Monthly Archives: October 2016

Betclic Everest wins Portuguese online casino license

Portugal has issued its fourth online gambling license, although the lucky recipient wasn’t exactly a new face.

Last Friday, national gambling regulator Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) announced it had issued an online casino license to BEM Operations Ltd, aka the local subsidiary of French betting operator Betclic Everest Group, which operates in Portugal via the Betclic.pt domain.

Betclic already had a Portuguese online sports betting license, having become the very first operator that the SRIJ deemed sponge-worthy following the launch of the new regulated market in late April.

Portugal now has two licensed sports betting operators (the other being Malta-based Bet Entertainment Technologies) and two online casinos (the other being local land-based casino operator Estoril Sol).

Betclic Everest wins Portuguese online casino license

Portugal has issued its fourth online gambling license, although the lucky recipient wasn’t exactly a new face.

Last Friday, national gambling regulator Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) announced it had issued an online casino license to BEM Operations Ltd, aka the local subsidiary of French betting operator Betclic Everest Group, which operates in Portugal via the Betclic.pt domain.

Betclic already had a Portuguese online sports betting license, having become the very first operator that the SRIJ deemed sponge-worthy following the launch of the new regulated market in late April.

Portugal now has two licensed sports betting operators (the other being Malta-based Bet Entertainment Technologies) and two online casinos (the other being local land-based casino operator Estoril Sol).

Montreal & LA Sunset Qualify for GPL Playoffs

The Montreal Nationals and the LA Sunset have become the first two teams to qualify for the inaugural Global Poker League (GPL) Playoffs held in Las Vegas.

After 41 matches the Montreal Nationals, and Los Angeles Sunset have become the first two teams to qualify for the Global Poker League (GPL) Playoffs in Las Vegas.

Marc-Andre Ladouceur’s Montreal side currently holds an 11-point lead over Maria Ho’s Los Angeles Sunset at the top of the Americas Conference leaderboard. Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald’s six points in Tuesday’s six-max action were enough to send the Canadian franchise through. Chance Kornuth’s three points were equally sufficient for the team from LA.

All that means only two more teams can qualify from the Americas Conference. Andre Akkari’s Sao Paulo Metropolitans currently have pole position sitting in the third spot with 159 points. Anton Wigg’s stunning back-to-back 6-max wins for the San Francisco Rush pushes Faraz Jaka’s team into a dogfight with the Brazilians and the New York Rounders. The Las Vegas Moneymakers seem most likely to drop out at the first hurdle as they lie 24 points adrift of New York.

Partypoker News: Ping Pong, Twitch & New Pro

Alex Goulder challenges Rob Yong to a table tennis match at the WPT UK Festival; partypoker launch Twitch channel; Beata ‘WildHungarian’ Jambrik joins the team.

Did you know that Rob Yong was a dab hand at ping pong?

Apparently, he is a former five-time county champion in Nottingham, and that’s not good news for Alex Goulder, who had one too many and challenged him to a match with each of them putting up £10k in cash.

According to the Blonde Poker Forum Goulder challenged Yong to a first to 21 point match after getting a little razzled with Simon Deadman. The pair will get it on as part of the World Poker Tour (WPT) UK festivities taking part at DTD Oct 22 – Nov 6. The money will go to charity.

Olympic Entertainment Group revenue up one-fifth thanks to new Estonia casino

Casino and online gambling operator Olympic Entertainment Group (OEG) saw its Q3 revenue rise more than one-fifth thanks to its new flagship property in Estonia.

Unaudited figures released Tuesday show OEG’s overall revenue rising 21.3% to €45.4m in the three months ending September 30. While OEG’s Latvian business contributed the most to the overall pie (€15.6m, +16%), the Estonian market posted the biggest gains, rising 20.2% to €10.1m.

The Estonian business enjoyed a full quarter’s contribution from the new €45m Hilton Tallinn Park, which opened in June. The property, which is the first Hilton to open in the Baltic region, boasts what OEG calls its new flagship gaming venue, the Olympic Park Casino.

As for OEG’s other markets, Lithuania led the way with €5.7m (+16.2%), followed by Poland (€4.2m, -9.5%), Slovakia (€3.5m, +1.6%) and Italy (€2.7m, +10%). OEG’s new Malta operation contributed €3.6m, while Belarus contributed, er, nothing.

eSports viewers hate hockey; VGambling to turn Antigua casino into eSports venue

Watching eSports is as popular as watching baseball or hockey with US male millennials, according to a new survey.

Market researchers Newzoo are flogging a new report that shows 22% of US males between 21 and 35 years of age admit to watching eSports matches frequently. That’s only marginally less than the same number who cop to watching baseball and a couple points higher than those who enjoy watching hockey games.

eSports’ appeal among millennials pales in comparison to the 42% who regularly check out basketball games or the 43% who enjoy watching football. However, 56% of NFL viewers are over 35 years old, while just 27% of eSports viewers are in that same age bracket, meaning time is on eSports’ side.

The overlap between eSports and other sports is closest with basketball. There are roughly 20m eSports fans, of whom 9.6m also check out basketball games. Compare that to 8.7m eSports fans who watch football games, 6.6m who admit watching baseball while just 3.5m eSports fans cop to watching pucks drop.

eSports viewers hate hockey; VGambling to turn Antigua casino into eSports venue

Watching eSports is as popular as watching baseball or hockey with US male millennials, according to a new survey.

Market researchers Newzoo are flogging a new report that shows 22% of US males between 21 and 35 years of age admit to watching eSports matches frequently. That’s only marginally less than the same number who cop to watching baseball and a couple points higher than those who enjoy watching hockey games.

eSports’ appeal among millennials pales in comparison to the 42% who regularly check out basketball games or the 43% who enjoy watching football. However, 56% of NFL viewers are over 35 years old, while just 27% of eSports viewers are in that same age bracket, meaning time is on eSports’ side.

The overlap between eSports and other sports is closest with basketball. There are roughly 20m eSports fans, of whom 9.6m also check out basketball games. Compare that to 8.7m eSports fans who watch football games, 6.6m who admit watching baseball while just 3.5m eSports fans cop to watching pucks drop.

eSports viewers hate hockey; VGambling to turn Antigua casino into eSports venue

Watching eSports is as popular as watching baseball or hockey with US male millennials, according to a new survey.

Market researchers Newzoo are flogging a new report that shows 22% of US males between 21 and 35 years of age admit to watching eSports matches frequently. That’s only marginally less than the same number who cop to watching baseball and a couple points higher than those who enjoy watching hockey games.

eSports’ appeal among millennials pales in comparison to the 42% who regularly check out basketball games or the 43% who enjoy watching football. However, 56% of NFL viewers are over 35 years old, while just 27% of eSports viewers are in that same age bracket, meaning time is on eSports’ side.

The overlap between eSports and other sports is closest with basketball. There are roughly 20m eSports fans, of whom 9.6m also check out basketball games. Compare that to 8.7m eSports fans who watch football games, 6.6m who admit watching baseball while just 3.5m eSports fans cop to watching pucks drop.