Russia’s far east gaming zone plans to develop a horseracing business in a bid to attract race betting tourists to the geographically isolated Primorye region outside Vladivostok.

This week, the state-owned Development Corporation of the Primorsky Territory announced that it had granted resident status to Primorsky Hippodrome JSC, which plans to team with Russian Hippodromes JSC on a “multi-purpose investment project” to develop the local racing industry.

The project, which carries an estimated total price tag of RUB 2.4b (US $41.5m), includes two racing tracks, a 250-room hotel and other entertainment options. The project’s design is expected to be finalized by next spring, with principal construction finished by 2020 and an official launch by May 2021.

The project is the latest plank in the local government’s bid to boost tourism to the region, which hopes to establish itself as a leading gaming destination in the already crowded Asia-Pacific casino market.

Former Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov was a beard for his brother’s shareholdings in the online gambling company, according to Quebec’s securities watchdog.

Baazov’s criminal trial on insider trading charges isn’t scheduled to begin until November, but Quebec securities regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) says it has obtained evidence that three-quarters of Baazov’s Amaya shares were actually owned by his brother Ofer ‘Josh’ Baazov and Ofer’s longtime business associate Craig Levett.

According to court filings viewed by La Presse, the AMF claims that one of their evidentiary raids produced a mobile phone belonging to Ofer that contained a copy of a 2007 agreement granting David Baazov 100% of the shares in Amaya, but 75% of these shares were to be held on behalf of Ofer and Levett.

The agreement reportedly includes a stipulation that neither David Baazov nor Amaya could make major decisions without the approval of Ofer Baazov or Levett, while also granting the latter two total access at all times to Amaya’s financial books and business records.

Spain’s regulated online gambling market is growing sufficiently well that local regulators have decided to open up the books for new online licensees.

This week, the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) regulatory body formally announced it would soon begin accepting new applications for online gambling operators interested in setting up shop in Spain’s regulated market.

While the official call for tender has yet to be published in Spain’s Official Gazette, the imminent publication of this call will open a one-year window in which operators can submit applications. This marks a significant expansion from the previous tender, which gave operators only one month to file their applications.

Regardless, the DGOJ says all operators can expect to learn the fate of their respective applications within six months of their filing.

Columbia’s gambling regulatory chief says he expects to issue online gambling licenses to four more operators in the coming weeks.

In a new interview with Yogonet, Juan Pérez Hidalgo, president of the Coljuegos regulatory body, says he expects “four other companies” will join Aquila Global Group’s Wplay.co and Corredor Empresarial’s Betplay.com.co in the ranks of locally licensed online gambling sites “in the coming weeks.”

Hildalgo (pictured) appeared confident enough in these applicants’ chances of approval that he was willing to identify three of them, including the little known Colbet, a new local firm which reportedly teamed up this spring with Malta-based sports betting technology provider Airplay on the Colbet.co website, which remains just a ‘close to takeoff’ splash page at present.

Hidalgo also fingered the Colombian branch of Spanish gaming operator Codere, as well as the Bogota-based E Total Gaming, which at present, like Colbet, has little more than a splash page domain to its name.

Denmark’s gambling market set new revenue records in the second quarter of 2017 as locally licensed online casino operators soared to new heights.

Figures released this week by the Spillemyndigheden regulatory agency show Danish-licensed operators generated gross gaming revenue of DKK 1.462b (US $234.5m) in the three months ending June 30, a year-on-year improvement of nearly 4% and a new record high since the market liberalized in 2012.

The gains were driven by an equally record-setting performance by Danish-licensed online casino (including online poker) operators, who reported combined Q2 revenue of DKK 458m, nearly 16% higher than the same period last year and 10.3% higher than Q1 2017.

The casino gains came despite online poker reporting revenue of DKK 33m in Q2, down from DKK 37.1m in the same period last year and from DKK 34.9m in Q1. Denmark’s regulated online poker market peaked in Q1 2014, when Danish-licensed operators generated nearly DKK 47m.