Black Friday/Blue Monday latest
A little less news to report this week (hooray!); payment processor Ira Rubin was denied bail; Full Tilt started paying affiliates again (or more accurately, put money into their affiliates’ still inaccessible accounts); and, hey, just what is the deal between industry ‘watchdogs’ Covers.com and failed sportsbook betED?
World Series of Poker highlights
So far, player numbers are up slightly at the 2011 WSOP. Meanwhile, an unbeaten run of bracelet virgins has earned WSOP bling, including Eugene Katchalov and Allen Bari, Matt Perrins, Amir Lehavot and Harrison Wilder; Sean Getzwiller and Geffrey Klein; plus Viacheslav Zhukov and David Diaz.
Global Gaming Expo Asia highlights
Among the headlines emerging from the G2E: Macau legislators plan to raise the legal gambling age from 18 to 21; Sheldon Adelson wants Las Vegas Sands’ fingers in every Asian pie; and Macau expects minimal returns from non-gaming properties for at least the next 10 years, because it will take that long to develop a homegrown Bacca-Rat Pack to add an Asian dose of swingin’ cool to the joint’s showrooms.
Washington Post attacks DC pol who introduced online poker legislation
Michael A. Brown, the DC Council member who succeeded where every other state/federal pro-poker politician failed, has been savaged by the WaPo editorial board for undisclosed links to a law firm that represents gaming interests. Also, Brown ‘forgot’ to tip his WaPo delivery boy last Christmas.
Barton online poker bill gets ‘yellow light’ from House Republicans
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) claims his as-yet-unseen federal online poker bill may not receive the venomous welcome traditionally offered by the anti-gambling zealots of his party. We suspect that really means it will be a whole week before those same zealots start calling it the Skullfucking America’s Youth For Fun & Profit bill.
Sportingbet launches poker site on Ongame network, confuses media
Sportingbet caused a little confusion this week by announcing they were launching a poker site on the Ongame network. A clarification soon followed that Sportingbet’s Paradise Poker would be staying with GTech G2’s IPN, and that the Ongame addition would be something new. Then, just for fun, Sportingbet announced it was selling Sportsbook.com for $10 (again) to Aaron Gould.
Bodog88 launches live dealer studio in the Philippines
Bodog88 CEO Robert Gustafsson (whom our own Bill Beatty profiled here) was pleased as punch to announce the launch of a state-of-the-art live dealer studio in the Philippines. Plus, all that high-tech camera gear will really up the quality of the videos Robert regularly uploads to LOLcats.
UK ad watchdog gives gaming companies a shiny gold star for compliance
UK gambling companies scored a 96.1% compliance rate with the Advertising Standards Authority in 2010. That’s down from the 99% of 2007, but really, who could have predicted stodgy old Ladbrokes would launch a World Cup “Bet with Ladbrokes and we’ll send hot girls round to blow your vuvuzela” campaign?
Betfair says beware of Greeks bearing gaming laws
Betfair has filed a formal complaint with the European Commission over Greece’s proposed gaming law. Oddly enough, Betfair’s legal eagles feel the draft law’s ban on betting exchanges is, er, unfair.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. returns to ring for fight that nobody but Floyd wants to see
Floyd decides to (finally) grace a boxing ring with his presence, but disappoints everyone (except his mirror) by announcing that he’ll fight Victor Ortiz, not Manny Pacquiao. Dude, this is so not ‘money’.
Atlantic City Tropicana an easy mark for high-rollers
The Tropicana has adopted a ballsy ‘we’ll take any action’ mantra that has high-rollers flocking in droves to their gaming tables. Two such whales have now taken the Trop for $11m in just the past month. We suspect they Tropican’t take this abuse much longer.
German lander defer decision on State Gambling Treaty
So much for the cliché of German efficiency. Sixteen German states have pushed back their deadline for updating their gaming law to October. On the plus side, it will give bwin.party.digital.entertainment (Pwin) time to come up with some more justifications as to why they think they’re not currently breaking German law by servicing German punters, because their current arguments don’t hold Pwater.
Pwin has basketball jones for world governing body
Speaking of Pwin, they’ve extended their sponsorship deal with FIBA, the world governing body of basketball, through 2014. Trivia note: FIBA originally stood for Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur, but it dropped the ‘Amateur’ from its name in 1986, yet (for some reason) kept the A in its acronym. Sort of like how Pwin keeps the ‘win’ in its name, despite its shares having lost a third of their value since their IPO.
VIDEO PICKS:
Dana Workman gets felt up by a slot machine at the G2E Asia, while Rebecca Liggero gets hot and bothered at the Bet Markets confab in Vienna. Do CalvinAyre.com girls go the extra mile, or what?
