{"id":66597,"date":"2018-01-06T09:07:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T17:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=66597"},"modified":"2018-01-06T09:07:11","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T17:07:11","slug":"israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Government Reaches $6.7 Million Settlement with GBI Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israeli government has agreed to pay a settlement of 23 million shekels ($6.7 million) to GBI Racing following the implementation of a ban on betting on horse racing that came into effect last week.<\/p>\n

\"GBI
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon\u2019s gambling crackdown led to the end of GBI Racing\u2019s operations in Israel. (Image: Kobi Kantor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The settlement provides GBI with compensation for the remainder of their contract, which was initially set to expire this coming August.<\/p>\n

Israel had only begun allowing betting on racing in 2013. But GBI Racing, which is a joint venture between Racing UK and At The Races, quickly established itself in the country and made Israel one of its major markets.<\/p>\n

According to a report in the Racing Post<\/em>, GBI was believed to be making about \u00a34 million ($5.4 million) in revenues from Israel each year.<\/p>\n

Ban is Part of Campaign Against State-Sponsored Gambling<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However, Israel\u2019s parliament approved legislation last year to ban horse racing betting<\/a>. It was part of a campaign by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to eliminate state-sponsored betting, which he described as \u201ctainted money.\u201d<\/p>\n

When that decision was announced in July, the Israeli treasury made it clear that they were prepared to negotiate terms to get out of the remaining contract. Earlier, GBI officials had warned that they might pursue legal action both in Israel and international courts should the contract be ended prematurely.<\/p>\n

In the end, it appears that both sides were willing to negotiate. Details of how the parties came to their agreement were not made public, though it\u2019s likely GBI was compensated not only for lost revenues, but also for the substantial investment the company made in the country, including the installation of betting shop terminals that offered racing content translated into Hebrew.<\/p>\n

GBI Laments Loss of Valuable Market<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For GBI, the settlement marked a disappointing end to what the company saw as a successful venture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closure is a shame, given the giant strides GBI Racing has made in the four and a half years of trading in Israel,\u201d a GBI spokesperson said. \u201cThe country had no history of horseracing, no infrastructure to facilitate betting on horseracing, and had no real affiliation with a uniquely British product.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson went on to describe Israel as a \u201ckey market,\u201d saying that they believed the arrangement had been good both for Israel and for tracks back in the British Isles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a partnership that has delivered substantial revenues and funding to UK and Irish racecourses, as well as for sports and government good causes in Israel, but we have accepted the ministry\u2019s decision and the political will to close the operation,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe believe it is a fair settlement, given the circumstances.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the spokesperson, GBI Racing will look to make up for the lost revenues by expanding operations in new and emerging markets, including in Africa and Italy.<\/p>\n

Horse racing was not the only target of Kahlon\u2019s gambling crackdown. The Mifal Hapayis national lottery was also forced to shut down more than 600 electronic gaming machines last week, after the lottery failed to reach an agreement with the Finance Ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cEighteen months ago I said there would no longer be slot machines<\/a> in Israel, and I am very happy that from today, there aren\u2019t any more,\u201d Kahlon said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Israeli government has agreed to pay a settlement of 23 million shekels ($6.7 million) to GBI Racing following the implementation of a ban on betting on horse racing that came into effect last week. The settlement provides GBI with compensation for the remainder of their contract, which was initially set to expire this coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":66598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,61,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIsraeli Government Reaches $6.7 Million Settlement with GBI Racing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Israeli government will pay GBI Racing $6.7 million after a ban on horse racing betting went into place in the country.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israeli Government Reaches $6.7 Million Settlement with GBI Racing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Israeli government will pay GBI Racing $6.7 million after a ban on horse racing betting went into place in the country.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-06T17:07:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/F160104MA009.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/\",\"name\":\"Israeli Government Reaches $6.7 Million Settlement with GBI Racing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/F160104MA009.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-06T17:07:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-06T17:07:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The Israeli government will pay GBI Racing $6.7 million after a ban on horse racing betting went into place in the country.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/israeli-government-reaches-6-7-million-settlement-gbi-racing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/F160104MA009.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/F160104MA009.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon\u2019s gambling crackdown led to the end of GBI Racing\u2019s operations in Israel. 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