Ice Totally Gaming, which has been the launchpad for many of gaming’s landmark products and services, will take place on February 3rd-5th at Excel, London.

Every sector is present, whether it’s be it betting, bingo, casino, lottery, mobile, online, social or street gaming, and whichever of these you belong to, you will find products and content to drive your business forward in 2015.

This year, for the first time ever, we’ll be seeing a dedicated space at ICE for start-up pitches, hosted by Clarion and organized by GamCrowd.com. Pitch ICE 2015 is a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas in front of attendees and potential investors.

The final line-up of entrants has been announced and will take place at Stand N7-460. See the shortlist here.

“This is a unique opportunity for start-up gambling businesses to get their idea off the ground in front of key industry decision-makers and potential investors at ICE Totally Gaming,” said GamCrowd CEO, Chris North. “The response to Pitch ICE has been incredible. As delegates will see, the program is diverse, with concepts that could have an impact on many different areas of the gambling industry. We believe there are numerous stand-out ideas that have the potential to be very successful.”

ICE’s show-floor seminars are free to attend and can give you up-to-the-minute industry information and engaging debates around what the gaming industry is talking about.

ICE Totally Gaming is the one of highlight of the gaming industry’s calendar. Make sure you are there, to see and to be seen

The fifth annual London, Baby will again be held on the first night of ICE Totally Gaming in London, Feb 3 at Café de Paris in London’s Piccadilly.

Organized by Sports Betting Community (SBC) and the iGaming Super Show, London Baby will be one of the biggest networking events around the ICE Totally Gaming show with an estimated 1,000 industry professionals expected to attend.

Formerly known as ICE ICE Baby and rebranded as London Baby will be one of the biggest networking events around ICE with an estimated 1,000 industry professionals expected to attend, providing sports betting and iGaming professionals the chance to network in a fun and relaxed environment, away from the show floor at ExCeL.

“We are proud to be associated with London Baby! which is well recognised as one of the best events around ICE Totally Gaming for sports betting and iGaming professionals. London Baby! has provided the perfect platform for us to highlight our new improved platform OptimaMGS, powered by MarginMaker to the key people in the industry,” said Jacob Curciel, CEO of Optima MGS—this year’s London Baby’s Headline sponsor

Shona O’Donnell, Head of Operations at iGaming Business and organizer of the iGaming Super Show, also commented, “I am looking forward to this year’s event so much as it is in such a wonderful venue. Café de Paris will provide the perfect backdrop for people to socialize and network, with the perfect balance between business and fun.”

Other firms supporting the event are; Ali Quantum Gaming, EveryMatrix, EvoPlay, iforium, Magnet Gaming, Oddslife, Realex Payments, Sure International, Vermantia and XB Net.

The event is free to attend plus the bar is totally OPEN, Baby! Click here to register.

In less than two weeks away, Fire & Ice 2015 takes all it has learned to make its 14th year its most memorable yet. From the freak sideshow to the Royal Court, from the streets of London to the grandest ballroom. This year’s performances are daring, dangerous and decadent as the cream of iGaming society mingle in the opulence of the Victorian ball.

Fire & Ice 2015,  one of the most anticipated event in the iGaming social calendar, will be held on the 4th of February at the Troxy 490 Commercial Road, E1 0HX, London with 2,000 of the who’s who in attendance throughout the night.

Fire & Ice—produced by iGaming PR and events specialists Lyceum Media and sponsored by Asia online gaming company, Dafabet, and technology provider for online gaming solutions, Play’n GO—is held between the London Affiliate Conference (LAC) and ICE Totally Gaming.

Other sponsors of Fire & Ice: Reign of Queen Vic, includes: CalvinAyre.com, Bally Interactive, EveryMatrix Affiliate REPUBLIK, Bluff Europe, Callcredit Information Group, CORE Gaming, Dafabet, Gamesys, Gaming Realms, iGamingBusiness Executive Conference, iGamingCalendar, iGaming Capital, Income Access Group, Magnet Gaming, Openlot, Picante Gaming/GGL, Plain Gaming, Scientific Games, Secure Trading, Sure International, VegasKings.com, WPT Europe.

