Monthly Archives: February 2017

Mexico’s new gambling law unlikely to be approved by 2018

Mexico’s long-delayed rewrite of its gambling laws are a bad bet to be approved before 2018, according to the head of the country’s gambling industry association.

Last week, Miguel Angel Ochoa Sanchez, president of La Asociación de Permisionarios Operadores y Proveedores de la Industria del Entretenimiento y Juego de Apuesta en México, (AIEJA), told Mexican media outlet Milenio.com that he didn’t see Mexico’s new Law of Games and Sweepstakes passing in the current legislative session that concludes on August 31, 2018, one month after national elections.

Sanchez’s position is a turnaround from comments he made last summer in which he predicted that the law would be approved in 2016. The Mexican legislature’s lower house approved the law – which covers everything from online gambling to the country’s often shambolic land-based casino industry – in December 2014 but the Senate is proving a much steeper hill to climb.

Sanchez complained that senators “ask for reports on why things happen in states, what are the casino issues … instead of asking, they should do their work, they have important legislation in their hands.”

Florida Lottery sued by House over contract

Florida’s House of Representatives filed a lawsuit late Friday accusing the Florida Lottery of illegally signing a long-term contract for ticket sales, escalating a feud between House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Gov. Rick Scott a little more than a week before the legislative session begins.Florida, Legal, Politics, Contract, Government, Lawsuit

Crown Resorts payroll purge starts with CEO Craigie

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is preparing to announce a new CEO following a review of the business by its chairman of the board.

On Wednesday, Australian media reported that Crown chairman John Alexander plans to trim hundreds of employees from the company’s payroll, including CEO Rowen Craigie, who has held that position for nearly a decade. Barry Felstead, who heads up Crown’s domestic resort business, is tipped to succeed Craigie as CEO.

Alexander, who was appointed executive chairman in January, was given a broad mandate by Crown director and largest shareholder James Packer to cut Crown’s expenses as the company restructures to focus on its domestic business. Alexander is also mulling whether it’s worth maintaining Crown’s horseracing and rugby league sponsorship deals, the latter including the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

The reports come ahead of the release of Crown’s fiscal H1, which is expected to be brutal. Crown’s domestic rival, The Star Entertainment Group, reported a significant decline in VIP gambling turnover in its fiscal H1 report last week.

Kim Jong-nam murder suspect ran North Korea gambling site

One of the suspects arrested in connection with the murder of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un ran illegal online gambling operations on behalf of the regime.

On Wednesday, Korea JoongAng Daily reported that Ri Jong-choi, one of the suspects arrested in connection with last week’s murder in Malaysia of Kim Jong-nam, was operating illegal gambling and porn websites in that country while claiming to be working for an herbal supplement firm.

The 47-year-old Ri arrived in Malaysia last August, ostensibly to work at a small herbal supplement firm, but the company’s owner has since denied that Ri actually worked for him. Ri holds a software engineering degree from North Korea’s Kim Chaek University of Technology, a facility infamous for generating hackers.

North Korea’s isolated regime relies on a vast network of agents scattered across Asia whose job is to earn badly needed hard currency via a variety of illicit online activity, including operating gambling sites, selling gambling software and distributing malware to blackmail other websites into paying ransom. The regime is believed to earn over $860m per year from these online antics.

CA Rundown February 22

In this episode of the CalvinAyre.com Rundown, Stephanie Raquel brings you the top industry news and the latest on M.G.A vs ten gambling sites, Wayne Shaw and his pie, Pinnacle leaves Polish market. 

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Macau’s Ponte 16 may include gaming, says Success Universe

Macau casino investor Success Universe Group Ltd. is eyeing to add gaming for the third phase of its majority-owned Ponte 16 casino and hotel.

GGRAsia reported that Success Universe has yet to submit a final construction plan for its hotel and casino complex near Macau’s Inner Harbor. For now, Success Universe executive director and deputy chairman Hoffman Ma Ho Man said the structure will include a “mass-oriented” shopping mall.

He also wants to include gaming in the new construction plan in the existing property extension.

“We’ll also strive to add gaming there [in the third phase],” Mr Ma said. “But this is a decision that we can only confirm later, once all the design plans for the extension are approved by the government,” Ma said, according to the news website. “In the plan that we’ve submitted before, parts of phase three involved piling works to be done directly on water … but local authorities have said that they didn’t want any buildings to be constructed above the water.”

William Hill poised to promote Philip Bowcock to CEO position: report

UK bookmakers William Hill has reportedly ended its search for a new chief executive, and will instead promote Philip Bowcock to the position.

According to the Financial Times, William Hill is set to announce Bowcock’s appointment “as early as Friday,” when the bookmaker is due to report its full-year results for 2016. Bowcock, the company’s chief financial officer, took over the CEO role on an interim basis after James Henderson resigned from the position in July.

