cooper Industries over a hostile takeover of Crouse-Hinds Company, an electrical products manufacturer. InterNorth was ultimately unsuccessful as Cooper bought out Crouse-Hinds. Cooper and InterNorth feuded over numerous suits during the course of the takeover that were eventually settled after the transaction was completed. The subsidiary Northern Natural Gas operated the largest natural gas pipeline company in North America. By the 1980s, InterNorth became a major force for natural gas production, transmission, and marketing as well as for natural gas liquids, and was an innovator in the plastics industry.[5] In 1983, InterNorth merged with the Belco Petroleum Company, a Fortune 500 oil exploration and development company founded by Arthur Belfer.[6] Houston Natural Gas The Houston Natural Gas (HNG) corporation was initially formed from the Houston Oil Co. in 1925 to provide gas to customers in the Houston market through the building of gas pipelines. Under the leadership of CEO Robert Herring from 1967 to 1981, the company became a large dominant force in the energy industry with a large pipeline network as a result from a prosperous period of growth in the early to mid-1970s. This growth was largely a result of the exploitation of the unregulated Texas natural gas market and the commodity surge in the early 1970s. Toward the end of the 1970s, HNG's luck began to run out with rising gas prices forcing clients to switch to oil. In addition, with the passing of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, the Texas market was more difficult to profit from and as a result, HNG's profits fell. After Herring's death in 1981, M.D. Matthews briefly took over as CEO in a 3-year stint with initial success, but ultimately, a big dip in earnings led to his exit. In 1984, Kenneth Lay succeeded Matthews and inherited the troubled, but large diversified energy conglomerate.[7] Merger InterNorth, in its conservative success became a target of corporate takeovers, the most prominent being corporate raider Irwin Jacobs.[8] InterNorth CEO Sam Segnar, in searching for a company to merge with to fend off takeover attempts as a poison pill, discovered HNG. In May 1985, Internorth acquired HNG for $2.3 billion, 40% higher than the current market price,[9] in order to avoid the corporate takeover attempt. The combined assets of the two companies would create the second largest gas pipeline system at the time in the United States.[10] Internorth’s north-south pipelines that served Iowa and Minnesota complemented HNG’s Florida and California east-west pipelines well.[9] Post-merger rise (1985–1991) The company was initially named "HNG/InterNorth Inc.", even though InterNorth was technically the parent.[10] At the outset, Segnar was CEO for a short time, before he was fired by the Board of Directors whereupon Lay was tapped to be the new CEO. Lay moved the headquarters of the new company back to energy capital Houston. The company then set out to find a new name, spent upwards of $100,000 in focus groups and consulting before "Enteron" was suggested. The name was eventually dismissed over its apparent likening to an intestine and shortened to "Enron."[8][9] (The distinctive logo was one of the final major projects of legendary graphic designer Paul Rand before his 1996 passing.)[11][12][13] Enron still had some lingering problems left over from its merger, however. The company had to pay Jacobs, who was still a threat, over $350 million and reorganize the company.[8] Lay sold off any parts of the company that he believed didn't belong in the long-term future of Enron. Lay consolidated all the gas pipeline efforts under the Enron Gas Pipeline Operating Company. In addition, the company began to ramp up its electric power and natural gas efforts. In 1988 and 1989, the company began adding power plants and cogeneration units to its portfolio. In 1989, Jeffrey Skilling, then a consultant at McKinsey & Co., came up with the idea to link natural gas to consumers in more ways, effectively turning natural gas into a commodity. Enron adopted the idea and called it the "Gas Bank." The division's success prompted Skilling to join Enron as the head of the Gas Bank in 1991.[10] Another major development inside Enron was the beginning of the company's pivot to overseas that was expanded upon in the 1990s. Starting in 1989, the company received a $56 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) for a power plant in Argentina. Enron Complex in Downtown Houston. 1991–2000 Over the course of the 1990s, Enron made a few changes to its business plan that greatly improved the perceived profitability of the company. First, Enron invested heavily in overseas assets, specifically energy. Another major shift was the gradual transition of focus from a producer of energy to a company that acted more like an investment firm and sometimes a hedge fund, making profits off the margins of the products it traded. These products were traded through the Gas Bank concept, now called the Enron Finance Corp. headed by Skilling.