The week that was…
THE AMERICAS
A New Jersey senate committee approved the Garden State’s online gambling plans; Caesars Entertainment sold off an undisclosed piece of its Caesars Interactive division; online poker joint ventures were rumored to be in the works between (a) Donald Trump and 888 Holdings and (b) Wynn Resorts and Zynga; Calvin Ayre assembled a top-notch legal team to defend himself against the US Department of Justice’s indictments and another gambling attorney offered his own take on the DoJ’s case; Atlantic City’s 12th casino officially opened its doors; Merge skin Poker Nordica closed its doors to US players; Manitoba became the latest Canadian province to throw its hat into the online gambling ring; BetOnline shifted its domain from .com to .ag; US regulators rejected a political event futures market application; opinions vary on whether Bitcoin is the next great online gambling payment option and Vanessa Selbst explained to our own Tatjana Pasalic the synergies between law school and the poker tables.
EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
The presumed dead body of Full Tilt Poker twitched its toes; Betclic exited Portugal following its court loss against the local monopoly; an Israeli court declared the blocking of online gambling sites unlawful; Enetpulse inked tennis data deals with UK bookies; Morocco proposed a ban on live TV betting; Cryptologic execs began deploying their golden parachutes as the takeover by Amaya grows closer to completion; the UK Gambling Commission flexed its muscles against a bonus whore; James Dempsey won Paddy Power’s inaugural iSeriesLIVE competition; more spread betting shenanigans have come to light and former BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers hit the ground running after his repatriation to the UK.
ASIA
Perhaps because the FBI never got past first base with Stanley Ho, SJM Holdings remains the top casino operator in Macau, where overall revenues rose 24% in March; more voices in the Philippines want an end to the Pagcor witch hunt; Korean nationals running a dog-fighting ring were busted in the Philippines; more slots are coming to casinos on the Cambodia/Thai border; gamers Sega may end up running a Japanese casino; Hong Kong resident Jay Tan signed on with Bodog Poker and the Philippines surpassed India as the number one BPO voice-services jurisdiction.
