Moving to the live poker scene, the World Poker Tour has released the first half of its Season XI schedule. Gone from the fall schedule are stops in Barcelona, Amneville and the Foxwoods WPT Finals. New for 2012 are stops at the Parx Casino in Philadelphia and Copenhagen. Morocco remains on the WPT itinerary, but will shift from Marrakech to Mazagan. The full sked looks as follows: Merit Grand Casino, Cyprus (Aug. 4-9); Parx Casino, Bensalem, PA (Aug. 10-15); Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in California (Aug. 24-29); Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club de France (Sept. 10-15); Casino de Portomaso, Malta (Sept. 16-20); the Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City (Sept. 16-21); the Bestbet Fall Series in Jacksonville, Florida (Nov. 9-13); Casino Copenhagen (Nov. 12-17); Mazagan Casino, Morocco (Nov. 26-Dec. 1); Corinthia Hotel, Prague (Dec. 3-9) and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas (Dec. 17-22).

Poker pro Michael Mizrachi has re-upped as promotional partner of the Breeders’ Cup. Organizers hope Mizrachi will continue to raise awareness of the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and Celebrity Poker Invitational among his deep-pocketed poker brethren. Mizrachi said the partnership with the horseracing outfit “has been amazing” and to watch his social media feeds for updates.

Online poker site Americas Cardroom has announced it will reduce by half the required contribution by mid-stakes players to the site’s bad beat jackpot. Site spokesman Michael Harris claims the move was the result of mid-stakes players complaining that the contribution “had too big an effect on their win rates.”

Poker News

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s figures for table games revenue at the state’s 11 casino operations in April show a 6.83% rise over the same month a year earlier. Total revenues were $56.5m from 1031 tables, compared to $52.9m from 869 tables in 2011 – a 10% drop in per-table revenue. The total is also a step back from the record $61.8m haul recorded in March and fears are that increased competition from surrounding states – including the recent casino launch in Cleveland – may slow the remarkable ascent that saw Pennsylvania become the country’s third largest casino market last year. Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem led all operators with $10.8m from 152 tables, with Parx Casino in second, earning $8.9m from 183 tables. On a per-table basis, the SugarHouse Casino was the star performer, reaping $7.3m from just 54 tables.

The humiliations endured by Atlantic City’s casino sector seemingly know no bounds. Wednesday saw the start of the two-day East Coast Gaming Congress (ECGC), but organizers were rushing around like mad Tuesday night after the host venue – the newly opened Revel casino – abruptly booted them out of its Ovation Hall to accommodate rehearsals by pop singer Beyoncé, who is making her post-partum return to the stage for a four-show stint over the Memorial Day weekend. Both conference organizers and Revel reps were downplaying the extent of the pandemonium brought about by the last minute venue switcheroo, but seriously… First the ECGC gets dissed by Gov. Chris Christie, now Beyoncé? Wonder if Beyoncé’s hubby Jay-Z could list AC’s other 97 problems…

North of the border, billionaire construction titan Larry Tannenbaum has announced he’ll be among the bidders for the city’s proposed destination casino. Tannenbaum, also the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (the company that controls the city’s lucrative National Hockey League franchise), said he prefers the city’s waterfront as the site on which the casino should be built. Tannenbaum said his bid would need to be partnered with a firm that has casino experience.

Casino News

Google

Gartner’s latest figures, which are plotted in Statista’s latest chart of the day, which you can see down the bottom, will make happy reading for most of those in the gambling industry that have jumped on the coat tails of these two OS’s. Of course, if Windows Phone or any other OS makes gains it will be a marvelous opportunity for firms and give even more weight, if it needed it, to the view that HTML5 will be very important going forward. If the others don’t make gains, iGaming industry firms can firmly focus on Apple iOS and Android for growth.

The research company also released figures for all global phone sales and even though phones as whole declined it wasn’t the case in the smart phone sector. It shot up 44.7 percent in Q1 compared with the year before and Statista’s chart shows that 56 percent of the market is taken up by Android (up from 36 percent in Q1 2011) and 23 percent is made up of iOS phones (17 percent last year).

