Monthly Archives: January 2016

Casinomeister’s Meister Awards for 2015

Billed as the “only iGaming awards that matter” the Casinomeister 2015 Awards for the online casino industry have been posted for the year at Casinomeister.com.  These anticipated awards are held by many to be some of the most important and prestigious awards given to online gaming companies.

VideoSlots.com took the high honors as the “Best Casino of 2015”. This relatively new casino has been getting rave reviews from Casinomeister’s forum member. It made the shortlist with four of its competitors and was voted Best Casino by the Casinomeister Advisory Group. Bailey stated, “”VideoSlots is one of the few casinos that allow players to select not only their deposit limits, but the limit one can place on a spin.”

32Red Plc took the honors for “The Best Casino Group of 2015.”   “They are still that casino powerhouse: extraordinary customer service, award winning casino management, and they will always do the right thing whenever there is any player issue. They have over a decade of exceptional service, experience, transparency, and they are as solid as a rock…”

Best New Casino of 2015 was given to Slotsmillion.com, “These guys not only jumped into the industry feet first with a solid “thump”, but they are the leader in technological innovations in this industry. They have developed a virtual casino via the Oculus Rift – which is absolutely mind-blowing. Yes, I’ve tried it.  .”

Casinomeister’s Meister Awards for 2015

Billed as the “only iGaming awards that matter” the Casinomeister 2015 Awards for the online casino industry have been posted for the year at Casinomeister.com.  These anticipated awards are held by many to be some of the most important and prestigious awards given to online gaming companies.

VideoSlots.com took the high honors as the “Best Casino of 2015”. This relatively new casino has been getting rave reviews from Casinomeister’s forum member. It made the shortlist with four of its competitors and was voted Best Casino by the Casinomeister Advisory Group. Bailey stated, “”VideoSlots is one of the few casinos that allow players to select not only their deposit limits, but the limit one can place on a spin.”

32Red Plc took the honors for “The Best Casino Group of 2015.”   “They are still that casino powerhouse: extraordinary customer service, award winning casino management, and they will always do the right thing whenever there is any player issue. They have over a decade of exceptional service, experience, transparency, and they are as solid as a rock…”

Best New Casino of 2015 was given to Slotsmillion.com, “These guys not only jumped into the industry feet first with a solid “thump”, but they are the leader in technological innovations in this industry. They have developed a virtual casino via the Oculus Rift – which is absolutely mind-blowing. Yes, I’ve tried it.  .”

Iforium Strikes Content Deal with Odobo

Gibraltar, January 2016 – Odobo continues to grow its distribution network with the addition of Iforium, the third new vendor to source content from Odobo in the past month. The deal will see Odobo content being made available to Iforium’s existing and future partners via their Gameflex platform.

Iforium is an independent and multi-award winning iGaming software development company based in the Isle of Man. Iforium and Odobo have agreed a platform-to-platform integration that will open up additional markets and client access for Odobo’s developers via a single integration. With Odobo’s portfolio of over 60 high-quality omni-channel HTML5 games, both companies enhance their offering via this deal.

Iforium and Odobo have developed modern and flexible gaming product suites and solutions. As technical leaders of innovation and content provision, the deal is an opportunity for technical experts to come together and supply more companies with great games. Participating studios in the Developer Program will gain access to operators in Iforium’s distribution network.

Phil Parry, CEO at Iforium, commented, “Odobo is a company built on its commitment to developing exciting technology; this has led to the creation of a wide range of innovative casino games. We’re really pleased to announce our partnership with yet another visionary company. This deal will see a raft of great new content being made available to our clients via our Gameflex casino platform.”

Iforium Strikes Content Deal with Odobo

Gibraltar, January 2016 – Odobo continues to grow its distribution network with the addition of Iforium, the third new vendor to source content from Odobo in the past month. The deal will see Odobo content being made available to Iforium’s existing and future partners via their Gameflex platform.

Iforium is an independent and multi-award winning iGaming software development company based in the Isle of Man. Iforium and Odobo have agreed a platform-to-platform integration that will open up additional markets and client access for Odobo’s developers via a single integration. With Odobo’s portfolio of over 60 high-quality omni-channel HTML5 games, both companies enhance their offering via this deal.

Iforium and Odobo have developed modern and flexible gaming product suites and solutions. As technical leaders of innovation and content provision, the deal is an opportunity for technical experts to come together and supply more companies with great games. Participating studios in the Developer Program will gain access to operators in Iforium’s distribution network.

Phil Parry, CEO at Iforium, commented, “Odobo is a company built on its commitment to developing exciting technology; this has led to the creation of a wide range of innovative casino games. We’re really pleased to announce our partnership with yet another visionary company. This deal will see a raft of great new content being made available to our clients via our Gameflex casino platform.”

