Five California men accused of involvement in the operation of a $32 million US online sports betting ring (see previous reports) were charged with conspiracy and illegal gambling in a New York court this week following uncontested extraditions from Los Angeles. The alleged ring leader of the group, Cyrus Irani (39) was named in arraignment, …
The legality issue on daily fantasy sports continues to occupy the thoughts of US lawmakers at state level, judging by reports from the United States Friday. In Maryland the state’s financial Comptroller has announced that an enquiry into the legality of DFS is to be conducted. The announcement follows the submission of a report by …
Paddy Power and Betfair have announced a timetable for the forthcoming merger of the two gambling groups, noting that the merger has been cleared by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and commenting: “Subject to the Scheme being sanctioned by the Court on 1 February 2016, the company expects the merger to complete on 2 …
The Boston-based fantasy football platform provider Mondogoal is to partner with Intralot in order to expand into the Italian fantasy market, the company announced this week. Mondogoal is launching a new Italian-facing website in concert with the partnership deal, incorporating both freemium and real money gambling services. Shergul Arshad, founder and chief executive of Mondogoal, …
William Hill Labs’ “accelerator” initiative aimed at encouraging and supporting start-ups with innovative technological ideas has named its first winner, a Manchester start-up branded BetGame which was founded by Doug Ward and Dave Carter. Betgame is leveraging the growing popularity of eSports by bridging the gap between mainstream console gaming and casual betting, with William …
Bo Wänghammar, chief executive officer at the Mr.Green online casino group, has announced two important managerial appointments. After seven years in client account management at software provider NetEnt, Andrew Crosby has been appointed as head of casino at Mr. Green, and should fit in well after years of working with the company. “Andrew Crosby has …
Staff at the Leeds, UK base of online gambling operator Sky Betting and Gaming received the encouraging news this week that they work for one of the most employee-friendly companies in Britain. The company has been acknowledged in the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies lists as being among the best to work for; a …
The strange case of the Romanian regulator’s suspension of online gambling group Bet365’s licence continued to mystify observers this week, when the Court of Appeal in Bucharest turned down Bet365’s appeal against the suspension. It’s turning out to be an expensive affair; the UK gambling group has already had to cough up Euro 30 million …
The names World Sports Exchange and Jay Cohen evoked thoughts of a blast from the past among online gambling industry veterans this week as the news broke in the New York Times that Haden Ware, the indicted co-founder of the now long-shuttered online sportsbook World Sports Exchange, has returned to the United States after fourteen …
Morgan Stanley analyst Mark Goodridge said this week that the Australian gambling group Tabcorp may turn to an expanded fantasy sports offering to counter falling market share in the highly competitive online gambling sector. Under pressure from aggressive foreign-owned online gambling brands, the company’s market share of online wagering turnover is in decline from 30 …
Respected business and professional services analysts Deloitte Global has issued an interesting perspective on eSports, predicting that this increasingly important and popular genre will generate global revenues of $500 million in 2016, up 25 percent from about $400 million in 2015, and will likely have an audience of regular and occasional viewers of close to …
Interactive gambling group NetPlayTV, which recently walked away from acquisition talks with Sportech on a possible The Football Pools deal (see previous reports) has announced that its television airtime agreement with ITV has been extended and will run through 2019. The two companies have enjoyed a successful business relationship that dates back to 2010. The …
One of the leading companies in the Asian eSports market, Singapore-based Titan has warned that it is about to shut down due to financial difficulties. Making the announcement on Titan’s website Wednesday, founder and CEO Damian Grust said that the company could not continue to pay its teams or staff, and named the genesis of …
In an interview with the newspaper IOM Today this week, the head of the island government’s e-gaming division, Mark Robson said the sector is booming and is expected to grow further in 2016. Robson revealed that the latest government statistics to hand (covering the period 2013 – 2014) show that the e-gaming sector generated 16.7 …
The UK-based digital content developer Betdigital has revealed that it has had to hire an additional five professional specialists to handle an increased workload following the targeted release of more than thirty games planned for 2016. The new arrivals comprise four highly experienced HTML5 developers for the mobile team and an additional mathematician. Commenting on …
French online and land gambling group Française des Jeux has big plans for the future that include investing Euro 100 million in its ambitious FDJ2020 plan to modernise the group and achieve sales of Euro 14 billion in the future. Chief executive Stéphane Pallez said in a corporate update this week: “By taking up scratch …
Online and land gambling group William Hill plc has issued a trading update covering the twelve month period to end December 2015, reporting that revenue eased but the company will still make expectations. The update advised that: * Unaudited FY net revenue was GBP1.59 billion, a percentage point lower than the same period in 2014; …
One of the foremost champions of legalised online gambling in Pennsylvania, Representative John Payne, has announced his intention to retire later this year, signalling a loss for the legalisation movement he has driven so effectively. Our readers will recall that last year as chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee Payne drove legalisation bill HB649 …
Lawyers working for daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings are probably having a busy time dealing with various class actions launched against the Boston-based company by players who see an opportunity to exploit the current legality debate swirling around the company and its product (see previous reports). The latest of these class actions was filed in …
Amaya’s new BetStars sports betting operation has announced the launch of what it claims is a unique new sports betting product that gives bettors the chance to win up to 10 times as much when placing a bet. Spin & Bet, which takes its name and inspiration from the popular Spin & Go poker format …
Wednesday saw the opening of the new legislative session in Washington State, and Representatives Sherry Appleton and Vincent Buys wasted no time in re-introducing their daily fantasy sport and online poker legalisation bills, which failed to make significant progress in the preceding session. The two politicians teamed up to re-introduce HB1114, which proposes the regulation …
The Reuters news agency reported Thursday that Andrew Lee, the head of online operations at William Hill plc, is leaving the company. Reuters notes that his departure follows that of a number of other high-profile resignations, putting further pressure on Britain’s biggest bookmaker. “The loss of Andrew Lee follows the exit of Finance Director Neil …
Wednesday night’s draw of the record $1.6 billion US Powerball lottery has produced at least one winner, according to an early report from the Californian lottery, which confirmed that a ticket bought at a 7-Eleven store in Chino Hills near Los Angeles had the winning numbers 8, 27, 34, 4, 19 and the Powerball of …
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement released the Atlantic City gambling statistics for December 2015 on Wednesday, noting that total gaming win from the Casino Hotels was $191.7 million compared to $190.5 million December 2014, a minimal rise of just 0.6 percent. For the month, land casino win was $177.6 million, and Internet gaming …