Spire

What is Spire?

Speaking to iGB at the time, Bjorn Fuchs, chairman of VNLOK Fuchs noted “there was a sigh of relief going through the room when it was presented”.

Rather than a crackdown across the board, what emerged was a more regulated renewal framework.

Of the KSA’s update, Fuchs said: “If you [as an operator] have a clean sheet, there are some hoops, but for various modules you can just send a declaration which states that you’re compliant.”

How to play Spire

Bally’s has been granted two years’ worth of extensions for the permanent project. State law allows for two-year temporary licences, but the Illinois Gaming Board approved an extension to three years in 2023. That pushed the deadline to this September, but Bally’s ultimately received another year’s worth of extensions through language included in the state’s omnibus revenue bill that was passed in June.

If the latest extension had not been granted, Bally’s would have had to close its temporary casino at Medinah Temple until the permanent venue was completed. That would have resulted in multiple months with no revenue in the market, but Kim told iGB at the East Coast Gaming Congress in April that a closure of the temporary site was “not the end of the world”.

Meanwhile, Bally’s is forging ahead with an even bigger project to the east, its $4 billion Bally’s Bronx resort in New York City. The company was one of three NYC licence winners last year, alongside Resorts World New York City and Hard Rock’s Metropolitan Park.

How to play Spire

Tunisia has competing bills to prohibit or regulate online betting, neither of which has advanced. Egypt has relied on enforcement measures.

In all three, private online betting has no licensing route. Governments are tackling offshore demand through blocking, prohibition and criminal enforcement.

The contrast with land-based gambling is striking. Casinos in Morocco and Egypt operate within recognised frameworks and, in Morocco, attract international investment. Private online betting remains outside the legal market.