THE AMERICAS
Greg Merson earned $8.5m for winning (eventually) the 2012 World Series of Poker main event; Atlantic City casinos reopened after five days of inactivity due to Hurricane Sandy; Las Vegas Sands saw profits slip and discussed a settlement of the DoJ’s money laundering probe; Caesars lost another boatload of money in Q3 but signed an online payments deal with Optimal; MGM Resorts also posted nine-figure losses but received preliminary approval for an online poker license; a New York DA busted some sportsbook software providers and Cantor Gaming fired indicted sportsbook director Mike Colbert; both Massachusetts and Antigua took shots at Harry Reid’s online poker bill but ad agencies salivated at the prospects of a US regulated gambling ad market; a Canadian senator and iMEGA’s Joe Brennan rubbished North American pro league objections to sports betting and Rebecca Liggero got Mickey Charles to share his views on why the future of sports betting is going mobile.
EUROPE
Bwin.party turned in a disappointing Q3 report card, announced it had completed the sale of the Ongame Poker Network to Amaya Gaming and dismissed German regulators’ insistence that sports betting license applicants stop offering casino and poker games; Full Tilt Poker reappeared in play money form; Betable inked three more social game developers for real-money play in the UK; Unibet profit fell by half in Q3 and the National Football League continued its curious flirtation with the city of London.
ASIA
South Korea unveiled its ambitious resort casino plan but analysts aren’t convinced it will fly; Macau turned in better than expected growth in October; China claimed to have made its largest ever online gambling bust; Crown’s James Packer coveted a Perth casino but his sweetheart Sydney license deal is under fire in New South Wales; Pagcor turned in another stellar revenue tally and the Philippine government dismissed concerns over Entertainment City’s social impact; Australia introduced long-awaited pokie reforms; Bodog88 launched sports betting and casino in Vietnam and Caesars Entertainment reluctantly gave up on Macau.