iGaming Business – Gamblers in the UK will be able to set limits on the amount of time and money they spend on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) under a new code of conduct developed by the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB). According to the Guardian newspaper, the new code will enable customers to set their own limits in the time and money they spend on a machine, while staff will be alerted when limits have been reached. Mandatory alerts will appear on the machines when a customer has spent £250 on a machine or played for more 30 minutes….

Business Week – In the 1990s, Macau’s gambling riches sparked bloody gunfights between triad gangsters vying for control of private gaming rooms for China’s wealthy. Today, there’s a new conflict brewing, only this time it’s being waged with private jets, limousines, and million-dollar loans. This latest battle pits casinos against their longtime allies, so-called junket operators that for years have recruited rich gamblers in China, whisked them to Macau, put them up in luxury hotels, and extended interest-free loans to circumvent limits on cash they can take out of the mainland. In the early years after China allowed foreign gaming…

Las Vegas Sun – When Springfield, Mass., needed to choose who would build its first casino, the city hired an outside adviser to help with the process. The consulting firm Shefsky & Froelich recommended the deal go to MGM Resorts International. At the same time, the consulting firm also was working as a registered lobbyist in Illinois for MGM Resorts. The arrangement highlights an often-overlooked trend as more cities and states embrace legalized gambling around the country: Private companies are being hired to write regulations and vet casinos, even as the same firms work the other side of the fence,…

iGaming Business – The Premier Lotteries consortium has completed the purchase of the licence to run the Irish National Lottery in a deal worth a reported €405 million ($558.9 million). According to the Irish Times newspaper, the consortium involves An Post, a state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the owner of UK National Lottery operator Camelot. The incoming operator will now begin a transition process, which will see it take control of the franchise in 12 months’ time. As reported by iGaming Business in October 2013, Premier Lotteries had been named as the preferred…

Global Post – The sign on the window promises “fun and games.” But inside the slot-machine arcade, it looks more like compulsion and mundane clerical work. Behind the colorfully painted plate-glass window, it’s impossible to tell if it’s 3 in the morning or the afternoon. Apart from the faint strains of light rock music and an overriding mechanical hum, it’s as silent as an intensive-care unit. The two shabby patrons are so intent on their screens that they may as well be wired them. Presiding over the fun is 28-year-old Ayesha, a bleached-blonde German of Turkish origin who declined to…

iGaming Business – US racetrack and casino owner Churchill Downs said that despite achieving record levels of revenue and adjusted EBITDA during the 12 months through to December 31, 2013, it had planned to do “even better”. The firm posted full-year revenue of $779.3 million (€564.8 million), a record amount that was 7% higher than the $731.3 million achieved previous year. Adjusted EBITDA also grew by 11% from $158.3 million in 2012 to a record $176.2 million in the past 12 months. The successful full-year figures were boosted by Churchill Downs’s performance in the three months through to December 31,…