ONLINE CASINO & GAMBLING NEWS

Dealer’s Choice: European Poker Tour popular in Russia

THE European Poker Tour (EPT) has been in Sochi, Russia, where the prize pool was almost double the $2.6 million guarantee.

Finishing on March 29, the event had 1,342 unique players from 61 different countries and generated a total of 5,297 entries across 17 tournaments.

Four $30,000 Platinum Passes were given out to successful players, with that including a $25,000 buy-in to the Pokerstars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship, due to start in January 2019.

EPT is due to arrive Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Prague later this year, having already stopped in The Bahamas and Sochi.

Dessaix-Porter too strong in APL Million

SAM Dessaix-Porter has beaten out over 1000 players to win the APL Million and take home close to AUD $250,000 last Thursday.

Over eight days at the Star Casino in Sydney, the APL Million was worth over $1,301,250 in cash and prizes, including the top 108 players taking home $2250 each.

The tournament featured World Series Of Poker stars Jackie Glazier, Heidi May and Federico Butteroni, plus online star Jesse McKenzie.

On the penultimate day the field was whittled down to 27 players, but more soon began to fall as the tournament worked down to a classic final table.

In over nine hours play and over 300 hands, the final table eventually belonged to the talented New South Welshman, who knocked off West Aussie Ben Veale to win the second running of the APL Million.

Mr Green Denmark expansion on track

GAMBLING company Mr Green has enjoyed huge success in its push into Denmark, with its revenue growing by over a quarter in 2017.

Revenue were almost €120 million for the which was almost a 30% growth on the previous year.

The expansion into the Nordic region was the biggest growth area for the company, but they were also buoyed by the success of a new with some innovative tools, including data and a cutting edge live tennis betting product.

The company purchased the Danish company Dansk Underholdning as the major push into Denmark and has seen strong growth in the region.

Already this year, Mr Green has finalised the purchase of Evoke Gaming, with CEO Per Norman confident it would result in an even higher profit this year.

“Even after the acquisition of Evoke Gaming, Mr Green has a a continuously favourable financial position,” he said.

“In the spring of 2017, we conducted a directed new share issue of SEK195m before issue expenses. We have an explicitly conservative approach regarding the balance sheet and want to have the scope to be able to manage unexpected situations.”

Pennsylvania casinos show growth

An 11.24 per cent increase in gross gaming revenue for table games at Pennsylvania casinos for February, in comparison to February of last year, has bean counters smiling.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s latest figures also show that the total tax revenue collected from tables games in February was $11,863,321 with, on average, over 1250 tables active daily.

The increased revenue from table games, was tempered somewhat by a 1.67 per cent decrease in slots revenue for February, resulting in just a 1.64 per cent total revenue increase.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is in charge of the casino industry in the USA state, plus any new amendments to laws.

The casino industry in Pennsylvania has 10 stand-alone and racetrack casinos in operation, plus several smaller resort casinos.

Seventeen thousand people are employed in the state by these venues and they generate over $1 billion in tax revenue.

Duterte enforces IP blocking in Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte, the President of Philippines wants some alterations to gambling in his nation.

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) maintained that all holders of Philippine offshore gaming licenses (POGO) conceal their Internet Protocol(IP) from all those punters under the jurisdiction of the Philippines.

The offshore gaming operations had to be in compliance by the March 15.

GLI is a privately owned company that is an accredited testing facility, that deals with IP blocking certificates to sites with Philippines offshore gaming licenses, allowing them to block people in their home country.

President Duterte has a strict stance of gambling and enforces strict rules on gambling firms in the Philippines, which largely stop them from offering their services inside the country.

PAGCOR is one of the biggest revenue raisers in the Philippines with many companies targeting hard-to-reach markets like the USA and China holding a license here, with some of these markets among the most lucrative in the world.

But it has not stopped Duterte’s strong stance on gambling with PAGCOR shutting down several eGames cafes in recent times.