New Brand Ambassador for LeoVegas in Sweden

LeoVegas.com, the king of mobile casino, is delighted to reveal that it has just joined forces with one of Sweden’s biggest lifestyle stars, skier, car-enthusiast, blogger and product designer, Jon Olsson.

The first joint venture of this three-year partnership will see Jon taking the adventure of a lifetime – the Mongol Rally. This is a rough 20,000km journey from London to Mongolia through all kinds of road conditions, including a lot of extreme dirt roads. The journey will start from London in July 2016 and is expected to last more than 30 days.

Both LeoVegas.com and Jon Olsson like taking things to their limit and therefore it was decided that for this adventure, Jon will be driving a wide body carbon fibre Lamborghini Huracán. This is the sort of car you would get to drive on the smoothest surfaces possible as a show off car and not to drive through never-ending stretches of extreme desert roads. Jon will be sharing his adventures with his fans and LeoVegas’ customers through his online blog on jon-olsson.com.

Apart from this adventure, LeoVegas.com and Jon Olsson will be collaborating on other similar activities as well as on a number of marketing events.

New Brand Ambassador for LeoVegas in Sweden

LeoVegas.com, the king of mobile casino, is delighted to reveal that it has just joined forces with one of Sweden’s biggest lifestyle stars, skier, car-enthusiast, blogger and product designer, Jon Olsson.

The first joint venture of this three-year partnership will see Jon taking the adventure of a lifetime – the Mongol Rally. This is a rough 20,000km journey from London to Mongolia through all kinds of road conditions, including a lot of extreme dirt roads. The journey will start from London in July 2016 and is expected to last more than 30 days.

Both LeoVegas.com and Jon Olsson like taking things to their limit and therefore it was decided that for this adventure, Jon will be driving a wide body carbon fibre Lamborghini Huracán. This is the sort of car you would get to drive on the smoothest surfaces possible as a show off car and not to drive through never-ending stretches of extreme desert roads. Jon will be sharing his adventures with his fans and LeoVegas’ customers through his online blog on jon-olsson.com.

Apart from this adventure, LeoVegas.com and Jon Olsson will be collaborating on other similar activities as well as on a number of marketing events.

Lithuania breaks out the blacklist; Poland rubbishes online poker talk

Lithuania has made good on its threats to blacklist online gambling operators who lack local licenses.

As of Jan. 1, Lithuania put online gambling companies on notice that they needed to obtain a local license if they wished to continue serving Lithuanian punters. This week, Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority (GCA) added Betway, Unibet and William Hill to the country’s official list of operators illegally serving the market.

After receiving the blessing of local courts, the GCA issued binding orders to internet service providers to block the three operators’ sites, as well as a host of domains linked with Nordic operator Betsson’s Triiobet brand. GCA director Virginijus Dauksis said the blacklist would undoubtedly add more names in the not too distant future.

Lithuania’s new gambling rules require international online operators to establish a local presence, a stipulation that has earned criticism from the European Commission when applied in other EU countries.

Lithuania breaks out the blacklist; Poland rubbishes online poker talk

Lithuania has made good on its threats to blacklist online gambling operators who lack local licenses.

As of Jan. 1, Lithuania put online gambling companies on notice that they needed to obtain a local license if they wished to continue serving Lithuanian punters. This week, Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority (GCA) added Betway, Unibet and William Hill to the country’s official list of operators illegally serving the market.

After receiving the blessing of local courts, the GCA issued binding orders to internet service providers to block the three operators’ sites, as well as a host of domains linked with Nordic operator Betsson’s Triiobet brand. GCA director Virginijus Dauksis said the blacklist would undoubtedly add more names in the not too distant future.

Lithuania’s new gambling rules require international online operators to establish a local presence, a stipulation that has earned criticism from the European Commission when applied in other EU countries.

CLSA: New Macau casinos to gain market share

The Macau casinos have moved on to shifting from VIP to mass-market segment and according to CLSA’s regional head of consumer & gaming research Aaron Fischer, it’s a battle for market share from now on.

During the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia press conference on Tuesday, Fischer said that CLSA’s outlook on Macau casino VIP business remains negative but expects the mass market to make up for the drop in high-roller gamblers.

“We think that it [VIP market] peaked in 2013 and that it won’t recover. So we generally remain cautious on VIP, but the mass market can grow [in the future].”

New or existing casino properties in the region is now focusing on being genuine leisure resorts appealing to mass customers. The most prominent example is Melco Crown’s Studio City, which opened on October 27. The $3.2B Hollywood-themed casino complex has a diverse portfolio of non-gaming entertainment offerings designed to cater to the mass-market segment. Studio City also offer 1,600 hotel rooms in Macau, in addition to world’s highest Ferris wheel and a 40,000 square-foot Warner Bros. indoor play center.

