THE AMERICAS

Intertain Group said it was finalizing a potential $1b acquisition; Nevada casino gaming revenue fell in 2014 despite record sports betting; Sen. John McCain said he’d like to hold congressional hearings on legal sports betting; a judge approved Illinois as the proper venue to consider Caesars Entertainment’s bankruptcy; social gaming was the lone bright spot of IGT’s fiscal Q1; Minnesota pols aimed their guns at the state lottery’s online operations; Sheldon Adelson said jump and Lindsey Graham said how high; federal authorities busted an illegal online betting and marijuana operation in Oregon; Delaware’s regulated online poker revenue fell 77% in 2014; Scientific Games picked Las Vegas for its new corporate HQ; the World Series of Poker kicked PokerNews off its live reporting team; a SWAT team broke up a poker game in Virginia; Cloudbet’s Dennis Laudrup explained why Bitcoin is the best SuperBowl betting option and the online marketing chief for Atlantic City’s Tropicana casino explained why no piece of customer data goes uncollected.

EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST

Rank chose Bede Gaming as its new core online platform provider; France’s regulated online gambling market was saved by sports betting; Dutch regulators fined ComeOn Europe €180k for targeting Dutch punters; Russia announced it was scrapping one of its designated gambling zones; Cherry AB took a 51% stake in affiliate Game Lounge; Bwin.party warned it would take a €15m hit this year from new EU VAT rules; a Turkish political party was accused of being a front for gambling operations; a new study determined spot-betting was no great threat to match integrity; Beirut’s Casino du Liban was the target of an aborted car-bombing plot; Wink Bingo’s Eltan Gorodetsky discussed the art of rebranding; Betsson’s Simon Lidzen discussed the personalization of mobile apps; Inspired Publishing’s Tiz Corta offered insights into effective affiliate marketing; t2Marketing International’s Stephen Padveen listed 20 criteria for building a social media player archetype and Rebecca Liggero offered her picks for the top six sessions to attend at the London Affiliate Conference.

ASIA

Macau casinos lost 34 junket operators in 2014 and Macau officials proposed a full smoking ban in casinos; Las Vegas Sands’ mass market strength helped it ride out Macau’s downturn; Donaco International acquired the Star Vegas casino in Poipet; Sri Lanka’s new gov’t officially scrapped plans for new resort casinos; Bloomberry Resorts acquired land in South Korea with an eye toward international expansion; a call center working for Ole777.com was raided by the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration; Singapore’s Remote Gambling Act readied its starter’s gun and a China Welfare Lottery cockup sparked allegations that the fix was in.

Online bitcoin‐only sportsbook and casino site Cloudbet.com are taking big bets of up to

1000 BTC on Super Bowl XLIX – the largest of any online sportsbook in the world.

Curacao, January 29, 2015 – It’s the biggest event on the year’s sports‐betting calendar –Super Bowl XLIX – and in line with the occasion, bitcoin sportsbook Cloudbet has announced that high rollers will be able to place bets of up to 1000 BTC on the game. With a current USD‐BTC exchange rate, this represents an equivalent stake of around USD 230,000, more than online bettors have been able to bet on any previous Super Bowl.

Cloudbet is currently taking bets of up to 400 BTC (USD 92,000), considerably more than mainstream sportsbooks online. Cloudbet will be increasing the maximum stake size to 1000 BTC on Super Bowl Sunday. Players will be able to place bets directly through the Cloudbet website, with no special approval necessary.

Bets of 1000 BTC ‐ unprecedented in the online gambling industry ‐ are possible due to bitcoin’s unique properties. Because Cloudbet operates only in bitcoin, both the operator and its customers can move large amounts of funds at very low cost in a short period of time, something that is beyond the ability of traditional sportsbooks.

“This is groundbreaking for high rollers who want a lot of action but haven’t been able to bet as much as they would want due to the cost of transferring large amounts of currency to online betting sites. Online sportsbooks can’t take very large credit card deposits as the risk of fraud is too high. These risks don’t exist with bitcoin. It’s a very elegant solution.” said Dennis Laudrup, Head of Marketing at Cloudbet. Cloudbet is also expecting its new limits will encourage a number of high stakes bettors who are unfamiliar with bitcoin to consider its potential.

