Monthly Archives: February 2018

CalvinAyre.com featured conferences & events: March 2018

iGaming Asia Congress

Now in its 10th year, the iGaming Asia (iGA) Congress is the “longest running dedicated C-Level iGaming event in Asia”, according to organizers Beacon Events.  To honor their 10-year anniversary, iGaming industry veteran Sue Schneider will deliver the keynote speech alongside speakers from sports betting, casino, lottery, mobile, regulatory and more.

New this year, iGA Congress will feature the first Gaming Innovation Start-up Launchpad in Asia including companies from the Blockchain space.  Other highlights from the conference agenda include eSports and DFS opportunities in Asia.

What: iGaming Asia Congress

EU court spanks Hungary’s online gambling laws … again

Hungary’s restrictive online gambling laws have once again been taken to the woodshed by the European Union’s top court.

On Wednesday, the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) issued a preliminary ruling in the case of UK operator Sporting Odds Ltd, a subsidiary of Sportingbet, which was fined HUF3.5m (US$13,600) for offering services to Hungarian punters without a local license.

EU law allows member states to restrict access by gambling operators licensed in other member states, provided these protectionist impulses maintain a reasonable façade of emphasizing consumer protection – by limiting citizens’ capacity to gamble excessively online – over the state’s desire to fill its coffers with gambling revenue.

The CJEU ruled that Hungary’s refusal to grant online gambling licenses to any company that didn’t run a local land-based casino was at odds with the country’s argument that its gambling rules were primarily intended to minimize the potential harms of offering its citizens too many gambling options.

Austria wants gambling sites to refund 30 years of winnings

Austria is proposing new measures to block unauthorized online gambling operators and to allow their customers to reclaim all gambling losses suffered over the past three decades.

On Tuesday, Austria’s Ministry of Finance unveiled a draft amendment to the nation’s Gambling Act aimed at shielding the online gambling monopoly of Win2Day, the digital arm of Casinos Austria – in which the government holds a 30% stake – from internationally licensed competitors.

Finance Minister Hartwig Löger estimates there are around 2k internationally licensed online gambling sites currently accepting Austrian customers, which Löger believes are 2k too many. Löger wants to empower the Telekom Control Commission (TKK) to impose “immediate blocking” of any domain that refuses to cut ties with its Austrian customers.

What’s more, since Löger views all online gambling activity not blessed by the state as illegal, he wants to allow Austrian punters to reclaim any money lost to international gambling sites over the past 30 years.

Singapore’s legal online gambling hasn’t led to betting surge

Singapore’s authorization of online gambling at its two state-approved betting monopolies hasn’t led to a surge in wagering, according to a senior government minister.

On Wednesday, parliamentarians queried Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo on the effects on Singaporean society of the September 2016 approval for the Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club monopolies to launch new online betting sites.

The Straits Times quoted Teo responding that there has been no sudden surge in online wagering, and that a significant number of the two monopolies’ new online bettors “appear not to be first-time gamblers.”

Teo went on to say that 30% of Singapore Pools’ new online gamblers and 80% of Turf Club’s online registrants had previously held telephone betting accounts with the operators. Even among those online bettors who hadn’t opened telephone accounts, “over 95%” had made a wager with that same operator in the 12 months before signing up online.

Nevada sportsbooks have second-best January on record

Nevada casinos topped the $1b gaming revenue mark in the first month of 2018, thanks in part to a near-record January at the sportsbooks.

Figures released Wednesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show statewide gaming revenue hitting $1.015b in January, a 2.5% decrease from January 2017. The decline was almost entirely limited to the Las Vegas Strip, where revenue fell nearly 9% to $554.7m, while virtually all other regions of the state were in positive territory.

Statewide slots revenue was up 7.6% to $655.5m, while total games & tables revenue declined 10.5% to $359.5m. Nearly all the major table games were down double-digits, led by baccarat ($113.2m, -28.3%), blackjack ($97.5m, -11.8%), roulette ($27.7m, -11.5%) and three-card poker ($10.7m, -5.8%). Craps proved an outlier, rising 12% to $35.3m.

The casinos’ sportsbooks had a stellar month, with overall revenue shooting up nearly 216% to $25.1m. The state’s racebooks weren’t as fortune, with revenue down 3.1% to $3.1m.

