UK-facing global lottery wagering brand to offer customers Pariplay-developed online scratch cards

December 2016 – Pariplay Ltd., a gaming technology company serving iGaming operators, iLotteries and land-based casinos, has announced a partnership with World Lottery Club, the Isle of Man-based international lottery betting brand operated by Annexio Limited. Under the agreement, Pariplay’s entire portfolio of branded and original online scratch cards will integrate with World Lottery Club online offering.

The in-house development studio of Pariplay is strongly focused on developing games in a wide range of different iGaming verticals. In addition to bringing to market cutting-edge branded online casino slots such as Atari Star Raiders®, Atari Black Widow® and The Three Stooges®, as well as original slots, bingo and keno games, the company’s studio has also developed a diverse portfolio of online scratch cards.

Pariplay’s suite of scratch cards will feature exclusively in the new scratch card offering of World Lottery Club. Regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, the brand’s recently-launched scratch card website section will host both Pariplay’s branded scratch cards such as Atari Star Raiders® as well as original scratch cards like Dragon Scrolls, Cops & Robbers, Ocean Fortune, Fruit Basket, and Mega Love, among many others.

UK-facing global lottery wagering brand to offer customers Pariplay-developed online scratch cards

December 2016 – Pariplay Ltd., a gaming technology company serving iGaming operators, iLotteries and land-based casinos, has announced a partnership with World Lottery Club, the Isle of Man-based international lottery betting brand operated by Annexio Limited. Under the agreement, Pariplay’s entire portfolio of branded and original online scratch cards will integrate with World Lottery Club online offering.

The in-house development studio of Pariplay is strongly focused on developing games in a wide range of different iGaming verticals. In addition to bringing to market cutting-edge branded online casino slots such as Atari Star Raiders®, Atari Black Widow® and The Three Stooges®, as well as original slots, bingo and keno games, the company’s studio has also developed a diverse portfolio of online scratch cards.

Pariplay’s suite of scratch cards will feature exclusively in the new scratch card offering of World Lottery Club. Regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, the brand’s recently-launched scratch card website section will host both Pariplay’s branded scratch cards such as Atari Star Raiders® as well as original scratch cards like Dragon Scrolls, Cops & Robbers, Ocean Fortune, Fruit Basket, and Mega Love, among many others.

Deal with merged entity formed of Veikkaus, RAY and Fintoto significant step in growing key regulated market.

London: December 2016 – Playtech, the world’s leading gaming content and software, systems and services supplier, and Veikkaus, the lead brand behind the country’s enlarged FRV Finland group made up of the recently merged Veikkaus, RAY and Fintoto companies, have agreed a landmark contract that will guarantee growth in the Finnish market.

Building on six years of partnering with RAY, Finland’s Slot Machine Association, Playtech will supply the new Veikkaus-led brand with a full suite of exclusive, best-performing Playtech games and casino content with further phases planned for the future.

The new brand is formed of three merged government-managed companies including Veikkaus, RAY, and Fintoto and has plans to significantly grow the market in the coming years.

Gaming Innovation Group Inc. (GIG) has received an early Christmas present: the fast growing gaming technology and software service provider has obtained a Class 4 Remote Gaming License from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) for its subsidiary BettingCloud Ltd.

This B2B supplier license allows the Company to supply its sports betting product to other licensed operators.

Wetten.com – first operator client to launch on new license

”We have reached a major milestone as we are now a fully licensed B2B gaming service provider for the Sportsbetting vertical. GIG is continuing to branch out in the iGaming value chain and is now a fully-fledged gaming service provider”, comments GIG CEO Robin Reed.

Cristiano Ronaldo is helping PokerStars promote their online poker room in his native home to significant effect, but needs to try a lot harder with his most recent #RaiseIt videos.

PokerStars are taking full advantage of being the only gunslinger in the Portuguese regulated and fully licensed online poker market by bringing out their bazooka.

The Portuguese revere Cristiano Ronaldo as a God. The 2016 Ballon d’Or winner single-footedly delivered the European Championships to the Portuguese public in the summer, their first major tournament victory. So it makes perfect sense for PokerStars to use him to usher more players to their tables.

The new ad campaign, dubbed ‘The Game,’ features Ronaldo playing in a home game with friends and the early signs show the ad has had the desired effect. Although statistics drawn from the online poker traffic ranking site, PokerScout, are a tad unreliable, PokerStars.pt was ranking ahead of 888Poker as the second busiest online cash game poker room on the planet.

Cristiano Ronaldo is helping PokerStars promote their online poker room in his native home to significant effect, but needs to try a lot harder with his most recent #RaiseIt videos.

PokerStars are taking full advantage of being the only gunslinger in the Portuguese regulated and fully licensed online poker market by bringing out their bazooka.