“Customers will appreciate how easy and convenient it is to move large amounts of funds from anywhere to anywhere, which makes bitcoin perfect for big sports bets,” continues Laudrup. “In particular, they will especially love the improvement in how long how long they wait to receive their winnings ‐ which will be minutes or hours ‐ which is a significant improvement on the industry standard of days or weeks.”

London, United Kingdom (Friday, January 30, 2015) – Digital Fuel Marketing Ltd is excited to confirm their attendance at this year’s London Affiliate Conference (LAC), at the new Olympia, London venue, on January 31st – February 3rd, 2015.

London Affiliate Conference (LAC)

With close to 4,000 people expected to attend, the London Affiliate Conference is biggest online gambling affiliate event on the calendar.  The Financial Partners expo will be taking place alongside the LAC and new this year an “acquisition zone,” a portion of the expo floor dedicated to service providers, will be featured.

Over the course of the event, delegates can expect two days of strategic conference sessions and expo floor, four days of parties and networking opportunities.  As always, all affiliates and introducing brokers go for free.

What: London Affiliate Conference

When: January 31-February 3, 2015

Where: Olympia London

Register: Online

Online gambling operator Bwin.party digital entertainment has warned investors that new European Union rules on value added tax (VAT) could cost the company an extra €15m in 2015. On Jan. 1, the EU imposed new rules regarding the application of VAT to electronically supplied services. Gambling had traditionally been exempt from VAT but that decision has now been left to individual markets.

The UK-listed Bwin.party is based in Gibraltar, where it wasn’t subject to VAT. The new point-of-consumption rules will take a 19% bite out of casino and poker revenues from countries like Germany, which is responsible for over a quarter of Bwin.party’s overall revenue.

Bwin.party and GVC Holdings were believed to be among a group of operators preparing to mount a legal challenge of Germany’s imposition of the VAT. There has been some suggestion that operators might decline to pay up until their legal options run out but Bwin.party’s statement on Friday says the company “expects to file for and pay VAT in certain EU Member States.” Any company withholding the VAT would be liable for stiff financial penalties should their challenge fail.

Bwin.party might be forgiven for feeling like 2015 is ganging up on the company. In addition to the new European VAT, Bwin.party’s UK-facing business is also dealing with the new 15% point-of-consumption tax. In America, where Bwin.party’s New Jersey-facing site is the market leader but continues to operate at a loss, the company will likely bleed even more red ink if/when PokerStars finally receives the regulatory nod to open its online doors in the Garden State.

Meanwhile, another Gibraltar-licensed online gambling operator has taken a very different approach to addressing the German VAT introduction. The Playtech-powered Mansion Group announced it was yanking five of its German-facing sites – Casino.com, MansionCasino.com, LesACasino.com, Club777.com and SlotsHeaven.com – from the country effective Feb. 1. Players will still have access to free-play sites, but real-money gambling will be verboten.

Earlier this month, an unidentified Gibraltar-based online gambling site played a central role in the first conviction of a German gambler for playing blackjack with a site not authorized by German authorities. Germany officially allows only online sports betting.

Swedish gaming operator Cherry AB has inked a deal to take a controlling interest in Nordic-facing affiliate Game Lounge Ltd. The deal will see Cherry pay €1.43m upfront and a conditional top-up of a maximum €2m in exchange for a 51% stake in Game Lounge. The deal allows Cherry the option of acquiring 100% of Game Lounge after three years.

The new relationship will see Game Lounge act as a partner for the new white label SveaCasino.com, with additional Cherry brands to be added in due course. Cherry’s acting CEO Fredrik Burvall, who assumed the reins in December from outgoing CEO Emil Sunvisson, said the deal would “increase volumes at a much lower cost” for Cherry’s current brands and white labels by bringing in as many as 40k new depositing customers.

As Cherry opens one door, it closes another. On Friday, Cherry announced it would begin phasing out its investment in Klubblo, the online lottery platform of Sweden’s Sports Alliance, because “the conditions for conducting the business have changed.” Cherry said Swedish gaming regulator Lotterinspektionen had changed the application of the regulatory framework, making it impossible for some major sports federations to join the Sports Alliance due to their exclusivity agreements with state-owned betting operator Svenska Spel.

