THE AMERICAS
Michigan held its first online gambling hearing before a panel of bored politicians; Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov pled not guilty to insider trading charges; NYX Gaming’s purchase of OpenBet forced William Hill to exit two Canadian provinces; Caesars Interactive Entertainment continued to monetize social casino gamers like a mofo while Zynga’s social slots franchises continued to backstop its game revenue; Idaho kicked out daily fantasy sports operators and the NBA said DFS operators couldn’t advertise on team jerseys; MGM Resorts expressed gratitude that it’s primarily a Las Vegas-based company while Genting pushed back the opening of its Resorts World Las Vegas to 2019.
EUROPE
The world was gripped by claims that the inventor of Bitcoin had been revealed while the Isle of Man proposed allowing its online licensees to accept Bitcoin deposits; France finally approved international online poker liquidity sharing; Cherry AB acquired the parent of Malta-licensed ComeOn.com; Paddy Power Betfair said all four of its brands started 2016 off with a bang; Russia proposed tougher rules for blocking unwanted online gambling operators and announced an end date for its Azov City gaming zone; Sportech prevailed in the latest round of its UK VAT court fight; Turkey proposed yet another plan to privatize its state lottery; Bet365 took Bulgaria’s regulator to court for rescinding its local license; Leicester City’s longshot Premier League triumph cost UK bookies an estimated £50m while K8 Group inked a shirt deal with Premier Leaguers West Brom and Dafabet inked its own shirt deal with Scottish footballers Celtic FC; Revenue Engineers’ Fintan Costello explained how affiliates can circumvent ad blocking tools; OneLotto’s Greg Fermont explained how to make your brand appeal to a global audience while Viks.com’s Silvia Hoppe said you had to go “a little bit crazy” to make your brand stand out from the herd; SBTech’s Tom Light talked up advanced personalization strategies to engage sports bettors while WantMyBet’s Olly Joshi embarked on a plan to put the fun back in sports betting.
ASIA
Crown Resorts sold off some of its stake in the Melco Crown Entertainment joint venture while CrownBet sold its stake in Chinese lottery operator DJI Holdings; Macau casino revenue fell for the 23rd straight month and regulators banned telephone ‘proxy’ betting in casino VIP rooms; Malaysia proposed plans to detain illegal gambling suspects for two years without trial; Paradise Entertainment forced US rival SHFL to cry ‘uncle’ in long-running patent dispute; Tabcorp fought off new money laundering charges long enough to post a quarterly revenue increase and China busted another illegal online gambling operation.
