Monthly Archives: August 2017

City of Dreams boosts Belle Corp H1 net profit

Philippine-listed leisure estate and gaming firm Belle Corp. posted a 93 percent net profit gain in the first half of 2017 as it rides on the vibrant gambling activity in City of Dreams Manila.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Belle Corp announced that its net profit grew to PHP1.77 billion (US$35.25 million) in January to June 30, 2017 period, thanks to the leasing and gaming revenue of the integrated gaming resort.

Belle’s recurring net income for the first semester, which excludes capital gains on sales of non-core investments, amounted to PHP1.66 billion (US$33.06 million), up 82 percent year-on-year.

Through its 78.7 percent-owned subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC), Belle’s gaming income of City of Dreams more than doubled to PHP to P1.46 billion (US$29.08 million) for the first semester. The company said that this became possible due to the continued growth of gaming operations at the gaming resort.

Pojoaque Pueblo folds in years-long gaming compact battle with New Mexico

After years of fighting, leaders of the Pojoaque Pueblo tribe has relented to a new gambling compact with the state of New Mexico.

The tribe has been locked in a disagreement with Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration ever since its old gambling compact for its casinos located north of Santa Fe expired in June 2015. This prompted the Pojoaque Pueblo to turn to the U.S. Interior Department for a new compact, but the state government challenged that move in a separate lawsuit.

Pojoaque Pueblo accused the Martinez administration of wanting “unreasonably large share” of the tribe’s gambling revenue, but the state government said it only wants the tribe to accept the same arrangement that other tribes have adopted.

The ensuing legal fight ended in a loss for Pojoaque Pueblo with the appeals court ruling against the tribe in April, leaving the pueblo with few options.

Gaming suppliers form advisory panel for product innovation

Members of the casino gaming industry have teamed up to establish an advisory panel to endorse best practices for new product innovation.

The Innovation Adoption Advisory Panel (IAAP), seeks “to further spur continued innovation in casino gaming product development and commercialization,” the group said in a statement.

Members include gaming suppliers Interblock DD and GameCo, along with several senior executives from the casino gaming industry. Interblock specializes in casino electronic table games, while Australia-based GameCo manufactures skill-based video game gambling machines.

“Industry topics being considered by the IAAP include many disciplines that impact the casino gaming floor including floor optimization, player marketing, game development, demographic-based guest engagement, and casino gaming floor utilization and analysis,” the group said in a statement.

Pending merger drags Tabcorp to a US$16.6M net loss

Australian betting firm Tabcorp has bled millions of dollars in the 12 months through June as the its planned merger with rival Tatts Group drags on.

In a regulatory filing, Tabcorp reported a AUD20.8 million (US16.6 million) net loss compared to a net profit of AUD169.7 million (US$135.36 million) in the previous fiscal year. The only consolation for Tabcorp was the fact that its revenue was up 2 percent to AUD2.2 billion (US$1.75 billion) in the 2017 fiscal year.

Tabcorp attributed the losses to a series of events that happened in the company such as the AUSTRAC civil proceedings and Australian Federal Police Cambodia investigation; the proposed merger with Tatts Group (including the impact of the Tatts cash-settled equity swap); the Intecq acquisition; Sun Bets operating loss and assets impairment; and Melbourne premises relocation.

“The 2017 financial year was a strategically important year for Tabcorp as we reshaped the business for growth. The Group made investments in acquiring Intecq, establishing Sun Bets, and progressing the combination with Tatts Group, which we expect to complete by the end of the year,” Tabcorp chairman Paula Dwyer said in a statement.

Online gaming industry bets big on Bitcoin Cash

True to its reputation as an early adopter, the online gambling industry is now gearing up to help further the fledging success of the newest cryptocurrency in town—Bitcoin Cash.

First on the list is Bitcoin-only casino Slots.com, which announced that it will start accepting Bitcoin Cash on its platform, CoinGeek reported on Thursday. Slots.com’s announcement is “a ringing endorsement” for the new digital currency, and other companies are expected to follow soon.

The announcement came two days after the blockchain split event last Tuesday, which saw a group of miners “fork” from the main blockchain, paving the way for Bitcoin Cash. The split is the culmination of the years-long scaling debate within the bitcoin community as they search for a way to increase the blockchain network’s capacity from the original 1MB.

