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PUB PENALISED FOR GAMBLING INDUCEMENTS
Parramatta’s Rose and Crown Hotel has been fined for offering patrons inducements to gamble after a disgruntled general manager reported the pub, sparking a prosecution in which she herself was convicted of stealing $15,000.
Between 2017 and 2018, staff at the Rose and Crown allowed at least $145,000 in credit and debit withdrawals from the bar’s eftpos machine, loaned money from the safe to gamblers, and provided free alcohol and cigarettes to keep people playing the pokies.
The hotel’s general manager, Samantha Glynn, was also manipulating the poker machine payout system by changing the values on leftover credit tickets and creating fake tickets, allegedly stealing up to $400,000.
When Ms Glynn was discovered and suspended from her duties, she reported the hotel to Liquor & Gaming NSW. The subsequent investigation revealed a host of breaches and resulted in the matter being referred to both the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority and NSW Police.
The Rose and Crown was also in breach of its licence for positioning an ATM in the gaming room; not making contact cards available to players; having gambling-related signage and gaming machines visible from outside the hotel; and supplying alcohol and operating gaming machines outside of stipulated trading hours on Good Friday.
Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority Chair, Phil Crawford, said the hotel lacked oversight and controls by those tasked with these responsibilities.
“Staff used phantom transactions to mask cash withdrawals for gambling, but even more incredibly, they gave out loans from the safe,” Mr Crawford said.
“At one point a manager loaned a total of $8,000 from the pub’s safe, to a patron who wanted to keep playing the pokies. A security guard also used the safe to loan $800 to another gambler.
“The hotel was essentially facilitating cash advances for gambling via a system of fake transactions and this is an obvious risk for problem gambling.”
NSW Police charged Ms Glynn with theft totalling $15,000 and she was sentenced to an 18-month intensive correction order.
The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority fined the Hotel’s licensee, a company called RC One Pty Ltd $107,358. Approved manager Paul Camkin was fined $10,000 and disqualified for 12 months from being a licensee or being the approved manager of a hotel. Two close associates, Jason Marlow and Damien Kelly, were given a reprimand and, along with Mr Camkin, ordered to pay the costs of the Authority’s investigation.
“Thanks to the tip off from the general manager, we were able to step in and investigate the hotel, ultimately holding the licensee and its close associates to account,” Mr Crawford said.
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Charly Lippoth
Immersive In-Car Gaming Becomes Reality: The Cinemo and SmashLabs Partnership
Cinemo, a global leader and innovative one-stop-shop provider for fully integrated, multi-device in-car infotainment solutions, announces its collaboration with SmashLabs, a boutique gaming and technology company to deliver an extremely immersive in-vehicle gaming experience. The solution is designed to address growing consumer demand in connected, engaging cabin experiences.
The integrated solution combines SmashLabs’ music-based games with Cinemo’s scalable software, synchronizing lighting, haptics, audio and even climate elements with gameplay to create an immersive, multi-sensory experience. Optimised for low-latency performance across vehicle displays and audio systems, it enables interactive entertainment during charging stops and for passengers while driving.
The first game available from SmashLabs via Cinemo’s in-car immersion is Smashworld: Beat Explorers, a rhythm-based game where player interactions are directly synchronized with music, enhanced by immersive Dolby Atmos audio when supported by the vehicle. Through collaboration with Sony Music Publishing and Extreme Music (Sony Group), passengers can download new song packs for Smashworld: Beat Explorers at any time.
“OEMs are racing to turn the cabin into a standout experience. Together with SmashLabs, we’re proving that connected entertainment can captivate passengers, strengthen differentiation, and become a seamless part of the vehicle ecosystem,” said Charly Lippoth, Director of Partnerships at Cinemo.
“Bringing our games into the vehicle creates entirely new opportunities to engage passengers in ways that were not possible before. What makes this especially exciting is that we can now create experiences in the car that simply don’t exist at home: immersive, social, and perfectly integrated into the journey itself. It is a pleasure to work with Cinemo on this truly transformative gaming experience,” said Niccolò Cappon, President & CEO at SmashLabs.
The post Immersive In-Car Gaming Becomes Reality: The Cinemo and SmashLabs Partnership appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
FIRST.bet
Pragmatic Solutions Enters into Partnership with FIRST.bet Sportsbook
FIRST.bet, the Tier-1 sportsbook technology provider, announced its integration with Pragmatic Solutions’ iGaming Player Account Management (PAM) platform for regulated gaming and betting operators.
Under this collaboration, FIRST.bet is now available to operators through the Pragmatic Solutions platform ecosystem, providing access to its full sportsbook engine, trading stack, risk management and managed services.
