Tag Archives: the daily vice

Pennsylvania gets new poker-only online bill; RAWA House hearing postponed

Pennsylvania has a (sorta) new poker-only online gambling bill, courtesy of Rep. Nick Miccarelli.

In case you’re wondering, no, this is not another flip-flop on the poker-only/poker-and-casino legislation filed (and re-filed) by Rep. John Payne. Miccarelli’s HB 695 is a warmed over version of the HB 2297 he introduced in the previous legislative session.

Like Payne’s legislation, HB 695 would restrict online gambling to the state’s existing gaming licensees, licenses would cost $5m and operators would be taxed 14% of gross gaming revenue. Unlike Payne’s legislation, Miccarelli’s legislation includes a strict ‘bad actor’ clause barring casino operators from partnering with online operators that accepted wagers from US residents post-UIGEA.

RAWA HEARING POSTPONED

Meanwhile, the federal legislation that would scupper any and all intrastate online gambling will not have a hearing this Thursday after all. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations had scheduled a Thursday morning hearing to discuss the Sheldon Adelson-supported Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA).

However, the Poker Players Alliance broke the news on Tuesday that the hearing has been postponed, apparently due to the possibility of a “significant snow event” in Washington (or because Adelson expects to be too partied out after his BFF Bibi Netanyahu’s whirlwind tour of the town this week). No replacement hearing date has been announced.

Before the postponement was announced, an unofficial list of witnesses due to testify at the hearing had circulated, and it seems RAWA supporters had stacked the deck against the chance of balance, evidence and/or sanity having a seat at the table.

Interactive Articles, Game Theory and Gut Instinct With Builtvisible

Interactive Articles, Game Theory and Gut Instinct With Builtvisible Video

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Adjarabet Gets a Babelfish Makeover

The Georgian online gambling firm Adjarabet has become the first operator to migrate its poker offering to the Microgaming network via the brand new Babelfish API.

Georgia is in the news a lot lately.

I’m not talking about the women who had her execution postponed because her deadly dose of poison looked a little too cloudy, preventing her from becoming the first female to be executed in the state in 70-years. I’m talking about the country with a population of 5 million people, who seem to have a soft spot for playing poker.

A few weeks ago, I brought you news of a partnership between the World Poker Tour (WPT) and one of Georgia’s top gambling firms, Europe-Bet.com; and I can now bring you more Georgian gambling news after Adjarabet became the first online poker room to use Microgaming’s Babelfish API.

Adjarabet was founded in 1998, and they advertise the brand as the ‘Georgian market leader in poker, casino, sports betting and skill games.’ At the beginning of the month, Microgaming unveiled detailed of their new ‘Babelfish’ technology, and promised to unveil a big signing in the coming weeks.

Are Adjarabet that big signing?

“We were looking for a partner to help us grow and improve our poker offering; when Microgaming presented Babelfish we knew it was exactly what we needed,” commented Alastair Ives, Head of Poker at Adjarabet. “The Babelfish API allows us to offer a product that is completely tailored to our customer base, eliminating the pain of migrating to a new software provider. We are very happy with how the process has been handled and with the results of the migration so far.”

PokerStars Servers Crash and Bighusla Shows That Spin & Go’s Can Be Beaten

PokerStars upset a few of their customers when an unexpected two hour outage froze screens across the world, and a player by the name of Bighusla has shown that Spin & Go’s can be beaten. 

As I pulled sleep from my eyes my phone was bouncing by the side of the bed like a happy little dog.

“Have you heard?”

“PokerStars has crashed.”

“Nobody knows what’s going on?”

It was a mate of mine. And yes he did send me three different SMS messages, when one would have sufficed. He is an open loop kind of guy. We’re both X-Files fans, but whilst my only interest is Gillian Anderson, he is a real bone fide conspiracy theorist.

I leapt out of bed, removed my old man pajamas and searched the Internet for the news story of the decade. Had the Iranians decided to wipe the Adelson slate clean by invading PokerStars?

Ihre Consulting hired by Bonnier Gaming to assist with Affiliate Management

Bonnier Gaming has instructed Ihre Consulting to assist them with growing their affiliate program within the European market.

Bonnier Gaming brands include Redbet.com, Vinnarum.com, Whitebet.com, Mamamiabingo.com and Bertilbingo.com.  Their portfolio is extremely attractive and offers something for almost all igaming affiliates. Key markets include the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany and Poland,which is where the strategic partnership with Ihre Consulting is formed.