The party is free for all igaming execs to attend. Doors will be open for general admission at 9:00 p.m.with the Stage Show commencing at 10pm

Companies wishing to entertain their VIPs to the best show in iGaming, should visit www.fireandiceparty.com for further details.

Visit http://www.lyceummedia.com/fireandice/2015/ for more details.

In a week, the 9th London Affiliate Conference will be held from January 31st to February 3rd at Olympia National, London at Hammersmith Road.

This year sees a number of new features including an Acquisition zone—a dedicated area for service providers involved in the entire marketing mix from email service providers and tech companies, through to performance marketing and creative agencies. LAC 2015 will be co-located with the Financial Partners Expo, for affiliates and introducing brokers within the retail finance sector.

LAC 2015 is expecting to top the 3400 attendees last year, giving plenty of opportunities to network with affiliates, affiliates managers, operators, and speakers.

The event is set to bring you discussion panels and presentations with industry’s expert speakers such as Adam Grunwerg (ARG Media Ltd.), Andrew Daniels (Degree 53), Bastian Grimm (Grimm Digital), Chris Morton (Binary Options Pty Ltd.), Dave Naylor (Bronco Ltd.) and more.

The iGB Affiliate Awards will again be held during LAC on the 1st of February at Stamford Bridge on the 1st February 2015. Players Choice Finalists for iGB Affiliate Awards has been released after months of voting and debate. Check the shortlist here.

This four day event offers its attendees a wide selection of stimulating conferences, exhibitions and networking events. Free admission for all affiliates and introducing brokers! Click here to register.

About London Affiliate Conference

THE AMERICAS

A new California online poker bill offered hope for PokerStars while a new Nevada bill may threaten poker staking; Full Tilt’s premature digital ejaculation disappointed New Jersey poker players while the new WSOP.com/888Poker tandem surpassed PartyPoker New Jersey’s liquidity; a judge said Caesars Entertainment’s controversial asset transfers violated federal law and Caesars’ Linq property closed its poker room; Amaya Gaming poached OLG’s digital chief; Ladbrokes’ Sportium JV entered the Mexican online gambling market; Hawaii proposed duty-free slots at airports; fantasy sports operators DraftKings and FanDuel revealed their earnings reports; the American Gaming Association said sports betting bans don’t work; a judge okayed Glenn Straub’s purchase of Atlantic City’s Revel casino; Bluff Magazine switched to an all-digital format and Lee Davy threw popcorn at Mark Wahlberg’s The Gambler.

EUROPE

William Hill profit fell in Q4 but rose in 2014; UK internet service providers imposed porn and gambling filters; Russia threatened to payment-block online gambling sites; the Senet Group launched its new responsible gambling campaign; Global Reviews caught William Hill poaching Ladbrokes’ digital customers; Sky Betting & Gaming launched its new social casino; Stanleybet lost its Italian betting license dispute; Greece’s likely next prime minister warned that the sale of OPAP was “not a done event;” Olympic Entertainment signed on to manage Malta’s largest casino; Boylesports boosted its Irish retail presence; WSOP bracelet winner Darren Woods was sentenced to 15 months in prison; World Poker Tour president Adam Pilska believes your job sucks donkeys compared to his; futurist Martin Kruse analyzed the impact on online gambling of Big Data and Augmented Reality; Compact Global’s Chris Searle told Rebecca Liggero how to improve her public image; Robbie Davies told affiliates how to maximize their time at the London Affiliate Conference and ICE Totally Gaming wants startups to make them an offer they can’t refuse.

ASIA

Galaxy Entertainment vowed to spend another $7b expanding Galaxy Macau; David Group revealed its plan to hibernate’ until Macau’s VIPs return while Gold Moon Group closed another VIP room; China ordered online lotteries to go offline by March 1; South Korea vowed to issue two more casino licenses in 2015; Vietnam busted an online gambling ring linked to 12Bet.com; Sands China CEO Ed Tracy called it quits; City Of Dreams was forced to halt expansion work after a worker died; Japanese lawmakers geared up for another casino push in 2015: Nepal gave a casino license to Silver Heritage and Stamford Law’s Wai-Ming Yap analyzed Singapore’s new online gambling prohibition.