Bitcoin Cash promises to increase the block size to 8MB and remove SegWit, while also awarding people who own coins on the main bitcoin blockchain the same number of coins on the new Bitcoin Cash blockchain, effectively giving them a free dividend.

DFNN to list on Philippine bourse next year sans IPO

Philippine-based game technology provider DFNN is eyeing to go public next year as the company claws its way out of a deficit.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that DFNN, through its gaming service unit HatchAsia, will list some of its property dividend on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) by the second quarter of 2018 now that the firm is in a position to realize earnings and declare dividends.

DFNN president and chief executive officer Ramon Garcia, however, pointed out that it will go public by way of introduction instead of an initial public offering. By way of introduction, a pro-rata basis will be implemented for the distribution of shares to DFNN’s investors.

The PSE, however, will still require DFNN to make a public offering of shares within a year after listing by introduction.

Betfair NJ partners with GAN & Colossus Bets to introduce cash-out to US gaming audiences

Betfair announces the arrival of the Colossus Fracpot, the world’s first cash-out slot, to its New Jersey site. The US giant has partnered with leading gaming provider Game Account Network (GAN) and cash-out pioneer Colossus Bets, bringing cash-out to the US market for the first time ever across any gaming vertical.

Where traditional slots are designed to be an ‘all or nothing’ experience, Colossus Fracpot enables players to cash out their position and bank profits in fractions after each reel resolves. Cash-out functionality delivers phenomenal engagement figures with 91% of players offered a cash-out accepting the offer and 83% of those accepting, cashing out 50% or more of their ‘position’. When Colossus Fracpot was first introduced on Sky Vegas in 2015, it became Sky’s second biggest grossing game for that quarter.

Lorcan Kelly, Director of Betfair Casino in NJ said: “We are excited to bring an innovative new slot product to the NJ Casino market with Colossus Fracpot. We feel the Cash Out feature is one that is easy for customers to pick-up and will appeal as a unique, never seen before, product offering in the US”

Tom O’Halleran, Product Director of GAN said: “Working with Colossus Bets to bring this new slot concept to the New Jersey market has been a great experience. Cash Out is a feature that puts control of the game in the players hands, letting them make choices while the reels are still spinning, driving player engagement and stickiness to have them coming back again and again.”

AffiliateFEST announces educational event for iGaming affiliates

Annual gathering offers expert learning with tangible insights to help affiliates growth hack their businesses

LONDON, UK. 3rd August 2017 – AffiliateFEST, the annual independent growth accelerator focused on educating affiliates and sharing insights on digital growth hacking, is hosting its third annual event on 10th October 2017 at London’s Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square.

The goal of AffiliateFEST is to create a forum of intense learning that brings together iGaming affiliates and digital marketing experts to share tangible insights that help stimulate revenue growth. As the only purely educational event in the annual iGaming calendar, AffiliateFEST offers a personalised classroom environment.

The event is hosted by Lee-Ann Johnstone, CEO of Best Odds Marketing, who said that one of the core benefits is that the event is run under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). “Generally, iGaming conferences can be a bit thin on providing real actionable content, competition is fierce and people are naturally guarded about giving away their knowledge. We run AffiliateFEST under strict NDA so everybody in attendance, can benefit from the real nuts and bolts insights that you would normally only learn about in a private 1:1 setting.”

Calling the Clock: WPT Japan; Powerfest $35m GTD; Leonard on bitB Staking

In this week’s Calling The Clock the World Poker Tour announce plans to move into Japan, partypoker announce a $35m GTD Powerfest, and Patrick Leonard gives us a sneak peek behind the curtain at bitB Staking.

I always like to begin with the most important piece of news, and this week I give the nod to the World Poker Tour (WPT) and their envoy into the land of the rising sun.

I know the live grinders have begun belittling the tour for hosting an event that doesn’t have any cash prizes, but we have to remember that the legislation is not yet ironed out, and a presence in the region is better than no presence.

WPT Japan takes place November 23-26 in Tokyo, with the winner’s earning packages to future WPT Asia-Pacific based live events. Points made in the WPT Japan Main Event will also count in the WPT Asia-Pacific Player of the Year race.

