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SAZKA Group: COVID-19 update

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SAZKA Group wishes to give an update to its stakeholders regarding the measures our companies and retail partners have taken with regard to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

First and foremost, in order to protect the health and safety of our customers, employees, partners and the public, all our companies have fully complied with all the decisions and recommendations of the public authorities in the countries of their operations. We have successfully implemented contingency and business continuity plans with no significant impact to our business processes, and almost all our employees are currently working from home.

While all our digital channels continue to operate without interruption, our physical retail networks have adopted various measures to safeguard public health and the health of our employees.

We anticipate that these developments will impact our financial performance. The extent of the impact will depend on factors including the duration of the outbreak, how longer current restrictions remain in place, further measures taken by governments, and the extent of economic disruption.

Robert Chvatal, CEO commented: “Management are working on mitigating steps to minimise the financial impact for our companies, our employees, and our partners. SAZKA Group is in daily contact with its local operating companies to coordinate timely response to the developments in individual markets.”

Below is a brief overview of the current situation in our markets:

Greece

On Friday 13 March 2020, the Greek government published its decision to impose a temporary ban on the operation of a wide range of shops, indoor venues and other locations. As a result, all of the OPAP stores and PLAY gaming halls in Greece will be closed for two weeks, from Saturday 14 March until Friday 27 March 2020 inclusive. The horseracing facility at Markopoulo Park will also be closed.

Consequently, during this period, the company’s gaming activities will only be operating through its online platforms, which offer sports betting and certain other lottery games, and via the street vendor network of Hellenic Lotteries, which offers scratch cards and passive lotteries.

OPAP’s stores in Cyprus have been temporarily closed as of.

Austria

On Friday 13 March 2020, the Austrian government published its decision to impose a temporary ban on the operation of a wide range of shops, excluding those providing basic services such as food retail, pharmacies, post offices, banks, petrol stations and tobacco stores. The decision went into force on Monday 16 March 2020. The ban has so far had only a limited impact on the availability of Austrian lotteries products through its main retail channels, as more than 90% of all point-of-sales are excluded from the ban.

Austrian Lotteries’ online gaming activities remain available to the public during the entire period. They include draw based games (including Austrian Lotteries’ major products Lotto and Euromillions), instant scratch cards, online casino, poker, bingo and sports betting.

In coordination with the authorities, Casinos Austria has decided to close all its casinos in Austria and its subsidiary Austrian Lotteries has decided to close all its 19 gaming halls on March 13, 2020. The casinos and gaming halls will be closed at least until April 13, 2020. The Austrian government is introducing measures to support part time work, which may allow reduce Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries to reduce the financial impact of the closure

Casinos Austria International, which operates casinos and VLT businesses in multiple countries, is closely monitoring the situation and acting in accordance with the instructions of local governmental bodies.

Czech Republic

As of Monday 16 March, the State Security Council of the Czech Republic has decided to severely limit free movement in the Czech Republic in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic. Citizens are allowed going to work and shop for supplies limited to food, vital supplies, fuel and medicine, as well as use of necessary financial and postal services. We estimate that 70% of SAZKA’s Czech retail network, including newsstands and post offices, continues providing their services to the public.

At the same time, we are actively promoting the use of online platforms for lottery products as well as digital-only offerings. In recent weeks we have seen a 25-30% increase in sales via digital channels compared to previous weeks.

Italy

Most shops, restaurants and cafes in Italy are currently closed as a result of a number of recent measures. Tobacconists, which are a key channel for LOTTOITALIA, are allowed to remain open, however traffic has declined.

 

About SAZKA Group:

We are one of the largest pan-European lottery operators. Our businesses operate lotteries in all the major continental European countries where lotteries are privately operated, including the Czech Republic, Greece, Austria and Italy, and in Cyprus. Our businesses focus on the lottery segment, including numerical lotteries (draw-based games) and instant lotteries (scratch cards), and also provide complementary products, including sports-betting and digital-only games. They sell their products both through various retail networks and through digital platforms.

Andrew Walter

High Roller Announces Appointment of Andrew Walter as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer

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High Roller Technologies has announced the appointment of Andrew Walter as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, effective immediately, replacing Sarah Stienon.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Andrew to High Roller’s executive leadership team. Andrew brings more than a decade of hands-on experience in gaming law, regulatory affairs, and compliance across both the public and private sectors. His deep expertise in legislative strategy, regulatory compliance, and operational oversight will be invaluable as we continue to expand responsibly across regulated markets,” said Seth Young, Chief Executive Officer at High Roller.

Walter joins High Roller with extensive experience in government and commercial gaming operations. For nearly eight years, he served as Counsel and Government Affairs for the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, where he provided comprehensive in-house legal services and led governmental affairs efforts. In that role, he developed legislative strategy, drafted testimony and worked directly with legislators and stakeholders on key policy matters, including sports betting and internet lottery legislation.

Following the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), Walter joined PointsBet, a global sports betting and online casino operator, as Senior Director of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs. There, he built and led a robust compliance department to support the company’s rapid multi-state expansion, overseeing state-by-state regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering programmes and responsible gaming initiatives across both online and retail sports betting and online casino operations.

