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What is Rocket Fuse?
Union deals have been a pressing topic for casino operators in recent years. Workers have pressed for increased benefits and job security provisions in the wake of macroeconomic uncertainty and the advent of potentially disruptive technologies like AI.
All nine of Atlantic City’s casinos agreed to new labour deals this summer without a strike, although its union opted for just one-year deals instead of the typical length of three or more years. This was in response to increased uncertainty related to looming competition from both New York City casinos and New Jersey’s own online gaming industry.
In Las Vegas, the Culinary Union has unionised the entire Las Vegas Strip and secured historic wage increases during the last round of negotiations. Those deals are about halfway done now, and Culinary is no stranger to strikes, having used them as leverage to secure new deals in the run-up to the inaugural Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023 and and Super Bowl the following February.
What is Rocket Fuse?
“In this case, it’s a completely different situation. You have a group, not a single company in a single country, a group which has been a solid group for 10 years and delivering. There’s no turnaround to be made. It’s already very well managed. It’s number one in its markets.”
The combined company will be listed on stock exchanges in both Spain and Italy, which Cirsa and Lottomatica are already market leaders in.Italy accounted for 57% of a combined group pro format adjusted EBITDA in H1. Spain made up 23% of that figure, with Rest of World at 20%.
Once the deal is completed, 80% of its EBITDA is expected to come from those two markets.
What is Rocket Fuse?
Rossi believes the ISC in Peru is an example of a government implementing new taxes without truly understanding how the industry works, and the potential impacts on channelisation to licensed offerings.
“Peru has been quite successful in channelling customers into the regulated framework,” Rossi comments. “The risk is that this channelisation can decrease in favour of the black market. We know the black market won’t have any consumption tax.
“There should be, in my opinion, a review of the whole ISC or consumption tax framework and find a kind of alignment or a better way to get an income in terms of taxes, but that should be balanced in order to avoid the disruption of businesses and a migration of customers to the illegal market.”