The biggest losers are Nokia’s former OS Symbian, with a drop from 28 percent of the market in Q1 2011 to just 9 percent in the same timescale this year. Research in Motion also continued its descent with a decrease from 13 percent last year to 7 percent this year. The news is hardly a surprise and just shows how far the Windows Phone/Nokia hook-up is going to have to come in order to get close to these two firms.

Statista's Chart of the Day

Lifestyle News

15 May 2012, London:

Harmen Brenninkmeijer, Sr. VP of Strategic Market Development, commented: “Zest has a significant operational base in Mexico and years of experience in the country, making it the perfect partner for our server-based gaming products in this country. Demand is strong for slots and Latin bingo products with remote game download capability, which we have over a decade of experience in supplying. The partnership with Zest will allow a faster roll-out of our products to meet demand in this region.”

Luca Frigerio, CEO of Zest Gaming, said: “There is a clear synergy between Inspired and Zest, and we’re delighted to be able to distribute their server-based gaming products in Mexico. Our customers and contacts should be excited about the results of two leading companies in our industry working together. Zest has been operating in Latin America for some time now and we are very positive about the opportunities in countries such as Mexico.”

Inspired’s multi-game casino slot, Storm MX, is already live in Mexico with increasingincomes. Storm MX, has twin 22” high-definition (HD) screens and is powered by Inspired’s Open SBG CORE™ platform, which allows new games to be remotely downloaded every month. The company’s portfolio of slots and Latin bingo content is proving popular in Mexico and provides varied entertainment for all players, not just freespins. Machine menus have over 30 bonus features and games with different volatilities. For risk loving players there is also the gamble option, which allows the player to choose their own odds as every win can be gambled.

Bingo Blaze, Inspired’s Latin bingo product, will be making its ELA debut. Bingo Blaze is a dual screen, slant top cabinet with multiple high-definition Latin bingo games on one sleek cabinet which can also be adapted by adding traditional bingo and slots games.

Inspired will also showcase its award-winning Virtual Sports. Recognised as the most graphically rich virtual sports betting content in the world and winner of the 2012 ICE Totally Gaming Best Betting Product of the Year award, Inspired’s Virtual Sports are already live in 33 countries worldwide and generate in excess of US$7 billion of revenue and US$ 950m gross win every year. Inspired recently signed an agreement with Caliente spanning 13 countries in Latin America, including Mexico, Panama and Venezuela.

—ENDS—

For more information about this release, please contact: Lucy.Buckley@ingg.com or Ian.Fiddeman@ingg.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7438 5800

About Inspired Gaming Group

Inspired Gaming Group (Inspired / INGG) is the leading supplier worldwide of Server Based Gaming (SBG) systems and games for a range of land based gaming markets, including casino, VLT, bingo and sports betting.

Inspired is the leading gaming machine operator in the UK for the gaming and leisure markets, and also provides its unique Open SBG Core™ software systems, terminals and Virtual Sports products in over 30 other countries. It is one of the three leading VLT suppliers to Italian casinos and betting shops. Its Virtual Sports products are the leading online and land-based games in their category worldwide. The Group operates approximately 50,000 machines on a participation basis, of which in excess of 35,000 are on the Inspired Open SBG CORE™ platform.

The Group’s customer base includes regulated operators of casinos, licensedbetting offices, gaming halls, bingo halls and regulated online sportsbooks and casinos. Key customers include major regulated gaming companies such as Sisal, B Plus, William Hill, Gala Coral Group, Betfred, Ladbrokes, Genting, Paddy Power, Codere, Sky Vegas, PartyGaming, Fortuna, bet365 and Caliente.
Acquired and refinanced in 2010 by leading London investment firm Vitruvian Partners, the largest new private equity fund in Europe, Inspired is focused on the expansion of its SBG leadership into newinternational markets.
www.inspiredgaminggroup.com

Press Releases

Boylesports CEO, Keith O’Loughlin comments:

“We are innovating across all of our gaming verticals and that’s why we’ve partnered with Net Entertainment; A company who have been producing some top quality content in this space”.

