The Global Poker Conference North America 2015, which will be held on February 27 at SLS Hotel, Beverly Hills California, United States, is a one day North American Poker Industry summit that is held together with its sister event—the Global Poker Conference: Europe—which will be held on March 25th at the Portomaso Marina Hilton Hotel, St. Julians, Malta.

The goal of the diverse conference is to give poker world representatives more easily discuss and address trending industry topics, offer them a place to network and become more tightly inter-connected, and discover the Global Poker Index’s many new and existing initiatives. The conference will be held at the same time as the American Poker Awards for North America and European Poker Awards for Europe.

The Global Poker Conference is set to be held in two tiers – with one leg in conjunction with the American Poker Awards in North America and a second in conjunction with the European Poker Awards in Europe.

Participants will have a chance to meet players and tournament organizers, to networking with new prospective projects and partnerships between poker rooms, tournament tour/ event managers, and industry stakeholders, to gain knowledge on new technologies to better equip professional cash games and live tournaments to operate more effectively and more seamlessly and to hear more of GPI’s latest updates and many new industry initiatives.

One of the highlights of the event is being col-located with the American Poker Awards to celebrate the achievements of players, industry operators, and personalities within the thriving North American poker scene.

For further information about the American Poker Awards and the Global Poker conference, please visit: http://www.americanpokerawards.com

Click here to register.

The biggest whodunit in UK television history draws to its conclusion this Thursday, as EastEnders celebrate their 30th Anniversary. The “Who Killed Lucy Beale” storyline, which started on Friday April 14th 2014, took an exciting turn today, as EastEnders producers at BBC Television, showed the rest of the television world how to use social media in mobilising their viewers.

Ten whole months and three days of clues, twists, turns, teasers and red herrings sees the BBC EastEnders’ social media campaign step up a gear as the shows producers make the unprecedented move of distributing a Facebook (852 x 315) cover image showing the list of suspects along with the arrow pointing to the fans profile picture: “I know who killed Lucy”.

Thursday’s hour-long episode will contain live segments (BBC 1 @ 7:30 – 8:30) which finally concludes the long running whodunit in a much-hyped big reveal. The reveal is followed in true “whodunit” Columbo style by a prerecorded flashback show, with live inserts, which details the last 24 hours of Lucy’s life.

The EastEnders PR machine has set the finale up beautifully, and singlehandedly brought betting to an entirely new audience, yesterday BBC NewsBeat editorial pushed: How to throw a ‘Who Killed Lucy Beale’” party in which they suggested having a punt on the outcome.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an EastEnder push the boundaries by bringing soft gaming to a wider mainstream. On 8th September 2010, it was announced that Barbara Windsor would front a TV campaign for Jackpotjoy as the Queen of Bingo, Babs, EastEnders’ matriarch Peggy Mitchell is best known for the iconic scene in Carry On Camping in 1969, where her bikini top flew off during outdoor aerobic exercises.

Move Over X Factor – Watch BBC TV, Learn How it’s Done!

In the lead up to the 100% live episode on Friday, tonight, tomorrow and Thursday ’s big one hour reveal show are set to contain live segments, supported by live tweeting from character Tamwar Masood (played by Himesh Patel), with live segments clearly indicated by the hash tag #EELive in the corner of the screen. Viewers will engage and interact with the characters, and each other on a scale never previously accomplished.

Photo Credit: Bluff.ccom

Anthony Zinno captures the top prize of $399,579, and his second World Poker Tour Main Event title after defeating Mark Bailey, in heads-up action, at the Fallsview Poker Classic.

Anthony Zinno is a two time World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event champion.

The 33-year old from Cranston, Rhode Island, overcame a field of 419 players to take the CAD$399,579 first prize, after a tough heads-up encounter, with Mark Bailey, that lasted 75 hands.

He looked every inch the winner. The shades, the suit, the tie; with nearly twice as many chips as his nearest rival, Corey Hochman, one could say he was confident. And why not? He was a WPT Champion. Now he’s done it twice.

“Everything has been going so well,” Zinno told the WPT after his win. “It’s a combination of blessing, luck and hard work. The win is huge for me.”

When the action started it was a case of ‘Falling From View’ as both Erik Cajelais and Jeremy Halaska were eliminated in the first two hands of play. Zinno would have been particularly glad to see the back of Cajelais. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner is a tough opponent. But it doesn’t matter how big your guns are. If you get it in with A2 v A8 you are going to end up on the losing end more often than not.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. have decided to let bygones be bygones and form an alliance with PokerStars as they ready themselves for the next wave of Sheldon Adelson engraved bombs.

When PokerStars woke up on Valentine’s Day they would have expected a lot of cards. Not from Caesars Entertainment Corp. though.

But, that’s exactly what they got.

