Monthly Archives: November 2016

Caesars Las Vegas Joins the “Pay to Park” Bandwagon, But Will WSOP Entrants Have to Shell Out Next Summer?

Caesars Entertainment owns nine properties on or near the Las Vegas Strip. Parking at each of these casino resort hotels has always been free. But that’s about to change. Will […]

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Philippines DOJ boss: Jack Lam tried to bribe me, PAGCOR chief

The Philippines top law enforcement official has accused gambling operator Jack Lam of attempting to bribe both himself and the head of the country’s gaming regulatory agency.

On Tuesday, Philippines Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II (pictured left) claimed that authorities had rejected significant bribes seeking the release of the 1,316 Chinese nationals arrested last week for illegally working at an unauthorized online gambling operation in the Clark Freeport Zone.

On Wednesday, the Inquirer quoted Aguirre directly accusing Lam (pictured right), the operator of the Fontana Casino in Clark Freeport and the founder of Macau junket operator Jimei Group, of attempting to bribe him two days following the arrests of the Chinese online gambling workers.

Aguirre said the bribe was offered via two interpreters and former police officer Wally Sombrero during a meeting with Lam at Bonifacio Global City. Lam reportedly told Aguirre that he was looking for a ‘ninong’ aka godfather to protect his Philippine gambling operations, which include the Ford Ilocandia casino in Ilocos Norte province and the online gambling business at the Fontana venue.

Camelot says National Lottery player website accounts hacked

UK National Lottery operator Camelot has warned its digital customers that their personal data may have been compromised.

This week, Camelot issued a release stating that its online security monitoring had revealed “suspicious activity on a very small proportion of our players’ online National Lottery Accounts.” Camelot said around 26,500 accounts were unlawfully accessed, and the company is requiring these players to reset their passwords.

Camelot said fewer than 50 of the affected accounts saw “some activity take place within the account since it was accessed.” Some of the personal details in these accounts were changed, although Camelot suggested that the changes may have been made by the players themselves. These accounts have been suspended until Camelot can contact each customer to work with them to reactivate the account.

Camelot said it’s still trying to ascertain the full extent of the digital intrusion, although it suggested that email addresses and passwords may have been acquired from hacking another website for which National Lottery customers used the same details.

Teddy Sagi unloads £329m worth of Playtech shares

Playtech founder Teddy Sagi has sold around one-third of his stake in the online gambling technology provider.

On Tuesday, Playtech announced that Sagi’s trading arm Brickington Trading Ltd planned to sell 32.3m Playtech shares, representing 10% of the company’s issued share capital.

On Wednesday, Playtech announced that Brickington had sold 38.7m shares, or 12% of Playtech’s issued share capital. The sale reduces Sagi’s Playtech stake from 33.6% to 21.6%, but he remains the company’s single largest shareholder. The sale marks the first time Sagi (pictured) has unloaded any Playtech shares since selling £212m worth in 2014.

Brickington has promised not to sell any more shares for at least 180 days. Since the sale reduced Brickington’s stake to below 30%, Brickington has surrendered its right to appoint two non-executive directors to Playtech’s board.

Bitcoin stimulating economic freedom in Latin America

In Venezuela, a food crisis is happening due to government currency controls that are making it very expensive to buy food from other countries. But Venezuelans have found a way to bypass these restrictions, thanks to digital currency.

The Latin American country is in the middle of the worst inflation period in history, with consumer price inflation hitting 480 percent this year. But that’s nothing, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts, who predicted the inflation rate will soar to 1,640 percent in 2017.

Rodrigo Souza, founder of BlinkTrade, which operates the exchange for Venezuelan online marketplace SutBitcoin, where people can buy and sell government-issued bolivars for bitcoins, told Reason that the exchange’s monthly trade volume has tripled in the last year as more and more people started using the popular cryptocurrency, primarily to buy food from e-commerce sites like Amazon and Walmart.

Meanwhile in Brazil, digital currency is being used as a tool to bypass the high tariffs charged by the government when purchasing products like the latest smartphones or even when moving investment capital into the country. Even Brazilians traveling out of the country have found that using a bitcoin credit card will enable them to escape the 6.38 percent levy that they pay every time they swipe a debit or credit card.

