THE AMERICAS
Bwin.party paid the Commonwealth of Kentucky $15m to atone for PartyGaming’s pre-UIGEA sins; New Jersey faced down the Department of Justice in its sports betting appeal; Las Vegas Sands’ boss Sheldon Adelson demonstrated his anti-online gambling rhetoric was no passing fancy by launching his own website; Amaya Gaming went looking for $40m to feed its acquisition addiction; Lock Poker got caught selectively prioritizing payouts to one affiliate site’s players; Bodog Poker Network president Jonas Ödman announced his departure for greener US pastures; Optimal Payments inked another US-facing online deal with Bally Tech; 2010 World Series of Poker champ Jonathan Duhamel laughed last as his ex-girlfriend was sentenced to 42 months for her role in his home invasion; Lee Davy continued to cover the hell out of the 2013 WSOP, even scoring an interview with the reclusive figure known as Kevin Mathers while Tatjana Pasalic kept her eye on the One Drop High Rollers event.
EUROPE
Betfair lost £49.4m in its most recent fiscal year; Bulgaria added more names to its online gambling blacklist; Italian authorities brought down an online gambling ring run by movie mobsters; sports media providers Perform Group got off to a strong start in 2013; 888 told tournament tracking site Sharkscope to go fish somewhere else; UK bookies Coral were horrified to find one of their TV ads airing during Saturday morning cartoons; Mike O’Donnell pondered the justification behind the new wave of Bet365 sycophancy and Becky Liggero prepped for the upcoming Bitcoin London conference.
ASIA
Chinese authorities made their second major online gambling bust in as many weeks; Universal Entertainment may have resolved foreign ownership issues surrounding its Manila Bay Resorts project; Nevada gaming regulators said junket influence was waning in Macau; Gigamedia planned a social gaming push; Guam decided it wanted to ban all gambling, but cockfighting may get a pass; NagaWorld employees went on strike, got fired and were ordered back to work all within a week; Macau’s non-casino gambling options had a mixed 2012; Bloomberry Resorts said Solaire Manila would turn a profit within its first five years but Fitch Ratings warned that the Philippines will have to fight for its share of the VIP market.
