Kamakura

What is Kamakura?

“First, our own priorities have shifted,” he says. “We have been explicit that we are moving away from a growth-at-all-costs mindset, towards a more disciplined focus on profitability and cash generation, and 888Africa is immediately accretive on both counts.

“Second, the opportunity itself was time-limited. 888Africa became available because of Evoke’s own strategic evolution, and assets of this quality with this kind of market position do not come up often.

“Third, the African market has matured to a point where the regulatory, mobile and demographic tailwinds are now translating into genuine, durable growth rather than early-stage promise.”

About Kamakura

While it did not find Curaçao-based trust firm DECC and its directors liable in this case, the ruling signalled that closer scrutiny of such intermediaries could unfold.

Nederlandse Loterij has announced plans to appeal portions of the Lalabet decision, particularly arguing that trust firms have a duty to properly vet their clients. 

The operator was also investigating the roles of the same trust firm in relation to Qbet and Skyhills, indicating further legal proceedings may be forthcoming once corporate structures are clarified.

How to play Kamakura

“People look primarily at the instances where things go wrong for players; of course, every single one of those is one too many. But they don’t tend to look at the large number of people enjoying gambling.”

Holland Casino was one of the first operators out of the gate when the newly-minted market opened in 2021, and while they don’t have the position they occupied in those early days, the company’s online offering is healthy. When they launched online, Petra says “we were very well known for – and are very well known for – responsible gaming.

“That was the reason why we joined [online as well as land-based]. But we were a full brick-and-mortar company so it took us some time to prepare for that market. In the beginning, the market share was of course higher because you only had 10 operators and we had a very well-known brand name, but now the market is much bigger and you have operators more specialised in sports betting and things like that. We have dropped down a bit.”