Online gambling sites will be blocked by default in the UK as internet service providers heed Prime Minister David Cameron’s latest ‘think of the children’ plea. In July 2013, Cameron announced his proposal to require all internet customers to opt-in if they wished to access a variety of ‘adult’ online material, including sites featuring gambling, pornography and violent content.

Sky was the first of the UK’s four major ISPs to make the move, announcing this week that it would roll out its new Sky Broadband Shield filter within the next 10 days. All Sky broadband customers will have to log in and alter their settings in order to continue accessing their favorite gambling and wanking sites. A Sky PR flack called the move “the right and simplest solution to a problem we all know is out there.”

Within days, TalkTalk had joined Sky among the guardians of the porno galaxy, pledging to impose its HomeSafe filters in February. Like Sky, TalkTalk’s product requires users to actively disable the filters, which will be switched on by default for all new subscribers.

There are now just two major ISPs – BT and Virgin Media – who have yet to go Orwell on their customers. BT is surveying its customers as to whether they want automatic filtering while Virgin has so far left it up to subscribers to switch on its custom filtering tools. So far, the voluntary take-up rate by Virgin subscribers has been under 10%, in keeping with a July 2014 report from Ofcom that found just 13% of new ISP subscribers had taken advantage of optional filters.

Critics have already seized on the fact that the filters are blocking a whole lot more categories of supposedly objectionable content than advertised, including sites related to alcohol, tobacco, drugs and anorexia. Transparency advocates Open Rights Group said last year that the websites of 54 registered charities had been blocked, apparently based on a wrong keyword or two.

The Ofcom report found that existing filters blocked 19% of the top 100k most-visited websites, while porn is believed to account for only 4% of sites. Some URLs related to the counties of Sussex or Essex had even found themselves blocked due to the presence of the dreaded ‘sex’ suffix. (Finally! A way to avoid the horror that is TOWIE.)

Vicki Shotbolt, CEO of social enterprise project the ParentZone, called filters “at best a distraction from the most important way to look after your family online,” i.e. having open and frank dialogues with your kids. But that kind of personal responsibility wouldn’t give Cameron anything to crow about come the next general election, would it?

Online sports betting operators in the UK and Ireland found themselves under the microscope of corporate research and data specialist Global Reviews in 2014.

Global Reviews analyzed three different areas of betting companies’ digital performance: digital sales effectiveness (DSE), which ranks how well companies convert customers online; mobile sales effectiveness (MSE), which analyzes mobile conversion; and digital marketing effectiveness (DME), which measures how well companies attract online customers. Full details of methodology are exhaustingly detailed in the webinar video at the bottom of this page.

DIGITAL MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS

In one study, using a sample size of 200 punters in June 2014, Global Review found that over 90% of participants used search engines to find a new betting provider but 89% of participants began their quest via a search engine. Of these, 62% went directly from search engine to a betting website, underscoring the importance of strong brand identity.

Around 65% of punters claimed they had an initial brand preference before beginning their search, a preference that was usually based on having used this brand in the past. Some 68% of punters in the study said they were already current customers of at least one sports betting provider.

The prime factor that drove ‘shortlisting’ of potential betting companies was familiarity with the brand (14%) followed closely by their results having come up via a search engine (12%). Having a site that looks ‘easy to use’ scored 11%, the same number that shortlisted the site for having ‘good prices/offers’.

Global Reviews found that while Ladbrokes and William Hill scored roughly the same in terms of unprompted brand awareness, Hills performed much better at the conversion from brand recall to ‘preferred’ betting site. Betfair started from a much lower base of brand awareness than Hills or Lads, but scored best in terms of conversion.

Slot machines are coming to Hawaii‘s airports if a local politician gets her way. State Rep. Cindy Evans has introduced a bill to allow passengers flying out of Hawaii the option of spinning a few reels after their planes are delayed.

HB 91 authorizes “the implementation of amusement concessions to provide slot machines at state airports for departing passengers.” Basically, duty-free slots. To play, you have to provide evidence that you’re over 21 years of age and scheduled to fly beyond US borders within the next 12 hours.

