Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

weekly-recap-april-13THE AMERICAS
The US Department of Justice indicted 34 individuals connected with Legends Sports, including one affiliate; former Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar agreed to plead guilty to his Black Friday charges; convicted Black Friday payment processor Chad Elie sued his former attorney Jeff Ifrah; PokerStars launched a US-facing free-play app; Ontario picked SPIELO G2 to run its online gambling site; Canada’s sports betting bill was pronounced (nearly) dead; the Las Vegas Strip had a record February thanks to the Lunar New Year festivities; the DoJ intervened in the Wynn Resorts v. Kazuo Okada case to stop it interfering with its own Okada investigation and Vince Martin analyzed the barriers companies will face entering the regulating US market.

EUROPE and AFRICA
Betfair was the subject of takeover rumors by CVC Capital Partners; Italy’s gambling regulator promised no new taxes on online gambling; Betfred prepped its new in-house mobile sportsbook; Bwin.party spun off its payments division; 32Red was awarded £150m in its trademark suit with William Hill so it can now afford more football sponsorships; South Africa’s Phumelela decided its future lies in sports betting; ZyngaPlus turned out to be a minus for PartyPoker; UK regulators decided to put social gaming under their microscope; Chanracy Khun won the World Poker Tour Barcelona and Lee Davy interviewed pretty much everyone else.

ASIA
Macau’s casinos notched a new monthly revenue record in March; the Hong Kong Jockey Club made out like bandits after a betting syndicate computer apparently went rogue; South Korea busted an online sports betting ring; 16 individuals were sentenced for running a bogus VIP gaming room in Macau; Phil Ivey won his ninth bracelet at the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific; Bodog introduced baccarat to the Zone and a raid on a Bangkok casino resulted in more injured police than arrested suspects.