Monthly Archives: January 2015

Business, labor groups file brief in support gaming industry

The brief was submitted to the Ohio Supreme Court this week by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce along with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, police and trade unions and Lebanon City School District. The filing is in response to an ongoing lawsuit alleging Gov. John Kasich acted unconstitutionally when he decided to legalize video lottery terminals at Ohio’s seven horse tracks.

Minnesota Lottery’s online scratchers in the sights of new anti-online legislation

The Minnesota Lottery’s first-in-the-nation online scratch tickets appear headed for a fall after state legislators advanced bills intended to bring the lottery offline. On Wednesday, the House Commerce and Regulatory Reform committee approved two bills that would kill the online scratchers and scuttle another lottery program allowing ticket sales at automatic teller machines and gas station pumps.

Neither bill would affect the Lottery’s ability to sell online tickets for draw games such as Powerball or MegaMillions. But state pols believe the online scratchers, which debuted last February, represented an overreach by lottery officials. Rep. Tim Sanders, who authored one of the bills, said the online launch was the result of a “lottery-gone-wild” and those damnned uppity officials “need to have authorization” in order to offer new products.

Lottery director Ed Van Petten has always maintained that launching the scratchers was within his mandate. But he struck a more conciliatory tone on Wednesday, telling legislators his office had “learned our lesson” and that he wanted to “work with this legislature” to avoid future squabbles. Van Petten proposed alternative language that would require legislative okay for future launches of new products.

But Van Petten remains opposed to ending the online experiment, saying cancelling the online scratchers would cost the state sorely needed revenue. There’s also the issue of compensation for technology provider Scientific Games Corp, who have said they would likely sue for over $4m in unrealized revenue if the state prematurely scrapped the scratchers.

Van Petten said online sales accounted for about 1% of total lottery sales, while the ATM and gas pump options have brought in less than $50k. There are 135 locations offering ATM sales and 58 gas stations currently pumping out lottery tickets.

Politicians passed similar legislation by wide majorities last year but Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the bill once the legislative session had concluded, leaving politicians with no recourse but to wait until 2015. Dayton believed Van Petten deserved the opportunity to prove his case that the online scratchers were a promotional tool that would boost, not cannibalize, retail sales. Shortly before Christmas, Van Petten offered evidence that backed up his predictions, but legislators aren’t listening and Dayton is powerless to stop them this time.

Minnesota is one of just four US states currently offering some form of online sales. Illinois went first, followed by Georgia, while Michigan went live last year. Kentucky is promising to launch its own iLottery this year.

Penn National, Mohegan Sun results; Maryland casinos swap slots for tables

Regional casino operator Penn National Gaming lost $250.4m in Q4, but the numbers were laid low by a $316.5m non-cash impairment charge. The company, which operates 26 gaming facilities across 16 US states and one Canadian province, reported revenue of $651.4m (+!%) while earnings fell nearly a quarter to $64m in the three months ending Dec. 31. For 2014 as a whole, revenue fell over 11% to $2.56b, while earnings tumbled nearly 60% to $285.1m.

Discounting the effect of that impairment charge, Penn CEO Timothy Wilmott heralded his company’s Q4 performance, which was also negatively impacted by $4.3m in unplanned lobbying expenses ahead of the Massachusetts casino referendum. Wilmott said Penn’s new slots parlor in Plainsville is set to open in June and the $360m Hollywood Casino-branded property outside San Diego on the Jamul Indian Village land will open in mid-2016.

MOHEGAN SUN’S FIRST REVENUE GAIN IN THREE YEARS

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA) reported a healthy turnaround in its fiscal Q1. Revenue in the three months ending Dec. 31 nudged up 1.2% to $316.7m, which sounds minimal until you realize it’s the largest gain since Q1 2012. The MTGA operates its flagship casino in Connecticut and the new Mohegan Sun Pocono in Pennsylvania, which just completed its first full year of operation. The MTGA also manages the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.

Slot revenue was basically flat at $197.9m but table games were up 4.6% to $79m. The $14.8m in quarterly profit was a welcome change from the $67.3m loss in the same period the previous year, which was saddled with a $62.1m debt payment. Cost cutting was a big factor in this quarter’s profit, as the company has about 400 fewer employees from the same time last year.

