EUROPE’S biggest online bingo company has unveiled their new international managing director.

Former University of Newcastle student Murray Chisholm, 41, was appointed managing director of tombola international at the end of last year.

Tombola has its group headquarters in Wylam Wharf, Sunderland, but Murray will be based in the company’s Gibraltar office.

“It’s long been an ambition of mine to work with tombola, so I’m thrilled to have joined the company,” he said.

Manchester-born Murray moved to Newcastle to study and earned extra money by working as a croupier at a Tyneside casino.

In 2003, Murray spotted a job advert for gaming company Victor Chandler (now BetVictor) in Gibraltar in 1999. “I was recruited to manage, develop and expand the casino, poker and gaming customer support teams”.

When children came along, Murray moved back to the UK, having found a job helping to set-up a poker software company (Tribeca Tables Poker). Which was sold for $140m in 2007.

Macau casinos lost 34 junket operators in 2014, as VIP gaming promoters respond to a world in which VIPs are becoming an endangered species. High-rollers accounted for just 60.5% of Macau’s 2014 gaming revenue, down from 73% in 2013.

Public broadcaster Radio Macau reported that the number of licensed junkets fell from 217 in January 2014 to just 183 by the end of the year. Nineteen of the 34 missing junkets formally requested that their licenses be cancelled while the other 15 simply didn’t bother to file for renewal.

This reduction in junket ranks doesn’t include the three rooms David Group recently announced it would be closing. Nor does it include Gold Moon Group’s closure of its VIP room at Sands Cotai Central.

On Sunday, Macau Chief Executive Chui Sai On told a press conference that it was “normal to have changes or adjustments” in the number of VIP rooms serving Macau. On Tuesday, Ponto Final quoted Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) director Manuel Joaquim das Neves saying the issue “deserves no special attention” because the junkets that opted not to renew were “small-size gaming promoters that already had no activity.”

Analysts at Daiwa Securities Group released a report rejecting the popular wisdom that junket consolidation will improve the situation, saying they’d yet to see any evidence that smaller junket closures were resulting in a shift of capital to larger operators. The larger junkets are still facing “a deteriorating climate and plan further cuts in VIP room numbers.”

Daiwa also reported that Macau’s top-six junkets control 76% of all VIP gambling turnover. Suncity Group led the pack with an estimated 25% share of the pie and 219 tables in operation. The Guangdong Group (aka Neptune Group) has more tables (228) but a smaller share (15%).

Tak Chun Group placed third (10% of the market, 78 tables), tied with Golden Resorts Group (10%, 73 tables). David Group placed fifth (8%, 84 tables), although these numbers don’t reflect the planned closures at the end of this month, tied with Hengsheng Group (8%, 75 tables).

Beirut’s Casino du Liban was the planned target of Islamic suicide bombers, according to local media reports. The casino, Lebanon’s only legal gaming venue, was to be bombed on New Year’s Eve.

Last week, the Lebanese army arrested three individuals said to be acting on behalf of the al-Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda-linked militant group. Lebanese newspapers reported that the detained suspects told investigators the casino plot was hatched by two fugitive terrorists, Shadi al-Malwlawi and Osama Mansour. The group had targeted a number of major facilities popular with westerners, including the Le Royal hotel.

It was the job of one of the three arrested men, Elie Warraq, a recent convert to Islam, to use the Christian designation on his ID card to gain access to the casino then detonate a car bomb. Warraq failed to carry out his plan because of what Naharnet reported as “logistic difficulties.”

Lebanese security forces remain on the hunt for several other would-be suicide bombers. In response to the news, the US Department of State issued a travel advisory warning to US citizens in Lebanon, advising them to “take appropriate measures to ensure their safety and security.”

Casino du Liban has definitely known better days. On Tuesday, the gaming joint’s owners announced they were laying off 191 employees. The casino has been struggling to pay the bills, leading it to sever its ties with staffers it claimed were “absent, undisciplined, unorganized and unproductive.”

News of the layoffs, not to mention the insults to their characters, prompted a number of the affected staffers to protest outside the casino. The Daily Star said employees have asked legislators to intervene based on their claims of management’s ‘corruption, political favoritism and embezzlement.’ Management has so far refused to reconsider its dismissals.

