Monthly Archives: July 2016

Trendon Shavers Gets Prison Time in First-of-its-kind Bitcoin Securities Fraud Case

United States’ first federal securities fraud case involving digital currency has ended with an 18-month jail sentence.

Trendon Shavers, founder of Bitcoin Savings & Trust, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, several news outlets reported. He was also ordered to forfeit $1.23 million—the amount lost by his 48 investors—and pay an equal amount in restitution for operating what the federal judge called a “classic Ponzi scheme.”

“You defrauded innocent people. You did it, in the last analysis, for personal gain,” Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said, according to Reuters.

Prosecutors said the 33-year-old Texan raised at least 764,000 bitcoins from 2011 to 2012 after promising investors an interest rate of 7 percent a week. But it was discovered later on that Shavers used about 146,000 of the bitcoins he raised to pay his earlier investors in addition to paying for his own gambling and spa treatments in Las Vegas.

Nevada sportsbooks look forward to Olympic betting but don’t expect windfall

Nevada casino sportsbooks will accept bets on the Olympic Games for the first time in 16 years when the Rio Summer Games get underway on Aug. 5.

In February 2015, Nevada gaming regulators gave their blessing to Olympic wagering, something the state’s sportsbooks used to offer until it was revoked in 2001 after Sen. John McCain decided that the ‘amateur’ Olympic athletes were being exploited by someone other than the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

UK sportsbooks have been offering Olympic betting markets for a while now, and the 2012 Summer Games in London performed better than bookies expected, although the books definitely benefited from the intense national interest that comes with hosting the event.

While Nevada books are indeed happy with their new/old toy, nobody expects it to be a Super Bowl-type windfall. Experts told the Los Angeles Times that statewide Olympic betting handle could range from $20m to $30m, which at its peak would represent less than 10% of what the books handled in the month of May.

Nevada sportsbooks look forward to Olympic betting but don’t expect windfall

Nevada casino sportsbooks will accept bets on the Olympic Games for the first time in 16 years when the Rio Summer Games get underway on Aug. 5.

In February 2015, Nevada gaming regulators gave their blessing to Olympic wagering, something the state’s sportsbooks used to offer until it was revoked in 2001 after Sen. John McCain decided that the ‘amateur’ Olympic athletes were being exploited by someone other than the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

UK sportsbooks have been offering Olympic betting markets for a while now, and the 2012 Summer Games in London performed better than bookies expected, although the books definitely benefited from the intense national interest that comes with hosting the event.

While Nevada books are indeed happy with their new/old toy, nobody expects it to be a Super Bowl-type windfall. Experts told the Los Angeles Times that statewide Olympic betting handle could range from $20m to $30m, which at its peak would represent less than 10% of what the books handled in the month of May.

MGS Survey Signals Increasing Chinese Interest in Global Market

The MGS Entertainment Show – Creativity & Innovation (MGS), the fastest growing exhibition on the international gaming calendar, has reported a stronger commitment to the event from the mainland Chinese buying sector and a growing interest in the internationalisation on the showfloor, according to the findings of its 2015 Survey. The MGS annual indicator showed that as many as 58% of its mainland Chinese visitors now use the November outing as their only exhibition attendance in the sector. The key visitor finding coincides with another notable factor – the significant rise in the number of international companies represented at MGS (55), which has almost doubled over the last three years. The MGS survey examined performance feedback, customer satisfaction and new initiatives, and has been used to help shape the show’s new three year vision which is due for presentation to the global industry in the coming weeks.

The MGS analysis, which focused on the response of both visitors and exhibitors to the Asian gaming industry’s 2015 exhibition, produced encouraging results for the show itself, as well as signals of intent going forward. Its major findings included:

Primary Exhibition         58% of Mainland Chinese visitors use MGS as their only trade show attendance

Purchasing Authority     74% of MGS visitors were drawn from the senior buying positions, holding the authority to approve or recommend purchases

MGS Survey Signals Increasing Chinese Interest in Global Market

The MGS Entertainment Show – Creativity & Innovation (MGS), the fastest growing exhibition on the international gaming calendar, has reported a stronger commitment to the event from the mainland Chinese buying sector and a growing interest in the internationalisation on the showfloor, according to the findings of its 2015 Survey. The MGS annual indicator showed that as many as 58% of its mainland Chinese visitors now use the November outing as their only exhibition attendance in the sector. The key visitor finding coincides with another notable factor – the significant rise in the number of international companies represented at MGS (55), which has almost doubled over the last three years. The MGS survey examined performance feedback, customer satisfaction and new initiatives, and has been used to help shape the show’s new three year vision which is due for presentation to the global industry in the coming weeks.

