Monthly Archives: July 2015

Macau casinos top individual performers but overall US market remains king

Macau’s gaming industry may be mired in a prolonged revenue slump but China’s special administrative region still boasts eight of the world’s top-ten casinos.

This week saw the Isle of Man-based Global Betting and Gaming Consultancy (GBGC) release the latest edition of its Global Gambling Report, which showed America’s casino market remained the world’s biggest in terms of gross gaming yield (GGY).

The US casino biz was worth just under $62.16b in 2014, significantly more than Macau’s $45.15b. Canada was well back of the pace in third place with $7.3b while Singapore generated $4.1b and Australia placed fifth at $3.995b.

Singapore’s performance was all the more impressive given that it has just two integrated resorts. Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands ranked ninth on the individual casino chart with $2.57b in GGY, easily eclipsing crosstown rival Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa, which ranked 10th with $1.76b.

Idaho Lottery dividend down this year after 11-year run of record profits

From left, Idaho Lottery Commission Chair Mel Fisher, Gov. Butch Otter, state schools Supt. Sherri Ybarra, Permanent Building Fund Council Chair Dee Jameson, and Lottery Director Jeff Anderson post with a blowup of a $45 million check in the governor’s office on Tuesday, to mark the latest dividend from the state lottery.

Betfair, 888 latest to exit Portugal

More online gambling operators have withdrawn their services from Portugal following last month’s introduction of the country’s new online regime.

On Wednesday, UK-listed online betting exchange Betfair informed its Portuguese players that it was withdrawing from the market effective Thursday (16).

Players will have until July 31 to withdraw their account balances and existing wagers scheduled to be resolved before that date will be honored, but all other bets will be voided. Betfair also confirmed that it would seek a new Portuguese license and hoped to return to the market as soon as regulators gave their okay.

Betfair’s exit follows similar moves this month by William Hill and Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars and Full Tilt brands. The Amaya brands have confirmed that they are seeking new Portuguese licenses while Hills said it was “confident” that it would have the opportunity to “work together in the future” with its Portuguese affiliates.

Topps Offers Fans Ability to Create Custom Trading Cards

Topps Offers Fans Ability to Create Custom Trading Cards

Consumers Can Create Their Own MLB and MLS Trading Cards For The First Time

NEW YORK (July 15, 2015) — The Topps Company, Inc., official licensee of Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball, today announced a revolutionary new digital offering for fans which will give everyone the chance to create his or her authentic looking and customized trading card on Topps.com.

“We have tried for years to come up with a way for fans to create their own official product that looks and feels exactly like what we create for leagues like MLB and MLS, and we are pleased to say that the time has come,” said Jeff Heckman, Brand Manager for Topps. “Now fans will have the opportunity to get their own Topps trading card just like their favourite players they grew up collecting and we feel they will quickly become a ‘must have’ for all looking to enhance their fandom or create a special gift that will last a lifetime.”

Fans will initially be able to select to use one of the following Topps card designs; 2015 Topps MLB Series 1,1952 Vintage MLB or 2015 Topps MLS. Fans will be able to upload their picture and enter their name on the front of the card, choose a MLB or MLS team logo or upload a logo for their own organization and on the card back, fans will be able to enter their hometown, choose a position, and fill out a brief description.

The cards will be delivered in packs of 8, with the same quality look and feel of the MLB and MLS cards. The packs will retail for $9.99 and will be available to be customized and purchased immediately on Topps.com.

Barclay’s Center Doubles Down With Fantasy Partners

Barclay’s Center Doubles Down With Fantasy Partners

by @joefav Joe Favorito

While other arenas like Madison Square Garden and The Staples center have sought exclusive deals with one daily fantasy provider for the building and for their newly created fantasy lounges, the Barclay’s Center has tried to split the both, and interestingly they have done it not between rivals Fan Duel and DraftKings, they have gone outside with their incoming Islanders deal to announce a deal with yet another provider in the space; Draft Ops.

A three year deal between the team and Draft Opts, their first partnership in any of the four sports, was announced this week. It includes the entitlement of an ice-level premium seating area and an activation space on the main concourse level. The Club will extend from the glass through the first five rows on the rink’s west side and will expose fans to the Draft Ops platform on touchscreen displays and HDTVs.