[8] Operations as a trading firm With the success of the Gas Bank trading natural gas, Skilling looked to expand the horizons of his division, Enron Capital & Trade. Skilling hired Andrew Fastow in 1990 to help with this. Entrance into the retail energy market Starting in 1994 under the Energy Policy Act of 1992, Congress allowed states to deregulate their electricity utilities, allowing them to be opened for competition. California was one such state to do so. Enron, seeing an opportunity with rising prices, was eager to jump into the market. In 1997, Enron acquired Portland General Electric (PGE). Although an Oregon utility, it had potential to begin serving the massive California market since PGE was a regulated utility. The new Enron division, Enron Energy, ramped up its efforts by offering discounts to potential customers in California for switching their electric supplier to Enron from their previous supplier, starting in 1998. Enron Energy also began to sell natural gas to customers in Ohio and wind power in Iowa. However, in 1999, the company ended its retail endeavor, only offering wholesale energy as it was revealed it was spending upwards of $100 million a year.[5][8][10] Data management As fiber optic technology progressed in the 1990s, multiple companies, including Enron, attempted to make money by "keeping the continuing network costs low", which was done by owning their own network.[14] In 1997, FTV Communications LLC, a limited liability company formed by Enron subsidiary FirstPoint Communications, Inc., Williams Communications Group, Inc. and Touch America.[15] FTV constructed a 1,380 mile fiber optic network between Portland and Las Vegas.[15] In 1998, Enron constructed a building in a rundown area of Las Vegas near E Sahara, building right over the "backbone" of fiber optic cables providing service to technology companies nationwide.[16] The location had the ability to send "the entire Library of Congress anywhere in the world within minutes" and could stream "video to the whole state of California".[16] The location was also more protected from natural disasters than areas such as Los Angeles or the East Coast.[16] According to Wall Street Daily, "Enron had a secret," it "wanted to trade bandwidth like it traded oil, gas, electricity, etc. It launched a secret plan to build an enormous amount of fiber optic transmission capacity in Las Vegas ... it was all part of Enron’s plan to essentially own the internet",[17] essentially, Enron sought to have all US internet service providers rely on their Nevada facility to supply bandwidth, which Enron would sell in a fashion similar to other commodities.[18] In January 2000, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling announced to analysts that they were going to open trading for their own "high-speed fiber-optic networks that form the backbone for Internet traffic". Investors quickly bought Enron stock following the announcement "as they did with most things Internet-related at the time", with stock prices rising from $40 per share in January 2000 to $70 per share in March, peaking at $90 in the summer of 2000. Enron executives obtained windfall gains from the rising stock prices, with a total of $924 million of stocks sold by high-level Enron employees between 2000 and 2001. Head of Enron Broadband Services, Kenneth Rice, sold 1 million shares himself, earning about $70 million in returns. As prices of existing fiber optic cables plummeted due to the vast oversupply of the system, with only 5% of the 40 million miles being active wires, Enron purchased the inactive "dark fibers", expecting to buy them at low cost and then make a profit as the need for more usage by internet providers increased, with Enron expecting to lease its acquired dark fibers in 20 year contracts to providers. However, Enron's accounting would use estimates to determine how much their dark fiber would be worth when "lit" and apply those estimates to their current income, adding exaggerated revenue to their accounts since transactions were not yet made and it was not known if the cables would ever be active. Enron's trading with other energy companies within the broadband market was its attempt to lure large telecommunications companies, such as Verizon Communications, into its broadband scheme to create its own new market.[19] By the second quarter of 2001, Enron Broadband Services was reporting losses. On March 12, 2001, a proposed 20-year deal between Enron and Blockbuster Inc. to stream movies on demand over Enron's connections was cancelled, with Enron shares dropping from $80 per share in mid-February 2001 to below $60 the week after the deal was killed. The branch of the company that Jeffrey Skilling "said would eventually add $40 billion to Enron's stock value" added only about $408 million in revenue for Enron in 2001, with the company's broadband arm closed shortly after its meager second-quarter earnings report in July 2001.