The MGS analysis, which focused on the response of both visitors and exhibitors to the Asian gaming industry’s 2015 exhibition, produced encouraging results for the show itself, as well as signals of intent going forward. Its major findings included:

Primary Exhibition         58% of Mainland Chinese visitors use MGS as their only trade show attendance

Purchasing Authority     74% of MGS visitors were drawn from the senior buying positions, holding the authority to approve or recommend purchases

Pariplay Ltd. and Atari Release Atari® Asteroids Instant-Win Game

Instant-win title based on video arcade classic and featuring first-person shooter functionality is the latest release under Pariplay and Atari’s partnership

21st July 2016 – Pariplay Ltd., a leading gaming technology company serving iGaming operators, land-based casinos and iLotteries, and Atari, a leading interactive entertainment group, have announced the launch of their Atari® Asteroids instant-win game. The most recent release under the two companies’ ongoing strategic partnership, the Atari Asteroids® game has been developed by Pariplay’s in-house studio in HTML5 and provides players with an immersive experience, including first-person shooter functionality and HD graphics.

In 2014, Pariplay and Atari partnered to develop a series of real-money gambling titles based on Atari® video arcade classics. Following the successful release of the Atari® Black Widow online slot in Q1 2016, Atari® Asteroids is the first Atari®-branded instant-win game Pariplay’s in-house studio has developed under the partnership.

Paying homage to the classic 1979 space-themed video arcade game, Pariplay’s Atari® Asteroids is an instant-win game as well as a first-person shooter whereby players use laser canons to blast passing asteroids and reveal hidden gems. A nine-symbol action scratch game, Asteroids® allows players whose asteroid-shooting skills succeed in revealing three identical gems to win jackpots of up to $100,000.

Calling the Clock: Dropping the WSOP Curtain; PokerStars #Raiseit; 888 Video It

In this week’s calling the clock we say goodbye to the World Series of Poker for another few months, take a look at PokerStars new #raiseit campaign, and 888Poker’s weekly storyboard video.

The 47th World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is done and dusted. 107,833 players partook, and that was a 4% increase on the record-breaking year they experience in 2016.

Who said poker was dead?

Mitchell Towner and Hung Le played the role of Leicester City to perfection with their earth-shattering victories in the Monster Stack and Crazy Eights events. Justin Bonomo, John Monnette, and Brandon Shack-Harris performed exceptionally well. And Chris Ferguson proved that you could be absent from the game for six years, return amidst a storm of spit and fury and still break into the WSOP Player of the Year (POY) Top 10.

Bet365, PokerStars, Lottomatica top Italy’s online sports, poker and casino charts

Bet365, PokerStars and Lottomatica earned top honors in Italy’s online sports betting, poker and casino markets over the first half of 2016.

According to stats published by Italian gaming news agency Agimeg.it, online sports betting turnover in the six months ending June 30 totaled €1.92b, up nearly 50% from the same period last year. Overall online and land-based sports turnover was up 28.5% year-on-year to €3.5b.

The online wagering surge reflects recent tax changes, the introduction of new betting options and new betting operators, including market leader Bet365, which handled sports wagers of €687.3m, more than three times the €197.6m handled by its closest online competitor, Gala Coral Group’s Eurobet brand.

Four other operators scored over €100m, including domestic operator Sisal (€144.5m), William Hill (€140.3m), Snai-Cogetech (€133.5m) and the newly fused Paddy Power Betfair (€106.8m). Italian operator Better-Totosi narrowly missed out on this nine-figure club with €98.4m.