It’s been a good few weeks for PokerStars. They have walked away from a series of gaming awards with more gold than B.A. Baracus, and they have found some new friends on U.S soil.

The Rincon and Pala Bands of Luiseno Indians, and the United Auburn Indian Community have softened their stance on the so-called ‘bad actor’ provisions that are the only reason Americans aren’t fiddling with PokerStars buttons on American soil right now.

It’s positive news.

The trio were amongst the 13-tribes who supported a 2014 bill that would have kept PokerStars out of the American action. Perhaps, people are starting to realize that although PokerStars may be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to take a bit out of the Indians.

London, England – February 17th 2015 – Casino Cruise received the highest honour in online gaming for its Affiliate Program at the recently held iGB Affiliate Awards 2015. Scores of contenders were vying for the Best Newcomer Affiliate Program Award, but it was to be a night of celebrations on deck at CasinoCruise.com. Hosted at the posh Stamford Bridge, Chelsea Football Club in London, the iGB Affiliate Awards brought together the biggest names in the iGaming affiliate community.

This is the 8th such iGB Affiliate Awards ceremony, where well over 500 key players from the online gaming affiliate community congregate to recognise and reward excellence and innovation in online gaming. The iGB Affiliate Awards is unique in this sector of online gaming and this year’s ceremony was streamlined for online gaming companies to enjoy maximum coverage at the highest level.

The 2015 iGB Affiliate Awards offered multiple enhancements for a smoother and more enjoyable evening of celebrations. CasinoCruise made it onto the shortlist of Best Affiliate Newcomers. Following the decision of a judging panel, CasinoCruise was selected as the overall winner of that category. The black tie evening featured the acclaimed entertainer Tom Stade, a three course dinner and a late night after party.

The judges decided that Casino Cruise offers patrons maximum efficiency and performance in its affiliate program. One judge added, ‘…this is precisely how to build and execute a new [affiliate] program and the results Casino Cruise has garnered to date are testament to that. This iGaming provider is an interesting new proposition for affiliates and it holds great promise. It offers a good range of languages, currencies and products. Together with some creative marketing opportunities, affiliates have something new and fresh to promote.’ Lloyd Apter, an iGaming Account Manager heaped praise upon CasinoCruise for being a reliable online gaming provider with great ethics and rapid affiliate payments.

Casino Cruise graciously accepted the award from the judges, ‘We are absolutely delighted with this fabulous award. We work hard in providing iGaming excellence at all levels. The Best Affiliate Program Newcomer Award makes us especially proud of what we’re doing behind the scenes to ensure the highest possible standards of excellence for our affiliates.’ CasinoCruise offers 600+ games from multiple gaming providers including Microgaming, Nyx, Net Entertainment, Play ‘n Go and Vivo. Games span the full spectrum of Vegas-style titles including blackjack, roulette, slots and progressive jackpot games.

Ronna Shilon is the Affiliates Director of CasinoCruise based in Malta.

Michelle Orpe: The New Face of partypoker UK Social Media Video

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Mongolia is set to become the latest Asian jurisdiction to hop on the casino bandwagon as the country attempts to diversify its economy. On Feb. 12, Mongolia’s Cabinet Secretariat approved draft legislation that would authorize the construction of two casino projects targeting Chinese high-rollers.

The Mongolian Ministry of Finance told Reuters that parliamentarians would have the opportunity to vote on the bill this week. However, the timing of the Lunar New Year celebrations makes it likely that the vote will be delayed until after parliamentarians return from their new year’s holiday.

This isn’t the first time Mongolia has attempted to pass casino legislation but the previous bill was annulled in 2010 over concerns that casinos would increase corruption. The new bill was crafted after careful study of casino laws in France, Singapore, Korea and the United States.

The new casinos would be privately owned and operated. No building sites have been officially designated but a member of the working group that crafted the casino bill suggested somewhere near the Khushigt International Airport, which two Japanese firms are currently constructing outside Mongolia’s capital Ulan Bator.

Like many other Asian nations, Mongolia doesn’t intend to allow local residents to gamble in its casinos. The Ministry of Finance plans to rely on a steady stream of gamblers from China, Russia and Japan, which an unidentified official at the ministry called “some of the biggest gamblers in the world.”

Despite Beijing’s public criticism of other countries luring its citizens to their casinos, Cambodia believes it can benefit from the increased visa restrictions imposed on Chinese visitors to Macau. Chinese with valid passports can already enter Mongolia without a visa and visas aren’t required for visitors from Russia and Japan.

Online bookmakers have been caught accepting wagers on yet another ‘phantom’ football match. On Feb. 3, an alleged friendly match between two Belarusian premier league clubs, Shakhtyor Salihorsk and Slutsk, took place at the Wave stadium in Pinsk. The match was reportedly won by Slutsk by a score of 2:1.

