This being the case we decided to ask our readers which part of Latin America they want a piece of and got the following results.

Given that this part of the world is home to millions of football lovers it’s only right sports books have a particular eye in this direction. This is why it was no surprise that football-crazy Brazil came out top of our survey with 47 percent of the vote. Add to this that it’s by far the largest country and you can see why it’s so appealing.

Lagging far behind the carnival nation in second place was Mexico with 16 percent. Readers obviously saw the potential in a country that also has a sizeable population and a number of firms are already looking to take advantage of this.

Argentina was a close third with 15 percent and it’s one country that is seeing increasing growth with Ukash, in particular, looking to take advantage in a country where cash is king.

Colombia is another country that has huge potential for sports betting and that was suggested by 7 percent of voters finding the market interesting.

Joining them on 7 percent was the location of this year’s Gaming Executive Summit Latin America (GES LatAm), Panama and it reflects a gaming industry preference for working in this country.

Bringing up the rear was Chile with 4 percent of the poll, Peru taking 3 percent and Others accounting for 1 percent.

There we have it then. iGaming is more interested in what Rio’s Carnival of iGaming has to offer compared with anywhere else in Latin America. This week’s poll looks at “What will contribute most to the success of social gambling?”.

Business News

Over a year on from Black Friday and we’re left with one firm looking good, one stinking the place out and the other just coming out of an extensive plastic surgery operation. Where will they all be this time next year though? Can PokerStars continue on unimpeded? How much of an affect will the court cases have on the three? And, lastly, will Full Tilt Poker get back to its place in the sun?

Instead of answering all these questions ourselves we left it up to you guys to decide who’ll be Champions on April 15, 2013.

It wasn’t a surprise that PokerStars were well on top of the other two firms with an unsurpassable 80 percent of the vote. Their record or paying back players just days after Black Friday and the good running of the company has meant they’ve come out of it with much more credibility than the other two.

Coming in a distant second was the new and improved Full Tilt Poker with 15 percent of the poll. There are certainly some out there that think the old software combined with solid management and all brought together under a strong brand could see them back in play in a year’s time.

Cereus Poker Network, which encompasses the AP/UB, managed just 5 percent of the vote. Whether some felt Cereus needed a sympathy vote or they actually think the network will come back swinging it’s fairly obvious you guys think Cereus will be bottom of the pile come next Easter.

There you have it then. PokerStars to reign supreme until next April at least. This week’s poll takes on a very different theme by asking you where in South America you guys want to succeed.

Poker News

To canvas just what the gaming industry does during their mid-year long-weekend our weekly poll took on a chocolate egg and playboy bunny inspired feel. As per usual you were all rather spoilt for choice with the options we gave you and it was reflected in a close run contest.

We like to think we know our readership and our money would have been on visiting the bunnies at Playboy coming out on top. Right on queue our favorite bushy tailed creatures took 29 percent of the vote and emerged as your preferred way to spend an Easter weekend. As well as a good brain you guys must have deep pockets.

To prove the gaming industry isn’t just a bunch of leering bunny-watchers, second place went to spending time with the family. Quality moments with the loved ones polled 26 percent and show that a mix of bunny time and family time is most preferable.

Relaxation takes a close third with 20 percent of the vote, as the hard work everyone in the industry put in mean four days doing nothing is very preferable.

Gaming industry bods didn’t forget the feast of sport with 14 percent voting that would be the way they’d spend the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.

Raising a toast for entire four-day weekend only got 4 percent of the vote and we can only assume no one sent or received any eggs – gorging got 0 percent.

This week’s poll takes on a Black Friday feel and asks: Which company will be best off two years after Black Friday?

Lifestyle News

Granted that some unregulated markets in Asia do see fixing but the European gambling industry firms have a handle on any fixing taking place. In order to get a better idea of what the gambling industry thinks of this illicit practice we polled our readers on who should be doing more.

We posed the question “Who should be doing more to combat match fixing?” and gave them five options.

Coming bottom of the pile with just 1 percent of the vote were the boys in blue, the Police. Or did readers just think it was Sting and his band of brothers?

After this came the guys that write the laws and run the country, the government, with 5 percent.

Most of you seem to have taken on board that the gambling industry already does a lot to combat fixing and this was acknowledged by sportsbooks polling just 13 percent in third place.