Boylesports Head of Gaming, Ruairi Boyle comments:

“With the focus on delivering online, a top priority for us at Boylesports.com, we identified Net Entertainment as an ideal partner to deliver that cutting edge gaming experience that our customers demand. We see this as the start of a long and fruitful partnership which should deliver real growth online and across all platforms”.

Net Entertainment CEO, Per Eriksson comments:

“We are very excited to become Boylesports gaming and casino content partner and this agreement further solidifies our position in the UK gaming market. Our continued focus on portfolio excellence and technology leadership has strengthened our position as the gaming industry’s market leading casino provider, and I am confident that our games will be well received by Boylesports.com players.”

For additional information please contact;

Per Eriksson, CEO Net Entertainment; Phone +46 8 57 85 45 00
per.eriksson@netent.com

or

Ruairi Boyle, Head of Gaming Boylesports; Phone +353 (0)86 040 3216
rboyle@boylesports.com

About Net Entertainment

Net Entertainment is a premium supplier of digitally distributed gaming systems used by some of the world’s most successful online gaming operators. The Net Entertainment casino is a complete gaming solution comprising both a complete management platform and a full suite of high quality games. Operators are provided a customized casino that is easily integrated ensuring short time to market and a cost efficient operation. Net Entertainment is listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm (NET-B). More information about Net Entertainment is available at www.netent.com.

About Boylesports

Boylesports, Ireland’s most successful independent bookmaker, was established in 1989 by John Boyle. In February 2011, Boylesports took over 17 new shops from Celtic Bookmakers, saving 100 jobs, then later that year Boylesports saved 65 jobs with a strategic takeover of 15 William Hill shops. This greatly enhanced our existing estate, bringing the total number of shops to 176 nationwide. This has helped to further solidify our position as the largest independent bookmaker in Ireland. Boylesports Online takes this betting and gaming expertise, established over the decades online, to innovate, market and develop the best betting experience in the betting, casino, games, poker & bingo market. Our customers are always our primary focus and we are committed to continued investment in our services and facilities, giving customers the very best possible Boylesports experience.

Press Releases

Paddy Power

Media Corp has abandoned a bid for Gaming Media Group (GMG) after noticing that Intabet represented more bang for their buck. The move, which will cost £1.53 million, gives Media Corp more of a presence in the online betting market through the odds comparison sector. Intabet allows customers to find the best value and place bets on a number of sites through one account. The deal means Phil Jackson and Adam Fraser-Harris, both management at Intabet, are given seats on the Media Corp board. Jackson becomes a non-executive chairman whereas Fraser-Harris is the firm’s interim CEO.

The former owner of Gambling.com also released its half-yearly report with internet gaming not delivering. Turnover from online gaming increased from £10 million this time last year to £15.2 million while at the same time the trading profit took a huge hit, decreasing from a profit of £12,000 to a loss of £417,000. This was blamed on the negative press from legal action taken out by CD Casino against them and the poor performance of Purple Lounge, something that meant the eventual suspension of its operations. Justin Drumming confirmed he was stepping down as chairman and added: “This has been a very difficult period for the Group, though I believe with the acquisition of Intabet Limited together with further financing, announced today, the Group can now look forward.”

Perform Group has announced the acquisition of RunningBall for up to €120 million. The deal will expand their sports data portfolio and combine with their editorial and video sectors to create a comprehensive solution that will be of interest to the gambling industry. Perform are hopeful the deal will mean more licensees, increase the amount of events licensees sign up for and mean an increase in sports events. They will also attempt to up sell the data to Watch&Bet and Watch&Trade licensees.

Business News

Bwin.party digital entertainment

Good news on the horizon could come in the form of a licence in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein – something they expect to add to their repertoire “soon”. They’ve continued to state they consider the state treaty in breach of EU law and if nothing else this will legitimize a part of the business that German courts have repeatedly dubbed “illegal”.

