Let your mouth speak archive

Just after the iGaming Super Show in Amsterdam the next event is almost half way round the world in America’s gambling capital Las Vegas. The biggest land based casino operators and games developers will meet in the heart of the gambling industry to build partnerships to power the new era of social casino gaming. This is the only place to develop your social gambling strategy, build new revenue streams, prepare for the legalization of gambling and meet the leading names in social casino gaming.

The Social Casino Gaming Summit will be held on the 19-20 June, at the Bellagio,in Las Vegas Nevada. This event will address the current requirements to monetize the social gaming trend and profit from the potential in this new aspect for gambling. Aimed at the developers and operators alike the summit includes insight into how to create an engaging and compelling social casino game by building partnerships with the biggest casino operators, different platforms and games developers.
Attending the summit delegates will learn how to negotiate the various regulatory structures and the liberalization of the market which all has an effect on the social gambling offering. The idea of convergence and crossover development will be explored with the goal of achieving monetary gain through improvisation. Case studies and experts with advice will be on hand to lead prospective and established operators in the right direction.
Speakers from the interactive industry include Mitch Garber, CEO, Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Carey DiJulio, VP & GM, Casino, Big Fish Games, and Rich Roberts, CEO, Slingo among many other professionals. Successful case studies from the biggest social casino operators including land-based investors or traditional games developers, will be heard creating connection opportunities online. This is a great opportunity to interact with many of the social gaming industry’s top movers making possible a link with the competition and partners. The leading land-based casinos, online gambling operators, developers, legal experts, and technology vendors will all be there at the Summit.



Online Social Casino Gaming Summit Nevada June 19-20

New Jersey to Hire Online Gambling Expert to Help Strengthen Gaming Regulations

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) is in the course of finalizing its regulations for online gambling and is about to name the consultant, who will help the division vet the completed draft. The related contract, which is set to commence on April 30, 2013, is for a single service provider to provide consultancy services covering four segments, namely, the preliminary stage, the testing and implementation phases as well as the maintenance aspect.

The NJDGE deems that a consultant, with well-rounded experience in handling gaming operations in accordance with the rules and regulations imposed by jurisdictions in the European Union, can help in determining whether its completed draft for Internet gambling regulations is adequate or still requires further adjustments. This includes identifying and addressing any unrecognized loopholes, which the NJ gaming and enforcement division, aims to address before it launches the Internet gambling regulations during the testing and implementation phase.

Although the regulators behind the completed draft disclosed that the drafting process involved extensive research work, they still need to make sure that there are no lapses or possible omissions. The consultant will also help the NJDGE properly evaluate the reasonableness of the responses and reactions of the NJ casino industry, during public consultation.

Part of the consultancy services is the performance of a GAP analysis, which entails the process of making a comparison of the actual results of the rules formulated, as against the results that NJDGE regulators aim to achieve once they enforce the Internet gaming regulations. In line with this objective, the consultant will likewise give the NJDGE specific advice and guidance related to audit procedures and technologies to put in place, to determine the reliability and integrity of the gaming systems used, as well as the accuracy of data integrated into the system.



New Jersey to Hire Online Gambling Expert : ADI News

Caesars Entertainment CZR -3.42% (CZR) is expected to book a narrower loss than a year ago when it reports first quarter earnings on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 with analysts expecting a loss of $1.59 per share, up from a loss of $2.24 per share a year ago.

The consensus estimate has decreased from a loss of $1.41 over the past three months. Analysts are expecting a loss of $5.56 per share for the fiscal year. A year after being $2.27 billion, analysts expect revenue to fall 3.6% year-over-year to $2.19 billion for the quarter. For the year, revenue is projected to come in at $8.86 billion.

Revenue has decreased for the past three quarters. In fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, revenue declined 7.3% to $2.01 billion while the figure fell 2.5% in third quarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier and 2.8% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

Analysts are generally bearish on Caesars Entertainment, as three analysts rate it as a sell and one analysts rate it as a hold.

Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.

Narrative Science, through its proprietary artificial intelligence platform, transforms data into stories and insights.

Online poker players are out of the darkness.

At least in the USA. And at least on the internet.

Today, Ultimate Poker (ultimatepoker-com) became the first to provide legal online gaming in the U.S.

Tom Breitling, chairman of Ultimate Gaming said this "is a big moment" for the 50 million poker players in the USA "because its been this roller coaster ride over the past decade and we know taht people like to play online poker and know they can be in a safe and secure environment."

This is the first step to the path of multiple states possibly legalizing online gaming which could generate billions of dollars.

Bree Goldman, who played in the first hand today, expects "a slow buildup because of legislation issues," but does expect growth eventually.

"I think this will be very popular, very quickly in Nevada," she said. "It is going to take interstate pacts in order for this to expand. Until that happens it won't be a huge explosion. But this is definitely a huge foot in the door for this market. This had to happen for legislation to pass."

Currently, New Jersey and Delaware have passed legislation but have yet to play their hand. Nevada for now remains the sole state to have put their legislation into action.

The first deal was at noon ET today. Players must be at least 21 years old and be located in the state of Nevada. Players can register from other states prior to their arrival in Nevada. Games will be as small as 25-cent bet tournaments and $300 limit table. The company believes the games will be a complement to casino gambling and not a competitor. The goal is to allow players who may be intimidated in a casino or otherwise more comfortable in an online setting.

With millions of Americans who play some form of poker, the company is pledging to create the tools to protect players and regulate the gaming space.

"This is, for Nevada, a new day," Reno gaming analyst Ken Adams told the Gazette-Journal. "There's been a huge amount of speculation on what online gaming means. Estimates in New Jersey run from $20 (million) to $30 million to $2 (billion) to $3 billion. The only way to find out is when it starts. Up to now, we've been talking in theories. Now we'll get a peek at reality."

Ultimate Poker is a subsidiary of Station Casinos LLC of Las Vegas, which operates 16 locals-oriented casinos in Nevada.

Breitling said casino poker generates just 1% of all gaming revenues in Nevada and that online gambling should only aid casino gambling.

"A lot of people want to play online and offline poker," he said. "We think it will drive what we call poker tourism. People will come here to play online but might qualify for an offline tournament. We're all about making poker fun again."

Added CEO Tobin Prior: "At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when you want a game, it is a lot easier to put those people together on the internet than it is to do it in a physical environment. It is a logical way to grow the market."

According to the Associated Press, iInternet poker, has been strictly outlawed since 2011, when the Department of Justice seized domain names of offshore sites catering to U.S. customers. AP says the crackdown was dubbed "black Friday" and left poker fanatics with two options: visit a card room, or break the law and log into offshore sites. "I think the real excitement will be when we get a very populous state like a California or a New York allowing these companies to expand," ITG casino analyst Matthew Jacob told the AP. "But these changes often take longer to occur than people assume. It requires a change in law and then it takes a while from when the law passes until the sites are up and running."



Ultimate Poker to provide online gaming in USA

Ultimate Poker became the first legal online gaming service in the U.S. today - at least in Nevada.

The move is significant for companies like Zynga, which are taking steps to supplement their online game businesses with revenues from real-money online gambling. Some companies are already raking in money with "fake-money gambling" games, in which players buy virtual money to make bets, which in return pay out virtual money.

While two other states, New Jersey and Delaware, have passed similar legislation, Nevada is the first to implement it. State residents aged 21 and older can register with Ultimate Poker's website to begin playing.

Internet poker was previously deemed illegal within the US, and in 2011 the Department of Justice seized a number of offshore gambling sites geared toward American players. Las Vegas-based Station Casinos, of which Ultimate Poker is a subsidiary, considers online poker to be a "complement" and not a competitor to casino gambling.

"This is, for Nevada, a new day," says Reno gaming analyst Ken Adams. "There's been a huge amount of speculation on what online gaming means. Estimates in New Jersey run from $20 (million) to $30 million to $2 (billion) to $3 billion. The only way to find out is when it starts. Up to now, we've been talking in theories. Now we'll get a peek at reality."




Gamasutra - News - With online gambling legal in Nevada, door opens for Zynga and others

Last weekend Michael Jordan got married and celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Spike Lee and Patrick Ewing were amongst those who turned up to celebrate with the NBA Hall of Famer in Palm Beach, Fla. On Sunday Jordan’s manger Estee Portnoy said that Jordan has married the 35 year old, former model, Yvette Prieto.

50 year old Michael Jordon owns the Charlotte Bobcats a basketball team which plays in the NBA’s Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. They are currently placed fourth in their division.

There were almost 300 guests present at the wedding, the reception took place at a private golf club in Jupiter which was designed by Jack Nicklaus.

There was entertainment provided by DJ MC Lyte, singers K’Jon, Robin Thicke and the Grammy Award winning Usher as well as The Source, an 18 piece band.

Jordan and Prieto met five years ago and have been engaged since last December. Jordan already has three children from his former marriage to Juanita Vanoy, the couple were divorced in December 2006.

The card sharks out there can rejoice. Online gambling is now legal - in Nevada.

And other states are watching - and waiting to see what happens. It's a good bet some of them will follow Nevada's lead and legalize online gambling.

Online poker playing had been in a deep freeze in the United States since 2011, when the federal government seized the domains and domestic assets of several online casinos - and millions in player bankrolls. The seizures were attributed to violations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Tax issues, interstate gambling, fraud and money laundering were all at one time or another given as justification for the seizures.

But the game is poised to make a comeback, at least in Nevada and one company is bringing online poker out of the murky, obscure offshore world.

