THE AMERICAS
New Jersey made its final pitch for legal sports betting at the Third Circuit Court while Canada got new single-game sports betting legislation; daily fantasy sports operator FantasyHub suspended operations abruptly; Atlantic City’s Borgata casino expanded its online relationship with GAN; a study underscored the importance of getting social gamers to make their first in-app purchases; Inspired Gaming launched a virtual sports offering in Colombia; Iovation got a favorable nod from Nevada regulators despite Greg Pierson’s troubled past; Texas regulators revoked racetracks’ ability to operate historical racing machines; Boyd Gaming got a boost from its Las Vegas Locals market; Las Vegas Sands lost its bid to replace the judge hearing the Steve Jacobs case and Betiply’s Bob Reisenweber expressed concern over the future of daily fantasy sports’ relationships with pro sports leagues.
EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST
Amaya announced plans to migrate Full Tilt players to the PokerStars platform while insisting that Tilt’s software wasn’t for sale; GSN Games acquired social gamers Plumbee; William Hill urged UK competition watchdogs to reject the Coral-Ladbrokes merger; Spain’s online gambling market enjoyed a 26% boost last year; Cherry AB’s 2015 revenue nearly doubled following a year of acquisitions; Evolution Gaming reported record profits on increased demand for dedicated live dealer products; Sweden’s online gambling market grew last year but state monopoly Svenska Spel lost market share; BetVictor became an Authorized Betting Partner of UK racing and the UK betting industry’s self-regulatory body got its first online-only member; Winamax accidentally credited €1.5m to a player’s account; Portugal said it would issue its first online licenses in March; Dollaro Poker soldiered on despite its links to Illegal gambling in Italy; Israel’s PM endorsed a casino study plan while Jordan resumed its own casino legalization debate; Dafabet closed in on a major sponsorship deal with Scots footie faves Celtic; SatoshiPay’s Meinhard Benn explained why Bitcoin nanopayments could be the solution to ad blocking issues; Gaimerzlcom talked up its eSports betting white label offering while ESL chairman Jens Hilgers suggested the eSports industry is primed to explode and Becky Liggero recapped all the mayhem at the iGB Affiliate Awards 2016.
ASIA
Macau’s New Year visitation numbers improved but gaming revenue failed to keep pace; Tatts Group enjoyed a fiscal H1 surge thanks to “exceptionally strong online traction;” Macau’s slump drove down Melco Crown Entertainment’s profits and caused MGM Resorts to delay MGM Cotai’s opening; Genting Singapore laid off staff at Resorts World Sentosa following a 70% profit plunge in Q4; Macau’s latest junket theft involved ‘Broken Tooth’ Koi; Western Australia made more noises about privatizing its TAB betting operation; the Hong Kong Jockey Club cast more aspersions on its Asian online betting rivals; PAGCOR’s gaming revenue rose 45% last year; The Star Entertainment Group’s H1 profit sank after Asian VIPs went on a hot streak; Crown Resorts vowed to fight a $362m back tax bill; falls in Korean tourism sent Grand Korea Leisure’s profit down 40% while Kangwon Land said it was business as usual.