Except the match never took place. Reviews of the match appeared on the official website of the Salihorsk ‘Miners’ (see screenshot), indicating that Salihorsk opened the scoring in the first half but fell victim to two late Slutsk goals. The review has since been deleted and the site’s press secretary informed Belarusian media outlet Pressball that its website had been hacked.

BookmakersRating.ru reported that bets were accepted on the game at sites including Bet365, SBOBET, 188Bet, BetVictor, Dafabet and Unibet. Amounts wagered on the match are probably minimal, but it appears likely that somebody earned a decent payday out of this elaborate pantomime.

This is but the most recent example of bookies and real-time sports data providers being fooled by phantom football matches. Last August, numerous bookies were forced to void bets on a match between Spanish second division team Ponferradina and Portugal’s Freamunde after it was revealed that the game in question was a pick-up game between friends, allegedly clad in the “correct team colors.” A similar incident occurred a year ago in Armenia involving the Ulysses and Gandzasar clubs, forcing local bookies Vivaro and TotoGaming to suspend wagering.

This latest incident will put even more pressure on bookmakers and data providers to either pay closer attention to or stop offering odds altogether on matches – of all sports – that don’t garner the same media spotlight as the English Premier League or other top-ranked organizations.

Shares in struggling UK-listed online gambling operator Bwin.party digital entertainment have recovered some of the ground they lost on Friday after rumors circulated that Canada’s Amaya Gaming may still be pursuing acquisition talks.

In November, Bwin.party confirmed it was having “preliminary discussions” with unidentified parties regarding a potential sale of the company or parts thereof. Bwin.party shares fell nearly one-fifth on Friday after rumors spread that some or all of these suitors had walked away from the negotiating table, reportedly due to the Bwin.party board’s refusal to consider proposals to sell parts of the company piecemeal.

On Tuesday, the Evening Standard claimed that Amaya was “still at the table” with Bwin.party regarding a potential acquisition. The rumors helped Bwin.party’s shares regain some of their lost ground, rising from Friday’s closing price of 83.75p to 91.15p at the end of Tuesday’s trading.

Meanwhile, Manulife Securities was at least partly the impetus behind the Quebec securities watchdog’s probe into irregular stock trading prior to Amaya’s June 2014 acquisition of PokerStars. In Decemberr, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) paid calls on the offices of Amaya, Manulife and Canaccord Genuity looking for documents pertaining to the acquisition. Last week, The Globe And Mail reported that the Manulife investigation was focused on a “closely knit group” of a dozen brokers and their family members.

On Tuesday, the Globe reported that it was Manulife itself who alerted the AMF to the trades by the dozen brokers following an internal investigation shortly after the acquisition. The brokers in question – who account for about a quarter of the investment team at Manulife’s Dorval, Quebec branch – are said to have close family ties to Montreal’s Lebanese community.

Manulife senior executive VP Marianne Harrison told the Globe that the company’s cooperation with the AMF had begun “before the issue of the warrant and has continued throughout the investigation.” Harrison said Manulife took its regulatory obligations “very seriously” and hoped its own investigation “will assist the authorities in determining if any wrongdoing has in fact taken place.”

The AMF probe is separate from a similar investigation by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a US-based self-regulatory body. FINRA is believed to be investigating pre-acquisition trading by around 300 investors who profited handsomely when Amaya’s shares skyrocketed following the acquisition’s official announcement. The 300 names reportedly include multiple financial institutions in Montreal and Toronto, as well as fund managers, brokers and other wealthy individuals.

With the Chinese New Year taking place on February 19th in two days, it’s a good time to review the now one-year-old Macau gaming stocks bear market and see where we stand. This bear market began on February 28, 2014 when Macau stocks topped out, incidentally three days before my very first Calvin Ayre column on March 3, 2014 entitled The China Bubble. There I introduced my money-supply-centric debt-focused macro analytical approach to trend forecasting and what I saw as an imminent Macau bear.

Concession statement: The good timing from that article was entirely a coincidence. I have no exact timing tools, nor do I believe there are any real ones out there. That and the catalysts for the year-old bear have been different from what I cited there. While money supply slowdown has certainly figured in fundamentally speaking, catalysts for the recent downturn have been Chinese government crackdowns rather than rising interest rates. So arguably, I got it wrong, even though the call was right. What it also means is that the interest-rate induced fall is still ahead of us if and when it happens, and could happen at any time.

Short price review for four Macau stocks since March:

1) Wynn Macau Ltd. (WYNMY) down 37%

2) Sands China (SCHYY) down 40%

3) MGM China Holdings (MCHVF) down 41%

4) Galaxy Entertainment Group (GXYEY) down 43%