Monthly Archives: July 2017

Duelling wild country stars feature in Microgaming’s latest release

ISLE OF MAN – Microgaming brings some southern charm to players this August with Oink Country Love.

Oink Country Love will have players tapping their feet to the country beat with the lovable Oink Bros, Willy and Chancho, who are trying to win over the heart of Miss Southern Charm in this five by three reel, 45-line online slot.

The game features rich graphics and an ornately designed background, featuring subtle but impactful animations throughout. In addition a foot-tapping soundtrack sets the stage for a spectacular showdown. Treating players to Banjo and Violin medleys, Willy and Chancho appear on the reels as wilds that can act as both single and mixed paying symbols.

Free spins is where the party really begins and landing three or more golden ticket scatters opens up the doors to the Barnyard Bash feature, which can award up to 80 free spins. During the feature, Willy and Chancho will appear more frequently to give players an unforgettable performance and a chance to retrigger an infinite amount of free spins to keep the party going all night!

Cordish Gaming to sue Madrid over casino project rejection

US casino operator Cordish Gaming says it will take legal action to protest Madrid’s regional government rejecting the company’s proposal to build a €3b integrated resort project.

On Friday, Spanish media reported that Madrid officials had rejected Cordish’s latest plan to build its Live Resorts Madrid project. The rejection was the second time Madrid’s government had found fault with Cordish’s efforts to bring big-time casino gaming to the region.

On Saturday, Cordish issued a statement expressing annoyance at having learned of the rejection not from Madrid’s government, but through reports that were apparently leaked to the media by certain government officials.

Cordish also said it had observed “very serious irregularities” in the application process regarding “professional secrecy” of intellectual and industrial property. As a result, Cordish intends to “vigorously pursue the exercise of all legal actions that may be in defense of their legitimate interests against the regional government and the responsible persons concerned.”

Goa’s floating casinos must move onshore within three years

Goa’s floating casinos will be moved onshore within three years and locals won’t be allowed inside, according to the Indian state’s chief minister.

On Monday, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar informed the state legislative assembly that the five shipboard casinos currently offering gambling services on the Mandovi river will all be moved to a land-based “special entertainment zone” within the next three years.

Responding to questions from opposition MLAs, Parrikar said his government was formulating a new gaming policy that would eliminate language referring to casino “vessels,” thus ensuring that the floating casinos “will cease to exist.”

Furthermore, Parrikar stated that the new policy would impose a hard cap on the number of existing floating casinos at five. A sixth casino, the MV Lucky 7 (pictured), ran aground last weekend while being towed to its permanent mooring point on the Mandovi.

BoyleSports founder names son-in-law Conor Gray new CEO

The founder of Irish betting operator BoyleSports has named his son-in-law as the company’s new chief executive.

John Boyle announced last month that he would be relinquishing the CEO’s role in the company he founded 35 years ago. Boyle, who had been CEO since 2012, said he was “ready to step back from the frontline” and suggested that his replacement would be someone within the family-owned business.

This weekend, Boyle confirmed that the company’s new CEO would be his son-in-law, Conor Gray (pictured), who has worked with BoyleSports since 2001. Gray, who began his BoyleSports career as a trainee cashier in a Dublin betting shop, is married to Boyle’s daughter Kerry. Boyle’s two other daughters also work for the company.

Gray has since handled a number of key roles in the company’s, IT, trading and digital departments. In 2013, he relocated to Asia to handle relationship development work before returning to Ireland the following year to become the company’s chief operating officer.

China lottery sales dip; Myanmar e-lottery could hire int’l firms

China’s lottery sales took a slight dip in June but sales remain up over the first half of 2017.

On Sunday, China’s Ministry of Finance announced that mainland lottery sales fell 0.3% year-on-year to RMB 33.8b (US $5b) in the month of June. In a reversal of recent trends, welfare lottery sales rose 8.8% to RMB 17.8b while sports lottery figures declined 8.9% to RMB 16b.

For the first half of 2017, overall sales are up 5.5% to RMB 205b, with the welfare lottery up 3.7% to RMB 106.1b and sports lottery sales up 7.6% to RMB 98.9b. The Ministry reported H1 sales gains in 24 of the 31 mainland provinces and municipalities authorized to sell lottery products.

Just over China’s southern border in Myanmar, the government has announced that it might allow international firms to play a role in the country’s launch of digital lottery sales.

Donaco to fill Star Vegas halls with 100 new gaming tables

Fresh off signing deals with several international junkets, casino operator Donaco International is now looking to add 100 gaming tables to its flagship Star Vegas casino in Cambodia.

The new tables, which will be added over the next few months, will add to the 140 tables that Star Vegas already has available for its Thai players and will fill almost all of the available space in the property, the Australia-listed company said in a filing on Monday.

Donaco said the expansion of the gaming floor stemmed from a deal with international casino market agency Vivo Tower Ltd. to bring new junket operators to the property.

If you recall, the Australian casino company signed a contract with Vivo Tower to broker deals with junket operators in Macau, Hong Kong, Malaysia and beyond to ferry high-rolling gamblers to Star Vegas.

Shred at the slots with Yggdrasil’s rockin’ leprechaun Rainbow Ryan

24th July, 2017 ­­–  Get ready to rock with Yggdrasil Gaming’s rebellious new slot, Rainbow Ryan, featuring a pint-sized superstar who jams perfectly in tune with the reels.

The game’s main feature is synced reels, which sees Ryan shred riffs at any time in the base game to sync up to six reels.

Even sweeter tunes await during Free Spins, where players will have at least two synced reels every spin, with the chance for more synced reels with each consecutive spin.

The game’s main character might be small but the wins are big as players can win up to a staggering €510,000 with a single spin.

Reflex continues upward momentum with BetVictor business win

Reflex Gaming has announced its second major business win of the year, concluding an international games deal with BetVictor. Under the terms of the agreement, BetVictor will take the portfolio of Reflex games across their entire international business. The BetVictor distribution agreement is the second step in Reflex Gaming’s online development strategy and follows the contract with William Hill, which was signed at February’s ICE exhibition. Reflex has also confirmed that it is on poised to announce additional business wins with Tier 1 operators in Q3 of 2017.

Former Inspired senior executive Mat Ingram, who was appointed Chief Product Officer at Reflex in July 2016, is pleased with the progress that’s being made and the positive response from the market. “Reflex entered the digital space with a fantastic reputation for creative game content earned in bricks and mortar gaming but as relative online unknowns” he said. “We took the lessons learned at ICE 2016, invested in our infrastructure, invested in the team, signed a RGS deal with Gameiom and have now secured two significant contracts with bluechip, highly respected organisations. Some of the games have been designed specifically for BetVictor and will be exclusive to them. All games in the portfolio have been fully localised to BetVictor’s international requirements and are available on desktop, mobile and tablet.”

He added: “I think having a strong and independent identity is something that the market values. The team, which has been strengthened with the appointment of Senior Game Producer Steve Kick and his counterpart Mike Salt, who is responsible for analogue development, is hungry for success.  We’ve been described as the ‘new kids on the digital block’ and there is an energy which is more often associated with start-ups, however in our case we also have the substance to have been named one of the UK’s most successful privately owned tech companies and the track record of a business that was established in 2004. It’s a great combination and one which provides a solid platform for continued growth.”