bwin.party digital entertainment

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
bwin.party digital entertainment plc
legal form public limited company
ISIN GI000A0MV757
founding 1997
Seat GibraltarGibraltar Gibraltar
management Norbert Teufelberger ( CEO )
Number of employees 2,311 (December 31, 2014)
sales 611.9 million euros (2014)
Branch Gambling , sports betting
Website www.bwinparty.com

The bwin.party digital entertainment is a provider of sports betting and online games . The company emerged in March 2011 from the merger of the Austrian bwin Interactive Entertainment AG (formerly betandwin ) and PartyGaming plc . Sports betting, poker , casino games and soft games are offered .

On July 17, 2015, competitor 888 Holdings initially announced that it would take over bwin.party digital entertainment for £ 900 million . On September 4, 2015, however, it was announced that GVC Holdings plc had prevailed in a bidding contest with its offer of 1.1 billion pounds .

Corporate structure

bwin.party digital entertainment is based in Gibraltar and is listed on the London Stock Exchange . After the merger with Party Gaming 2011, Bwin is a brand of the subsidiary ElektraWorks and offers around 30,000 sports bets in 90 sports every day. According to the company, the number of registered customers worldwide is 20 million.

history

Bwin brand

bwin was founded in December 1997. In August 2001, the company SKP Piribauer Sportwetten GmbH, which had previously operated several betting terminals in Austria (mainly in restaurants and petrol stations), was taken over 100%. By purchasing SKP, bwin also acquired hardware and software that opened up quick access to direct Internet sales .

Since 2002, bwin Interactive Entertainment AG has a 50% atypical silent partner of the State of Saxony approved betandwin e. K. based in Neugersdorf , Germany .

In 2006, bwin took over the Swedish company Ongame e-solutions AB , thereby expanding the area of ​​online poker games. In addition, almost EUR 600 million of new capital was subscribed through a share split or on the stock exchange, and the purchase of Ongame shares was financed with it.

On October 13, 2006, George W. Bush signed a law called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA, Section VIII of the SAFE PORT Act), which prohibits transfers from a financial institution to an internet gambling company, whereby fantasy sport, online Lotteries as well as horse and dog races were excluded. However, at the beginning of April 2006 there had already been a hearing of the House of Representatives on the Internet about HR 4777 on the prohibition of illegal bets, and a short time later in the American press, including the New York Times, it was pointed out that it was part of the "American Value Agenda" will give a vote on it. In this respect, it was to be expected from April 5, 2006 at the latest that this question would be substantial for the further business development of ongames and bwin. As a result, bwin's balance sheet for 2006 showed a deficit of more than 500 million euros. In this context, very high executive salaries were criticized in public. In doing so, reference was made to the fact that the two board members of bwin exercised stock options during this period, which Manfred Bodner brought in 13 million euros net on March 7, 2006 and Norbert Teufelberger brought in 8.2 million euros on the same day. It was also criticized that a week later both managing directors received another 650,000 shares each at a price of 2 euros, which at the rate at that time corresponded to a value of 65 million euros each (cf. proprietary transactions by executives ). It was also critically questioned whether the draft of HR 4777, which the Republican Bob Goodlatte had submitted to the judicial committee on February 16, 2006, was not already known to the CEOs of bwin, Teufelberger and Bodner at the time of their share sales, and why this fact was in the In the sense of a significant business risk was neither mentioned in the quarterly reports nor in an ad hoc announcement. Since May 12, 2006, well before the UIGEA was passed, the share price fell from its high of 104 euros to new lows, although it was only in October 2006 that the end of poker offers in the USA was decided.

On August 1, 2006, the new bwin brand was introduced.

On September 15, 2006, the two board members Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner were arrested at a press conference in Monaco for offenses against the French gambling law. After a questioning by an examining magistrate, he was released from custody on the evening of September 18, 2006 on bail. According to bwin, no proceedings were initiated. Austrian (ex) politicians, including the then Justice Minister Karin Gastinger , intervened in France for her quick release from prison . Gastinger is said to have received a consulting contract from the company after the end of her political career. In 2013, proceedings were initiated against Teufelberger and Bodner in France. Both defendants did not appear at the hearing in Nanterre on September 19, 2013. The judge in charge adjourned the proceedings to April 3, 2014.

Bwin has been involved in football as a sponsor since the 2007/08 season. B. as the shirt sponsor of Real Madrid and AC Milan . The contract with the team initially ran for three years before being extended up to and including 2012/2013. From 2010 to 2013, bwin also acquired the naming rights for the Portuguese League Cup .

