THE AMERICAS
Michigan got a new online gambling bill, California set a hearing for its online poker legislation while Congress set a date to consider the legality of online gambling, daily fantasy sports and sports betting; PokerStars launch gave New Jersey’s online poker market a double-digit bump; UK lottery operator Camelot Global shifted its North American HQ to Chicago; CG Technology sued DraftKings and FanDuel for patent infringement; British Columbia announced a war on money laundering at its casinos; visitors to Las Vegas gambled more in 2015 while a new study showed new casinos offer only short-term benefits for state governments; gaming attorney Santiago Asensi identified three key Latin American opportunities for online operators and Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul joined the Global Poker League’s LA Sunset team.
EUROPE & AFRICA
Ladbrokes and Coral could be forced to sell up to 1k betting shops before UK competition watchdogs approve their merger; a search engine study showed that UK gamblers can’t spell ‘roulette’; Bet-at-home’s tweets were deemed too sexy by UK ad watchdogs; Deutsche Telekom joined the race to acquire German betting operator Tipico; Bet365 continued its dominance of Italy’s online sports betting market; Gamesys’ Virgin Games launched its first real-money online poker offering; Denmark inched closer to privatizing Danske Spil; the Czech Republic advanced legislation to boost gambling taxes while 888 Poker struck a sponsorship deal with the country’s King’s Casino; Colossus Bets’ Bernard Marantelli explained why African sports bettors were key to his company’s future; Ladbrokes’ head of UK Sports Affiliates Gary Myers wondered where all the quality new affiliates were; Casino Cruise affiliate manager Lloyd Apter explained what goes into a launching a new online casino brand; Paddy Power’s Cianan Clancy discussed the potential of wagering on the Apple Watch and Living It Loving It’s Neil Barrett discussed the genesis of the Multi Venue Series poker tourney.
ASIA
Chinese media reported that Beijing planned to relaunch online lottery operations; Macau’s Q1 numbers had analysts fearing casino oversupply while junkets could face new capital requirements; Crown Resorts was said to be in talks to run ASF’s Gold Coast casino; Malaysia’s government claimed illegal betting operators deprived the state of $768m in tax revenue; state-owned Australia Post was slammed for its dealings with international online casino sites; the governor of India’s Nagaland signed the country’s first online skill games legislation while Delta Corp planned a new casino in Sikkim; Sands China mainstay Michael Leven retired; an Australian court ordered a gambler to pay his Singapore casino debt; a US court rejected the Laotian government’s bid to subpoena the former operators of the Savan Vegas casino; Vietnam’s second resort casino announced a groundbreaking date; the Philippine bank at the center of that Bangladeshi bank heist said it might repay the stolen funds while Rafi Farber believes the Philippines won’t impose Macau-style anti-money laundering laws on its casino industry.