The Portuguese revere Cristiano Ronaldo as a God. The 2016 Ballon d’Or winner single-footedly delivered the European Championships to the Portuguese public in the summer, their first major tournament victory. So it makes perfect sense for PokerStars to use him to usher more players to their tables.

The new ad campaign, dubbed ‘The Game,’ features Ronaldo playing in a home game with friends and the early signs show the ad has had the desired effect. Although statistics drawn from the online poker traffic ranking site, PokerScout, are a tad unreliable, PokerStars.pt was ranking ahead of 888Poker as the second busiest online cash game poker room on the planet.

The European Poker Tour Prague signifies the end of an era as the tour rebrands into the PokerStars Championship. And Lee Davy reminds the PokerStars team to pay attention to the action at the rock face if they are to continue their rise to greatness.

I am on a minimalist kick.

For the next 30-days, I am getting rid of my stuff. One item on day one, two items on day two – all the way until I am getting rid of 30 items on the last day. I don’t think I will stop. I have sold my TV, a few board games and donated over 20 books to charity. And today, I am about to throw out my copy of Ten Years of the European Poker Tour (EPT).

Jasper Meijer van Putten became the winner of the last EPT Main Event when he managed to prevent David Peters from capping off a mesmerising 2016 in Prague (I wouldn’t like to be the man engraving that name into the trophy). William Kassouf proved that he is not all mouth by winning the final €10,300 High Roller.

The European Poker Tour Prague signifies the end of an era as the tour rebrands into the PokerStars Championship. And Lee Davy reminds the PokerStars team to pay attention to the action at the rock face if they are to continue their rise to greatness.

I am on a minimalist kick.

For the next 30-days, I am getting rid of my stuff. One item on day one, two items on day two – all the way until I am getting rid of 30 items on the last day. I don’t think I will stop. I have sold my TV, a few board games and donated over 20 books to charity. And today, I am about to throw out my copy of Ten Years of the European Poker Tour (EPT).

Jasper Meijer van Putten became the winner of the last EPT Main Event when he managed to prevent David Peters from capping off a mesmerising 2016 in Prague (I wouldn’t like to be the man engraving that name into the trophy). William Kassouf proved that he is not all mouth by winning the final €10,300 High Roller.

UK-listed online gambling operator GVC Holdings has shed the online payments operation it inherited from its acquisition of Bwin.party digital entertainment.

On Monday, GVC announced that it had reached a deal to dispose of its Kalixa Group payments processing business to Singapore investment firm Senjō Group Pte Ltd. The sale doesn’t include Kalixa’s ewallet subsididary Kalixa Pay Ltd, which GVC intends to close following the sale.

Senjō has agreed to pay GVC €29m cash, subject to a completion accounts adjustment, with total consideration for the deal capped at €35m. GVC will also collect a dividend equal to the free cash in Kalixa Group over and above €2.1m. GVC says it will apply any net gains from the sale to paying down its debts. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2017.

Kalixa, which Bwin.party spun off into a standalone entity in 2013, generated revenue of €22.7m and a net loss of €7m in fiscal 2015. GVC expects to record a “modest book loss on around €4m in 2017” but believes the disposal and closure will have “a neutral effect” on GVC’s earnings. Kalixa will continue to handle payments for GVC’s betting brands post-sale under an existing contract.

UK-listed online gambling operator GVC Holdings has shed the online payments operation it inherited from its acquisition of Bwin.party digital entertainment.

On Monday, GVC announced that it had reached a deal to dispose of its Kalixa Group payments processing business to Singapore investment firm Senjō Group Pte Ltd. The sale doesn’t include Kalixa’s ewallet subsididary Kalixa Pay Ltd, which GVC intends to close following the sale.

Senjō has agreed to pay GVC €29m cash, subject to a completion accounts adjustment, with total consideration for the deal capped at €35m. GVC will also collect a dividend equal to the free cash in Kalixa Group over and above €2.1m. GVC says it will apply any net gains from the sale to paying down its debts. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2017.

Kalixa, which Bwin.party spun off into a standalone entity in 2013, generated revenue of €22.7m and a net loss of €7m in fiscal 2015. GVC expects to record a “modest book loss on around €4m in 2017” but believes the disposal and closure will have “a neutral effect” on GVC’s earnings. Kalixa will continue to handle payments for GVC’s betting brands post-sale under an existing contract.

Former Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov has donned his Grinch hat after abandoning his latest attempt to acquire the company and take it private.

On Tuesday, Baazov released a statement saying he’d decided to “terminate my attempted acquisition of Amaya” based on “certain shareholders” demanding a share price premium that “exceeded the price at which my investors and I would be willing to complete a transaction.”

Baazov had been offering $24 per share to acquire Amaya, an improvement over the $21 he’d offered in his original bid in February. But activist investor Jason Ader, whose SpringOwl Asset Management held a 2% stake in Amaya, urged Amaya’s board to reject Baazov’s “self-interested, unsubstantiated potential transaction” and to cut all ties with their “discredited former executive.”

