Online Gambling News

When we see expos, conferences, and summits scheduled for specific industry sectors, we have to assume that there is a great demand for knowledge regarding that industry sector. Mobile gambling is growing exponentially in popularity; keeping in tune with mobile social media, as well as more advanced technology. Taking an iPhone or android phone out of your pocket and making a punt, now sees industry leaders willing to share their experience and knowledge in this field. Recognition awards will also be given away at the end of the day.

The first "Mobile Gaming and Gambling Summit" is going to be held on the 11th September in London – a brand new event from Dot Media. This company is part of Mobile Marketing Magazine, and online publication that has also been available in print, and on iPad since 2010. It is designed to address engagement within this growing industry, which means we as consumers will benefit too.

In the UK in particular, we consumers are a sophisticated audience – in other words – we know what to expect, know what we are entitled to, and expect superior products as well as great value for money. We love gambling online, and we love making a wager by mobile, and are taking part in this form of social gaming entertainment every single day.

The social gaming revolution has seen every online gambling product worth their salt, developing social gambling apps, and platforms for the mobile gaming fan. All the biggest brands have had these applications available for quite some time, and are adding new games, new ways of playing, and upgrades constantly.

William Hill which is one of the biggest betting brands in the UK, also has an online presence and coincidently enough recently launched a Mobile Sports App for Nevada (USA) Residents. This is a newly opened up market, and the app offers a range of new features to attract more punters into this game. The app can only be used intrastate, which means only in the State of Nevada. But this could be perhaps a very small foot in the door of what potentially could be a massive marketplace, should other States follow suit, or Federal Legislation be change to legalise online gambling games.

It is interesting to note that punters who wish to use this real money gambling applications, need to register in person. This is obviously a brilliant idea to counteract any underage shenanigans, and to facilitate the process, there are seventy-five William Hill full service locations in this US state. Will Hill amongst other providers are seriously excited about expanding into this fast growing sector (mobile), they believe theirs is the best product, so, if you want to take a flutter on the Horses at Saratoga, and you live in the State of Nevada – check them out. All UK and European players can get as much mobile gambling as they like, from a whole slew of great online brands.

We aren’t in the least little bit surprised to find out that the states of Nevada and New Jersey are considering jumping into bed together to offer online poker to US fans of this game. A joint online gambling market would mean greater liquidity for both operators and players if a bi-state gambling biz was the name of the game. When we talk about greeter liquidity, we mean much larger player pools, and therefore much more prize money to be won.

This idea is once again the brain-child of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, who has been trying his damndest for years to get online gambling –re-legalised in the USA. Reid is a firm believer that people should be allowed to do whatever they desire, in the privacy and comfort of their own homes. We agree, as long as it is consensual and no innocent parties get hurt. The government could argue that online gambling can be addictive, but so are prescription drugs, cigarettes and alcohol which are all freely on sale, in the USA.

A bottle store owner doesn’t say to a customer – I think you have a drinking problem, and I will no longer sell you booze. By the very same token, ADULTS are the potential market for any online gambling activities, and they have the right to make their own decisions, as well as mistakes. Gambling is not the problem, people are the problem, and people therefore have to take responsibility for their own actions.

That having been said, State casino regulators and gambling business execs have been discussing the possibility of a merge in the form of a “New Jersey/Nevada internet gambling compact”. The reasons for this are quite clear, as we explained in the first paragraph, it is very possible that one State – on its own – would not make for sustainable business opportunities. Say nothing of poor prize pools for players, which is plainly an unattractive prospect.

Supporters off this merge are envisaging that it should come to fruition by sometime in 2014. However, the Nevada Legislature does not convene again until February 2015. But that is not the end of the story, committee chairs who handle legislation would have to be included in this process, and to date have no idea of what is being cooked up by Reid.

But Reid believes that legislatures for both States may not be required. He is of the opinion that Federal legislation can achieve the compact which will allow for this marriage made in heaven (?) to take place before 2015. He has been entertaining the idea of the compact for a while now, after having worked extremely hard to get online gambling and not only poker, made legal in the United States.

Ever since Gibraltar became a tax have for online gambling businesses offering services to a UK facing audience, the economy has grown. They are a "White-Listed" territory which means that websites with the brand of the Gibraltar Commission of Gambling as their license holder, may offer services to the UK. Gibraltar is a British territory based at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula, where there is a long-standing political dispute about who owns it between Britain and Spain.

