Bloomberg – Wynn Macau Ltd. fell the most in more than two years in Hong Kong trading, leading declines among operators of China’s only legal casinos, amid concern that a crackdown on illegal money transfers will pare demand. The unit of Wynn Resorts Ltd. slumped 8.5 percent, its biggest decline since October 2011, at the close in Hong Kong trading. MGM China Holdings Ltd. (2282) dropped 8.2 percent, while Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. fell 7.6 percent. China is cracking down on the use of hand-held card-swipers within casino resorts amid concerns that tens of billions of yuan in illicit funds…

iGaming Business – Gaming solutions provider Scientific Games has signed an amendment to its deal with the Loteria Nacional de Beneficencia (National Lottery of Panama) in order to provide the country with its first online lottery game. ‘Pega 3’, a standard pick three game, is scheduled to launch in the country in June of this year. The new game will fall under an existing 10-year deal that was agreed in October 2013, under which Scientific Games agreed to support the National Lottery of Panama with the rollout of instant games. “Pega 3 is our very first online lottery draw game…

Las Vegas Review Journal – The Gaming Control Board told its license holders Tuesday they cannot participate in the state’s potential medical marijuana business. In an industry notice posted to the Control Board’s website, the agency, which is charged with licensing and regulating the state’s casinos and gambling equipment providers, said the federal government views distribution, possession and sale of marijuana as a crime. “Accordingly, unless the federal law is changed, the board does not believe investment or other involvement in a medical marijuana facility or establishment by a person who has received a gaming approval or applied for a…

iGaming Business – Online casino and solutions firm Bally Technologies has expanded its partnership with Golden Nugget to become the exclusive enterprise-wide system provider for the land-based operator’s five gaming properties in the US. The new deal will cover Golden Nugget properties in Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi and a soon-to-be-opened casino resort in Louisiana. Bally’s systems offerings, which will be connected to almost 6,400 slots and table games, will also be customised to be integrated with the Golden Nugget ‘Select Club’ loyalty programme at more than 440 restaurants nationwide. In addition to the Bally systems already installed at Golden Nugget’s…

Gaming Intelligence – Survey results released this week by the UK Gambling Commission reveal a small rise in gambling participation levels, with 56 per cent of respondents having participated in at least one form of gambling in the previous four weeks, up from 55 per cent of respondents in March 2013. Land-based gambling continues to account for the lion’s share of activity, with 71 per cent of those gambling in the past four weeks doing so offline, while 16 per cent of respondents said that they gambled online, up from 15 per cent a year ago. Excluding people who only…

Calvin Ayre – Singapore’s self-exclusion option, which allows citizens to voluntary ban themselves from entering the country’s two casinos, has now been expanded after the launch of a new centralized self-exclusion system. With this new system, Singaporeans can now voluntarily exclude themselves from other gambling establishments in the country, including jackpot clubs and sports betting clubs. Under the old program, citizens could only have themselves banned from entering the Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands casinos. More than 200,000 casino exclusion orders have been issued to date, of which around 153,000 are the self-exclusion variety. Currently, Singapore has 73…