Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

september-5-new-weekly-recapTHE AMERICAS
Amaya Gaming launched its new StarsDraft daily fantasy sports site one day after Michigan gaming regulators said DFS was illegal; new data revealed that just 1.3% of DFS players earn 91% of player profits; DraftKings ramped up its TV marketing; Nevada’s WSOP.com added Paypal as a payment option; New Jersey approved NetEnt to launch its games on Bwin.party’s sites and Caesars Interactive Entertainment NJ was okayed to host online game content for the Delaware Lottery; nearly half of social casino gamers spend money to play; Unikrn launched a new global free-play eSports betting platform and Digital Fuel Marketing’s Luke Cotton explained how companies can win the eSports real-money betting battle; the Ongame poker network sunk NYX Gaming’s Q2 earnings; Loto-Quebec’s online gambling site revenue rose 27%; Las Vegas Sands got the nod to launch stadium-style electronic table games in Pennsylvania; California gaming regulator Richard Schuetz left for a similar job in Bermuda; Latin America drove Codere’s H1 revenue; a study found humans gamble more on anthropomorphized slot machines and you might not recognize the casino floor of the future; Westgate Las Vegas sportsbook VP Jay Kornegay discussed the enduring appeal of sports betting in the US of A with Rebecca Liggero while Kelly Heffernan talked sleeping rough with Tatjana Pasalic.

EUROPE
GVC Holdings emerged triumphant in the Bwin.party bidding war despite 888 submitting an improved offer, while Bwin.party’s CEO said PartyPoker had become an afterthought; the Czech Republic proposed lower taxes for sports betting than casino games; Ireland and Romania handed out a bunch of new online gambling licenses; unauthorized online gambling sites grew their Swedish market share; players dubbed PokerStars’ new VIP program a “money grab:’ Irish bettor John McManus sued the IRS for withholding $5.2m of his winnings; Rafi Farber said he expects great things from the merger of Betfair and Paddy Power; Two Plus Two’s David Sklansky explained why too many poker pros are a bad thing and Ace Publishing’s Glyn Thomas told Becky Liggero why the Ukrainian market is coming in from the cold.

ASIA
Macau casino revenue fell for the 15th straight month despite the fact that its pawn shops are still doing underground banking; Australia announced it would review its 2001 Interactive Gambling Act but TV advertising is apparently not up for discussion; Vietnam sentenced the leader of a 188Bet online betting ring to eight years in prison; an Indian law student that Bombay could have had casinos for the past 40 years; Lawrence Ho’s Melco International saw H1 profit plunge 88%; China’s mobile gaming market expects to pass the US market this year; Genting Hong Kong got the okay to boost its stake in Echo Entertainment; Hong Kong Entertainment announced it would close its Tinian Dynasty casino by the end of the month; Team PokerStars Pro recruited two new members from Taiwan and China and Stephanie Raquel examined how to use China’s superapp WeChat to market one’s brand.