[19] Following the bankruptcy of Enron, telecommunications holdings were sold for "pennies on the dollar".[16] In 2002, Rob Roy of Switch Communications purchased Enron's Nevada facility in an auction attended only by Roy. Enron's "fiber plans were so secretive that few people even knew about the auction." The facility was sold for only $930,000.[16][17] Following the sale, Switch expanded to control "the biggest data center in the world".[17] Overseas expansion Enron, seeing stability after the merger, began to look overseas for new possible energy opportunities in 1991. Enron's first such opportunity was a natural gas power plant utilizing cogeneration that the company built in Teesside, UK.[5][9] The power plant was so large it could produce up to 3% of the United Kingdom's electricity demand with a capacity of over 1,875 megawatts.[20] Seeing the success in England, the company developed and diversified its assets worldwide under the name of Enron International (EI), headed by former HNG executive Rebecca Mark. By 1994, EI's portfolio included assets in The Philippines, Australia, Guatemala, Germany, France, India, Argentina, the Caribbean, China, England, Colombia, Turkey, Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Norway, Poland, and Japan. The division was becoming a large share of earnings for Enron, contributing 25% of earnings in 1996. Mark and EI believed the water industry was the next market to be deregulated by authorities and seeing the potential, searched for ways to enter the market, similar to PGE. In 1998, Enron International acquired Wessex Water for $2.88 billion.[21] Wessex Water became the core asset of a new company, Azurix, which expanded to other water companies. After Azurix's promising IPO in June 1999, Enron "sucked out over $1 billion in cash while loading it up with debt", according to Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, authors of The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron.[22]:250 Additionally, British water regulators required Wessex to cut its rates by 12% starting in April 2000, and an upgrade was required of the utility's aging infrastructure, estimated at costing over a billion dollars.[22]:255 By the end of 2000 Azurix had an operating profit of less than $100 million and was $2 billion in debt.[22]:257 In August 2000, after Azurix stock took a plunge following its earnings report,[22]:257 Mark resigned from Azurix and Enron.[23][24] Azurix assets, including Wessex, were eventually sold by Enron.[25] Misleading financial accounts Main article: Enron scandal In 1990, Enron's Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Skilling hired Andrew Fastow, who was well acquainted with the burgeoning deregulated energy market that Skilling wanted to exploit.[citation needed] In 1993, Fastow began establishing numerous limited liability special purpose entities (a common business practice in the energy industry); however, it also allowed Enron to transfer liability so that it would not appear in its accounts, allowing it to maintain a robust and generally increasing stock price and thus keeping its critical investment grade credit ratings.[citation needed] Enron was originally involved in transmitting and distributing electricity and natural gas throughout the United States. The company developed, built, and operated power plants and pipelines while dealing with rules of law and other infrastructures worldwide.[citation needed] Enron owned a large network of natural gas pipelines, which stretched coast to coast and border to border including Northern Natural Gas, Florida Gas Transmission, Transwestern Pipeline company and a partnership in Northern Border Pipeline from Canada.[citation needed] The states of California, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island had already passed power deregulation laws by July 1996, the time of Enron's proposal to acquire Portland General Electric corporation.[26] During 1998, Enron began operations in the water sector, creating the Azurix Corporation, which it part-floated on the New York Stock Exchange during June 1999. Azurix failed to become successful in the water utility market, and one of its major concessions, in Buenos Aires, was a large-scale money-loser.[citation needed] After the relocation to Houston, many analysts[who?] criticized the Enron management as being greatly in debt. Enron management pursued aggressive retribution against its critics, setting the pattern for dealing with accountants, lawyers, and the financial media.[citation needed] Enron grew wealthy due largely to marketing, promoting power, and its high stock price.[citation needed] Enron was named "America's Most Innovative Company" by the magazine Fortune for six consecutive years, from 1996 to 2001.