Monthly Archives: August 2015

Lottery winner spends $9m on bailing out fiancee accused of heroin trafficking

Note: We do not store your email address but your IP address will be logged to prevent abuse of this feature. Please read our Legal Terms & Policies Marie Holmes, from North Carolina, won a reported $188m on the Powerball draw back in February and received $88m after taxes and charges were applied.

Bwin Is Up For Sale and The Stakes Are Rising

GVC Holdings and 888 Holdings, a Public company, are bidding back and forth to acquire Gibraltar based Bwin. On the surface, Bwin you probably know from seeing their name on soccer jerseys but in the digital world, they are much more known as the company that owns popular poker website Party Poker and the World Poker Tour.

GVC is known for their five main brands that include Sportingbet, CasinoClub, and Betboo. They currently have licenses in 5 countries, 700 employees, offices in Ireland, Israel, Malta, The Philipines, UK and Uruguay and are traded on the English Stock Exchange.

These two companies have entered into a bidding war. Just over a month ago, 888 Holdings had the winning bid for the Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment company. The winning bid came in at an astonishing $1.4 billion. The purchase was primarily an assets for cash and stock for 888 Holdings but Bwin Party’s team and shareholders expressed their happiness and satisfaction with the deal.

Shortly after this deal was closed, Bwin.Party received another bid that upped the price by $200 million dollars for a total of $1.6 billion from GVC. Although late to the game, Bwin.Party was forced to reconsider their already accepted offer. GVC came to the table with an offer made up of the same components as 888 Holdings, cash and stock, but with an extra $200 million dollars or 127,877,240 extra Pounds for those reading this in Britain. While 888 Holdings is under the impression that their contract is valid and binding, Bwin.Party had to rethink their options as far as selling.

Augur project bets on future

Here’s a blockchain-based prediction market that could potentially become the greatest gambling platform in history.

Forget crystal balls. There’s a new platform that will give everyone a chance to see the future and bet on it.

The Augur project, coming this fall, will let participants choose any future event and wager real money on it. Its software will set the odds, collect the bets and distribute the winnings, with only an estimated 1 percent of the pot going into system upkeep.

Gambling fans, however, won’t be able to play roulette or poker, but Augur has great potential for sports betting.

Global casino giant Wynn Resorts, NSW government discuss 'investment'

Global casino giant Wynn Resorts may be contemplating a push into NSW after its representatives met with Deputy Premier and gaming minister Troy Grant to discuss investment opportunities. Wynn Resorts, owned by American businessman Steve Wynn, is one of the world’s foremost developers of so-called “integrated resorts”, which combine casinos, hotel accommodation, restaurants and bars.

Becky’s Affiliated: Why video content is important for iGaming affiliates

Video content is becoming more and more popular with consumers and therefore has become more important to Google.  Google search results like video and producing video content is now one of the best ways to reach potential customers.

Akiva Ben-Ezra, Owner of Ben-Ezra Marketing, is a marketing expert specializing in YouTube optimization, SEO, mobile marketing, PPC and social media marketing.  Ben-Ezra is a big believer in video content and for this week’s column, we will focus on how affiliates can use video to increase their profits.

Why video content

The iGaming affiliate industry is becoming progressively competitive and webmasters are constantly on the hunt for ways to separate themselves from the pack.  One way to do this is by adding video content to the usual arsenal of traffic converting tools, something every affiliate should be doing, not just considering.

James Packer stepping down as Crown Resorts chairman after “mixed” fiscal year

James Packer is stepping down as chairman of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts after the company delivered a “mixed” fiscal year report.

In a statement issued on Thursday (local time), Crown’s board indicated that Robert Rankin, CEO of Packer family biz Consolidated Press Holdings, would assume the chairman’s seat.

Packer will retain a seat on Crown’s board and will eventually be named senior Executive Director. Packer will also continue as co-chairman of the Melco Crown Entertainment joint venture and the Alon Resort project in Las Vegas.

Packer said Crown remained his “number one business priority and passion” and, when he’s not squiring new squeeze Mariah Carey around town, he intends to spend the majority of his time “completely focused” on Crown’s “pipeline of resorts globally.” Of these, “no project is more important to me” than the in-development six-star VIP-focused Crown Sydney.

Lottery project costing A 1.16m aims to restore park buildings and structures

AN EXTRA investment is set to be made as part of an ambitious bid to ensure a A 1.16 million lottery project to revive the fortune of Burnley’s ‘people’s park’ is successful. Councillors are being asked to release a further A 62,600 from this year’s capital programme, to support the borough council’s Heritage Lottery Fund scheme for Thompson Park.

If The Market Tanks, Las Vegas Sands Is The Best Safe Harbor In The Gaming Space

LVS is the first and only true blue chip security in the space and belongs on the WSJ’s Nifty Fifty. Hold on, you’re not about to read another chart-stuffed crystal ball warning about the coming market crash written by the dozens of Cassandras stirring around a witch’s brew of warning signs or the dire forebodings of the gold bug contingents.

This Entrepreneur Created a Hangover Cure on Wheels

Entrepreneur: Jason Burke worked as an anesthesiologist in Las Vegas for seven years before he decided to launch a company that would help people with hangovers get back on their feet. “Aha” moment: While on duty in the recovery room, Burke-who still practices medicine a couple of days per week-realized that the same meds used to help post-op patients suffering from nausea, headache or dizziness could be a boon to the city’s party people.

Can Intertain go one quarter without making a major acquisition?

Can Canadian gaming operator Intertain Group go one single quarter without making a major acquisition?

That’s the Mission: (Apparently) Impossible facing Intertain CEO John Kennedy Fitzgerald (pictured) after the company reported a C$48.8m (US $37.6m) loss in the three months ending June 30.

Costs directly related to Intertain’s ‘hungry hungry hippo’ approach to acquisitions were responsible for C$29.1m of that loss, while interest expenses came to C$14m and debt settlement expenses hit C$5.7m.

On the plus side, the additions of online bingo operator Mandalay Media, Nordic online casino Vera&John, Gamesys’ Jackpotjoy and Botemania bingo brands plus rights to the Parlay Group’s bingo software did push Q2 revenue to C$95.2m compared to just C$5.7m in the same period a year earlier, while adjusted earnings and net income were both up over tenfold to C$32.8m and C$24.6m respectively. On a sequential basis, revenue was up 190% and adjusted net income rose 150%.

Vanessa Selbst Wins the $1m Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout; Vanessa Rousso Still in Contention for $500k Big Brother 11 Title

Vanessa Selbst has defeated Kevin Pollak to win the winner takes all $1m prize in the Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout, and Vanessa Rousso makes it to the last 11 in Big Brother 11.

Vanessa Selbst is $1m richer after taking down the winner takes all prize at the Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout.

The made for TV show is currently being aired on NBC Sports and will be shown on the only TV show dedicated to poker, Poker Central, when it opens for business Oct 1.

The format saw five celebrities, and five professional poker players, play in two five-max Sit n Go’s. The winner of each match faced off in a best of three heads-up matches for the million dollar first prize.

Manig Loeser Wins partypoker WPT National Rozvadov; EPT Barcelona Beckons

German pro Manig Loeser has won the partypoker World Poker Tour National Rozvadov after beating Jeffrey Brouwer in heads up action to take the €76,000 first prize.

Manig Loeser has been in this business for a very long time, but I get the feeling the starting gun has only just exploded.

[Image Credit: PokerNews]

The German has taken down the partypoker World Poker Tour (WPT) National Rozvadov, after beating the Dutchman Jeffrey Brouwer in heads-up action to take the €76,000 first prize. It’s Loeser’s first live tournament victory in two years.