Monthly Archives: February 2015

Santa Ana to hold lottery Thursday for medical pot collectives

A public lottery will take place in City Council Chambers Thursday to select those qualified to establish medical marijuana collectives in the city. A limited number of medical marijuana collectives are now allowed to operate in specific zones in the city, after residents voted Nov. 4 to legalize and tax medical marijuana shops.

Sportradar inks deals with MLS, German Handball League

Sports data provider Sportradar has notched a new partnership in its growing list of clients and extended an existing one with a budding football league.

First comes the extension. After first signing a deal with Sportradar to become its official data partner, Major League Soccer has re-upped its existing contract for another two seasons, beginning in 2015. The extension allows the MLS to continue benefiting from Sportradar’s acclaimed Fraud Detection System and its capacity to monitor global betting markets on all of

its football matches this year and in 2016.

“At MLS, we are dedicated to delivering the best sports entertainment to millions of fans worldwide that follow our league,” MLS Vice President, Operations and Security Ray Whitworth said. “In line with that, we cannot compromise when it comes to preserving the integrity of soccer in the US.

The growing popularity of football in the US, or soccer as they call it, has likewise made MLS a popular bet for a lot of football bettors. That’s a big reason why the league decided to extend its monitoring partnership with Sportradar.

“MLS has never been more popular. It is unsurprising that more and more fans are being drawn to US soccer,“ Sportradar Managing Director, Strategy and Integrity Andreas Krannich added. “There is always a danger of match fixing when liquidity increases on the global betting market and there is only one way to effectively deal with that danger – that is to get ahead of it. And that is exactly what MLS has done.”

While the MLS has already reaped the benefits from its partnership with Sportradar, the German Handball League is looking to experience the same level of security for the first time after announcing that Sportradar has become the league’s official data partner from the 2015/16 season until the end of the 2022/23 season.

As part of this deal, Sportradar will be granted the right to exclusively collect, archive and distribute “Official HBL Data” to both the media and betting industry as well as to the HBL itself and its teams.

Kiwis spent $2.1 billion in gambling in 2014

Residents of New Zealand, also known as Kiwis, spent almost $2.1 billion on the four main forms of gambling—racing, lotteries, casinos, and gambling machines outside casinos—in the 2012/2013 financial year.

The numbers were compiled and released by the country’s Department of Internal Affairs, breaking down the amount of money gamblers bet on the aforementioned forms of gambling.

According to the DIA’s figures, a majority of the $2.1 billion spent by gamblers fell under gambling machines outside casinos at $808 million. That amount accounted for a little close to half of the total expenses, even though the number fell by $18 million compared to the previous year’s tally and was also the lowest amount spent in the past five years.

Coming up second on the list is are casinos, which accounted for $509 a quarter of the total amount spent by Kiwis in the last financial year. Like the numbers posted by gaming machines, the casino’s total fell 2.1% from the previous year when it posted expenses amounting to $520 million.

The drop in gaming machines and casino expenses were offset by the increased betting in TAB racing and sports betting. Thanks to the 2014 World Cup that attracted over 10,000 new customers, the numbers attached to these two bet types increased by 5.6 per cent from $294 million in the previous year to $311 million in the latest.

Likewise, spending on the lottery also increased from $432 million to $463 million, a 7.3% increase that has been closely associated with a steady increase in lottery sales since 2003.

All in all, the $2.1 billion Kiwis spent on gambling in the 2012/13 financial year represented a 0.9% increase from the previous year, showing that gambling in the country is as robust as it’s ever been, even though it still fell 20% short of the country’s record in 2004 when gamblers spent $2.61 billion when adjusted for inflation.

Silver Heritage begins operation of Nepal casino; Grand Korea Leisure eyes casinos in cruise ships

Silver Heritage Limited (SHL) has begun operation of the Millionaire’s Club & Casino at Shangri-La Hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal.

While the casino itself isn’t a huge property,  it’s been described as a boutique casino —having only 22 live gaming tables and 40 electronic gaming machines, the opportunity to invest in the country was too good of an opportunity to pass up for SHL.

