Monthly Archives: March 2015

MLB investigates Marlins pitcher Jarred Cosart for possible sports-related gambling ties

The 2015 Major League Baseball regular season hasn’t even started and yet, it’s already getting headlines for reasons that new Commissioner Rob Manfred probably doesn’t want to deal with this early in his tenure.

According to multiple reports, Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jarred Cosart is under investigation by the commissioner’s office over his alleged sports-related gambling ties.

MLB spokesman Pat Courtney confirmed to the Miami New Times that Manfred’s office is currently investigating the matter, which centers around multiple Twitter exchanges between the 24-year old Cosart and a person who is being described as a so-called “gambling expert.”

The tweets became public when said “gambling expert,” identified as @ghostfadekillah, posted screenshots of the DM exchange between him and Cosart, showing the latter sending DMs referencing that he had “bet LARGE” on something and “hammered” an under play.

Macau junket operator, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises plan $4 bln Vietnam casino

One of Macau’s top casino junket operators, a Vietnamese investment group and Hong Kong property-to-jewellery conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises will team up to develop a $4 billion casino resort in Vietnam, companies involved in the project said. The resort, to be located in the central province of Quang Nam, is headed by Vietnam-based VinaCapital and will forge ahead despite a ban on gambling by Vietnamese citizens that has deterred other big international operators.

FanDuel wins legal battle with DraftKings; NFL imposes rule on fantasy sports ads

National Advertising Division (NAD) has recommended that DraftKings stop its claim of being the largest US-based fantasy sports site as the company regularly does.

The two biggest daily fantasy sports sites have locked horns on who has claims of being the “largest US-based” fantasy sports website and FanDuel, which filed the complaint, is in the right in this particular instance.

FanDuel claimed that its rival is engaging in false advertising because it promotes itself as the “largest U.S.-based destination for daily fantasy sports” is invalid.

For its part, DraftKings is arguing that it hasn’t made claims of being larger than FanDuel, conceding that its rival does have more users and offers larger guaranteed prize pools. It instead bases its claim on its belief that FanDuel isn’t a US-based company as it traces its roots to Edinburgh, Scotland where FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles is based.

LeoVegas partners with Odobo; NetEnt announces €3.1 million Mega Fortune jackpot

Mobile and online casino LeoVegas has signed a deal to launch a wide array of HTML5 casino games developed by Odobo.

Under the agreement, Leo Vegas gains access to over 50 games, initially licensing 25 games, produced by the Odobo Developer Program and available through the Odobo Marketplace, initially licensing 25 games.

Odobo Founder and CEO Ashley Lang sees a great potential in the partnership, calling it an important milestone for Odobo.

“We are very proud and excited to welcome Leo Vegas to Odobo and to see our games content available to their massive player-base. We share a common vision to raise the bar in terms of quality, variety, and entertainment in mobile gaming,” Lang said. “Leo Vegas is selective about the content that they offer their players and being chosen to supply games to their award-winning casino is a testament to the quality of games coming into the Odobo Marketplace.”

Becky’s Affiliated: Why Bitcoin is an ideal fit for Asia-facing online and land based gambling companies

We know Asia is a massive target for online gambling companies because of the potential revenue to be earned and we also know Bitcoin is a great fit for online gambling, so these two things together must be a winning combination.

Turns out the opportunities for Bitcoin in Asia are huge and the gambling operators are just now starting to learn exactly how accepting the currency at the casinos will benefit their business.

Jiten Melwani of Hong Kong based Bitgame Labs recently spoke at iGaming Asia Congress and is an expert on the opportunities for Bitcoin in Asia.  He is familiar with the challenges and benefits that come along with accepting the currency as a gambling operator and he was happy to share his deep knowledge in our interview below.

Becky Liggero: Jiten, thank you so much for joining me, its an honor to have an expert like yourself to talk on opportunities for Bitcoin and gaming in Asia.  To start, can you tell us what Asian countries are particularly Bitcoin-friendly how their regulators plan to deal with the currency?

SEO Tip of the Week: Onsite Trust Optimisation: Affiliate avoidance checklist

90 Digital CEO Nick Garner talks about affiliate avoidance checkilist in this edition of CalvinAyre.com’s SEO Tip of the Week.

Short intro to Trust Optimization.

Along with on site optimization and link acquisition, there seems to be a third element to ranking well on Google, it’s called Trust Optimization. Trust Optimization is based on the information we have got from anecdotal evidence on click through rates and rankings along with explicit guidelines from Google stating what they are looking for in a trusted website.  On with the post…

In this series we’ve talked a lot about simple things to avoid like deceptive pages or whatever.

ONE: Valor of Champions Complete with Eight Bouts

26 March 2015 – Manila, Philippines: Asia’s largest mixed martial arts organization with a 90% market share, ONE Championship™ (ONE), has finalized the fight card for ONE: VALOR OF CHAMPIONS with three additional fights. Top featherweights are set to clash as Shannon Wiratchai takes on Amir Khan. An all-Filipino clash is also set to take place at the event when the undefeated Jimmy Yabo takes on Edward Kelly. China’s Wang Ya Wei is also set to return to the ONE Championship cage against Indonesia’s Sunoto.

Tickets for ONE: VALOR OF CHAMPIONS are on sale now at www.smtickets.com. Ticket categories begin with the full Red Carpet and cageside experience at PHP5380. Tickets priced at PHP3180, PHP1280, PHP640 and PHP220 are also available. Prices include ticketing fee.