Sources familiar with the matter, however, noted that the decision to promote Bowcock “is unlikely to end” the turmoil at the London-listed company as some board members as well as the company’s largest shareholder, Parvus Asset Management, remain doubtful about Bowcock’s “suitability for the role.”

Bowcock, who served as chief financial officer at Cineworld before joining William Hill in 2015, can be considered a greenhorn in the gambling industry. However, a senior company executive told the news outlet that Bowcock is a “clear ‘favorite’ for the job.”

Hard Rock antes up as Melco Crown prepares to outspend Japan casino rivals

The competition to develop the first integrated resort in Japan continues to heat up.

Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson recent announcement that he is ready to spend as much as USD10 billion to build a casino resort in Japan appeared to have prompted his rivals to step up their game in order to grab a slice of the action after the country finally passed a bill legalizing casinos.

U.S.-based café and casino chain Hard Rock Café International said it is looking to form a consortium with Japanese companies as it seeks entry into what analysts expect could become the world’s second biggest casino market.

In an interview with Reuters, Hard Rock Café Chairman James Allen said they have already identified up to 30 potential partners, including financial companies, manufacturers and landholders, with whom they “are looking at 40-60 percent equity participation.”

Bitfinex hit with another DDoS attack as bitcoin price leaps beyond $1,100

Digital currency exchange Bitfinex has fallen victim—again—to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, just as bitcoin continues its unrelenting rally to set a new all-time high.

Clients of the Hong Kong-based exchange received an email on Tuesday, informing them of the disruption. In the email, the company said customers can still access the platform, but they have to submit themselves to a check by DDoS protection service Cloudfare.

“We have taken steps to identify and block the attack. The system is returning to normal,” the digital currency exchange said in its email.

Six months ago, Bitfinex was forced to stop trading, withdrawals and deposits in all digital currencies including ethereum after it discovered a security breach in the system, which resulted in some 119,756 bitcoins—worth more than $61 million at the time—missing from its users’ accounts. What caused the breach remained unclear, but the hackers appeared to have bypassed the bitcoin exchange’s mandated limits on withdrawals.

Shaun McCamley: Take a second look on social games

In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Stephanie Raquel, Shaun McCamley of Global Market Advisors explains how gambling operators could capitalize on the popularity of social games.

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Fire & Ice “Twisted Tales” highlights

The 16th annual Fire & Ice party took place on February 8, 2017 at London’s Troxy with a sultry “Twisted Tales” theme, so think fairy tales and twist them a “naughty” 180 degrees.

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Gary Platt closed successful 2016 with year’s largest order going to MGM National Harbor

RENO, Nev. (February 2017) – Gary Platt Manufacturing ended a very successful 2016 by delivering its largest order of the year to the stunning new MGM National Harbor. Gary Platt supplied more than 4,000 custom-designed slot and table game chairs for the new casino, winning more than 90 percent of the floor share.

“Supplying more than 4,000 chairs to one of the world’s most exciting properties was an incredible way to end the year,” Gary Platt President Skip Davis said. “We worked closely with MGM brand feel and experience. We are proud to have combined our unsurpassed comfort with our distinctive design abilities for this exceptional property.”

As part of the landmark contract, Gary Platt created three new chairs that were launched at MGM National Harbor: the San Remo, the Genoa, and the Lido NH. Introducing a classically rich design with an emphasis on the comfort that Gary Platt is recognized for, the new MGM National Harbor chairs are truly comfort-driven products. The custom designs underscore Gary Platt’s commitment to creating products that are as unique as the experience its customers provide to their guests.

The contract was awarded after a highly competitive bid, and Gary Platt was chosen for its products’ comfort, quality, design, and value.

CASEXE reviews the results of ICE 2017

The company CASEXE took part in ICE Totally Gaming 2017, an international exhibition held in London on February 7-9. You may see photos on the official website. During three days of ICE Totally Gaming, CASEXE managed to hold around 150 business meetings, conclude a couple of contracts and negotiate further partnership deals. Looking back at the results of the said event, the company has enlarged its list of media partners and estimates its general performance at ICE as highly beneficial.

CASEXE succeeded in holding 20 appointed meetings, resulting in three deals for online casino development. In order to carry out the process of optimization that would unite all regions of CASEXE operation under a single payment system, its specialists negotiated several partnerships with representatives of 20 payment systems.

At ICE 2017 CASEXE’s team had an opportunity to meet its long-standing partners and renowned gaming content providers, such as Betsoft, Endorphina, Amatic, Tom Horn, etc. During these meetings, colleagues discussed various strategies of further partnership, as well as analyzed contracts with potential satellite partners like Play’N Go, Genii, Yggdrasil, Evolution Gaming, etc.