Then you have the Nets, the building’s principal tenant, who has signed a deal with NBA partner FanDuel. While all the signage will switch, the new lounge will remain branded and active with Draft Opts, giving the upstart some additional space even with FanDuel gaining the signage while the Nets are home.

It is perhaps the most unique partnership for a building to date, and will create an interesting case study for other single buildings with multiple tenants going forward, especially with the concept of a “fantasy lounge” being relatively new, and casinos, who have long rumored to be going into the pay fantasy space already well invested with most professional teams from a marketing standpoint.

Welcome Draft Ops, the pay fantasy pool has gotten a little more crowded.

DraftKings signs deal with Staples Center, guarantees $3m prize at PGA fantasy contest

Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has signed a three-year marketing partnership with Staples Center, becoming the official Daily Fantasy Sports Partner of one of the biggest arenas in the U.S.

Staples Centre is the home to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

The arena has hosted over 250 events with over 4 million guests annually such as NBA and NHL All-Star Game, Grammy Award shows, MTV music awards and numerous concerts from artists including The Rolling Stones, Prince, U2, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Beyonce and more.

Under the deal, DraftKings will have naming rights to a new fantasy sports bar and lounge to be built at the Los Angeles arena. The 4,400 square-foot DraftKings Fantasy Sports Bar & Lounge, which set to open in September, will enable guests to follow their favorite players and teams and all of the live action of the event taking place inside Staples Center via more than 35 Toshiba smart televisions, six Toshiba Virtuoso Screens, fifteen Microsoft Surface tablets and four iMacs.

Sands Cares Supports Basketball Star C.J. Watson's Quiet Storm Foundation

Sands Cares, the global corporate citizenship program for Las Vegas Sands and the Quiet Storm Foundation, C.J. Watson’s initiative to provide a positive impact on underprivileged youth, have formed a partnership that will see 10 individual scholarships donated over a period of two years. As part of the partnership Sands Cares will provide two separate scholarship funds for seniors and college students with 100% of the sponsorship being used for providing financial assistance for students seeking to pursue higher education.

Ireland online point of consumption tax on track despite UK court challenge

Ireland’s new online gambling point-of-consumption tax (POCT) won’t be delayed, despite the UK’s POCT having been referred to the European Union’s top court.

Ireland’s POCT is scheduled to kick in on Aug. 1 and the boss of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) says that date remains in effect, regardless of the fact that the UK version was referred to the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) this week over concerns that it violated EU rules on the fair movement of goods and services.

HRI CEO Brian Kavanagh told the Irish Times that the CJEU referral was “not an unexpected development” but noted that Ireland’s oft-delayed Betting (Amendment) Bill had been thoroughly poked and prodded by EU bigwigs. Kavanagh maintains that Ireland’s current system – in which online betting is spared taxes applied to land-based betting – was “unsustainable” and thus the country would proceed as planned while “watching what is going on” at the EU level.

PROBLEM GAMBLIING STUDY SHOWS PREFERENCE FOR IN-PERSON ACTIVITY

Indian Premier League teams suspended for match-fixing

Two Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket teams have been suspended due to illegal betting and match fixing.

A three-member panel, which was appointed by India’s Supreme Court, has recommended a two-year suspension of the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals after team officials were found to be illegally betting on matches. The panel said that the suspension of the two teams was to protect “the integrity of the game.”

The panel led by former chief justice of the Indian Supreme Court Rajendra Lodha was formed in January 2015, following the match fixing controversy that erupted during the 2013 IPL competition. Former India paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two other Rajasthan players were arrested on suspicion of taking money to concede a fixed number of runs.

Sreesanth denied any wrongdoing but was subsequently banned for life by Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI).

Crystal Lake man wins $100K from lottery ticket bought at McHenry gas station

CRYSTAL LAKE – A 20-year Crystal Lake resident was at home when he scratched the ticket that won him $100,000. “Even though I was shocked to win such a big prize, I actually remained very calm,” Bill King told Illinois Lottery officials when he presented his winning ticket at the prize center in Des Plaines.

For NJ gaming industry, competition remains a challenge

Even as New Jersey lawmakers ponder a plan to expand casino gaming outside of Atlantic City, to either the Meadowlands, Jersey City or Newark, neighboring states are moving ahead with plans to build several new casinos, and the future of Garden State gaming remains cloudy. “Competition is the main challenge at this point because there are still a lot of operations coming,” said Roger Gros, the Publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine.