Calvin Ayre – The eyes of the horseracing world are quite rightly fixated on Cheltenham, but the world’s greatest National Hunt horse race is just around the corner, and Betfred is going to be a name you will see quite a lot during the biggest horse racing date in the calendar. The Manchester outfit has signed a three-year deal to be the ‘Official Betting Partner’ for the Crabbie’s Grand National Festival in April. Fred Done, and his band of merry men and women, will sponsor three races at the three-day meet at Aintree: the Betfred Bowl Steeple Chase on the…

USA Today – This is the month in Las Vegas you’ve been waiting for. Starting this weekend, everything college basketball takes over this town. The Orleans Arena hosts both the West Coast Conference (March 6-11) and Western Athletic Conference (March 12-15), the Pac-12 (March 12-15) plays at the MGM Grand Garden Arena while Mountain West (March 12-15) tips off at Thomas & Mack. After that, things start to get serious, when thousands of college basketball aficionados take over Las Vegas (and its sports books). Here are a couple of choice spots to catch all the action (plus, bonus baseball!) and…

iGaming Business – Bitcoin gaming network BetCoin has launched two of its most popular games as applications on the new Hive Bitcoin Wallet for Mac OS X devices. Having only previously been accessible via the BetCoin website, the BetCoin Dice and BetCoin Prize Bitcoin titles can now be accessed by Mac OS X users directly from the Hive Bitcoin Wallet. Winnings are sent automatically to the same wallet so players are able to access funds instantly. Further games are due to be released on the Hive Wallet in the coming weeks. SOURCE

iGaming Business – Social casino studio Plumbee has announced the addition of player tournaments to the Facebook version of its Mirrorball Slots application. Players will be able to access the new tournaments via a lobby within the app, allowing them to select one of four different stakes in which to compete with others in a ‘Battle Royale’, with the top two players winning virtual cash prizes. In addition, Plumbee has also introduced a new free-to-enter tournament where players can win coins to spend in other tournaments or slot games in the main Mirrorball Slots game. Dave Wright, games producer at…

Calvin Ayre – Spain’s struggling online gambling market showed signs of life in Q4 2013, posting sequential revenue growth while falling short of Q4 2012’s figures. Figures released by the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) show overall revenue of €59.9m in Q4, 15.6% better than Q3 but 2.5% lower than Q4 2012. Stakes rose 13.9% to €1.47b as the number of new registered players rose 9.4% to 137k. For the year as a whole, total player registration in Spain rose 585k to 1.6m with average monthly active players coming in at 277k. Sports betting revenue came in at…

The Gazette – If a fledgling Colorado group led by a Rhode Island company has its way, gambling in Colorado will expand to Arapahoe, Pueblo and Mesa counties. – Other moves are afoot to expand gaming on the Western Slope, and in Trinidad it’s getting consideration. – Already rising as a mecca for marijuana, the growth of limited stakes gambling could be the next big issue for Colorado voters to consider – possibly in November if a pair of initiatives make it onto the ballot. – One group that has been opposed to expanding gaming in Colorado is reconsidering. –…