Monthly Archives: February 2016

President Obama Carries Lucky Poker Chip, TV Interview Reveals

America’s president, Barack Obama, is one of the most powerful men in the world, but when he’s feeling a little down on his luck or in need of a helping hand, he apparently looks to a poker chip for comfort. Talking in a pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS This Morning late last week, Obama explained […]

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Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

THE AMERICAS

Nevada’s sportsbooks set a new Super Bowl wagering record; California offered racing a $60m bribe to stay away from online poker while tribes expressed opposition to the state’s daily fantasy sports plans; New Jersey’s online market hit a new revenue record; DraftKings weaseled out of its ESPN ad commitments and acquired a rival MMA fantasy sports operator while FanDuel laid off most of its Florida workforce; social casino games provided half of Zynga’s gaming revenue last year; GAN inked a social casino deal with Rock Gaming’s three Ohio properties; Intertain claimed that an independent review had refuted a short-seller’s allegations; Amaya Gaming hired Barclays to consider CEO David Baazov’s privatization bid while Rafi Farber wondered if there was a role for Isai Scheinberg in a privately held Amaya; Caesars Entertainment’s senior creditors threatened to withdraw their support for the company’s restructuring; Atlantic City gaming revenue fell in January and the Borgata said it would stop paying property taxes until the city honored its debts.

EUROPE

Reports said William Hill was backing NYX Gaming’s bid for OpenBet; Russian bookies protested government plans to boost gaming taxes tenfold; Unibet set a new revenue record in Q4 despite losing a top casino exec to Tabcorp’s UK-facing Sun Bets site; NetEnt set revenue and profit records in Q4; European bookies launched an anti-match fixing campaign following more shenanigans in the tennis world; PartyPoker scrapped its payment processing fees; PokerStars scrapped its heads-up games and test-launched its new Duel heads-up app; Lawrence Ho’s Melcolot scrapped its Georgian casino plans; France said online poker liquidity sharing plans weren’t quite dead yet; Branded3 director Stephen Kenwright preached the need for speed in app design; GambleGeek’s James McMath discussed lessons learned from building a new affiliate site; mGage’s David Sheridan exposed the elephant in the mobile payments room and Rebecca Liggero recapped the video highlights of the One Night In Wonderland-themed Fire & Ice 2016 shindig.

Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

THE AMERICAS

Nevada’s sportsbooks set a new Super Bowl wagering record; California offered racing a $60m bribe to stay away from online poker while tribes expressed opposition to the state’s daily fantasy sports plans; New Jersey’s online market hit a new revenue record; DraftKings weaseled out of its ESPN ad commitments and acquired a rival MMA fantasy sports operator while FanDuel laid off most of its Florida workforce; social casino games provided half of Zynga’s gaming revenue last year; GAN inked a social casino deal with Rock Gaming’s three Ohio properties; Intertain claimed that an independent review had refuted a short-seller’s allegations; Amaya Gaming hired Barclays to consider CEO David Baazov’s privatization bid while Rafi Farber wondered if there was a role for Isai Scheinberg in a privately held Amaya; Caesars Entertainment’s senior creditors threatened to withdraw their support for the company’s restructuring; Atlantic City gaming revenue fell in January and the Borgata said it would stop paying property taxes until the city honored its debts.

EUROPE

Reports said William Hill was backing NYX Gaming’s bid for OpenBet; Russian bookies protested government plans to boost gaming taxes tenfold; Unibet set a new revenue record in Q4 despite losing a top casino exec to Tabcorp’s UK-facing Sun Bets site; NetEnt set revenue and profit records in Q4; European bookies launched an anti-match fixing campaign following more shenanigans in the tennis world; PartyPoker scrapped its payment processing fees; PokerStars scrapped its heads-up games and test-launched its new Duel heads-up app; Lawrence Ho’s Melcolot scrapped its Georgian casino plans; France said online poker liquidity sharing plans weren’t quite dead yet; Branded3 director Stephen Kenwright preached the need for speed in app design; GambleGeek’s James McMath discussed lessons learned from building a new affiliate site; mGage’s David Sheridan exposed the elephant in the mobile payments room and Rebecca Liggero recapped the video highlights of the One Night In Wonderland-themed Fire & Ice 2016 shindig.

California online poker bill tempts horseracing with $60m carrot

California’s font online poker regulatory hopes showed flickers of life this week following the release of new draft legislation and a meeting of key tribal gaming groups.

Late last month, California Assemblyman Adam Gray filed amendments to his AB 431 online poker legislation that would offer state racetracks up to $60m in annual payments in exchange for giving up the opportunity to be an active participant in the state’s proposed regulated online poker market.

AB 431, which until last month had been a shell bill with little in the way of detail, now specifies a 15% tax rate for online poker licensees, which would be limited to established tribal casinos and state card rooms. Licensees would have to ante up $15m deposits, from which future tax payments will be deducted. Licensees would be able to operate up to two online poker sites.

Gray’s plan calls for the tracks to receive the first $60m of the state’s annual online poker revenue, 95% of which would go toward racing purses and pari-mutuel employee retirement plans, while the other 5% would support state agricultural fairs.

California online poker bill tempts horseracing with $60m carrot

California’s font online poker regulatory hopes showed flickers of life this week following the release of new draft legislation and a meeting of key tribal gaming groups.

Late last month, California Assemblyman Adam Gray filed amendments to his AB 431 online poker legislation that would offer state racetracks up to $60m in annual payments in exchange for giving up the opportunity to be an active participant in the state’s proposed regulated online poker market.

AB 431, which until last month had been a shell bill with little in the way of detail, now specifies a 15% tax rate for online poker licensees, which would be limited to established tribal casinos and state card rooms. Licensees would have to ante up $15m deposits, from which future tax payments will be deducted. Licensees would be able to operate up to two online poker sites.

Gray’s plan calls for the tracks to receive the first $60m of the state’s annual online poker revenue, 95% of which would go toward racing purses and pari-mutuel employee retirement plans, while the other 5% would support state agricultural fairs.