THE AMERICAS
Full Tilt Poker’s former US players got some key dates regarding their account balances; the American Gaming Association said it would use online poker movie Runner Runner to sway politicians on the need for federal online poker regulation; a new subscription poker site offered players a way to convert virtual chips into cold hard cash; televised poker got a boost with the imminent launch of the Poker Entertainment Network; Texas cops earned a $5m payday for their role in an online sports betting takedown; Twitter was found to be an effective sports betting tool; the Horseshoe Cincinnati gave away $1m to the wrong gambler; Martin Shapiro told Lee Davy why he wrote his own online poker legislation; Zynga purged a trio of top execs and announced it would drop its Zynga Slingo product; New York regulators issued subpoenas to Bitcoin backers including the Winklevoss twins while Bitcoin Foundation head Jon Matonis wondered why online gambling sites would have a problem with Bitcoin volatility.
EUROPE
UK politicians confirmed 15% as the rate of the new point of consumption tax; Betfred massively upped its game with a £10m television ad campaign; PartyCasino handed out a record £1.45m mobile slots jackpot; Bodog inked a betting partnership with Premier League side Arsenal, one of a flurry of late signings ahead of a new footie season; Greece finally completed the sale of OPAP to Emma Delta; Marty Davis opined on what makes a kick-ass affiliate while Becky Liggero kicked ass covering the Barcelona Affiliate Conference; Lee Davy pondered the merits of online poker training sites and defended himself against suggestions that he’s a sexist poker pig while Vince Martin wrapped up his look at the history of publicly traded poker.
ASIA
Vietnam introduced draft legislation to allow betting on international football matches; William Hill exited the Chinese market due to reasons beyond their control while Betfred exited Australia in expectation of receiving a Northern Territory online license; Crown’s Sri Lanka casino project got back on track after a slight design modification while Crown boss James Packer said Japan was full of “mad gamblers;’ BlueClaw Media’s Mike Litson discussed SEO strategies operators can employ to make China work for them; VIP gamblers boosted SJM Holdings’ profits in Q2; SkyCity Entertainment’s profits took a hit when some faux high rollers did a runner; Bloomberry Resorts chairman Enrique Razon plotted global domination; AGTech inked a new sports lottery deal in China; Thai gamblers’ game of choice remains the ‘underground lottery’; Australia researchers launched a study into the role of social media in gambling promotion and Macau junket employees saw themselves as holding mainstream jobs.
