Monthly Archives: January 2019

Aussie Millions Update: Michael Gathy wins the AUD 2,500 8-Game Mixed

The action continues at the Aussie Millions with Belgium picking up back-to-back wins after Michael Gathy wins the AUD 2,500 8-Game Mixed a day after Bart Lybaert’s triumph.

The Brussels Times would like to inform you that by the time we slow dance our way to 2070 there will be 13.2 million living in Belgium, and that’s not a good thing for poker, because they seem to be bloody good at it.

The day after the Belgian, Bart Lybaert, won an ANTON Championship ring at the Aussie Millions, his compatriot Michael Gathy did likewise winning Event #7: AUD 2,500 8-Game.

It’s the first time that Gathy has won a non-Hold’em event with his previous five victories all coming while riding the Cadillac of Poker, including three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, and his last win, a side event victory at the  PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau in February 2018.

What’s on the agenda for SPiCE 2019 from February 25-27th?

SPiCE or Strategic Platform for iGaming Conference and Exhibition 2019 by Eventus International is being held during 25-27 February at Goa Marriott Resort & Spa.

The 2018 version of the event was called Sports Betting and Gaming India Summit (SGBI), which facilitated discussions on various aspects of betting, gaming and gambling. The event received a great response from delegates who turned up in good numbers. SBGI 2018 was held on 27-28 February 2018 at Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa.

Some of the important discussions, panels and presentations at SBGI 2018 were on topics including growth markets and opportunities in India, sports integrity and responsible gaming, gambling and betting in sports legalisation in India, fantasy sports, mobile gaming, and poker & rummy in India.

Eventus International has rebranded SGBI to SPiCE. Here, we have outlined the agenda of the event being held in Goa in February this year.

DOJO Madness & Sportradar create Bayes Esports Solution; VIE joins ESIC

Two Esports related news stories including DOJO Madness and Sportradar creating a joint Esports venture: Bayes Esports Solution, and the Esports Entertainment Group Inc., joins the Esports Integrity Coalition.

The world has gone officially nuts.

There is now an Esports league based on the game Farming Simulator where you can drive around your plot of land in a tractor, milk chickens, and teach your cows to lay eggs with the best players winning upwards of $280,000 doing so.

All of which means, at some point in the near future, if it doesn’t already exist, someone, somewhere, is going to run a book on the game, meaning the requirement of data, lots of data, and this is where DOJO Madness and Sportradar step into the breach.

Triton Poker SHR Series returns to Jeju in March with six events

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series returns to Jeju Island, South Korea in March where the world’s top players, and the wealthiest amateurs, compete for millions of dollars in the highest stakes cash game and tournament action in the world.

If you’re a high stakes poker player, then the one number you do not want to delete from your phone is the one that extends down the ear canal of those running the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series (SHR).

The attention to detail at a Triton event is incredible. It’s the type of event where someone catches your orange peel before it hits the floor. The players are given the red carpet treatment from the moment they arrive at the airport to the time they leave. The menu of games is unmatched, the value is there for all to see, and most crucially, they have fun.

So if you run with those hares, you’ll be glad to hear that they’re back. You’ve no doubt seen the Avengeresque teaser-trailer promising six events throughout 2019, including a game with a buy-in exceeding $1m, and today, Triton, has released even more information.

Empire Resorts to shut Monticello casino to protect Catskills casino

New York casino operator Empire Resorts is shutting down slots operations at the Monticello Casino & Raceway to avoid cannibalizing its new Catskills property.

On Tuesday, Empire informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the subsidiary that runs Monticello had told its staff that the property would close its video gaming machine (VGM) operations “on or about April 23, 2019.” Monticello’s harness racing operations will remain as they are, at least, for the time being.

Empire CEO Ryan Eller was blunt about the reason behind the closure, saying the company needed to “improve revenue performance at our nearly Resorts World Catskills property,” the flashy $1.2b New York casino newcomer that opened its doors to the public in February 2018.

Resorts World Catskills has so far failed to live up to its original revenue projections, as have the other three upstate commercial casinos the state authorized in 2015. Empire expected the Catskills venue to generate $277m in its first year of operations but the venue managed only half that sum in its first 11 months.

Ireland’s lottery retailers fail underage mystery shopper test

Ireland’s national lottery operator is wearing egg on its face after regulators found that more than one-third of underage residents could purchase lottery products.

On Wednesday, Irish media reported that the Office of the Regulator of the National Lottery (ORNL) had tasked Ipsos MRBI with conducting a mystery shopper test in which individuals under the age of 18 years were sent to 510 Irish National Lottery retailers to see if they could purchase lottery scratch cards.

The test, which was conducted last summer and involved subjects as young as 15, found that 37% of lottery retailers agreed to sell these underage customers scratch cards. The regulator hastened to add that the tests only went as far as getting the retailer to commence the sale process, and that no scratch cards were actually purchased by these babes in the lottery woods.

The test also found that 27% of lottery retailers failed to display the required signage indicating that lottery purchases were limited to customers 18 years or older. Only half (51%) of shops lacking signage refused the underage purchase requests, compared with 67% in shops displaying the required signage.

Evolution Gaming ink live dealer casino deal with DraftKings

Live casino specialists Evolution Gaming have agreed to help expand the online gambling offering of DraftKings.

On Thursday, the Stockholm-listed Evolution announced that it had inked a deal to supply DraftKings with a live casino product from Evolution’s live dealer studio in Atlantic City. Evolution’s AC studio already provides live casino services to a who’s who of New Jersey-licensed online gambling operators.

DraftKings, which until last year was a pure DFS operator, has become a leading sports betting operator in many states where such activity has been authorized and was the first operator to offer online betting New Jersey. Last December, DraftKings’ New Jersey site debuted its online casino offering, the first time the company had offered any casino products anywhere.

Thursday’s announcement gave no hint on when DraftKings’ live casino might launch, and Evolution’s chief business officer James Stern would only say that his company would “very much look forward to working with DraftKings on this project.”

Belgium mulls sanctions against Betway over lack of transparency

Belgium’s gambling regulator is preparing to lower the boom on online gambling operator Betway over an alleged “lack of transparency” in the company’s ownership.

On Wednesday, Belgian media quoted Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) spokesperson Marjolein De Paepe saying the regulator had “started a sanction procedure” against Betway “because of the cumulative license and the lack of transparency.”

De Paepe went on to say that the BGC’s findings will be shared with “the public prosecutor, the anti-money laundering unit [Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit] and the Special Tax Inspectorate. Until those entities weigh in, the BGC doesn’t intend to release any further info.

Betway received a BGC license in 2015 after securing a land-based partnership with Casino Austria International’s Grand Casino Brussels. Belgian law requires all online operators to team with a local land-based operator.

Malta Gaming Authority suspends Gamebet’s parent co. license

Malta’s gaming regulators have suspended the license of the company behind online gambling site GameBet.com.

On Wednesday, the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) announced that it had suspended the gaming license of Bet Service Group Ltd, the parent company of GameBet. The company has been ordered to “indefinitely” suspend gaming operations, cease signing up new customers or accepting deposits and submit all data sought by the MGA.

The MGA said it wouldn’t release any further information regarding its rationale for suspending Bet Service’s license so as not to “compromise any investigations” that the MGA or “any other competent authority” may need to perform. But the MGA did invite players who have “any outstanding payments due to them” from Bet Service to contact the regulator with details.

Despite the MGA’s announcement, as of Thursday, the GameBet.com site continues to display the MGA logo and the site’s fine print continues to claim that the site’s sportsbook is “licensed and regulated” by the MGA, while its other gaming products are licensed by the jurisdiction of Curacao.