Not content to have their fingers out of any of the gaming industry’s pie supply, they even saved a corner of their IMS for some social gaming chitchat. They confirmed there will be an “analyst meeting later this month” in which they will lay out their plans for this sector of the industry (no word yet if having Norb and Jim as Facebook friends is an advantage). It’s a side of the industry many are bigging up and if they get involved it could well push the share price up – something that will be an added bonus.

In terms of the U.S.A. there was nothing news and it’s no surprise given the fervent mood of excitement following the signing of a compact with the United Auburn tribe to launch in California. Until then there’s unlikely to be any noise so until next time be gone with you!

Business News

Also a myth? Gambling as an addiction, at least, according to researchers at the University of Sydney’s Gambling Treatment Clinic. Dr. Fadi Anjoul, who has treated problem gamblers for 15 years, says what most regard as addiction could better be described as “a misguided obsession” that results from “habitual and poorly informed choices rather than biological processes that are beyond individual control.” While others lump problem gambling into the same category as drug and alcohol addiction, Anjoul points to the obvious withdrawal symptoms associated with each and the comparative lack thereof in problem gamblers. Anjoul’s team has developed cognitive therapies to help people understand their own gambling origin story and to change how they think about their relationship with gambling. According to Anjoul, such therapies are proving more effective at ‘curing’ problem gamblers than the traditional addiction/disease model therapies.

Sadly, that won’t stop “gambling disorder” from appearing in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) when it finally hits shelves in 2013. The DSM-V will dramatically widen the net for classifying what is and isn’t considered an addiction and this has critics up in arms. Duke professor Allen J. Frances told the New York Times the DSM-V’s overly broad definitions – the DSM-V adds ‘craving’ something as a symptom of addiction – would lead to “medicalization of everyday behavior,” which in turn would create “false epidemics.” For example, Australian researchers determined that the DSM-V’s expanded criteria would boost the number of ‘alcoholics’ by 60%.

The DSM-V’s defenders in the medical industry claim the new criteria will help them identify addicts at earlier stages of their addictions, which will save costs in the long run. In the short term, however, doctors and mental health practitioners – and the pharmaceutical companies with whom these doctors are closely aligned – will have a lot more patients/customers. And anti-gambling groups will have vastly inflated statistics of ‘addicts’ with which to harangue politicians into restricting or eliminating gambling options for the overwhelming majority of people who gamble responsibly. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re ‘craving’ some music…

Lifestyle News

According to iGaming Post, a “timetable for paying back players has been reached” after recent court hearings in the US between FTP, PokerStars, and the DOJ culminated in the agreement to finally return the money from all the players with existing funds on the two online poker sites.

Although FTP and PokerStars have yet to make any announcements regarding this matter, iGaming Post is also reporting that an announcement is expected to take place in the last week of May.

The official date of payment has yet to be finalized as all the parties involved tackle the logistics of repaying a a client list that includes US and International players. For their part, PokerStars, as reported by iGaming Post, is confident that an agreement will happen “in the next ten days”, one that should get the easy approval of the United States DOJ.

We’ve heard so many rumors and roundabout whispers regarding this issue and it’s easy to be skeptical until a concrete announcement is made. But if you’re a glass-half-full kind-of-guy with some money tied up on these two sites, this report is definitely music to your ears.

It’s high time that this issue moves forward to a place where scorned players can finally get their hands on their money again.

So if you’re keeping a close eye on the whole proceedings surrounding the FTP-PokerStars deal, you need to be on your p’s and q’s come the last of week of May to see what this major announcement is going to be about.

