WATCH: Casino News Roundup - April 17, 2025

Our news reporter, Alan Evans, brings you the latest news from the casino industry on April 17, 2025. 

Can't watch right now? Here's the full transcript:

"Wrestling fans attending the WWE WrestleMania event in Las Vegas on April 20 and 21 may just give a nod to the exotic trailblazer of wrestling Adrian Street, a miner’s son from the UK who moved to America after falling in love with the sport.   

"Street’s unique brand of wrestling violence masked a romantic and kind side. Street would visit sick children in hospital along with his wife, Miss Linda. Street proposed to Miss Linda at the famous Cauliflower Alley Club, which was based at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

"Politicians in Wales, UK, have been suspended from their paid jobs representing committees in the Welsh parliament.  

"Welsh Conservative Russell George and Director of the Welsh Conservatives Darren James are among 15 people being investigated by the Gambling Commission for betting-related crime relating to the outcome on the date of the 2024 General Election.  

"AI is never far from the news. Former Chairman and CEO of Google Eric Schmidt has made the headlines by setting out the future of AI, whereby he predicts that super artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence, becoming a familiar collaborative companion in everything we do.   

"Schmidt said that within the next few years, AI will significantly reshape the landscape of programming and mathematical problem-solving, provoking thought about its applications in the casino industry.  

"Dutch Gambling Authority the KSA has fined an operator €734,000 for failing to protect vulnerable gamblers.

"Following an investigation into ‘alarming levels’ of losses on gambling by 10 players aged between 18 and 23, the KSA has handed down a record fine to a licensed gambling operator due to serious shortcomings in safeguarding young players.   

"Legal proceedings are ongoing and there is an injunction in place to prevent the operator from being named. The KSA says they will name the operator when legal proceedings allow. 

"A casino worker in the Republic of Ireland has been awarded over €3,000 by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after being unfairly dismissed from his job at the Roma Casino in Limerick City.   

"Thomas O'Dwyer’s employment was terminated in May 2024 when he was accused of helping a gambler exploit a glitch in the slot machine software that allowed the customer to withdraw hundreds of euros they had not won. The casino management claimed O'Dwyer facilitated the error but admitted there was no proof he benefitted from it. 

"And finally, the world’s largest asset manager has received approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to operate as a crypto asset firm.   

"BlackRock plans to launch an exchange-traded product (ETP) centred around Bitcoin. The firm is positioning itself to bring the volatile world of cryptocurrency into mainstream investment portfolios, including pensions and retirement accounts.  

"That’s it for this week. Don’t forget to visit casinos.com to subscribe and sign up for all our special offers and free giveaways. 

Bye for now."