Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

november-28-new-weekly-recapTHE AMERICAS
Daily fantasy sports operators saw activity decline for the sixth straight week then begged a New York judge to let them continue to operate in the state; former tout Adam Meyer claimed he helped the FBI seize $750m from online sports betting operators and the US Treasury Department split $49m of BetOnSports’ money with the Swiss bankers who helped seize it; Nevada’s attorney general said he supported Sheldon Adelson’s online gambling ban while a political watchdog group retracted claims about Adelson’s alleged ties to criminal associates; a US federal court ruled that social gaming losses weren’t gambling losses; Atlantic City casinos profits jumped 61% in Q3 and Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger sat down with Tatjana Pasalic for this week’s episode of Chats with Tats.

EUROPE
Regulatory concerns forced Playtech to abandon its financial trading acquisitions; the UK’s online gambling market was said to be worth over £3b annually; Betfair posted boffo H1 numbers thanks to its sportsbook and US division; Spain’s online gambling market surged after the introduction of slots; OPAP sued the Greek government for messing with its VLT business; Ladbrokes investors approved the merger with Gala Coral Group; NYX Gaming Group lost $6.5m due to its acquisition hangover; UK racing began enforcing its new sponsorship rules with betting operators; a Betsson affiliate manager was accused of thieving €153k by retagging players: a UK teenager was sentenced to 12 months for a DDOS attack on an online gambling site; a survey boosted estimates of the Dutch online gambling market but Danish Online Gambling Association CEO Morten Ronde warned the Netherlands not to repeat Denmark’s mistakes; Lottovate Nederland’s Peter-Paul De Doeij said Dutch lottery operators were behind the times but mGage’s Rogier van den Heuvel said Dutch operators were keen on going mobile; Camberton’s Mark Davies urged European governments to say no to high taxes and Rebecca Liggero offered her top six takeaways from the Malta iGaming Seminar.

ASIA
Malaysia sought new tools to combat online gambling while an online gambling site told Malaysian Muslims they could have anal sex with its live dealers; New Zealand suggested a new tax on international online gambling sites; Kazuo Okada lost his defamation claim against Reuters; Goa proposed banning local residents from its casinos while the state of Karnataka said it wanted its own floating casinos; Vietnam okayed slot machines at its international airports; Macau said there’d be no changes to its gaming table cap policy until 2022 and analysts warned that Macau junkets’ deals with international casinos faced danger from China’s war on underground banking; Donaco International said its new Star Vegas casino enjoyed “massive” growth; Sri Lanka proposed new fees and taxes for its casinos and Rafi Farber examined the real reason behind Tabcorp’s desire to merge with Tatts Group.