[27] It was on the Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list during 2000, and had offices that were stunning in their opulence. Enron was hailed by many, including labor and the workforce, as an overall great company, praised for its large long-term pensions, benefits for its workers and extremely effective management until the exposure of its corporate fraud. The first analyst to question the company's success story was Daniel Scotto, an energy market expert at BNP Paribas, who issued a note in August 2001 entitled Enron: All stressed up and no place to go, which encouraged investors to sell Enron stocks, although he only changed his recommendation on the stock from "buy" to "neutral".[28] As was later discovered, many of Enron's recorded assets and profits were inflated or even wholly fraudulent and nonexistent. One example of fraudulent records was during 1999 when Enron promised to repay Merrill Lynch & Co.'s investment with interest in order to show a profit on its books. Debts and losses were put into entities formed "offshore" that were not included in the company's financial statements, and other sophisticated and arcane financial transactions between Enron and related companies were used to eliminate unprofitable entities from the company's books.[citation needed] The company's most valuable asset and the largest source of honest income, the 1930s-era Northern Natural Gas company, was eventually purchased by a group of Omaha investors, who relocated its headquarters back to Omaha; it is now a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy. NNG was established as collateral for a $2.5 billion capital infusion by Dynegy Corporation when Dynegy was planning to buy Enron. When Dynegy examined Enron's financial records carefully, they repudiated the deal and dismissed their CEO, Chuck Watson. The new chairman and CEO, the late Daniel Dienstbier, had been president of NNG and an Enron executive at one time and was forced out of Enron by Ken Lay.[citation needed] Dienstbier was an acquaintance of Warren Buffett. NNG continues to be profitable now.[relevant? – discuss] 2001 Accounting scandals Main article: Enron scandal During 2001, after a series of revelations involving irregular accounting procedures bordering on fraud perpetrated throughout the 1990s involving Enron and its accounting company Arthur Andersen, Enron suffered the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in history (since surpassed by those of Worldcom during 2002 and Lehman Brothers during 2008). As the scandal progressed, Enron share prices decreased from US $90.56 during the summer of 2000, to just pennies.[29] Enron had been considered a blue chip stock investment, so this was an unprecedented event in the financial world. Enron's demise occurred after the revelation that much of its profits and revenue were the result of deals with special purpose entities (limited partnerships which it controlled). This meant that many of Enron's debts and the losses that it suffered were not reported in its financial statements.[citation needed] A rescue attempt by a similar, smaller energy company, Dynegy, failed during late November due to concerns about an unexpected restatement of earnings.[citation needed] Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001. In addition, the scandal caused the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which at the time was one of the "Big Five" - the world's foremost accounting firms. The company was found guilty of obstruction of justice during 2002 for destroying documents related to the Enron audit.[citation needed] Since the SEC is not allowed to accept audits from convicted felons, Andersen was forced to stop auditing public companies. Although the conviction was dismissed during 2005 by the Supreme Court, the damage to the Andersen name has prevented it from reviving as a viable business even on a limited scale. Enron also withdrew a naming-rights deal with the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club to have its name associated with their new stadium, which was known formerly as Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park).[30] Accounting practices Enron used a variety of deceptive, bewildering, and fraudulent accounting practices and tactics to cover its fraud in reporting Enron's financial information. Special Purpose Entities were created to mask significant liabilities from Enron's financial statements. These entities made Enron seem more profitable than it actually was, and created a dangerous spiral in which, each quarter, corporate officers would have to perform more and more financial deception to create the illusion of billions of dollars in profit while the company was actually losing money.[31] This practice increased their stock price to new levels, at which point the executives began to work on insider information and trade millions of dollars' worth of Enron stock. The executives and insiders at Enron knew about the offshore accounts that were hiding losses for the company; the investors, however, did not. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow directed the team which created the off-books companies, and manipulated the deals to provide himself, his family, and his friends with hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed revenue, at the expense of the corporation for which he worked and its stockholders.[citation needed] Arthur Andersen Witnesses During 1999, Enron initiated EnronOnline, an Internet-based trading operation, which was used by virtually every energy company in the United States. Enron president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling began advocating a novel idea: the company didn't really need any "assets".[citation needed] By promoting the company's aggressive investment strategy, he helped make Enron the biggest wholesaler of gas and electricity, trading over $27 billion per quarter. The corporation's financial claims, however, had to be accepted at face value. Under Skilling, Enron adopted mark to market accounting, in which anticipated future profits from any deal were tabulated as if currently real. Thus, Enron could record gains from what over time might turn out to be losses, as the company's fiscal health became secondary to manipulating its stock price on Wall Street during the so-called Tech boom.[citation needed] But when a company's success is measured by undocumented financial statements, actual balance sheets are inconvenient. Indeed, Enron's unscrupulous actions were often gambles to keep the deception going and so increase the stock price. An advancing price meant a continued infusion of investor capital on which debt-ridden Enron in large part subsisted (much like a financial "pyramid" or "Ponzi scheme"). Attempting to maintain the illusion, Skilling verbally attacked Wall Street Analyst Richard Grubman,[32] who questioned Enron's unusual accounting practice during a recorded conference telephone call. When Grubman complained that Enron was the only company that could not release a balance sheet along with its earnings statements, Skilling replied, "Well, thank you very much, we appreciate that ... asshole." Though the comment was met with dismay and astonishment by press and public, it became an inside joke among many Enron employees, mocking Grubman for his perceived meddling rather than Skilling's offensiveness.[33][34] When asked during his trial, Skilling declared that industrial dominance and abuse was a global problem: "Oh yes, yes sure, it is."[22] Post-bankruptcy Enron initially planned to retain its three domestic pipeline companies as well as most of its overseas assets. However, before emerging from bankruptcy, Enron sold its domestic pipeline companies as CrossCountry Energy for $2.45 billion [35] and later sold other assets to Vulcan Capital Management.[36] Enron sold its last business, Prisma Energy, during 2006, leaving Enron asset-less.[37] During early 2007, its name was changed to Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation. Its goal is to repay the old Enron's remaining creditors and end Enron's affairs. Azurix, the former water utility part of the company, remains under Enron ownership, although it is currently asset-less. It is involved in several litigations against the government of Argentina claiming compensation relating to the negligence and corruption of the local governance during its management of the Buenos Aires water concession during 1999, which resulted in substantial amounts of debt (approx. $620 million) and the eventual collapse of the branch.[38] Soon after emerging from bankruptcy during November 2004, Enron's new board of directors sued 11 financial institutions for helping Lay, Fastow, Skilling and others hide Enron's true financial condition. The proceedings were dubbed the "megaclaims litigation". Among the defendants were Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. As of 2008, Enron has settled with all of the institutions, ending with Citigroup. Enron was able to obtain nearly $7.2 billion to distribute to its creditors as a result of the megaclaims litigation.[39] As of December 2009, some claim and process payments were still being distributed. Enron has been featured since its bankruptcy in popular culture, including in The Simpsons episodes That '90s Show (Homer buys Enron stocks while Marge chooses to keep her own Microsoft stocks) and Special Edna, which features a scene of an Enron-themed amusement park ride. The 2007 film Bee Movie also featured a joke reference to a parody company of Enron called "Honron" (a play on the words honey and Enron). The 2017 book Bittersweet Symphony by Rebecca McNutt featured main character Bailey Kane discussing Enron while remarking, "in devastation there is opportunity, you know." The 2003 documentary The Corporation (2003 film) made frequent references to Enron post-bankruptcy, calling the company a "bad apple." Insider trading scandal Peak and decline of stock price During August 2000, Enron's stock price attained its greatest value of $90.56.