9 months ago, Wynn was trading at a P/E ratio of 30. It is now down to 19. When I last covered the stock in April, I warned it was very expensive, and should not be bought without OTM put options to hedge any capital loss. Since then, WYNN has collapsed 24%. Even so, now is not yet the time to buy.

The latest news surrounding them is that, for whatever reason, the board has slashed Steve Wynn’s base salary and limited him to $250,000 in private jet travel a year as opposed to having an unlimited global ticket to anywhere he wants. The troubles of a billionaire CEO, as they say. By contract, he must use the private company plane for security reasons, even for personal trips. A proverbial prisoner of his own success.

This is mostly a non-item. Wynn doesn’t need a dollar in salary, travel subsidies, or anything else. It’s his company and he’ll continue to run it well regardless of whether his base salary is $4M or $2.5M. The change won’t save the casino any significant amount of money so who knows why they’re doing it. To project an aura of fiscal responsibility maybe? The stock jumped $10 yesterday so maybe investors like the fact that Steve is getting a pay cut.

Wynn is already quite a fiscally responsible company regardless of CEO salary savings. What is most impressive by them are two things. First, while Wynn does carry $7.34B in debt, $5.6B (page 70) of that debt is fixed-rate, and of the remaining floating rate debt, $753M (page 17) is hedged with swaps out until 2017. This leaves only 3.2% of its long term debt load unprotected. You can’t get much safer than that.

The other impressive feat Wynn accomplished is to secure a guaranteed maximum price for construction of the Wynn Palace in Macau through one of its subsidiaries, Palo Real Estate, to be completed by next year. I’m really not sure exactly how that works financially, getting a guaranteed maximum price from your own subsidiary. But it sounds impressive if convoluted. So far they are $1.4B into a $4.1B maximum project. That leaves $2.7B more until completion, and Wynn has more than that ($2.9B) just in cash on its balance sheet. Not to say that will spend it all on finishing up, but the jist of it is they can easily afford the project.

Wynn has put itself in a very interesting position for when Macau recovers, and I still believe the worst is ahead of us. Besides being completely safe in terms of interest rate troubles, Wynn could have a field day with foreign exchange earthquakes. This goes for the rest of Macau stocks as well, but especially Wynn, for the following reason.

From Wynn’s last 10-Q:

Derek Schroeder tops a huge field of 1,370 entrants, in Event #4: $365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry, after defeating Jonathan Moseley, in heads-up action, at the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica Mississippi.

The American poker community are loving their live tournament poker lately, and one tour that seems to be benefiting more than most is the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC).

After setting a few records in Choctaw, the tour has moved onto the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, and the field sizes are equally as impressive.

1,370 entrants participated in Event #4: $365 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Re-Entry, and it was a Missouri web developer who took home the biggest pot of gold.

When the action reached an unofficial final table of 10, Derek Schroeder was sitting behind the second shortest stack at the table. Back then, his only thoughts were about getting it in and doubling up – now he’s thinking of how to spend over 70-grand.

“$70,000 is awesome, but the best part is the ring. Anybody can have money. Not everyone can get one of these,” Schroeder told the WSOP after his win.

The runaway chip leader at that point was Justin Booth, and after half of the table was sent to the rail – including the former Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) champion, Quentin Crossley – Booth held 7m of the 13.7m chips in play.

Angelina Rich becomes the first female poker player to win a gold ring at the 2015 Aussie Millions after defeating John Thomson, in heads-up action, to capture the first prize of $25,905 in Event #12: $1,150 No-Limit Hold’em Terminator.

Angelina Rich has become the first female gold ring winner, at this years 2015 Aussie Millions, after beating everyone put before her in Event #12: $1,150 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Terminator event.

[Image Credit: PokerAsiaPacific & Kenneth Lim]

The Terminator format means $500 bounties are handed out each time a player is eliminated, and Rich was the only player who kept her bounty in tact, after going all the way.

243 entrants created a $2,490,075 prize pool, and Rich took home the winners check of $25,905 (I was going to use the Rich by nature pun, but felt better of it). It was a largely unrecognizable final table, although Rich did defeat a man in form in heads-up action: John Thomson was making his fourth cash of the series – and he finished ninth in the NLHE Shotclock event.

It was the second title of Rich’s short career, her most prestigious, and her largest payday. Her previous victory coming at the 2014 Women’s Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) San Remo.

