Monthly Archives: October 2016

Crown Resorts, Aristocrat Leisure sued over “deceptive” pokies machines

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts and gaming device maker Aristocrat Leisure have been sued for allegedly deceiving gamblers on their chances of winning on video poker machines.

On Wednesday, Australian resident Shonica Guy filed a lawsuit in Australia’s Federal Court alleging that she suffered significant financial losses playing the pokies over the past 14 years because the machines “deliberately give people false hope that they have a chance of winning to keep them playing.”

The suit focuses on one particular Aristocrat machine called Dolphin Treasure, reportedly selected because it boasts several potentially deceptive features. For instance, the device features five reels, four of which feature the same number of winning symbols while the fifth displays just one, a discrepancy the suit claims isn’t evident to the average player.

The suit also takes issue with the pokies industry’s claims that the machines return an average of 85% of stakes to players. The suit argues that this is an misleading statistic, as it’s entirely possible for a player to lose their entire stake in a few spins without receiving any cash back from the machine.

South Korea busts online betting operation that took $3b in wagers

South Korean police have broken up an online sports betting ring that reportedly handled $3b in wagers in the past three years.

On Wednesday, Korea JoongAng Daily reported that the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency had arrested 16 managers of the betting operation along with 124 subordinates. The alleged ringleader and some 14 other suspects remain at large.

The ring reportedly operated eight different betting websites that handled wagers totaling KRW 3.4t (US $3b) between January 2013 and July 2016 from a clientele of around 200k bettors. The sites accepted wagers up to KRW 1m ($880), while the most popular betting sports were football, baseball and basketball.

The ring netted around KRW 140b ($123m) in profits, only KRW 1.3b of which was confiscated by police. Around KRW 80b was reportedly taken by the ringleader when he fled.

Philippines bust another China-run illegal online betting operation

Philippine authorities have broken up yet another Chinese-run illegal online gambling operation.

On Wednesday, Philippine media reported that the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) had detained a Chinese national accused of operating an unauthorized online gambling business from a commercial building in Makati.

Police seized around 100 computers and detained 60 employees of the illegal betting operation. Fifty of the detainees were Chinese nationals, none of whom had valid work permits, having apparently entered the country on tourist visas. The staffers have been turned over to the NCRPO for further questioning and likely deportation.

Zhang Hai Long is listed as general manager of Haoying Solutions Inc, which had registered as a business process outsourcing (BPO) center in the Cagayan Economic Zone but was supposed to be operating from within Cagayan, not in Makati. Haoying also held a Bureau of Internal Revenue permit that expired three years ago.

Maharashtra goes after lottery firms over alleged $150M tax default

A Maharashtra official is going after six lottery operators that she claimed have cheated the state government out of an estimated INR1,000 crore (USD149.622 million) in taxes.

Account officer Sneha Narvekar is accusing the operators—M/s Swagat Agency, M/s Samarpan Trading Pvt Ltd, M/s Kenlot Gaming Solutions Pvt Ltd, M/s Jupiter Gaming Pvt Ltd, M/s SL Marketing and M/s Shweta Enterprises—of defaulting on tax payments, according to a mid-day.com report.

Narvekar, who also serves as the state’s assistant commissioner for lottery tax, discovered that the six “had drawn lotteries in the state but had not paid any tax.” The operators, according to the official, illegally sold online tickets of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram and operated lottery draws in Maharashtra without informing the state officials.

“They have also not paid advance tax and in an organised manner in order to gain wrongful profit caused a revenue loss of Rs 913.13 crores to Maharashtra,” the report stated.

China nabs 10 junket agents in Crown Resorts probe: report

More people are being asked to “take tea” with Chinese authorities as Beijing widens its crackdown on James Packers’ Crown Resorts.

This time, 10 Chinese “organizers of junkets licensed by the casino operator to bring high rollers to its Australian properties” are reportedly taken into Chinese authorities’ custody, according to The Australian.