[22] At this time Enron executives, who possessed inside information on the hidden losses, began to sell their stock. At the same time, the general public and Enron's investors were told to buy the stock. Executives told the investors that the stock would continue to increase until it attained possibly the $130 to $140 range, while secretly unloading their shares. As executives sold their shares, the price began to decrease. Investors were told to continue buying stock or hold steady if they already owned Enron because the stock price would rebound in the near future. Kenneth Lay's strategy for responding to Enron's continuing problems was his demeanor. As he did many times, Lay would issue a statement or make an appearance to calm investors and assure them that Enron was doing well.[40] In February 2001 an article by Bethany McLean appeared in Fortune magazine questioning whether Enron stock was overvalued.[41] By August 15, 2001, Enron's stock price had decreased to $42. Many of the investors still trusted Lay and believed that Enron would rule the market.[42] They continued to buy or retain their stock as the equity value decreased. As October ended, the stock had decreased to $15. Many considered this a great opportunity to buy Enron stock because of what Lay had been telling them in the media.[40] Lay was accused of selling more than $70 million worth of stock at this time, which he used to repay cash advances on lines of credit. He sold another $29 million worth of stock in the open market.[43] Also, Lay's wife, Linda, was accused of selling 500,000 shares of Enron stock totaling $1.2 million on November 28, 2001. The money earned from this sale did not go to the family but rather to charitable organizations, which had already received pledges of contributions from the foundation.[44] Records show that Mrs. Lay made the sale order sometime between 10:00 and 10:20 am. News of Enron's problems, including the millions of dollars in losses they hid, became public about 10:30 that morning, and the stock price soon decreased to less than one dollar. Former Enron executive Paula Rieker was charged with criminal insider trading and sentenced to two years probation. Rieker obtained 18,380 Enron shares for $15.51 a share. She sold that stock for $49.77 a share during July 2001, a week before the public was told what she already knew about the $102 million loss.[45] In 2002, after the tumultuous fall of Enron's external auditor, and management consultant, Andersen LLP, former Andersen Director, John M. Cunningham coined the phrase, "We have all been Enroned." The fallout resulted in both Lay and Skilling being convicted of conspiracy, fraud, and insider trading. Lay died before sentencing, Skilling got 24 years and 4 months and a $45 million penalty (later reduced). Fastow was sentenced to six years of jail time, and Lou Pai settled out of court for $31.5 million.[46] California's deregulation and subsequent energy crisis See also: California electricity crisis During October 2000, Daniel Scotto, the most renowned utility analyst on Wall Street, suspended his ratings on all energy companies conducting business in California because of the possibility that the companies would not receive full and adequate compensation for the deferred energy accounts used as the basis for the California Deregulation Plan enacted during the late 1990s.[47] Five months later, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) was forced into bankruptcy. Senator Phil Gramm, husband of Enron Board member Wendy Gramm and also the second largest recipient of campaign contributions from Enron,[48] succeeded in legislating California's energy commodity trading deregulation. Despite warnings from prominent consumer groups which stated that this law would give energy traders too much influence over energy commodity prices, the legislation was passed during December 2000. As the periodical Public Citizen reported, "Because of Enron's new, unregulated power auction, the company's 'Wholesale Services' revenues quadrupled—- from $12 billion in the first quarter of 2000 to $48.4 billion in the first quarter of 2001."[49] After passage of the deregulation law, California had a total of 38 Stage 3 rolling blackouts declared, until federal regulators intervened during June 2001.[50] These blackouts occurred as a result of a poorly designed market system that was manipulated by traders and marketers, as well as poor state management and regulatory oversight. Subsequently, Enron traders were revealed as intentionally encouraging the removal of power from the market during California's energy crisis by encouraging suppliers to shut down plants to perform unnecessary maintenance, as documented in recordings made at the time.[51][52] These acts contributed to the need for rolling blackouts, which adversely affected many businesses dependent upon a reliable supply of electricity, and inconvenienced a large number of retail customers. This scattered supply increased the price, and Enron traders were thus able to sell power at premium prices, sometimes up to a factor of 20x its normal peak value. Former management and corporate governance
