Tag Archives: the daily vice

The WSOP Heads to Italy

The World Series of Poker Circuit will host a forthcoming event at the Casino di Campione, in Italy, as a precursor to their inaugural World Series of Poker Europe series in Berlin.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) are bringing their show to Italy.

According to PokerNews, the Italian news outlet GiocoNews, has received official word from Caesars Interactive Entertainment’s (CIE) Director of Events & Sponsorship, Simone Ricci, that a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) event will be held at the Casino di Campione later this year.

The event will be held Sep 16-30. It will be the first time a WSOP event has been held on Italian soil. It’s great news for the Italian poker community, especially after the European Poker Tour (EPT) called time on their San Remo adventure.

It’s a smart piece of business by the WSOP. For the first time in their history, the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) will head to Berlin. That event takes place in October, giving the Italian experiment the opportunity to run a host of live satellites for the big one.

It’s not the first time the WSOPC has donned their big overcoat and stepped outside of America. In March there will be a WSOPC event held at the Casino de Marrakech, culminating in a €1,350 NLHE Main Event. Ricco believes there will be even more events, as the WSOP looks to lay down a marker outside of the U.S.

“Italy represents an important country for us, and right now, we are trying to finalize some deals with other European locations,” Ricci told GiocoNews.

Online bookmakers fooled by another ‘phantom’ football match

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.

Mexico to authorize casinos in tourist resorts

Mexico is preparing to authorize the construction of casinos in popular tourist resorts, including Acapulco, Baja California and the Mayan Riviera. The country’s Interior Ministry said in a press conference last week that the idea was to keep new casinos from springing up in urban areas, where they’re more likely to rely on a local clientele.

The number of new casinos that will be permitted in resorts has yet to be determined. There are currently 297 gambling venues in Mexico and, using a formula based on the number of permits issued by previous federal governments, the new project could result in as many as 775 casinos being developed in resorts popular with affluent tourists.

Hotel chains including the Hard Rock Riviera Maya and Resort Mundo Imperial Acapulco have already confirmed their interest in adding live casino gambling to the list of amenities they can offer their guests. The head of the Mexican Association of Professional Real Estate Agents said certain unnamed “Las Vegas-based firms” had already expressed interest in setting up shop at resort properties in Cancun.

Mexico is currently in the process of passing its new Federal Betting and Raffles Law. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives in December and will be discussed in the Senate later this month. Maria Marcela González Salas, the Director General of Gaming and Raffles, said there is still time to amend the bill to include the resort casino project.

BRINGING ORDER FROM CHAOS

The new legislation is an attempt by Mexico’s new federal government to exert some control over the country’s chaotic casino industry. The legislation will require current casino licensees to reapply for licensing, which the head of the country’s gaming association has warned could spark a flurry of court challenges if many of these operators are denied new licenses.

Last May, federal authorities took action against several casinos operated by Entretenimiento De Mexico (EMEX), including the Playboy Club in Cancun. The authorities said EMEX had failed to legally establish the legitimacy of its operations. In 2013, Mexico reduced casino license terms from 40 to 25 years and revoked the ability of casino licensees to pass licenses on to other operators.

Dutch authorities break up “professional, large scale” sports betting ring

Authorities in the Netherlands have broken up what they described as a “professional, large scale” international illegal sports betting ring. On Tuesday, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) anti-fraud agency announced that five suspects had been arrested on charges ranging from illegal betting to forgery and money laundering.

The five men – four Dutch nationals and a fifth man living in Cyprus who was temporarily in The Hague – were arrested following raids on homes in Netherlands, Cyprus, Austria, Germany, the UK and Curacao. The raids netted over €100k in seized cash, cars and luxury goods, including Rolex watches.

The six-country investigation began after the FIOD received a tip-off from Germany that one of the suspects was involved in match-fixing in 2008-09, including matches played in the Netherlands. The Netherlands public prosecutor says investigations have yet to uncover any proof of this alleged fixing activity.

