THE AMERICAS
New Jersey made an arrest in the Borgata Winter Open’s bogus poker chip scandal; Gamesys/Virgin made their New Jersey online debut and Wynn Interactive officially applied for its own NJ online okay; some of Full Tilt Poker’s former US player base got good news about their remissions; DoubleDown Casino was the highlight of IGT’s Q1 numbers but its two founders left the company anyway; Antigua began revising its copyright laws to facilitate its WTO-authorized royalty-free downloads of US intellectual property; Rod Philips resigned as CEO of Ontario Lottery and Gaming; US brick-and-mortar casino revenue was down across the board in 2013; a Vegas baccarat cheat was given 47 months in jail; William Hill burnished its US racing business via a deal with Turf TV; Phil Ivey’s online poker training site said it’s really, truly, seriously planning to launch soon; Warren Buffet offered $1b to anyone holding a perfect March Madness bracket and Akamon Entertainment CEO Vincent Marti told Rebecca Liggero why Brazil’s online gambling market outstrips the rest of South America combined.
EUROPE and AFRICA
Barney Curley’s latest betting coup cost the bookies £2.5m; UK internet service providers rejected a government request to block online gambling sites; German sports betting applicants got a new deadline; South Africa may finally allow online betting on something other than sports; poker got a pair of favorable court rulings in Germany and Holland; Playtech became a platinum member of the Gaming Standards Association; Full Tilt Poker picked Leander Games to expand its online casino; a meeting of European gambling regulators failed to reach a deal on cross-border online poker liquidity; Kenny Hallaert talked about live tournament poker security; Jaren Tendler discussed how golf and poker players were kindred spirits; Jason Kirk pondered the value of poker rankings; Lee Davy wondered whether poker table talk is more snakes than ladders; Rebecca Liggero prepped for the London Affiliate Conference by tracking its growth as well as listing this year’s biggest and newest exhibitors; Becky also offered big and new exhibitor lists for ICE Totally Gaming along with tips for getting the most out of ICE 2014.
ASIA
PAGCOR’s annual revenue failed to match 2012’s total but Cristino Naguiat earned another stint at CEO; China’s booming lottery business hit new heights in 2013; Echo Entertainment sold its Townsville casino to Colonial Leisure Group for $70m; Entertainment Gaming Asia wrote off $2.5m due to slow business at Dreamworld Pailin; an Australian anti-gambling group planned a simulated sports betting site for five-year-olds; that Australian Open ‘courtsider’ was released on bail while the company he worked for turned out to be run by ex-Betfair execs; Macau Slot was called out for aggressive advertising on local TV; the Asian Poker Tour unveiled its 2014 schedule and the Calvin Ayre Foundation reminded everyone that the Philippines still needs your help in recovering from Typhoon Haiyan.