Corporate Leadership and Central Management Kenneth Lay: Chairman, and Chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling: President, Chief operating officer, and CEO (February–August 2001) Andrew Fastow: Chief financial officer Richard Causey: Chief accounting officer Rebecca Mark-Jusbasche: CEO of Enron International and Azurix Lou Pai: CEO of Enron Energy Services Forrest Hoglund: CEO of Enron Oil and Gas Dennis Ulak: President of Enron Oil and Gas International Jeffrey Sherrick: President of Enron Global Exploration & Production Inc. Richard Gallagher: Head of Enron Wholesale Global International Group Kenneth "Ken" Rice: CEO of Enron Wholesale and Enron Broadband Services J. Clifford Baxter: CEO of Enron North America Sherron Watkins: Head of Enron Global Finance Jim Derrick: Enron General Counsel Mark Koenig: Head of Enron Investor Relations Joan Foley: Head of Enron Human Resources Richard Kinder: President and COO of Enron (1990-December 1996); Greg Whalley: President and COO of Enron (August 2001– Bankruptcy) Jeff McMahon: CFO of Enron (October 2001-Bankruptcy) Board of Directors of Enron Corporation Kenneth Lay: Chairman of the Board Robert A. Belfer Norman P. Blake Jr. Ronnie C. Chan John H. Duncan Wendy L. Gramm Ken L. Harrison Robert K. Jaedicke Charles A. LeMaistre John Mendelsohn Jerome J. Meyer Richard K. Gallagher Paulo V. Ferraz Pereira Frank Savage: John A. Urquhart: John Wakeham: Herbert S. Winokur Jr.
Products Enron traded in more than 30 different products, including the following:
Products traded on EnronOnline Petrochemicals Plastics Power Pulp and paper Steel Weather Risk Management Oil and LNG transportation Broadband Principal investments Risk management for commodities Shipping / freight Streaming media Water and wastewater
It was also an extensive futures trader, including sugar, coffee, grains, hogs, and other meat futures. At the time of its bankruptcy filing during December 2001, Enron was structured into seven distinct business units. Online marketplace services
EnronOnline (commodity trading platform). ClickPaper (transaction platform for pulp, paper, and wood products). EnronCredit (the first global online credit department to provide live credit prices and enable business-to-business customers to hedge credit exposure instantly via the Internet). ePowerOnline (customer interface for Enron Broadband Services). Enron Direct (sales of fixed-price contracts for gas and electricity; Europe only). EnergyDesk (energy-related derivatives trading; Europe only). NewPowerCompany (online energy trading, joint venture with IBM and AOL). Enron Weather (weather derivatives). DealBench (online business services). Water2Water (water storage, supply, and quality credits trading). HotTap (customer interface for Enron's U.S. gas pipeline businesses). Enromarkt (business to business pricing and information platform; Germany only).
Broadband services
Enron Intelligent Network (broadband content delivery). Enron Media Services (risk management services for media content companies). Customizable Bandwidth Solutions (bandwidth and fiber products trading). Streaming Media Applications (live or on-demand Internet broadcasting applications).
Energy and commodities services
Enron Power (electricity wholesaling). Enron Natural Gas (natural gas wholesaling). Enron Clean Fuels (biofuel wholesaling). Enron Pulp and Paper, Packaging, and Lumber (risk management derivatives for forest products industry). Enron Coal and Emissions (coal wholesaling and CO2 offsets trading). Enron Plastics and Petrochemicals (price risk management for polymers, olefins, methanol, aromatics, and natural gas liquids). Enron Weather Risk Management (Weather Derivatives). Enron Steel (financial swap contracts and spot pricing for the steel industry). Enron Crude Oil and Oil Products (petroleum hedging). Enron Wind Power Services (wind turbine manufacturing and wind farm operation). MG Plc. (U.K. metals merchant). Enron Energy Services (Selling services to industrial end users). Enron International (operation of all overseas assets).
Capital and risk management services Commercial and industrial outsourcing services
Commodity Management. Energy Asset Management. Energy Information Management. Facility Management. Capital Management. Azurix Inc. (water utilities and infrastructure).
Project development and management services
Energy Infrastructure Development (developing, financing, and operation of power plants and related projects). Enron Global Exploration & Production Inc. (upstream oil and natural gas international development). Elektro Electricidade e Servicos SA (Brazilian electric utility). Northern Border Pipeline. Houston Pipeline. Transwestern Pipeline. Florida Gas Transmission. Northern Natural Gas Company. Natural Gas Storage. Compression Services. Gas Processing and Treatment. Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Services. EOTT Energy Inc. (oil transportation).
