THE AMERICAS
Daily fantasy sports sites set up a new self-regulatory agency but Massachusetts regulators suggested state regulation was coming regardless; DFS sites suffered their second straight week of falling entry fees and DraftKings cut ties with the World Series of Poker; a major online poker affiliate cut ties with international sites rather than piss off New Jersey; the Queens County DA’s office shut down a multi-state online credit betting ring; social gaming and online betting drove record revenue for Churchill Downs Inc; MGM Resorts announced its long awaited REIT plans; Rep. Jason Chaffetz did Sheldon Adelson a solid by pimping for a federal online gambling ban while Sen. Marco Rubio suggested he’d support an exemption for online poker; a Chicago developer rolled out a new slot app for the Apple Watch; a group of NBA owners took a $45m stake in sports betting data firm Sportradar; the unfinished Baha Mar resort faced up to another year’s delay; John Juanda and Jen Harman made the WSOP Hall of Fame and Scott Ball joined Tatjana Pasalic in this week’s episode of Chats With Tats.
EUROPE
Gala Coral offloaded its retail bingo operations for £241m; iPoker was the only negative in Playtech’s Q3 while bingo was the only positive in Bwin.party’s earnings report; Sony looked to launch a new eSports league while Russia’s third-richest man invested $100m in the Virtus.pro eSports team; the Czech Republic took another step towards increased gambling taxes; the UK advertising watchdog slapped three betting firms for adverts featuring non-naked photos of a 22-year-old; software boffins suggested they could detect gambling addiction at an early stage; William Hill boosted its Scottish football sponsorship investment into the ‘eight-figure’ range; Rebecca Liggero profiled some iGaming start-up-and-comers and Rafi Farber celebrated NetEnt’s lengthy string of hits.
ASIA
Melco Crown’s new Studio City casino features not a single VIP table; the Australian Federal Police decided not to investigate William Hill’s controversial in-play betting app; South Korea announced it would seek life sentences for online gambling operators; Macau’s top gambling regulator packed it in after 18 years; Tabcorp’s online gains helped offset retail wagering declines; the Dore junket shut a Wynn Macau VIP room and Imperial Pacific booked a $28.5m profit off another junket operator’s difficulties; Donaco International said its Star Vegas casino was just getting started; DFNN’s Ricky Banaag discussed mobile gaming opportunities in the Philippines; CoinPoint managing director Oron Barber explained why Asia has such a high Bitcoin adoption rate and Tokyo cops explained why disgraced Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles spent his customers’ Bitcoins on Japanese prostitutes.
