Fortune Bells

What is Fortune Bells?

Holland Casino CEO Petra de Ruiter last week told iGB that she was proud of the player protection efforts in place across Holland Casino’s products.

Holland Casino has a responsible gambling board, which includes scientists, experts with lived experience and their own RG executives. They meet with the board every few months to talk over current processes, and the board challenges the operator’s ideas and implementations, 

Much of the debate focused on stricter supervision and the protection of players. Ultimately, the secretary of state said that work to increase black market enforcement would take precedent in the Netherlands, while increasing the gambling age would be revisited once the illegal market is under control.

How to play Fortune Bells

Entering iGaming from the outside was nerve-racking, but it has actually turned out to be my biggest advantage. I have no preconceived ideas about how things should be done, and I’m not playing anybody else’s rulebook.

I believe that the industry needs more outside voices. People who come in and look at problems from a different perspective, and who are not constantly worrying about past mistakes.

Technology, especially AI, is impacting all industries, and the more we can learn from one another, the better.

About Fortune Bells

According to data from Yahoo Finance, the resort and casino sector is -41% over the last five years, and the overall gambling sector, which includes major sportsbooks and online operators, is +7%; the benchmark S&P 500 index, by comparison, is +71% during that span.

Two blockbuster developments in the casino space earlier this year seemed to indicate an increasingly bullish bet on the sector, including Fertitta Entertainment’s acquisition of Caesars Entertainment in May. The other is a subsequent takeover offer of MGM Resorts from its largest shareholder, Barry Diller’s People Inc. But a negative shift in market conditions could affect both deals.

In July, Fertitta’s General Counsel Steven Scheinthal told the Nevada Gaming Control Board that the company had a letter of intent from banks to finance the transaction but was waiting for better borrowing conditions. Fertitta is assuming nearly $12 billion in Caesars’ debt and is committed to a $6.6 billion financing package.