Enron manufactured gas valves, circuit breakers, thermostats, and electrical equipment in Venezuela by means of INSELA SA, a 50–50 joint venture with General Electric. Enron owned three paper and pulp products companies: Garden State Paper, a newsprint mill; as well as Papiers Stadacona and St. Aurelie Timberlands. Enron had a controlling stake in the Louisiana-based petroleum exploration and production company Mariner Energy. EnronOnline Enron opened EnronOnline, an electronic trading platform for energy commodities, on November 29, 1999.[53][54] Con
Online gambling is a growth industry in the EU with a forecasted gross revenue of €24.7bn in 2020. Given the size and scale of this, which represents 21% of all gambling across the member states We already saw plenty of changes take place in Europe making online gambling safer for players and we might soon get to see the same thing happen in the U.S. Top states most likely to legalize A white paper, compiled by Online Casino Ground, has signalled that the emerging Dutch online gambling market is set to become one of Europe’s ‘biggest’ with local players already spending more money on gambling activities compared to other major European jurisdictions. Scheduled to come into force later this year, the new online gambling legislation within the Netherlands will allow By the middle of 2020, the Netherlands regulated online gambling. The Netherlands finally pushed Curacao to rein in its online gambling licenses. Many of which had been spanked by the local gambling regulator for targeting Dutch punters without local permission. Because of these new gaming laws in the Netherlands and Europe, you may then perform […] A white paper, compiled by Online Casino Ground, has signalled that the emerging Dutch online gambling market is set to become one of Europe’s ‘biggest’ with local players already spending more money on gambling activities compared to other major European jurisdictions. According to player The legality of Online Gambling in Europe. It is not easy to generalize the online gambling in the entire European continent. In general, European nations are more lenient in regards to issuing licenses and regulation of legal online gambling as compared to other countries such as the USA, Canada or Australia. In 2009, the French government introduced a new legislative bill relating to online gambling, following requests from the European Union, and in 2010 three forms of online gambling were officially legalized. They were sports betting (including live betting, fixed odds betting, and pool betting), horse racing betting (pool betting only) and poker. Gambling Laws in Europe. Australia and New Zealand. The online gambling legislation in New Zealand is refreshingly straightforward. The Gambling Act of 2003 clearly lays out exactly what is and what isn’t legal. Most forms of online betting and gaming are prohibited, but this only applies to companies based in the region. As with all large territories, individual countries within Eastern Europe have differing approaches and so legislation to online gambling and gaming. This brief guide is designed to help casino game developers and operators understand the status of gambling in Eastern Europe and plan a strategy to move into this exciting region. Europe as a whole is a very thriving online gambling market. The European Union does not pass any central legislation on gambling. It is up to the member states to create and regulate their own
The Progressive Era: Crash Course US History #27 - YouTube
In this question of the day video, hear what gaming industry professionals have to say about their forecast on US online gaming legislation. Originally published: August 10, 2011 Visit: https ... TOP 5 MOST BRUTAL POKER BAD BEATS EVER!Help us to 200K Subscribers - http://goo.gl/BvsafoCredits for the poker content used:Website: http://pokergo.comTwitte... YouTube has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, such websites and online services. Be aware when you leave the Service; we suggest you read the terms and privacy policy of each ... You can directly support Crash Course at https://www.patreon.com/crashcourse Subscribe for as little as $0 to keep up with everything we're doing. Also, if y... Working online whilst traveling the world sounds like a dream job for many people. But what exactly is a digital nomad? Pete and Supi live as digital nomads.... In gambling news, Becky shares us the important igaming events and conferences in the gaming industry in the month of September, 2011. Originally published: September 01, 2011 Visit: https ... YouTube Search How our search tool can help you find content you'll love Recommended videos How we recommend content we think you'll want to watch News and information How we provide context for ...
