THE AMERICAS
PokerStars announced the soft launch of its New Jersey online gambling site; Intertain Group claimed to have received multiple takeover offers; Nevada regulators put daily fantasy sports operators in the hot seat while DraftKings threw FantasyHub’s players a lifeline and Virginia’s governor became the first to sign a DFS bill into law this year; Brazilian politicians inched closer to regulated online gambling; regional casino operator Delaware North bought social gamers Ruby Seven Studios; robbers used a GPS device to track a casino high-roller to his home; Ourgame CEO Frank Ng explained why the US is a key eSports market; Rafi Farber suggested ways investors could plan for the release of Caesars Entertainment’s asset-shifting report and Jasmine Solana traced the four-century history of casino development.
EUROPE
Paddy Power Betfair’s first earnings report as a merged entity showed both parties kicking butt; Fortuna Entertainment’s 2015 results got a boost from online and mobile betting; Sky Betting & Gaming became UK racing’s latest Authorized Betting Partner while BetVictor stole the Cheltenham Gold Cup sponsorship from ABP holdout Paddy Power; Romania’s gambling tax revenue leapt 71% thanks to online back tax settlements; Malta regulators suspended 7epta7’s gambling license; a rejected Cyprus casino bidder called for a probe into the tender process; Contagious Gaming expanded the scope of its UK gambling license; Sky TV aired the first eSports coverage on UK terrestrial television; a Dutch court ruled that poker is a game of chance; Tipstrr offered punters a way to separate the betting tipster men from the boys; Spigo CEO Kasper Kau detailed plans to hang ten on the casual games wave and Malta-based DFS outfit FanTeam passed the hat looking for investors.
ASIA
A money laundering scandal involving stolen millions of Bangladeshi government funds put several Philippine casinos under a microscope but gaming regulators say the casinos weren’t at fault; Chinese internet giant Alibaba took a controlling stake in lottery technology outfit AGTech; Matthew Tripp said Crownbet would turn a profit in 2016 while a Crown Melbourne croupier was caught stealing $85k; The Star casino planned ways to entice more Chinese and Indian VIPs to its gaming tables; Entertainment Gaming Asia revised its NagaWorld slots deal and braced for a challenging 2016; Galaxy Entertainment Group wants to add a theme park to Galaxy Macau and Union Gaming’s Grant Govertsen explained why Macau needs to think big in terms of entertainment offerings; residents of Taiwan’s Penghu islands planned a new casino referendum; Fitch Ratings analysts struck a bearish tone for South Korea’s foreigners-only casinos; Dr. Changin Wang provided an overview of Macau’s unsung lottery operations and Hong Kong academic Chen Guanghan revealed how Macau will benefit from China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative;