Now with a new gambling tax planned for British facing online casinos and other gambling brands, this territorial dispute has become an online gambling dispute, and it is a Briton vs. Briton difference of opinion. In Gibraltar officials and executives in this thriving industry are crying foul over the UK. Prime Minister David Cameron has a plan to impose a 15 % tax on British residents who place bets any of the dozens of web sites hosted and licensed in Gibraltar.

This small outpost of the once British Empire sees the proposed tax as a red flag area. Gibraltar has autonomy over trade and industry issues, as well as the ability to set and collect tax. In fact when Betfair moved to Gibraltar in 2011, they declared that they would save between £20 and £30 million annually on taxes, just by making the move.

The current Gambling Commissioner of Gibraltar – Phill Brear – says that the taxe envisaged to be imposed was "clearly against the common-sense logic of electronic commerce." Something like 60% of all British online wagers were made through websites hosted and remotely licensed in Gibraltar.

There is talk from the UK of "creating a level playing field", but e-commerce by its very nature is not the same type of trade as high-street shops. The 15% would be levied on websites that serve British Clients in the form of a secondary license and in comparison to the 1% levied by Gibraltar authorities, there a massive difference in mark-up to meet.

David Cameron wants the new tax written into law to be levied by December 2014, which would make it compulsory for Gibraltar- centred companies to hold a British license in order to serve British customers.

This effectively means that the same rules that govern British High Street Betting Shops, Casinos and so on, would govern the online sector of this industry in Gibraltar. This basically takes away any autonomy that Gibraltar has over their tax affairs. What we are wondering is – will the European Commission have anything to say over this, according with principles of fair trade.

Microgaming is expanding its multi-player portfolio with the addition of two new tournament slots, Leagues of Fortune and Karate Pig.

Leagues of Fortune is a five reel, 1024 ways to win video slot which sends players on a deep sea exploration. The game contains a free spins bonus feature which can award a player with up to 35 free spins and a 5x multiplier.

Martial arts themed video slot Karate Pig is a five reel, 40 payline game which offers stacked wild substitutes and free spins. Providing substantial winning opportunities, the slot also includes a scatter bonus feature which unlocks a three-level karate bonus game.

Karate Pig Slot

Leagues of Fortune Slot

With these new slots, Microgaming’s portfolio of tournament games now totals 17. These tournament games are utilised for a variety of tournament types across the Microgaming network, providing operators with plenty of exciting events to market to their players. New addition, Karate Pig, will be utilised for the networks midweek, 3-day, Survivor tournament which is a multiple round knock-out competition. This tournament commences weekly from Wednesday 24th July and has a $2,000 prize pool which is shared equally among the top 10 players.

David Reynolds, Spokesperson for Microgaming’s multi-player games, comments: "In recognition of the growing popularity of community-based gaming, we are expanding our multi-player platform to ensure we deliver the most diverse multi-player experience to our operators’ players. Tournament enthusiasts can look forward to additional new games in the coming months."

The price tag is a massive €38.3 million, and the acquisition is the online poker affiliate business known as PokerStrategy – this business specialises in poker coaching, and teaching strategy. The purchaser is Playtech, and it looks as though they are rather keen to generate new revenue streams. Online poker has not been performing as well as it did in the past, so, it makes sense for a company as large as Playtech to look at new ways to strengthen its position in this market place.

Playtech is an Israeli-owned software company that is massively prominent in the UK online gambling space. A number of the very large brand name gambling ops in Britain, partner with this turnkey software developer for their online operations too. The announcement of this acquisition was recently made by Playtech, where they made it clear that the company is optimistic about diversifying their business profile. The aim of the game appears to be to open up an independent poker school – but not just any online poker school – the largest independent one in the world.
They are looking into including community licensees, as well as "cementing existing relationships". It is their belief that incremental opportunities will be created for both PTTS marketing and software development. In other words they believe the new acquisition to be a sound move to enhance their earnings.

PokerStrategy.com, together with affiliates, own assets worth something like €18.5 million, while profits before taxes are somewhere around the €19.5 million mark in 2012. As we said earlier online poker earnings have been dropping, but not only for Playtech partners, for many other internet poker firms. So, this indeed could just be the right thing to do to create more revenue generating synergies.

Playtech has also announced that they are of the opinion that no re-branding exercised needs to take place. So, PokerStrategy.com will remain as it is, as well as preserve its independence in the online market place. Interestingly enough their management team will also remain the same. Having PokerStrategy on-board will allow for more breaks for Playtech to rethink, and adjust their poker business.

PokerStrategy is expected to assist in upgrading the Playtech poker software, and we believe this is not before time. While Playtech continues to work with their existing partners, they will be able to add new poker rooms to choose from – this is relevant to the iPoker Network which is one of the largest networks of its kind in the world.