THE AMERICAS
GTECH acquired International Game Technology for $6.4b; Las Vegas Sands earned two-thirds of a billion dollars in three months; New Jersey online gambling revenue fell for the third straight month; poker player Paul Phua was arrested for operating an Asian sports betting ring out of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, while SBOBET denied any link to their operation; American Gaming Association CEO Geoff Freeman took some cheap shots at Atlantic City while Rafi Farber warned that building casinos outside AC wouldn’t boost New Jersey’s tax revenue; BCLC was ordered to pay winnings to problem gamblers; Ultimate Poker added another Nevada casino to its online poker roster; confusion reigned around Massachusetts’ casino repeal question; New Jersey’s Meadowlands racetrack joined the free-play sports betting bunch; Tom Galanis mused on the carefully crafted sights and sounds of slot machines; Tatjana Pasalic recapped the action that produced this year’s World Series of Poker November Nine while Lee Davy pondered Daniel Negreanu’s decision to reveal his true ROI from this year’s WSOP and fretted over PokerNews’ introduction of a live HUD at the main event and Rebecca Liggero played I-spy at the GIGse 2014 conference in San Francisco, offering highlights of days one, two and three.
EUROPE
Bwin.party warned that its Q2 revenue had been ‘softer than expected’ despite the World Cup while Betsson and GVC Holdings each said the World Cup was the gift that kept on giving; Turkey awarded a $2.7b lottery contract to a consortium that included Scientific Games; Betfred appointed John Haddock as its new CEO; the UK Gambling Commission suggested there was a little wiggle room on its new sports sponsorship rules; West Bromwich Albion FC inked a pair of sponsorships with Bet365 and 666bet; the UK got a new retail gaming industry association; a toxicology report on Johannes Stassmann suggested hallucinogenic drugs may have played a role in the poker player’s death; German poker player Ali Tekintamgac was sentenced to three years in prison for his cheating at live poker events and industry figures weighed in on how Amaya Gaming’s acquisition of PokerStars will change the online poker industry.
ASIA
Macau Q2 casino revenue rose despite a significant ViP slowdown; Tom Waterhouse was named new CEO of William Hill Australia; China’s sports lottery had a very good June thanks to the World Cup; the Hong Kong Jockey Club had the “most remarkable” season in its 130-year history; Vietnam busted its third major World Cup online betting ring; Best Sunshine International (finally) won the Saipan casino derby; Asian Coast Development Limited got a new investor for its The Grand Ho Tram Strip project; a South Korean casino refused to pay $1m in winnings to four Chinese gamblers; Leisure and Resorts World Corp finalized its acquisition of Digiwave Solutions and Thailand’s military junta botched its plans to reform lottery ticket prices.
