THE AMERICAS
Infamous Black Friday US Attorney Preet Bharara turned his investigative eye on the daily fantasy sports world, while Amaya pulled its DFS site from all but four US states and DFS operators saw participation fall in the NFL’s Week 5; the troubled Baha Mar casino laid off 2,000 staff; PartyPoker ended its landmark sponsorship deal with the Philadelphia 76ers; Yahoo! made a play to acquire eSports outfit Major League Gaming; so-called platform-agnostic social casino gamers were deemed the most valuable for operators; the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling launched a new campaign in Pennsylvania; Caesars Entertainment won a bankruptcy extension while junior creditors claimed Caesars attorneys misled a bankruptcy judge; Lee Davy wondered why the World Series of Poker November Niners had gone radio silent and Jennifer Tilly told Tatjana Pasalic why a WSOP bracelet trumps an Academy Award.
EUROPE
Ladbrokes and William Hill both saw their Q3 profits eaten up by additional taxes; Bet365 told its Romanian customers not to pay government-ordered fines; Russian authorities dropped the ban-hammer on dozens of online gambling sites and shut down top bingo operator Trade House Stoloto; the UK racing biz threatened bookmakers with a sponsorship ban; a former Sheriff Gaming programmer claimed the company’s slots were rigged; the likes of Evolution Gaming, Betsson and NetEnt all reported stellar Q3 results; Switzerland proposed allowing its land-based casinos to offer online gambling; the European Union’s top court slammed Germany’s gambling laws while exempting digital currency from VAT; Intertain’s Botemannia brand was said to be negotiating a blockbuster FC Barcelona sponsorship; Russia’s economic struggles are doing damage to Belarus casinos; eSportsPools.com CEO Scott Burton discussed the crossover between eSports and DFS while Oulala Games’ Valery Bollier talked up DFS’ European market potential; CasinoBonusTips director Bobby Garg examined the drivers behind the UK’s online gambling merger mania and Rebecca Liggero brought her camera to Days One, Two and Three of the EiG 2015 conference in Berlin as well as the Berlin Affiliate Conference Days One and Two.