Monthly Archives: January 2015

Cherry acquires affiliate Game Lounge, scraps Klubblo investment

Swedish gaming operator Cherry AB has inked a deal to take a controlling interest in Nordic-facing affiliate Game Lounge Ltd. The deal will see Cherry pay €1.43m upfront and a conditional top-up of a maximum €2m in exchange for a 51% stake in Game Lounge. The deal allows Cherry the option of acquiring 100% of Game Lounge after three years.

The new relationship will see Game Lounge act as a partner for the new white label SveaCasino.com, with additional Cherry brands to be added in due course. Cherry’s acting CEO Fredrik Burvall, who assumed the reins in December from outgoing CEO Emil Sunvisson, said the deal would “increase volumes at a much lower cost” for Cherry’s current brands and white labels by bringing in as many as 40k new depositing customers.

As Cherry opens one door, it closes another. On Friday, Cherry announced it would begin phasing out its investment in Klubblo, the online lottery platform of Sweden’s Sports Alliance, because “the conditions for conducting the business have changed.” Cherry said Swedish gaming regulator Lotterinspektionen had changed the application of the regulatory framework, making it impossible for some major sports federations to join the Sports Alliance due to their exclusivity agreements with state-owned betting operator Svenska Spel.

Klubblo had only launched last year and Burvall said the goal had been to “take a strong position as a partner for Swedish sports within the area of gaming and lotteries. Under the prevailing conditions, Klubblo does not fit into Cherry’s strategy.” Cherry says liquidity would be negatively affected by around SEK 1.5m (US $181k) in Q4 and the remainder of 2015. The change will likely have a negative SEK 7.7m ($929k) impact on Cherry’s Q4 income.

Finally, Cherry’s EuroLotto operation is going mobile. EuroLotto chief Helen Taylor says players have been “clamroring” for the opportunity to play on the go, which is now possible via EuroLotto’s launch of bespoke mobile and tablet options.

Online gambling call center in Manila raided by immigration

Online gambling in the Philippines is back in the news following a raid on a call center in Manila. Acting on a tip, Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials descended on a three-story office building in Makati on Wednesday, arresting 73 foreigners from over eight countries for lacking valid work visas.

The GMA Network quoted BI Intel Division Chief Jose Carlitos Licas saying the operation in question belonged to a company called Super 7 Ventures. The BI’s anonymous informant – who was compensated for his tip through the BI’s incentive program – accused the company of operating a real-money online gambling site disguised as a call center on behalf of a “syndicate.” It should be noted that the BI has yet to indicate that the raided site was anything more than a call center.

None of the foreigners had a valid work permit; most were in the country on tourist visas. The foreigners hailed primarily from regional nations, including China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia, but also an unidentified number from America. All of them will be deported following verification of their identities.

The only English-language reference to Super 7 Ventures on the internet involves a logo design competition that concluded ironically enough on Tuesday. Super 7’s brief to designers described itself as a “new” company but the LinkedIn profile of a web developer says he started working at Super 7 in May 2013.

Super 7 is believed to have been providing services for Ole777.com, whose parent company OLÉ Group International Ltd. holds a license issued by the First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation. The Ole777 website currently features a “Website Maintenance” notice, saying it would be offline from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30 at 6pm local time.

The Philippines has a thriving business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, but Ole777 and any other companies to whom Super 7 was supplying services are clearly pan-Asian and thus required a multitude of language options. Super 7 may have thought they were saving money in the short-term by not hiring multilingual Filipino workers but their decision will have long-term consequences from the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

Clearly, if the evidence submitted by the BI is accurate, then Super 7 broke the law and the authorities had a duty to act. Previous raids on online gambling call centers in Manila have not always been so justifiable. It’s probably telling that GMA camera crews were along for the Super 7 raid; in this case, the authorities felt comfortable submitting their actions to increased public scrutiny.

Are you ready for the iGB Affiliate Awards 2015?

The iGB Affiliate Awards 2015 will again be held during LAC on the 1st of February at Stamford Bridge on the 1st February 2015.

Operating since 2006 the IGB Affiliate Awards recognizes the best online gaming acquisition programs and industry affiliate marketers for their service, player marketing, management and operations.

Every year over 500 people from the iGaming affiliate community gather to honour the ongoing success within the industry at the iGB Affiliate Awards. Now in its 8th year, the iGB Affiliate Awards is the only industry awards ceremony that celebrates the growth, innovation and achievements within this sector of the gaming industry.

iGB Affiliate announced that they will be adding four brand new awards to the iGB Affiliate Awards. In partnership with casinomeister.com, OLBG.co.uk, bingoport.co.uk and Bluff Europe there new categories will reward the best online casino, sports book, bingo and poker room but uniquely from the player perspective.

“I felt it was really important to introduce player focused categories into the iGB Affiliate Awards as they are after all the lifeblood of the sector and their opinion is probably the most important to bear in mind when considering who to work with. I am really looking forward to the awards night now as I am particularly interested to see if these winners will differ from the affiliate category winners” said Alex Pratt, Head of iGaming Business. “I would also like to thank the portals that have come on board to help us create these awards and their player communities that will make the decision on who will win,” Pratt continued.

Click here to see the shortlists 2015 iGB Affiliate Awards

Tickets are still available to purchase from the LAC registration page and include a cocktail reception, sumptuous three course meal, an after party with some special late-night entertainment and of course the awards themselves.

PokerNews Out as WSOP Live Reporting Team: Who Will Fill the Void?

There will be a noticeable change in the coverage at the 2015 World Series of Poker and where on the Internet the poker community finds that coverage, as the tournament series and PokerNews were unable to come to terms on a new contract to cover the 2015 WSOP, which means for the first time since 2007, PokerNews will not be the exclusive live reporting team at the WSOP.

PokerNews and the WSOP parting ways was a surprising development, as PokerNews has done a tremendous job covering the tournament over the years; a task that has more logistical problems than 1,000 unmarked boxes in a UPS warehouse.

Just as surprising was how it was announced, as PokerNews’s Matthew Parvis took to Twitter to inform the poker world.

That being said, maybe it’s not as surprising as it first appeared. Since the announcement that PokerNews was out as the exclusive live reporting team, several details of the deal between the WSOP and PokerNews have come to light, and it’s a far cry from how most people assumed the deal was structured.

Why the hell are Scandinavians insanely good at making addictive mobile games?

It used to be that Scandinavians had a reputation for being fierce viking warriors – now the only time most of them dress up with horned helmets and bear pelts is if they’re LARPing or playing Skyrim . This doesn’t mean we should dismiss Scandinavians as hapless dweebs, however, because they’ve found nonviolent ways of conquering the world in the 21st century in the form of addictive mobile games.

Online Poker Player Traffic Update – January 31, 2015

We are a month into the new year and the biggest leap by a poker site within the top 10 in terms of places gained finds Bodog/Bovada landing in fourth place in player traffic after starting 2015 in seventh place.

Bodog currently averages 1,700 ring game players on its tables, a 21% increase over the 1,400 average on January 1. Remember in late 2011 when Bodog was widely criticized after announcing its anonymous tables concept and Recreational Poker Model? Those critics have disappeared.

Another large increase in player traffic in the last 30 days occurred at no. 2-ranked 888poker, who gained 12.5%. PokerScout.com reports that 888 currently enjoys a seven-day average of 2,700 players, up from 2,400 thirty days ago.

Rake hike rescinded

BitnPlay Ready for Feb. 1 Launch with Freeroll

The newest Bitcoin-only poker site is set to enter the market on Sunday, February 1 as BitnPlay has announced a freeroll that will kick off at 20:00.

The prize pool consists of one Partner Token to the winner that is worth two Bitcoin and entitles the bearer to 100% rakeback for life. As of this writing, one Bitcoin is valued at $232, making the freeroll worth $464 to the player who manages to best the field.

A total of 200 Partner Tokens have been made available for purchase at BitnPlay, whose payment processing strategy is a bit different from what online poker players have been accustomed to over the years.

Players wishing to enter tournaments at the site will buy-in via their Bitcoin wallets. BitnPlay will hold no player funds other than those that are “part of a game’s prize pool at that specific time.”

Russia to scrap Azov-City gambling zone, close three casinos

Russia’s fractured casino industry has become even more confusing now that the government plans to ‘liquidate’ one of its designated gambling zones — the only one that has yet to officially launch casino operations. On Friday, the TASS news agency reported that the casinos operating in the Azov-City gambling zone in the Krasnodar Krai region would have their gaming licenses abrogated by April 1.

The government plans to shift the Azov-City gambling zone to the Sochi region, which joined the four original gambling zones this July after Russia extended the boundaries of the Krasnodar zone. The Ministry of Finance said it would offer compensation totaling “at least” RUB 10b (US $145m) to help cushion the blow.

Last June, the Krasnodar government said its three casinos – Oracul, Shambala and Nirvana – had attracted over 254k visitors in 2013, nearly six times the 45k that traipsed through the turnstiles in 2010, their first year of operation. Over the first five months of 2014, 128k gamblers had made the trek to the gambling zone.

The Royal Time Group is among the casino operators affected/blindsided by the change. On November 1, Royal Time opened the newest phase of its Oracul facility, featuring a new hotel costing RUB 1.5m, and was in the process of building a “concert and entertainment complex” with a completion date of Q3 2015. Other expansion plans stretched out as far as November 2018.

Royal Time may have had some inkling of the axe hanging over their heads but was clearly hoping for a reprieve. In response to the July decree authorizing the Sochi gambling zone, Royal Time issued an official position saying it “does not regard the new law as a direct indication to the elimination of the existing Azov-City gambling zone.”

Hopefully, Royal Time will find a more permanent home in the Primorye gambling zone on Russia’s coast near Vladivostok, where the company has reportedly inked a deal to build a casino. Primorye has so far attracted the most interest of international investors, including Lawrence Ho’s First Gambling Company of the Far East, which is set to open its casino in May. Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp’s Primorsky Entertainment Resort City expects to break ground this year with a 2018 opening target. That is, assuming Russia doesn’t decide to move all these operations to Murmansk or something.

French online gambling market posts 2014 gains thanks to World Cup

Online gambling in France overcame a sluggish Q4 to post modest annual revenue growth in 2014. Figures released Friday by French gambling regulator ARJEL show Q4 revenue falling 2% to €183.2m but the full year figure rose 6% to €725m, largely due to the 2014 FIFA World Cup’s effect on sports betting.

Sports betting turnover rose 22% to €322m in Q4 but revenue was flat at €54m. Horseracing turnover fell 2% to €272m but revenue nudged up 1% to €68m. Online poker continued its inexorable slide, with total revenue falling 6% to €61.2m. Tournament stakes rose 8% to €424m but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 12% decline in cash games stakes, which fell to €1.06b.

For the year as a whole, total stakes fell 5% to €8.4b. Sports betting was the star performer, with stakes up 31% to €1.1b and revenue up 36% to €227m. Betting on the horses wasn’t as fortunate, with stakes and revenue falling to €1.03b (-7%) and €257m (-3%) respectively. Cash poker stakes fell 14% to €4.35b and tournament stakes rose 6% to €1.55b, resulting in a 7% decline in poker revenue to €241m.

World Cup betting generated €109m in turnover, nearly 10% of the annual betting total. Football wagers of all stripes rose 36% in 2014, while basketball gained 49% and tennis rose 18%.

At the close of 2014, the regulated French market had 17 operators holding 31 separate licenses: 12 online poker, 11 sports betting and eight for horseracing. The total number of online sports betting accounts rose 36% to 1.14m, while active accounts rose 32% to 170k. Total horseracing accounts fell 2% to 488k and actives fell 3% to 139k. Poker accounts fell 7% to 1.16m and actives fell 10% to 246k.

DOMESTIC OPERATORS UP AND DOWN

French betting operator France Pari’s Q4 report card showed revenue up 43% to €17.9m. Sports betting revenue rose nearly 50% to €15.8m while racing revenue fell 9% to €1.05m and Sportnco B2B revenue doubled to €1.05m. France Pari said its mobile channels accounted for 25% of all wagers in 2014 and 40% of Q4’s total, suggesting the nine mobile apps launched last year are gathering momentum.

Poker Carveout Not the Right Solution for iGaming Expansion

Whenever the topic of a federal online gaming bill is broached the conversation inevitably shifts towards talk of a poker carveout, a prohibition of online gaming with an exemption for online poker.

This is a rallying cry for poker players who are quick to differentiate the game they love with regular old gambling, saying things like, “Forget all this online slots and online blackjack talk, we should be pushing for a poker carveout,” or, “Who cares if people can’t play slots, poker is different, it’s a game of skill.”

On its face it certainly seems like a convenient compromise. And it’s a compromise that virtually every poker player (including myself) would agree to in a heartbeat if it was offered. But it hasn’t been offered, and there are several problems with a poker-only approach that make it an unviable option.

Starting with the simple fact that…

Mayor says Louisville is 'ready, nimble and looking forward'

Mayor Greg Fischer delivered his State of City address at the Southwest Regional Library in Valley Station, again taking the speech out of its traditional downtown home as he tries to reach more parts of Louisville. “It’s a big city,” Mayor Fischer said in the first address delivered outside the Watterson Expressway.