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EDITOR’S LETTERcontentsInfinityGaming

Interview with Per Eriksson ................................06-10President & CEO of NetEnt

Online Poker Operator Quits Nevada .............12-13Nevada online revenues dwindle and operator leaves

Caesars prepares for January bakruptcy .......14-15Reports in US say casino giant readies for Chapter 11

“Woods Talk” .............................................................16-19JJ Woods speaks to Sajan Nair

Liz Karter Book .........................................................22-25The concluding part of Liz Kater’s superb new book

The Year of the Sportsbook ................................26-29Christina Thakor-Rankin latest excelletn article

Communication & Customer Service .............30-31Alex W Pariente latest blog article

New boos named at BetVictor ..........................34-35All change at the Gibraltar based online company

Marty Baird latest excellent article ..................38-40 Customer Service or money down the toilet

Japan Casinos delayed..........................................42-43 Government set aside casino bill

Pansy Ho.....................................................................46-47On the effect of investigation on Macau revenues

GTECH green light for IGT ...................................48-49Lottery giant to complete purchase of IGT

TCSJohnHuxley boss leaves company ...........50-51Cath Burns leaves casino equipment manufacturer

Infinity Gaming .......................................................How and where can you read the magazine?

WOODS TALK14

PER ERIKSSON

TERMS & CONDITIONS

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Welcome to the Novem-ber edition of the Infinity Gaming Magazine.

I do not know about you but can you believe the year has flown by and we are hurtling towards December and right into the festive season very soon. However do not worry we have the latest edition of the Infinity Gaming Magazine to keep you busy in these dark nights ahead.In a couple of week have the Gam-ing App Awards in London on the 8th December, it is going to be a great day and want to wish all the finalists the very best of luck. Re-sponse to the App Awards has been amazing and it looks like the event will be a permanent fixture on the gaming calendar.We have a superb edition for you with the amazing Per Eriksson as our lead interview this month. You will have to read the interview but Per’s hero is no surprise at all.Along with Per we have our superb line-up of writers this month from Tina and her look ahead to 2015 and Sports betting to Alex and tips on keeping customers. We are

very lucky to have such a wonder-ful group of writers covering all aspects of both land based and online gaming.Enjoy the magazine and next month we will be announcing the winners of the App Awards and finalists of the 8th International Gaming Awards, a busy month indeed! Must read - final part of exclusive read from new problem gambling book by Liz Karter and great blog from Alex W ParienteOur wonderful contributing writers as always have done some great work.We would like to thank industry experts Martin R. Baird, JJ Woods and Christina Thakor-Rankin for contributing their opinion to Infin-ity Gaming Magazine edition.

Enjoy!

Lana x

InfinityGamingEDITORS NOTES

EDITOR’S LETTER

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Christina Thakor-RankinMartin R. BairdAlex W ParienteAndrew TottenhamJJ Woods Professor Nelson Rose CONTACT USClever Duck MediaNewmarket 20 Centrix@KeysKeys Park RoadStaffordshireWS12 2HA UKTel: +44(0)1543 478 889 claire@cleverduckmedia.com PRODUCTIONClever Duck MediaNewmarket 20 Centrix@KeysKeys Park RoadStaffordshireWS12 2HA UK

PUBLISHINGInfinity Gaming Magazineis operated by© Clever Duck Media Ltd ® Company Reg. No. 687 1018(Registered in England)

ADVERTISING:Sponsorship OpportunitiesColin@cleverduckmedia.com

Business PartnershipsSvetlana@gaming-awards.com

JOIN US

byLana Thompson - Chief Editor

Opinion Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed in all external articles are those of the authors and

do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Infinity Gaming Maga-

zine Any content provided by our feature writers or authors are of their opinion, and

are not intended to malign any religion, ethic group, club, organization, company,

individual or anyone or anything.

