This Week in Gambling

Poker News – If there will hardly be a pan-European online poker market before 2015, it’s about time Spain’s brick-and-mortar casinos start investing more in developing their online offer. A few months away from the new opening of the country’s regulated market, DLA Piper Spain partner and gambling specialist Albert Agustinoy Guilayn spoke to PokerNews about the future of the national gambling industry, highlighting some interesting opportunities for the future. Right when eGaming Review published a report that shows how over 40% of Spain’s online poker players are still active on non-licensed operators, Agustinoy Guilayn explained how the nearest future…

iGaming Business – Greek gambling monopoly OPAP has cited the introduction of a new gross gaming revenue tax in the country as the reason behind a significant drop in net profit during the 12 months to December 31, 2013. The new 30% tax on gross gaming revenue for companies in Greece meant OPAP’s net profit totalled just €141.1 million ($194.7 million) in 2013, a 72.1% drop on the €505.5 million achieved in the previous year. Full-year revenue also fell 6.6% from €4 billion in 2012 to €3.7 billion in the last 12 months, while gross gaming revenue dropped 6.3% to €1.2…

Australian Gambling – When the Abbott Government, with the help of the opposition party, repealed poker machine reform laws last fortnight, Paul Bendat spent no time mourning the bill. The veteran lobbyist told Australiangambling he was only ever interested in laws that will actually make a difference to help problem gamblers. For more than six years, that’s what Bendat has been trying to do – make a difference. When asked about poker machine reform, Bendat wanted to make one point very clear – he and the rest of the people fighting for gambling machine reform have no intention of getting rid…

Companies controlled by billionaires James Packer and Cheng Yu-tung have lodged bids to develop casinos in Australia’s Queensland, as the state government plans to lure Asian tourists with new resorts based on the success of Singapore casinos. Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd. (CWN) and a venture including Cheng’s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd. are among 12 groups that have filed applications for new casinos in a state which is already home to four, Queensland deputy premier Jeff Seeney said in a statement posted on a government website today. With a shoreline longer than India’s that’s lapped by the Great Barrier Reef,…

This Week in Gambling – Nevada doesn’t want them. New Jersey rejected them. So now they’re knocking on California’s door? In an effort to come out of exile, PokerStars is attempting to work a deal with Morongo and some Southern California card clubs that would open the U.S. market to their participation in iGaming. As a reminder, this is the group that refused to shutter its site, even after the enactment of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), making online gambling illegal. In 2011, the Department of Justice issued orders mandating the site close down, filed a civil…

iGaming Business – Gaming industry entertainment solutions provider Amaya Gaming Group has entered into an agreement to provide online gaming operator Ultimate Gaming with internet casino gaming content in the US state of New Jersey. Under the deal, the Ucasino.com online gaming website, which is operated by Ultimate Gaming and its licensed gaming partner Trump Taj Mahal Associates, will offer a selection of Amaya’s proprietary games that are available on its Casino Gaming system (CGS) platform. The range of slots, video poker and table games include shared jackpots and branded titles. HTML5 versions of popular games for mobile casinos will also be…