Monthly Archives: July 2017

UK gambling operators told to put consumers first or face “full range of enforcement powers”

UK-licensed online gambling operators have been told to put consumers first or face the wrath of the country’s gambling regulator.

On Wednesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) unveiled its new enforcement strategy for licensees who violate the terms of their licensing agreements. The strategy, which followed a 12-week consultation period with industry stakeholders, emphasizes the price for failing to observe the UKGC’s new ‘consumer first’ policy.

The UKGC says operators who flout the rules will face financial penalties that ensure the offender doesn’t reap “any financial gain or benefit from non-compliance.” The UKGC will also consider the impact of the offense on consumers as well as “the need for a deterrence uplift” to ensure that non-compliance is more costly than compliance.

Other factors in determining penalties include the role of middle and senior management in the breach, whether the breach continued after the operator (or its board members) became aware of it, and whether the operator attempted to conceal its failure or breach. And while the UKGC will offer a discount to operators who come forward of their own accord and reach voluntary settlements, disciplined operators won’t be allowed to “generate positive publicity” from their settlement deals.

Tom Horn present fruit machine classic with a 243 twist

Tom Horn Gaming has launched its newest slot 243 Crystal Fruits, skilfully combining a vintage fruit machine theme with exciting winning opportunities.

Leading casino software supplier Tom Horn Gaming has announced the launch of 243 Crystal Fruits, a new game that adds an exhilarating twist to the traditional fruit slot experience.

This revamped classic displays beautifully rendered crystal-like fruit symbols across a 5 x 3 slot, offering a nostalgic back-drop to the game’s revolutionary new feature.

Indeed, hidden among the crystal fruit is a 243 WILD symbol, which grows the game’s five paylines into a massive 243 paylines when appearing on the first, third or fifth reel.

GRWA returning in August 2017

Australia’s gaming and gambling market is currently valued over $18 billion USD. With massive growth comes greater challenges as well as new opportunities.

The 8th annual edition of Gaming, Racing & Wagering Australia is returning on 14-16 of August, at the Novotel Darling Harbour in Sydney.

New features this year include a first-ever interactive pre-conference workshop, going beyond the basics, focusing on how to stage and market a successful eSports event, and discussing how to acquire and engage the new generation of consumers.

The 2-day main summit will delve into important regulatory and business development issues for the Casino, Clubs & Gaming and Wagering & Racing industries.  The main sessions will include the latest regulatory updates, news from key international markets, innovation, security, diversification strategies and much more.

Extreme Live Gaming partners with BToBet

Extreme Live Gaming, part of the NOVOMATIC Group of Companies, is delighted to announce and welcome BtoBet as its latest Live Dealer partner. In an exciting partnership, Extreme will supply its games to BtoBet’s online gaming and sports betting platform from its London studios.

BtoBet will be offering Extreme’s Roulette, Blackjack and Baccarat games. The Extreme Roulette suite features unique and exclusive NOVOMATIC-themed titles such as Book of Ra™, Sizzling Hot™, Lucky Lady’s Charm™, and Dolphins Pearl™. Broadcasting from its London studios and licensed in the UK and utilising HTML5 technology, Extreme Live Gaming also delivers social themed games such as Club Roulette and Golden Ball, an authentic land base casino Roulette through Live Box streamed for Casino Admiral Gibraltar, and a range of leading Baccarat and Blackjack products.

Extreme Live Gaming’s founder and CEO Darwyn Palenzuela, stated: “BtoBet is a particularly attractive and exciting partner for Extreme Live Gaming. At Extreme product innovation, application of new technology and the drive to allow operators to optimise their potential are our key motivations. In BtoBet we see a partner for our business who demonstrates these attributes in everything they do.”

Following the launch, Kostandina Zafirovska, CEO at BtoBet commented: “At BtoBet we are continually living up to our vision of delivering challenging and innovative technical solutions to our customers. Our partnership with Extreme Live Gaming demonstrates the key elements of our strategy and growth and we look forward to moving forward together“

NEKTAN PLC acquires digital marketing firm from Betfred founder

NEKTAN PLC has announced the acquisition of Nektan Marketing Services in a deal with Fred Done (Betfred) and Warren Jacobs (ActiveWin Media).

The joint venture between Done, Jacobs and NEKTAN PLC was first announced in September 2015. Trading as Nektan Marketing Services, the business was set up as a platform to combine NEKTAN’s cutting edge gaming technology with Jacobs and Done’s acquisition and retention expertise to increase revenue for NEKTAN’s third party brands.

NEKTAN PLC Chief Executive, Gary Shaw, commented: ‘With the evolution of our business, and strong growth in revenues, the timing was right to acquire full control of Nektan Marketing Services. The move will allow us to integrate a slick, full turnkey solution for operators in-house. The expectation is that we will build on the considerable knowledge base and success of NMS under the guidance of Warren and Fred.’