ONE Championship announces more marquee talent added to ONE Super Series

28 February 2018 – Singapore: The largest global sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE), has just announced additional signings to ONE Super Series, which aims to provide the world’s best martial artists a prestigious global platform to showcase the beauty of Asia’s striking arts such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, taekwondo, Kung Fu, wushu, sanda, silat, lethwei, and more.

Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, stated: “ONE Championship, the Home of Martial Arts, proudly brings to you the world’s best strikers, showcasing their talent and skill in ONE Super Series. Fans will witness the absolute elite in striking martial arts, as they go head-to-head on the biggest and most prestigious global stage of competition. The major global combat sports organizations mostly focus on one type of martial art, be it boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts or Muay Thai. ONE Championship is the only global player to encompass all styles of martial arts. With ONE Super Series, ONE Championship is now the largest martial arts organization in the world.”

ONE Super Series will launch in Manila, Philippines at ONE: HEROES OF HONOR on 20 April at the Mall of Asia Arena. The promotion has already signed top talents including multiple-time Muay Thai world champions Petchboonchu FA Group, Nong-O Gaiyanghadao, Yodsaenklai Fairtex, Sam-A Gaiyanghadao, Singtongnoi Por Telakun, Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, Sagetdao Petpayathai, Kwankhao Mor. Rattanabandit, Yodcherry Sityodtong, as well as international superstar world champions Giorgio Petrosyan, Fabio Pinca, Alain Ngalani, Regian Eersel, Sergej Maslobojev, and many others.

In this round of signings, ONE Super Series welcomes Muay Thai greats Tukkatatong Petpayathai and Lerdsila of Thailand, UK Muay Thai World Champion Panicos Yusuf of Cyprus, Stergus Mikkios of Greece, two-time It’s Showtime 70MAX world champion kickboxer Chris “The African Warrior” Ngimbi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, former WMC Intercontinental and WPMF World Champion Cosmo “Good Boy” Alexander of Brazil, Steve “The Smashing Machine” McKinnon and Daniel “The Rock” Dawson of Australia, Muay Thai kickboxer Enriko Kehl of Germany, former Lion Fight Muay Thai world lightweight champion Sergio Wielzen of Suriname, Tarik Khbabez of Morocco, Brad “Quake” Riddell of New Zealand, Matthew “Sobek” Semper of the United States, and former Lion Fight Lightweight World Champion Ognjen Topic of Serbia. Additional signings will be announced at a later date.

Oklahoma lawmakers eye legal sports betting at tribal casino

Oklahoma has officially joined the mad dash to pass a sports betting bill in case the U.S. Supreme Court (SC) decides to strike down the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

Tulsa World reported that the Oklahoma House of Representatives Appropriations and Budget Committee has approved House Bill 3375, which seeks to legalize sports betting at roughly 70 tribal casinos across the state.

Members of the committee voted 17-8 to send the bill before the full House.

Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Wallace, the bill would, in effect, change the tribal-state compact to allow these gambling facilities to offer sports pool wagering “on the outcome of sporting events or other events, other than horse or other animal races.”

Profit slump will still earn Genting Malaysia investors fat paychecks

Genting Malaysia BHD investors are in for a celebration despite seeing a drop in the casino operator’s 2017 profit.

In a disclosure to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, Genting Malaysia announced that its fourth quarter profit plunged 74.5 percent to MYR449.4 million (US$114.47 million) from MYR1.69 billion ($430.49 million) in 2016.

The company attributed the lower fourth quarter revenue to the casino operator’s higher impairment losses.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of its UK and Egypt operations climbed more than 100 percent to MYR63.8 million ($16.25 million) in the fourth quarter.

Betclic takes Pragmatic Play titles

Provider’s portfolio goes live with leading operator

Malta, 28 February 2018: Multi-award-winning casino games developer Pragmatic Play has signed an agreement with Betclic Everest Group, which will see the operator take on the fast-growing provider’s games for the first time.

A number of Pragmatic Play’s video slots are now live with the operator, including Hot Safari, Wolf Gold and Gold Rush.

Betclic joins online operators including Betsson, Vera&John and GVC in integrating the provider’s games.