Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

The Americas

Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have MissedCaesar’s stock fell 11 percent, the most it has dropped in almost a year but CIE is still no. 1 when it comes to social casino games. Speaking of social games, Vince Martin discusses where Zynga stands now. While MGM passed Maryland’s background check and got the stamp of approval to proceed with its license application, Trump casinos received their online gambling permits and Golden Nugget was awarded its own permit in Atlantic City, which makes it the second company in NJ to be awarded an online gambling license. AGA’s second-in-command, Judy Patterson, resigns from her post as Senior VP and Executive Director; Greg Raymer’s prostitution charges have been dismissed but he has to do 75 hours of community service. After a leaked e-mail landed on the desk of the Poker Players Alliance, outcry from the poker community has led the GCG to have a change of heart by allowing affiliates of Full Tilt Poker to recover the portion of their account balances that do not relate to their affiliate status. Garden City Group confirmed that Full Tilt points are valueless in US facing accounts. Betfair rolled out their “Lets Play NJ” slogan ahead of their US launch but Channel 4’s UK customers are not happy. We’ve got SuperBowl predictions from Las Vegas Hilton sportsbook director Jay Kornegay, gaming analyst Todd Fuhrman, and oddsmaker Kenny White.  We also have SuperBowl picks from sports handicapper Steve Fezzik and from professional sports bettor Vegas Runner.

Over at PokerStars, they just got a thumbs up from Ray Lesniak; will no longer be participating in the Skill loyalty program; inked a deal with Pokertek; and released the 20th Macau Cup schedule . We also have some tips on how to improve your online poker game brought to you by a bunch of Poker Pro’s and 9 poker apps that every professional poker player should own. Doublehead Pictures will release ultimatebeat, a documentary film about UltimateBet. Jason Kirk catches up with the 2013 WSOP November Nine and Vince Martin talks about how Sheldon Adelson’s new poll shows depth of iGaming opposition. In a recent interview with BLUFF at the WSOPE, Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi confirmed that he has parted ways with lock poker.

Europe

CalvinAyre.com is the media sponsor for the Mobile & Tablet Gambling Summit 2013 so watch out for us. Becky Liggero who was at the BAC and EiG recounts the discussion about expansion plans beyond Europe. Mike O’Donnell asks if mobile gambling creates problem gamblers. Bwin.party’s board reduced to nine after Lord Moonie steps down. mFortune gets 6 nominations at the 2013 eGR operator awards; Darko Stojanovic won Event #3 at the WSOPE and  Jackie Glazier makes history by being the first winner of a ladies only gold bracelet at the WSOPE. We have Lee Davy who tells about his experience in Johannesburg. Ladbrokes partnered with Engine Group to advertise their ‘doubling the odds’ product in Australia, 888 Poker ends its Mac beta testing phase and released its Mac client to players, and Risk Capital Partners might be a potential purchaser of Gala Bingo.

Asia

The team was at Resorts World in Manila to cover the APT Asian Series Manila; Former Pagcor chief wants graft charges dismissed; James Packer bares plan for $400m Sri Lanka casino; Globalport eyeing to build a casino in Cebu, Philippines; Queensland open to offer more casino licenses; Robin Ylitalo wins at the European Poker Tour London while Jason Lavallee wins at the European Poker Tour  £10,000 High Roller. Wynn defends Macau business from Massachusetts regulators; Kazuo Okada doesn’t show up at the DOJ hearing on Anti-Dummy law charges; Mass-market continues to drive Macau’s Q3 revenues; Ex-Bodog staff creates a crime wave in Manila.