Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

weekly-recap-september-28THE AMERICAS
A US Vice-Admiral with his finger on the nuclear button lost his job over a counterfeit chip scam at a Caesars Entertainment casino; Amaya Gaming inked a deal to supply Caesars Entertainment’s New Jersey online casino content while 888 Holdings inked a New Jersey deal with Wynn Interactive; Churchill Downs Inc. lost a court challenge of Texas’ online gambling law; a former compliance officer at Utah’s SunFirst Bank claimed credit for bringing on Black Friday; legendary gambler Archie Karas was charged with cheating at blackjack; the American Gaming Association launched OnlineVillains.com to piggyback their message to the release of online poker movie Runner, Runner; IGT inked a massive video poker deal with Caesars Entertainment but Vince Martin wondered how long IGT could keep it up; Jason Kirk handicapped the 2013 Poker Hall of Fame nominee field; Lee Davy profiled the best free poker games on Facebook and wondered whether poker table etiquette had gone the way of the dodo; Poker Players Alliance exec director John Pappas discussed a host of issues facing the US online poker industry while the CalvinAyre.com team covered the living hell out of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas.

EUROPE
Ladbrokes stock tumbled after it (again) cut its online profit estimates; the surging 888 Poker surpassed both PartyPoker and Full Tilt in the number of cash game customers; UK regulators told social gaming app makers to lay off the guilt trips while social game makers King filed for an IPO; the Health Lottery teamed up with Coral to piss off National Lottery operator Camelot; an Irish court refused to return poker player Paul Carr’s €36k while a French court gave stiff sentences to a gang of Italian casino cheats and Mike O’Donnell pondered the potential of tennis betting.

ASIA
Macau casinos braced for the Golden Week holiday but Beijing is reportedly growing impatient with Macau’s diversification efforts; Sportsbet topped an Australian sports betting brand survey; Melco Crown Entertainment vowed to spend $5b if Japan lets it build a casino; Wynn Macau sued a Chinese tycoon over an unpaid $1.8m casino marker; Becky Liggero talked sports betting software with Ian Sherrington, EveryMatrix’s new man in Manila, who also showed up (along with tommy-gun-toting midgets) at the inaugural Bodog Gaming Conference and Party.