Ihre Consulting have been in business over 4 years, working with operators and affiliates to partner them together in mutually beneficial deals. We are now a market leader of third party networks and affiliate management services, with a key strength within Scandinavia, and with Germany, UK, Canada and Australia closely behind.

Edward Ihre commented: “Working with Bonnier Gaming is a great partnership for us. They have great product lineup with multiple brands on offer, enabling us to work closely with them to provide key partnerships with affiliates within in these areas. Their target markets are ones we are strong in, and we are extremely pleased to be working with the Bonnier team”.

KristoferBergdahl, Head of Aquisition from Bonnier Gaming quoted: “Working with Ihre Consulting was a natural choice for us. Their strength within Scandinavia and Germany enables us to raise our exposure within these key markets.  Our flagship brand Redbet is an extremely attractive product and we are excited to take this brand to the next level. ”

Bonnier Gaming Affiliates are certified on AGD and GPWA. They have casino, poker, sports and bingo brands available for affiliates to promote, with live dealers provided by Evolution and NetEnt. Brands are available in SEK, EUR and NOK currencies as well as 5 languages. They have the UK and Malta licenses and are available on the mobile.

Affiliates can earn up to lifetime commissions with no negative carryover by promoting one or more of Bonnier Gaming’s products. Contact Ihre Consulting directly to discuss the rates available (as well as more customized deals and promotions) .

Hooters Poker Room Closes in Las Vegas

Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas has closed its poker room, making it the 13th Las Vegas casino to do so in the past two and a half years.

A few years ago, during a trip to Las Vegas, a few friends and I decided to spend a bit of quality time in Hooters. I won’t beat about the bush. We thought it would be a great idea to play poker in front of a dealer with huge knockers.

We didn’t stay long.

We didn’t go back.

There were no Hooters. We felt robbed. Everything was under lock and key. I don’t even think we saw cleavage. But that’s not the reason we left. The casino was tiny. The atmosphere was morgue like. There was no poker room.

So I was a little shocked when I read on USPoker.com that Hooters had closed its poker room. According to John Mehaffey the room consisted of two tables that held a $1/2 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) cash game at 2pm every day. It must have been held in the toilet. We never went to the toilet. Like I said, there were no Hooters.

According to statistics compiled by Mehaffey, Hooters poker room is the second to close this year (The Linq closed in January), and the 13th Las Vegas poker room to close since 2012. That takes the overall number of remaining Las Vegas poker rooms to 39.

Pinnacle Sports’ new owners unveil regulated market expansion strategy

Online sports betting operator Pinnacle Sports’ new owners have unveiled their plans for world domination.

One of the oldest and most celebrated of online bookmakers, Pinnacle announced last month that unidentified parties had taken a “controlling interest” in the Curacao-licensed outfit. On Tuesday, Pinnacle revealed that the deal had been consummated in August 2014, although the exact identities of the new ownership remain a mystery. For what it’s worth, the legal firms that advised the new owners on the sale were based in Ireland and the UK.

In a statement, Pinnacle CEO Paris Smith claimed to be “extremely excited” to be working with the new owner(s) on a “shared vision” that includes “significant product enhancement and expansion into regulated territories.” Smith promised “cutting-edge” new products were being readied for the “concerted drive into new global markets.”

Customers will hope the new owners have extra deep pockets, as governments in European regulated markets tend to view online gambling operators as piggy banks. So costs will go up and margins will go down. But Smith assured customers that “the fundamental principles that make the brand so unique will not be compromised.”

Pinnacle appeared to be taking a shift away from regulated markets last year, withdrawing from the UK market before the Sept. 15 deadline for new licensing imposed by the UK Gambling Commission. The year before that, Pinnacle returned the online gambling license it had been issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC).

Both of those moves followed Pinnacle being named in a late-2012 indictment by US authorities that linked the site to an illegal messenger betting ring connected with former Cantor Gaming VP Michael Colbert. Pinnacle withdrew from the US market in 2007 but introduced new IP-blocking of US accounts following the indictment. Members of Pinnacle’s previous ownership named in the indictment have since seen their charges either dropped or drastically reduced.