Bitcoin stimulating economic freedom in Latin America

In Venezuela, a food crisis is happening due to government currency controls that are making it very expensive to buy food from other countries. But Venezuelans have found a way to bypass these restrictions, thanks to digital currency.

The Latin American country is in the middle of the worst inflation period in history, with consumer price inflation hitting 480 percent this year. But that’s nothing, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts, who predicted the inflation rate will soar to 1,640 percent in 2017.

Rodrigo Souza, founder of BlinkTrade, which operates the exchange for Venezuelan online marketplace SutBitcoin, where people can buy and sell government-issued bolivars for bitcoins, told Reason that the exchange’s monthly trade volume has tripled in the last year as more and more people started using the popular cryptocurrency, primarily to buy food from e-commerce sites like Amazon and Walmart.

Meanwhile in Brazil, digital currency is being used as a tool to bypass the high tariffs charged by the government when purchasing products like the latest smartphones or even when moving investment capital into the country. Even Brazilians traveling out of the country have found that using a bitcoin credit card will enable them to escape the 6.38 percent levy that they pay every time they swipe a debit or credit card.

Melco Crown shifts gaming tables to CoD Macau’s fifth tower

Melco Crown Entertainment is on track to open its long-awaited fifth hotel tower at the City of Dreams casino resort in Macau—a $1 billion project that will offer gaming starting 2018, the casino operator announced on Tuesday.

MCE CEO Lawrence Ho said his company will be moving gaming tables from its other existing operations in Macau to one floor of the new hotel, which they named Morpheus.

The tower, designed by late architect Zaha Hadid and named after the God of Dreams, will also feature some 780 rooms, restaurants, an executive lounge, a sky pool and VIP gaming and villas at the top floors, the casino operator said in a press release.

“There’s one floor of Morpheus, and I think it’s going to be a few VIP [gaming] tables or a few premium mass tables,” Ho told Macau-based reporters.

Melco Crown shifts gaming tables to CoD Macau’s fifth tower

Melco Crown Entertainment is on track to open its long-awaited fifth hotel tower at the City of Dreams casino resort in Macau—a $1 billion project that will offer gaming starting 2018, the casino operator announced on Tuesday.

MCE CEO Lawrence Ho said his company will be moving gaming tables from its other existing operations in Macau to one floor of the new hotel, which they named Morpheus.

The tower, designed by late architect Zaha Hadid and named after the God of Dreams, will also feature some 780 rooms, restaurants, an executive lounge, a sky pool and VIP gaming and villas at the top floors, the casino operator said in a press release.

“There’s one floor of Morpheus, and I think it’s going to be a few VIP [gaming] tables or a few premium mass tables,” Ho told Macau-based reporters.

BetBright wins award at EGR Operator awards

BetBright, the young and ambitious on-line digital entertainment, sports betting and casino operator is pleased to announce it won, “Best In-House Product” Award at the 2016 EGR Operator awards.

BetBright won this prestigious award for the development and launch of two of its most exciting new products “Genius” and “Recall” in 2016.  These products were created and developed by BetBright’s market leading in-house product development team in collaboration with the Sportsbook and marketing teams.  The company is unique as it controls and develops its own proprietary technology giving it the flexibility and agility to rapidly create and deliver market leading new products to meet its customers’ demands.

EGR received a record number of entries for its awards and said:

“The on-line gambling industry is evolving at a rapid pace…..But as in any industry, the highest achievers perform in the toughest of conditions and tonight EGR will reward those of you who have stood out from the crowd.”

Amax rakes in US$219k from online gambling biz

HongKong-listed junket operator Amax International Holdings Ltd cashed in some HKD1.71 million (US$219,000) from its “interactive gaming” in Vanuatu from July to September 2016 period

Amax reported before the HongKong Stock Exchange that it generated profit from its online business in the Pacific island nation, which began operation in July.