Interested operators have to apply for an ‘amusement concession’ license for an as yet undetermined fee. The state gets an 86% chunk of net revenue – gross revenue minus taxes, winnings, salaries, airport fees and rent – or a minimal annual guarantee, whichever’s bigger. The state’s cut would go into an airport improvement fund.

The bill expressly does not authorize online gambling, electronic bingo or other forms of gambling. Slots it is and these slots will be limited to secure areas of the airport. No slots can be visible to airport passers-by and operators aren’t allowed to advertise their wares in Hawaii by any means. Presumably the designated area will be labeled as such on airport maps.

If passed (doubtful), the act would take effect on July 1. Hawaii and Utah are the last bastions of non-gambling in the United States but Evans said this was a “very unique and different” way to help the state’s aging airports, an “out of the box” proposal.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) has already said it won’t support any gambling measure. The HTA issued a statement saying gambling “would not enhance our destination brand, but rather dilute it and distract from” the state’s traditional charms.

Evans has voted against previous gambling proposals but said this plan mainly targeted departing tourists and was therefore “not about gambling in Hawaii.” Evans told HawaiiNewsNow her bill would allow visitors to Hawaii “in their last few hours, spend their money in Hawaii and leave their money in Hawaii.”

Casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group says Phase 2 of its Galaxy Macau resort will officially open to the public on May 27. At a Hong Kong press conference on Friday, Galaxy chairman Lui Che Woo (pictured) also vowed to spend another $7.4b developing Phases 3 and 4, representing a total outlay of $12.9b in Galaxy Macau.

Phase 2’s launch will coincide with the reopening of the Grand Waldo Entertainment Center across the street. Galaxy acquired the Waldo property in May 2013 for $419m. Rechristened Broadway at Galaxy Macau, the property aims to recreate New York’s theater district and will be connected to Galaxy Macau by an air-conditioned ‘sky bridge.’

Lui Che Woo noted that Galaxy owned the biggest plot of land on Macau’s Cotai strip, giving it definite advantages over other operators. Phase 2’s launch will still leave half of Galaxy’s land bank untouched and ready for future development.

Galaxy deputy chairman (and son of the boss) Francis Lui said Phase 2 had the capacity to host up to 500 gaming tables and 1k slots, although the company is still talking to the government about the number of tables the property will be allotted. The former Waldo venue hosted 45 tables, but how many the new Broadway venue will boast is equally unknown.

Macau has long insisted it will stick to its plan to cap table growth at 3% per year until 2022, when the last of Macau’s six casino concessionaires’ licenses expire. The official number of tables in operation in Q4 2014 was 5,711, of which 3% is just 171. And Melco Crown Entertainment will want a few hundred new tables of its own when it opens its new Studio City resort later this year.

However, Macau officials have occasionally suggested the 3% cap had a little flexibility, particularly for operators who devote a significant portion of their new properties to non-gaming elements. Galaxy’s new venues have non-gaming in spades, including a 3k-seat theater, 120 bars and restaurants plus 1.5k new hotel rooms. Lui Che Woo said the goal was to make things “more diverse, from entertainment, leisure, culture and art … to meet the requests from [Beijing] and Macau.”

Galaxy CFO Robert Drake told the press that the company was “quite confident we will get a sufficient amount of tables to generate the returns we have been forecasting.” The new properties will require Galaxy to add an additional 8k employees in 2015.

Online gambling was a hot topic in Vietnam this week as Ho Chi Minh City police shut down an illegal gambling ring linked to online betting operator 12Bet. On Friday, police detained 10 people, including To Cong Hung, the owner of the Vietnamese version of gay lifestyle magazine Attitude.

Police say the ring operated a website that connected local gamblers with the Philippine-based 12Bet. Hung reportedly ran the website, while his sister and other agents controlled bank accounts through which money was collected from and distributed to gamblers. Police had monitored the site for months, during which time the operators handled over VND 1t (US $46.8m) in wagers.

Friday also saw police commence legal proceedings against 36 individuals arrested in July as part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup betting crackdown. This ring was linked to another Philippines-based site, M88.com, considered one of the predominant sites catering to Vietnamese punters. Before police swooped in, the site handled over VND 1.4t in wagers.

