Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

may-9-new-weekly-recapTHE AMERICAS
Caesars Entertainment’s online operations had a “spectacular” Q1 while MGM Resorts’ profit rose nearly two-thirds; Zynga scrapped its new sports titles and cut 18% of its workforce; Scientific Games saw online revenue rise 52% and inked a social casino deal with Penn National Gaming; Pinnacle Entertainment confirmed it was discussing a REIT deal with GLPI; Caesars eliminated cash play at poker tables at all its properties; Genting broke ground on Resorts World Las Vegas while the Riviera closed after 60 years; a lottery player took exception to his scratch ticket’s hidden message; the Pentagon flagged unauthorized use of gov’t credit cards at casinos and strip clubs; Sportsbettingchamp.com founder Tony Chau pled guilty to illegal gambling and a new federal bill promised to ban interstate online horse wagering.

EUROPE
UK bookies both celebrated and mourned the Tories’ surprise election victory; Romania demanded six years of back taxes from online operators; Ladbrokes chairman Peter Erskine announced he was stepping down; the National Basketball Association was rumored to be shopping for a European betting partner; Greece’s gambling market grew for the first time in five years while France’s online poker market continued to struggle; PokerStars launched online casino games in Italy and inked football great Neymar Jr. as its new ambassador; online gamblers in the UK became a little more feminine; SBOBET joined Microgaming’s poker network and Net Entertainment’s Simon Hammon offered an update on mobile innovation.

ASIA
Macau casino revenue declined for the 11th straight month; Melco Crown Entertainment profit fell 75% in Q1 and Melco Crown Philippines became the first Entertainment City operator to get its regular license; SJM Holdings profit fell nearly by half; Singapore police made their first online gambling bust under the new Remote Gambling Act; Australian regulators probed bookies’ attempts to circumvent the online in-play betting ban; new Aussie research suggested online-only gamblers display lower rates of problem gambling behavior; South Korea said local residents could gamble on cruise ship casinos; a slots operator paid Cambodia’s NagaCorp $40m just to negotiate a deal but Rafi Farber warned of further Macau drag; Tabcorp’s online operations were among the “dominant drivers” of fiscal Q3 growth; Cambodia’s PM welched on a $5k Pacquiao wager; Tony Fung plans to add a casino to his recent purchase of a Gold Coast hotel and Bitcoin gambling site PrimeDice shifted its operational focus to China and Russia.