The integration combines two core layers operators need to build and scale competitive betting operations: Pragmatic Solutions’ modern PAM platform and the trading-led sportsbook technology from FIRST.bet. The Pragmatic Solutions platform is designed to support end-to-end player journeys, multiple brands and flexible operations through a stable, scalable central infrastructure layer. Its open API model enables operators to integrate and manage sportsbook, casino, payments, CRM, compliance, reporting and third-party services within a single platform environment, while retaining control over their product roadmap, front-end experience and vendor strategy.
FIRST.bet is already live within the Pragmatic Solutions ecosystem, establishing FIRST.bet as a major sportsbook supplier and making its full managed offering available to operators across the platform. It is positioned as a managed sportsbook solution with advanced in-play betting and player engagement features.
Tom Light, Founder and CEO of FIRST.bet, said: “This is a major step for FIRST.bet. Operators don’t need another basic sportsbook connection – they need real trading depth, product innovation and managed execution that moves the business. That’s exactly where we focus: a sportsbook engineered to perform, run by a team that owns the result. Being available through Pragmatic Solutions puts that in front of operators who are serious about competing in sports.”
Ashley Lang, CEO of Pragmatic Solutions, said: “Sportsbook remains a core component of the product offering for many operators, particularly in regulated markets where flexibility, compliance, and speed to market are important. FIRST.bet brings a strong sportsbook product to our platform ecosystem, giving operators access to a modular product with proven in-play and player engagement capabilities.”
Two things set the FIRST.bet stack apart: API and gamification. SportOS, an open API, lets operators build and customise their own betting products on top of the FIRST.bet engine – the sportsbook becomes a platform they can extend, not a fixed product. GMFY, a full sportsbook gamification engine, makes engagement and retention native to the betting experience. Around them sit the essentials operators expect – Bet Builder, Player Props, Cash Out, Early Payout and ACCA Promotions – plus Fast Markets and SnapBet , all backed by FIRST.bet and its Managed Services for full trading, risk and operational expertise.
FIRST.bet powers a growing global partner network handling millions of daily transactions across LATAM, Europe and Africa.
This collaboration positions FIRST.bet as a leading B2B sportsbook supplier for operators that want more than standard sports betting technology. Through Pragmatic Solutions, operators can combine a proven Tier-1 PAM core with a fully managed sportsbook built around product depth, local-market execution, player engagement and trading performance.
The post Pragmatic Solutions Enters into Partnership with FIRST.bet Sportsbook appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Anne Marie Caulfield
Irish Gambling Regulator Threatens Prediction Market with High Court Action
One of the largest prediction market websites has been threatened with court action if it does not geoblock Ireland, the head of the Irish gambling regulator has said.
Prediction markets are platforms where users can trade bets and gamble cryptocurrency on sports, the financial sector, politics and more, including events relating to the war in the Middle East, the existence of aliens, and tweets posted by Elon Musk.
Anne Marie Caulfield, who has been chief executive of the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) since it began operations last year, said prediction markets amount to betting and therefore fall under her remit.
She said the GRAI enforcement team has already been active in the space, with one of the largest such markets already geoblocking on foot of “intervention” from the authority.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week radio programme, Ms Caulfield said a second “is in the process of doing so”.
She added: “And if they don’t, it’s open to us to go to the High Court.”
She said sites were withdrawn in Ireland in the “vast majority” of the almost 30 interventions the GRAI had made.
She added that this had happened as quickly as 35 minutes after the intervention.
Asked what the High Court action may look like, Ms Caulfield said: “In the instance where they don’t do so, we can go to the High Court and get a blocking order for access to the site, and also in relation to the funding involved.”
Pressed on whether that action had been threatened, she said: “We have issued warning letters, yes, to that effect.”
Ms Caulfield did not name the prediction markets involved.
However, users from Ireland are already prohibited from trading “event contracts” on the prediction market Kalshi, as per its membership agreement which also lists 55 other restricted countries.
One of the other main prediction markets, Polymarket, has seen restrictions in more than 30 countries including Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, and Poland – while it operates in the US with additional compliance measures.
In May, Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon Harris said he would ask gardaí, regulators and government departments to examine “suspicious bets” made on Polymarket.
He raised “grave concerns” around a “Wild West” of unregulated betting on the platform, as he said it would be prudent to examine if there was money laundering occurring.
His comments came after reports highlighted a million dollars worth of betting on the outcome of the Dublin Central by-election, with hundreds of thousands of that volume placed on Gerry “The Monk” Hutch not to win a seat – which is what transpired.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on behalf of any candidate.
Mr Harris said: “What seems to be developing at a global scale and indeed a rapid pace now is a kind of Wild West where people are placing bets in the form of cryptocurrency in a secretive, murky and unregulated manner.”
The post Irish Gambling Regulator Threatens Prediction Market with High Court Action appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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