Pinnacle’s new strategy may see it eventually welcomed back into markets that had previously blacklisted the site, including Bulgaria, which tagged a scarlet letter on Pinnacle in July 2013. Russia, which blacklisted Pinnacle in March 2014, is reportedly planning to institute a legal online sports betting regime this June, although who gets to participate remains murky. In case it needs saying, American bettors aren’t advised to hold their breath for a return of Pinnacle to US shores.

China online gambling bust; Korean site orders DDOS attacks on competitor

Authorities in China have broken up an international online gambling operation based in Hunan province.

China’s official press agency Xinhua quoted Chinese police saying they’d detained 19 individuals following a two-month investigation. A further eight individuals have been targeted for arrest over their roles in the operation of the Shenbo Sun City website, whose servers were based outside the country.

Police said the operation earned a profit of RMB 1.4b (US $$223m) between May 2013 and Oct 2014. Police have frozen approximately 1,000 bank accounts across China containing around RMB 200m. This marks China’s second major bust of 2015, having taken down a similarly large operation in Shandong province in January.

Over in South Korea, authorities have arrested two ‘cyber security experts’ accused of targeting an online gambling site with distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. Intriguingly, the hackers were hired by another illegal online gambling operator intent on eliminating his competition.

The Korea Times quoted the National Police Agency saying a man named Yang, the owner of an online security company, was paid a hefty KRW 1b (US $911k) since May 2014 to target the online gambling operator’s competitor on multiple occasions. Neither site operator was publicly identified by police.

On Sept. 25, Yang reportedly hacked into 12k computers and commanded them to spam the targeted site with messages in order to crash its servers. Yang told police he’d agreed to don the black hat because his legal sources of income were “unstable.” Police are continuing to investigate to determine what other DDOS attacks Yang and his henchman might have launched.

Macau casino revenue falls 49%; Neptune profits “more disappointing” than hoped

Macau casino gambling revenue tumbled 48.6% to MOP 19.5b (US $2.44b) in February, the ninth straight month of revenue decline in the world’s top gambling hub.

Year-on-year comparisons were always going to be dodgy, given that February 2014’s MOP 38b figure was Macau’s all-time peak month. But this February’s decline marked the lowest monthly total since 2011 and the single biggest year-on-year decline since Macau began issuing public stats on its gambling revenue over a decade ago. Still, analysts had feared the decline could hit 53.5%, so, er, yay?

February’s decline is doubly depressing given the bump that casino revenue traditionally receives from Lunar New Year celebrations. But the Macau Government Tourist Office reported that new year visitor levels fell 2.4% from 2014 and average occupancy rates in the crucial Feb. 18-24 period fell nearly seven points to 87.5%.

VIP gamblers tend to give Macau a wide berth during the new year celebrations in order to avoid crowds. While exact details won’t be released until later this month, Wells Fargo Securities suggested VIP revenue declined 56% in February while mass market revenue fell by one-third.

NEPTUNE OPTIMISTIC DESPITE TWO YEARS OF DECLINE

Further evidence of the increasing paucity of Macau VIP gamblers was revealed in junket operator Neptune Group’s H1 profits, which fell 17.3% to HKD 292.6m ($37.7m) in the six months ending Dec. 31. The company, which controls an estimated 15% of Macau’s VIP gaming market, said the decline was “more disappointing than we expected” and that Macau’s VIP gambling slump was “worse than we first anticipated it as an intermittent pattern.”

Neptune warned that unless the situation reversed itself soon, “it may deter some investors from investing in new capital and expansion in this industry.” Junket operators are already facing a liquidity crunch due to Beijing’s crackdown on corruption, visa restrictions and other factors that resulted in 34 junket operators closing their doors in 2014.

Paddy Power posts record profits thanks to boost from Australia

Irish betting operator Paddy Power posted record profits in 2014 thanks to a strong performance by its Australian online division. Paddy’s group revenue rose 18% to €882m in 2014, while profit before tax rose 21% to €167m.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup helped boost Paddy’s turnover to a record €7b although the company says hold was negatively affected by sports results that had “more ups and downs than Taylor Swift’s love life.” Paddy said there were three separate weeks last year in which nearly all the favorites won, causing bookies to pay out “gazillions” on accumulators.

Paddy’s online operations (including Italy but excluding Australia) saw sportsbook turnover rise 25% as the ranks of online customers grew 21%. But sportsbook revenue rose just 7% to €194.2m as hold dipped one point.

