THE AMERICAS
New Jersey issued its first transitional waivers allowing online gambling firms to commence operations on Nov. 26 and these sites told players to get ready; New York voters said they wanted casinos and Caesars Entertainment said they want one too; the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; IGT said its DoubleDown Casino grew at an “incredible pace” in Q4; GoCoin’s Brock Pierce talked up Bitcoin’s potential but new Bitcoin gambling game SatoshiDICE Tribute had a rocky launch; Toronto’s mayor and Lock Poker’s CEO found some common ground; Jason Kirk recapped the WSOP 2013 top performers including Main Event winner Ryan Riess while Vince Martin protested that no one gives a damn about your fantasy sports team.
EUROPE
The UK government suggested it could IP-block international gambling sites to enforce its new gambling bill; Malta’s Lotteries and Gaming Authority got new leadership; Ladbrokes unleashed its new betting exchange; PartyPoker ramped up its marketing in Germany; Betable got $18.5m of candy from its sugar daddies; a quarter of UK sports bettors preferred betting over beer; Amanda Musumeci offered her female perspective on poker and Melanie Weisner’s stomach offered its perspective on the best places to get grub on the poker circuit; Boris Becker said people just want to bet on sports; Locus Gaming’s Ed Andrewes extolled the virtues of mobile casino gaming; LVS CEO Simon Ordish said bookmakers need to get a grip on their technology; Becky Liggero had her eyes and ears open at the Social Gambling Conference as well as the Mobile & Tablet Gambling Summit.
ASIA
Philippine authorities (a) officially subpoenaed Universal Entertainment’s Kazuo Okada over those bribery allegations and (b) dropped more indictments against the Swedish Mafia; Genting Singapore had a good Q3; Melco Crown Entertainment had a very good Q3; Galaxy Entertainment had a record Q3 and overtook Sands China on Macau’s market share chart; Japan’s largest developer said it wants a Tokyo casino; Penn National Gaming’s chairman said US anti-bribery laws were hurting US casino firms in Asia; Echo Entertainment vowed to spend $1.5b to turn Queensland into Australia’s casino hotspot; Entertainment Gaming Asia’s results got beat up by an election; Solaire Manila’s numbers shot up despite the GGAM hiccup and India braced for an online poker expansion.
