THE AMERICAS
New Jersey lost its sports betting legal fight for the umpteenth time; Gamblers Anonymous pondered adding daily fantasy sports to its official list of no-no’s while DraftKings spent nearly $10m on TV ads in a single week and hired poker pro Jason Somerville as spokesmodel; advance deposit wagering site Xpressbet claimed ‘cyber terrorists’ were behind its weekend shutdown; researchers suggested playing Tetris could help reduce problem gambling cravings; a Canadian court rejected a high-roller’s bid to avoid paying his Asian casino debt; Resorts World New York became the state’s first racino to add video blackjack while Maryland casinos got permission to reduce slots payouts; a hotel chain asked to be let out of its Baha Mar contract while the project’s developer attempted to screw over its Chinese contractor; Florida resumed gaming compact negotiations with the Seminole tribe; Nevada casinos’ baccarat handle fell one-third in July; a federal judge told Caesars and its creditors to prep for a trial; Two Plus Two forum publisher Mason Malmuth talked up the importance of gamifying poker to attract new players and Phil Ivey claimed Atlantic City’s Borgata casino uses booze and breasts to gain an edge over gamblers.
EUROPE
News of a proposed Paddy Power – Betfair merger surprised the gambling industry; Bwin.party eked out a rare profit; 888 said its earnings were “impressive” given market conditions; GVC Holdings said its boffo numbers showed why its Bwin.party bid should prevail; Playtech’s H1 earnings report downplayed its grey- and black-market revenue; Evolution Gaming inked a deal with Genting Alderney and said conditions are “exceptionally good” to take over the live dealer world; online gamblers in the Netherlands are smarter than the overall population; Cherry AB’s H1 growth was all down to its online operations; Twitch got some competition as YouTube launched a dedicated gaming channel; PokerStars was forced to drop youthful spokesman Neymar Jr. from a UK promotion while Full Tilt hired ex-Betfair marketing man Mark Ody; a Spanish poker player staged a bogus kidnapping plot to pay his gambling debts; Becky Liggero offered pointers on how iGaming affiliates can avoid being screwed over; Dice London CEO Gwen Andrieux explained why marketing gambling isn’t like marketing soap and Wink Bingo’s Eitan Gorodetsky studied RedBus Bingo’s personalized marketing approach while Entiva Group’s Alex Fletcher examined the growing popularity of eSports betting.