Nevada approves a licence for GVC

05/27/19

GVC Holdings has received a licence to operate in Nevada after the Gaming Commission voted 4-0 in its favour during a recent hearing.

US.- The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) has approved a licence for GVC Holdings to operate in the state. The regulator supported the company in a 4-0 vote. They made the decision after the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) recommended it for a two-year limited licence.

The vote was conducted after a four-hour hearing with the NGCB, with GVC CEO Kenny Alexander being questioned. He was questioned on the company’s incapability to supervise online gaming transactions in Turkey.

The operator apologised for its actions, including recent responses to earlier questions. Outgoing Chairman, Lee Feldman, told the NGC the company had upgraded its measures related to compliance.

“You have a leash and that gives me some comfort. I don’t think I need to shorten the leash. I’m very comfortable going forward you won’t step on a nail,” NGC Chairman, Tony Alamo Jr was quoted by CDC Gaming Reports.

For its Nevada licence, GVC has to pay US$100k for compliance investigations into its own operations.

First quarter results

GVC Holdings reported in a trading update that online net-gaming revenue (NGR) increased 17%, which includes a strong volume growth in all territories. While UK retail revenue was flat, European retail revenue was up 2%.

The company said that it doesn’t have estimations yet on the impact of the cut on the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which was finally introduced in the UK on April 1. Nevertheless, GVC said that it is confident of meeting market expectations on profits for the financial year.

Chief executive Kenneth Alexander said: “This trading update reflects a continuation of the strong trends reported on March 5, 2019, and represents an excellent start to the year. We continue to see good volume growth across all major online brands and territories and we remain very confident of achieving our target of double-digit online NGR growth.