Mobile was again a star performer, responsible for 55% of online revenue. Mobile turnover grew 38% to €1.6b and Paddy says 77% of sportsbook customers made a mobile transaction in December. Paddy suggested mobile betting adoption is now “not far behind using it for setting up one night stands on Tinder!”

Online gaming and ‘other’ revenue rose 18% to €140m despite only 6% growth in active customers. Gains in casino, bingo and B2B offset a decline in poker. Mobile gaming revenue rose 58%, representing 40% of overall online gaming (rising to 45% in December).

Paddy lags its competitors in gaming revenue per active customer, but is taking steps to remedy this “historic under penetration.” Paddy credited its Bulgarian game development base for providing it with new proprietary content, including the Santa’s Spins product, which “beat every game ever launched on the site for month one revenue.”

Paddy’s Italian-facing site saw revenue rise 85% but the division posted a net loss of €14.7m as overall market growth remains “slower than expected.” Paddy says it will complete a review of its Italian operation over the coming months to “position our business better for this market reality.”

iGaming Asia Congress 2015 to be held at City of Dreams Macau

iGaming Asia Congress 2015 is just two weeks away.

The 3-day conference and expo for interactive gaming and sports betting in Asia will take place from March 17-19 at the Grand Hyatt City of Dreams Macau.

Melco Crown Entertainment City of Dreams Macau, located at the heart of Cotai between Coloane and Taipa, offers an array of dazzling entertainment, luxurious accommodation, and international dining.

Over 250+ of Asia’s leading sports betting, online casino, lottery, social and mobile gaming executives are expected to attend. iGA 2015 is a great place whether you’re looking to form new partnerships, learn about the Asia’s latest innovations, opportunities, strategies, and developments for interactive gaming and to network to discover new opportunities.

iGA 2015 gives you more networking opportunities by bringing back the “iGA Official Speed Networking” in addition to iGA 2015 After Party, Cocktail functions, Breakfast Briefings, and more.

This year, confirmed speakers include Akamon Entertainment CPO Alex Cohen, Alderney Gambling Control Commission Exec. Director Andre Wilsenach, Paddy Power Asia President Harish Narayanan, SBTech CEO Itai Zak, 500.com VP Jim Yu, and many more.

iGA 2015 will also be co-located with Mobile Gaming & Social Casino Asia—a conference that discusses the latest innovations and developments in Asia’s growing mobile and social gaming sector in depth, which will happen on March 17 at Grand Hyatt Macau.

888, The Gaming Industry’s #1 Defensive Stock

Depending on your timeframe, 888 is either a great investment or a stagnant waste. Taking the long term view, the company at IPO was valued at £590Mm or $1.04B at the time. Today it’s only £567M, or $871M. So if you bought the IPO, you’re down 4% in GBP, or an even worse 16% in USD. Of course if you got in during 2011 you’re way up.

But in case you bought the IPO, don’t let a petty capital loss fool you (or in the case of USD, not so petty). 888 is in ship financial shape. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that it is the most financially responsible publicly traded gambling company in the world. That doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily make more money trading it or holding it than any other company, or that it won’t go down in times of market stress. What it does mean is that it is the defensive gaming stock par excellence, as safe as a gambling stock can possibly be, what with being subject to the whims of politicians that can certainly wreak havoc on the entire industry on a dime after suffering from a fit of in-your-face double-standard morality preaching.

So if you’re in your 20’s or 30’s and you’re looking for a place to park some money for decades and take it out when you’re 65 if the world still exists (it probably will) and politicians don’t completely gut the gaming industry for lack of “public funds” (more possible), then 888 is your pick. Why?

Simply this: As I mention repeatedly time and again, the world is in a serious debt problem that only gets worse by the day. Interest rates are headed up, and when they do, companies in significant debt will be in serious trouble and may have to be liquidated. Usually when analyzing a company’s finances, a debt to equity ratio of below 50% I consider low, but even at that level, a significant and fast rise in interest rates will do serious damage to a company’s bottom line.