CLSA: New Macau casinos to gain market share

The Macau casinos have moved on to shifting from VIP to mass-market segment and according to CLSA’s regional head of consumer & gaming research Aaron Fischer, it’s a battle for market share from now on.

During the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia press conference on Tuesday, Fischer said that CLSA’s outlook on Macau casino VIP business remains negative but expects the mass market to make up for the drop in high-roller gamblers.

“We think that it [VIP market] peaked in 2013 and that it won’t recover. So we generally remain cautious on VIP, but the mass market can grow [in the future].”

New or existing casino properties in the region is now focusing on being genuine leisure resorts appealing to mass customers. The most prominent example is Melco Crown’s Studio City, which opened on October 27. The $3.2B Hollywood-themed casino complex has a diverse portfolio of non-gaming entertainment offerings designed to cater to the mass-market segment. Studio City also offer 1,600 hotel rooms in Macau, in addition to world’s highest Ferris wheel and a 40,000 square-foot Warner Bros. indoor play center.

Wynn Palace delays could cost contractor $200M

Contractor CIMIC Group Ltd could accumulate $200 million in penalties if Wynn Palace Resort experience further delays.

In a voluntary announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Wynn Ltd. said that it has issued a letter to CIMIC subsidiary, Leighton Contractors (Asia) Ltd, to reinforce the importance of meeting the scheduled June 25th opening date for Wynn Palace.

In a letter, Macau expressed its concern on Leighton’s level of progress in the execution of work and expects the contractor to fail to meet its third interim milestone ((tower fit-out of floors 10 to 15).

Wynn also said that CIMIC is liable to pay $200,000 per day for each day of delay and estimated an amount of penalty between $8 million and $10 million by the end of February.

Wynn Palace delays could cost contractor $200M

Contractor CIMIC Group Ltd could accumulate $200 million in penalties if Wynn Palace Resort experience further delays.

In a voluntary announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Wynn Ltd. said that it has issued a letter to CIMIC subsidiary, Leighton Contractors (Asia) Ltd, to reinforce the importance of meeting the scheduled June 25th opening date for Wynn Palace.

In a letter, Macau expressed its concern on Leighton’s level of progress in the execution of work and expects the contractor to fail to meet its third interim milestone ((tower fit-out of floors 10 to 15).

Wynn also said that CIMIC is liable to pay $200,000 per day for each day of delay and estimated an amount of penalty between $8 million and $10 million by the end of February.

Recent Analysts' Ratings Changes for Century Casinos

According to Zacks, “Century Casinos,Inc. & its subsidiaries,own & operate a limited-stakes gaming casino in Cripple Creek,Colorado & are pursuing a number of additional gaming opportunities internationally & in the U.S.The Company was formed to acquire ownership interests in,and to obtain management contracts with respect to,gaming establishments.The Company generally seeks to enter into gaming operations in areas with attractive demographic attributes,high population densities,local tourism and/or predictable traffic patterns,w/ the long-term objective of establishing geographic project diversification. ” 1/18/2016 – Century Casinos was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.

Bad dad accused of stealing lottery tickets with son

A Port Orange, Florida, father and son accused of stealing $300 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets from a convenience store didn’t have much luck, Volusia sheriff’s investigators said. Robert Carbonell, 54, and his son, Robert Carbonell Jr., 28, were caught on Saturday after video surveillance at the store showed the older Carbonell coming back to the store to cash in a $90-winning ticket, arrest reports state.

France rejects online poker liquidity sharing… again

France’s long-suffering online poker market will get no help from the outside world after politicians rejected sharing liquidity with other European countries.

Despite pleas from local gambling regulator ARJEL, the French National Assembly declined to approve gambling law amendments that would have allowed French-licensed online poker operators to share liquidity with licensed operators in other European Union regulated markets.

This is the second time that legislators have scuttled ARJEL’s attempts to shore up the regulated online poker market. In 2013, French legislators justified their rejection by musing that online poker’s decline was a global phenomenon resulting from poker falling “out of fashion” and so there was little point taking steps to prop up this corpse.

Hopes were slightly higher this time around after Emmanuel Macron, minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry, said he was willing to work with ARJEL to craft a proposal that legislators would find acceptable, but it appears this particular Gordian knot is a right bitch to untie.

South Korean casinos have bumpy Q4

South Korea’s foreigners-only casinos are expected to report a downturn in Q4 but the lone casino to accept local gamblers will continue to print money.

A new report by Morgan Stanley Research says South Korea’s 16 foreigners-only casinos will report depressed Q4 revenues thanks to the continued thinning of the herds of Chinese high-rolling gamblers that used to sweep majestically across Asian casino jurisdictions.