“Between then and September 2016, the business recorded gross revenue of HK$1.71 million,” Amax International announced. “With the number of visitors to Vanuatu on the rise and in view of its supportive demographics, the board is confident in the long-term success of the gaming business… At the same time, while working hard to formulate a strategy to develop the Vanuatu gaming business, the group has also been exploring opportunities to expand its revenue sources by tapping the Asia-Pacific region.”

In October 2014, Amax acquired a 60-percent equity interest in Forenzia Enterprises – a company that operates a gaming business in Vanuatu under an interactive gaming (online gambling) license valid for a period of 15 years from February 2014.

Amax rakes in US$219k from online gambling biz

HongKong-listed junket operator Amax International Holdings Ltd cashed in some HKD1.71 million (US$219,000) from its “interactive gaming” in Vanuatu from July to September 2016 period

Amax reported before the HongKong Stock Exchange that it generated profit from its online business in the Pacific island nation, which began operation in July.

“Between then and September 2016, the business recorded gross revenue of HK$1.71 million,” Amax International announced. “With the number of visitors to Vanuatu on the rise and in view of its supportive demographics, the board is confident in the long-term success of the gaming business… At the same time, while working hard to formulate a strategy to develop the Vanuatu gaming business, the group has also been exploring opportunities to expand its revenue sources by tapping the Asia-Pacific region.”

In October 2014, Amax acquired a 60-percent equity interest in Forenzia Enterprises – a company that operates a gaming business in Vanuatu under an interactive gaming (online gambling) license valid for a period of 15 years from February 2014.

Amax rakes in US$219k from online gambling biz

HongKong-listed junket operator Amax International Holdings Ltd cashed in some HKD1.71 million (US$219,000) from its “interactive gaming” in Vanuatu from July to September 2016 period

Amax reported before the HongKong Stock Exchange that it generated profit from its online business in the Pacific island nation, which began operation in July.

“Between then and September 2016, the business recorded gross revenue of HK$1.71 million,” Amax International announced. “With the number of visitors to Vanuatu on the rise and in view of its supportive demographics, the board is confident in the long-term success of the gaming business… At the same time, while working hard to formulate a strategy to develop the Vanuatu gaming business, the group has also been exploring opportunities to expand its revenue sources by tapping the Asia-Pacific region.”

In October 2014, Amax acquired a 60-percent equity interest in Forenzia Enterprises – a company that operates a gaming business in Vanuatu under an interactive gaming (online gambling) license valid for a period of 15 years from February 2014.

Amax rakes in US$219k from online gambling biz

HongKong-listed junket operator Amax International Holdings Ltd cashed in some HKD1.71 million (US$219,000) from its “interactive gaming” in Vanuatu from July to September 2016 period

Amax reported before the HongKong Stock Exchange that it generated profit from its online business in the Pacific island nation, which began operation in July.

“Between then and September 2016, the business recorded gross revenue of HK$1.71 million,” Amax International announced. “With the number of visitors to Vanuatu on the rise and in view of its supportive demographics, the board is confident in the long-term success of the gaming business… At the same time, while working hard to formulate a strategy to develop the Vanuatu gaming business, the group has also been exploring opportunities to expand its revenue sources by tapping the Asia-Pacific region.”

In October 2014, Amax acquired a 60-percent equity interest in Forenzia Enterprises – a company that operates a gaming business in Vanuatu under an interactive gaming (online gambling) license valid for a period of 15 years from February 2014.

Do PokerStars deserve the EGR Operator of the year award?

After PokerStars wins the EGR Operator of the Year award for the third successive year, Lee Davy, shares player opinion and questions justification of the award.

When not writing about poker, I am helping people quit alcohol through my company Needy Helper. I have been working hard to understand my customer, provide them with the value they crave and grow my business. A friend suggested listening to the This is Your Life podcast with Michael Hyatt.

I listened to five or six episodes. Instead of feeling positive and accruing new ideas to introduce into my business – I came away with a nasty taste of distrust.

Each episode was carefully designed to manipulate the listener into purchasing a particular product. In one sense, this is a good thing. Hyatt understands the worldview of his customer. He provides training courses, webinars and books that solve some of his customers biggest issues. He then sells these through his carefully choreographed podcasts.