This is a guest contribution by Eva Thompson is VegasMaster magazine’scorrespondent. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Charity Marketing in the World of Gambling

With the advent of social media, a new form of marketing emerged to play an important role in the lives of millions across the globe – charity marketing or community marketing. Though this type of marketing is usually employed by not-for-profit organizations and NGOs, other corporate brands have also slowly ventured into this space to increase their brand awareness in a wholesome, positive way.

A British based insurance provider, Simplyhealth ran a charity marketing campaign that helped raise £150,000. This money was donated to Heart Research UK to fund research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart ailments. Simplyhealth launched a very simple campaign wherein it would donate £1 from its own chequebook for every new like on its Facebook page. This way, not only did the company earn a charitable and noble reputation, but also increased its brand awareness as a responsible organization.

Lee Davy sits down with GameCo CEO, David Graboyes, a pioneer, in the world of skill-based video game machines created for the brick and mortar casino industry to talk about his love for video games, the transition into the gambling world, and much more.

GameCo CEO David Graboyes bridging gaps between video and casino games Audio

The successful Cash Game Festival moves to Slovenia, and Jason Mercier outs Brandon Cantu over an outstanding debt; Cantu responds by saying he is broke.

The Cash Game Festival is preparing for its second live event of the year, and we haven’t even finished our second month.

With the opening event at Aspers Casino, Stratford in the books Europe’s cash game grinders set their beady eyes on Nova Gorica in Slovenia for five days of non-stop shot in the arm cash game action.

The event takes place March 8-12 at the Perla Casino. Nova Gorica straddles the Italian border so expect the festival to be brimming with schools of Italian fish.

Viktor Blom resumes his relationship with Unibet with a planned appearance at the Unibet Open London.

The live tournament scene is thriving. PokerStars has the shiny new PokerStars Championships and Festivals. Partypoker has the Grand Prix Poker Tour (GPPT), Millions and MILLIONS events. 888 recently upped their ante by adding the 888Live tour to 888Live Local. Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) has a Poker Tour, which by all accounts, is exceptional, and then you have the World Poker Tour (WPT) and World Series of Poker (WSOP).

The challenge for all of these events is how to find the right blend of action for the grinders and the recreational players looking to have a dabble in a live setting for the first time, and Unibet is one of the tour operators that seem to have it licked.

2016 was another successful year for the Unibet Open culminating with an ambitious €500,000 Guaranteed €1,100 buy-in event in Bucharest. It was the first time Unibet had hosted an event in Romania, but with such a strong team behind them, they managed to put on a record-breaking event that attracted 603 entrants and rewarded Traian Bostan with a €100,000 first prize.

US-facing online sportsbook BetOnline is the buzz of the internet at the moment after one of its live casino dealers appears to have been caught on video cheating at blackjack.

On Saturday, self-described blackjack professional Michael Morgenstern posted a video to his YouTube account that appears to show a BetOnline blackjack dealer dealing the second card in a shoe to a player, then dealing what would have been the player’s card to himself, causing the player to lose the hand.

You can watch Morgenstern’s full 26-minute video here, but the crucial portion is embedded below. Around the 20-second mark, you can see the dealer nudge the top card up with one finger, while sliding the card below out of the shoe and adding it to the player’s hand.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3-OssVlvgc&w=560&h=315]

Has former Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley made a return to the online gambling industry with online sportsbook BetOnline?

One of the more salacious rumors circulating at last week’s ICE Totally Gaming confab in London had ex-con Beckley (pictured) joining BetOnline in an undetermined capacity. CalvinAyre.com reached out to BetOnline for comment but received only a statement saying that “it’s the company’s policy not to comment on its relationships with its customers, partners, vendors or employees.”

On the surface, the concept of Beckley joining BetOnline seems outlandish. But trusted industry sources – more than one, independent of each other – told CalvinAyre.com that the rumors were true. According to these sources, Beckley was brought on board at the request of BetOnline shareholders, despite the suggestion that some senior management figures were far less impressed with the idea.

Management has reason to worry. In July 2012, Beckley was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud and wire fraud in relation to the 2011 ‘Black Friday’ online poker indictments. Beckley was reportedly released from a Club Fed outside Denver the following June.