Clearly many of you think that sports’ plethora of governing bodies should be doing more to combat fixing as 33 percent of you voted for this option.

When it came to first place the readers of the tablog were almost unanimous in their choice. 48 percent said a combination of all of them should have a responsibility for fixing. This is what the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) are aiming for at this summer’s games and more cooperation would surely help to stamp out the practice.

Now that the News of the World has disappeared from our shelves there have been, and will be, far less tabloid stings related to fixing and working together will be the best way to combat any new cases that might emerge.

This week’s poll asks how you will spend your Easter weekend. It’s ok we won’t tell the wife what your answer is!

Sports News

Betfair

We’re thinking this must have something to do with their fixed odds offering or are they going to let one lucky customer that lays odds a slot on the ad on a weekly basis? “This week’s lucky customer is Dave from Barnsley!!!”

Scandinavian based Betsson saw revenues and income jump as they released their latest results. For the year of 2011 revenues were up 8% to SEK 1,736.6million and operating income increased by a huge 47% to SEK 559.7m. This included 103,000 more active customers and was in addition to operating income increasing by 35% in the fourth quarter of the year to SEK 1 72.3m. Magnus Silfverberg, President and CEO of Betsson, said: “Betsson now ranks as one of the world’s most influential gaming companies. We have achieved this position thanks to our strong growth and profitability as well as Betsson’s long-term efforts to create attractive gaming solutions for both partners and end users. During the fourth quarter, Betsson has experienced an all-time high in both activity and deposits, while the Group sits at the forefront in the technological development towards a new reregulated reality in Europe.”

In terms of the year to come, the firm is confident the industry will “develop strongly” and that the firm will experience “healthy growth.” The firm also confirmed that they’ve been awarded a licence to operate in Italy and will be launching in the country very soon. He explained that they won’t be applying for a licence in Belgium though, and added: “Our view is their regulation is not in coherence with EU legislation, so we have no plans to apply for that kind of licence.”

Business News

The acknowledgement that sports betting constitutes as “a form of commercial exploitation of competitions” and the consequent call to the European Commission and EU Member States to recognise and protect the competition organisers’ property rights, “guaranteeing a significant contribution from betting operators” towards “funding grassroots sports” and “protecting the integrity of competitions”

The problem here will be the European Parliament trying to put it into practice. It’s been pointed out just how difficult it will be to reach a Europe-wide consensus on the sports betting industry and the very same problem would be present here. Thanks to the lack of harmonization in the continent’s different markets and the balkanization that has taken place, it’s very unlikely they can do anything else but call for countries to take action. MEPs later went on to reiterate their policy on anything-untoward going on and stated:

A zero-tolerance policy against match-fixing, illegal betting, money laundering and doping in professional sport by making them criminal offences

As has been shown in the latest high profile fixing cases this is already well and truly underway. Unfortunately it’s the less developed nation that have been admitted into the European Union (EU) that often experience fixing and corruption problems and they’re the ones that need to take the focus of this report.

Legal News

The latest set of ropey figures prompted ARJEL president Jean-Francois Vilotte to lead calls for the market to be reformed. The latest declines were “a cause for concern” due to the fact it could prompt players to return to unregulated or international sites. Many will say the regulators set themselves up for a fall by setting the taxes at such an anti-competitive level originally. One of the fiercest critics was former BetClic Everest chairman Stephane Courbit who commented that it “does not allow us to exist.” Certainly looks like the regulator’s starting to feel that way too.

Over the border in Italy, a strike in the country’s horseracing industry has seen revenues decrease by 50% at one firm, according to eGR. The stoppage, which began on January 1, was triggered by a cut in funding by the beleaguered government and has caused SNAI to hit the buffers. Since the strike they’ve been limited to take bets on foreign races and are unlikely to hit the ambitious earnings forecasts they posted last week, even though they included a warning over horseracing.

Business News

Most people have these guys...

For the online gambling industry the Super Bowl is like the best conference party you ever attended, followed by a strip club full of insanely hot girls. That’s before you finish off at 5am with the best sex of your life! That goes close to giving you how pumped up the sportsbook industry gets over the most watched TV event of the year. It embodies everything the sportsbook industry aims for and is the culmination of the past year toiling away to make your product the best.

