Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

weekly-recap-march-16THE AMERICAS
PokerStars fired back at the American Gaming Association’s attempt to scuttle its New Jersey gaming license bid; Illinois all but eliminated the ‘bad actor’ provision in its online gambling legislation; an internet café crackdown brought down Florida’s Lt. Governor; New Jersey filed its intention to appeal its sports betting setback; Atlantic City casinos lost more money in February but got the okay to offer fantasy sports wagers; Scientific Games found profits elusive in 2012; the Department of Justice finally appointed a claims administrator to handle Full Tilt Poker repayments; Clive Archer announced plans for the Equity Poker Network; guest contributor David Merry explained why affiliates can’t handle social media.; the Internal Revenue Service put 2007 WSOP champ Jerry Yang’s bracelet up for auction and 2004 WSOP main event champ Greg Raymer got caught with his pants down.

EUROPE
Playtech had an ‘exceptional’ 2012, signed a five-year licensing deal with Ladbrokes and migrated Unibet players onto iPoker.fr; 888 posted stellar 2012 numbers and announced plans for its own US-facing online poker network; Bwin.party had a sucky 2012 and promised a suckier 2013; prediction market Intrade abruptly shut its doors after auditors questioned millions in payments to deceased owner John Delaney; online slots proved a hit with Italian gamblers; Glu Mobile launched its first real-money gambling game with a little help from Probability; the International Stadiums Poker Tour got another credibility boost courtesy of Genting; the Bodog Anonymous Poker Series made its underground debut and Tatjana Pasalic prowled the EPT London.

ASIA
Australia said ‘not yet’ to online poker and in-play betting proposals; a high-tech betting scam reportedly cost Crown Melbourne $33m; Sri Lanka proposed major tax breaks for integrated resort casinos; Steve Jacobs accused Sheldon Adelson of ordering him to threaten an elected official in Macau while Las Vegas Sands got boomeranged by another lawsuit involving a former Macau partner; Japanese legislators are promising casino legislation in April (again); the Macau Jockey Club lost money for the ninth straight year; Melco Crown and Belle Corp finally sealed the deal on their Entertainment City joint venture; Solaire Manila became the first Entertainment City project to open its doors to the public and put Macau and Singapore on notice that it would compete for their VIP gamblers; Vince Martin put Macau’s 2012 results under the microscope and Angelia Ong covered the hell out of the iGaming Asia Congress.