THE AMERICAS
PokerStars announced it would return to live streaming a US tournament after a four-year break and announced a new Double Bubble tournament structure at the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure; Caesars Entertainment confirmed that it would shut down Atlantic City’s Showboat casino on Sunday; Churchill Downs Inc. got a new CEO; California’s primary online poker politician vowed to resolve the ‘bad actor’ issue; Wyoming became the 44th state to launch a lottery and West Virginia thought about taking its lottery online; Nevada sportsbooks had a tough July and sought the repeal of a federal betting handle tax; Delaware’s online gambling revenue nudged up in July; the launch of Maryland’s shiny new Horseshoe casino got spoiled by a VIP host controversy; online fantasy sports service DraftKings scored $41m in venture capital funding; Las Vegas was rumored to be close to being awarded an NHL franchise; a Reddit poll ranked poker dead last on a list of 53 alleged ‘sports’ activities; Rafi Farber pondered IGT CEO Patti Hart’s future in a post-GTECH world and Rebecca Liggero discussed the Internet Brain with Soundsphere Magazine founder Dominic Smith.
EUROPE
Dire H1 reports forced Bwin.party management to finally admitt the company had ‘fundamental’ problems; Paddy Power profits plunged despite the World Cup; 888 Holdings CEO Brian Mattingley announced he’ll shift to the chairman’s chair in 2015; Playtech reported big profits and a trio of new deals; OPAP revenue soared on World Cup betting and took a stake in mobile payment processing; Sky Betting & Gaming launched its new SkyCasino brand; Sweden’s regulated gambling market shrunk again; Elin Nordegren pondered Cherry AB’s H1 earnings report; Camelot was fined £100k for miscalculating a National Lottery jackpot; Lee Davy discussed the progress of social wagering with Youbetme CEO Jason Neubauer and Becky Liggero discussed opportunities for online gambling affiliates targeting ex-pat Asian gamblers with 138.com’s Stephanie Wynters.
ASIA
Macau casino workers protested for better wages but a labor stoppage at SJM’s Grand Lisboa didn’t go off as advertised; China’s sports lottery sales soared in July; Japan’s government created a casino task force to help grease the legislative wheels; PAGCOR saw revenue fall 5% in H1 on lower license fees; Donaco International’s new Aristo casino got off to a great start; a trio of fembots contemplated gaming device maker earnings reports; Bet365 Australia’s adverts were ordered off Melbourne Cricket Ground’s scoreboard; Galaxy Entertainment warned customers about ‘bogus lookalike’ online gambling sites; Marina Bay Sands caught some cheats and chased some deadbeats and Crown Sri Lanka faced yet more delays.