Klubblo had only launched last year and Burvall said the goal had been to “take a strong position as a partner for Swedish sports within the area of gaming and lotteries. Under the prevailing conditions, Klubblo does not fit into Cherry’s strategy.” Cherry says liquidity would be negatively affected by around SEK 1.5m (US $181k) in Q4 and the remainder of 2015. The change will likely have a negative SEK 7.7m ($929k) impact on Cherry’s Q4 income.

Finally, Cherry’s EuroLotto operation is going mobile. EuroLotto chief Helen Taylor says players have been “clamroring” for the opportunity to play on the go, which is now possible via EuroLotto’s launch of bespoke mobile and tablet options.

Online gambling in the Philippines is back in the news following a raid on a call center in Manila. Acting on a tip, Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials descended on a three-story office building in Makati on Wednesday, arresting 73 foreigners from over eight countries for lacking valid work visas.

The GMA Network quoted BI Intel Division Chief Jose Carlitos Licas saying the operation in question belonged to a company called Super 7 Ventures. The BI’s anonymous informant – who was compensated for his tip through the BI’s incentive program – accused the company of operating a real-money online gambling site disguised as a call center on behalf of a “syndicate.” It should be noted that the BI has yet to indicate that the raided site was anything more than a call center.

None of the foreigners had a valid work permit; most were in the country on tourist visas. The foreigners hailed primarily from regional nations, including China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia, but also an unidentified number from America. All of them will be deported following verification of their identities.

The only English-language reference to Super 7 Ventures on the internet involves a logo design competition that concluded ironically enough on Tuesday. Super 7’s brief to designers described itself as a “new” company but the LinkedIn profile of a web developer says he started working at Super 7 in May 2013.

Super 7 is believed to have been providing services for Ole777.com, whose parent company OLÉ Group International Ltd. holds a license issued by the First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation. The Ole777 website currently features a “Website Maintenance” notice, saying it would be offline from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30 at 6pm local time.

The Philippines has a thriving business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, but Ole777 and any other companies to whom Super 7 was supplying services are clearly pan-Asian and thus required a multitude of language options. Super 7 may have thought they were saving money in the short-term by not hiring multilingual Filipino workers but their decision will have long-term consequences from the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

Clearly, if the evidence submitted by the BI is accurate, then Super 7 broke the law and the authorities had a duty to act. Previous raids on online gambling call centers in Manila have not always been so justifiable. It’s probably telling that GMA camera crews were along for the Super 7 raid; in this case, the authorities felt comfortable submitting their actions to increased public scrutiny.

The iGB Affiliate Awards 2015 will again be held during LAC on the 1st of February at Stamford Bridge on the 1st February 2015.

Operating since 2006 the IGB Affiliate Awards recognizes the best online gaming acquisition programs and industry affiliate marketers for their service, player marketing, management and operations.

Every year over 500 people from the iGaming affiliate community gather to honour the ongoing success within the industry at the iGB Affiliate Awards. Now in its 8th year, the iGB Affiliate Awards is the only industry awards ceremony that celebrates the growth, innovation and achievements within this sector of the gaming industry.

iGB Affiliate announced that they will be adding four brand new awards to the iGB Affiliate Awards. In partnership with casinomeister.com, OLBG.co.uk, bingoport.co.uk and Bluff Europe there new categories will reward the best online casino, sports book, bingo and poker room but uniquely from the player perspective.

“I felt it was really important to introduce player focused categories into the iGB Affiliate Awards as they are after all the lifeblood of the sector and their opinion is probably the most important to bear in mind when considering who to work with. I am really looking forward to the awards night now as I am particularly interested to see if these winners will differ from the affiliate category winners” said Alex Pratt, Head of iGaming Business. “I would also like to thank the portals that have come on board to help us create these awards and their player communities that will make the decision on who will win,” Pratt continued.