On September 7th, 2009 the board of directors of bwin Interactive Entertainment AG confirmed that it would hold takeover negotiations with Gioco Digitale SpA in order to acquire 100% of Gioco Digitale.

On March 31, 2011, bwin and Party Gaming completed the merger of the two companies announced on August 26, 2010. The brands remained largely in place and will be continued by various subsidiaries of the bwin.party digital entertainment holding that was created . The bwin brand is operated by Gibraltar-based ElectraWorks Limited .

At the beginning of 2012, the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) put bwin.party on a blacklist along with other providers , which had to be blocked by the country's four largest internet providers. A related action brought by bwin.party against the Commission was dismissed in June 2012. In November 2012, the now bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger was arrested in Belgium during a conference because the company continued to offer its games of chance to Belgian customers at other Internet addresses despite the ban. In order to obtain a license for Belgium, bwin.party entered into a partnership with Belcasinos, a subsidiary of the Partouche Group, in mid-December 2012 . The criminal proceedings against Teufelberger were discontinued.

Special position in Germany

The German sports betting portal bwin.de was operated until August 24, 2009 under the company betandwin e. K. (from August 2006: bwin eK ) operated as a sole proprietorship by Steffen Pfennigwerth with a silent participation of bwin Interactive Entertainment AG . On April 11, 1990, Pfennigwerth had received permission from the Löbau Trade Office on April 11, 1990 on the basis of the GDR's Trade Act (GewG) of March 6, 1990 , to open a betting office for sports betting in Neugersdorf from May 1, 1990 .

According to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court on March 28, 2006, the state monopoly for sports betting in its former form was not compatible with the Basic Law , and the corresponding laws and ordinances had to be revised on December 31, 2007. The maintenance of the monopoly for sports betting was only declared permissible under the condition that it was consistently geared towards combating the dangers of addiction and that it did not serve the fiscal interests of the state. Since, in the opinion of the judges, Oddset's offer at the time was not sufficiently oriented towards this goal, strict specifications were made for Oddset with regard to advertising, its offers and the protection of young people and players up to a new legal regulation.

At the same time, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the regulatory authorities can take action against all illegal gaming providers and prohibit their activities on the basis of the applicable gaming law until there is a new legal regulation. This also affected bwin - at least with regard to betting offers to residents of the old federal states - because, according to the Federal Administrative Court , the license granted in the GDR only applied to the new federal states.

bwin countered the decisions of the German courts by stating that the brokering of sports betting to bookmakers licensed in the EU was permissible under current EU law and the case law of the European Court of Justice (Lindman, Gambelli and soon also Placanica), i.e. by no means designated as "illegal" could. According to bwin, this means that if EU bookmakers and their agents were to take action in Germany, the state would run the risk of making itself liable for state liability because EU law takes precedence over German law. However, this is contradicted by the statement of the Federal Constitutional Court, which also commented on the Community law component in its judgment. Accordingly, the requirements of German constitutional law run parallel to the requirements formulated by the European Court of Justice. According to its case law, the prohibition of brokerage in other Member States is only compatible with Community law if a state monopoly actually serves the purpose of reducing opportunities for gaming, and only one is the financing of social activities with the help of a levy on the income from approved games useful side effect, but not the real reason for the restrictive policy pursued. According to the Federal Constitutional Court, the requirements of Community law correspond to those of the Basic Law.

The EU Commission has beginning of April 2006 u. a. Infringement proceedings initiated against Germany , in which the contradicting and inconsistent treatment of sports betting and lotteries and other forms of gambling is to be explained.

On August 10, 2006, the Free State of Saxony withdrew the license from bwin. However, the company announced from the outset that it would appeal against this decision, including claims for damages of a maximum of EUR 500 million. On December 13, 2007, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Bautzen confirmed the validity of the license issued in 1990 in the GDR. According to the legal situation in Saxony until December 31, 2007, bwin eK may also offer sports betting over the Internet and advertise it nationwide. The OVG stipulates that the offers are provided with a corresponding note that people who are in the old federal states are not allowed to use them.

On January 31, 2008, the EU Commission opened contract infringement proceedings against the Federal Republic of Germany because of the state gaming treaty that came into force on January 1, 2008 , as this contradicts the European freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services.

With a ruling of October 14, 2008, the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed the constitutionality of the Internet ban on sports betting and advertising in Germany under the State Treaty on Gaming.

