THE AMERICAS
Nevada gave up on federal online poker and proposed changing its regulations to enable interstate compacts; Caesars Entertainment acquired social game developers Buffalo Studios; Resorts World New York set revenue records in its first year of existence; the US Trade Representative played the victim card after Antigua attempted to collect an overdue bill; Nevada sportsbooks took a beating on the NFL this season; New Jersey got a constituional sports betting argument date for Valentine’s Day; the US tried to strong-arm a software developer to hack into sports bettors’ accounts; Zynga’s austerity program continued with the demise of 11 more games; problem gamblers were found to have problems with lots of other things and Jason Kirk lamented another lost National Hockey League season.
EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST
Schleswig-Holstein clarified that its new online gambling licenses don’t apply to the rest of Germany; Spain released financial figures from its new online gambling market, which is expected to add online slots in 2013; Denmark extended its online gambling license terms for another five years; Israel drafted legislation allowing police to order IP blocking of gambling sites; PokerStars announced Zoom Poker tournaments; Betfred launched a Playtech-powered mobile casino offering and Betfair got a New Year’s smackdown by gaming analysts.
ASIA
Macau posted new revenue records both for the month of December and for the year as a whole, sending US casino stocks soaring, but Macau’s new smoking ban prompted strike threats from casino workers; China added some more bricks to its Great Firewall; James Packer became majority owner of Crown Ltd. just in time to finish his $750m reno of Crown Perth.