THE AMERICAS
MGM Resorts acquired full ownership of Atlantic City’s leading Borgata casino; Pinnacle Sports dropped the ‘sports’ as part of a comprehensive rebrand; New York’s online poker hopes burned a little brighter following a favorable Senate committee vote; sports bettor Billy Walters pled not guilty to insider trading charges; Latin American regulators approved Sun International’s merger with Chile’s Dream SA; US lawmakers urged Congress to scuttle Caesars Entertainment’s REIT plans; Oulala’s Valery Boilier blamed guaranteed prize pools for the crackdown on daily fantasy sports while FastFantasy’s Joseph Bunevin discussed the challenges facing smaller DFS operators; Rainer Kempe got the 2016 World Series of Poker off to a flying start by winning the $5m Super High Roller and Rebecca Liggero recapped Days One and Two of the Juegos Miami 2016 confab.
EUROPE
CVC Capital Parnters splashed out €1b for Italian betting operator Sisal Group; NYX Gaming Group acquired UK content provider Betdigital; Playtech acquired social/mobile games developer Funtactix; hackers claiming links with Anonymous targeted Czech Republic government sites for passing gambling domain-blocking legislation; OPAP profit fell thanks to Greece’s retroactive tax hikes; Snai launched Italy’s first eSports betting product and Italian regulators promised more licenses were coming; online sports betting claimed two-thirds of Denmark’s overall betting revenue; a new study said online gambling sites should boost their Reddit exposure; Coin Gaming launched its new sportsbook Sportsbet.io; Ladbrokes signed up as The Football Association’s new betting partner while Betfair extended its Arsenal ties; Stark eSports’ Khalen Naim said were eSports could learn lessons from professional football while Lee Davy recapped the inaugural eSports Betting Summit panels covering the crossover with sports betting, in-play opportunities, building an eSports brand and the importance of understanding the eSports customer.
ASIA
Sheldon Adelson reportedly paid up to $100m to settle his six-year legal fight with Sands China’s ex-CEO Steve Jacobs; Macau’s gaming revenue fell for the 24th straight month while gaming-related crime continued to climb and junkets used technology to circumvent casinos’ new telephone-at-tables ban; Singapore Pools worried that regulators might not approve its new online betting site in time for Euro 2016; Betfair Australia said it would relocate to the Northern Territory following passage of exchange betting legislation; TCSJOHNHUXLEY unveiled a new partially submerged blackjack table; Philweb planned to raise $128m to fund further expansion and DFNN’s Chris Tio discussed the implications for the Philippines gaming industry from Rodrigo Duterte’s election as president.