Poker News

Meanwhile, MGM Resorts public affairs VP Alan Feldman told the committee that “the further away you get from either the central business district or the water, the less likely it becomes an opportunity for us.” MGM’s first choice would be Exhibition Place, followed by the undeveloped port land. Feldman dismissed the idea of building at Ontario Place, which he referred to as “frankly a bit of a distraction.” Caesars Entertainment has also expressed interest in a T.O. casino, as has Tropicana owner Gerry Schwartz, and the Toronto Star reported that reps from Las Vegas Sands were just in town scoping out potential build sites.

Station Casinos LLC, whose 17 properties cater to locals in Las Vegas, earned a $6.8m profit in Q1 2012, a dramatic turnaround from the $11.8m loss in the same period a year earlier. The privately held firm underwent a $2.8b restructuring in 2011 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. Revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% to $318.2m, based on a 6.6% rise in gaming revenue to $230.2m and a 9.4% bump in food and beverage revenue to $60.9m. Occupancy at Station’s hotels rose from 85.4% to 89%, which, combined with an average room rate rise from $72 to $80, pushed room revenue up 17.7% to $27.9m. Chief financial officer Marc Falcone claimed the results marked the company’s best quarter in three years.

Another privately held Las Vegas-based casino operator, Affinity Gaming, reported net income of $4.1m in Q1, an improvement over the previous year’s $3.4m. Net revenues were up 4.8% to $112.8m at the company’s 12 casinos (nine in Nevada, two in Missouri and one in Iowa). Jacobs Entertainment Inc. (JEI), which operates gaming properties in Nevada and Colorado, plus horseracing operations in Virginia and video poker truck stops across Louisiana, reported net income of $4.3m in Q1 2012, compared to a $1.8m loss in Q1 2011. Net revenues rose to $98.3m from $91.8m in 2011.

Revenue at Connecticut’s Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos were off by double digits in April. Foxwoods saw revenue fall 13.4% to $49.5m, while handle fell 14.2% to $600m. Revenue at Mohegan Sun was off 10.9% to $59.4m based on handle of $749.97m (-12.3%). Foxwoods CEO Scott Butera claimed the comparison wasn’t entirely apt due to the presence of two extra weekend days in April 2011.

Casino News

Another iPoker resident, Titan Poker, announced last week that it would stop accepting new deposits from Spanish players ahead of that country’s market liberalization (scheduled to take place on June 1). A company rep has since told Poker Affiliate Solutions (PAS) that the decision was a forerunner to the company’s intention to seek an online gaming license from Spanish regulators. Titan also addressed its recent decision to shed its two-man poker pro roster via a note on its homepage, which stated Titan was “pursuing a new branding strategy which moves away from focusing on a pro team and emphasizes our appeal to mainstream and recreational poker players.”

Recreational players appear to be the last thing on the minds of the braintrust at the Cake Poker Network. PAS reported that Cake would increase its rakeback rate from 33% to 36% effective June 1. The rise will apply to all Cake players, new or old. The rate change is presumably the “exciting announcement” Cake promised when Lock Poker revealed it was acquiring “selected assets” of Cake with the intention of rebranding it as Revolution Gaming.

Now that PokerStars’ Zoom Poker has officially removed its beta training wheels, StanJames is the latest company to announce a Rush Poker clone. Blaze Poker doesn’t appear to offer any revolutionary improvements to the fast-paced cash game concept pioneered by Full Tilt Poker in 2010, other than to remove one more synonym for ‘quick’ from the trademark thesaurus. In related news, Betsafe has become the latest outfit to sign up for Relax Gaming’s Fast Poker product. A tweet sent out by Relax on Tuesday suggested Fast Poker had added a Heads Up option to its high speed offering, but PokerFuse claims the feature (which actually would be something new in this field) isn’t actually available yet. You know, a common piece of advice doctors offer premature ejaculators is to try to Relax.

Poker News

Over in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has decided to cancel his keynote address at this week’s East Coast Gaming Congress at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City. Christie’s press secretary claimed the cancellation was “nothing more than a scheduling conflict” and that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno would assume Christie’s place at the podium on Thursday. But some observers are interpreting Christie’s cancellation as a way of lowering his profile on the online gambling issue while he’s still on the shortlist to become Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate in the November elections. A wishing-to-be-anonymous Atlantic City casino executive told Philly.com that “the governor cannot be in front of the gaming industry right now.”