CEO OF ONE Championship™, Victor Cui, stated, “ONE: VALOR OF CHAMPIONS is set to be the biggest night of mixed martial arts action in the Philippines! The main event will feature two of the top welterweights in the world battling for supremacy when the best wrestler in mixed martial arts, Ben Askren, takes on 61-win veteran Luis Santos. Get ready for a night of adrenaline-pumping, heart-stopping mixed martial arts action as ONE: VALOR OF CHAMPIONS goes live around the world!“

Amir Khan is a Singaporean mixed martial artist with an undefeated amateur record who has competed in the United States. He is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt under Relson Gracie, and also has competitive wrestling and Muay Thai experience. With more than seven years of combat sports experience under his belt, Khan now takes on Shannon Wiratchai after being victorious in his first two ONE Championship bouts.

Legislation and Lottery to come under the spotlight at Gaming in Holland Conference

AMSTERDAM, 26th March 2015 – Gaming in Holland today confirmed that this year’s conference topics shall spotlight separate sessions dedicated to secondary iGaming legislation and lottery modernization. Confirmed keynote speakers include: Mr. Walter Bugno President and CEO of GTECH International; Mr. Mor Weizer, CEO of Playtech Plc; Mr. Mark Davies, Managing Director of Camberton PR, member of Betfair founding management team and several key Dutch government officials shall all be presenting.

The event which is now in its fourth year will be co-hosted with the iGaming Super Show and takes place in June 22nd – 23rd. The conference promises to be a must-attend event for iGaming executives looking to understand the pending legislation changes in 2017 and the growth opportunities for the Dutch market.

Willem van Oort founder of Gaming in Holland, said, “We provide the networking environment for those in the industry to be able to navigate and operate a compliant gaming business in the lucrative Dutch market. Testament to our growth in the iGaming calendar is the continued support from tier one industry associations and sponsors, which make these events possible and a success for attendees.”

Ezugi Signs Exclusive Deal with Jockey Club del Perú

Lima, Peru 25th March 2015 — Ezugi, the innovative live dealer gaming system provider, today announced that it has entered an agreement  with the Jockey Club del Perú as its exclusive provider of digital and entertainment gaming content both for land-based venues, online and mobile.

Under the terms of the four-year exclusive agreement, Ezugi shall provide a full range of gaming products including their live casino, slots, pool betting, lottery and sportsbook. Players in Peru shall be able to access the online gaming content via a Jockey Club del Perú branded website as well as in 105 betting venues known as “telepodromos” throughout the country.

Sr. Luis Razzeto Ríos, President of the Jockey Club del Perú, commented,“We are delighted to enter this agreement to offer innovative and localized digital gaming content and  games with Ezugi. This partnership shall ensure we offer our patrons unrivalled gaming products and new distribution channels for betting.”

Kfir Kugler CEO at Ezugi, said, “We are very pleased to be the partner of choice for the Jockey Club del Perú. This is a long term relationship with the Jockey Club in what is a rapidly expanding market. We shall deliver localized gaming content via a secure platform that ensures the highest standards of responsible gaming for player protection and integrity. The combination of innovative games, technology and social games will help attract new and younger customers than the ones frequenting the horse racing tracks today, and eventually this younger crowd will come to the race tracks.”

Frank Patti and George Wolfe Taking Titles at the HPT Ameristar and WPT Deepstack Jacksonville

Images from Bluff.com

Frank Patti and George Wolfe take the Main Event titles at the Heartland Poker Tour in Ameristar, Kansas City, and World Poker Tour Deepstack event in Jacksonville.

Frank Patti has won the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Ameristar Main Event in Kansas City. He beat Matt Lawrence, in heads-up action, to take the $103,326 first prize.

It’s the second time, in consecutive years, that Patti has secured a six-figure score. The last one occurred during a 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1k side event. He picked up $138,160 for a third place finish. A score that continues to be his best to date despite his recent win.

GECO to be Content Aggregator for William Hill

GECO Gaming has signed a major deal with William Hill, supplying 3rd party and proprietary games through the GECO RGS.

William Hill will take GECO’s growing library of games through their popular Vegas and Games tab, tapping into a talented pool of up and coming games developers, including Core Gaming, The Games Company, MX Digital, Revolver, Bet Digital and the Games Warehouse.

Mark Paling, CEO of GECO Gaming said, ”We are very pleased to be able to announce this link up with William Hill, it gives us an outlet for our portfolio that is second to none in terms of reach and quality. Our existing and future line up of games will be available in May. After this we will also be supplying a number of unique games designed in partnership with William Hill. This deal will bring together the experience and success of the William Hill brand, with the inclusive technologies of the GECO RGS and the benefits of a community of developers working in collaboration to produce industry leading content”.

GECO Gaming Ltd. Is an open content delivery platform offering an Alderney and UKGC certified RGS solution with proprietary game design studios in the UK and Australia. The GECO platform specialises in aggregating third party gaming content in Flash and HTML5.

Malta iGaming Seminar (MIGS) Announces 2015 Dates

MIGS15 to take place on 17-19 November

20 March 2015, St Julian’s, Malta (Press Release) — The Malta iGaming Seminar partners have announced that MIGS15 will be held between the 17th and 19th of November in St. Julian’s.  Speaking about his group’s plans for MIGS15, Kris Baron, Partner of Capstone Group, said: “MIGS15 will be bigger and better. We have planned to have double the amount of expo space and we’re adding an extra day, whereas we are already working hard to deliver an excellent list of high calibre speakers and topics.”

MIGS will be in its seventh year, having been established in 2008. The event has grown from strength to strength with its most recent edition, held at the Hilton Malta in St. Julian’s, attracting over 400 C-level delegates, 70% of whom travelled to Malta from all over the world. Last year’s seminar was well attended , with ievery session attended very well.

Warwick Bartlett, CEO of GBGC, said: “The conference is well organized with good speakers and a polite audience who attend every session. There is no graveyard shift for speakers.”