With 888 however, the situation is literally turned on its head. 888 not only has no debt whatsoever. It is actually a net creditor. Not on a grand investment bank level for sure, but still it puts excess funds into interest bearing accounts in Britain. Basically, it means that while other companies – those with high and low debt together – will be at least struggling if not bankrupted by rising rates, 888 will actually benefit by a rise in interest rates. This is something you have to read to believe: (page 86)

The Group’s exposure to interest rate risk is limited to the interest bearing deposits in which the Group invests surplus funds. The Group’s policy is to invest surplus funds in low risk money market funds and in interest bearing bank accounts. The Group arranges for excess funds to be placed in these interest bearing accounts with its principal bankers in order to maximise availability of funds for investments. Downside interest rate risk is minimal as the Group has no floating rates borrowings. Given current low interest rates a 0.5% downward movement in bank interest rates would not have a significant impact on finance income for the year. However, a 0.5% increase in interest rates would, based on the year end deposits, increase annual profits by US$0.4 million.

How did this happen? Well, at the risk of stereotyping, (but it’s OK in my case because I’m a Jew), the founders and majority owners are all Israeli Jews. Apparently, people say Jews are good with money. Sometimes I guess. In this case it’s certainly true.

Florida legislator seeks gambling overhaul in the state

Florida Representative and House Majority Leader Dana Young filed a 332-page legislative, calling for an overhaul of the state’s gambling laws.

Young, considered as the leader of the House Republican caucus, filed the package a day before the state Legislature begins its annual session, proposing two destination resort casinos in the state, slot machines at two pari-mutuels outside South Florida, the introduction of new kinds of games, and the creation of a statewide gambling commission.

Young explained her decision to file all these bills, saying that the time is right to have this kind of conversation because “at some point, our members are going to possibly be required to make a decision on renewal or expiration of the Seminole gaming compact.”

However, at no point in Young’s legislation did she mention of the tribe, which is nearing the end of its own five-year deal with the state that gives it exclusive rights to offer card games like blackjack at its nine casinos throughout the state. If the tribe and Governor Rick Scott can’t come to an agreement on the issue, the state will lose out on its revenue-sharing deal with the Indian tribe as required by the compact.

When asked why she didn’t include them in this bill, Young said that since the tribe hasn’t come to an agreement with the state on their issues, there was no point include them, although she did say that the state is “certainly open to continuing dialogue with the Tribe as to how they fit in the larger picture.”

According to Young, the absence of this revenue sharing with the Seminole tribe is a big reason why it’s time for the state to reignite talks of allowing destination casinos in Florida. As part of her proposal, the state would open bidding for two destination resorts in the state, which would require a $2 billion investment per resort, excluding the cost of buying land, as well as approval from any host county where these resorts will rise. In return, these proposed resorts would have to pay state coffers a guaranteed amount of $175 million for each resort while also making them liable to pay state and local taxes from all operations of the resort.

Another item in Young’s proposal involves cutting slots tax for pari-mutuels from 35% to 25% should the government green light the opening of destination resorts anywhere in the state.

Ezugi Signs Live Casino Distribution Deal with Iforium

March 3rd 2015 –Ezugi, the innovative live dealer gaming system provider, today announced that Iforium shall be integrating Ezugi’s Live Casino solution to its Gameflex multi-vendor casino engine.

The distribution deal shall see Ezugi providing their entire portfolio of games including Black Jack, Hybrid Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Keno and Live Lottery. All of Ezugi’s live dealer games will be available in a mobile HTML5 version as well as the Android native application to Iforium’s operators.

Kfir Kugler, CEO at Ezugi, added: “We had an extremely busy time at the recent ICE Totally Gaming Show of which several leading platform providers and operators are actively seeking to partner with Ezugi, as we are the market leaders in the provision of Live Casino solutions when it comes to product innovation and development. We look forward to our industry partnership with Iforium who are one of the leading eGaming software providers with a global client base in order to provide revenue enhancing live gaming products for their customers.”

Phil Parry, CEO at Iforium, commented “I am delighted to announce Iforium’s partnership with Ezugi. The addition of Ezugi’s innovative live casino solution further enhances the premium content available in our Gameflex multi-vendor casino engine. This distribution agreement will clearly bring exciting opportunities for both Iforium and Ezugi.”

-Ends-

 

Media Contacts:

James Hilton on cost of acquisition for customer re-targeting

Rebecca Liggero talks to Global CEO of M&C Saatchi Mobile James Hilton. He provided expert insight on player re-engagement and re-targeting. 

 

James Hilton, Global CEO of M&C Saatchi Mobile provided expert insight on player re-engagement and re-targeting.  Hilton explained why the industry moved from player acquisition to player re-targeting and why this shift had been seen recently.

“Basically the cost of acquisition has gone up tremendously over the years. The wholesale media cost has gone up,” Hilton said.

