THE AMERICAS
Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives approved online gambling and daily fantasy sports legislation; California’s anti-PokerStars tribes said a 10-year ban and a $60m fine was the mandatory price of admission to the state’s regulated market; Intertain Group named ex-Sportingbet boss Andrew McIver as its new CEO; Brooklyn’s DA busted a “billion dollar” online betting ring; a Connecticut eSports player sued Valve Corp for allowing skin betting on CS:GO matches; Baha Mar’s receivers have reportedly shortlisted two bidders for the stalled $3.5b resort; Nevada casino sportsbooks really, really missed Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Lee Davy recapped all the goings-on at the World Series of Poker 2016.
EUROPE and MIDDLE EAST
Win Cash Live entered administration after failing to secure new investors; the UK Brexit vote set a betting record while the UK Gambling Commission warned licensees about novelty betting integrity; Deutsche Telekom shut its German-facing Tipp3.de site after just one year; Betsson shares lost one-third of their value following a Q2 profit warning; Russia got its third licensed online sports betting site while Russian legislators proposed banning betting on non-sporting events and the average Russian’s wager size fell 25% in Q1; Spain revived its BCN World gaming zone plans in Catalonia; PokerStars halted real-money online poker in Israel; myBet shut its underperforming online poker site; Bet365 was publicly shamed for delaying a punter’s £54k withdrawal request; LeoVegas’ Karolina Pelc talked up the relationship of gambling and gossip; Webe Gaming’s John English discussed having a life outside gambling; Martin van Geest said slots developers needed to be more socially aware and Mondogoal’s Shergul Arshad talked up the massive potential of daily fantasy football (soccer).
ASIA and AUSTRALIA
The Philippines’ new president unleashed confusion with his claim that “online gambling must stop”; Vietnam appears poised to finally move on its plan to let locals in casinos, which is scaring the bejeezus out of Cambodian border casinos; Macau’s casino revenue fell for the 25th straight month; Tatts Group sold its UK-facing Talarius slot operation to Novomatic Group; Hong Kong busted a major Euro 2016 online sports betting ring so mainland China had to do them one better; China’s sports lottery sales spiked while gamblers found yet another way around China’s online lottery ban; Tinian Dynasty’s main investor finally got its gaming license; Thailand moved closer to authorizing its first online lottery; Ubet was fined for a YouTube advert that linked betting with booze; South Korea’s gambling tax revenue increased; an inventive Singapore casino slots cheat was jailed for 22 months; Galaxy Macau launched a new low-roller slots area and Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Catherine Lim said China’s 400m millennials would be the gambling industry’s lifeline.
