Yahoo – Nevada’s gambling revenue in February plunged 13.7 percent, a decline blamed on a huge drop in baccarat winnings and a tough comparison from a year earlier when the Las Vegas Strip recorded its highest win total ever, state regulators reported Friday. Casinos statewide reported a win of $926.1 million in February, down from nearly $1.1 billion raked in during the same month the year before. The tumble on the Strip, home to Nevada’s posh resorts, was even more dramatic. Casinos there reported gambling revenue of $555.7 million, down 20.1 percent compared with $696.1 million won in February 2013,…

Pokerati – This past week, two sources of information became available indicating how the Canadian government will increase its regulation and oversight of virtual currencies, including bitcoin. Through a combination of legislative and regulatory changes, Parliament and the Financial Reports Analysis Centre of Canada—Canada’s financial intelligence unit—will wrap “dealers” in virtual currencies into the current money services business regime. Conceptually, this is somewhat similar to the approach taken to exchange functions by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in the United States. The federal government has clarified things somewhat but, at the same time, left us with many unanswered questions. We will have to wait…

Press of Atlantic City – More than four months after the launch of Internet gambling in New Jersey, operators in the developing industry are approaching their first deadlines for creating jobs in the state. Regulators are requiring that by May 1, all platform providers base their teams working on customer service, fraud detection and accounting in New Jersey. Rather than the gambling industry jobs of the past, which included cocktail servers, dealers and other service and hospitality positions, the jobs of the future will be more technical, dealing with activity from behind computer screens. Exact numbers of how many Internet…

The Jerusalem Post – Israel’s first ATM for obtaining bitcoins debuted on Sunday evening at the Bitcoin emBassy, a non-profit group devoted to spreading the virtual currency’s gospel. The bitcoin ATM functions differently from those consumers are used to. Anyone who is interested in buying bitcoins puts cash into the machine, and it credits their virtual wallet with the currency. “I am proud that the embassy has made the first bitcoin vending machine available in Israel. This is part of our mission, to make bitcoins accessible to the general public,” said Ayal Segev, from Bitcoin emBassy. The machine will operate…

People want internet gambling, and the NCAA basketball tournament drives billions of illegal gambling dollars. But a Wisconsin man is trying to combat gambling addiction before it’s too late. “Don’t gamble,” said Robert McGuigan, a simply message he’s been preaching since 2006. “I had no idea gambling was even an addiction.” McGuigan’s son, Jason, was a known gambler. He was murdered inside his Verona home in 2003. The killer, Mark Wu, was upset he didn’t win $17,000 on a bet Jason never placed for him. Three years later, Robert turned his agony into action. “It was like a light bulb…

Las Vegas Review Journal – Slot machine giant International Game Technology announced a new multiyear licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Monday that allows the Las Vegas-based company to use the “Wheel of Fortune” brand on its product lines through 2024. The deal covers traditional slot machines, online games, mobile devices and free-play social games. IGT said the contract also lets IGT place the “Jeopardy!” brand on slot games on IGT’s DoubleDown online casino. The company said this will be the first time “Jeopardy!” will be available to an online social casino in the United States. Both IGT’s existing “Wheel of…