Hilton described re-targeting as “what it’s really all about” because it’s more expensive to acquire players these days and operators must achieve a higher lifetime value to justify the cost.

Before triggering messages, Hilton advised operators to segment their audience: find out who they are, then retarget and hit them with a relevant message.  Within that message, deep-link them back to where they were, for example back to the bingo game or the casino game they were playing rather than to the homepage.  “Contextual deep linking”, he called it.

Hilton also emphasized the importance of collecting metadata at a granular level and emphasized “you have to tag everything”.  “It’s turning into a data game- who has the best data and more importantly, who can use this data”, he said.

Wynn Resorts removes Elaine Wynn from the board

Casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd. announced in a proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that the company is reducing its Class I board members from three to two, removing Elaine Wynn as director.

The board decided not to re-nominate Elaine Wynn—the former wife of company Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, major shareholder, and director of Wynn Resorts for more than 12 years—after her term expires at the company’s next annual meeting on April 24.

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee cited several reasons including a 2012 lawsuit she filed against her ex-husband to change a longstanding stockholders agreement, “actual or potential conflicts,” and her “lack of independence under Nasdaq listing standards and resulting inability to serve on key board committees.”

“This news is extraordinarily disappointing, not just because I, as the co-founder of Wynn Resorts, have devoted my life to making this company a success, but because the decision excludes the last woman director from the board,” Elaine Wynn said in statement emailed from Southern California attorney and political strategist Mark Fabiani on Monday. “I am reviewing all of my options.”

Elaine Wynn also told the company, in a letter dated Feb. 13, that if the board failed to nominate her to serve another three years as a director, she would nominate herself and deliver a proxy statement to stockholders.

Wynn Resorts Spokesman Michael Weaver said on Sunday that the company wouldn’t comment about the details of the proxy statement. “Steve Wynn supported the candidacy of Elaine Wynn; but the board, as a whole, accepted the recommendation of the nominating and corporate governance committee in electing to reduce the number of inside directors and not re-nominate her.”

Aside from reducing the number of its Class I Board members, Wynn also announced during its filing that Wynn Palace’s estimated figure has changed from $4b to $4.1b, a 2.5% increase and the opening of the casino would be delayed in the first half of 2016, instead of the initial plan to open before the 2016 Chinese New Year, which will fall on Feb 8.

Caesars loses $1b in Q4 as Caesars Palace suffers “nearly unprecedented poor hold”

Casino operator Caesars Entertainment managed to lose another billion dollars in Q4, despite modest revenue gains.

Revenue in the three months ending Dec. 31 topped $2.1b, up 6% from the same period the previous year. Gaming revenue nudged up 1.6% to $1.37b, room revenue rose 7% and those hard-partying 20-somethings pushed food and beverage up 9% to $378m.

Net losses for the quarter came to $1b; better than the $1.75b loss a year ago, but unless you’re Sheldon Adelson, a billion is still a billion.

For the year as a whole, revenue was up 3.6% to $8.5b and losses were slightly less nausea inducing, improving 6% to a mere $2.77b. Caesars shares rose 4% on the day only to fall nearly 8% in after-hours trading.

Caesars’ digital operations were credited with giving revenues a $156m shot in the arm this quarter while brick and mortar operations were hit and miss, Outgoing Caesars CEO Gary Loveman claimed that a “nearly unprecedented poor hold” at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas took a $60m bite out of earnings. To which CFO Eric Hession added: “Sadly, not too many people had to use casino credit.”

Results were aided by the August opening of Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, which has yet to unseat Maryland Live! as market leader but has posted decent numbers. The year also saw the launches in Las Vegas of the Cromwell and the High Roller observation wheel, the latter seeing daily visitation rise 10% sequentially to around 5k. Caesars’ rejigging of its Atlantic City properties left the surviving operations “marginally profitable” in Q4.

Loveman, who is exiting the CEO position on June 30 in favor of former Hertz Global Holdings CEO Mark Frissora, said he had no way of proving the emerging theory that the recent plunge in gas prices had given a boost to the regional casino industry. Loveman acknowledged that gas prices might play a role but was more intrigued by the idea that the industry was witnessing “the stabilization of the supply dynamics.”

