Monthly Archives: September 2017

Kambi increases Italy reach with StarVegas launch

Kambi strengthens its position as a leading end-to-end sportsbook supplier in Italy after going live with the Greentube-owned brand

Kambi has extended its footprint in the regulated Italian market after Novomatic subsidiary Greentube launched the supplier’s award-winning Sportsbook within its Italy-facing StarVegas online casino brand.

StarVegas, which is among Italy’s top 10 casino brands in terms of market share, completed the integration of Kambi’s Premium Sportsbook earlier this week, as the operator looks to secure a slice of the c.€500m sports betting market.

As a result, Kambi’s Sportsbook is now available with four of Italy’s most prominent online gaming operators, with 888, Kindred Group’s flagship Unibet sportsbook, and LeoVegas’ Winga brand also on the supplier’s roster.

Saipan governor defends commonwealth’s casino revenue reliance

Gov. Ralph Torres has defended the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands’ (CNMI) reliance on the casino industry as its primary cash cow.

Torres came under fire as critics demand the governor to look for other means to improve CNMI’s revenue, according to The Saipan Tribune.

But the governor shrugged off the concerns of his critics, saying that the casino industry has created a positive domino effect in the CNMI. Since the establishment of the casino industry in the pacific island, Torres pointed out that there had been an influx of tourists in CNMI.

The casino, according to Torres, also brought other investments to CNMI.

WIPO junks Quadrific Media’s Spartan Poker trademark complaint

Quadrific Media Pvt. Ltd. has been dealt a major blow in its battle to stop Rajat Agarwal from using the Spartan Poker trademark in India.

If you recall, Agarwal filed a lawsuit in January against Quadrific Media and executives including Amin Rozani, Rajeev Kanjani, Rohit Bhalla and Sameer Rattonsey. The four were former members of the Indian Poker Championship (IPC) who launched a new company called the Spartan Online Poker Pvt. Ltd., which operates TheSpartanPoker.com.

It so happened that Agarwal’s group is also operating a website using the name “Spartan Poker,” prompting an ugly legal battle between the two factions over intellectual property rights and corporate governance norms.

To end Agarwal’s association with the Spartan Poker trademark, Quadrific Media filed a complaint before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in April. In its complaint, the company asserted that Agarwal “has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name” because he “does not own the Spartan Poker trademark and is not known in the market as ‘Spartan Poker.’”

Casino operators upbeat on Macau Golden Week

Casino operators may be in for the most lucrative Golden Week in the past decade – as indicated by the number of occupied rooms in different Macau integrated resorts.

Bloomberg reported that eighty percent of Macau’s hotels are already fully booked during the Chinese National Holiday that spans from October 1 to 8 – and the percentage continues to rise leading to the Golden Week.

Among the three to five star hotels that are already fully booked for the Golden Week are MGM Macau; Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace; The Star Tower in Studio City; Melco’s Cotai resort; and StarWorld Hotel.

Of course it goes without saying that hotels are expected to charge five times their usual prices. Rates of rooms peddled by hotel booking websites Expedia and Booking.com for the long holiday are now around HK$10,000 ($1,281) a night. Two weeks prior to the Golden Week, the same rooms cost only around HK$2,000.

Government of Gibraltar have a new head of the gambling division

HM Government of Gibraltar is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Andrew Lyman as the Executive Director and Head of the Gambling Division. Mr Lyman is currently Director of Regulatory Affairs at William Hill in London.

Speaking today, Minister with responsibility for Gambling in Gibraltar, Albert Isola, said: “Andrew is very well known in the industry here, in the UK and further afield as an authoritative voice on policy, regulation, public affairs and the operation and development of all aspects of remote and non-remote gambling. His experience with HMRC, the FSA, the Gambling Commission, William Hill and more widely with industry bodies made him an outstanding candidate in the selection process and we are delighted he is joining us in Gibraltar.”

Government confirmed it has planned for a technical handover with outgoing Head Phill Brear, who will then step in to a new advisory role for both the Government and The Gambling Division, as they prepare for a series of changes to taxation arrangements, the introduction of the Gambling Act Review and the new regulatory policies and codes that will be rolled out during 2018.

Minister Isola continued: “Andrew will now be driving the excellent work of the Gambling Division and enhancing that process. Government recognises that this area needs more resource and support and we are very fortunate to have Andrew joining us. I am pleased that we will continue to have the experience, knowledge and support of Phill Brear in his new position supporting Andrew and Government in this area.

FunFair announces FUN token listing on Binance and the top FUN Holding leaderboard reward program

LONDON, September 2017. FunFair, the decentralised gaming platform powered by Ethereum, today announced a collaboration with Binance, one of the top globalcryptocurrency exchanges. Binance will list FunFair’s FUN token from Thursday 28th September 04:00am UTC. To celebrate the launch, Binance and FunFair have launched a “Top FUN Holding Leaderboard Reward Program”.

Jez San, FunFair’s CEO & Founder commented “We’re thrilled to welcome Binance as the first Asian exchange to list FUN and support FunFair’s token economy. This is an exciting time for FunFair as we’re actively developing games and technology to support the global gaming market and are seeing strong interest in FunFair’s technology from Asia.”

Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO added “FunFair is a very exciting startup that is developing a pioneering technology to potentially revolutionise the $60BN gaming industry and the FUN token will play a crucial role in that transformation.”

FunFair was born out of a powerful idea to harness the potential of the blockchain to initiate a revolution in online gaming. The tech gaming startup uses their breakthrough Fate Channels technology to deliver the fastest, most cost-effective, fun, and fair online games occurring on the Ethereum blockchain.

Poker routines episode #17: Jim Collopy

Lee Davy continues to dive deep into the guts of the greatest poker players in the galaxy, this week poking around in the ribcage of Jim Collopy. 

Jim Collopy was spearfishing when I convinced him to share the secrets to his success.

So this column is much more than an insight into the lives of the most gifted poker players in the world. It saves the lives of sentient beings, baby.

Who are you?

Calling the Clock: WCOOP Main winner; partypoker Monster, Galfond DFS

Another round-up of poker news including the outcome of the $10m Guaranteed World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, partypoker unleash a monster, and Phil Galfond involves himself in Daily Fantasy Sports.

The 2017 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is over for another year, and Steve “SvZff” van Zadelhoff is the Champion of the World.

The man with the most cultivated beard in the business defeated a field of 2,183 entrants to capture the $1.64m first prize in the $5,300 buy-in event. The Dutch grinder qualified for the event via a $215 online satellite, but alas, swapped action until he only had 16%, good for $262,400.

Another player who is sitting in a backyard somewhere blowing comforting smoke rings while in a deep state of reverie is Nick Petrangelo. The former Global Poker Index (GPOI) #1 ranked player in the world, beat the current #1 ranked player in the world, Bryn Kenney, to take down the $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event for $625,000.

SBTech to open US office/G2E sportsbook and igaming showcase/VIP Vegas Sports Showcase

London, UK/Sofia, Bulgaria – September 2017: SBTech will be opening a US office in early 2018 and is looking forward to showcasing its suite of industry-leading sportsbook and igaming products at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) event taking place in Las Vegas from 3-5 October.

SBTech will also be hosting its VIP Vegas Sports Showcase party on Tuesday 3 October at the Palazzo, where guests will enjoy an exclusive demonstration of the group’s award-winning sports betting product and great sporting action during the MLB Wild Card Game, plus a chance to win tickets for either the Super Bowl, NBA Finals or the World Series!

G2E

Regulated sports betting in the US is a real possibility thanks to New Jersey’s legal challenges to overturn PASPA and the educational work carried out by the American Gaming Association’s betting taskforce, of which SBTech is a member. G2E delegates can find out more about how SBTech can answer their needs in a regulated US market by meeting with the group’s chief commercial officer Andrew Cochrane and chief product officer Ian Bradley for a demonstration of its sportsbook and igaming products.

Shannon Wiratchai to face Rasul Yakhyaev in ONE Lightweight World championship title eliminator

September 2017 – Bangkok, Thailand: The largest sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE), recently held a kick-off press conference ahead of the highly-anticipated live event, ONE: WARRIORS OF THE WORLD, which takes place 9 December at the Impact Arena in Bangkok and is held in collaboration with Havoline. Headlining the event is ONE Superstar, top lightweight contender Shannon “OneShin” Wiratchai as well as the challenger, Rasul Yakhyaev of Russia. Also in attendance was Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, Chatri Sityodtong, and ONE President of Thailand, Kamol ‘Sukie’ Sukosol Clapp, as well as ONE Championship athletes Rika Ishige, Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, Kritsada Kongsrichai and Sagetdao Petpayathai.

The main event bout has been announced as a lightweight title eliminator, with the winner going on to challenge the ONE Lightweight World Champion.

Ticket information for ONE: WARRIORS OF THE WORLD is available at www.onefc.com.

Official photos from the ONE: WARRIORS OF THE WORLD Press Conference at this link.

MGM Springfield adds more poker tables, because kids love ’em

Casino operator MGM Resorts has wowed Massachusetts officials with fresh details about the in-development MGM Springfield resort casino project.

The $960m MGM Springfield is on track to open in the southwestern region of the state in September 2018, and Thursday saw MGM officials provide further details of the project’s progress to members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC).

For one thing, MGM Springfield president Michael Mathis says the property will have more than the 100 gaming tables listed in the original estimates. Mathis told the MGC members that data from MGM’s new National Harbor casino in Maryland showed that table games were “making a bit of a comeback in terms of the mix with slots.”

Mathis added that younger demographics are “skewing away from the traditional slot product and towards an interactive, communal table game experience.” As a result, the number of tables in MGM Springfield’s poker room is rising from 16 to 23.

RunItOnce launch DFS site Draftboard.com, not an online poker room (yet)

The brains behind the successful online poker training site RunItOnce have launched a new Daily Fantasy Sports product called Draftboard.com, and not a new online poker room like people are expecting.

September 2016, Phil Galfond announces to the world his intention to open an online poker room.

The timing was brilliant.

Pissed off grinders had thrust PokerStars into the role of the bad boy and in rides one of the white knights of poker to put things straight.

Pennsylvania online gambling hopes get a lift

Pennsylvania’s online gambling hopes got a major boost on Thursday via reports that the state’s bickering legislators had reached tentative agreement on a gaming expansion plan.

Late Thursday, City & State Pennsylvania quoted sources saying state legislators had agreed that online poker and casino sites would form part of the $225m in extra gaming revenue the legislature had already agreed would contribute to the $32b budget for the state’s current fiscal year.

The Senate is now reportedly looking to get $250m from gambling into the budget, and the extra $25m could come from increased taxes on casino table games. At present, casinos pay 16% tax on their table revenue, but scuttlebutt has it that this could be raised to 20%.

It’s unknown whether legislators have tweaked the fee and tax structure of their earlier online gambling plans. Earlier this week, GamblingCompliance scribe Chris Krafcik tweeted that his sources indicated online gambling operators would pay one-off license fees of $10m-$15m, while online revenue would face an effective tax rate of 15%-20%.