THE AMERICAS

A California Assembly committee approved a detail-free daily fantasy sports bill; gaming’s share of Las Vegas casino revenue hit a record low in 2015; a study found that problem gamblers have different brain structure while another study found that elevated testosterone got in the way of poker profits and a third study found gambling games help kids learn; rule changes pushed the Powerball lottery to a record high jackpot; NetEnt’s Bjorn Krantz explained his company’s plans for US market domination; Activision Blizzard acquired eSports outfit Major League Gaming and Unikrn’s Rahul Sood said eSports’ fan base would rival the NFL’s by 2017; Rafi Farber offered his casino investment picks for 2016 and Bryan Piccioli joined Tatjana Pasalic for this week’s episode of Chats with Tats.

EUROPE

Dutch politicians introduced a surprise proposal to tax online gambling at the higher land-based rates; Bwin.party posted revenue growth for the first time in two years; Lithuania began enforcing its new online gambling restrictions; PokerStars changed its logo and Amaya Gaming hired CP+B to manage its BetStars marketing campaign; Isaac Haxton cited ethical concerns in resigning from PokerStars Team Online while players launched their second boycott of the poker site; Greece said it would proceed with its online gambling licensing plans; London’s Cromwell Mint Casino sacked a poker dealer for hiding chips in his socks; affiliate manager Frank Ravanelli discussed the differences for DFS affiliates in Europe and America while Fanteam CEO Kristoffer Zvickell told Lee Davy why he should be playing daily fantasy sports and Coinsilium CEO Eddy Travia talked up the potential of blockchain technology.

China’s lottery sales fell for the sixth consecutive month in November, dragged down by the country’s increasing economic slowdown and the suspension of online lottery sales.

Figures released this week by the Ministry of Finance showed total lottery sales in November falling 10.2% to RMB 30.6b (US $4.6b). Welfare lottery sales fell 6.6% to RMB 17b while sports lottery sales were off 14.4% to RMB 13.6b. For the year-to-date, total sales are down 3.6% to RMB 333.8b ($50.6b).

While the decline can chiefly be blamed on China’s overall economic woes, the fall dovetailed with Beijing’s imposition of a suspension of online lottery sales last March. This ‘temporary’ suspension was sparked after an audit uncovered widespread financial malfeasance at provincial lottery administration offices.

Meanwhile, Friday saw China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announce that it had detained 470 suspects for running a bogus online lottery operation that scammed an estimated RMB 200m ($32m) from over 1,000 victims.

China’s lottery sales fell for the sixth consecutive month in November, dragged down by the country’s increasing economic slowdown and the suspension of online lottery sales.

Figures released this week by the Ministry of Finance showed total lottery sales in November falling 10.2% to RMB 30.6b (US $4.6b). Welfare lottery sales fell 6.6% to RMB 17b while sports lottery sales were off 14.4% to RMB 13.6b. For the year-to-date, total sales are down 3.6% to RMB 333.8b ($50.6b).

While the decline can chiefly be blamed on China’s overall economic woes, the fall dovetailed with Beijing’s imposition of a suspension of online lottery sales last March. This ‘temporary’ suspension was sparked after an audit uncovered widespread financial malfeasance at provincial lottery administration offices.

Meanwhile, Friday saw China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announce that it had detained 470 suspects for running a bogus online lottery operation that scammed an estimated RMB 200m ($32m) from over 1,000 victims.

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is playing down media reports that owner James Packer got into a physical altercation with a security staffer at Crown Melbourne.

This weekend, Aussie media began reporting that Packer had been involved in some kind of verbal and physical dustup with a member of security at Crown Melbourne on New Year’s Day. The 60-year-old staffer reportedly collapsed following the incident, requiring his hospitalization.

According to various reports, MSS Security staffer Iskander Chaban had been alerted that a VIP was headed his way but Chaban failed to recognize Packer and Crown vice-president Ishan Ratnam when they tried to enter Crown Melbourne’s main casino floor.

Chaban told the Herald Sun that he “stopped their path just to have a word with them,” after which the two execs “started screaming at me using the most terrible language” then “pushed me out of the way.” Chaban told the Sunday Telegraph that the execs demanded that he be fired immediately.

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is playing down media reports that owner James Packer got into a physical altercation with a security staffer at Crown Melbourne.

This weekend, Aussie media began reporting that Packer had been involved in some kind of verbal and physical dustup with a member of security at Crown Melbourne on New Year’s Day. The 60-year-old staffer reportedly collapsed following the incident, requiring his hospitalization.

According to various reports, MSS Security staffer Iskander Chaban had been alerted that a VIP was headed his way but Chaban failed to recognize Packer and Crown vice-president Ishan Ratnam when they tried to enter Crown Melbourne’s main casino floor.

Chaban told the Herald Sun that he “stopped their path just to have a word with them,” after which the two execs “started screaming at me using the most terrible language” then “pushed me out of the way.” Chaban told the Sunday Telegraph that the execs demanded that he be fired immediately.