Rich was the chip leader going into a final table the PokerAsiaPacific blog said she ‘dominated.’ An ICM deal was agreed when play reached fourhanded, and Rich took the best part of it. There was an additional $905 to play for, during heads-up, and that went the way of Rich after turning a flush on [Js] [6s] [4h] [7s] [6h] – Thomson rivered trip sixes and had moved all-in on the river.

Ludovic Lacay is the latest member of Team Winamax to move to pastures new, after it was announced on his blog that he would be leaving with immediate effect to focus on something ‘scary and exciting.’

When I think about Ludovic Lacay I think about those brown headphones. I could easily identify him in the throng because he was the only one who owned a pair.

[Ludovic Lacay’s Image Courtesy of WPT]

That was Lacay. He was always different. Making moves that others wouldn’t. Dressed like a rock star. Muttering words that nobody understood. Smiling one minute and throwing his cards the next.

He always stood up and shook my hand when I waltzed past his table. He once promised a member of the media 1% of his action, at a major tournament that has been lost in the recess of my mind, just for charging his phone. He ended up cashing for a six-figure score. He was a man of his word. He handed over the cash to the lad.

So it’s sad that I read, in broken English, that Lacay has decided to leave Team Winamax. He’s the latest spirit to leave the group in recent times after Nicolas Levi left to take up Ranking Hero charge, and Manuel Bevand left to also discover a new challenge. It must be something they put into the Winamax tea, because I loved those two old boys as well.

Lacay was picked up by Winamax shortly after finishing as runner-up in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Spanish Championships in Barcelona. Those were the days when the European WPT legs were €10k events and top players like Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel and Steve Billirakis were cashing.

The Suite includes Videobingo, Slots and Bingo games and will allow personalization based on geography and user preferences

VIVA! is now available in Facebook. A mobile release will follow at the beginning of 2015

Barcelona, 27 January, 2015.- Akamon Entertainment, the leading social gaming company specialising in traditional and casino games in Latin America and Southern Europe, has launched VIVA!, a new suite of social casino games that includes Bingo, VideoBingo and Slots games.

With VIVA!, Akamon introduces its first Video Bingo, a type of social casino game that is very popular in Latin America, and continues the strategy of launching new product offerings focused on Akamon’s core markets.

VIVA! Is the result of development from all three Akamon studios in Barcelona, Valencia and Tel Aviv, under the direction of Alex Cohen, Akamon’s Chief Product Officer.  With VIVA!, Akamon’s product team have dedicated a clear focus on the quality of graphics, math of the games, effects and flow of the design.

In words of Cohen, “VIVA! Makes the most of Akamon’s geographical diversity, as it will allow us adjusting the offer to our different geographies, and further on, to personalize it based on player preferences”. Also, “having multiple games within a single environment will allow players to have a longer player experience, and will also give Akamon more flexibility with acquisition strategies”, adds Cohen.

VIVA! is now available on Facebook, and a mobile release will follow within the first quarter of 2015. Cohen explains, “We intend to maintain our VideoBingo and slots as our primary product lines that will have ongoing releases improving quality and functionality, as well as innovation, as we progress with these titles”.

We are proud to exhibit for the first time at the London International Casino Exhibition in London from February the 3rd – 5th, 2015.

The Gaming Incubator is an established advisory company with extensive experience in Land-based, Online and Social gaming to cover the broad spectrum of the gaming industry. We have a physical presence in UK and Hyderabad, India additionally with a number of Partners located in the U.S. and Asia. We have conducted business in over 65 countries. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs navigate from Start-up through Growth to Exit and beyond…

Our strategic approach is to:

1) Find Raw Diamonds – Companies/Entrepreneurs that have a winning combination of the talent and drive to succeed together with a gaming concept/product with the potential to develop into a scalable and profitable business;

2) Polish the Diamonds – The period in which we provide Advisory and Hub Support services to our clients to support and accelerate traction and profitability

3) Leverage on Scale – Where we provide access to our Network and Ecosystem together with our Hub Support services to support profitable growth.

Ben Dodds, founder and General Manager, explains, “Our focus is on unique gaming technology, business models and operating opportunities. We believe that in mature markets with limited product differentiation our ability to recognise, qualify and support the growth of innovation makes us an ideal strategic partner, advisor and investor.