Being a sporting event of gargantuan proportions also means that everyone has an opinion on how it’ll pan out. Will Madonna be wearing fishnets? Can Kelly Clarkson go the whole anthem without a massive eff up? Thankfully we also got our thinking caps on and came up with who we think is gonna take home the Lombardi. If you go by last year’s predictions then your guess is as good as ours. So here goes the CalvinAyre.com Super Bowl Predictor Extraordinaire 2012…

Jason Kirk – Game 1 of the Super Bowl will be close, but I think Game 2 is where the real action will be. Wait – what? They don’t play a series to determine the champion? What kind of sport is this? Well, if you can get decent odds on me gaining weight from the great food at my neighbor’s Super Bowl party, by all means log a bet!

Vince Martin – Giants 24, Patriots 20. Eli throws two fourth quarter TD’s, beating former wide receiver Julian Edelman on one and Raiders castoff Sterling Moore on the other, leading to an avalanche of articles wondering if Belichick is truly the genius everybody thinks.

Bonus prediction: Jets fans like me will spend the entire weekend crying into their beer and trying to crank call Santonio Holmes.

Jamie Hinks – Before we start I’m gonna say the Pats by 7. The formula I’m going for is this. 2012 is the year that England has it all. The Queen’s got one of those celebration days when everyone goes crazy, the Olympics are coming to London and it can’t be a matter of coincidence that Brady’s in the Super Bowl. All that said, there are storylines aplenty here and as the Pats know a streaking Giants team is not who you want to play in the big game.

Mike O’Donnell – I’m a big Brady fan and as a result am going to say that it will be a Pats win. However their defence is worryingly poor in the secondary so Eli and his wide receivers could post some big numbers. With this in mind it will probably be a high scoring game so I’m saying Pats to win 30-24. Brady or Pats tight end Rob Gronkowski to be MVP.

Rebecca Liggero – Being the Bostonian that I am, clearly my prediction is that the Pats will bring this one home- the over/under is high so they will likely go under but I’d say we’re looking at 24-20 Pats.  NE fans know how volatile Bill Belichick can be, so he may unleash Chad Ochocinco who could show us 9 catches, 132 yards and 2 touch downs to secure him the MVP.  Other players to watch include Danny Woodhead who I have a special love for do to our similar vertical challenges, Tom Brady who will undoubtedly be redeeming himself after a poor performance last week against the Ravens and Rob Gronkowski who is nursing a sore ankle.

...but don't count these guys out

Lee Bell – With the game being that of two outstanding quarterbacks – New England Patriots’ Tom Brady and New York Giants’ Eli Manning – I think it’ll boil down to if the Giants can put pressure on Brady. If they don’t, Patriots will take the game. On the other hand, if Manning can connect with his wide receiver, Victor Cruz, the Giants, too, have an outstanding chance.

It’s going to be a close one, but if I had to put my life savings on it, I’d go for Patriots. They have a strong, all-round offence and with their tight-end Rob Gronkowski returning to practice, they’re getting my vote.

Bill Beatty – I’m a big fan of the storylines that go along with the big game. Terrific Tom is trying to match Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw with four Super Bowl rings. He’s looking for redemption for their Super Bowl XLII disappointment. Those are great but with the Giants you have the younger Manning brother looking to top his big brother with his second Super Bowl ring in Big Brother’s stadium against big brother’s archrival. Eli will put on his big boy pants and win this game late. Don’t worry about Brady because no matter the results on the field, he’s going home to Giselle, he’s running up the score in the game of life.

Steven Stradbrooke – Frankly, I can’t see how the Patriots can beat the Giants. Patriotism is a noble virtue and all, but, c’mon… They’re GIANTS. (Hat-tip to Diane Chambers.)

Last but not least we’ll leave it to Calvin to either make it a tie or seal it for the Pats. Take it away…

I like the Patriots -3…pick off anything better than -3 you can find out there.

There you have it. We’re taking the Pats by a score of FIVE TO THREE and are well behind Gisele Bundchen’s man. Who you got?

