THE AMERICAS
PokerStars confirmed it had a deal to buy New Jersey’s Atlantic Club casino; Las Vegas Sands was rumored to be selling Sands Bethlehem; Massachusetts was inundated with casino applications; TwinSpires and XpressBet ignored Illinois’ ADW prohibition; former BetWWTS figure William Paul Scott was sentenced to probation; The Palms was fined $1m for supplying customers with drugs and ho’s; the closure of east coast machine maker AC Slots raised questions; Anchorage, Alaska was revealed as the top spot to catch social gaming whales; Mike O’Donnell considered the potential of affiliates acting as newsies and Jason Kirk pondered Vanessa Selbst’s ascension to the top of the all-time female tournament poker money list.
EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST
PokerStars’ parent outfit the Rational Group hired Rafi Ashkenazi as COO; the French online poker market had another contraction; Swedish operator Cherry AB sued Norway to lift an injunction against its EuroLotto subsidiary; Camelot won the Pennsylvania Lottery management contract and doubled the price of a National Lottery ticket; the Olympic spirit spread to European sportsbooks; Schleswig-Holstein issued three more online gambling licenses; Bwin.party’s board shed a couple directors, including outgoing co-CEO Jim Ryan; an Israeli online sportsbook figure was sentenced to 27 months; Hungary sent its draft online gambling law to Brussels and legendary horse punter Barney Curley announced his ‘retirement’.
ASIA
Macau welcomed the return of their VIP gamblers and an unprecedented visit from Nevada gaming regulators; Taiwanese authorities investigated a Melco Crown subsidiary’s money movement; Vietnam took down a major online junket operation tied to M88.com; Singapore fined its casinos again; William Weidner expressed his impatience with Taiwan’s slow path to casino legislation; China’s lottery industry had another record year; Crown Ltd’s controversial Sydney casino plan raised fresh concerns; PAGCOR’s boss predicted strong earnings in 2013; Aussie anti-gambling scourge Nick Xenophon put social casino games in his sights; Broken Tooth Koi was rumored to be getting back in the junket game and Macau was put on the shortlist to land Manny Pacquiao’s next fight.