The Netherlands takes a particularly dim view of illegal gambling activity, routinely vying with neighboring Belgium to see who can dole out the biggest six-figure penalties to operators not expressly authorized to accept wagers from its citizens. One of the five accused, a 58-year-old man from The Hague, is facing charges of operating an illegal lottery. Similar charges resulted in an €80k fine for an elderly couple from Austria who dared offer an online house lottery with a Dutch-language option.

The Netherlands is in the process of liberalizing its online gambling market but the Remote Gambling Bill is taking the long way around to passage. Latest progress reports had pegged a summer vote in the country’s upper house and an early 2016 timeline for the bill’s provisions to be actually implemented.

Bwin.party shares rebound on rumors that Amaya’s still pursuing acquisition

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.

Chinese Year 4712 Year in Review

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%

Gala Coral denies talks with OpCapita; Karma Gaming confirms distribution deal with OpenBet

UK gambling operator Gala Coral Group rejected reports that it has held talks with private investment firm OpCapita for a possible sale of Gala Retail business.

Although Gala Coral confirms that the company is undertaking a process to explore the possible sale of Gala Retail and is having talks with number of interested parties, the UK operator denies press speculation suggesting that OpCapita has submitted a bid and there is a current discussion between the two companies.

Gala Coral Group also announced on the same press release that its property subsidiary, Propco Three Ltd. has completed its sale to M&G for £173.4m.

Gala Retail has also purchase five properties from Propco for £1.1m, following the purchase of the properties and the surrender of the leases, and rent is no longer payable and these clubs will make a positive contribution to EBITDA.

Meanwhile, Karma Gaming confirms a global distribution agreement with UK software provider in the gaming and betting industry OpenBet Ltd.

Karma Gaming said that the company is reinventing instant win games by merging the thrill of winning money with the fun of casual and mobile games. Under the deal, Karma will bring a number of titles— such as Haunted Hotel, El Lootchador, and Secrets of the Pyramids­—to new markets via the OpenBet platform.

“We analyze millions of game sessions across play-for-fun gaming and real-money gambling markets including iOS, Facebook social gaming, and lottery instant win games,” said Jay Aird, Chief Innovation Officer for Karma Gaming.

250 Strong Enquiries for Jersey at ICE Totally Gaming Conference

Jersey eGaming, a consortium of businesses and government agencies, exhibited for the first time at the global eGaming conference ICE Totally Gaming at Excel London 3rd – 5th February, with firm interest registered by industry. The event was deemed a success and there are several licences in the advanced stages of discussion as a result.

The conference saw Jersey receive over 250 strong enquiries, with the Jersey Gambling Commission currently in detailed conversations about licensing with both operators and platform providers as a consequence of the meetings held on the Jersey stand at ICE.

Jersey eGaming laid its groundwork before the conference to communicate the basis of Jersey’s offering as the latest jurisdiction for eGaming, including its provision of the most cost-effective licences, innovative gambling legislation, and, most importantly, the Island’s established reputation as a well-regulated international finance centre.

Andy Jarrett, Director at Digital Jersey, who were supporting the event, commented:

“ICE was a fantastic eye opener for us as to how successfully Jersey eGaming had put the message out to the whole industry about our offering. The type of interest we saw at ICE was

diverse; from new companies looking to set up, to existing, established organisations seeking an alternative, higher-quality jurisdiction. We were delighted to receive such an unprecedented amount of enquiries. Jersey’s regulatory standards stand us in great stead within the eGaming world, because the nature of that business sector requires rigorous standards of internal regulation in order to maintain their ability to trade. The ICE team did an excellent job and I look forward to Jersey taking the next steps with the operators and platform providers we met at ICE.”

 

NBPA exec Michele Roberts wants sports gambling discussion

National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts is jumping in on discussions surrounding legalized sports gambling, echoing the thoughts of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the possibility of expanding the scope of legal sports betting on more US states.