Click here to see the shortlists 2015 iGB Affiliate Awards

Tickets are still available to purchase from the LAC registration page and include a cocktail reception, sumptuous three course meal, an after party with some special late-night entertainment and of course the awards themselves.

Russia’s fractured casino industry has become even more confusing now that the government plans to ‘liquidate’ one of its designated gambling zones — the only one that has yet to officially launch casino operations. On Friday, the TASS news agency reported that the casinos operating in the Azov-City gambling zone in the Krasnodar Krai region would have their gaming licenses abrogated by April 1.

The government plans to shift the Azov-City gambling zone to the Sochi region, which joined the four original gambling zones this July after Russia extended the boundaries of the Krasnodar zone. The Ministry of Finance said it would offer compensation totaling “at least” RUB 10b (US $145m) to help cushion the blow.

Last June, the Krasnodar government said its three casinos – Oracul, Shambala and Nirvana – had attracted over 254k visitors in 2013, nearly six times the 45k that traipsed through the turnstiles in 2010, their first year of operation. Over the first five months of 2014, 128k gamblers had made the trek to the gambling zone.

The Royal Time Group is among the casino operators affected/blindsided by the change. On November 1, Royal Time opened the newest phase of its Oracul facility, featuring a new hotel costing RUB 1.5m, and was in the process of building a “concert and entertainment complex” with a completion date of Q3 2015. Other expansion plans stretched out as far as November 2018.

Royal Time may have had some inkling of the axe hanging over their heads but was clearly hoping for a reprieve. In response to the July decree authorizing the Sochi gambling zone, Royal Time issued an official position saying it “does not regard the new law as a direct indication to the elimination of the existing Azov-City gambling zone.”

Hopefully, Royal Time will find a more permanent home in the Primorye gambling zone on Russia’s coast near Vladivostok, where the company has reportedly inked a deal to build a casino. Primorye has so far attracted the most interest of international investors, including Lawrence Ho’s First Gambling Company of the Far East, which is set to open its casino in May. Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp’s Primorsky Entertainment Resort City expects to break ground this year with a 2018 opening target. That is, assuming Russia doesn’t decide to move all these operations to Murmansk or something.

Online gambling in France overcame a sluggish Q4 to post modest annual revenue growth in 2014. Figures released Friday by French gambling regulator ARJEL show Q4 revenue falling 2% to €183.2m but the full year figure rose 6% to €725m, largely due to the 2014 FIFA World Cup’s effect on sports betting.

Sports betting turnover rose 22% to €322m in Q4 but revenue was flat at €54m. Horseracing turnover fell 2% to €272m but revenue nudged up 1% to €68m. Online poker continued its inexorable slide, with total revenue falling 6% to €61.2m. Tournament stakes rose 8% to €424m but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 12% decline in cash games stakes, which fell to €1.06b.

For the year as a whole, total stakes fell 5% to €8.4b. Sports betting was the star performer, with stakes up 31% to €1.1b and revenue up 36% to €227m. Betting on the horses wasn’t as fortunate, with stakes and revenue falling to €1.03b (-7%) and €257m (-3%) respectively. Cash poker stakes fell 14% to €4.35b and tournament stakes rose 6% to €1.55b, resulting in a 7% decline in poker revenue to €241m.

World Cup betting generated €109m in turnover, nearly 10% of the annual betting total. Football wagers of all stripes rose 36% in 2014, while basketball gained 49% and tennis rose 18%.

At the close of 2014, the regulated French market had 17 operators holding 31 separate licenses: 12 online poker, 11 sports betting and eight for horseracing. The total number of online sports betting accounts rose 36% to 1.14m, while active accounts rose 32% to 170k. Total horseracing accounts fell 2% to 488k and actives fell 3% to 139k. Poker accounts fell 7% to 1.16m and actives fell 10% to 246k.

DOMESTIC OPERATORS UP AND DOWN

French betting operator France Pari’s Q4 report card showed revenue up 43% to €17.9m. Sports betting revenue rose nearly 50% to €15.8m while racing revenue fell 9% to €1.05m and Sportnco B2B revenue doubled to €1.05m. France Pari said its mobile channels accounted for 25% of all wagers in 2014 and 40% of Q4’s total, suggesting the nine mobile apps launched last year are gathering momentum.