Christie’s declared scheduling conflict comes hot on the heels of two opinion polls on the issue of online gambling – one suggesting Garden State residents were agin’ the idea, another (initiated by Christie’s office) suggesting the opposite. But as NorthJersey.com’s John Brennan pointed out, despite being the country’s second biggest casino market, New Jersey residents aren’t exactly the most informed audience on gambling issues. In the Gov. Christie poll, a mere 10% of respondents correctly identified that legal online horse betting is currently available to NJ’s adult residents. More than a third (35%) said there was no such option, while 55% weren’t sure. You know, Mr. Governor, the added tax revenues from online gambling might work wonders on improving the state’s literacy levels.

Business News

We’re saying this because a BetVictor customer has just put a sizable amount of cash – 25,000 Euros! – on Sweden to win Euro 2012. Normally, huge betting amounts that hit five digits are best laid on favorites, which in this case would’ve been World Cup champs Spain, who have been given 5/2 odds to win Euro 2012. If you’re not feeling La Furia Roja, the next logical choice would’ve been either Germany or the Netherlands, with 11/4 and 13/2 odds, respectively.

But this particular customer decided to lay some serious wood on a national team that’s currently ranked 17th in the world. That ranking would actually have been impressive if not for the fact that of the 16 teams ahead of Sweden, 11 are playing in Euro 2012.

BetVictor spokesperson Charlie McCann explained through a press release: “The customer came on late last week and asked would we lay the bet and we said yes immediately; he came back today with the cash and we are more than happy to lay the bet on a nation whose best show in the Euros to date is when they reached the last four back in 1992.”

Now, we’re not saying that it’s a foolish bet, but at 66/1 odds to win Euro 2012, it’s a definite long-shot at best.

But in the event that some kind of miracle happens and the football gods have anointed the Swedes as the champions of Euro 2012, this customer will stand to win a staggering 1.65 million Euros.

That could potentially end up being one of the most improbable payouts in recent time, one that would even make Fred Done feel good about himself.

Check out all the odds for all 16 teams participating in Euro 2012:

Spain – 5/1

Germany – 11/4

Netherlands – 13/2

England – 10/1

France – 10/1

Italy – 14/1

Portugal – 20/1

Russia – 22/1

Ukraine – 40/1

Croatia – 50/1

Sweden – 50/1

Czech Republic – 66/1

Poland – 66/1

Greece – 80/1

Denmark – 100/1

Republic of Ireland – 100/1

Sports News

National Research Inc. asked 600 registered voters in the state a number of detailed questions related to online gaming. One of the most pertinent questions that it posed asked Would you support or oppose a bill that would permit internet versions of casino games, such as poker and blackjack for New Jersey residents, provided it was age restricted and regulated by the casino control commission? 65 percent of those that responded were on “total support” with just 29 percent in the “total oppose” camp.

That wasn’t the only one to see such a unanimous response in one direction as the question If someone wants to play casino games on the internet, they should be allowed to, as long as it’s regulated and they can afford it, saw 74 percent in agreement with just 21 percent coming out against it. Part of the reason many have support for gambling expansion will be down to Atlantic City’s casinos playing such an integral role in the state. It was reflected in the poll as 68 percent agreed that they’re vital for the state’s economy and budget – 24 percent disagreed.

Voters also recognize that money is going missing to sites that are not being taxed. The statement whether we like it or not, thousands of people in New Jersey gamble on the internet.  It is only fair that the players and the gaming sponsor pay their fair share of taxes to the state, just as gamblers and casinos in Atlantic City do.  The state is losing money by not taxing internet gaming, saw 76 percent agree with just 15 percent in disagreement.