Fred Done, founder of Betfred, added: ‘This joint venture perfectly demonstrates our ability to inject strong industry knowledge and highly effective marketing services to the gaming sector. We are delighted with the results for NMS and therefore, NEKTAN PLC and look forward to facing new challenges head-on in the global gaming arena.’

South Korea poised to join Japan in regulating bitcoin

In a bid to protect traders from the so-called perils of bitcoin, lawmakers in South Korea are drawing up a set of bill that will give digital currencies legal grounds in the country.

Leading the charge is Rep. Park Yong-jin, member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who plans to introduce at least three revisions “to build a set of regulatory frameworks for digital currencies,” according to The Korea Herald.

Before getting to the legalization process, Park first needs to revise the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, and the revision will require businesses involved in cryptocurrencies to get regulatory approval from the country’s Financial Services Commission. To secure the approval, the companies need to retail capital of at least $436,300 and comply with strict know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines.

The other revisions will address income and corporate tax laws, enabling financial authorities to curb any instances of tax evasion from digital currency-related transactions.

Philippine Police: Travellers International negligent in Resorts World Manila deaths

Philippine authorities are finalizing criminal charges against casino operator Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. in connection with the deadly rampage at Resorts World Manila (RWM) that left 38 people, including the gunman, dead.

Manila Times reported the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies is expected to file charges of negligence resulting in multiple homicides against the RWM management.

According to PNP National Capital Region Director Oscar Albayde, three of the victims’ relatives are backing their lawsuit against the casino operator.

Albayde expressed confidence that the PNP have a strong case against RWM, especially after the casino security forces admitted to investigators that they abandoned monitoring of a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera of the casino and entertainment complex while Jessie Carlos was wreaking havoc on the property before shooting himself dead.

Delta Corp. enters online gambling space with Adda52.com buy

Gaming and hospitality company Delta Corp. has successfully made its foray into India’s online gambling space.

In a regulatory filing to the National Stock Exchange of India, Delta Corp. announced that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved its merger with Gauss Networks Pvt. Ltd., the company that owns and operates India’s largest poker site Adda52.com.

Under the deal, Delta Corp. purchased 2,501 equity shares and 10,753 compulsorily convertible preference shares, which represent 25.99 percent of Gauss Networks’ total share capital.

Delta Corp. announced its plans to acquire Adda52 in August 2016. At the time, the hospitality company said it expected to pay INR47.30 crore (USD7.06 million) in cash to purchase 26 percent of Gaussian Networks’ shares.

Alan King Lun Lau in charge of Day 1B Main Event; Kenji Haida triumphs the NLH 1Day #2

Poipet, Cambodia, July 4, 2017 – Hong Kong pro Alan King Lun Lau ended Day 1B of the APT Main Event in a position he has claimed a multitude of times throughout his poker career, at the very top.

Overall Chip Leader heading into Day 2, Alan Lau

Throughout the day, Lau was one of the players that kept his stack well above average. At round 7, he railed Japan’s Hisashi Ogi, denying Ogi the chance for a second APT Main Event title. While this helped boost his stack, Lau’s biggest customer of the day was Malaysian pro Sam Nee Aik Chuan.

When the field trimmed down to two tables, both players – Lau and Chuan – won some big pots to momentarily own the leader’s status but it was Lau who eventually edged Chuan during the final hands of the night. On a board of3♦ 5♦ 6♦ and a raised pot preflop before them, heavy betting followed. Lau kicked it off with a 1,500 bet, Chuan check-raised to 4,800, Lau replied with a 12K three-bet, Chuan pumped it up further to 23.3K, then Lau moved all in for an additional 62,750. Although Chuan had Lau covered, he couldn’t pull the trigger and folded while exposing his A♦. The final hand of the night also went to Lau to make him the only player with a six-digit stack of 106,450.

Playtech Launches Ice Cave

London: July 5th 2017 – Playtech, the world’s leading Omni-channel gaming software, systems and services supplier, has unveiled Ice Cave, a Norse-themed slot game bursting with dynamic features and bonus rounds.

Venture back to the age of the Vikings and join the warriors in this thunderous five-reel, 20-line slot game, that truly packs-a-punch with a powerful and popular theme, stunning graphics and more ways-to-win with a host of exciting bonus features.

Players can freeze Ice Wilds across the reels for cool combinations and triple wild wins on any spin for a chance to win some huge cash prizes.

Watch as the Hammer Wilds invade the reels, smashing into action and thawing any frozen wilds to boost pay outs by up to three times the value.