Also on Friday, police in Ba Ria Vung Tau province deported six South Korean nationals for operating an illegal betting site out of a rented villa in Vung Tau City. The operation catered not to locals but to gamblers in South Korea, who set up around 4k accounts with the site and wagered over KRW 20b ($18.6m) before police moved in on Wednesday.

Thanh Nien News reported that local police detected signs of illegality in the villa then took their findings to South Korean police, who confirmed the interaction with local gamblers. The arrested individuals claimed they had been dispatched to Vietnam by another Korean named Choi Hojun. Vietnam deported 33 other South Koreans for much the same activity last July.

Greek casinos reported another downer year in 2014 as a struggling economy and illegal gambling options combined to do a number on gaming revenue. The country’s nine licensed casinos reported gambling revenue of €270m, 10% less than 2013’s figure and just over one-third the €776.7m generated in 2007. The numbers have been on a steady decline ever since, making Greece the closest thing Europe has to Atlantic City, where revenue peaked in 2006.

All nine casinos have suffered revenue declines since 2007, with the casino on Corfu holding up the best with a 28.9% decline. At the other end of the scale, the casino in Halkidiki in the north of Greece saw revenue tumble by 92.5% over the past seven years.

Greek media outlet Ekathimerini reported that two casinos – the two smallest – saw revenue gains over the first 11 months of 2014. The casino in Thrace saw revenue rise 53.3% to €5.5m while the aforementioned Halkidiki casino was up 49.3% to €5.5m. The other seven reported declines ranging from 1.5% to 48.6%. Overall betting turnover fell 5.5% to €1.4b during this span.

Casinos issued 2.3m admission tickets in 2014, 100k fewer than in 2013. By law, casinos are required to collect €12 from every punter who comes through the turnstiles. The casinos are lobbying to have this fee abolished in the hopes of attracting more customers and to help them deal with new competition in the form of thousands of new video lottery terminals (VLT) that are being rolled out in OPAP betting shops this spring.

OPAP PRIVATIZATION “NOT A DONE EVENT”

Speaking of OPAP, the country’s main opposition party – which is expected to win upcoming elections – has warned that the government’s sale of its one-third stake in the country’s betting monopoly “is not a done event.” Alexis Tsipras (pictured), who heads the left-wing SYRIZA coalition, called the privatization of OPAP a “national crime” due to the “scandalous terms this was done with.”

In 2013, the Greek government sold its stake to the Emma Delta consortium for €652m. The cash-strapped country has been forced to privatize many state assets as a condition of the €240b bailout Greece accepted in 2010 from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Americans betting on the 2015 Super Bowl will wager over $3.8b with unauthorized sportsbooks, 38x the $100m that will be wagered with Nevada casino sportsbooks.

So sayeth the American Gaming Association (AGA), whose CEO Geoff Freeman believes the numbers indicate that the current prohibition on sports betting outside Nevada is “clearly failing.” Freeman said the AGA are “closely examining the current state of sports betting, the laws that govern it and the best way forward for the gaming industry.”

The AGA based its math on a 1999 National Gambling Impact Study Commission report, which estimated between $80b and $380b was spent annually on illegal gambling. The AGA compared the $80b figure with the sum wagered with Nevada sportsbooks in 1999, then compared that with Nevada 2013 sportsbook handle. Nevada sportsbooks handled a record $119.4m on the 2014 Super Bowl, keeping $19.7m of that cash for themselves thank to the Seahawks’ pummeling of the Broncos.

In a speech on Thursday to the US Conference of Mayors, Freeman said the AGA wants to “partner with policymakers to revisit outdated policies in order to create an environment where gaming can thrive.” That may prove more difficult than Freeman envisions, as demonstrated by the Sisyphus-like struggle of two New Jersey Congressmen attempting to pass sports betting legislation.

The bipartisan pair of Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. and Rep. Frank LoBiondo are trying to end the tyrannical rule imposed on their home state’s residents by the 1992 federal PASPA sports betting prohibition that limits single-game wagering to Nevada. This week saw the two New Jersey pols resubmit the sports betting legislation they’ve been trying to pass for the past three years.