Nevada casinos had a downer December, with gaming revenue falling 8% to $950.7m. Things were much worse on the Las Vegas Strip, where revenue fell 16.4% to $555.2m thanks to declines in both turnover and win rate at the baccarat tables.

This marks the fifth straight month Strip gaming revenue has declined, while statewide revenue has fallen for four out of the past five months. For 2014 as a whole, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported statewide gaming revenue fell 1.1% from 2013′s figure to just over $11b. Again, the Strip posted a larger decline, falling 2.1% to $6.37b.

December’s baccarat revenue was down 38% year-on-year to $150.2m as win rate dropped four points to 11%. Blackjack revenue rose 9.4% to $89.9m, while roulette brought in $34.8m (+21.4%) and craps earned $30.8m (+2%). The rest of the table games ranked as follows: three-card poker ($12.2m, +2.8%), pai gow poker ($10.2m, +2.5%), mini-baccarat ($3.8m, -63%), let it ride ($3.3m, +10.6%), keno ($2.1m, -6%), pai gow ($1.3m, -1.6%) and bingo ($1m, +92%). Slots revenue was flat at $559m.

Poker games earned $9.2m, down 4.4% year-on-year. The mid-November withdrawal of Ultimate Gaming from the state’s regulated online poker market means the number of licensed operators fell to two: Caesars Interactive Entertainment‘s WSOP.com and SouthPoint’s RealGaming.com. The Nevada Gaming Control Board requires three operators to be actually dealing cards in order to report revenue stats, so there is no December online poker revenue figure to report.

In a recent interview with Vegas Inc., Nevada Gaming Commission chairman Tony Alamo offered a frank assessment of his state’s ability to host a viable online poker market. Alamo said online poker needs liquidity and “we do not have the population base to do it just within our state.” Alamo said Ultimate Gaming’s demise suggested “the writing’s on the wall that it’s very pessimistic right now” unless the federal government were to allow interstate online gaming. “Until you do that, it’s not financially viable.”

Nevada’s sportsbooks did not have a great December, but the books set new records for win ($227m) and handle ($3.9b) in 2014. Football wagers topped $1.74b, of which the books kept $113.7m. In contrast, basketball win fell 8.4% to $54.2m and baseball win fell 27% to $21.2m.

December’s football revenue was down 16.2% to $16m on a 5.8% hold, but the books are up $98m on football since September. December’s basketball numbers were up 22.2% to $8.3m but laggard baseball bettors cashed in $1.5m worth of winners, parlay cards fell 6.9% to $2.6m and the race books dipped 8.4% to just under $3m.

Australian-listed casino operator Donaco International has officially agreed to acquire the Star Vegas Resorts & Club (pictured) in Poipet, Cambodia. Donaco, which operates the Aristo International Hotel and casino in Lao Cai, Vietnam, teased the markets in November with an announcement that it was eyeing a Cambodian acquisition. Donaco says the acquisition should be complete by April.

Donaco will pay US $360m for the Star Vegas property, consisting of $40m in cash-on-hand, $120m in equity issued to the vendor, a $100m new bank debt facility and $100m in equity financing. Donaco offered scant detail on the identity of the vendor, saying only that “key casino management staff are ex-Genting.” Donaco itself is headed up by two nephews of K.T. Lim, the CEO of the Malaysian-based Genting Bhd conglomerate.

The vendor will continue to manage the property for the next two years and has agreed to provide a warranty that Star Vegas will generate at least $60m in EBITDA in each of the next two years following completion of the acquisition. The vendor has agreed to make up any shortfalls in this guarantee in cash. The vendor won’t be paid the usual management services fee but, assuming the property meets its $60m EBITDA target, the vendor will receive a 25% chunk of net profit after tax. The vendor has also agreed to sign a non-compete clause with Star Vegas.

Star Vegas was launched in 1999 and features four hotels with 385 rooms in total. The casino boasts 109 gaming tables and 1,284 electronic gaming machines (EGM), of which 288 are owned outright by the property and 976 are subject to profit-sharing deals. The casino hosts an average of 5k visitors per day and has a database of 3,500 “premium-rated” players. It also features a licensed sports bar, online gaming and lotto licenses plus multiple restaurants and retail facilities.

