THE AMERICAS
Regulated online gambling revenue in both Nevada and Delaware sank to new all-time lows; the Kahnawake Mohawks and California’s IIpay Nation of Santa Ysabel asserted tribal sovereignty over online gambling; irate creditors hit Caesars Entertainment with its fourth default notice and Rafi Farber explained why Caesars’ bondholders will win and shareholders will lose; Foxwoods announced it was cutting slots and tables to make room for non-gaming amenities; the Hustler strip club in Las Vegas applied for a sportsbook license; the Florida Supreme Court cleared the way for more card rooms at greyhound tracks; Lee Davy previewed the Poker Night movie and Jason Kirk wondered why the US government doesn’t consider opaque political campaign finance to be money laundering.
EUROPE
UK-licensed operators saw revenue rise 22% last year but they’re bracing for the impact of the new point of consumption tax; OPAP’s new online betting site performed “below expectations” during the World Cup; Sportingbet and EveryMatrix inked social sports betting deals; gaming regulators in the Netherlands and Malta agreed to share online gambling info; Boylesports planned to move its online operations to Gibraltar while Betclic Everest decided to close its Gibraltar office; 93 UK councils rose up to protest high-stakes fixed-odds betting terminals; Poland threatened to jail gamblers who wagered with international sites; the UK’s ad watchdog took issue with a Health Lottery promo; Bulgaria and Latvia expanded their online gambling blacklists; Caesars Entertainment pursued a Cyprus casino license; U2’s Bono was pissed after learning that roulette wheels don’t go to 40; Lee Davy explained the English antipathy towards tipping; Rebecca Liggero recapped the Bitcoin4iGaming conference where Coin Cloud co-founder Chris McAlary explained how an online poker player became a Bitcoin ATM maker and Michael Mizrachi planned the launch of his Bitcoin-only poker site.
ASIA
A Chinese coal magnate was said to owe Macau junket operators $450m; Tatts Group rebranded its online operations as UBET; New Zealand’s racing minister said curbing online gambling was his number one priority; China launched a surprise audit of its sports lottery operations; Vietnam’s The Grand Ho Tram Strip got into the proxy betting business; Queensland put the brakes on the Aquis resort casino but Tony Fung insisted the project isn’t dead yet; Melcolot sold a stake in its Georgian casino to Firich Enterprises; the Hong Kong Jockey Club had no love for Asian online betting exchanges like CITIbet; Western Australia cut James Packer’s taxes; Euro-Asia Consulting CEO Stephen J. Karoul discussed how casinos handle problem gaming and Lacey ‘Poker Barbie’ Jones explained what she’s been doing in the Philippines.