Matchbook Announces Hayley Turner as Brand Ambassador at the Qatar Goodwood Festival

London, Jult 2016 – Matchbook is proud to announce their partnership with Hayley Turner, three-time Group 1 winning jockey, who will represent them as Brand Ambassador at the Qatar Goodwood Festival. This announcement follows Matchbook’s earlier release, confirming their role as the festival’s Official Betting Partner.

Spokesperson for Matchbook, Danielle Desroches commented “This is an exciting time for Matchbook. At Goodwood, we not only make our Horse Racing debut, we present a refreshed and more sophisticated Matchbook. As our Brand Ambassador, Hayley is the ideal fit for the new Matchbook – she’s extremely knowledgeable, well respected, and most of all, a winner!

As part of her role as Brand Ambassador, Hayley will be placing charity bets on Matchbook with all winnings going to Matchbook’s charity partner, REG. Raising for Effective Giving, is the charity of choice for many professional poker players, and was co-founded by 2014 female poker player of the year, Liv Boeree, and Global Poker Index’s top ranked player, Igor Kurganov.

In addition to her charity bets, Hayley will also present a racing preview for each of the Matchbook sponsored races, live from the racecourse.

CardsChat Picks the Best and Worst of the 2016 World Series of Poker

In the  2016 World Series of Poker, the only bracelet still up for grabs is the one for the Main Event. That will be settled on November 1. With the summer session concluded, it’s time to honor the best (and worst) performances of the year. Our Pick for Top Player of the Series In most years, […]

The post CardsChat Picks the Best and Worst of the 2016 World Series of Poker appeared first on .

Korean Baseball Organization stars charged with gambling, fixing

Try as it might, the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) just can’t seem to shake gambling scandals large and small.

On Thursday, one day after Korean media reported that Samsung Lions pitcher An Ji-man was under investigation for allegedly financing a friend’s illegal online gambling site, Seoul prosecutors charged the 33-year-old with gambling both domestically and abroad.

Seoul prosecutors began their investigation into An’s activities late last year as part of a probe into multiple Korean baseball stars’ visits to Macau casinos. Police now say that they have testimony from two individuals who witnessed An spending tens of thousands of dollars gambling in Macau casino VIP rooms.

Seoul police ramped up their investigation last month by seizing An’s computer and smartphone, which revealed visits to a Korea-based illegal online gambling site. An’s bank records detailed money sent to the same gambling site.

Gardena city council blinks first in casino standoff with Hustler boss Larry Flynt

The city council of Gardena, California has blinked first in its tax standoff with casino operator Larry Flynt (pictured).

It was only last week that Flynt, founder of the Hustler adult entertainment empire and owner of the Hustler-branded casino in Gardena, threatened to walk away from his purchase of the Normandie Casino if the city didn’t scrap plans to boost his gaming taxes.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Gardena city council held a meeting Wednesday night, during which it walked back its demands that Flynt make a monthly minimum payment of $800k instead of the traditional 12% gaming revenue tax.

The city argued that the $9.6m minimum annual payment was only $100k more than the two casinos had collectively paid the city in 2014. Flynt countered that the plan didn’t take into account the possibility of another serious economic downturn, after which a minimum tax obligation would render both properties unprofitable.

Betsson’s Q2 lives down to advance billing

The CEO of Nordic betting operator Betsson AB has earned an early nod for understatement of the year by admitting that the company’s second quarter results “did not live up to our expectations.”

Three weeks ago, Betsson saw its shares shed one-third of their value after the company alerted investors that profits in the three months ending June 30 were likely to come in 25% lower than the same period last year.

On Thursday, Betsson released its interim report covering the first half of 2016, which showed revenue up 13% to SEK 1.93b ($225m), operating income down 10% to SEK 408m and profit down 9% to SEK 380m. Perhaps because things weren’t worse, Betsson shares closed Thursday’s trading up over 13%.

As for that disappointing Q2, results largely mirrored those earlier dire forecasts. Revenue was up 9% to SEK 935m, operating income fell 26% to SEK 158m and profit was off 27% to SEK 146m.