This Week in Gambling

iGaming Business – US distributor KGM Gaming and gaming content developer Spin Games have announced a successful launch into the New Jersey online gaming market, in accordance with a previously announced deal with land-based operator Caesars Interactive Entertainment. As reported by iGaming Business in December 2013, the two companies agreed to provide Caesars Interactive Entertainment with a remote gaming server and game titles for its online gaming operations in the US state. Under the licensing agreement, the ROC, HTML5 remote gaming server technology will be utilised along with a range of games developed in the platform. “Thanks to our team’s…

Lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties who want to ban online gambling have introduced legislation in the House and Senate. According to the Associated Press news agency, the bills are aimed at reversing a decision in 2011 by Attorney General Eric Holder that a 1961 law used to ban internet gambling only applied to sports betting. The new bills would expand prohibition to where it originally stood before the 2011 ruling. New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada are the only three states to have legalized online gaming since the 2011 ruling, but a number of other states have also…

iGaming Business – UK bookmaker Ladbrokes has successfully launched the full range of products from online gaming software supplier Playtech across its digital platform. Ladbrokes said that the move to Playtech was part of a “wider revamping” of the Ladbrokes digital business to give customers a better experience on mobile or desktop for its sportsbook and casino services. The successful launch has led to the withdrawal of the existing casino software and games portfolio from the Ladbrokes.com and Ladbrokes.dk domains. Ladbrokes said that as well as adding the Playtech products, it has also made improvements to the ‘Vegas’ tab by…

Macau casinos in the city on the southeast coast of China are the Asian version of Venice, complete with a Grand Canal and a Rialto Bridge. Soon, it will get a taste of France, with an Eiffel Tower and a giant resort modeled on the Palace of Versailles, as part of a building boom that has brought dozens of cranes to a stretch of reclaimed land here. Macau has grown explosively over the last decade, and another burst of expansion is in full swing as some of the world’s biggest casino operators step up their bet on China’s love for…

Would there be any support for a Houston casino? Horse racing is already legal there, but neighboring states are offering higher purses, and horse breeders are leaving Texas at a fervent pace. And in an effort to combat this, the horse racing industry is prepared to fight for the legalization casino gambling. According to the Memorial Examiner breeders registered just 300 foals eligible for horse racing in 2013. The peak for the state was more than 4,000. Concurrently, Oklahoma’s racing industry is booming, raking in $3.6 billion for the state in 2012. The Texas Racing Commission reported that in 2011,…

Capitol Hill conservatives are bracing for a fight they do not want to fight: An online gambling ban, being pushed by Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson. The fight begins as soon as companion bills are filed in each chamber before the end of the week by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R.-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R.-Utah). The bills were written by the staff of the Coalition to Stop Online Gambling, the advocacy group funded by Adelson, who has pledged to “spend whatever it takes” to see the legislation passed. What gives this fight the “#awkward” is the huge give and…