After the passage of gaming expansion legislation in Connecticut, Walter returned to the Connecticut Lottery Corporation as the first employee hired to launch and support online and retail sports betting operations. In that capacity, he held responsibility for profit and loss performance, retail operations and compliance oversight.

Walter holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Management from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and a Juris Doctor from Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island. He is admitted to practice law in the State of Connecticut.

Commenting on his appointment, Walter said: “I’m honored to join High Roller at such an exciting time in the Company’s growth. High Roller has established itself as a premium online gaming operator with a strong commitment to innovation and player experience. I look forward to strengthening our legal and compliance framework as we continue to grow in regulated markets and uphold the highest standards of integrity and responsible gaming.”

The post High Roller Announces Appointment of Andrew Walter as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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Neosurf appoint Laura Moore as Chief Strategy & Operations Officer

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Neosurf, the cash-to-digital payments provider with responsible gaming at its core, has appointed Laura Moore as Chief Strategy & Operations Officer following a successful period supporting the company as an external consultant.

Now joining Neosurf’s senior leadership team, Moore will oversee the company’s corporate strategy and global expansion efforts. Her responsibilities will include identifying potential M&A opportunities and developing strategic partnerships to support the business as it enters its next stage of growth.

In her new role, Moore will also lead Neosurf’s global operations teams, drawing on her extensive experience in consumer technology, platform development and senior management to ensure the delivery of seamless, secure and compliant payment services for millions of users worldwide.

Alongside this, she will play a key role in restructuring several of the company’s core operational processes, overseeing areas such as global settlements, treasury management, risk control and regulatory compliance. The aim is to build a stronger operational framework capable of supporting Neosurf’s long-term strategic ambitions.

Moore brings experience from a number of major B2B and B2C organisations, including Vodafone and Sky, and is expected to combine strategic leadership with hands-on expertise as she works to strengthen operational alignment and foster a culture of continuous improvement within the company.

She is also the co-founder of LIFT as we Climb, an initiative focused on supporting and advancing women in the technology sector, and is widely recognised as a thought leader within the industry.

Laura Moore, Chief Strategy & Operations Officer at Neosurf, said:
“I’m both excited and honoured to take on the role of Chief Strategy & Operations Officer at Neosurf at what is clearly a pivotal moment in the company’s evolution. As a global leader in online payments, my focus will be on driving sustainable growth, ensuring operational excellence and putting the scalable frameworks in place that will support the company’s continued expansion.”

Andrea McGeachin, Global CEO of Neosurf, added:
“I think I speak for everyone at Neosurf when I say we’re absolutely delighted to welcome Laura as a full member of our senior leadership team. As an experienced global strategist, a recognised thought leader and a strong advocate for women in technology, Laura brings both the vision and expertise needed to make a real impact. We’re excited to see how her leadership will help take the company to the next level as we continue to grow.”

The post Neosurf appoint Laura Moore as Chief Strategy & Operations Officer appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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BetGames research reveals more than 70% of players failed to recognise AI avatar gameshow presenters

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BetGames has revealed the results of a research project testing AI-generated presenters on its live game shows, finding that fewer than 30% of players realised the hosts were artificial — and that the change produced no significant impact on player behaviour.

For the experiment, the supplier introduced AI avatars designed as digital replicas of real presenters, quietly deploying them on one of its live games over several days to evaluate whether they could effectively replace human hosts.

The results showed that more than two-thirds of players did not notice the switch to AI. At the same time, key performance indicators — including session duration, stake size and total bets placed — remained statistically unchanged.

According to BetGames, the absence of both positive and negative shifts suggests that while AI avatars can technically replicate the role of live presenters, they currently provide no measurable advantage. As a result, the company believes there is not yet a strong business case for rolling out the technology on a large scale.

Cost efficiency, often cited as a major driver of AI adoption, also failed to deliver a clear benefit. BetGames reported that generating and operating an AI avatar around the clock remains resource-intensive, limiting potential financial gains compared with human hosts.

Technical hurdles further complicate the widespread adoption of AI presenters. One of the most significant challenges remains achieving realistic text-to-speech performance. As AI technology becomes more advanced and visual realism improves, even minor imperfections in speech become increasingly noticeable to audiences.

Other constraints include latency issues, lip-synchronisation delays and inaccuracies in real-time translation — all critical elements that must be refined before the technology can be implemented reliably across live products.

BetGames continues to explore the potential of AI under the leadership of CEO Andreas Koeberl, who is also co-founder of Autonomous Minds, the developer behind the AI analyst Milo. The initiative forms part of the company’s broader strategy to experiment with emerging technologies and help future-proof the iGaming industry.

Koeberl said:
“AI has been building momentum, but its role within the live casino sector remains largely untested. When it comes to AI presenters, we built it, it worked, and nobody cared. That raises the question of what we are actually working toward.

“The technology didn’t produce any meaningful positive or negative impact on the player experience or product margins, and the cost of running an AI avatar 24/7 offers no significant advantage compared with employing human presenters.

“So rather than attempting to replace humans and replicate what already exists, the focus should shift to exploring what AI can enable that wasn’t previously possible. That’s where the real value lies.”

The post BetGames research reveals more than 70% of players failed to recognise AI avatar gameshow presenters appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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