Lastly the poll asked New Jersey law already allows internet betting on horses for New Jersey residents.  With that in mind, would you support or oppose a bill that would permit internet versions of casino games, such as poker and blackjack for New Jersey residents, provided it was age restricted and regulated by the casino control commission? 62 percent answered this with “total support” with just 30 percent “total oppose” and it goes to show just what the opinions of voters in New Jersey are. Add to this the fact the poll was carried out by Christie’s pollster and the confidence that a bill could pass will be strengthened.

Business News

Kambi Sports Solutions

Aspers could close one of their four UK casinos with their one Welsh venue facing the chop. The casino firm, which only last year opened the UK’s largest casino in London, will start a 90-day consultation this week with staff to say their Swansea casino business is “not commercially viable”. It was built back in 2007 at a cost of £13 million with the hope that it would gain one of the UK’s new casino licences. The small casino licence, which would have let them do more with the venue, still hasn’t come up for tender and five years on they’ve failed to attract the estimated 10,000 weekly visitors expected. 100 jobs could be lost if the venue ends up closing.

Social casino start-up Plumbee has added a gaming industry specialist to their board. Former Betfair and King.com CFO Owen O’Donnell joins up as an independent non-executive director and will stay on in a similar role on the board of Rank Group. The London-based firm is backed by VC and was founded back in July last year.

Business News

Bwin.party had better news to report in the Mediterranean country as they launch a new live casino offering with Evolution Gaming. Bwin.it now offers players Evolution’s Venezia Roulette and Ventuno Blackjack that are staffed by native speaking professional dealers. Paolo Di Feo, Southern European Director for bwin, commented: “The Evolution live casino platform was the natural choice for bwin as it gives us the opportunity to further strengthen our brand in this local market with dedicated tables and native speaking dealers from day one.”

PokerStars has launched its Zoom Poker client for real after a successful trial period. Beta testing had taken place across Android devices and is available to players on the .com, .eu and .net sites. PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu is a fan and commented: “Recreational players, who want more constant action, will be able to fold instantly and wait for better hands, while pro grinders will be able to get in hundreds of more hands an hour and win more. On top of all that, it’s just so much fun to play!”

Business News

Tom “durrrr” Dwan is a man that certainly needs no introduction. As one of the finest and most feared poker players in the world, Dwan, 25, has become the face of the young poker generation, an online legend that has won and lost millions, played in the richest cash games in the world, and has earned the respect of just about everyone in the poker community.

Recently, Dwan made his first stop in Manila to compete in the 2012 APT Philippines Manila Millions Event. In that event, considered as the biggest in APT history, Dwan was joined in the felt by a number of other poker heavyweights, including Phil Ivey, Elton Tsang, Johnny Chan. Unfortunately for “durrrr”, his time on the table was short-lived after busting out second in the entire field.

In between hitting the tables at the 2012 APT Philippines, Dwan sat down with the eternally gorgeous Tatjana Pasalic of CalvinAyre.com to talk about a slew of important subjects, including his experience in Manila, the rise of the Asian poker market, the future of a pro poker league, and his thoughts on the state of Full Tilt Poker, the very site that gave birth to the “durrrr” legend.

As somebody that has been forced to leave behind online poker, Dwan has become a fixture on the poker road, having made frequent trips to Macau to play with some of the best Asian players in the world. It’s through these trips that Dwan has come to appreciate the rise of poker in Asia, something that he’s looking to be a part of.

“Definitely the amount and stakes in Asia are growing, where the amount and stakes in the US and Europe, if anything, are declining, maybe staying the same in some places.” Dwan said.

“In Asia stakes are getting bigger everyday and more people are playing everyday.”

Despite having made good money on live games all over the world, Dwan is still an online poker player at heart and the aftermath of Black Friday hasn’t been easy for him, forcing him to go out on the road to play poker a lot more than he’d prefer.

“I’m ready for some online play again,” Dwan said with an exasperated smile.

Dwan also said that the traveling for games can become a little too taxing and is something that isn’t a problem when playing online poker. He also talked about how its easier to play online because of the ease of access involved and the fact that you can sit on any table you want without having to wait too long for somebody to stand up.

