THE AMERICAS
Nevada online poker revenue topped $1m for the first time while Delaware’s online poker revenue fell by more than half; Atlantic City was ranked the worst place to do business (again) while Nevada claimed one-third of all US commercial casino revenue in 2013; Pennsylvania’s Parx Casino added not one but two free-play online casino options; Canada’s Atlantic Lottery Corporation decided it wants online gambling while Matchbook decided it wanted out of Canada; Caesars Entertainment dodged a financial bullet in Illinois while Caesars Interactive Entertainment consolidated its social gaming operations under the Playtika brand; NHL player Thomas Vanek cooperated with an illegal sports betting investigation; gunmen robbed Caesars Atlantic City and the Bellagio in Las Vegas; Penn National Gaming and Pinnacle Entertainment compared Q2 report cards; Neteller banned Bitcoin transactions; Vancouver city council tied Paragon Gaming’s hands on Edgewater Casino expansion; the Poker Hall of Fame opened its 2014 nominations to the public and Jason Kirk profiled the Hall’s living members; Tatjana Pasalic profiled Scotty ‘Prince of Poker’ Nguyen and WWE wrestler Bo Dallas dubbed his finishing move ‘the Bodog.’
EUROPE
888 Holdings became the latest company to kill its real-money gambling Facebook app; the UK Labour Party suggested hitting bookies with a new sports betting levy; French sports betting rose while poker continued to fall; critics tore a strip off the Netherlands’ online gambling bill; online casino 32Red survived the World Cup just fine; Sky Betting and Gaming’s fiscal year got a mobile boost; Svenska Spel decided to add an online casino; Turkey and Hungary blocked more online gambling sites; Gibraltar continued its war of words with the UK Gambling Commission but Rafi Farber suggested Gibraltar-based companies weren’t going anywhere; Full Tilt Poker dropped the Poker, added Amaya Gaming casino content and prepped for a garage sale; mobile gaming has been good to LeoVegas Gaming’s Johan Styren; Tom Galanis warned affiliates to secure their businesses before the UK’s point of consumption tax kicks in this December; researchers discussed poker’s possible benefits for Alzheimers sufferers and Rory McIlroy’s forward-looking father cashed a £100k winning wager after his kid won the British Open.
ASIA
Racing NSW told Australian bookies they could no longer refuse a customer’s bets; Crown Resorts teamed with Chinese property developer Greenland on its Brisbane casino bid and took another baccarat whale to court over unpaid markers; PhilWeb’s second quarter profit fell; the Japanese government created a special agency to push their casino bill in the fall legislative session; Nepal said its shuttered casinos will reopen soon; Rebecca Liggero profiled the innovators behind Bodog88’s new Zone21 live dealer baccarat product and Crizzy Hombrebueno previewed next month’s Gaming, Racing & Wagering Australia conference.