In an interview with ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” earlier this week, Roberts made it clear that while she and the player’s association have no stance on the issue at this time, it’s come to the point that there should at least be some kind of discussion happening on how the players and team owners can reap the financial benefits of an industry that’s estimated to be in the billions.

“Everyone has known for years that there is a ton of money being made that’s not being enjoyed, frankly, by the people who are creating the games, both the owners and the players,” Roberts told Mike & Mike. For her part, Roberts also told the radio show that she’s already had some discussions with NBA players about the possibility of seeing an expanded legalized sports betting environment.

It’s an admittedly brave to stance to take, especially since Roberts is representing the affairs of the players themselves and not necessarily the league and the team owners. Given how both players and team owners could stand to benefit from a legalized sports betting environment, it’s incumbent upon Roberts to encourage some kind of discussion on the issue because of the potential financial windfall the industry could have on the sport and its participants.

“I know all the negatives that up to today have kept gambling outside of the realm of what is appropriate in terms of sports,” Roberts added. “But let’s not ignore the big elephant in the room. There’s a lot of money being made.”

Her stance, or at least a part of it, is similar to what NBA Commissioner has said numerous times in recent months. Like the NBPA exec director, the commissioner also pointed out how the industry today has the potential to make more money from a legalized sports gambling structure given how much money is already being exchanged – reported to be close to $400 billion a year – in underground betting markets in the US alone.

Roberts added that she and Silver have yet to sit down and talk about the issue, but with the NBA’s next collective bargaining session on the horizon, it’s safe to say that the topic of legalized sports betting will be broached at one point or another.

Per Eriksson of NetEnt on Guns N’ Roses and Innovation

Rebecca Liggero talks to Per Eriksson, CEO of NetEnt as they revealed their latest slot brand innovation, Guns ‘N Roses.

Net Ent revealed its latest slot brand innovation, the globally recognized rock band Guns ‘N Roses. The best part about this reveal was the celebration taking place at the Net Ent booth with Guns ‘N Roses music blaring, memorabilia on display such as an electric guitar signed by Slash and the distribution of GNR Greatest Hits CDs and branded iPhone cases to everyone in the crowd.

When asked what are the thoughts that went behind giving this on-board with Net Ent technology, Eriksson said, “Well, we have launched branded games with films titles in the past and we thought we need to make something different. We’re always ahead and we want to have innovations and with this brand; it’s an iconic brand. What can I say this is perfect for us and I’m so happy to have this iconic brand for Net Ent.”

“Internally, we have something called “The Innovation Week” so direct after ICE [2015], we have our innovation week where we have the whole company involve in that. And we live, breath innovation the whole week. Of course we do it the whole year round but this particular week we have a lot of things going on in the office and we have at the end of the week, we have a Net Ent’s den where me and the board members are meeting up with new ideas and the winner gets a trip to Las Vegas and the funny thing is that every year, we just come out with crazy ideas. And it does not to do only with new games it could be for example, new ways of taking care of customers coming in to the office.”

Eriksson confirmed this is the first time the Guns ‘N Roses brand has been licensed out in this fashion and he is incredibly proud of his team for securing the rights to such a powerful, globally recognized brand.

Playtech acquires GameMaker creator Yoyo Games for £10m

Gaming technology and services supplier Playtech has acquire GameMaker creator YoYo Games for £10.65m ($16.4m), with an additional £3.4m ($5.3m) depending on performance as part of an earn-out clause in the deal.

Under the deal acquisition terms, Playtech is set to offer 30% of the deal value under an escrow for a period of up to 36 months. An additional $5.3 million earn-out clause had been added to the acquisition deal, which will be triggered dependent on Yoyo Games performance under Playtech operations.

Yoyo Games has developed GameMaker technology, which enables casual game developers to develop a game using a single code, and run it on a variety of platforms: Windows 8, Apple, Xbox, HTML5, Computers’ iOS, Ubuntu, Google’s Playstation and others.

The platform has secured more than 750,000 registered games developers who currently use the platform on a free basis with chargeable add-ons. In total, the GameMaker suite of products have been downloaded over five million times.

