Monthly Archives: May 2017

Argentine prosecutor shuts province’s online gambling site

A Buenos Aires prosecutor has shut down an Argentine provincial lottery operator’s online gambling site for allegedly taking bets outside its jurisdictional borders.

In 2015, the Provincial Institute of Lottery and Casinos of the State Society (IPLyC) in the province of Misiones launched Misionbet.com.ar, which offered sports betting, casino and poker products to provincial residents.

This week, the site was shut down on the order of Martin Lapadú, the head of the Complex Cases Investigation Unit of the West Fiscal Unit of Buenos Aires. Lapadú accused Misionbet’s operators of illegally accepting customers from beyond the province’s borders, including from Buenos Aires.

Lapadú ordered banks and payment processors to refrain from handling any transactions with Misionbet until the matter is resolved. An estimated ARS 460m (US $28.6m) in customer deposits has reportedly been frozen via the prosecutor’s order.

Sky Bet seek Malta license; Purple Lounge crowdfunding lawsuit

Leeds-based online gambling operator Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG) has applied for a Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) license ahead of the UK operator’s planned launch into Germany’s online sports betting market.

On Wednesday, the MGA announced that it had received SBG’s formal application for a local sports betting license. SBG, which already holds licenses issued by regulatory agencies in the UK, Alderney and Italy, plans to begin accepting German sports bettors via SkyBet.de later this year.

MGA exec chairman Joseph Cuschieri said SBG’s interest in a Malta license reflected the high value that “world leading brands” like SBG place on Malta’s “reputation as a gaming jurisdiction.”

The MGA also announced regulatory data covering the first four months of 2017, during which the MGA received 59 applications, representing a 79% increase over the same period last year. The MGA issued 36 licenses over this span, one-third more than last year.

Daily fantasy sports bill hurdles Illinois Senate Committee

A bill that would allow residents of Illinois to participate in regulated fantasy sports betting has moved forward in Illinois.

The State Journal-Register reported that the Illinois Senate Gaming Committee has advanced Senate Bill 208, which aims to supersede a 2015 advisory opinion by Attorney General Lisa Madigan that daily fantasy sports betting is illegal under state gambling law.

Under Senate Bill 208, players under 21 will not be allowed to participate in fantasy sports. It also bars employees of the fantasy contest providers from playing.

The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Kwame Raoul, will also require an annual independent audit to ensure providers are complying with the requirements.

Sun International increases stake in LatAm’s Sun Dreams entity

Sun International has raised its stake in Chilean casino group Sun Dreams as the South African casino and hotel operator zeroes in on the Latin American market.

The JSE-listed hotel and casino group announced that its subsidiary, Sun Latam, and fellow stakeholder Nueva Inversiones Pacifico Sur Limitada will buy out a 19.3 percent stake in Sun Dreams, which is held by Chile’s Entretenimientos Del Sur Limitada (EDS).

In March, EDS said it will sell its shares via an initial public offering, but instead of proceeding with the IPO, Sun International and Pacifico agreed to buy out EDS for $126 million.

The deal will see Sun International increase its stake from 55 percent to 65 percent, while Pacifico will raise its stake from 25 percent to 35 percent.

‘Visionary learning agenda’ lies at core of Juegos Miami 2017

Juegos Miami is back, bringing with it a goal to provide an opportunity to gain a much needed insight into the Latin American and the Caribbean gaming market.

The invite-only, C-level event—now on its second year—is returning to The Biltmore in Miami from May 31 to June 2, and will be attended by representatives from 44 nations, including innovators, regulators and industry visionaries, to talk about the future of gaming in Latin America.

This year, event organizer Clarion Gaming has lined up key sessions covering all areas of gaming—both for land-based and online verticals. This includes panel discussions on lottery, bingo, casino, sports betting, and even crime and security.

“The main topics for 2017 include a case study analysis of some of Latin America’s biggest markets, an assessment of the advances in legislation that the market is likely to see in the coming years, the importance of combatting the negative narrative which punctuates the gaming debate, the use of gaming tax revenues for social welfare, the fight against illegal gambling and organized crime, sports betting and integrity, player protection and AML best practices, attracting millennials and arguing the case for uniform regulation in the region,” Kate Chambers, managing director of Clarion Gaming, told CalvinAyre.com’s Becky Liggero.

Big rise ahead: Bitcoin price poised to hit $100,000 in 10 years

After correctly calling bitcoin’s $2,000 price this year, analyst Kay Van Petersen is looking long term for the cryptocurrency.

Van Petersen, a global macro strategist for Denmark-based Saxo Bank, predicted in December that the price of the popular digital currency will hit over $2,000 in 2017. Less than six months later, bitcoin powered through the $2,000 barrier and continued its rally towards a new record high of over $2,700.

At the time that Saxo Bank’s “Outrageous Predictions for 2017” was published, bitcoin was trading above $750, which means that Van Petersen’s forecast represented a 165 percent increase. This time, the analyst is back and making another call—a big one for the digital currency.

Van Petersen was quoted by CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal predicting that in 10 years, “bitcoin’s market capitalization would be ten times the average daily volume, giving a figure of $1.75 trillion for the market cap.” By that time, there will be 17 million bitcoin in circulation, which, when divided by the $1.75 trillion market cap estimate, will mean that “each bitcoin would be worth just over $100,000.”

Kindred Group rolls out latest Blueprint Gaming titles

Games including Wish Upon A Jackpot now available to players

Wednesday 31st May, 2017 – Blueprint Gaming, a leading UK-based game studio, has launched its latest releases from its rapidly-growing portfolio with Kindred Group.

Leading Blueprint slots such as the newly-released HTML5 version of Wish Upon A Jackpot, as well as King Kong Cash and Wild Antics are now live with the operator.

Further titles including Top Cat, Slots O’ Gold and Worms Reloaded, which are all part of Blueprint Gaming’s Jackpot King progressive system, will also be available soon to Kindred customers.

Girls in Tech launches Gibraltar chapter

Playtech joins as sponsor as organisation expands reach of empowerment and engagement of women in technology

Gibraltar: May 31st 2017 – Girls in Tech, a global organisation focused on the empowerment, entrepreneurship, engagement, and education of women in technology, is proud to announce the launch of its latest chapter in Gibraltar with major sponsorship from Playtech, the world’s leading supplier of omni-channel gaming software, systems and services.

Playtech is partnering with Girls in Tech Gibraltar as part of its commitment to increase diversity and inclusion in the gaming industry.

The Girls in Tech Gibraltar launch will take place in the La Sala Sapphire Bar on deck 3 of the Sunborn Hotel from 18:45 on Thursday June 1st, 2017.

Kamagames marks the 7th anniversary of its flagship title Pokerist with continued strong global growth

Dublin, Ireland – May 31st 2017 – Global developers and publishers of social casino games for mobile platforms the KamaGames Group, today announced another very successful year as they begin the company’s 7th Anniversary celebrations.

In a year that has seen overall growth across the industry, as well as new entrants into the space, KamaGames has continued to grow through a combination of strategic partnerships, a strong recruitment drive, the launch of several new products and the expansion into a number of emerging markets.

Daniel Kashti, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at KamaGames said “It’s been a great year in a very competitive landscape and to see 40%+ growth in revenue year on year is great testament to the quality of our portfolio and everyone’s hard work on daily basis. Pokerist, which is now marking its 7th anniversary, continues to show growth and is performing extremely well in terms of keeping existing and new players engaged and excited through its constant evolution.

We are very proud of what we have achieved this year but we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support of our partners and of course our millions of players around the world. As we look to the next 12 months, we are going to continue to provide the most realistic, exciting and fairest gaming experience through boosting our gaming offering by deepening the playing experience of our current games as well as introducing new games and new gaming experiences on new and emerging technology platforms. We are positive that players are going to be as passionate about our new titles being launched later this year as they are with Pokerist, Blackjackist, Roulettist and Baccarist”.

NBA betting odds: Underdog Cavs out to prove NBA 2017 finals win is no fluke

Remarkable sports stories that turn into legends often happen in trilogies.

The late Muhammad Ali possibly would never have been known as the World’s Greatest to a world of fans today if he turned down a final meeting with his ultimate rival Joe Frazier in the 70’s.

“Thrilla in Manila” – the third and final clash of the two heavyweight fighters – will soon go down in history as the greatest world title fight of all.

In basketball, who will ever forget the 80’s finals rivalry between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson which ended after their third meeting in a championship series?

CA Rundown May 31

In this episode of the CalvinAyre.com Rundown, Stephanie Raquel brings you the top industry news and the latest on Kenya’s tax hike on all gambling revenues, online casino tax obligations in the Philippines and Lee Davy’s interview with Michael Mizrachi.

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Super High Roller Bowl day 3: Schindler’s list of eliminations

Jake Schindler leads the final eight players at the Final Table of the Super High Roller Bowl after an outstanding Day 3 saw him eliminate a raft of dangerous opponents.

It seems the Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) likes former champions like a boutique likes smoked herring. Both the 2015 champion Brian Rast, and the 2016 champion Rainer Kempe both felt the axe on the back of their necks during a fast-paced Day 3 of the greatest high stakes tournament in the world.

19 players returned with the goal of making it to the Final Table, and Rast was the first player eliminated when he lost a flip against Jake Schindler. Kempe’s run ended when he ran pocket nines into the pocket tens of his countryman Stefan Schillhabel. Kempe was down to one big blind before running it up to 500k in a frenetic period before his elimination.

The former World Poker Tour (WPT) Alpha8 winner, Andrew Lichtenberger scurried back to his life of solitude after Jason Koon’s pocket tens made light work of luckychewy’s pocket sixes. And Daniel Negreanu won’t be extending his All-Time money lead over Erik Seidel after being coolered by the main man Schindler.