Monthly Archives: September 2017

Vanessa Selbst Talks Her Pivotal 2017 WSOP ME Bustout Hand and ‘Justice is Blinds’ Charity Event: CardsChat Exclusive

For the third year in a row, Vanessa Selbst is combining her passion for both poker and legal advocacy by hosting her ‘Justice is Blinds’ charity event. Selbst sat down […]

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Young Americans prefer viewing eSports as NFL ratings tank

A new study says young American adults are spending far more time watching eSports online than traditional sports, while the new National Football League season’s TV ratings are tanking (again).

Limelight Networks has released a white paper on the State of Online Video 2017, which showed US adults watch online sports coverage for an average of 1.37 hours per week compared to 1.15 hours for online video gaming and events (aka eSports). The global averages were 1.35 hours per week of traditional sports and 1.03 hours of eSports.

However, male viewers aged 18-25 years consumed 1.95 hours per week of eSports content compared to 1.67 hours of traditional sports. Females of the same age watched 0.82 hours of eSports compared to 0.74 hours for traditional sports.

For those younger male viewers, eSports ranked second only to movies (2.02 hours) as the most popular online video content. For young females, eSports ranked second from the bottom, behind TV shows, movies, user generated content and news, with traditional sports coming dead last.

New Zealand TAB site forced to block Australian bettors

The New Zealand TAB has become collateral damage in Australia’s war against unauthorized online gambling operators.

On Wednesday, Australia’s Interactive Gambling Amendment Act officially took effect, and thus any online gambling operator – and especially any online casino or poker site – taking wagers from Australian punters without a license is officially acting agin’ the law.

But while the Act’s enforcement bullseye was primarily aimed at Asian online betting operators drinking Australian-licensed operators’ milkshakes, the New Zealand Racing Board has discovered to its horror that its TAB online betting site had to close the accounts of its Australian customers.

The new rules also prevent Kiwis who happen to be traveling in Australia from accessing the NZ TAB’s website, although some customers have reportedly worked out a hack that permits access if punters use their mobile data on a roaming plan.

Democracy Institute to debate US hypocrisy in Antigua WTO war, prosecution of Calvin Ayre

Online gambling industry members and free trade advocates are urged not to miss a special Democracy Institute event in Geneva later this month.

On September 27, Democracy Institute director Patrick Basham will lead an expert international panel in an interactive event to debate the Institute’s recent report, Do As I Say, Not As I Do: How the WTO, Antigua & A Canadian Overcame American Hypocrisy on Free Trade.

The event, which will run in parallel with the World Trade Organization’s Public Forum 2017 in Geneva, will run from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Mon Repos Hotel at 131 rue de Lausanne. A CalvinAyre.com camera crew will be on site to document the event, but individuals wishing to reserve a seat or to obtain media accreditation should contact the Institute at [email protected] or +1.202.770.5853.

The Do As I Say, Not As I Do report exhaustively details the 14-years-and-counting battle that the nation of Antigua has waged against the United States over the latter nation’s WTO-condemned anti-competitive stance toward Antigua-licensed online gambling sites’ right to access the US market.

GVC credit PartyPoker turnaround for driving H1 gains

UK-listed online gambling operator GVC Holdings saw its share price hit a record high as investors celebrated the company’s stellar H1 performance.

On Thursday, GVC released its report card covering the first six months of 2017, during which gaming revenue topped €486m, a 10% rise over pro forma results – which includes a full contribution from its acquired Bwin.party brands – in H1 2016. Clean earnings rose 28% to €134m and pre-tax profits hit €102m.

The good times have continued to roll in Q3, with daily group net gaming revenue up 12% and GVC’s board says it expects full-year 2017 earnings to be “comfortably ahead” of analysts’ consensus of €256m. Giddy investors pushed the stock up nearly 7% to a record 855p on Thursday.

GVC CEO Kenny Alexander (pictured) said the company’s performance “has continued to exceed our expectations” following the Bwin.party acquisition. Moreover, Alexander said the ease with which GVC integrated the Bwin.party brands leaves the company “well positioned to play a pivotal role in the industry’s consolidation, should the right opportunities arise.”