Playtech said that Yoyo Games acquisition is part of a three-pronged strategy to penetrate the sector, combining Plamee’s proprietary games with publishing of both in-house and third party games and YoYo’s casual gaming technology.

“Playtech’s directors believe that the continued development of the GMS technology within the company will enable it to extend beyond the current games developers base, and will fit well with its in-house casual team, extending its expertise and know-how in the development of casual games, marketing systems and related infrastructure,” the company said in a statement. “This acquisition will enable the company to further diversify its business, benefiting from a combined B2B/B2C offering focused on a strong and growing segment of the wider gaming market.”

YoYo Games CEO Sandy Duncan has also stepped down following the acquisition and is now working as consultant at Ferno Technology.

American Gaming Association unveils a national initiative for 2016 presidential election

The American Gaming Association (AGA) announced a first-time unified campaign for political support called “Gaming votes” with eyes toward lobbying 2016 presidential candidates.

Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International and Chairman of the American Gaming Association Jim Murren discussed key points, during the launch, of a national voting initiative in key presidential election states at Aristocrat Technologies on Feb. 12.

One of the initiative’s main goals is to ensure that presidential candidates understand gaming’s positive “We’re going to call on presidential candidates to become more educated about this industry, to replace myths with facts, and to let these candidates know the gaming industry is a gateway to middle-class jobs,” said AGA President Geoff Freeman.

“When they’re talking about issues like putting Americans back to work, reforming the regulatory burdens in this country, tax reform, infrastructure — they’re talking about issues important to the gaming industry,” Freeman added.

The gaming association also hopes to make casinos a focus in battleground states— including Nevada, Iowa, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio—by using the magic word: jobs.

The AGA, which represents the interests of commercial casinos, Native American tribes and gambling machine manufacturers, pushed 1.7 million jobs in the industry that span more than 200 different types of careers, and 62,000 casino-related jobs are expected to be added this year.

Along with urging candidates to support issues to benefit the industry, the plan will also involve encouraging the industry’s workers in those states to go to the polls, however, an outright presidential endorsement isn’t expected.

Las Vegas’ NHL ticket drive gaining traction; casinos to pay tribute to Jerry Tarkanian

If first impressions are anything to go by, Las Vegas’ ticket drive to bring an NHL team to Sin City is off to a very good start.

The ownership group of a prospective NHL franchise in Las Vegas, by lead investor Bill Foley and backed by the Maloof brothers, announced that it had received 5,000 deposits for season tickets in the first 36 hours of the ticket drive. That’s significant for a number of reasons.

For one, it’s already halfway to the 10,000-season ticket commitment set by the ownership group to show the NHL that there’s a healthy market for a new franchise. It also paints a pretty picture that Las Vegas can actually sustain a healthy chunk of fans who are committed to paying season ticket prices for a team that technically doesn’t exist yet.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman even paid a visit to Las Vegas last week to check in on the campaign and leaving impressed with the attention the campaign was generating. He stopped short of promising a franchise to the city but Las Vegas certainly helped its cause with the enthusiastic response to the ticket drive.

If the league does award a franchise to Las Vegas, the potential ownership group has already earmarked a new arena being built on the Strip as its home ice. The arena, which is scheduled to open in April 2016, is under development, a partnership between MGM Resorts International and Anschutz Entertainment Group and could hold as much as 17,5000 fans in an ice hockey setting.

Meanwhile, a handful of casinos along the Las Vegas Strip are set to do something it rarely does later this week.

According to multiple reports, Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts properties, Cosmopolitan, Stratosphere, Tropicana, Venetian and Palazzo will dim their lights to pay tribute to former University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) Coach Jerry Tarkanian who died on February 11, 2015.

Mayweather–Pacquiao not set yet; PacMan getting heavy action

You know how everyone seems to be waiting with baited breath for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. – Manny Pacquiao fight to finally happen? Well, it appears that we’re likely to run out of breath before that happens. That or this has been the longest slow-play in the history of sports.

