Monthly Archives: March 2015

Echo plans to relocate HQ in Brisbane; Crown clears hurdles for Sydney Crown

Echo Entertainment plans move its headquarters from Sydney to Brisbane if it won the casino license.

Echo CEO Matt Bekier told the Courier Mail that moving to Brisbane would make a lot of sense because majority of its operations would be in Queensland.

“If we’re successful at Queen’s Wharf, over 10,000 jobs will be in Queensland and the bulk of our economic activity will shift to Queensland,” Bekier said.

But before Echo Entertainment can pack its bags and make moving plans to Brisbane, the company has to impress the Queensland government to pick its proposal over Crown’s, which might take a lot more work after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk raised some issues about the project that she wanted to look into.

“My government is committed to seeing the redevelopment of that site,” Palaszczuk said. “However, I do have some issues that I’ve raised with the department and I want them to investigate those issues first before I make further comment.”

Meanwhile, Echo’s rival Crown Resorts Ltd. is expected to begin the formal planning process for its $2 billion Crown Sydney casino after successfully settling a dispute between developer Land Lease and the government-run Barangaroo Delivery Authority involving a myriad of issues.

Land Lease eventually submitted a modified plan to help settle the dispute with the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, paving the way for the company to finally begin construction of Crown Sydney. Part of the modifications of the company’s plan include doubling the size of the hotel that was previously approved, as well as reducing the number of proposed buildings at Barangaroo South to 13 and adding more space to the gross floor area of the property to accommodate the extra hotel, residential and gaming facilities.

United States judge orders Sands China to hand over documents in case involving former president

Sands China, the operator of the Venetian Macao casino and resort, has been ordered to hand over sensitive documents. Photo: Bloomberg A United States court has ordered Macau’s biggest casino operator to hand over sensitive documents it has been accused of withholding improperly as part of a wrongful termination lawsuit involving a former senior executive.

Scots lost £158 million on FOBTs

Scots lost £158 million on casino-type fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) in 2014, according to data from Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG).

The data from CFG also shows that a total of £3.4 billion were gambled on FOBT by 170, 000 punters in 2014 and more than 37,000 has problem gambling who lost £63 million—an average of £1683 each.

“We are still seeing growth in FOBT revenue with £158 million snatched out of local Scottish economies last year,” said Campaign for Fairer Gambling Spokesman Adrian Parkinson. “But it is how sustained the losses are year on year that mask what is happening among users of FOBTs. Since 2008, over £8 billion has been lost on FOBTs, with Scotland contributing about £800 million of those losses.”

“The addictive nature of FOBTs and roulette in particular, combined with their high speed of play and £100 spin capacity means players incur huge losses very fast. Each year new players are introduced to FOBTs and replacing last year’s losers. Some ­players lose everything – their car, job, family and even their freedom,” Parkinson added.

FOBT allows punters to bet £100 every 20 seconds but Leader of Scottish Labour Party  Jim Murphy supported reducing the stakes to £2 per spin, saying that it’s completely unacceptable for the people to lose a full week’s wages  on gambling.

“I want to see a change in the maximum stake,” Murphy said. “People betting a couple of pounds a time would be a lot more sensible, rather than blowing all they have in a gambling spree lasting a few minutes.”

Murphy became the latest politician to back CFG’s campaign to reduce FOBT stakes after Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles.

Bayern Munich sponsorship deal with Tipico; Betway dives into snooker sponsorship in the UK

German sportsbook Tipico is on the verge of securing a sponsorship deal with the county’s most dominant football club, Bayern Munich.

Tipico and Bayern Munich have reportedly agreed to a four-year deal that will run until at least the 2018-2019 season at a price of around €5.5 million ($6.1 million) per season.

According to German website Fussball24.de, the two sides have yet to confirm but are expected to sign the deal in the next few days.

Tipico will replace online gaming operator bwin.party as Bayern Munich’s premium gaming partner.

It’s a massive coup for Tipico as it continues to gain traction in the German betting market. Having ties to the country’s most dominant football club will not only increase its exposure in Germany, but quite possibly in Europe—one of the many benefits of doing business with Bayern Munich.

Over in the UK, Betway has expanded its sports sponsorship activity with a pair of World Snooker sponsorships— Snooker’s Shoot-Out and Seniors Championships.

Under the deal, Betway will serve as title sponsor of the organization and will be promoted at the Blackpool Tower. The timing of this agreement couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for Betway as the two events will run back-to-back in the UK next week.

SEO Tip of the Week: Onsite Trust Optimisation: Keeping main content accessible

90 Digital CEO Nick Garner talks about another important part of Trust Optimisation which is to make sure that users can trust that the content their about to see is Above the Fold in this episode 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…

Trust is being confident you’re going to get the content you expect. If you click on a search result that suggests you’re going to see whatever it is,  Google wants to make sure you get what you expect.

Google say in the 2014 quality rater guidelines:

“High quality pages are designed to achieve their purpose: they are well organized, use space effectively, and have a functional overall layout. While every page is different, functional pages should have the following characteristics:

On Deck: The increasingly predictable world of Formula One

Did you know that the 2015 Formula One season is set to kick off this weekend in Melbourne, Australia?

