Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

august-8-new-weekly-recapTHE AMERICAS
Free of its bankrupt main unit, Caesars Entertainment posted a rare profit in Q2 while Caesars Interactive posted record revenue but Rafi Farber preached caution for Caesars investors; MGM Resorts fared better than most in Q2 while filing a lawsuit against Connecticut’s tribal casino plans; social casino games saved Zynga’s bacon (again); the Macho Sports brothers were sentenced to federal prison; the Minnesota Lottery set a date to shut down its online operations; Google began showing snippets of betting odds in search results; CBS Sports rolled out its rake-free daily fantasy sports site while RotoGrinders debuted a new daily fantasy bulk entering tool; Scientific Games revenue rose two-thirds in Q2; Bitcoin Gambling Guide’s Chris Evans examined the challenges and opportunities of Bitcoin while Tatjana Pasalic chatted up the likes of Seth Palansky and Jason Somerville in her Chats With Tats video series.

EUROPE
William Hill’s H1 profit tumbled thanks to £44m in additional UK gaming taxes; GVC Holdings raised its Bwin.party bid to £1.3b while Bwin.party scrapped its Manchester United casino app after just five months; Unibet bucked trends by posting online poker gains in Q2 and paid €59m to acquire iGame; Russian media offered conflicting reports on online poker regulation; Ireland handed out its first online betting licenses; PokerStars launched its largest ever marketing campaign while Terrence Chan campaigned to put Stars founder Isai Scheinberg in the Poker Hall of Fame; Italian firms caught up in the Betuniq crackdown threatened to sue the Malta Gaming Authority; Yahoo inked a daily fantasy sports partnership with Mondogoal; PartyPoker eliminated controversial withdrawal fees; Finnish operator Veikkaus earned 40% of its sales online; the Microgaming Poker Network welcomed Guts.com; Optimal Payments got FCA approval for its Skrill acquisition; Nichola Stott discussed the finer points of content marketing for the igaming industry; another English Premier League season loomed, prompting Coral and Betfair to seal new EPL betting partnerships while Bet-at-home signed its first Bundesliga deal.

ASIA
Macau casino revenue fell for the 14th straight month and authorities said they will seek public input on a proposed blanket smoking ban; Melco Crown Entertainment profit fell 83% and CEO Lawrence Ho admitted that non-gaming amenities “will never make any money;” Genting Singapore shares tumbled after a Q2 profit warning; Korean casino operator Paradise’s profit fell by half as Chinese VIPs vanished; Philippine authorities ordered the immediate deportation of former Dafabet exec Bo Wang; an Australian study reinforced distinctions between online gambling and social gaming while another study suggested social casino apps could help wean gambling addicts off pokies; junket operator Jimei Group promised an H1 profit thanks to its international operations; Malaysian authorities uncovered an illegal text message betting ring; both Japan and Australia took steps to bring Bitcoin in from the cold; BingoTimes’ ASF Consortium’s Gold Coast casino plans were given new life; CoinGaming’s Steven Valentine revealed how new technologies would cause disruptions in the Asian online gambling biz and Olivia Chang explained how robotics could reduce cheating at casino gaming tables.