Jacqueline Balaam, a 41-year-old financial officer at Pembroke College in the University of Cambridge who was arrested last year on fraud charges, paid the price for her wrongdoing this week when she was sentenced to two and a half years in jail. Balaam, reportedly a compulsive online bingo gambler, was convicted in the Cambridge Crown …
During his appearance this week before the South African parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, Minister Rob Davies again warned that online gambling is expressly illegal in South Africa, and this situation is unlikely to change. The minister revealed that government is liaising with financial institutions with effective financial blocking initiatives in mind, commenting: …
Many European online gambling suppliers will be setting up shop today (Tuesday March 17) at the Grand Hyatt resort in Macau as the annual iGaming Asia expo and conference opens, once again giving access to a rapidly growing market. Live dealer provider Ezugi will be among them, and has promised the launch of a brand …
The High Court of England and Wales has approved the completion of the cross-border merger of GTECH with and into International Game Technology PLC, the company advised Monday. The merger will become effective 12.01a.m. on April 7, 2015 subject to the satisfaction or waiver of any remaining conditions set out in the original merger agreement.
Rumours of Gala Coral Group’s supposed preparations to float on the stock market have resurfaced with the Financial Times reporting a planned flotation date in the fourth quarter of 2015. According to the publication, Gala Coral will gauge market conditions following May 2015’s UK General Election before forging ahead with plans. Financial Times reports Goldman …
Australian bookmaker BetEasy, led by former owner and chief executive officer of sportsbet.com.au Matthew Tripp, is expected to go live this week rebranded as CrownBet. Our readers will recall Crown Resorts International acquiring a 67 percent controlling interest in BetEasy late last year forming a joint venture (JV) which combined BetEasy’s online sports book business …
bwin.party Digital Entertainment has expanded its relationship with Manchester United Football Club with the launch of the “bwin Manchester United Casino” app. “The App is the first of its kind and extends the popular range of services and products that the online gaming giant provides to United fans,” a Manchester United statement said. Developed by …
Gala Coral Interactive becomes Odobo’s latest games distribution partner following a deal announced this week. The duo of distribution deals involve Gala Coral’s Gala Casino and Gala Bingo brands giving customers access to an additional 50 titles. Ashley Lang, Founder and chief executive officer of Odobo, said, “The addition of Gala Casino and Gala Bingo …
B2B gaming platform provider Nektan PLC has signed its latest white label agreement with casino brand Kerching. Under the terms of the agreement, Kerching will utilise Nektan’s multi-channel ‘Evolve’ platform to offer real money gaming and services to its customer base. Kerching will migrate its existing desktop customers to Nektan’s platform, followed by mobile customers …
UK bookmaker BetFred will be the title-sponsor for the World Snooker Championship for the next three-years. The 2015 championship will run from April 18 to May 4 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and offers a top prize of GBP 300,000. According to the World Snooker organisers, 2014’s championship attracted an audience in excess of …
Swedish online gambling firm Cherry has named Alexander Pettersson (32) as group chief financial officer with immediate effect. Pettersson succeeds Fredrik Burvall who assumed the position of acting chief executive officer of Cherry in December 2015 (see previous report). Prior to his appointment, Pettersson worked within strategy and sales at Betsson and as an auditor …
Live dealer technology provider Ezugi has inked an agreement with Racing Card Derby to distribute the latter’s Knockout Baccarat side-bets game. Knockout Baccarat is popular in the Asia-Pacific region and offers additional bets for baccarat players to increase their potential winnings, by betting on the winning totals. Under the terms of the agreement the games …
Baccarat lived up to its name as the game for ultra-high rollers this weekend when a Hong Kong player won a world record of one hundred million Hong Kong dollars (around US$ 12,890,500) at the World Series Baccarat Championship. Lin Haisan will feature in the Guinness World Record annual book in two categories once the …
Last year’s debacle at the South African National Gambling Board (see previous reports) was under the microscope again this week at a further parliamentary portfolio committee hearing addressed by Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies, who is now in possession of a forensic report on the irregularities which occurred during the tenure of the …
The Atlantic City bankruptcy court hearing scheduled for today (Monday) on the sale of the Revel complex has been postponed indefinitely. The Associated Press news agency reports that Judge Gloria Burns agreed to the postponement after an approach from the interested parties requesting only a brief hearing regarding professional fees. The main, and now postponed, …
China’s biting drive against corruption among the elite has impacted not only land casino performances in Macau, but the island’s general economy, illustrating graphically the importance of diversification in place of too great a reliance on gambling businesses. Official figures show that in Q4 last year the drop in visitor spending and gambling revenues caused …
UK online bookmaker Skybet has become the subject of negative publicity, presumably after aggrieved players approached the Daily Mail newspaper with complaints that the betting company was not honouring its advertised odds. Over the weekend the newspaper published communications and online graphics substantiating its claim that Skybet briefly advertised odds of 25/1 for a Paris …
The interactive division of Italian gaming technology and lottery provider GTech made a useful contribution to its fourth quarter results released this week, showcasing overall interactive revenue of Euro 28 million – up 7 percent. American and International interactive contributions were both up strongly, whilst interactive product sales soared almost three-fold to Euro 1.7 million. …
Zynga’s mobile social game ‘Hit It Rich! Free Casino Slots!’ was the subject of an assessment this week that also illustrated the potential of mobile social gaming in the publication Seeking Alpha. The assessment quoted current numbers from the independent monitor Statista which showed that the Zynga offering, developed by subsidiary Spooky Cool Labs, is …
Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, an arch conservative who is rapidly becoming notorious for his introduction of the Adelson-inspired Restoration of the American Wire Act, has disappointed the American Conservative Union, which voiced criticism of the politician this week. But the Union was more concerned with the intrusion of RAWA on states’ rights than its …
Atlantic City bankruptcy court Judge Gloria Burns finally decided Friday not to approve the sale of the Revel building to Florida property developer Glenn Straub, despite his being the firmest offer on the table at present, and his commitment of a deposit and escrow funds worth a total of $82 million for the sale (see …
Inspired Gaming as announced that its Virtual Sports online product, including horse racing, greyhounds and virtual football, has now gone live across 80 Italian websites serviced by Italian platform and content provider Microgame. The two companies inked a partnership agreement in 2013 that has seen Inspired provide Microgame’s retail subsidiary Pianeta Scommesse with earlier Virtual …
Poland’s originally rather authoritarian approach to the regulation of online gambling has seen some useful and pragmatic amendments following European Commission opinions on compatibility with EU law, and the enabling legislation has now been approved by the Commission. One of the main changes is that international operators are no longer required to set up a …
Iowa residents will soon have far more clarity on the legality of daily fantasy sports betting following the approval of bill SF166 by the state Senate on a 32 – 16 vote this week. The bill now moves to the state House of Assembly. The Des Moines Register reports that Congress exempted fantasy gaming as …