Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

Weekly News Recap - April 14, 2012The week that was in the gambling industry saw some political posturing, billionaires planning to make some power moves, a couple of million dollar poker announcements and some odds and ends. The island nation of Antigua is preparing for yet another case against the United States at the World Trade Organization; we had a chance to chat with Antigua’s lead attorney about the upcoming case.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert had a message for legislators looking to push gambling through at a federal level, the staunch anti-gambling politico avoided the evils of gambling message and instead focused on States rights, “a matter of both constitutional and social preference that matters relating to gaming be regulated by states for the benefit of their residents.”

An Israeli court banned the practice of IP blocking, stating it amounted to a blocking access to information. The ruling opens access to online gambling sites previously blocked by the Israeli Government.

Sheldon Adelson has big money and big plans on how to invest it. Adelson is eyeing a $35 Billion with a B development in Spain.  On the other side of the world, Singapore gambling giants Genting group are looking to buy Australia’s Echo Entertainment for $4.5 Billion AUD.

If you don’t have Sheldon Adelson’s money but you are looking for some investment opportunities in the gambling industry, be sure to read Vince Martin’s “Investing the Hard Way” feature every Monday on CalvinAyre.com.  This week Vince gives us his first quarter review.

Becky Liggero spent a few minutes talking to Chilean gambling regulator Carlos Silva about gambling in Chile and Latin American.

Tatjana Pasalic was in Vienna for the WPT, she and McLean Karr had an interesting bet involving a cat suit. I’ll let her explain it.

Ms. Pasalic will be coming to Manila this week to cover the Manila Millions tournament; the event will feature some of the biggest names in poker vying for the top prize. We’ll have live updates and interviews as the tournament unfolds.

The ongoing battle between Pregame.com and Covers.com took in intriguing twist this week as the Covers Experts were dumped from the affiliate network Commission Junction this week.

We’ll leave you with my favourite read of the week – Australia wants to teach gambling in high schools.