MTGA CEO Mitchell Etess told analysts that “one quarter does not make a trend” but the company was “nonetheless encouraged” by the results. The MTGA will soon break ground on a second hotel in Connecticut, adding 400 rooms to its existing 1,200. Etess said the property is often forced to turn guests away because they’re fully booked, resulting in “hundreds of thousands” of missed booking opportunities over the course of a year.

MARYLAND CASINO SWAP SLOTS FOR TABLES

Wink Bingo – The Art of Rebranding

This is a guest contribution by Wink Bingo & Winkly Magazine’s Marketing Manager Eitan Gorodetsky. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

 

Branding is one thing, rebranding is another.

The first is all about who you want to be. A new company trying to establish itself in the marketplace has to cultivate an appearance, creating an impression of what it’s about even as it’s in the process of discovering that for itself. It’s about finding out what the customer wants, and the ways in which you can communicate that that’s what you’re all about. It’s tricky; a deceptively complex hurdle that trips up a lot of fledgling companies.

Rebranding is very different. For an established company it’s not about forecasting what you want to be about, it’s about recognising and demonstrating what you’re already about. When your brand already means something then any attempt to change its presentation has to first and foremost address those pre-existing values. Accurately represent the idea of your business and customers will see the truth behind the aesthetic, but miss the mark and you risk turning them away in droves.

Wink Bingo is one of the longest standing bingo brands in the country, and a name that instantly springs to mind when you think of online bingo. When we began the rebranding process we knew that alongside top quality gaming our customers chose us because we provided a specific look and feel that other sites didn’t. The mission was to build our new look around those unique factors.

Extensive research gave us the three core features of our brand:

Odobo Play Launches a Unique New Casino Game Discovery iOS App

Gibraltar, 27 January 2014 – Odobo, the Developer Program and Marketplace for regulated gaming, proudly announces the launch of the Odobo Play app – an innovative new games discovery application available for consumers globally via the iTunes App Store.

The Odobo Play app is a unique consumer-facing showcase of the games content produced by dozens of leading game studios participating in the Odobo Developer Program.  Much like an “app store” itself, the Odobo Play app allows players to browse and discover great new casino games by category or game studio. Each game is featured on a profile card with description and preview screenshots. Free play is available to players worldwide. For players in approved markets, the Odobo Play app uses geo-location to present the additional option to play the games for real-money (currently UK only) and offers a choice of leading licensed casino operators.

As new games are certified and made available in the Odobo Marketplace for licensing by casino operators, they also become available for play within the Odobo Play app. Casino brands automatically appear as a real-money play option to players on games they have licensed within the Odobo Play app.  Current participating casino operators include bet365, Betfair, Coral, Gala Casino and Unibet.

In addition to exclusive titles like Castle Builder, Extinction, The Oddventurers and Akaneiro, the app also features:

• Optimisations for all iOS devices including the latest generation of iPhones and iPads

• Syncing favourites via iCloud for players with multiple devices

• Quick app browsing with a shake navigation gesture

A 1m lottery court case ends in win for waiter

A WAITER who “dreamt” of winning the Lottery and scooped a A 1 million jackpot the next day has fought off a legal bid by his boss for all the winnings from their jointly-purchased ticket. Fatih Ozcan, who worked at York’s Kapadokya Turkish restaurant, had a vision of a large bundle of cash with his boss, Hayati Kucukkoylu, standing in front of him in January 2012.

Danielle Andersen: Moving, Motherhood and Misogyny

Like many people on the edges of the heart of the poker industry, I didn’t know who Danielle ‘dmoongirl’ Andersen was until I watched the 2013 documentary Bet Raise Fold: The Story of Online Poker.

I related to her immediately. I had a picture of what an ordinary poker life looked like, and Danielle and her family jumped right into my frame. I relate to her in a lot of ways. I’m a parent, I love poker, and I have the same uncomfortable conversations with my mind regarding the balance between chasing my dreams and being there for my son.

Her move to Las Vegas was brave; her split with Ultimate Poker damaging, but from what I can see, this girl is a fighter. Each choice she makes turns out to be the right one. So she will rebound from the loss of a sponsor.

Life goes on.

WSOP Drop PokerNews as the 2015 WSOP Live Reporting Team of Choice

PokerNews lovers will have a sour face this morning as news break out that the World Series of Poker will be looking to take their live reporting in-house for the summers festival.

In a move that can be viewed as either ballsy or backward, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) have decided to say thanks, but no thanks, to the PokerNews live reporting team when it comes to this summer’s spectacular.