Star Vegas is one of nine casinos in Poipet that offer a combined 768 gaming tables and 3,874 EGM. Poipet is located on Cambodia’s border with Thailand and thus represents a wholly different market from the Lao Cai casino, which primarily draws customers from China. Thai gamblers don’t require visas to enter the Poipet special economic zone and the casinos use Thai baht as the default currency.

Donaco generates annual earnings of around AUD $16m (US $12.5m) from its newly expanded Lao Cai property and Donaco believes Star Vegas will boost annual revenues by 480% and earnings around 300%. Donaco CEO Joey Lim called the acquisition “a compelling opportunity for Donaco shareholders” given Star Vegas’ status as “a well-established and highly successful business with an enviable market position and excellent growth prospects.”

Donaco also provided a trading update on its Aristo property, saying revenue had risen 50% to $11.7m in the December quarter. Aristo expects to turn a small profit but corporate activity will result in a small loss at the group level. Aristo inked three new junket operators from Malaysia in December and two more junkets from Macau and Shanghai commenced operations in January. Aristo now has 33 approved junkets and management hopes to “more than double” that number in 2015.

The Macau government is set to submit a bill to the legislature, proposing a full smoking ban in casinos including VIP rooms and airport-style smoking pods on mass gaming floors.

Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng announced, on Thursday, that the government plans to submit the bill in the first half this year.

Tam reiterated that the ongoing decline in Macau’s monthly casino gross gaming revenue would not be a hindrance in implementing a full smoking ban in gaming venues such as casinos and slot-machine parlors.

The policy secretary also said that the government would propose an increase in the tax on a packet of 20 cigarettes from the current 10 patacas tax per packet to 70% of the retail price, which would be in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

On Wednesday, the Macau government announced that City of Dreams Macau had been fined for breaching the city’s ban on smoking in public places.

However, gaming operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd told GGRAsia that it will challenge the Macau government’s decision to fine CoD Macau with MOP100,000 (US$12,524) for allegedly failing to post “no smoking” signs in one area inside its casino.

“The company intends to pursue a judicial review of this matter to ensure proper implementation of the smoking regulations as they now stand,” a spokesperson from Melco Crown said. “Melco Crown Entertainment operates its casinos in compliance with Macau legal requirements and requisite governmental approvals. The legality of [the] government’s recent actions related to non-smoking signs is debatable.”

So here we are. By my count, we’re three days away from Super Bowl XLIX. It’s an exciting time if you’re a fan of the New England Patriots or the Seattle Seahawks. But even if you aren’t, betting on the Super Bowl is always a sure fire way to make your Super Bowl watching experience more exciting.

Cloudbet is one of many sportsbooks that are offering betting odds on Super Bowl XLIX. But unlike traditional sportsbooks, Cloudbet is different because of one very important feature.

Instead of using cash and/or online credits to make your wagers, bettors can bet on the game at Cloudbet using bitcoins. Yep. Bitcoins.

Cloudbet is a traditional book in a sense that it offers betting odds a host of sporting events, including the Super Bowl. It even has futures, props, and parlays readily available for bettors. But that’s where the similarities between this particular site and traditional sportsbooks end.

The fact that it uses bitcoins as its standard mode of transaction is something Cloudbet Marketing Manager Dennis Laudrup believes is a huge advantage for bettors because there’s no limit to the amount that any given bettor can bet on.

“There’s no limit to the amount that can be sent, so it’s perfect for high rollers – if someone wants to send 1,000 bitcoin they can do that, and have it credited to their account immediately,” Laudrup told CalvinAyre.com.

Betting limits are apparently foreign to Cloudbet, which, like Laudrup said, makes it an ideal site for deep-pocketed bettors to splash their bitcoins on any SuperBowl bet they want to bet on. Laudrup said that the site is already taking bets of up to 400 bitcoins ($92,000) on Super Bowl XLIX. That number is even expected to reach as much as 1,000 bitcoins by game day ($230,000) and quite possibly even more moving forward. The site is also accepting bets of up to 200 bitcoins ($46,000) on other sports like the NBA, the English Premier League, and the Spanish La Liga, ensuring its customers that it caters to a diverse set of sports where bettors can bet on.