On July 22nd, 2009, the Bavarian Administrative Court confirmed prohibition orders from the government of Middle Franconia prohibiting bwin from offering or advertising sports betting over the Internet in Bavaria. As a result, bwin e. K. on August 25, 2009 his sports betting offer. The international website www.bwin.com, which is operated by a Gibraltar-based bwin company, is still accessible in Germany. However, according to the terms and conditions of bwin.com, the player may not be in the federal states of Saxony, Baden-Württemberg or Hesse when participating .

With a judgment of September 8, 2009, the European Court of Justice ruled in the Portuguese case Liga Portugesa against bwin and declared internet bans on sports betting to be in conformity with European law. On March 4, 2010, the Advocates General at the European Court of Justice published their Opinions in the German proceedings. In it they saw the State Treaty on Gambling as compliant with European law.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b https://www.bwinparty.com/~/media/Files/CorpWeb/Investors/Financial%20Reports/2014%20Annual%20Report.ashx
  2. ↑ Gambling: 888 swallows Bwin.party. In: derStandard.at. July 17, 2015, accessed December 6, 2017 .
  3. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34149794
  4. ^ "About bwin" , Inside 11, accessed on January 18, 2015.
  5. ↑ betandwin.com takes over SKP Piribauer Sportwet. In: www.gsc-research.de. Retrieved June 7, 2016 .
  6. ↑ betandwin.com acquires 100% of the shares in SKP Piribauer Sportwetten GmbH. August 9, 2001, accessed June 7, 2016 .
  7. ↑ betandwin.com takes over Ongame e-solutions AB. December 16, 2005, accessed June 7, 2016 .
  8. ↑ INTERNET GAMBLING PROHIBITION ACT OF 2006
  9. ↑ Urgent - HR 4777 Update
  10. ↑ a b The Leach Bill (HR 4411) - The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2005 & The Goodlatte Bill (HR 4777) - To Amend the Wire Act To Expand and Modernize the Prohibition Against Interstate Gambling ( Memento dated June 30, 2008 in Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Overview: proprietary transactions of board members and executive employees ( Memento of September 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ bwin with an update on the current situation . In: boerse-express.com, September 19, 2006
  13. ↑ Florian Horcicka: Suspicion of corruption: bwin reward for Karin Gastinger. , In: format.at , August 31, 2012
  14. ↑ France is suing bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger. In: format.at, July 9, 2013
  15. ↑ Steven Bradbroke: Bwin.Party CEO Teufelberger A No-Show At French Court Hearing. , calvinayre.com, September 20, 2013
  16. ↑ Real Madrid CF - Official Web Site - Three year deal. (No longer available online.) In: realmadrid.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2013 ; accessed on April 15, 2013 (eng).
  17. ↑ Bwin and Real Madrid Renew Shirt Deal | Sponsorship News. (No longer available online.) In: sponsorpitch.com. Formerly in the original ; accessed on April 15, 2013 (eng).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / sponsorpitch.com
  18. ↑ Bwin seal sponsorship of Portuguese Liga Cup - Sports Sponsorship news - Soccer Europe - SportsPro Media. In: sportspromedia.com. Retrieved April 15, 2013 .
  19. ↑ EANS-Adhoc: bwin Interactive Entertainment AG
  20. ↑ The merger of bwin with PartyGaming is through , Der Standard , January 28, 2011
  21. ↑ bwin.party receives an official gaming license for Belgium. ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), poker.de, March 7, 2013
  22. ↑ Criminal proceedings against bwin boss suspended. ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), format.at, November 15, 2012
  23. ^ Journal of the GDR I p. 138.
  24. ↑ BVerfG, judgment of March 28, 2006 , Az. 1 BvR 1054/01, full text and BVerfG, press release No. 25/2006 of March 28, 2006.
  25. ↑ BVerwG, judgment of June 21, 2006  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), Az. 6 C 19.06, full text and BVerwG, press release no. 34/2006  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) of June 22 2006.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bverwg.de @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bverwg.de
  26. ↑ Manfred Hecker: Time and again, private betting providers ignore the requirements of the courts. The situation is clear. Rheinischer Merkur, June 1, 2006 ( Memento from September 5, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  27. ↑ ECJ, judgment of November 6, 2003 , Az. C-243/01, - Gambelli u. a., Coll. 2003, I-13076, Rn. 62.
  28. ↑ manager-magazin.de
  29. ↑ news-current press portal ( Memento from October 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  30. ↑ automobilsport.com (online magazine)
  31. ^ Government of Middle Franconia ( Memento from July 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  32. ↑ General Terms and Conditions of BWIN.COM
  33. ↑ ECJ, judgment of September 8, 2009 , Az. C-42/07, full text - Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional.