Thailand Business News – Las Vegas has been the home of gambling, while other areas have cropped up across the globe, none have really seemed to quite capture the atmosphere and vibrancy that is in abundance in Las Vegas. However, that seems to fast becoming a distant memory thanks to the growth rate of Asia in the gambling sector. Tucked away in the administrative region of Macau are some highly influential casinos that see a dramatic, high volume turnover of approximately $38 billion in annual returns, which, according to the latest statistics, is six times bigger than what Las Vegas…

Sky News – The major parties have been accused of selling out problem gamblers after Labor agreed to help the federal government repeal the first national poker machine reform laws. Anti-gambling campaigner and Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie described the move as a ‘shocking betrayal’ of the Australian community. ‘Both parties don’t give a toss about problem gamblers and are beholden to their pokies industry political donors,’ Mr Wilkie said. ‘The Labor party is weak and uncaring, and no better than the Liberals, when it comes to gambling reform.’ Last year, the federal parliament passed watered-down measures aimed at curbing…

DoubleDown is opening up its metrics on social casino games, a bit. Today, it will disseminate a “social casino index” based on the game play data of six million monthly active users, showing where and how people play its games. For the most part, the report is just a science-y way of flaunting DoubleDown’s reach (and the company doubtless knows that trend-minded reporters are suckers for this sort of stuff). But John Clelland, global marketing VP at DoubleDown’s parent company, IGT, correctly highlighted one surprising factoid from the index. “We had this belief that men would make the highest bets,”…

iGaming Business – Members of the Stop the FOBTs campaign against fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) have hit out at the UK Government’s decision to vote in favour of implementing the recommendations from the recent review into gaming machine stakes. The decision by MPs will mean roulette machines in shop will retain a £100 maximum stake, rather than adopting a precautionary principle and reduce the stake to £2. “FOBTs were illegal when the bookmakers introduced them prior to the 2005 Gambling Act,” said Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, the organisation behind the Stop the FOBTs campaign….

Las Vegas Review Journal – Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval held discussions with Israel’s political leaders about introducing gaming to the Jewish state, which is considering the idea, the country’s consul general said Thursday. The discussions took place when Sandoval visited Israel in October as part of a trade mission to diversify Nevada’s economy. About 50 business leaders accompanied Sandoval and focused on opportunities involving water conservation, high-tech industries and the emerging drone aircraft sector. But David Siegel, the Los Angeles-based consul general, said Sandoval brought up gaming when he met with Israel’s leaders. Sandoval met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…

Coin Desk – A tiny island in the English Channel, Alderney, wants to mint physical bitcoins as part of a larger campaign to become one of the world’s first financial services centers devoted to digital currency. The Financial Times reported that Alderney, just three miles long with a population of 1,900, wants to become known as an international center for bitcoin transactions. Intended to be fully compliant with anti money-laundering and other financial regulations, it would offer merchant payment services, exchanges, and a bitcoin storage vault of some kind. The physical bitcoins, like other such tokens, would be collectors’ items…