Crown Resorts VIP revenue cut in half following China legal woes

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts saw its VIP gambling activity cut nearly in half in its most recent fiscal year following the company’s legal dustup in China.

On Friday, Crown released a report card detailing its performance over the 12 months to June 30, during which ‘normalized’ net profit after tax – so named because it attempts to smooth out the variance associated with VIP gambling – fell 15.5% to A$343m (US $272.6m).

Actual non-normalized profit nearly doubled to A$1.87b, although A$1.55b of this came via Crown’s dumping of its stake in the Melco Crown Entertainment joint venture (now operating as Melco Resorts & Entertainment) as part of Crown’s decision to restructure and refocus on its domestic resorts.

Speaking of, revenue at Crown’s domestic resorts fell 12.7% to A$2.8b, primarily due to VIP gambling revenue falling 49% year-on-year. By comparison, main floor gaming revenue was down only 1.4% to A$1.65b while non-gaming revenue gained 6.5% to A$718.5m. Domestic earnings were down 12.8% to A$828m.

Antigua and Barbuda Government welcomes vindication of Calvin Ayre as part of the failure by US to comply with WTO ruling on Internet Gaming

St John’s…    The Government of Antigua and Barbuda congratulates Mr, Calvin Ayre on the resolution of the criminal case brought against him in the United States.

The dismissal of all felony charges against Mr. Ayre, in a matter that dragged on for over 5 years, vindicates him entirely.

Mr. Ayre took up permanent residence in Antigua and Barbuda in 2007 after acquiring an existing gaming company. At all material times, his company was licensed by the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) to carry on gaming activities and complied with the stringent laws and regulations governing Internet Gaming.

In February 2012, Mr. Ayre was indicted by the US Attorney for Maryland on charges of illegal gambling, despite a legally-binding ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in March 2004 that the US government, by outlawing access of cross-border gaming, violated its treaty obligations to Antigua and Barbuda, under the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

Poker routines episode #9: Daniel Carter

In this week’s episode of Poker Routines, we take a look at the professional poker playing life of Daniel “danistheking’ Carter. 

Daniel Carter is an online grinder living in Cheltenham, England.

Carter’s online exploits have seen him win the PokerStars Thursday Thrill for $85,000, he has chopped the PokerStars Sunday Million for $100k on two separate occasions, and once won the partypoker Million for $200k.

Credit to Christian Zetzsche for the photos

First Cagayan lost half its online gambling licensees to PAGCOR

The Philippines’ former main online gambling licensing body has lost nearly half its licensees since the government assumed greater oversight of the industry last year.

This week, Francis Hernando, chief operating officer of Philippine gaming operator Leisure and Resorts World Corp (LRWC), told the Philippine Star that the company’s First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corp offshoot had lost nearly half its online gambling licensees since the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) rolled out its Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) program last year.

Hernando said First Cagayan’s pre-POGO roster of online licensees was 138 last year but this number has since fallen to less than 80. “We lost about 60. Those 60 transferred to POGO.” The rush for the exits appears to be gaining speed, as LRWC reported in May that there were still around 100 First Cagayan licensees in operation.

In January, Hernando issued letters to First Cagayan’s online licensees, pleading with them not to return their licenses and promising to invest up to $7m upgrading the notoriously insufficient infrastructure in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport. These pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears, although Hernando claimed a “Macau-based gaming company” planned to commence operations in the Freeport by October.

3: Barrels: Isildur heater; Kenny kills Super Tuesday; Staples on track

3: Barrels of an online flavour with Viktor ‘Isildur1′ Blom back in the thick of things, Kenny Hallaert continuing his heater with a Super Tuesday win, and the brothers Staples on course to land a $150,000 prop bet. 

Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom is back.

The man who is so special, Phil Galfond dedicated an entire personal blog post to him. The man who was involved in the ten biggest online cash game pots of all time. The man who built a legacy from facing everyone and anyone.

At the back end of June, Isildur1 raced into a $1.8m annual profit, bumped by a half a million pound 24-hour profit at the back end of June. The Swede has lost that money back in the days since but still sits second in the 2017 leaderboard on HighStakesDB (HSDB) with $1.2m in online cash profits playing on his PokerStars account.