These people were originally from a group of 87 Crown customers who were initially invited by Chinese police to “take tea,” meaning present themselves to authorities for questioning, following the lightning raids that resulted in the detention of 18 Crown Resorts employees. The 10 people currently remain in custody, according to the news outlet.

Last week, Chinese authorities detained Crown staffers, including three Australian nationals, who were based in china as part of the casino operator’s local sales and marketing team. Chinese law prohibits advertising gambling services on the mainland but casino operators are permitted to promote their resorts’ non-gaming tourism offerings.

Calvin Ayre to cover the 3 day of VIGE2017 with special video reporting

Wednesday, 26 October 2016 – The organizers are proud to announce that CalvinAyre.com and their one of a kind reporter Rebecca Liggero will be present at the Vienna International Gaming Expo 2017, which is going to take place in Vienna, Austria between 20-22 March 2017 at the Austria Vienna Center.

CalvinAyre.com is the most trafficked gambling industry news site with an average of over 100k unique users and 300k page views a month. They cover the global gambling industry from Las Vegas to Macau to Australia and everywhere in between. Their readers are a unique mix industry professionals, gamblers and media looking to stay on top of this fast moving industry. If you’re interested in raising your brands awareness in the global gambling industry, please contact them at [email protected] and they’ll customize a package suited to your needs.

Zoltan “Hawkie” Tundik, Founder and Head of Business at EEG(organizers of VIGE2017) has stated that: “We are really looking forward to welcoming all leading and newcomer brands to Vienna and we have set our mission to create a unique event for the online and land based industry in Central and Eastern Europe which is already attracting a quality global audience. VIGE is one of the newest and most awaited event in the online gambling industry within the European demographic and having CalvinAyre as a media partner and also having Rebecca Liggero on site reporting with their one an only videos is priceless for us.”

Becky Liggero, Lead On-Site Reporter, CalvinAyre.com, stated that: “The CalvinAyre.com video crew looks forward to covering the inaugural VIGE2017, an event focusing on Central Europe’s online and offline gambling industry. Its been a while since we’ve traveled to Vienna for a gambling related event, a beautiful city and home to some of the most established companies in our sector. Thanks to our friends at EEG for providing us with this exciting opportunity!”

Calvin Ayre to cover the 3 day of VIGE2017 with special video reporting

Wednesday, 26 October 2016 – The organizers are proud to announce that CalvinAyre.com and their one of a kind reporter Rebecca Liggero will be present at the Vienna International Gaming Expo 2017, which is going to take place in Vienna, Austria between 20-22 March 2017 at the Austria Vienna Center.

CalvinAyre.com is the most trafficked gambling industry news site with an average of over 100k unique users and 300k page views a month. They cover the global gambling industry from Las Vegas to Macau to Australia and everywhere in between. Their readers are a unique mix industry professionals, gamblers and media looking to stay on top of this fast moving industry. If you’re interested in raising your brands awareness in the global gambling industry, please contact them at [email protected] and they’ll customize a package suited to your needs.

Zoltan “Hawkie” Tundik, Founder and Head of Business at EEG(organizers of VIGE2017) has stated that: “We are really looking forward to welcoming all leading and newcomer brands to Vienna and we have set our mission to create a unique event for the online and land based industry in Central and Eastern Europe which is already attracting a quality global audience. VIGE is one of the newest and most awaited event in the online gambling industry within the European demographic and having CalvinAyre as a media partner and also having Rebecca Liggero on site reporting with their one an only videos is priceless for us.”

Becky Liggero, Lead On-Site Reporter, CalvinAyre.com, stated that: “The CalvinAyre.com video crew looks forward to covering the inaugural VIGE2017, an event focusing on Central Europe’s online and offline gambling industry. Its been a while since we’ve traveled to Vienna for a gambling related event, a beautiful city and home to some of the most established companies in our sector. Thanks to our friends at EEG for providing us with this exciting opportunity!”