“The Company has been looking to invest in the Nepali tourism and recreation industry since 2011,” SHL CEO Mike Bolsover said in a statement. “We are confident the Kathmandu development represents a huge opportunity given its proximity to India and China’s massive and growing middle class and Nepal’s cultural affinity with its Southern neighbor.”

According to SHL, the casino was opened with the idea of offering expanded gaming opportunities for Indian, Chinese, and Bangladeshi gamblers within the vicinity of the casino. Likewise, foreign nationals living in Nepal are also expected to be lured by the company, which is already planning to operate the property in a 24/7 capacity.

That’s the first step of SHL’s plan to become a bigger player in Nepal’s gambling market. The company has indicated that it also has plans to run a hotel/resort in Bhairahawa to complement its core investment business that provides leasing and revenue sharing solutions for a number of casinos located in Asia.

SHL’s presence in the region goes beyond the capacity of its new casino joint in Nepal. In addition to that,  the company is also heavily entrenched in the Asia-Pacific region as an operator of slot machines and electronic casino table games in places like Macau, the Philippines, Vietnam, Northern Marianas, Cambodia, Laos, and cruise ships touring international waters.

Over in South Korea, local casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Co. announced its plan to operate casinos on cruise ships. According to its own announcement, the company has already engaged a consulting agency to determine the feasibility of the project.

Becky’s Affiliated: How to manage your first week back after LAC & ICE

So LAC & ICE are over- now what?

Its amazing how you’re able to get by on adrenaline and caffeine for one week straight, yet the minute you get on the plane, you suddenly feel like death.  Some people even feel depressed on the way home because the excitement is over and its going to be another five months until we all reunite again.  The good news is there will be a next time and (hopefully) you’ve got something to show your boss after a week full of sessions, booths, networking and fun.

One of the best parts about the iGaming industry is its conferences and a part of the package includes how you manage your time straight after an event finishes.  After spending ten years attending these events, I’ve got a routine perfected, so here’s my advice on how to manage your first week back in the office after LAC & ICE come to an end.

1) Detox!

Its likely conferences for you mean changing time zones, big nights out, lots of alcohol, not enough sleep, unhealthy meals and generally overextending yourself for five or six days straight.  Before you do anything after returning from the conferences, be sure to take care of yourself.

Take a day or two off after the conference ends and make sure you catch up on your rest.  Take some time away from drinking if you’re a drinker, focus on hydration and eat an obscene amount of fruit and vegetables to boost your immune system.

2) Follow up with new contacts

New Mexico lawmakers grapple with lottery scholarships

But the independent think tank Think New Mexico has concerns about a proposal that would eliminate a requirement that 30 percent of lottery revenues be dedicated to the scholarship fund. That proposal would also clear the way for credit card purchases of lottery tickets, which supporters say would boost revenues that could be funneled to the program.

ICE Totally Gaming 2015 Day 2 Recap

 

The second day of ICE Totally Gaming was packed like yesterday, with thousands of people roaming the expo floor and attending sessions from 10am until 6pm solid.  On the expo floor delegates were treated to everything from Playson’s “live” Dracula, his coffin and lovely assistants, Credorax’s foozeball competition against Paul Merson and awesome Football Freestyler Dan Magness, live music, models, models and more models and free drinks flowing at every corner.

This year ICE featured a number of start-up related activities in an effort to showcase innovation in the gambling industry.  Pitch ICE is a new feature this year at ICE, organized by the crowd sourcing and crowd funding GamCrowd and in partnership with Clarion.  At Pitch ICE, throughout the course of the day, start-up companies were given 15 minutes to pitch their products to ICE delegates.  Chris North of GamCrowd confirmed each pitch would be filmed and distributed on the GamCrowd site after ICE for the industry to vote on and ultimately determine the winner.  North told CalvinAyre.com he is pleased with the turnout this year and although some times are busier than others, he’s had constant traffic overall in the Pitch ICE corner.