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LONDON - 8TH DECEMBER 2014JUMEIRAH CARLTON HOTEL - LONDON

GAMING APPAWARDS FINALS

The International

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Ultimate Gaming has an-nounced it is pulling its online poker site from Ne-

vada immediately, this follows the same decision two months ago in New Jersey for the company, which now means Ultimate Poker is now longer available anywhere for poker players. In a news release the company cited sluggish revenues and the limited player pools in both Nevada and New Jersey along with the fact that no state compacts have been ar-ranged yet. “As has been the case in other

jurisdictions, online poker revenues in Nevada have fallen far short of original projections,” Ultimate Gam-ing Chairman Tom Breitling said in the release. “Moreover, the state-by-state approach to online gaming has created an extremely cost-pro-hibitive and challenging operating environment. These factors have combined to make the path to prof-itability very difficult and uncertain. Consequently, we have decided to cease operations.” Following the announcement the Nevada poker site will close im-mediately after following regulatory requirements.

Breitling said the company is “work-ing closely” with state gambling regulators to ensure a “smooth tran-sition” for customers. All customers with deposits and balances will be refunded. Now there is only two online poker sites left in Nevada, WSOP and South Point’s Real Gaming. Nevada online poker revenues have been hugely disappointing for operators with September, bringing in just $693,000 for the state — its worst month on record.

T he Gaming App Awards is pleased to announce that Saint

Paul, MN based Pilot Games has been selected as one of 7 finalists for Innova-tive App of the Year. Pilot Games is a developer of charity gambling apps that help support local chari-ties across Minnesota. To learn more about Pilot Games and their Charity Gaming Partners, go to pilotgames.com. Finalists were selected from a large group of nominees by a distin-guished panel of judges comprised of gaming software founders and executive officers. “Competition for this award was strong” says Colin Thompson, Co-Founder, Gaming App Awards. “We are pleased to recognize Pilot Games as a Finalist in this category of industry innova-

tors and leaders”. “We’re really excited to be rec-ognized by this honor” says Jon Weaver, Pilot Games Founder. “The Pilot team is proud to represent our local charity partners in London next month”. The Gaming App Awards is man-aged by Clever Duck Media (CDM) along with the International Gam-ing Awards, Women in Gaming Awards and publishers of the Infin-ity Gaming Magazine reaching over

22,000 industry executives each month. Clever Duck Media support international charities with our lead charity Care International whom at present are helping to fight Ebola in West Africa. Over the years CDM has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in support of charity. The 2014 Gaming App Awards cer-emony will take place on December 8, 2014. The awards ceremony will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the stunning five star Jumeirah Carl-ton Tower Hotel in London.

Pilot Games reaches App Awards

Online poker operator quits Nevada

WORLD NEWS

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C aesars Entertainment Work-ers in Las Vegas are prepar-ing themselves for possible

job losses and hourly working reductions as the struggling casino giant prepares to enter Bankruptcy in early January according to re-ports in Bloomberg. The 68,000 workers at Caesars in Las Vegas’s operations at Caesars Palace, Paris, the Flamingo and LINQ believe they will feel the brunt of cost cutting as the company looks at ways to reduce cost as part of the business enters chapter 11. Problems started for Caesars when in 2008 the Apollo Global Manage-ment & TPG Capital took the casino operator private and at the same

time loading it with $30.7 billion in debt from the buy-out. Caesars since 2009 has never returned a profit in any year and is still strug-gling with over $23 billion in debt. Caesars stated in an Aug. 11 filing that it did not expect to have suf-ficient cash flow from operations to be able to repay its indebtedness and would have to restructure its debt, Bloomberg reported. “This latest and important step further reflects our commitment to working constructively with credi-tors to de-leverage Caesars Enter-tainment Operating Co. and create a path toward a sustainable capital structure for Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. that is in the best

interest of all stakeholders,” Caesars Chief Executive Officer Gary Love-man said in a statement. The company received its second default notice this month from its debt holders and is currently work-ing behind the scenes to ensure payment to its major investors before entering chapter 11 says Bloomberg. Caesars Entertainment operates 39 properties in the United States and 13 overseas, generating revenues of $8.56 billion in 2013, however the company failed in securing a gaming license in Macau where all of the companies competitors now operate, losing the gambling opera-tor billions each year in revenues.

EUROPEAN GAMING NEWS

Caesars readies for January bankruptcy

Caesars Palace (Ballagio)

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C asinos are constantly changing the facilities they offer to increase their attraction as not only a place for gambling but more like a full enter-

tainment facility. Social acceptance of casinos has been increased in recent years. Growing international tourism is another significant factor which Casinos worldwide have benefited from to generate more revenues. All these factors lead to the establishment of new casinos across the globe and hence also increase the number of deployments of software solutions and systems. Basic requirements of a casino are to manage its large databases, storing data in those databases, analysis of that data on requirement, and a safe and secure environ-ment in which it is stored. Casino revenue generating abilities depend more on customer retention as well as new customer acquisition. That is why casinos require knowing all the information about their visitors and these management systems, and analytical tools are es-

sential to compete in today’s market. Today IT solutions and systems have become an integral part of all the industries. Casinos are not an exemp-tion. Number of deployments of management systems, databases, analytical tools, and security and surveillance solution and systems are directly proportionate with number of casinos. As the number of casinos rises, num-bers of deployments will also increase. Usual management systems will start at the Front door (Reception) and manage the following areas: Player Club , Tables, Slots, Cage/Vault, Staff Administration ,Report-ing, Up to the minute revenue results , in fact every aspect of the Casino Business. Some reports are suggesting that this sector of the Busi-ness is worth in the region of 4 to 5 billion dollars over the next 5 years.

WOODS TALK

Exclusive Interview with Sajan Nair Co-Founder and Executive Director of Dusane Infotech

In this new section entitled “Woods Talk” our contributing writer and now intrepid reporter JJ Woods will be speaking to some of the leading figures in the gaming industry. In his second interview JJ speaks with Sajan Nair, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Dusane Infotech.

“Woods Talk”

ABOUT JJ WoodsJJ Woods Director of Operations founded and set up Atlantic Casino Consultants to deal specifically with the Irish Market and the impending Casino Legislation. He was born in Ireland but left in the Seventies to live in London and for a career in Banking that lasted nearly four years after which he joined the Casino Industry in London where he trained and has over the last 30 years been involved in the setting up, design, management, and open-ing of Casinos around the world. JJ is also an Author on Gaming and has written for several magazines, spoken at gaming conferences and has appeared on TV and Radio discussing Gaming issues and can be contacted through his website... www.atlanticcasinoconsultants.com

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Q: Can you tell us about Dusane Infotech and the services it offers to the Casino Industry? SN: Dusane is a technology consult-ing and development company with focus on providing solutions and products in the gaming, media and transaction solution domains. Dusane Infotech was formed in the Year 2006 and is part of the Valu-able Group of companies, a major media distribution company. We are head quartered in Mumbai, India with a staff strength of about 95 fulltime employees, compris-ing of mainly technology experts, developers, Testers, Team Leads and Support Staff.

Dusane Infotech has focused on building cutting edge technol-ogy solutions for gaming industry. We have now implementations in 17 countries across 4 continents in Online Lottery, Spots Betting, Virtual Racing, Keno and Progres-sive Jackpot games for Casinos. We recently launched our Centró Casino Management System for developing markets in Africa and South East Asia.

Apart from gaming, we offer solutions of Media Distribution, Hospitality Solutions, Video Rental Systems and Digital Signage Solu-tions all of which have certain implementation in Casinos and Casino Resorts. Q: How competitive is the mar-ket? SN: From the perspective of being a relatively small and recent player, not based out of any of the major gaming markets like USA, Europe, Australia, it certainly is a challenge to be visible and to be accepted as a serious competition to the larger

players offering Casino Manage-ment solutions. Entities which couple CMS as an added offering to their Slot machines/Table offerings have an upper hand, especially considering that they have been around for a while and also rely on repeat business too.

While it is thus quite competitive, our Centró CMS offering is more service oriented which makes us very attractive. Flexible and aggres-sive commercial models combined with an extensive post-implementa-

tion support mechanism and provi-sion of “live & breathe” resources onsite for an extended period to help the Casino derive quick and complete benefit from our CMS is the advantage we offer to an discerning Casino client wanting to procure a new system or replace an existing one. Our CMS solution was built with active inputs from Casino Operations Managers and Consul-tants. Our engineers spent close to 3 months working on Casino floor to understand the operations and come up with the right solution for the needs.

Our service oriented approach allows our customer to use our technical expertise to remould and customize the standard CMS to

adopt to their style of working. We offer 90 days free customization and also give cloud hosted CMS which makes our solution quite compel-ling.

We are a technology solutions company and not a casino hardware supplier. So this brings a new per-spective to the way we implement any system in a casino.

Q: It is widely known that India has the expertise and the certain-ly the manpower when it comes to software solutions, what are the direct advantages for Du-sane Infotech as your company is based there? SN: : As the home to some of the best technology experts the world can produce, being an Indian entity is certainly an advantage. The Cen-tro CMS we have has been designed and developed by an Indian team as a Project with functional details and processes being provided by an international client. The ability of the team to quickly grasp the requirement and put forth a scal-able and robust CMS solution for use across markets has been quite appreciated.

Access to very capable and expe-rienced technology resources at a reasonable cost is certainly a plus for us. India has been the hub for provision of gaming content, tech-nology support and product devel-opment for a lot of global players and relevant resources, well versed in latest technologies and platforms are available quite easily.

Our own core team has been work-ing together for about 15 years in different avatars, even before the formal creation of Dusane Info-tech. The two Co-Founders of the

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Company are themselves technol-ogy experts in gaming.

Q: Considering Slot management is a major part of any Casino Management system , How com-patible is the system with all the different brand names ? bearing in mind we are now seeing Slot manufacturers developing their own systems. SN: The Centro CMS is normally compatible with Slot machines of all OEMs with the precondition that the Machines need to be compli-ant with SAS 5.0 or higher protocol. Centro CMS is quite independent of the Manufacturer of the Slots. If the Slots are not SAS 5.0 complaint, we could still study the protocol they are running and build a custom data exchange mechanism. This may be possible on a case-to-case basis.

We also see slot communication moving into G2S protocol. This obviously will take some time for adoption of this new protocol, but once it reaches a critical mass, we will be ready with our solution to

integrate this protocol.

Typically, the systems being de-veloped by the Slot manufacturers themselves are designed keep-ing their own equipment in mind and may not be fully compatible with competitive brands. It is usu-ally very prudent to prescribe to a neutral vendor like Dusane Infotech for a CMS solution, especially if the Casino in question has Slots from different manufacturers.

Q: Your company supplies man-agement systems Worldwide , where do you see new emerging markets ? SN: With deployments across four continents, our focus based on trends and potential seen is with West and Southern Africa, East Africa and in few South East Asian Countries.

Latin America could be the next frontier for us as an Indian origin Company offering gaming and media solutions. We could see some new regulatory frameworks fall-ing in place in South Asia i.e. India, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the next

couple of years. This could open up new opportunities for us in these countries Q: What Gaming shows, exhibi-tions do you feel are the most important to demonstrate your product? SN: For the Centro CMS and even for our Sports betting offerings, we see a lot of value in being present and demonstrating our products at ICE (London) and G2E (Macau).

We are now also studying the potential of regional Events too in Asia and Africa, so as to increase our visibility and reach out to more potential clients at Events of repute. Q: The Anti Money Laundering directives are now enforced in several Countries, Does this leg-islation increase interest in your product from operators who have to comply with a proper entry system and the storing of data? SN: Support of AML initiatives and directives is an optional functional

WOODS TALK

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-ity in our system Player Club system. The Casino’s in devel-oped economies as well as newly regulated markets are seeking solutions which does Player Identification and Moni-toring. The Player Club report-ing allows the Casino to create AML regulatory reports. The reports are customizable and is offered as part of our free cus-tom development offerings. Q: Regarding acquiring a Casino management system, What are typical contracts for these systems after the system is designed to suit the needs of the operator and installed ? SN: CMS Vendors have been moving away from a fixed cost upfront license fee model, to a monthly model based on number of tables/slots. With our cloud based offering, we too are in a position to provide a monthly fee model. Q: In the past before Loyalty points , bonus systems etc were introduced Casinos relied wholly on their staff to enhance the customer experience, Do you think customer relations may have dropped because of the

staff or company belief that the Loyalty /Bonus system now covers that area hence they do not have to engage with the customer as much ? SN: In the emerging markets, most Casinos’ income is derived from the high rollers and regular customer base, who might be forming only 10 to 20% of the customer base. An automated Loyalty Bonus system may attract the balance 80% to spend more so as to reach a higher

tier/grade and thus get better perks and facilities.

However, Casinos have to maintain focus on Junkets and Agents who bring in the High rollers and Group of high spending players. A Loyalty Bonus system cannot substitute for the required emotional and service oriented human connect with such players and groups.

We feel that an effective Junket/Commissioning Management Mod-ule in the CMS system is the need of the hour and something we are therefore working towards develop-ing. (This interview was conducted on the 15th of November 2014 exclu-sively for Infinity Gaming Magazine by : JJ Woods / Casino Gaming Consultant.)

Exclusive interview with Sajan Nair - in “Woods Talk”

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A ndreas Meinrad has been named as the new CEO of Gibraltar based online betting firm Bet-Victor, the announcement was made official to

all employees this week, Meinrad was formally the Chief Commercial Officer for bwin.party. The operator said Meinrad will assume the role on the 1st February 2015, previously Meinrad has held senior management positions at bwin.party sports betting operator Bwin, which he joined in 2008. Commenting on his appointment, Meinrad said he was extremely excited to be joining BetVictor. “It is a great brand with a very good reputation among its users and with a fantastic opportunity for growth in the future given the investment and strategic vision of the owner,” he explained. “I am sure that my experience in the sector as well as outside of the industry, coupled with my passion for sports and betting, will help us fulfil the untapped potential of the business.” It marks the end of an era at BetVictor with both Michael Carlton the CEO who worked for the company for 10 years leaving in May along with Chairman & Founder Victor Chandler following a company restructure by Michael Tabor who has taken full ownership of the com-pany now. “Since acquiring BetVictor in May, we have been looking for a world class executive to lead the business,” Tabor said. “Andreas is an outstanding operator with a proven track record of success who will bring a wealth of global brand experience to BetVictor.”

US GAMING NEWS

Andreas Meinrad appointed CEO of BetVictor William Hill ready to offer

sports betting in NJ

Bookmakers in Britain are set to announce new reforms in order to tackle the furor over Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) today. The new measures that are being self-imposed hope to stave off actual government action against FOBTs that many UK media and activists are calling the “crack cocaine” of gambling. So the £2.3 billion annual revenue industry of all bookmaking retail outlets will announce that they will enforce a break for all customers playing for more than 30 minutes or a cash total spend of £250, as a cooling off period before letting them play again. The changes, which bookmakers promise to intro-duce these new measures by 30th January 2015, which will mean a break of anyone playing over the set limits by 30 seconds before they can place another bet on the FOBT. The protections are being rolled out in response to a public and political outcry over fixed-odds gaming terminals (FoBTs) this year. The machines have come under heavy fire from the Labour party in particular, prompting concerns in the betting industry that it could become a political football in the run up to the General Election.

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The Oscars of the Global Gambling Industry

Newmarket Suite 20, Centrix@Keys, Keys Park Road, Staffs, WS12 2HA, UK

Tel 01543 478 889 Email media@cleverduckmedia.com Website www.gaming-awards.com

The International Gaming Awards recognises and celebrates the very best from the land based & online gambling industry from all parts of the globe. Join us for the 8th annual awards ceremony

• Prestigous Industry Awards

• Global Creremony for the entire

industry

• Supporting International Charities

Visit the IGA website for more details - www.gaming-awards.com

2nd February

Tickets on

BOOK YOUR PLACE

8th IGAGaming Awards

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GAMING NEWS

Online gambling is just a few weeks away for Ontarians after the Ontario Lottery

and Gaming Corp. (OLG) sent out invitations to 53,000 of its most loyal customers to take a look at what is coming in the next couple of weeks when the website is actu-ally launched. OLG spokesman Tony Bitoni said players will be able to try their hand at a variety of video slot games, blackjack, baccarat and roulette. Along with traditional casino games customers will also be allowed to pruchase lottery tickets through the site. However not all games will be live straight away with poker only being allowed for single players only, but the OLG that will change to player tournaments and cash games in the near future. There will also be coming soon after launch sports games and bingo said Bitoni

“(You) can’t play with other people around the country,” Bitoni said. “The peer-to-peer poker will come online in the next phase.” Eligible members of the OLG’s Win-ner’s Circle Reward program will be invited to preview and play the site as part of a phased-in approach, Bitoni said. “You can’t play on it right now but that’s coming in the coming weeks,” Bitoni said. Players will have to register to verify their identity and age, and pay-ments will be made through credit cards. Online gamblers can set limits on their gaming, including how much they’re prepared to lose with a sev-en day “cooling off” period before that amount can be increased. Problem gamblers will be given the

option to exclude themselves from playing the online games. “Responsible gambling is for us a priority, and it is definitely a priority on PlayOLG,” Bitoni said. “You can tell us how long you want to play.” Estimates by the OLG say that half a million Ontarians play illegal online casino games spending between $400 million to $500 million a year “And what we’re offering is a con-trolled, trust-worthy alternative to these grey market sites,” he said. “When we did our market research, trust was one of the big things that people told us about, that they re-ally wanted in these sites.” It has been a long wait for Ontarians to play online gambling as the OLG originally said that they would have online gambling by 2012 but delays and technical issues pushed that date back.

OLG launch online gambling preview to players

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Japan is now almost certain NOT to have casinos before the 2020 Olympic Games, says

sources close to the bill in pushing it through parliament and there are now questions if it ever will be passed into law to permit casino resorts in Japan. According to reports in Japan news-papers quoting sources close to the government who are supporting ca-sino resorts, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is struggling to hold on to any majority support for the casino bill following months of political scan-dals and the coalition government fracturing to the point where any consensus is unlikely to happen. The source is quoted as saying that the casino bill will now be set aside to at the earliest beginning of 2015

and maybe not even then. The cur-rent parliamentary session ends on the 30th November and the source says; “That if they can’t pass it now, I doubt whether they’ll ever be able to pass it.” The news will be a major blow to international casino operators that saw Japan as possibly the second largest gambling hub after Macau, but with the lack of support for the bill amongst parliamentarians now, any casino bill in the future is unlikely to happen as the major

driving force was the 2020 Olympic Games.

Feature Writer - Andrew Tottenham

GAMING NEWS

Japan casino bill now set aside

Shinzo Abe

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The warning signs were there and so they proved correct as Macau the world’s largest

gambling hub recorded its worst ever monthly revenue performance on record. Analysts were predicting a fall of 20% to 23% for the month of October and sadly revenues fell on the higher side of that forecast.

Macau recorded a drop of 23.2% from the same period in 2013 with revenues of $3.5 billion. The decline was the biggest since the city started recording the data in 2005. October also represents the fifth consecutive month of revenue decline for the casino industry there. Total revenues fell 11.7% in Septem-

ber, 6.1% in August, 3.6% in July and 3.7% in June. Much of the problems stem from the Chinese government’s crack-down on corruption on mainland China, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and no new casino developments being built in Macau until 2015 at the earliest.

Macau records worst ever monthly decline

GAMING NEWS

Swansea council to block new casinos

Swansea councillors are considering the option of banning any new casinos to

be developed in the city because of the effects on low income families. The city has four casino licenses available and only one currently in

use, it also has been granted back in 2008 a medium style casino license, the same as Milton Keynes and Stratford in London. However council leaders want to put a block on that license

being issued which would allow for up to 80 slot machines with large jackpots along with increased amount of gaming tables. The largest casino in Wales which

was opened by Aspers back in 2007 in Swansea costing £13 million to build closed its doors in 2012 because of the lack of business. So any move by the council leaders to block new casinos from opening up for the next three years is unlikely to impact on casino operators, indeed no application for the me-dium style casino license has ever been made and there has been no applications made for a smaller license for several years.

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Macau’s richest woman and Co-Chairperson of MGM Macau says that she sees

no correlation between China’s current campaign against high level corruption and Macau’s recent rev-enues drops. In an article from the Australian newspaper where Ms Ho was speak-ing at the Global Cafe business forum prior to the G20 government economy meeting the daughter of Macau gaming legend Stanley Ho said, “When we started to see a slowing down of the continuous growth, it really means we have seen the possibility now of a more healthy and steady kind of business environment.” She continued by saying, “We don’t want to see a very spiky kind of cycle. I think that helps us to pre-vent a bubble which we might have been leading to over the past year or two.”

Pansy Ho “No link between Macau revenues

& corruption investigation

GAMING NEWS

Playtech founder buys up Camden Market

Tedi Sagi the founder of Play-tech has spent £500 million to secure the single owner-

ship of Camden Market according

to the Sunday Times. Last month Sagi bought Camden Lock from in-vestment company Brockton Capi-tal and spent £400m to purchase

Camden Stables earlier this year. Camden Market attracts some 100,000 visitors each weekend, the Times says that the billionaire entrepreneur is preparing for the flotation of Camden Market on the stock exchange now that he is the single owner of the venue. The article is also mentioning that industry gaming veteran Charles Butler is being appointed to lead the development and help steer into a listed company.

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Caesars interactive have been fined $10,000 for emailing customers who had self-ex-

cluded themselves in an attempt to lure them back to online gambling. The state Division of Gaming Enforcement fined Caesars Interac-tive Entertainment for emailing promotional material to more than 250 people who had already placed

themselves on the self-exclusion list to avoid any further involvement in online gambling. It is the first time since online gam-bling started in New Jersey back in November 2013 that an online operator has been fined for such a breach of the rules. When players decide to self-exclude

themselves from the states online gambling activities they can do so for one or five years and in that time they are not allowed to gamble online or enter a land based casino. It is also against the rules for casino operators to entice those players back. Should a gambler who is self-excluded manage to enter or play online casino they are subject to losing any winnings gained.

S hareholders at GTECH have approved the Italian lottery group’s takeover of Inter-

national Game Technology (IGT), a deal aimed at creating a global gaming company to be listed on Wall Street. The new entity will have more than $6 billion in pro-forma revenues, GTECH said in July when it an-nounced the $4.7 billion acquisition of the Las Vegas-based group. GTECH and IGT will be combined into a newly formed holding com-pany named Georgia Worldwide plc headquartered in Britain. 71.4% of shareholders attended the meeting in Rome with only

3% voting against the deal to acquire IGT, the deal can only be stopped should more than 20% of shareholders oppose the deal and currently have 15 days to do so now the vote has been held. GTECH has said it will pay 19.174 euros each for any shares it has to buy back from any shareholders who wish to exercise their withdraw of the shares because of their oppo-sition. That offer represents a higher price than currently available on the shares which stands at 18.19 euros. The deal is expected to be com-pleted by the second quarter of next year.