“With live, it matters more trying to get into games whereas in online, you can enter any game by just clicking sit,” he said.

Tatjana also broached to Dwan the subject of Epic Poker, a series of poker events that had a pro league feel to it and carried a stringent requirement of being available only to onlyto poker players who have met certain qualification criteria for multi-million dollar lifetime earnings, multiple wins and/or cashes at high level tournaments. After three events, the people behind Epic Poker, Federated Sports + Gaming, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Despite the short-lived state of Epic Poker, the concept of a professional poker league is something that Dwan is optimistic will happen, if not now, then sometime in the future.

“The overall premise is something that 30 years from now, will almost definitely be happening,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if its going to be this iteration that’s called Epic Poker, but the premise of a pro league with money added is something people would like to see.”

As with any conversation that involves somebody that was previously involved with Full Tilt Poker, Pasalic asked what he learned from the FTP debacle.

“There’s a lot of possibilities that could happen that would depend on some things,” Dwan said. “Definitely, I’ll be a lot more careful on any site that I join in the future to make sure they have all the money and that there’s no risk for the players to not get paid.”

So is Dwan ready to rejoin Full Tilt Poker if, somehow, the online poker site comes back?

“Unless they have the money to pay the players, I would never rejoin the site.”

Poker News

Macau’s own tourism forces are worried the enclave needs more hotel rooms if it’s to grow even further. Forbes reports that Macau Government Tourist Office director, Joȃo Manuel Costa Antunes, said: “We need more rooms. We have only 23,222 rooms in Macau. This is our problem. Occupancy of hotel rooms is about 85%. But during busy times, like weekends, hotel rooms are all occupied.”

He expects the amount of rooms available to “double in five year” and it will help to dispel any rumors that they’re about to be gazumped in the Asian gaming industry by other countries. To that end, Antunes added: “I say we will still be happy because we have a special location. There are 3 billion people within a five-hour flight. We have 50 cities in China where we can promote, including nearby Guangzhou, the most important city.”

There was even time for some modesty from the tourism office, general manager Al Merschen admitting: “Some people call Macau the Las Vegas of Asia. But, in reality, Las Vegas is the Macau of the U.S.”

Sands China has granted a share options grant to president and CEO Edward Tracy. The Las Vegas Sands subsidiary granted Tracy some 260,000 share options at a subscription price of HK$29.29 (US$3.77) with a validity period of 10 years.

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Bulgaria

Denmark has published the first set of figures for the country’s regulated online gambling industry with gross gaming revenue (GGR) reaching DKK 470 million in the first quarter. This was made up of DKK 285 million from sports betting and DKK 185 million from online casino and the figures were based on tax paid by firms. It means no actual revenue figures came from the companies themselves and the Danish Gambling Authority themselves admitted the figures are far from completely accurate. Q1 figures were used to reach estimates for the entire year of DKK 1.135 billion for betting and DKK 735 million for online casino meaning a figure for the whole market of DKK 1.87 billion.

The country’s land-based market stayed stable with some small gains seen in both the casino and gaming machine sectors. GGR for machines was DKK 460 million for Q1 (DKK 440m in Q1 2011) with the market expected to hit DKK 1.840 billion for the year – comparing favorably with DKK 1.785 billion for 2011. Casinos posted GGR of DKK 80 million for the first quarter (DKK 75 million last year) with the entire year likely to stay steady at DKK 320 million.

PokerStars has invited two groups of players to a meeting in which they will outline their plans for the regulated Spanish market. Poker-Red reports that both they and affiliate site Educapoker have been invited to send two representatives to a meeting in Barcelona on May 21. In that meeting PokerStars will communicate plans for the market with the subjects including the PokerStars.es VIP club, cash tables, MTT, promotions, Sit ‘n’ Go’s, Stars Poker Tour and anything else they deem appropriate to discuss. Spain will start to hand out gambling industry licences from June 1 with PokerStars likely to be very interested.

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