Innovation in iGaming Profiles: NU Entertainment

In 2007 James Findlay and his partner Carolyn Hammond conceived the NU card and gaming system.  Several years later the pair formed Lucky Games Australia to focus on the development of NU and Findlay took up a position as the Co-Founding Director. Since then, according to Findlay, Lucky Games has built a collection of new game content and an IP portfolio, all with granted patents, registered trademarks, domains and branded merchandise.

Findlay has a passion for math and design and his professional background is in the building industry and property development.  He’s an inventor and an entrepreneur at heart and his experience in several different fields eventually led him to developing an entirely new system of games for the gambling industry.

I had the pleasure of meeting Findlay at ICE Totally Gaming 2015 and he gave me my own pack of NU cards so I could test out the system myself.  More recently I had the opportunity to follow up with Findlay on his proprietary games and learn why iGaming operators would be interested in licensing his product.

Becky Liggero: James, its lovely to have you for our innovator series.  Can you describe the complex process of developing NU Entertainment? I know you have a number of patents as well.

James Findlay: Patent applications are extensive and at times exhaustive, that said, by receiving granted patents is evidence that your invention is truly novel and innovative.  NU is a gaming apparatus with granted patents in the U.S, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Japan and pending in 42 other jurisdictions including UK/Europe, China and Macau.  The most innovative and disruptive card deck in 800 years; It’s akin to patenting the modern, metric expandable version of the 52.

We are now positioned to offer our proprietary exclusive NU Game content to leading social and cash game developers and operators. Licensing allows expert gaming companies, to exclusively exploit the NU IP while having a legal monopoly.

BL: That certainly is a lot of patents.  How is NU Poker different than traditional poker and why would a player choose NU over traditional?

Ault group bets on Manila; Pagcor Net Income Up; religious groups still no fun

Groups of religious sector in Baguio and Benguet have expressed its opposition, again, on gambling, encouraging people to restrain in any form of gambling.

“In our concern for the common good, we exhort our people in Baguio and Benguet to abstain from all forms of gambling, be they legal or illegal, like jueteng, e-bingo, online gambling or casino,” the statement said.

The group includes the Baguio-Benguet Ecumenical Group, the Diocese of Baguio, the United Methodist Group, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, the Commission on Ecumenism of the Roman Catholic Church, the St. Stephen Lutheran Church, the Philippine Military Evangelical Church and the Assembly of God.

Last year, Baguio City Bishop Carlito Cenzon asked the local government to prevent the entrance of a casino or any gambling or gaming enterprise into the city and the province, saying that gambling “usually leads to an unhealthy lifestyle, later on financial problems, and social problems such as criminalities.”

Meanwhile in Manila, the government promotes casinos to boost tourism and the economy. Solaire, the first integrated resorts built in Manila, intensifies efforts to attract more high rollers; while the newly-opened Melco’s City of Dreams has welcomed 600,000 visitors and high occupancy rates since its December 15, 2014 soft opening. There are two more integrated resorts coming: Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp’s $2 billion project expected to open in 2016 and Travellers International partners with Genting Hong Kong, which is expected to start operation in 2018.

On Monday, State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) announced a 5.05% year-on-year increase to PHP3.25 billion (US$73.7 million) in net income for 2014.

PAGCOR saw its revenue fell by 1.32% year-on-year to PHP39.99 billion, reporting a loss of PHP12.17 million on foreign exchange. The company’s gaming revenue, however, increased by 8.51% to PHP29.93 compared to 2013, still below 2014′s annual target of PHP31.02 billion.

PokerStars Live Dealer Product Arrives on .Com, .EU and .UK Sites

PokerStars continue their journey into the world of online casino with the launch of a live dealer product, across .com, .eu, and .uk sites, in partnership with Evolution Gaming.

The PokerStars online experience just got that little bit richer with the introduction of online casino games featuring live dealers.

The world’s largest online poker room has partnered with Latvia’s, Evolution Gaming, to provide their customers with a live casino experience specifically catered to their individual needs.

The option to gamble in the presence of live dealers will be added to the current suite of online casino options, and available through the online poker client. Games include roulette, blackjack, baccarat and casino style Hold’em.

The dealers, and the live room, will be based in Evolution’s Riga studios, but the room itself has been specifically created for PokerStars customers, by PokerStars. The launch on the .com, .eu and .uk sites comes a month after live casino games were successfully launched on the PokerStars.es network in Spain.

Amaya Gaming first launched live casino games on Full Tilt. That was back in October 2014, and one assumes the use and feedback was positive enough to see a full roll out on their premier site.

It makes sense.