Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

weekly news recap june 2AMERICAS
California’s senate passed its sports betting bill but there will be no Golden State exchange wagering in 2012; New Jersey’s senate delayed a vote on its online gambling bill until fall while Illinois failed to bring its online gambling bill up for a vote; US-facing poker sites went back to the future by reigniting the short-sighted rakeback wars; Amaya Gaming saw another triple-digit revenue boost; some annual poker celebration got underway in Las Vegas; Lacey Jones described the state of poker post-Black Friday; Mike O’Donnell warned affiliate marketers to evolve or face extinction (and UK sites need to cut down on their cookie intake); and Bodog renewed its sponsorship of scrappy underdog Scottish side Ayr United.

EUROPE
Spain issued its first gaming licenses (and then issued some more) after hitting operators with last-minute requirements; 888 settled its Spanish back tax bill just in time; Sportingbet’s net gaming revenue fell; Media Corp announced it will liquidate shuttered online gaming site Purple Lounge; Bwin.party revealed its €40m social game strategy; William Hill prepped for its Nevada gaming license hearing by pulling out of Australia; Italy’s gaming market slowed in April while the latest Italian football match fixing allegations prompted the country’s PM to suggest suspending footie on the boot for a couple years; Gala Coral had a flat Q2 and gaming industry lawyer Wes Himes says we’ll be waiting a long time for full harmonization of European gambling laws.

ASIA
Australia’s interim report on amending its Interactive Gambling Act suggested allowing online in-play betting and poker but banning micro bets, moves that the federal Coalition announced it would oppose; Crown’s James Packer launched a bid to oust Echo Ent. chairman John Story from Echo’s board, a move Story claims is Packer’s bid to get control of Echo on the cheap, but Echo scheduled a shareholder vote all the same; Genting saw net profit fall in Q1; Macau filed a criminal complaint against Shuffle Master; we revealed the playing card Armageddon going on in Macau, which saw May revenues grow by the smallest margin in three years.