Did you also know that Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is the defending world champion, unseating Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel last season after the latter won the previous four world titles?

I ask this question because, apparently, a lot of fans of the sport have grown increasingly disenchanted with the lack of drama surrounding the world title picture. It’s a situation that has plagued Formula One for years, essentially boiling the question of who the next world champion is going to be down to who has the finest technology in the pits.

There have been seasons in recent memory that have provided semblances of drama—the 2012 season was arguably the last of them all—but for the most part, recent Formula One history shows a compelling lack of competition among rival manufacturers, turning past seasons into competitions between teammates. It happened last year with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and it happened far too frequently during Red Bull’s four-year reign in Formula One.

Granted, rules changes and the constant evolution of technology has largely contributed to the overall lack of competition in the sport. If one constructor found a way to improve its car that its rivals couldn’t or didn’t do, then that’s a great deal for the constructor. It’s not their fault that their competitors didn’t think of said technology in the first place. That’s what remaining fans of the sport would say and I get that.

But when was the last time they did anything like that to build up the drama and suspense in Formula One? Remember in 2007 when Kimi Raikkonen won his first and only world title in the most dramatic way possible? How about Lewis Hamilton avenging his 2007 choke job by pulling off a Raikkonen just one year later to win over Felipe Massa? That was spectacular stuff and you were at the edge of your seats the entire season.

The last few years? Well, not so much. This season? I’m not getting my hopes up.

The WPT World Championships Continue to Evolve by Ditching the Re-Entry Format

The World Poker Tour World Championships continue to evolve by ditching the re-entry format that has been a part of the fabric for the past two seasons.

PokerNews, Editor-in-Chief, Donnie Peters, believes that the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championships is, arguably, the most important event of the year, behind the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

I wouldn’t argue with him.

For the past 13-years, it has produced the most amazing stories, created the most amazing talents, and attracted a large number of eyeballs. When people talk about the WPT World Championships, people listen. That’s why their latest evolutionary move is an important one.

At the tail end of the week, Peters broke the news that Tab Duchateau, Tournament Director at Borgata, had announced that the Season XIII WPT World Championships would be a one bullet affair. The video game syndrome that has infiltrated our game, to great detriment, will no longer be apart of one of the games greatest spectacles.

I doubt it’s coincidental that the announcement came shortly after the WPT Executive Tour Director, Matt Savage – the man many credit for introducing the concept at The Commerce – went to print to talk about the success of the recent WPT LA Poker Classic; a series that boldly attempted to drive more players to the cash tables by removing the re-entries from the tournament schedule.

It worked.

New Patrol scores third straight at Dover

New Patrol scored his third win in a row besting eight rivals in a career fastest 1:52.3 victory in the Sunday feature at Dover Downs. George Dennis moved New Patrol into the lead in front of the grandstand and when Sentosa Island broke stride scattering a part of the field, the leader was never was headed keeping his unbeaten record in three starts since arriving from Woodbine.

The MPN Main Event in Tbilisi Offers a $250,000 Guarantee

The Microgaming Poker Network has announced plans to team up with the Georgian powerhouse Adjarabet to host a $250,000 guaranteed Main Event in Tbilisi.

The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) Main Event in Tbilisi will carry a $250,000 guarantee.

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s value right there.

The MPN festival in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi will take place 28-31 May 2015. It’s the second tour stop of 2015, and only the fourth in the events short history. The tour previously called in at London, Malta and Tallinn.

The Tbilisi event is going to be the biggest yet. To help make that happen, the MPN have teamed up with their newest partner Adjarabet. It’s been less than a week since I brought you the news that Adjarabet were the first online gambling company to take advantage of the new MPN Babelfish API. It seems they are not wasting anytime getting down to business.

The event will be held in the Sports Palace in May Square. Online qualifiers are already running on the MPN network for as low as 25 cents, and packages include your buy-in to the $550 Main Event, entry into a $100 Side Event, accommodation and €400 towards flight expenses.

‘We are delighted to be able to bring the MPN Poker Tour to Georgia for the first time’ said Alex Scott, Head of Poker at Microgaming. ‘This edition of the MPN Poker Tour looks to be the best value yet, and I know players will love the atmosphere in Tbilisi’.

European Poker Award Nominees Announced for Maltese Spectacular

Martin Jacobson, Ole Schemion and Victoria Coren Mitchell headline the 14th edition of the European Poker Tour, as poker prepares to invade the tiny island of Malta in March.

There is no rest for the wicked.

There is also no rest for the people trying to push poker into the faces of the general public – the not so wicked.

The buzz of the inaugural American Poker Awards (APA) still lingers, and Alex Dreyfus has to do it all again, this time on European soil. Can he do it? Can the 14th edition of the Global Poker Index (GPI) European Poker Awards (EPA) be more successful?

I think it can.

The Hilton Hotel in Malta may not be the SLS in Beverley Hills. We may not see representations of the three giants of poker in the same room again. But the presence of the European Poker Tour (EPT), European Poker Conference (EPC), and the inaugural Global Poker Masters (GPM) has me licking my lips.

In another punch to the kidneys to the French poker community, it will be the first time that the EPA has been held outside of France. There will be 13 awards in total, and the nominations for 11 of those awards have already been announced.