THE AMERICAS
New Jersey’s online gambling market posted its first monthly revenue decline; Canada confirmed that its new online anti-money-laundering regs applied only to provincial lottery monopolies; San Jose cardroom Casino M8trix was accused of profit skimming; two California tribal coalitions reached consensus on online poker issues; legislators from gaming states proposed unified online gambling standards; Betfair appointed Kip Levin as CEO of its US operations; the DOJ urged the Supreme Court to ignore New Jersey’s sports bet plea but attorney Jeff Ifrah said legal sports bets are inevitable; Mexico continued cracking down on casino operator EMEX; Minnesota legislators rejected the state lottery’s online scratch tickets; Amaya Gaming’s Q1 income spiked thanks to the sale of its WagerLogic division; Atlantic City casinos posted a rare revenue gain, but check the fine print; CAMS CEO Matthew Katz discussed payment processing challenges in America’s regulated online gambling markets; Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey released their World Series of Poker bracelet bet odds while Lee Davy recapped the annual WSOP media conference call and Rebecca Liggero profiled sports bet-tracking and analytics platform Winafy.
EUROPE
Bwin.party board member Manfred Bodner stepped down as Jason Ader drew first blood in the proxy war; Paddy Power CEO Patrick Kennedy announced his exit as the company’s Q1 revenue was undone by two bad football weekends; a report claimed 80% of all sports bets were illegally placed; GVC made a play for the Scandinavian online gambling market; Southern Cyprus expects to award its first casino license next year; Liverpool FC extended its partnership with 188bet while Liverpool striker Luis Saurez signed on with 888poker; indicted fraudster Robert Gustafsson wormed his way onto the board of a Swedish recruitment agency; Mike O’Donnell pondered the net impact of ambush marketing on gambling firms’ bottom lines; Rebecca Liggero recapped the mGaming Summit in London and Lee Davy profiled poker hand replayer ShareMyPair creator Steve Miller and GPTpoker.com founder Andy Power and Lee offered his own suggestions for innovative poker promotions.
ASIA
Macau casinos were given a July 1 deadline to get rid of UnionPay debit-card mobile swiping devices; Japanese legislators struck a pessimistic tone on passage of their casino study bill; Shanghai police took down what they called the largest ever online sports betting operation on the Chinese mainland; SJM Holdings saw revenue rise but Macau market share drop to Cotai competitors; PAGCOR agreed to temporarily reduce casino licensee fees to offset corporate tax hikes; Solaire Manila upped its expectations for the region’s VIP gamblers; a US trade union director questioned Wynn Macau’s dealings with a junket operator linked to triad members; Crown Melbourne sued a high-roller for welching on an $8m marker; SBTech unveiled its new Asian betting platform; Rafi Farber suggested there was trouble ahead for Melco Crown Entertainment and conference veteran Rebecca Liggero offered her tips on how to prepare for G2E Asia on extremely short notice.