The eyeballs at F5Poker were more focused than most as they spotted the following tweet from Matthew Parvis, Head of Content at IBus Media (PokerNews).

As we won’t be doing official live coverage what are some features you want to see on @PokerNews during the WSOP?

— Matthew Parvis (@MatthewParvis) January 27, 2015

They reached out to WSOP Vice-President of Corporate Communications, Seth Palansky, to confirm the tweet, and the hand went up to do just that. PokerNews will not be bringing you the blow-by-blow account of the 2015 WSOP.

So why the change of heart?

SWAT Team Raids Poker Game in Great Falls

A SWAT team has raided a well-known poker game in Great Falls, Virginia, making eight arrests, and seizing $150,000 in the process.

Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to change the controversial ‘Equitable Sharing’ Civil Forfeiture law is going to have one of its first high profile tests after a SWAT team from the Fairfax County Police Department burst into a poker game in Great Falls and allegedly seized over $150,000 from the players, and host, of the game.

The reason a Civil Forfeiture case may well result, is those initially charged have been told that if they stay clean for six months, the gambling charges will be dropped. The money, however, will not be returning to the owners. A stipulation of the deal is that 40% of the money will remain with the police department.

Reports suggest that the game is not exactly a secret. The Washington Post suggested that Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari have played in the game that allows a minimum buy-in of $20,000, and rebuys when the first $20,000 has bitten the dust.

The alleged crime (as a UK citizen I find this laughable) is a Class 3 misdemeanor of illegal gambling. The word ‘illegal’ stands up here because there was a 1.5% rake to pay for dealers and assistants such as waiters and massage therapists.

Only eight of the ten players were arrested after ski mask, rifle-toting policeman raided the room shouting, “Does anyone have a weapon?” And asking for people to lay their hands down on the table. The rumors that someone had to lay down a Royal Flush have not yet been clarified, and thank God a ski mask wearing Phil Laak wasn’t actually playing or all hell would have broken loose.

The reason only eight players were arrested is because one lucky bleeder was waiting for a seat, whilst another ‘new’ player to the game is believed to be an ‘informant’. The Washington Post reports that this individual was interviewed separately and later not charged.

GECO gets to the CORE of mobile gaming

Industry leading HTML5 games developer, CORE Gaming, have entered into a partnership with GECO Gaming.

The agreed partnership will give CORE a proprietary RGS platform for distribution to the global gambling community in 2015 and beyond and will make available over 100 HTML5 products including CORE’s latest industry leading proprietary titles and extensive back catalogue of third party content to the wider audience via GECO’s powerful gaming server.

The first titles to be released in Q1 will be CORE’s cutting edge Roulette and Blackjack products to be offered as part of a platform level suite of table games which will also include Video Poker and 3 Card Brag. Further content to be released through 2015 will include slots, scratch cards and virtual products for both desktop, tablet and mobile deployment via a single HTML5 delivery.

CORE Chief Executive, Justin Chamberlain said “Our partnership with GECO is a natural progression for CORE Gaming and marks our transition from industry leading HTML5 development studio to world leading games content provider. We are hugely excited at the prospect of competing with some of the biggest games studios in the business, with GECO RGS technology powering and enabling our delivery ambitions”.

GECO Gaming CEO,  Mark Paling added “CORE are an established HTML5 powerhouse within the gaming industry, delivering their extensive list of proprietary content and a significant catalogue of third party games. HTML5 is the critical component of operators game release plans moving forward and having CORE’s adoption of the GECO platform as their key route to market adds significant value to CORE, GECO and GECO’s operators”.

 

CORE Gaming Ltd. is the UKs leading HTML 5 development studio, mobilising content for numerous game owners and developing proprietary content for all major online operators, worldwide.

2015 AVN/AEE wrap: Naughty new reality-TV series 'The Sex Factor'; AVN Award winners

Carter Cruise, Robin Leach and Dana DeArmond attend Day 1 of the 2015 AVN/Adult Entertainment Expo on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Interviewing on the red carpet of the 2015 AVN Awards porn parade at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel is cause for pause because you learn things you never expect.

Japanese porn stars big draw for rich Chinese businessmen in Macau

Macau casinos hold little appeal for Hong Kong residents these days, at least, according to recent visitation stats. The number of overall visitors to Macau may have risen 7.5% in 2014 but those coming from Hong Kong fell 5%. Hong Kong visitor numbers peaked in 2011 at over 7m, falling to just 6.43m last year.

