THE AMERICAS
California’s latest online poker hearing offered little evidence of stakeholder compromise; Lindsey Graham introduced a Senate version of the Restoration of America’s Wire Act; Bitcoin online poker operator Bryan Micon reached a no-jail plea deal with Nevada prosecutors; Walt Disney ditched plans to take a $250m stake in DFS operator DraftKings while restaurateurs Latitude 360 acquired Major League Fantasy; California cardroom Casino M8trix paid a $1.5m fine to resolve profit-skimming allegations; Intertain Group acquired the rights to license Parlay Group’s bingo software source code; GameAccount Network launched its Casual Mobile Gaming product; the Mayweather v. Pacquiao fight helped Nevada casino revenue top $1b in May; Kambi Sports Solutions inked a deal with Mexico’s PlayCity Casinos; the Seminole tribe accused Florida’s government of violating its tribal gaming compact; Penn National Gaming opened Massachusetts’ first casino; evidence emerged that Pete Rose bet on baseball while still a player; Pala Interactive’s Jim Ryan said New Jersey’s regulated online gambling market will double from its current size; Jeff Ifrah discussed the prospects for legal sports betting in the US of A and Lee Davy continued his stellar coverage of the 2015 World Series of Poker.
EUROPE
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group confirmed they were discussing a potential merger, while Ladbrokes streamlined its international operations and Boylesports made a €25m offer for Ladbrokes’ Irish retail business; William Hill exited Portugal ahead of its new online gambling regime and rolled out a new prepaid Mastercard option; Hungary proposed an end to the state-owned online sports betting monopoly; PokerStars’ Italian site launched a slots offering; online gambling increased its share of the UK gambling market and Rebecca Liggero recapped all the action at days One and Two of the Gaming In Holland 2015 conference and days One and Two of the iGaming Super Show in Amsterdam.
ASIA
Bwin.party sold the World Poker Tour to Chinese online gamers Ourgame International Holdings; China’s top auditor said unscrupulous lottery officials had misused $2.8b of government funds; Macau junket figure Cheung Chi-tai surrendered to Hong Kong police to face money laundering charges; Australia’s federal police decided to investigate the legality of William Hill and Ladbrokes’ online in-play betting apps; Chinese authorities arrested 14 South Koreans for promoting trips to international casinos; SBTech’s Tom Light explained his firm’s plan to become Asia’s biggest B2B sports betting provider; Flutterclub’s John Flynn discussed why his Bitcoin casino and sportsbook would be a big hit in Asia and Rafi Farber explained why Sands China will survive Steven Jacobs’ bribery allegations.
