iGaming Business – Online casino games provider Net Entertainment has announced that Italian lottery and gaming company Lottomatica is to launch a range of its online casino games in the country. Net Entertainment confirmed that its online casino titles would be integrated into the Lottomatica.it and Totosi.it online portals. Lottomatica customers can access the games on a desktop computer or a mobile device. Net Entertainment confirmed that further titles would be made available through Lottomatica in due course. “Both parties have worked very closely to integrate the Net  Entertainment Casino into Lottomatica’s operational environment, and we are very happy for…

Sky Bet, the online gaming subsidiary of UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB, has agreed a deal to sponsor the opening race of the next five editions of the Cheltenham Festival horse racing event. Under the five-year deal, the first race of the annual event will be known as the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. The deal is Sky Bet’s first major sponsorship involvement at the Cheltenham Festival. In addition, Sky Bet will also sponsor two Grade Two novices’ hurdles on ‘The Road to Cheltenham’ a series of races leading up to the Festival. The Sky Bet Novices’ Hurdle will take place…

The Daily Mail – The gambling industry has emerged from an era of failed reforms with campaigners on the payroll, politicians in its pocket, and four new casinos in the offing. Campbell Newman’s recent announcement to offer up to three new casino licences in Queensland signals that Australia’s second great gambling boom has begun. The Queensland premier’s decision to offer the new licences, to kick-start what he called a “faded and jaded” state tourism industry, brings the total number of new casinos announced in Australia in 2013 to four – including James Packer’s bid for a second Sydney casino which…

BizJournals.com – For Jonathan Blue, the issue of expanded gaming in Kentucky isn’t about gambling. It’s about jobs. Blue, the owner of Louisville-based Blue Equity LLC, spoke about the issue Tuesday morning during a meeting of ACG Kentucky at the Marriott Louisville Downtown. As previously reported, Blue and attorneys Terry McBrayer and Ed Glasscock launched Kentucky Wins last month. It is a grassroots effort focused on allowing a public vote on expanded gaming. Blue told the assembly of local deal makers and deal facilitators that allowing the creation of as many as seven casinos statewide would create up to 10,953…

Reuters – Chinese tycoon Tony Fung has offered to pay A$214 million ($199 million) to buy Reef Casino Trust, which owns the only casino in the Australian city of Cairns near the Great Barrier Reef, in a bid to enter the country’s gambling and tourism market. Shares in Reef Casino surged 42.6 percent to six-year highs after the announcement. Fung, a billionaire son of one of the founders of Hong Kong conglomerate Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd, has previously proposed a A$4.2 billion ($3.8 billion) casino and resort project in Cairns, which has yet to get approval from the…

Bloomberg – Crown Resorts Ltd., the Australian gaming company controlled by billionaire James Packer, won final approval from the New South Wales state government to develop a casino in Sydney’s Barangaroo precinct. The agreement between the state and Crown is consistent with the conditions set down in the government’s initial approval in July, New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell said in a statement yesterday. Melbourne-based Crown Resorts will operate a gaming resort restricted to “VIP” clients and will provide tax payments of at least A$1 billion ($938 million) in the first 15 years of operation, according to the statement. Crown’s…