Sports News

One thing that has gained more popularity in recent years is the prop bets – or “exotic” as some like to brand them. The Las Vegas Hotel sportsbook has around 400 prop bets on Super Bowl XLVI ranging from first touchdown to player vs player bets. There is even the chance to place Super Bowl prop bets against other sports – for example Brandon Jacobs touchdowns (-300) are up against Wayne Rooney goals against Chelsea on Feb 5^th (+250).

Vegas sportsbooks aren’t able to offer bets on factors around the game. That’s stuff like the half time show, pre-game show, national anthem, adverts, and so and so forth. Thankfully online gaming sites have this market catered for. Whether you want to bet on more flesh being on show or Madonna blowing over in the Lucas Oil Stadium artificial wind then it’s here. We’ve picked out a few of our favorite five…

Will NBC show Madonna’s boyfriend, Brahim Zalbat, on screen between kick-off and the final whistle? Yes (2.00) No (1.67) (YouWin.com)

More of a question would be whether NBC will be able to work out who Zalbat is…To make even more spicy how about Guy Ritchie attends and they scope the camera on him. Then watch Madonna fight the NBC executives as if it’s a re-enactment of Ritchie’s film Snatch. D’ya like daaagss?

How many times will David Tyree’s 2008 Super Bowl catch be shown on TV during the game? Over 1 (1.87) Under 1 (1.87) (YouWin.com)

This is the obvious winner when it comes to the gambler. Everyone knows this moment will be played at least twice during the game. If the Giants fall far behind and look like coming back then gear yourself up for Tyree overload.

Gatorade Bath Colour? Red (8/1), Clear/Water (1/1), Orange (5/2), Lime Green (11/2), Blue (10/1), Yellow (2/1) (BetUSA)

The only question we have here is…what happens if Tom Coughlin’s developed a likeness for blackcurrant flavored Gatorade and the Giants win. Where will ya be then?! Eh!

Will Madonna be wearing fishnet stockings at any point during half time? Yes (1.83) No (1.83) (Bodog.co.uk)

With the plethora of outfit changes taking place during half-time this is pretty much a certainty. More to the point will she be wearing a nipple tassle ala Janet J?

What’s clear is that this year’s game is simply huge. Get the beer by the keg load and get ready for Sunday.

Sports News

The parent company of win2day is considering applying for a licence to operate an online gambling site in Belgium. Austrian Lotteries unveiled its latest results this week with turnover for the company 6.7% to €3.4billion. win2day saw a rise of 5% to €1.125bn and it was off the back of that they decided Belgium was the place to become licenced. According to their release they’ve sent in the application and are waiting to hear back about when they have to submit a list of games they propose to offer to punters.

To finish off our Eurotrip, Italian sports betting and gaming firm SNAI released its projections for the coming year. They expect to revenue to be somewhere in the region of €620million and €650m with record growth across all verticals except for horse race betting.

Business News

“I’m fighting Miguel Cotto on May 5th because Miss Pac Man is ducking me,” he tweeted yesterday.

The news brings the curtain down on a fight between the best two pound-for-pound fighters before Mayweather goes to jail. It leaves us with some big questions to ponder. Could Pacquiao in fact be ducking Money? Who told Mayweather how to work Twitter and where can I send the hate mail? Will Mayweather use jail as an excuse to never get in the ring with Pac Man?

It’s not all bad though. Delaying the fight means that a purpose-built indoor arena can be constructed in the desert for when the two of them finally get it on. The question is whether one of them will be carrying a Zimmer frame and the other sitting in a motorized wheelchair when this takes place. Somewhere someday the fight will take place and the best fighter of our era crowned. If nothing else the well being of boxing depends on it. With these two delaying for even longer the gains seen by UFC will be higher and make people seriously doubt the sport in North America.

Sports News

House Bill 108, if passed by both houses of the Utah legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Gary Herbert, would prevent residents in the state from gambling on the Internet. It will encompass computers, handheld devices and any other way that players might want to skirt the ban.

“Without courageous leadership to block Internet gaming, Utah could see Indian casinos popping up statewide in just a few years,” Sandstrom said.

“Utah is only one of two states that prohibit any form of gambling, Hawaii being the other. Unfortunately, this could change soon because Hawaii is currently considering legalising gaming leaving Utah to fight the principled fight against legalised gambling on its own,” he added

Professor I. Nelson Rose cited Utah in a recent radio interview as one state that wouldn’t cozy up to the gambling industry with Alabama being the other one in the exclusive club. Sandstrom has first started doodling this bill in late December – when most other states were rejoicing over the decision to repeal the wire act.