The said exhibition turned out to be beneficial in terms of conducting negotiations with some of the betting software providers. The specialists outlined a couple of new betting projects based on CASEXE platforms to be launched during 2017.

Gaming innovators back Juegos Miami in record numbers

Juegos Miami continues to grow both in reputation and size, with a total of 15 exhibitors giving their support to the event, three months ahead of it opening its doors to the Pan Latin American and Caribbean gaming industry. The unique, C-Level event which will run across May 31 – June 2 at the popular Biltmore Hotel, comprises a best-in-class learning programme delivered by over 50 industry thought leaders, extensive networking and social opportunities as well as providing access to the latest gaming products from the industry’s most accomplished innovators.

Clarion’s Kate Chambers, who was responsible for helping to create the unique Juegos Miami brand vision, said: “The first edition of Juegos Miami will be remembered as an historic event in the development of the LatAm and Caribbean gaming industry. I am delighted to confirm the industry has responded positively to the foundations that have been laid and, as of February, a total of five showrooms have been taken, making it already more than double the size of 2016. The second edition of Juegos Miami will play host to a significantly larger number of gaming innovators than when we launched.”

Juegos Miami Event Director, Greg Saint added: “We are committed to the process of continuous improvement and have been working with our stakeholders to make the modifications necessary to take Juegos Miami to the next level. Dealing with specifics, we have modified the layout in order to improve visitor flow and altered some of the Conference timings to maximize the opportunities delegates have to meet with suppliers and to network amongst their peers. Whilst these changes appear quite modest, it is the smaller details which impact on the dynamics of C-Level gatherings such as Juegos Miami. The key exhibitors from last year have returned and are looking to increase their promotional activity for 2017. They are joined by some new key companies that will be making their first appearance at Juegos Miami.”

Juegos Miami is an invitation-only event and, in order to guarantee the best networking and learning opportunities, attendance is limited to senior decision makers (owners, directors and C-Level executives) from operating companies, government and regulators from the Latin America and Caribbean region. To apply for a place, please register at www.juegosmiami.com

Pokerstars takes over Latin America in March with double down on sponsored live events

Win a seat to Brazil Series of Poker Main Event from as little as $11

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – February 2017 – PokerStars is giving players another opportunity to experience Latin America’s thriving poker scene this March with the PokerStars sponsored  Brazil Series of Poker (BSOP) São Paulo that runs March 23-28. With online qualifiers for the inaugural PokerStars Championship Panama event having now come to an end, players still have time to win packages to BSOP São Paulo, which takes place just a few days after. Online qualifiers start from as little as $0.33 at PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (NASDAQ:AYA; TSX:AYA) brand.

Players who have already qualified for PokerStars Championship Panama, which takes place from March 10-20 at the Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino, Panama City, can use this as an opportunity to take in more of Latin America by qualifying for BSOP São Paulo, which takes place at the Sheraton São Paulo WTC Hotel, from March 23-28. Brazilian Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari commented: “Players attending the BSOP São Paulo can expect a fantastic, professional event. Poker is incredibly popular in Brazil and the carnival BSOP atmosphere really has to be experienced to be believed.”

ROUTES TO ENTRY

Aristocrat names Matt Wilson Managing Director of the Americas

LAS VEGAS (February 2017) – Aristocrat has appointed Matt Wilson to the position of Managing Director of the Americas, based in Las Vegas, subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.

“Matt’s leadership has been instrumental to Aristocrat’s recent growth both in the Americas and across other key markets,” said CEO-Elect Trevor Croker. “Matt comes to the role with proven commercial and strategic skills and a genuine passion for product and helping our customers succeed. We are delighted to welcome Matt to the position of Managing Director of the Americas,” Mr. Croker concluded.

Wilson has been with Aristocrat since 2004 and has held several significant positions in a variety of the company’s key markets. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Global Gaming Operations, where he helped to grow the company’s Gaming Operations (leased) product line with landmark new titles.

Previously, Matt served as Vice President of Marketing for the Americas, and then as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for North America. Between 2008 and 2012 he oversaw Aristocrat’s expansion in the Asia Pacific region as the head of the group’s Sales team.

Cubs, Red Sox listed as co-favorites on Odds to win 2017 World Series

The Chicago Cubs ended the longest drought in professional sports history last year when they claimed their first World Series title since 1908 in dramatic fashion over the Cleveland Indians, rallying back from a 3-1 deficit to win it on their opponent’s home field.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The National League’s Cubs are now +450 co-favorites to repeat as MLB champions, with the American League’s Boston Red Sox also at +450.

Chicago won the NL pennant for the first time since 1945 last year over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are +1000 to win the 2017 World Series, tied with the Washington Nationals as the fourth choice behind the Cubs, Red Sox and Indians (+800).