US resorts and casino operator Harrah’s Casinos, a unit of Caesars Entertainment Corporation, has acquired an initial 51% stake in Playtika, an Israeli social games developer for a consideration of $85 million, reports globes.
In the wake of Black Friday, PokerStars has commenced paying out its US players as it cooperates with the US Department of Justice, but it appears that Full Tilt Poker is still trying to organise the process.
This week a Full Tilt spokesman using the handle FTPDoug used the popular twoplustwo forum to communicate with US players and answer some of their questions regarding the future of their account balances.
Full Tilt is still getting a formal FAQ up on the Web, but in the meantime, players may want to click through to the following twplustwo page for a preview in the form of FTPDoug’s answers to players:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/ftp-answers-4-28-a-1…
As InfoPowa went to press there had been no changes to Full Tilt’s last official statement, which advised players that the DoJ agreement to pay players was a good first step, but that it wouldn’t be able to process refunds until the government gives up control of its funds.
The company pointed out that “there remain significant practical and legal impediments to returning funds to players in the immediate future,” and noted that, thanks to the recent enforcement measures, there are now no (legal US) channels through which refunds can be made.
Following the release of the European Commission’s Green Paper on Online Gambling towards the end of March 2011, the body has announced the release of a public follow-up consultation in the form of a questionnaire.
The Green Paper on Online Gambling was met with mixed reactions from interested industry parties and influential online gambling trade associations like the Remote Gaming Association and the European Gaming and Betting Association were worried about the apparent lack of commitment to enforce fundamental EU principles such as free movement of goods and services, and the trend toward individual and fragmented national approaches to regulation.
Primarily an information collecting exercise, the Commission is inviting market participants, national governments, national authorities and any other interested parties to participate by completing and submitting the questionnaire by 31 July 2011 in order to determine the need for, and the form of any European Union follow-up action in the online gambling field.
Senator Louis Correa’s bill SB 40 in California, proposing the legalisation of intrastate online poker, could gain further support following recent amendments that increase the number of licenses achievable from one to five. Still restrictive and protective of local companies, the licenses will enable Indian tribal groups and established card rooms to operate online poker websites.
The amendment gives Correa and his supporters significantly more manouevring room, and were implemented late last week, presumably with the continued support of the California Online Poker Association (COPA), the California Nations Indian Gaming Association CNIGA) and the California Gaming Association (CGA).
The amendments suggest the issue of three licenses immediately the bill is approved by the legislature and the governor.
Visits to the beleaguered Atlantic City land casinos dropped 6.2% last year, adding to the ongoing battle for survival of the gambling centre, but the positive aspect was that spending per visitor increased slightly.
The new numbers come from a Spectrum Gaming Group study which found that 26.6 million people visited Atlantic City casinos last year, a decrease of 6.2%, but that spending per visitor fell by only half that amount, indicating that the people who have stopped coming to the nation’s second-largest gambling market are the less-profitable customers.
Atlantic City is in the fifth-straight year of a revenue decline brought on by the explosion of casino gambling in neighbouring states and exacerbated made by the poor national economy.
The Spectrum findings are perhaps a vindication of the region’s marketing attempts to attract a bigger spending clientele – the casinos’ win-per-visitor was nearly $134 last year, down 3.6% from 2009 and nearly 8% from 2008.
Most visitors (22.9 million) travelled to the centre by private means – usually cars – whilst lower spending groups generally made their gambling pilgrimage by coach, with 3.8 million travelling by this method – a decline of 13%.
“Busing is on a long, slow goodbye,” one casino official opined.
There was more disappointing news from New Jersey this week as local media reported that Senator Ray Lesniak’s lawsuit seeking to overturn a federal sports betting ban has been unsuccessful.
U.S. District Judge Garrett Brown ruled that New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney and state Senator Raymond Lesniak, who filed the complaint, lack legal standing – in other words they are not the appropriate persons to legally challenge the federal sports betting ban.
The two politicians had based their case on a claim that the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act violates the U.S.
Only two weeks after launching its innovative Live Presenter Bingo on the Italian market, Intralot has launched a major television campaign in the country to boost audience participation above 1,000 players a day.
Intralot Italia enlarged its online gaming portfolio with the introduction of the first live online Bingo in Italy on 15 February this year, vigorously promoting the concept of live presenters interacting with players in real time.
The International Olympic Committee’s summit on fighting corruption in sport this week heard the views of the online gambling trade group the Remote Gambling Association, presented by chief executive Clive Hawkswood.
“The licensed betting industry remains committed to taking all reasonable and practical steps to assist the sporting sector to protect the integrity of its events,” said Hawkswood. “It is, after all, betting businesses that corrupters seek to financially defraud when fixing sporting events and operators have a clear commercial interest in helping to deter such activity.”
The meeting focused on the impact of match-fixing, which has adverse effects on both the sporting and licensed betting sectors.
There should be something for every online slot fan in Microgaming’s new game releases for March, with a package that offers a diversity of themes and features wrapped around advanced internet slot technology.
The list is headed by the latest in Microgaming’s 243 Ways-to-Win series, a 5 reel offering with an oriental theme titled Asian Beauty. Quality graphics depict four elegant princesses and the seasons of the year against a backdrop of royal symbols such as japanned treasure chests, richly embroidered clothing, antique porcelain and rare blossoms.
3 or more of the master-crafted treasure chests across the reels act as the Scatter, launching between 10 and 25 re-triggering Free Spins which double all wins.
Alabama’s new attorney general thinks that the electronic bingo machines operating in tribal casinos are illegal. He recently sent a letter to the National Indian Gaming Commission telling them that the games are prohibited and should be shut down.
Luther Strange, who took office last month, says that Alabama’s state-regulated businesses are not allowed to carry electronic bingo games (which is still being debated). However, previously the NIGC said that electronic bingo can only be banned from tribal casinos if all forms of bingo are banned in Alabama. Sin
