San Francisco-based social gaming giant Zynga has announced the resignation of CEO Don Mattrick after just short of two years in the CEO hot seat; he will be replaced by Zynga founder Mark Pincus at the helm of the troubled company. The publications Verge and GamaSutra reported Wednesday that Mattrick felt it was time to …
The publication Forbes magazine reported on the latest gambling stats from respected analyst group Morgan Stanley this week, which estimated current revenues of the global land and online gambling market at $423 billion. Lotteries accounted for 29 percent of overall revenues at $121 billion, with what the report terms “other gambling” such as sports betting …
The Casinos Austria group, which has enjoyed a stellar performance from its online subsidiary Win2Day for years, has reported that 2014 revenues from the operation declined for the first time due to growing competition and a decline in online poker activity in Europe. Turnover at Win2Day shrank by 1.6 percent year-on-year to Euro 1.18 billion, …
The 2014 annual report issued by Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit last week offers some interesting statistics regarding the Dutch market: * 22 investigations were launched by the KSA into illegal online gambling, and 19 enquiries were started regarding illegal promotion of online gambling; the results are not recorded; * The regulator shut down “several” illegal …
The Republic of Kazakhstan’s Senate committee is reportedly in the process of debating a draft law on amendments to a range of legislative acts that include gambling. Amendments to existing gambling law were introduced by Kazakhstan’s Minister of Culture and Sports, Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, at an extended session of the Committee for economic policy, innovative development …
Interactive gaming services provider NetPlay TV plc has extended and expanded its relationship with UK television network Channel 5 in a new contract until 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, NetPlay TV will now have “significant” pre-midnight advertising along with its existing post midnight tele-shopping airtime. In addition, it is intended that the deal …
The Intertain Group Limited has completed its acquisition of the Jackpotjoy, Botemania and Starspins operations from Gamesys saying the purchase is expected to add substantial free cash flow to its business allowing it to further target the female demographic in regulated markets. The Intertain Group paid an initial purchase price of GBP 425.8 million . …
Svea Casino is the first white label launch from Cherry’s collaboration with affiliate business Game Lounge. Our readers will recall Cherry acquiring a 51 percent stake in Game Lounge earlier this year. The new destination targeting the Scandinavian market offers gaming content from NetEnt, Microgaming, Yggdrasil Gaming and Amaya along with a sleek simple design …
British games developer Realistic Games has launched a proprietary Hi Lo Blackjack side bet to its multi-channel Blackjack. Players are able to place a wager on whether their second card will be higher or lower than the first using the proprietary side bet game. Commercial director, Andy Harris, said: “As the revenues at many of …
Betclic Everest has signed a deal for the launch of eleven Inspired Gaming Group virtual sports products which will be broadcast via two feeds through its Betclic.it operation. “We believe this high quality product will be in line with our Italian customer expectations,” said Francesco Postiglione who heads up the Italian operation. The addition of …
Ensuring the safety of US sports bettors is the claimed motivation behind HB 443, a bill submitted earlier this year in Nevada which seeks to legalise so-called “messenger betting” by punters outside the borders of Nevada, a practice currently regarded as unlawful in the state. Nevada is one of only four US states permitted to …
Official numbers from the Delaware online gambling regulator show an encouraging uptick for February, with an 8.3 percent month-over-month rise in revenues. Delaware e-gaming sites took in $143,101 in February ($132,074 in the preceding month), but the number is still well down on the best month since regulation – April 2014 – when revenues reached …
Shareholders in Macau gambling companies must be hoping that analysts have got it right in their assessments this week that the worst may be over in Macau, with share prices are starting to stabilise after a trying period when business fell off under the dual pressure of China’s slowing economy and a crackdown on corruption. …
Hot on the heels of its release of Mystical Monkey’s (see previous report), Genesis Gaming has launched “Dragons Rock”, a new 50-line video slot featuring a family of amiable dragons lead by the Black Dragon patriarch. Bonus symbols on the reels hatch baby dragons to deliver a prize, while three bonus scatters trigger an interactive …
The UK Minister for Sport and Tourism – Helen Grant and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – Sajid Javid have announced public appointments to the board of the Gambling Commission. Alison Hastings and Trevor Pearce CBE were appointed to a 4-year term, and Jonathan Scott for 5 years as Gambling Commissioners. …
NYX Gaming Group has announced the addition of its NYX OGS casino offer within its NYX Poker product. Operators will be able to offer their customers a range of hand-selected casino games accessible seamlessly from within their poker client. “We keep on adding value to our Ongame acquisition and our overall footprint,” commented David Flynn, …
GTECH confirmed the completion of its cross-border merger with International Game Technology PLC (IGT) followed immediately by the acquisition of the U.S.-based IGT effective today (Tuesday). The combined companies will now be known as International Game Technology PLC (IGT PLC) with corporate headquarters in London, and operating headquarters in Rome, Italy; Providence, Rhode Island; and …
Dutch media reports this week indicate that the new State Justice and Security Secretary, Klaas Dijkhoff will continue to drive the licensing and regulation of online gambling in much the same way as his predecessor Fred Teeven, who resigned recently (see previous report). Answering questions from members of the House of Representatives, Dijkhoff said he …
The Betat online casino group has communicated with players who were complaining about patchy technical performance over the long weekend, advising them that the operation has been fighting off a significant Distributed Denial of Service attack. DDoS assaults are mounted by criminal elements trying to unlawfully extort money from the victim by threatening to overwhelm …
With the British election for a new government just weeks away, it has emerged that the appointment of a successor to outgoing head of the UK Gambling Commission Jenny Williams will not take effect until the political changing of the guard has been concluded…current estimates are that the appointment could be as late as September …
The at one time ubiquitous socialite and heiress Paris Hilton will be in your face again soon following a television advertising deal with online casino operator BGO Entertainment. BGO has hired Hilton to star in a new UK-facing TV campaign alongside actor Verne Troyer, who has worked with BGO previously and is perhaps better known …
Last week a review of Swedish online gambling restrictions on advertising published its findings, providing a workaround on earlier judicial decisions that the regulations did not comply with European Union laws, mainly due to the different punitive measures imposed on international transgressors vs. locally-based offenders. Swedish law prohibits any online gambling advertising or promotion by …
A new online casino supporting Bitcoin transactions has surfaced on the internet under Curacao licensing and the title Betkurus.com. Owned by DigitalSport Entertainment NV, the project was reportedly part-financed by the Hong Kong-based Bitcoin processor CoinMatrix to the tune of around $670,000. The games on the site, which appears targeted on the Turkish, Argentinian, Brazil …
Further revelations on Florida property developer Glenn Straub’s ambitions in Atlantic City has surfaced over the past 24 hours following his boasts that he has bought troubled land casinos in the region and plans to spend around half a billion dollars on redevelopments. The Associated Press news agency reports that Straub, who has just bought …