THE AMERICAS
Rebecca Liggero’s cameras were also over the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, which featured two Japanese soldiers as feature guests; Betfair got permission to move its New Jersey online gambling servers over to Caesars Interactive’s crib; Antigua’s new prime minister talked online gambling with the US Trade Representative in New York; a frenzied auction process resulted in Brookfield Asset Management acquiring Atlantic City’s Revel while Carl Icahn’s rescue of the Trump Taj Mahal hit a snag; Wynn Resorts’ Boston casino landowners were indicted for fraud; the pro sports leagues slammed New Jersey’s sports betting plans but the parties got a Halloween date with a federal judge and Jeff Ifrah thinks the state has a shot; Playtech helped launch Caliente’s Mexican online casino; Playstudios’ MyVegas branched out into social blackjack; Jason Somerville broke up with Ultimate Poker; the Equity Poker Network foiled a chip-dumping plot; Jason Kirk examined poker’s relationship with getting off one’s gourd and Rafi Farber confirmed that Caesars Entertainment’s plan to screw its junior creditors was shameless but legal.
EUROPE
Amaya Gaming’s makeover of PokerStars continued via exits from a couple dozen grey market countries and a new online casino expansion in Spain but Full Tilt decided not to enter the Italian market after all; Bet365 moved its international betting business to Gibraltar partly because it’s a little closer to China; the highest court in Greece said OPAP’s betting monopoly is legal but the Remote Gambling Association isn’t giving up the fight; Belgium asked for a new social gaming operator blacklist; Svenska Spel complained of being unnecessarily spanked by Sweden’s gaming regulator; Bwin boosted its profile on Italian sports television; the UK Gambling Commission reassured poker players on auto top-up and rebuy regulations; Lee Davy discussed uniting the poker world with Alexander Dreyfus and pondered the quandaries of having to nominate someone for a poker hall of fame.
ASIA
Japanese legislators vowed to pass their casino study bill in the next few weeks; PBS unexpectedly pulled its Frontline documentary on Macau’s casino junket operators; junket investor Neptune Holdings saw its annual profit fall 94%; MGM China was the target of more labor unrest in Macau; GigaMedia launched its new social casino platform; GameAccount inked a free-play online casino deal with unknown Australian clubs; Paddy Power’s new CEO urged Australia to loosen its online in-play betting restrictions; Vietnam confirmed that Phu Quoc could have a casino; analysts said Korea’s casino market could quadruple by 2020 and Metric Gaming CEO Peter Bertilsson talked advanced live betting technology for the Asian market.