Macao Government Tourist Office Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes believes the thrill of the new is wearing off for Hong Kong’s gamblers. “They might have fresh interests in coming to Macau a few years ago when many big projects were opened” but now these same tourists are wondering “what can still attract them.”

Recent studies have revealed how the phenomenon of ‘adaptability’ has resulted in lower rates of pathological gambling in Macau. The study’s authors warned that the two new major projects opening in 2016 – Melco Crown Entertainment’s Studio City and Phase 2 of Galaxy Entertainment’s Galaxy Macau– may temporarily boost the problem gambling numbers and they may also give some life to Hong Kong’s tourist numbers.

Some enterprising women have done their part to provide Macau with a dose of the new – or possibly just the dose for some of their customers. The Shukan Taishu reported that many Japanese adult video (AV) actresses are making regular trips to Macau to offer wealthy Chinese businessmen the chance to sleep with the girl of their video dreams.

A source told the paper that Japanese starlets are hired by brokers who ferry the girls to Macau and set them up in five-star hotels. There they stay for a ten-day period, during which time the girls are expected to service up to five clients per day. For this, they receive a minimum of ¥500k (US $4,200) ranging up to ¥2m, with bonuses paid in the event of a three-way.

Prostitution schemes are nothing new in Macau, as evidenced by the recent bust of Stanley Ho’s nephew. The Shukan Taishu’s source said on average, blonde Russian girls fetch the top prices while most Asian girls are (not quite) dime a dozen. But Japanese AV stars “are at another level – they are extraordinary.”

Japanese porn is immensely popular in China and rich businessmen “come [to Macau] with the one intention of sleeping with these girls.” One star prompted a rich client from Beijing to bring along his collection of DVDs featuring the actress so that he could recreate certain scenes, which hopefully didn’t include any in the bukkake genre, cuz that would be one nasty cleanup for the maids.

Turkish political party denies it’s a front for illegal gambling

Where there’s a will, gamblers will find a way. On Jan. 9, police in Turkey raided the provincial headquarters of a political party, detaining 12 individuals, including the party’s leader Öztürk Sezer. The authorities claim the Raising of the Nationalist Will Party (MIY) is not a political movement but a front for illegal gambling activity, specifically, bingo games.

The raid in Adana province resulted in 238 individuals being fined for gambling offenses, while others were charged with earning money for providing a venue for illegal gambling activity. The Hurriyet Daily News quoted a police official saying they’d found vouchers in the office of MIY’s provincial chief indicating that MIY had paid the fines imposed on gamblers from previous raids.

This was the third raid of a MIY establishment this year and the 11th since it was founded in late 2014. MIY began life following the demise in September of the Trust Party, whose establishments were raided 44 times under similar circumstances. Despite the harassment, Trust would regroup after each raid and carry on as normal, as only the nation’s Supreme Court has the power to completely shut down a political party’s activity.

Following the Jan. 9 raid, Sezer did his best Claude Rains from Casablanca “Shocked!” routine, claiming he was only at the provincial HQ because he was “curious when I read media stories that people gambled in my party. I was waiting for the provincial head and then the police came in.” Turkey’s legal gambling options include a national lottery and some sports betting but other forms of gambling are strictly forbidden.

Meanwhile, the country’s Directorate General for Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has attempted to clarify whether Islam frowns on gift draws. In a fatwa issued earlier this month, Diyanet doubled down on its stance that the lottery is forbidden for Muslims because it involves some people winning money while others lose. But gift draws organized by shops, which require no upfront payment to qualify for a prize, are acceptable.

Shifting topics, the fatwa said Turkish men should stop wearing earrings because it would make them effeminate. Most non-Muslims might say the same thing about men playing bingo. But hey, whatever floats your fez.

Scammers Looking To Make Money With Fake Winning Lottery Email

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RachaelWest published National Lottery Results: Lotto Winning Numbers Wednesday 28th…

It’s a quadruple roll over tonight so it’s time to check those tickets and see if you’ve won the estimated A 14.7 million jackpot! There’s also A 500,000 up for grabs in tonight’s Thunderball draw. As regular players will know, to win you must match all five numbers plus the Thunderball itself.

Canadian man loses $27 million lottery jackpot by 7 seconds

A Canadian man missed out on winning a $27 million jackpot because his lottery ticket was printed seven seconds too late, according to multiple reports. The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Joel Ifergan’s appeal for the jackpot, and said on Thursday that it would not hear the Quebec man’s case, CTV News reported .