Genfour was one of today’s Pitch contestants, a company providing “Robotic Process Automation” or RPA.  Ian Dunning, Co-Founder of Genfour, confirmed his company’s participation in Pitch ICE was a great vehicle for educating the industry on RPA and Genfour in general.  Dunning truly believes in his product and wants to communicate to operators how implementing RPA into their systems will reduce manual labor for valuable employees and open up more time for strategy and innovation.

Along the same theme of start-ups and innovation, Igor Samardziski of Nexus described the “Start-up Incubator” he is running this year at ICE with Clarion.  Three one hour sessions were held at the Nexus booth today, all pre-registered by companies who are wishing to enter the online gambling market and would like guidance on how to do so.  Common issues that come up surround regulation, total cost and a number of other questions surrounding entry into a new marketplace.  Samardziski has years of experience in iGaming and is there to answer such questions and provide further support down the line.

The ICE Conferences are held alongside ICE Totally Gaming and feature a series of “mini-conferences” touching on hot topics in the gambling industry.  The IMGL Masterclass was one of the conferences taking place today and featured a session on opportunities in emerging markets.  The session covered the current and future opportunities in Spain, Latin America, India, North America and Australia.

Panelist Sue Schneider of iGaming Brokerage discussed North America and said in Canada there are now attempts in legislature to get single game sportsbetting regulated.  Over in California, Schneider explained the tribes are split on the “bad actor” clause which basically means is PokerStars going to be able to participate or not- “lets cut to the chase”, she said.  Of course this split causes a problem for the iGaming regulation we are all hoping for in California.   “Until the industry comes together with a single message we are not going to get the politicians on board”, she said.

Devilfish Poker Set For a Return; White Hat Gaming Joins NYX Poker

Devilfish Poker is set for a return, according to investment opportunity website Funding Tree, and White Hat Gaming become the first online gambling company to join the NYX Poker network.

I guess it’s wrong to say that Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot is back. He hasn’t really gone anywhere. But that’s how it feels after reading on the investment opportunities website Funding Tree that Devilfish Poker is set for a return in the spring of 2015.

Devilfish Poker was incorporated in 2006, and at its peak (June 2010) its then owners filed revenues of £783,355 – £525,115 of which was gross profit. The company eventually hit hard times, and shut down, but it still retains a 10,000 registered player-base, and, of course, the advertising power of one the games most loveable rogues.

The job of breathing new life into Devilfish Poker has fallen into the hands of the experienced seed capital investor, Jeff Williams, and he is searching for £100,000 of start-up capital. At the time of writing he has raised £10,700.

According to the pitch on the Funding Tree website, Devilfish Poker has signed a deal that will see them appearing on the Ongame network. Since that network no longer exists (NYX Gaming bought it from Amaya and renamed it NYX Poker), then we can assume that’s where Devilfish and the team will lay their hat.

The strategy is to reach out to customers in the UK and abroad, and they have struck up a partnership with Dave Hulme’s Grassroots Poker. A provider of pub leagues throughout the UK. Sign up to Grassroots Poker and you sign up to Devilfish Poker.

And of course there is the Devilfish.

Confessions of a Poker Writer: Morning Wood

Lee Davy explains how his revised morning schedule has paid dividends in both his personal and working life.

I say daily gratitude.

It’s a new thing for me; one of the many new things my wife has brought into my life. It works. It directs my thoughts to others. That makes me happy. I like being happy. That’s another thing that my wife has brought into my life. Increased awareness of the importance of happiness.

One of my most common gratitude statements:

“I am grateful that I have the freedom to wake up when I want. That I get to choose the structure of my day, and not have it determined by someone else.”

I left school when I was 16-years old and within six months I was working for British Rail. I left 19-years later. In that period of time I never had the freedom to wake when I wanted – weekend excepted. This was true even when I had reached a senior position.

It’s incredibly liberating it is to be in control of your own working hours. It’s become so important to me, I doubt I will ever work for anyone, other than myself, ever again.