Месяц: Октябрь 2014

A row has broken out between the corporate governance adviser Pirc and the online betting company Betfair, with the bookmaker accusing the former of "materially misrepresenting" facts.

Pirc is recommending that investors reject Betfair's report and accounts at the group's annual general meeting on Thursday, after the gambling group's admission that it breached new accounting rules by paying dividends to shareholders without having "sufficient distributable reserves" during the past three years.

Alan MacDougall, Pirc's managing director, said: "Pirc notes that shareholders have been asked in prior years to vote on the payment of dividends that in fact were illegal due to defective accounts.

That makes the validity of the company's accounts themselves questionable as the key source of information for shareholders at the AGM to exercise class rights. Accordingly Pirc is recommending a 'no' vote on a resolution to accept the entire annual report."

However, Betfair retorted: "Pirc's statement today materially misrepresents the facts in a number of ways. Its most serious error is to claim that Betfair's profits are overstated".

The row has erupted following publication of Betfair's 2014 annual report in July, which admitted: "The company has paid a final dividend for the year ended 30 April 2011 and interim and final dividends for the years ended 30 April 2012 and 2013. "The company has recently been advised that, as a result of certain changes to the technical guidance issued by the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales in October 2010, the company did not have sufficient distributable reserves to make those distributions and so they should not have been paid by the company to its shareholders."

It further acknowledged that the same oversight meant that a share buyback of 6.5m shares had also breached accounting rules, although in mitigation it added: "At all relevant times, sufficient distributable reserves would have been available in the company had its subsidiary undertakings passed up distributable profits to the company through distributions from those subsidiary undertakings' own distributable reserves."

Pirc's call to vote down the annual report would be a massive turnup for the books if it succeeded, although even if investors backed the corporate governance group the vote would be purely advisory.

Casinos will remain banned in Northern Ireland under legislation due to go before the assembly next year, the social development minister has said.
Nelson McCausland was dismissive of a plan by the Rank Group for a casino in Belfast, after they briefed city councillors on Tuesday evening.
BBC News NI Business Correspondent Julian O'Neill reports.

The city's proposed £450m Royal Pier development could house the super-casino

The shortlist of five companies bidding to run Southampton's super casino has been announced.

It is expected to form part of the £450m Royal Pier development, although a bid has been submitted for the Watermark WestQuay development, another for Leisureworld in West Quay Road.

Southampton City Council said a final decision was expected in June 2015.

The five bidders are Grosvenor, Kymeira Casino Ltd, Genting Casinos UK Ltd, Global Gaming Ventures and Aspers.

The licence, granted by the government, would allow up to 150 slot machines and 30 blackjack and poker tables.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Newport City Council has rejected an agreement with developers of a proposed full-fledged casino at Newport Grand that would have provided an additional $1 million payment to the city.

State legislation putting the casino question on the Nov. 4 ballot would allow Newport's share of slot machine revenue to rise from 1.01 percent to 1.45 percent, if the table games resolution is approved.

The community agreement would have given preference to Newport residents for hiring and to Newport vendors for purchases of goods and services. The developers also would have provided $1 million to the city over three years once they are licensed, in addition to the $9 million in additional property tax relief guaranteed by state law.

Officials voted 4-3 Wednesday night to turn down the Municipal Community Agreement.

Councilor Michael T. Farley said it was "a terrible deal for Newport" because the city should receive an additional annual fee for the impact to the community, instead of a three-year commitment, and that the proposed pact was "riddled with loopholes."

"We're going to be saddled with the burden of dealing with gaming issues forever," he said.

Others voted no because they are against the expansion of casino gambling.

Mayor Harry Winthrop said he supported the agreement because it was an insurance policy to guarantee revenue for the city if the referendum passes.

"We want casino insurance, whether you want the casino or not," Winthrop said.

Joseph R. Paolino Jr., one of three partners in the casino development, characterized the council's rejection as election-year politics and said the project is still moving forward as long as table games are approved.

"I came out with my own version of the agreement that was not agreed to by them," the former Providence mayor said Thursday. "It's my pledge to the people of Newport."

Paolino said he will still give preference to Newport residents and vendors, and plans to donate at least $25,000 annually to Newport charities. He also said he will take the $1 million payment that would've gone to the city and instead invest up to $1 million in a fund to turn the city's north end into an innovation hub that would create technology jobs, an effort currently in its planning stages.

Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed said Thursday that she continues to be concerned about the possible impact of expanded gambling in Massachusetts on Rhode Island's third-largest revenue stream, but that she cannot support the referendum given the City Council's vote. She said previously she would wait until the council acted before publicly stating her position. She said she would not take an active role in trying to defeat the measure and supports voters making the final decision.

Paiva Weed backed the table games referendum two years ago, a measure that was approved statewide that year but rejected in Newport, but she called this year's proposal "very different."

Paolino and developers Peter de Savary and Paul Roiff plan to spend $40 million on upgrading the site to turn it into an "entertainment complex," but only if it can add table games.

TUNICA, Miss. – Authorities in northwest Mississippi say a man has been charged with child neglect after leaving his 1-year-old baby in a running vehicle while he was in a casino.

WMC-TV (http://bit.ly/ZgJ5NH ) reports that Martin Bass was arrested Tuesday afternoon and taken to the Tunica County jail.

The Sheriff's Department says the baby is fine, but may have been in the car for almost an hour. Investigators say the baby was found in the driver's seat playing with the steering wheel while the car was running outside Bally's casino in Tunica.

Deputies say the Department of Human Services was notified after the father's arrest.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the child is in protective custody or staying with family members. It was also not immediately clear whether Bass has an attorney.

LAS VEGAS – A 40-year-old driver has been accused of intentionally driving a pickup truck through the glass doors of the Stratosphere casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Police say no one was hurt in the Wednesday evening crash and that driver Ryan Brown struggled with security guards before his arrest.

Police say Brown told officers he was wanted to jump off the 1,100-foot Stratosphere tower, which resembles Seattle's Space Needle, and that he was excited to be making news.

Brown's pickup came to a stop amid broken glass, wedged between railings on a wide floor atop a four-step casino stairway.

Brown was being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas pending initial court appearances on felony cocaine possession and misdemeanor driving under the influence and reckless driving charges.