Sydney Morning Journal – Emily, a 30-year-old economist, became so addicted to Candy Crush Saga, a free iPhone game, that she would lie awake at 1am imagining her finger swiping across the screen to line up rows of brightly coloured lollies. Three in a row would deliver a satisfying squelch as they burst and moved the ­Melbourne mother-of-two closer to the next level. Candy Crush Saga is a simple game but the hold it has over its devoted followers is complex and incredibly strong. They are reminiscent of gamblers who can’t help but feed another $20 into a poker machine…

Net Security – A new report by McAfee sheds light on the underground world of online gambling. It identifies the proliferation of online casinos, an industry set to grow nearly 30% over the next three years, and how their use is fuelling cybercrime by making it easy to “cash in” on illegal activities. Online gambling involves huge volumes of transactions and cash flows that can obscure and disguise money laundering. Players are not dealing with a tangible, physical product; physical currency does not change hands. As a result, illegal proceeds can be laundered by wagering them on one end of…

iGaming Business – The Scottish National Party (SNP) has become the latest political party to speak out against fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and has called for “sensible regulation” of such machines in the UK. Gamblers in Scotland staked a reported £4.4 billion (€5.3 billion/$7.4 billion) on the machines last year, an increase of more than £100 million on the amount spent in the previous year. SNP politician Stuart McMillan has joined a number of political figures in backing the Fairer Gambling Campaign’s call to reduce the current maximum stake on FOBTs from £100 to £2. UK chancellor George Osborne…

Calvin Ayre – Much has been made of the enormous potential of Japan’s casino market, including throwing out estimates on how much gross revenue the country’s (future) casinos can earn in a year. Telsey Advisory Group’s Senior Gaming & Lodging Analyst Chris Jones recently issued a 44-page analysis of Japan’s casino potential. Jones estimated that the country could stand to earn as much as $23.8 billion a year, which translates to 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP, roughly what US casinos earn relative to America’s GDP. A far more conservative, if not more likely estimate would be about $16.5 billion…

Forbes – In America there is a war going on for the hearts and minds of thousands of online poker players, many of whom have been frozen out of the game they love.  In one corner stand the lobbyists pushing for a federal ban on online poker.  In the other, individual state lawmakers who are forging ahead with plans of regulated online poker for their residents. Three states – Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware – have thus far pushed on with legalized online poker, and New York could be up next. However, with disappointing returns reported to date and tax…

Gambling 911 – The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned Irish online bookmaker from ever promoting bets on the Oscar Pistorious trial.Some 65 complaints were considered after the controversial betting firm began taking wagers on the outcome of the paraplegic runner Pistorius’ murder trial.  The South African fatally shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp but claims he did so by accident out of fear an intruder had entered through a bathroom window. The company made matters worse by featuring Pistorius as an Oscar statuette during the Academy Awards with a caption that read: “money back if he walks”. The ASA…