Pallone’s HR 457 would exempt New Jersey from PASPA’s control while LoBiondo’s HR 416 would allow all states a four-year window in which to enact their own sports betting legislation. The two Franks immediately co-sponsored each other’s legislation then put the bills back on the shelf with the others and got working on 2016′s edition.

New Jersey is currently awaiting its date with destiny and/or the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals as the state seeks to overturn the injunction imposed on its latest sports betting legislation. On Wednesday, the court set a Tuesday, March 17 date in Philadelphia, at which time the three-judge panel will determine whether oral arguments will be required.

Florida developer Glenn Straub moved one step closer to owning the Revel Casino Hotel (if he still wants it) after a federal judge shot down a request by business tenants of the old hotel and casino to stop the sale of the property because they wanted to appeal the sale.

Judge Jerome B. Simandle of the U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J. issued the order, freeing Straub from any obligations to honor the leases and other rights of the property’s amenity tenants and affirming Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gloria Burns’ ruling that the property could be sold “free and clear of liens, claims, encumbrances and interests.”

Judge Simandle also cited the “palpable risk of losing a ready buyer” as one of the reasons behind declining the request of the tenants and without any alternative buyer waiting in the wings, Revel could end up losing out and would be left “empty and commercially unproductive.”

“Such concerns would not sufficiently outweigh the far more prevalent interest in facilitating the success of bankruptcy proceedings and enabling such proceedings to reach finality,” Judge Simandle added.

Straub, through his lawyer Stuart Moskovitz, threatened to walk away from the deal if the tenants’ appeal were approved. But now that the issue has been cleared up and the developer is no longer in the hook to honor those leases, Moskovitz remarked that the purchase could proceed.

The real estate developer also scored a separate victory when Judge Simandle also junked a similar appeal filed by ACR Energy Partners LLC, the operator of the casino’s custom-built powerplant.

The powerplant issue has been a major sticking point in the sale of the casino. Canadian equity firm Brookfield Holdings abandoned its planned purchase of the casino because it couldn’t agree to a deal with the powerplant operator, which Revel reportedly paid more than $3 million a month when it was still open.

Irish betting operator Paddy Power has teamed up with NextGen Gaming, the Australian slot studio of online gaming company NYX Gaming Group to launch online slot titled “Merlin’s Millions Superbet.”

The new online slot will be available to access via Paddy Power’s desktop and mobile platforms.

NYX Gaming said that a number of games created by its Sydney-based games studio NextGen Gaming are to be rolled out for the operator, with Merlin’s Millions Superbet the first to go live.

Merlin’s Millions Superbet offers players 3D visuals and powerful anime with the likeable Merlin, the first of what has grown to become a three-game franchise featuring the character in his popular magical themed world. The Superbet functionality provides players the opportunity to leverage a unique 5-level ante-bet, offering the potential of wild multiplied wins and putting players firmly in charge of their own play volatility.

“The launch of NextGen’s Merlin’s Millions Superbet re-affirms Paddy Power’s commitment to providing the best in slots content, which is invaluable for both our acquisition and retention efforts,” Paddy Power’s games marketing manager, Conor Leavey said.

“We’re delighted to launch Merlin’s Millions Superbet™ to our partners at Paddy Power.” said NYX Gaming Commercial Director David Johnson. “Together with Foxin’ Wins, the Merlin’s franchise has become one that is followed by operators and players alike. 50 win lines across a 4×5 configuration offers players increased opportunities for magical stacked wins; in line with a dual feature set Merlin’s Millions Superbet increases player engagement and play time.”

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) has incurred more wrath of the Commission on Audit (COA), which is demanding that PAGCOR dispose of the remaining condominium units it bought from AMVEL Land Development Corp.

In its 2013 audit report released last week, the COA put PAGCOR in its place when it came to the latter’s investments in non-core assets. The Commission was referring to 66 condominium units PAGCOR bought from AMVEL with the intention of selling these units to PAGCOR employees and officials. But the COA discovered that of those 66 units, 54 remain unsold, which puts PAGCOR on the hook for Php218.1 million in unrealized profit.

The COA has recommended that PAGCOR intensify its efforts “to dispose the remaining 54 condominium units in order to recover the idle funds, which can be utilized for more profitable investments.”