Slovakian government starts scouring the internet for illegal gambling

The Slovakian government is playing an Orwellian big brother on the countries cyberspace targeting illegal online gambling websites.

So far, the Slovakian government had already declared victory against this website since they started scouring the internet for illegal gambling activities over the weekend. The Slovak Spectator reported that the government is set to reveal its list of banned websites on July 17.

The country’s Financial Administrator announced they will be giving weekly updates on the progress of their crackdown on illegal online gambling in the coming weeks after it has revealed its list.

Finance Ministry State Secretary Radko Kuru said the crackdown was made possible by the recently adopted legislation.

Leading operators go live with Playtech BGT Sports’ BetTracker product

5th July 2017, London – Playtech BGT Sports (PBS), the leading provider of omni-channel sports betting solutions, has rolled-out its BetTracker product to a host of operators ahead of the new football season.

The innovative app, which allows customers to transfer sports bets placed on shop SSBTs to their mobile devices, is now live with BetFred, JenningsBet, Boylesports, Sean Graham, and Corbett’s.

Independent operators Joe Jennings, David Pluck, and Chisholm will also be offering their customers the product in the coming weeks.

The app allows operators to improve the multi-channel experience for its retail customers, with users able to monitor and cash-out shop bets on their personal mobile device.

The National Lottery boosts digital marketing push

OtherLevels’ intelligent messaging to help Camelot better engage with its players

London, 5th July 2017 – Digital marketing platform provider OtherLevels has significantly extended its relationship with Camelot by supplying the UK’s National Lottery operator with additional messaging capabilities to further boost player engagement.

Camelot has integrated the supplier’s Web Push and Rich Inbox messaging services, broadening the way in which the organisation can send messages to National Lottery players via a desktop or mobile browser.

Web Push on desktop is designed to widen the operator’s reach with its players, at various parts of the conversion funnel, who have previously been unreachable.

CA Rundown July 5

In this episode of the CalvinAyre.com Rundown, Stephanie Raquel brings you the top industry news and the latest on Okada family feud, anti-kickback in the Philippines and online gambling operator Jonny Ferrari versus Cambodia.

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Susan O’Leary on the importance of sound regulatory framework

In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Stephanie Raquel, Susan O’Leary, director of eCommerce for Alderney eGambling, explains why Alderney is a good alternative for online licensees.

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Five-year research and development project solves SEO

Search Engine Optimisation is no longer a mysterious dark art. After concluding a five-year research and development project, REACH.AI, Media Skunk Works announce SEO is now officially dead!

In 2012, York-based innovation laboratory, MSW set out to industrialise the SEO industry. Twelve months later, it relocated to the York Science Park and that turned out to be a vital move for the fledgeling operation.

This commenced with a project in collaboration with the University of York’s Head of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Suresh Manandhar.

Machine learning is often described as the process of extracting knowledge from data, similar to refining petroleum from crude oil. Today, A.I. is ubiquitous and the largest company for it in the world is Google.

3: Barrels: Stars global rewards; Hart & Bolt in #Gameon; Power Up Alpha

3: Barrels of a PokerStars nature as the Stars Rewards scheme rolls out globally, Kevin Hart and Usain Bolt feature in the #Gameon social media campaign, and PokerStars Power Up heads into Alpha testing.

PokerStars is like an ancient glacier melting underneath the heat of change. Only they won’t vanish. There is something else beneath the ice, and by the end of this week, unless you live in New Jersey, you will all be able to see it.

Everything you ever knew about PokerStars loyalty program is dead. You can moan and groan like a grizzly bear awoken prematurely from hibernation, but there is no going back. What you see is what you get.

The Stars Rewards program launched in Denmark, back in May. The Italian market followed soon after, and today I received word that France, Spain, and Portugal are making the transition as I type, with the rest of the world to follow on July 6.

AGTech, SF Express launch lottery scratch ticket delivery service

China’s lottery players may not be able to purchase tickets online, but at least they no longer have to traipse down to the shops to scratch their lottery itch thanks to a new joint venture.

In April, Hong Kong-based lottery technology supplier AGTech Holdings announced a joint venture with Shenzhen-based SF Express Co Ltd, a leading courier delivery business. On Tuesday, the partners’ SF Lottery venture launched their new SF-Themed Instant Scratch Lottery product.

The product is unique in that customers receiving a parcel via an SF courier can purchase tickets directly from the courier. Customers can also place bulk orders for the SF tickets and have them couriered directly to their residence.

Even better, prizes can be redeemed by using the SF Financial app to scan the ticket’s QR code, sparing winners the long trek down to the closest lottery office. The hope is that the more easily accessible product will expand the potential market for instant scratch tickets, which accounted for RMB 28.5b (US $4.2b) in sales in 2016.