Members of the Unite-HERE union continue to voice their opposition of billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s plan to eliminate union benefits of employees from the Trump Taj Mahal casino that Icahn is poised to acquire.

The union has even taken its protest to the streets of New York City, just outside the offices of Icahn where it reportedly tried to deliver a letter addressed to the businessman. According to the Associated Press, members of the union didn’t get to hand deliver the letter directly to Icahn, stopping short at the front desk of his office where a worker promised to personally give the letter to his boss.

Despite not accomplishing its primary objective of giving Icahn the letter, members of the union told the AP that they had made their point and that they expect Icahn to open a dialogue with the union in an effort to iron out their differences.

In its letter, the union basically called out Icahn’s previous comments to the union about his own hard-strung years as a youth in Queens and a supposed attempt to make the union believe that he feels their plight. But members of the union didn’t see it that way, and they made it perfectly clear that they’re not buying what Icahn is selling.

“You may be someone who came up through the streets of Queens, and you may see yourself as the underdog fighting against entrenched corporate executives,” the letter read.

“But this time, you aren’t fighting executives with multimillion-dollar salaries and expense accounts. This time you are fighting housekeepers, bartenders, food servers, bell people, cooks and cocktail servers. This time you aren’t fighting for the little guy, you are fighting the little guy.”

A union organizer told the AP that a little over 100 members participated in the protest.

IGBA Affiliate Awards to take place on 1st February 2015 at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea Football Club, London

Every year over 500 people from the iGaming affiliate community gather to honour the ongoing success within the industry at the iGB Affiliate Awards. Now in its 8th year, the iGB Affiliate Awards is the only industry awards ceremony that celebrates the growth, innovation and achievements within this sector of the gaming industry.

The 2015 iGB Affiliate Awards will take place on the 1st February at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea Football Club in London. For further information, please visit www.iGBAffiliateAwards.com. This year see’s a lot of old and new faces that will be able to gain the exposure and recognition in the industry.

Tickets are now available to purchase from the LAC registration page and include a cocktail reception, sumptuous three course meal, an after party with some special late-night entertainment and of course the awards themselves.

Space is limited and this has sold out year on year so make sure you book early to avoid disappointment.

To view the full conference schedule, please visit http://www.igbaffiliate.com/events/londonaffiliateconference/schedule-2015

To find out more about the London Affiliate Conference, please visit http://www.igbaffiliate.com/events/londonaffiliateconference/

Take Our Poll

It’s a simple question that’s appropriate given that a certain sporting event is going to be played this weekend.

“Who’s will win the Super Bowl 2014?”

That was our question in our latest weekly poll because we wanted to know who you think was going to win between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.

If we had just based our answer depending on what the existing betting action is leading up to the game, then the Patriots would’ve been the runaway answer. But we took a different route, and not surprisingly, the answer turned out to be different. A lot different.

Lee Davy takes a rapid-fire look at poker’s most interesting tales of the week including a decision by the World Series of Poker to drop their $10m first place guarantee, in their Main Event, and news of a monstrous win for Todd Brunson.

Two news stories have hogged the headlines more than most, this week, and they both involve the life-changing sum of $10m bucks.

In 2014, Martin Jacobson became the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, at the same time netting himself a personal fortunate of $10m. Now that’s what I call life-changing money. But let’s imagine for a moment that the young Swede only won $8m. Do you think he would look a little sour? Do you think $8m is still life changing?

I do, and so do a lot of other people; as social media streams, and poker forums lit up like Blackpool illuminations when the WSOP chieftains proudly told the world, that they intended to once again guarantee a $10m first prize in the greatest poker tournament in the world.

Fortunately, for the poker community, the WSOP has a set of ears. They listened to the feedback, digested the information, and spat out a new headline.

“1,000 players to get paid, the largest widespread payout in the WSOP’s 46-year history!”

The social media streams went wild, the poker forums went crazy, and balance was restored in the poker community – at least for another week.