Baazov said the decision to walk away – for the second time this year – was “not a decision I took lightly,” but consultations with his advisors determined that it was “the best course of action.” Amaya released a brief statement confirming the termination of its discussions with Baazov.

Bitcoin may soon be used for interplanetary commerce. If the “people of Earth” has their way, that is.

Last week, a petition was filed in the White House website that asked NASA, an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government, to “create bitcoin wallets for Curiosity and Opportunity and put private keys on Mars.”

The petition was created by Roman Koshlyak, a former Facebook software engineer and current CEO of experimental content publishing platform Troider. In his petition, Koshlyak asked the government to find a way for people to have access to “interplanetary commerce” so that Earthlings can send a donation to expand space exploration programs.

Why bitcoin, you ask?

Ten years from now the new gambling district in Japan, wherever it will end up being built, could be on the way to becoming the new Macau. As of last week, Japan’s parliament surprisingly legalized gambling in the island nation, despite the fact that opinion polls show that the Japanese public is against it. So why legalize it? In order to stimulate the stagnant Japanese economy.

Japan’s economic policy has long been deeply into Keynesian-type megastimulus schemes, far more than any other modern country on the planet. Japan has the highest debt to GDP ratio of any nation on Earth at 230%, a central bank balance sheet  expansion since the tenure of Shinzo Abe that looks truly insane, and an aging population that hasn’t grown since the turn of the century and has actually shrunk 1% since 2011. This makes sense considering a study was just published in September that found that 40% of Japanese singles are virgins. Maybe a gambling hub could help alleviate that problem somewhat?

Nevertheless, now is definitely not the time to buy Japan. The timing of this legalization, however, is pretty good. The first casinos are not slated to be in operation for another 7 years or so around 2022, giving plenty of time for the obscene Japanese debt bubble to pop in the meantime. Japan has been building its debt pile for decades, having surpassed 100% of GDP way back in 1996. The United States just passed that level in 2012. Calls for a Japanese collapse have been made before and the monetary regime is still standing, but the 7 year cushion until gaming starts up there gives investors two clear options.

First, if there is some kind of monetary and/or debt crisis in Japan within the next 7 years before the industry starts up, then it’s definitely worth an investment since all the garbage, or at least a good chunk of it, will have been cleared out. If the debt mountain keeps expanding though, then it’s a better idea to hold off until something does fall, because you don’t want to be caught with positions in Japan when it does.

Australia’s NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority has given Star Casino the greenlight to continue its operations after it has found that the casino has been compliant in reporting violent incidents in the facility.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the gaming regulator has recommended that Star Casino’s license be allowed to continue after clearing the gaming facility from allegations that it tried to sweep violent incidents in its jurisdiction under the rug.

“I am satisfied that … violent incidents come to the attention of the board of both the Star and the Star Group,” the report said, according to the news agency.

In fact, the regulatory body found that Star Casino is “resistant” to organized crime’s infliltration.

Malta, 20 December 2016 – Win Systems, (“Win”, the “Company”), a leading technology supplier for the gaming and lottery industry, has today announced it has acquired Gold Club in a deal worth an undisclosed amount.

Backed by Metric Capital Partners (“Metric”, “Metric Capital”), a London-based private capital firm, Win Systems has completed the purchase of the Slovenian-headquartered global developer and provider of gaming machines and electronic roulettes with market presence in over 50 countries worldwide.

The combination of the two companies will create an emerging leader in the global gaming industry, capable of offering both lottery and casino clients innovative end-to-end solutions including Casino Management systems, VLTs, electronic gaming machines and electronic table games. Following the acquisition the group will have a significant footprint in Europe, South Africa and the Americas.

The acquisition comes after a period of substantial organic growth for Win Systems, with the Company’s innovative casino management system WIGOS now installed in over 260 casinos in 17 countries worldwide, providing connectivity to over 60,000 machines.

Malta, 20 December 2016 – Win Systems, (“Win”, the “Company”), a leading technology supplier for the gaming and lottery industry, has today announced it has acquired Gold Club in a deal worth an undisclosed amount.

Backed by Metric Capital Partners (“Metric”, “Metric Capital”), a London-based private capital firm, Win Systems has completed the purchase of the Slovenian-headquartered global developer and provider of gaming machines and electronic roulettes with market presence in over 50 countries worldwide.

The combination of the two companies will create an emerging leader in the global gaming industry, capable of offering both lottery and casino clients innovative end-to-end solutions including Casino Management systems, VLTs, electronic gaming machines and electronic table games. Following the acquisition the group will have a significant footprint in Europe, South Africa and the Americas.

The acquisition comes after a period of substantial organic growth for Win Systems, with the Company’s innovative casino management system WIGOS now installed in over 260 casinos in 17 countries worldwide, providing connectivity to over 60,000 machines.