THE AMERICAS
Baccarat boosted Nevada’s annual casino gaming revenue to $11.1b; California online poker backer and state Sen. Rod Wright was convicted of voter fraud; Merge Gaming stopped serving poker players in New Jersey and Delaware; Zynga laid off another 300 staff as its revenue slide continued; Michael Graydon stepped down as CEO of the BC Lottery Corporation; social gaming startup Jawfish Games threw in the towel; the DOJ arrested Bitinstant CEO Charlie Shrem over Bitcoin transactions with Silk Road; Caesars Entertainment was rumored to be buying Revel but doing so might break New Jersey law; Florida legislators appeared unwilling to discuss casino legislation this year; Phil Ivey’s poker league finally opened for business; CalvinAyre.com imagined an online gambling debate between Mitch Garber and Sheldon Adelson; Jason Kirk recalled the World Series of Poker’s Super Bowl beginnings; Illegal sports betting operations got a lot of time in court; Dr. Patrick Basham questioned the economic benefits of hosting the Big Game and CalvinAyre.com staff offered picks for who’ll be hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy at Super Bowl XLVIII.
EUROPE and AFRICA
888’s revenue was up in 2013 but Rank Group’s profit slipped in H1; Paddy Power and William Hill agreed to disagree over Ralph Topping’s betting shop comments; Vera&John added Bitcoin as a payment option; the UK’s ad watchdog slapped down claims by anti-FOBT campaigners; Playtech launched its live dealer product on Ladbrokes’ online casino and Susan Boyle applied for a job at a Lads bet shop; LeoVegas inked a marketing deal with UK tabloids; Quickfire boosted Betfair’s casino content; Uganda and South Africa got new sports betting options; PokerStars applied for a Bulgarian gaming license; Russia claimed to have shut down 61k illegal casinos since 2009; Sam Trickett signed on as UK ambassador for Sky Poker; Net Entertainment CEO Per Eriksson discussed the importance of iGaming launch events; Daniel Cates hasn’t forgiven David Lerner for absconding with $1.9m but Lee Davy was a good loser at the GPI European Poker Awards; Becky Liggero recapped the inaugural iGaming Strategy & Search Think Tank, talked real-money skill gaming with GSN Games’ Jim Dee, offered tips for making the most of your London Affiliate Conference experience and previewed all the other confabs you need to hit in February.
ASIA
Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts each turned in handsome annual revenue results thanks to Macau; prominent business leaders expressed support for casino legislation in Japan, where Galaxy Entertainment chairman Lui Che-woo would love to set up shop; Bodog Asia’s live dealer casino launched parlay baccarat; Mustapha Kanit got his name into the Aussie Millions history books and Chinese authorities shut down the Jesters ‘cashless’ casino operating on Hainan… again.
