Online Poker Report – According to tracking data from the latest Scouting Report – a daily analysis publication from PokerScout.com – the Party / Borgata Network and WSOP.com together account for over 80% of the total online poker market in New Jersey. As of December 22nd, Party / Borgata held a 49% share and WSOP.com accounted for 32% of online poker play in the Garden State. At the other end of the NJ online poker traffic rankings, 888′s All American Poker Network (AAPN) saw a small uptick in the week before the holidays – a 1% bump to 15% that came at the direct…

Gambling Kingz – A pair of Polish computer hackers have been jailed in the UK for attempting to blackmail a Manchester based online casino operator. Piotr Smirnow and Paatryk Surmacki were sentenced to five years and four months in prison for demanding that 50% of the online casino be transferred to their names. According to the Serious Crime Division, the men targeted the unnamed online casino which employs 65 staff and has an annual turnover of £30 million. “With millions of pounds and potentially dozens of jobs involved, Smirnow and Surmacki were playing for incredibly high stakes and clearly knew…

iGaming Business – Land-based casino firm Olympic Entertainment Group (OEG) has moved to strengthen its expansion plans in various European markets by confirming that its new OlyBet brand will launch with the casino product of mobile gambling company Playtech. Under the agreement, Playtech will serve as the exclusive casino provider and support OEG’s expansion into the Estonian and Latvian markets with its OlyBet brand. “With the help of Playtech, we are launching something truly unique to support our land-based casino and sports bar operations, as OlyBet provides the region’s greatest selection of online casino games, delightful poker interface, the best…

Online-Casinos.com – The end of the year 2013 approaches quickly and the year 2014 looks like it will usher in new technology and trends that have never been seen before. First the advent of mobile and smart phones will change the world of online gambling by making it more accessible and faster. Mobile is definitely the big thing and as flash based technology is taken over by the new HTML5 platform the games on mobile will be more exciting and varied. Next for 2014 we will see the continued effort in the USA to provide an online gambling industry regulated…

Gambling Kingz – The founder of London’s Fox Poker Club, Chris North, is using his experience and business savvy to help startup entities in the world of igaming find investors through a new crowdfunding platform. GamCrowd, which is set to be based in the United Kingdom, will launch at the end of January and aims to bring together startups with investors that are not from the traditional banking or venture-capital worlds. iGaming startups and potential investors can use the platform to get together and discuss ways to raise capital to launch successful businesses, and spur growth in the UK gambling…

The year 2013 was a volatile one for Zynga social gaming as the company went through a significant strategic and management transition and terminated some of its well known games. Revenues and profits continued to slide as the user base shrank. The only silver lining was that the company’s key franchises Farmville, Farmville 2 and Zynga Poker continued to lend support. Going forward, Zynga will primarily focus on mobile gaming and further development of its own gaming platform. Under the new leadership, the company is confident that it can reinvent itself and bounce back by bringing more stability and predictability…