“Considering that it was evident that its officers and employees were no longer interested in availing of the housing project, in view of the lapse of six years from the time the project was conceived, consider the possibility of offering the subject units to the public,” the COA added.

In true Filipino fashion, the COA used a colorful metaphor, comparing the unsold condo units to “unwanted children” that came about because of “poor planning” on PAGCOR’s part.

“PAGCOR could have avoided the incurrence of various expenses in the total amount of P16.237 million relative to the 54 unsold units had the diligence of a good father of a family been strictly observed and had there been proper planning and judgment in the purchase of the subject condominium units,” the COA said.

TRAVELERS INTL. DETAILS RESORT WORLD MANILA EXPANSION PLANS

Days after FanDuel released its revenue numbers from 2014, rival DraftKings is doing the same and if their numbers are any indication, it paints a rosy picture of the future of daily fantasy sports sites.

DraftKings revealed that it had earned $40 million in revenue in 2014, a sharp increase from its 2013 numbers when it posted a meager-by-comparison $3 million in revenue. DraftKings also announced that it had taken in around $304 million in entry fees from users, another impressive increase from 2013 when it only received $45 million in entry fees.

Just like FanDuel, DraftKings’ 4Q 2014 numbers were the biggest of the four quarters and largely contributed to the company’s overall revenue numbers. This isn’t surprising considering that its the quarter where most of America’s sports leagues are in action. Whether it’s the tail end of the MLB season, and the start of the NBA and NHL, the fourth quarter of every year is the prime season for daily fantasy sports.

Oh, and it’s also the only quarter of the year – not counting the playoffs and the Super Bowl – where the NFL is in action. DraftKings’ numbers in the 4Q of 2014 alone – $173.6 million in the entry fees – proves as much.

Despite its impressive revenue run in 2014, DraftKings still runs second to FanDuel in terms of fantasy users shares. The latter received $622 million in entry fees in 2014 with revenues of up to $57 million.

While there’s still a level of competition between the two sites, Atlas venture partner Ryan Moore, who led the company’s investment in DraftKings in the latter part of 2014, believes that bigger things are in store for DraftKings and the industry itself as a whole.

“The numbers don’t lie,” Moore told BetaBoston. “This is a much bigger market than anyone thought it would be, which is great news for both DraftKings and FanDuel.”

Take Our Poll

London gives you not only great conferences and expos but awesome parties where you can network, relax and drink, which is why we decided to ask our readers, “Which Conference party are you most looking forward to?”

67% said, “Fire and Ice,” 17% voted London Baby and 17% said, “LAC Closing Party.”

Fire and Ice 2015 will be held on Wednesday, 4th of February at the Troxy 490 Commercial Road, E1 0HX, London and is free for all igaming execs to attend. Doors will be open for general admission at 9:00 p.m.

Fire and Ice, famous for its provocative and unique entertainment attracting 2000 of the who’s who in iGaming industry from casino operators to media suppliers, takes guests back in time to the golden era of Victorian England with Fire & Ice 2015: The Reign of Queen Vic. Bask in the gilt of the court that sits on a foundation of depravity.

Lee Davy recaps the week’s headlines including a jail sentence for a British World Series of Poker bracelet winner, the end of Bluff magazine print edition, the closure of The Linq poker room, and a round-up of the action at the World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker Circuit and the 2015 Aussie Millions.

The week started out with news that the former 888Poker sponsored pro, PokerStrategy coach, and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder, Darren Woods, was sentenced to 15-months imprisonment, and told to return £1m to those he had wronged, or else his sentence would be extended to one of six years.

The young man from the UK was said to have a net worth far exceeding £1m, giving you an understanding of the amount of money he was able to draw from the online poker industry, during his multi-accounting and fraudulent affiliate activities.

Woods has already been ordered to return £287,673 to an unnamed online gambling company. An amount believed to be on its way to the players he duped in due course.

Bye-Bye Bluff Magazine

Young Woods will have plenty of time to read whilst doing porridge, but one piece of literature he won’t be getting his hands on is a copy of Bluff magazine.

Earlier this week, Bluff Media, declared that the print version of their February issue would be their last. The dawn of the new age was upon them, and future issues of Bluff would be available in a digital only format.