Poker News

Caesars

The dates were posted to TwoPlusTwo by awesometown with event #1, Casino Employees NLHE, getting underway on Sunday, May 27. The NLHE Main Event starts on Saturday July 7 and runs for nine days. It will then resume in October, likely from 28-30.

European Poker Tour’s (EPT) stop in Deauville got underway yesterday as 350 players descended on the town’s aptly named Casino Deauville. As is par for the course most of those taking part on day 1a were purely bothered about qualifying. This would give them the extra day to do whatever it is you do with a free day in Deauville – boating on the marina we’d assume. Among those falling on day 1a was former WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel. The lead was grabbed by Estonian Kristijonas Andrulis on 162,600 chips. He is 400 ahead of second placed Philippe Ma and there’s no guarantee either of them will be top of the pile after day 1b later today.

Poker News

Mobile wasn’t forgotten by Cisco with the amount of devices expected to reach seven billion worldwide in three year’s time – 2015. This is in addition to Internet traffic increasing four fold as more people get connected to the net. It does present us with the question – what else will be different by 2020? Will we all live in the air like the Jetson’s? Are all the women going to be even hotter? We bloody hope so!

Those hot women, wherever they may be, are more likely to jump in the sack with you if they’re using an Android phone. A survey of Canadian users by dating site Match.com uncovered the facts about who wants nookie quickest and found Android users are far more likely.

Kimberley Moffit, holds the innuendo-filled title of “relationship insider” at the site and revealed 62% of Android singles bump uglies on the first date compared with 57% of iPhone users and a pitiful 48% on BlackBerry. The latter are more likely to go all puppy eyed with 67% believing in love at first sight… On that note we’ll finish it with Android users. In addition to the first night of sexy time, 55% are most likely to have a one-night stand. In future, always note what phone your blind date carries and you’ll know how hard to try.

Lifestyle News

Sportingbet has confirmed the acquisition of two Danish sportsbooks. The international gaming firm signed a deal to take on Danbook and Scandic back in October and the deal hinged on them both being awarded Danish gaming industry licences. The deal, which is worth up to £8.5million, is performance related and is worth £4m cash and £500k in shares up front. It means they have a sizeable presence in Denmark with Sportingbet and Centrebet also owning licences in the newly regulated market.

Microgaming is launching a “Diamond Edition” of its live dealer games that promises to make the online experience even more like a real casino. The new edition adds to the high definition video streaming with redefined graphics and a lot more statistics than ever before. Multi-player roulette joins Microgaming’s live dealer offering with participants now able to see other player’s bets on the table. A spokesperson for Microgaming Live Games said: “The Diamond Edition was partly conceived because of the trend we have noticed towards playing multi-player games, and we were keen to ensure that players have even greater opportunity to take advantage of this function, this time through Roulette. Already, 16 Microgaming customers are using the Live Games product after just one year in the market, meaning that our first-rate technology and comprehensive live experience is being used by thousands of gamers worldwide.”

When can we expect the “walk in and leer over the hot dealers edition” then?

Business News

“People are getting a bit bored [with gaming machines]. Internet gambling is way more accessible, but the sad thing about that is all money goes overseas,” she said.

Matthews has started driving the bandwagon over restricting online gambling – this despite the point that there are no figures in the Northern Advocate article supporting an increase in online gaming. An upturn in online gambling is no different to what has happened in most other developed countries and is simply the course the industry’s taking.

In terms of the legal stance on the online gambling industry, Internal Affairs spokesperson Trevor Henry admitted they don’t supervise it but added: “The law says it’s not illegal to gamble over the internet, but it’s illegal to advertise or promote online gambling.”

Although the usual conclusion has been jumped to over online gambling it can actually be a lot easier to track problem gamblers online. Poker machines are a lot more anonymous and as such it makes it harder to monitor players. With online gaming it’s a lot easier to keep a close eye on players that have an addiction and as such limit the amount they play.

Business News

Jersey

The agreement means the two will share information and is the latest in a long line of similar agreements signed across Europe.