Either way, the fight isn’t inked in stone yet. That’s what Mayweather said during the NBA All-Star Game, debunking an earlier report from the Guardian that the two sides had finally agreed to fight on May 2.

At this point, it’s become really confusing on who to believe anymore. One side says the fight’s close; the other side says there are still a lot of negotiations left. Whichever side you believe, one inexplicable truth has come out of this whole sage: it’s pretty exhausting waiting for the fight to happen.

Logic—or is it skepticism?—dictates that we shouldn’t get our hopes up. Not after seeing the same song and dance over and over again, only for talks to go up in flames. We’re like that child who keeps waiting on his separated parents to reconcile, only we’ve become disenchanted with them taking so long to smooth out their differences that we don’t even know if we want to see them together anymore.

That’s where I am right now, although I have to admit that there’s still a significant population that still cling to that silver thread of hope that the fight will somehow be made.

There are also those who haven’t paid enough attention to the negotiations that they’re already placing bets on the fight. Yup. Only the possibility of a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will bettors actually line up to place bets on the fight even though said fight hasn’t been agreed to yet.

But turns out, a lot of bettors don’t care about that particularly important detail. Oddsmakers are on that same boat, having already released odds on the fight with Mayweather opening as the 1/4 favorite compared to Paquiao being the 5/2 underdog.

Social Media Tip of the Week: Blog & social media integration

The Media Image  Head of SEO and Social Darren Sheffield explains about the integration of blogs and social media and how the two are very dependent on each other in this edition of of CalvinAyre.com’s Social Media Tip of the Week.

Do your social media content research

o    Know your fan base and use tools such as Facebook Graph search and Audience Insights to gain an insight in to everything from their demographics to their interests.

Get the right sharing and engagement mechanisms in place.

o    Social share buttons are of vital importance – our testing showed better results from floating sidebars but use your discretion in finding buttons that best suit your blog.

Another important element is an easy to use comment section.

o    Comments are the ultimate sign of user engagement and platforms such as Disqus allow great integration with social media

Floyd Mayweather Sending Out Some Phil Ivey Love

Floyd Mayweather sends out some Phil Ivey love after tweeting to his 5.58m followers to get online and learn to play poker at the Ivey League.

Imagine you own an online poker training site.

You want to attract some fish.

What do you do?

Well, if you’re Phil Ivey. The undisputed king of poker. You call your friend Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather and ask him to send a tweet out to his 5.5 million followers.

5.5 million!

Learn how to play poker like @philivey #TMT http://t.co/WWVIFFMgGa

ANZPT Perth Main Event: Huang Crumbles; Kane Takes the Title

Michael Kane wins the Season 7 Australia New Zealand Poker Tour opener in Perth after defeating Stephen McHugh in heads-up action to take home the AU$98,900 first prize.

A Scotsman is the winner of the Season 7 Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) opener in Perth. Michael Kane defeated Stephen McHugh in a heads-up battle that lasted three hours. His prize was AU$98,900.

Kane hadn’t read the script. If he had he would have known that the winner of the event should have been Bryan Huang. He was a member of the illustrious PokerStars Team Pro. He had over $600,000 in live tournament earnings. He also had the chip lead.

He was also the first one out.

According to the PokerNews Live Reporting team, Huang’s death came by a thousand cuts.

“He simply bled chips until he was down under 300,000 with blinds at 8,000/16,000” Said PokerNews reporter Josh Bell.

By this time two and a half hours of frustration had passed. Huang looked down and saw pocket nines. It was good enough. Kane looked down at Big Slick. That was good enough also. The pair tangoed. Two kings on the board and Huang was left with chip dust. Navin Bechar would eliminate him shortly thereafter A8dd

Chris Gordon Wins WPT National London

Chris Gordon has taken the top prize in the £200 buy-in World Poker Tour National London No-Limit Hold’em Accumulator event, after beating Jesus Garcia in heads-up action.

