Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

weekly-news-recap-April-30-smallIt’s now been over a fortnight since Black Friday entered our collective consciousness, but it’s still generating headlines. A few of the notable tidbits that dropped this week include the arrest of defendant Ira Rubin; Sen. Jon Kyl’s tentative change of heart on regulating poker, and Calvin Ayre’s picks for the ultimate winners and losers when the smoke finally clears.

Two British kids get married, world loses freaking mind
While we’d have preferred grainy security camera footage of Prince Harry giving cheeky chav Chelsy a proper seeing to in the bog of a Soho pub, the rest of the world seemed entirely gripped by the ‘fairy tale’ wedding of William and Kate. Fine, it’s done. Now can we all get back to our usual cries of ‘off with their heads?’

Gambling.com domain sale fails to live up to the hype
Media Corp. somewhat sheepishly announced the sale of the Gambling.com domain to an anonymous bidder for $2.5m. That’s a far cry from the $4.25m Media Corp had the domain valued on their books, and an even bigger drop from the $9m reserve price they had previously set. D’oh-main!

Playtech reaping rewards from William Hill Online joint venture
Playtech expects a first quarter gross revenue bump of 7%, but the numbers stemming from its online partnership with William Hill are even rosier. Playtech booked €9.9m profit from WHO, a 41% bump from the previous quarter.

Singapore to surpass Las Vegas as #2 on global gaming destination list
Singapore has just two integrated resort casinos, yet between them they do enough business that they will soon propel Singapore past Sin City on the global gaming charts. What happens in Vegas… seems less and less important with every passing day.

Sunplus’ Tom Hall on how to make a successful Asian-facing online sportsbook
Does your online sportsbook have the right products to make a go of things in the Asian market? Tom Hall of software provider Sunplus has a few tips for you.

UK bookies celebrate 50th birthday
Sod the royals. If there was an event worth celebrating this week, it was the 50th anniversary of sanity arriving on UK streets in the form of the betting shop. But with online betting on the rise, will the shops still be around in another 50 years?

A chance to see Calvin Ayre sitting on the toilet… again
We know Calvin will still be making the rounds in another 50 years (assuming the Devil honors that contract Calvin signed all those years ago). As we prepare for Calvin’s 50th birthday on May 25, the CalvinAyre.com staff take a look back at some pivotal moments in the man’s life.

VIDEO PICK
Organizers at the iGaming Forum in Stockholm were singing ‘how Swede it is’ to put on a sold-out conference that attracts actual politicians willing to discuss online gambling without using phrases like “crack cocaine.” Or perhaps they’re just more accustomed to ‘snow’ in Sweden.