OpenBet is the latest firm to have signed up to offer Zukido’s suite of mobile games. The deal means HTML5-based games will be available as part of OpenBet’s casino software and thus on offer to all their customers. Initial Gameshow Hi-Lo, Fireball Football and Shear Luck are now in the casino with a number of others to follow in due course. Max Francis, commercial partner manager at OpenBet, added: “The OpenBet platform has always offered a truly unbiased choice of content from across the industry and this applies equally to mobile.”

Czech gambling industry firm Fortuna Entertainment Group is restructuring its entire sports betting and lottery marketing departments. The move is being made to “exploit synergies between lottery and sports betting,” and involves bringing the two under one roof. It also sees Zdenek Lang become the company’s new Marketing Director, a new role that encompasses both departments. Only last week they announce entry into the Polish sports betting market and the expansion is continuing at quite a pace.

Business News

The deal would mean Gala’s casino would come under the Grosvenor Casino brand, which consists 35 locations across the country and is in the process of an extensive rebranding that will see them carry the G Casino moniker. According to the Press Association, Rank have confirmed the deal but reiterated that no terms have been finalised and there was no certainty it will take place. Boy does Gala hope the certainty is realised. The firm has net debts of £1.3billion and could be the catalyst for the break up the entire firm.

Any deal that materializes would create the UK’s largest casino chain with Grosvenor casinos overtaking Genting as the country’s biggest. Thanks to its firm footing in Asia, Genting is unlikely to lose any sleep over the prospect of moving down to a second. It also has one casino business development going up in Birmingham and might fins itself back on top of the pile very soon.

As for Gala Coral, the sale will let them focus on the bingo side of the land-based game and the Coral bookmaking business.

Business News

Friday night’s party was mainly about drinking and networking, with the endless supply of beverages lubricating the conversations all night. As with any Bodog social, hot girls are never in short supply and this was no different. We counted at least 25 Bodog girls in attendance that tipped the usual gaming industry party count in favor of the ladies. Just what we like to see!

There was no shortage of entertainment with a sexy Asian beauty that dripped hot wax all over her body, a fire dancer and a traditional Chinese New Year lion dance ceremony, a sword demonstration and a contortionist. Imagine the tag team they’d make!

This gave way to Bodog Europe CEO Patrik Selin taking part in the traditional painting of the lion’s eye. Then came a video by Bodog on what they think of the gaming industry’s largest location, Asia, and how the firm’s revolutionary poker software works.

If the free booze and entertainment wasn’t enough then the cage dancing girls really sealed it! All in all this party was so Bodog that it hurt – in a good way! Checkout the PICTURES here.

Conference News

TVShack owner Richard O'Dwyer

A legal expert on the gaming industry warned that legal precedent in the US in terms of Internet-related extraditions could have a small effect on the affiliate industry. A presentation by Peter Wilson, an expert in iGaming litigation, formed the second part of a session at today’s London Affiliate Conference looking at UK Gambling Law.

Wilson looked at the legal side of the table and laid out the two main changes that will occur should the national licensing method be reintroduced. The first is that anyone wanting to carry out transactions with British customers will have to have a licence. The second involves advertising and makes it an offence to advertise non UK-regulated services to UK customers – wherever you’re based.

Wilson had the same lack of optimism as the first speaker Steve Donoghue. The exorbitant tax is their main gripe and one that will put operators off obtaining a licence. There’s also the long-winded testing process and plethora of different licences present that would put licensees off, according to Wilson.

It was the part involving affiliates that will have seen many of those in attendance with pricked up ears. Wilson used the case of Richard O’Dwyer to illustrate just how easy it can be for US authorities to seek extradition. The Englishman ran TVShack.net, which linked through to sites offering pirated content. The US went after the domain as it was owned by Virginia company, Verisign, and as it was a dot.net domain they claimed it came under their jurisdiction. Wilson recognized that something this drastic is unlikely in the gambling or affiliate it’s “worth keeping an eye on.”

Michael Caselli, chair of the session, added that affiliates could be considered too hard to target by US authorities if they’re doing anything wrong as the one thing the DoJ is more often than not after is easy access to funds. In terms of the UK, Caselli ended the session by stating the British market could soon be too saturated and that it could signal a bleak future for a little while at least. Will anything happen at all? It’s too early to say.

Marketing News