Morgan Stanley had previously projected that extra competition from the splashy new integrated resorts currently under construction in South Korea coupled with China’s worsening economy would “compress margins” at foreigners-only casinos between 2015 and 2018.

In a report issued on Friday, the analysts take an equally pessimistic view of the short term. Paradise Co Ltd, the country’s largest foreigners-only casino operator, is expected to report Q4 revenue up 5% year-on-year, although the analysts cautioned that this was due to an “abnormally high hold rate” at its gaming tables, as total betting turnover is believed to be down 25% (and Chinese VIP turnover down 39%).

Macau’s casino-related crime spikes in 2015

Casino-related crime in Macau jumped in 2015 despite a fall in non-gaming criminal activities.

On Tuesday, Macau Judicial Police (PJ) director Chau Wai Kwong told Radio Macau that the world’s top casino market reported 1,563 criminal cases related to the gaming industry in 2015. That’s a 38% increase over 2014, which was itself up 16.3% from 2013’s total.

The biggest jump in gambling-related criminality came in cases of “kidnapping resulting from loan sharking to play,” which went from 65 cases in 2014 to 366 last year. While the confinements were blamed on local junket operators, this 463% increase in forced confinement reflects junket reports of increased difficulty in collecting gambling debts as China’s economy worsens.

Non-custodial gambling-related loansharking was also up dramatically, with the number of cases rising 56% to 318. In total, the PJ arrested 1,737 people for gaming-related crime in 2015, over half of which (996) were related to loan sharking.

Pariplay Ltd. to Exhibit at ICE Totally Gaming Conference

Gaming platform provider and content developer to showcase its technology solutions and new games at London industry event

Douglas, Isle of Man. January, 2016 – Pariplay Ltd., a Douglas, Isle of Man-based gaming technology provider serving iGaming operators, land-based casinos and iLotteries, has announced that the company will be exhibiting at the ICE Totally Gaming conference, taking place at the ExCel London, UK, from 2nd to 4th February 2016. Pariplay will be demonstrating upgrades to the company’s gaming platform as well as its extensive portfolio of games, including a growing selection of HTML5 titles that enable play on all devices.

Pariplay will be exhibiting at Booth N2-150 of the ICE Totally Gaming 2016 conference, which is expected to attract over 25,000 gaming professionals. The Pariplay team at the company’s booth in the ExCel London will include CEO Gili Lisani, Managing Director Adrian Bailey, CTO Shay Mardan, Business Development Manager Steve Lurie and Head of Account Management Noa Bar Shay.

At the conference, Pariplay will be showcasing the full range of its products. These include the company’s SMTM, a state-of-the-art platform for real-money iGaming, social and mobile gaming as well as iLottery brands. SMTM provides operators with a one-stop solution for tracking, reporting and analysing their operations. Numerous updates have been made to the platform over the course of 2015 in anticipation of the imminent launch of SMTM Version 2.0 before the end of H1 2016.

iSport Genius hits the data mark with Ladbrokes

Melbourne, Australia, 27 January 2016: Sports data platform provider iSport Genius is delighted to announce that Ladbrokes in Australia has signed up to become its first major client.

iSport Genius provides an interactive consumer-facing tool which converts data into sporting insights which can inform and educate online customers on their choice of bet. The product stimulates sports-betting activity by processing trillions of data points into easily understandable calls to action.

As part of a three-year contract, Ladbrokes Australia is going live with the iSport Genius platform imminently and will be the subject of a TV advertising campaign extolling the product’s benefits to consumers.

Nathan Rothschild, co-founder and partner at iSport Genius, commented: “We are very pleased to see our product is going live in the Australian marketplace with Ladbrokes. It adds a new dimension to sportsbook provision, particularly in terms of mobile. Our data tool can handle the trillions of sports data points available and manipulate them into easily understandable and accessible analysis.”

MGM China gets banks’ nod to adjust $3B loan terms, reports say

MGM China Holding Ltd. has reportedly received approval from majority of its lenders to amend the terms of its HKD23.4 billion (US$3 billion) loan.

A Bloomberg Business report quoted sources with knowledge of the matter who said the Macau unit of Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International has gotten a nod from “two-thirds of its lenders to relax its financial conditions.” The conditions include “loosening covenants on its leverage ratio,” the sources told the news outlet.

The reason: the declining revenue of casino companies in the city state “are making it difficult for companies to meet their lending requirements,” the sources said, according to the report. The consent came before a Jan. 29 deadline.

In the original agreement, MGM China has a maximum total leverage of four times after the first anniversary of its new Cotai casino, but the casino operator asked to raise the maximum total leverage to six times “from the second quarter of 2016 until the same period in 2017,” according to the Bloomberg Business report. MGM Cotai is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of this year.