Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

weekly-news-recap-May-7Of course, the week’s big story was the fate of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Things started ramping up last weekend with the unflattering profile in the St. Petersburg Times. Then came rumors of massive layoffs at AP/UB offices in Costa Rica, alleged threats to go to the FBI if laid off employees weren’t paid, and the next thing you know Costa Rican cops are opening up doors with battering rams. May you live in interesting times…

WILLIAM HILL GETS DRUNK ON BRANDYWINE
Will Hill acquired Nevada-based Brandywine Bookmaking, the third Nevada sportsbetting business Will has picked up in less than a month. Sounds like the plot of Hangover 3, in which the guys wake up to find $55m of their money missing.

IGT MAKES $115M PLAY TO ACQUIRE ENTRACTION
It’s well known that Pwin is looking to offload the Ongame network, but International Game Technology only has eyes for sexy Swedish poker network Entraction.

MERGE GAMING NETWORK KILLS ITS RAKEBACK PROGRAM
Like some depressed teenage girl who’s finally learned to stop cutting herself, Merge has decided to end its self-inflicted rakeback program effective June 1.

888 HOLDINGS HOLDING TWO LESS EMPLOYEES
Following ex-CEO Gigi Levy’s departure last month, two more execs, including the CEO of Dragonfish, have found ‘other opportunities’ too tempting to resist.

MACAU SETS NEW MONTHLY REVENUE RECORD
In the first four months of 2011, Macau has already earned as much money as it earned in all of 2007. Seriously, it’s like a money vortex.

I. NELSON ROSE ANALYZES THE DOJ’S CASE
We’re not lawyers, but I. Nelson Rose is, so we’ll let him breakdown why the DoJ structured its case the way it did.

AMERICAN GAMING ASSOCIATION ISSUES 2010 REPORT
Given the advanced age of the average land-based casino patron, pretty soon they’ll all be riding those senior citizen scooters. The casinos will have to remove slot machines from their floors to make the aisles wide enough, and that’s going to cost them. No wonder they want to open up online poker sidelines.

PROFESSIONAL POKER LEAGUE ROSTER UNVEILED
Annie Duke signed on as commish of the new Professional Poker League in January. This week we learned the names of the 218 poker players who have earned the right to compete in the PPL’s inaugural season.

FRENCH COURT SIDES WITH ARJEL AGAINST 5DIMES
A French court ordered ISPs to digitally block Costa Rica-based 5Dimes, who pissed off gaming regulator ARJEL by offering services to French punters without a license. The ISPs face €10k/day fines if they fail to block the site, reportedly rising to €20k/day if they also fail to stop the rain.

VIDEO PICK
EUROPEAN REGULATORY BODIES: WHO’D YOU RATHER?
Rebecca Liggero puts industry notables on the spot by lining up all the nations of Europe but allowing you to go home with only one…