[Image Source: PokerNews]

Chris Gordon is the latest World Poker Tour (WPT) National Series champion. He defeated the Spaniard Jesus Garcia in heads-up action. His reward was £22,500.

The event took place at Aspers Casino in Stratford. It was a £200 buy-in event with accumulator rules. This allowed players to buy-in three times and take their combined weight of chips into the second day of action.

The partypoker sponsored event attracted the UK pros with most of the laughing gas. Steve Watts, Sinem Melin and James Dempsey enjoying the fun, but not bearing any fruit. There was even a return to action for the former Poker Million winner James Akenhead. None of the aforementioned stars of the game made a dent in this one though.

24-players returned for the final day of action. The two most prominent names belonged to Kevin Allen and Matas Cimbolas. Allen – the former Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour (GUKPT) Main Event winner – would finish 19th. Cimbolas – the former WPT UK Main Event winner, and recent European Poker Tour (EPT) Deauville Main Event final tablist – finished 14th. Both players getting there short stacks in on a whim that sent them to the rail.

Chris Gordon was the most experienced player at the final table. He sat down with close to $200,000 in live tournament earnings. He left with over $200,000. It was his biggest score to date. He is yet to hit the jackpot. Instead, he has kept in the game by cashing consistently since 2007.

888 Holdings rejects £744M William Acquisition Bid

Online gaming operator 888 Holdings has terminated £744m ($1.1b) takeover discussions with bookmaker William Hill after talks broke down over price with a key stakeholder.

888 said that the board of the company and the representatives of the principal shareholder trusts, together with their respective advisers, have had a number of discussions with William Hill and its advisers concerning a possible recommended offer.

“Due to a significant difference of opinion on value with a key stakeholder, it has not been possible to reach agreement on the terms of a possible offer and the Board of the Company has agreed with William Hill to terminate discussions, said 888.

888 announced last week that Hills made an offer of 210p per share, a total of £744m followed by a statement saying that it had “received an approach regarding a possible offer,” but there was no guarantee that “any firm offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any firm offer might be forthcoming.”

Shares in 888 fell 16% at 142.75p on Monday, having soared more than 25% before closing to 18% at 171.5p last week after it was revealed to be in talks with William Hill.

“The company is in good health and continues to trade comfortably in line with expectations,” said 888 CEO Brian Mattingley. “The company will announce its full year results on 24 March 2015 and the board of the company looks forward to the future with confidence.”

Shares in William Hill Plc. rose by nearly 0.5% to 383.90p on Monday and the company is due to report full-year results on February 27.

Interview with Anna Casino CEO Mikael Strunge: Marketing to Female Casino Players

It’s no secret that women have their place within the industry but if your mind automatically drift towards bingo when you think of the female players, you might be making a big mistake. Several studies over the years have announced woman as the more attractive segment in the gaming industry.

We sat down with Mikael Strunge, CEO of AnnaCasino.com, as he talks about the fairer sex in the world of online gaming.

Anna Casino was founded in November 2014 and is managed and operated by a Maltese company, which has many casino brands under its wings. The website offers close to 200 casino games that appeals to wide range of slots fans and especially to the ladies in the house.

Mikael, why do you think women are such an attractive segment in general?

The female segment of the online gaming market is terribly overlooked by the established online gaming community. Naturally, discussing women in general as a segment is a bit wide since they, as their male counterparts, fall into many different sub-segments but the work done on the subject does suggest them to be of higher value. The main reason for this is to be found in their motivation for being consumers of gaming products. Women tend to use our products as they were intended – as a means of relaxing and having fun. This leads them to play for less money at a time but have a much longer activity span. They are more sensible about their use of gaming products you might say. Men, on the other hand, are more in it to win and they tend to play more aggressively and hence stop playing earlier if they don’t reach their objective.

Are the higher overall value of the female players the only reason why they are an attractive segment?

No, the female players also have a tendency to shop around between operators much less. They tend to find an operator they like and stick with that operator for a longer period of time. This fact naturally contributes to the overall attractiveness of the female players from an operator’s point of view.