IGT Q3 results up revenues down

International Game Technol-ogy (IGT) announced their third quarter results beating analyst’s expectations even though revenues dipped in the quarter. The slot machine giant which is being acquired by GTECH for $6.4 billion said that profits for the quarter were $70.9 million compared to $64.5 million in the same period in 2013. However revenues were down 15% to $536.5 mil-lion in the quarter, for all fiscal 2014, IGT said its total revenue has declined 12% to $2.1 billion.

GTECH receive approval for IGT

Caesars fined for enticing self-excluded gamblers

WORLD NEWS

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TCS JOHNHUXLEY has an-nounced that Cath Burns, Group CEO will leave the or-

ganisation on 21st November 2014. Assuming the responsibilities will be Tristan Sjöberg, Executive Chairman. This provides a natural progression for TCSJOHNHUXLEY as a fam-ily owned and run business and a strong platform to move forward. Cath Burns took over the reigns two and half years ago at a difficult time and has since overhauled the busi-ness by realigning, refocusing and preparing the company for the next stage of its growth. Tristan Sjöberg comments, ”The Board and I wish to thank Cath for the excellent contribution she has made to the business. Under her leadership TCSJOHNHUXLEY has developed innovative products and services with committed prod-uct roadmaps, which protect our customers investment in us and in

turn provide strategic growth for the future. Our aim is to continue invest-ing and building on this, position-

ing the company for growth and a strong future.”

Cath Burns to leave TCSJohnHuxley

GAMING NEWS

Chinese President visit to Macau worries VIPs

The Chinese Presidents visit to Macau in December has the casino industry there

concerned that his presence will impact even more on the current decline in VIP gamblers to the World’s largest gambling hub.

President Xi Jinping’s visit is to mark the 15-year anniversary of Macau’s return to Chinese territory rule, however as China mainland and the President himself continues to crack down on corruption within government and businesses

also the numbers of VIP’s coming to Macau while the President is there will certainly be lower than ever. However Lawrence Ho the Co-CEO of Melco Crown Entertainment said

in a recent conference call to inves-tors that the President could bring a gift in the shape of allowing Chi-nese gamblers to visit the former Portuguese enclave 24 hours a day, by allowing visit visa’s to be issued at any time of day or night. Certainly for Macau and the casino industry there who have suffered huge falls in revenues over the last five months anything the Chinese President offers will be welcomed.

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I t has been announced that Gala Interactive and Coral Interac-tive will now been merged

under one name and management team. The owning company Gala Coral Group said that the combined businesses will work closely with the companies retail business in or-der to take advantage of continued multi-channel growth. Following the announcement of the changes Managing Director of the Coral Interactive division John O’Reilly has decided to step down from his role but has agreed to remain with the company in a consultancy position for the next 12 months. COO of Gala Coral Andy Hornby will now assume leadership of the merged divisions along with his remit of his responsibility of Coral Retail. Carl Leaver, group CEO of Gala Coral commented: “have seen huge progress in our online businesses

over the last few years. Now is the right time to bring together our col-lective knowledge & experience to ensure that our brands continue to develop strongly, while at the same time putting multi-channel at the heart of what we do. “John is an impressive leader who has been instrumental in reviving Coral’s fortunes online. He will be missed as a key member of our senior executive team, but I am delighted not to be los-ing him completely. The combination of talent in the restructured Interac-tive management team puts us in great shape for the next phase of our growth.” O’Reilly said of his deci-sion to step down: “I joined Gala Coral Group in 2011 to put Coral back on

the map in the online market. Since then, with the support of a fantas-tic management team, we have created a valuable & fast growing business. With Coral’s online busi-ness now established it is a good time for me to hand over the reins & return to the UK”.

EUROPEAN GAMING NEWS

Gala merge its online divisions

Andy Hornby

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INFORMATION

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Subscribe to the iGaming Post & The Infinity Gaming Magazine for FREE reaching more than 10,000 global industry readers. Advertising in the magazine and news site can help your business get seen by the decision makers that count. With the iOS and Android App our publications reach a potential 500 million readership.

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Just search for us in the App stores “infinity gaming magazine”

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