Ultimate Gaming, which is owned by mixed martial arts titans Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, has created a software and Website platform, called Ultimate Poker, where Nevada residents can once again legally play online poker.

The games will be regulated in accordance with Nevada gaming regulations. And prospective players will have to go to some lengths to prove they're bona fide Silver Staters, by giving their addresses and Social Security numbers.

If the Nevada experiment succeeds, other revenue-hungry states likely will decide to bet on online gambling.

The Associated Press reported that worldwide, online bettors spend about $35 billion each year. H2 Gambling Capital of London estimates that a fully implemented, regulated online gambling industry on American shores could bring in $4.3 billion revenue in its first year and $9.6 billion by its fifth year.

There's clearly a lot at stake here, and a lot of room to run. It's helpful to understand where online poker has been in order to see where it could go.


Online Gambling: Will Other States Follow Nevada's Lead? - Money Morning

If it is true, as people who study such things say, that proximity feeds addiction, then what will happen to the number of gambling addictions when every laptop and mobile device turns into a traveling casino?

And if, as the London research company H2 Gambling Capital has said, Americans could spend $4.3 billion during the first year alone if online gambling were made legal nationwide, and that this figure would grow to $9.6 billion by the fifth year, when will the nation stop to consider whether this monumental waste of resources provides any net benefits to society; or whether, like cocaine, heroine or other illegal substances it ruins lives, destroys productivity, leads to other crimes and ought to be strictly outlawed?

You aren’t likely to hear these questions seriously debated in the American public square. You are more likely to hear talk of personal liberty, as if the Founding Fathers sacrificed all so that we could play poker in our pajamas.

Morality, or conduct that is demonstrably right or virtuous, seems to be the thing that gets pushed to the corner in polite company, along with other things we are free to do if we please, so long as we don’t impose them on others. Meanwhile, the costs of gambling get pushed on all, willing or not. Liberty, indeed.

In case you were wondering, online gambling still is considered a crime in the United States, at least technically. But this is one area of the law the Obama administration has decided to treat in line with ultra-conservative orthodoxy. States more or less get to choose on their own.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill last March making Internet gambling legal in his state. So did governors in Delaware and Nevada. And this week in Nevada the subsidiary of a Las Vegas casino became the first to begin a fully legal poker website in the United States. News reports say about 20 other companies are ready to begin their own sites, as well.

Scared to death of even the whiff of engaging in interstate commerce, which might give some future U.S. attorney general an excuse to crack down, the company starting the first site has several redundant mechanisms in place to make sure every customer is physically in the state of Nevada.

But if you think Internet gambling isn’t going to try to spread from coast to coast, you don’t know the history of the industry. Nor are you familiar with gambling’s growth curve in the United States.

In 2007, Americans lost more than $92 billion gambling, which was about nine times what they lost in 1982. That’s according to Sam Skolnik, who wrote the book High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America’s Gambling Addiction. In just one five-year period, 2000-2005, the number of Americans patronizing casinos or other legal gambling halls increased by 20 million.

Proponents sometimes claim Americans have always gambled, and that legalizing it has only legitimizes what is gong on, anyway. Really?

Earl Grinols, an economics professor at Baylor University, has done a cost-benefit analysis of gambling. His conclusion? It isn’t even close. At best, he said, costs outweigh benefits by at least 3 to 1.

This isn’t just moralizing. Gambling produces no product that can be sold or exported. It does, however, remove billions of hard-earned dollars from people who otherwise might spend or invest in things of value. It also takes money from other forms of recreation.

But we shouldn’t ignore the moral aspects, either. Not long ago, most state constitutions prohibited gambling. It was understood to be a vice, an activity that squandered money and destroyed lives. States felt it necessary to outlaw something that produced disturbing social costs and contributed nothing.

Now those arguments get drowned out by self-righteous shouts about personal liberty.

As Leslie Bernal, executive director of Stop Predatory Gambling, told me recently, “We’ve lost the sense that how we earn money matters.”

Perhaps more to the point, we seem unconcerned with how we lose it.


Online gambling is nothing to celebrate | Deseret News

$28 Billion Online Gambling is Back!


Yesterday a private company called Ultimate Gaming launched the first-ever legal gambling website in Nevada.

Now, global online gambling was approximately a $28 billion industry in 2012. Of course, the United States only accounted for 11% of that; Europe accounted for 54%.

And that $28 billion in online gambling represented only 8% of global gaming revenue, most of which took place in casinos.

With as much as 30% growth over the next three years, online gambling could be a huge win for investors who get the right stocks.

So, what are the right stocks?

Unfortunately, Ultimate Gaming (which also owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) franchise) is not a public company. So we'll have to look elsewhere...

A Few You Don't Know, Two You Might

I'll start by throwing out a few of the big names in online gambling in the UK. Each of these stocks is available on the pink sheets.

In no particular order, we have:

William Hill (WIMHF.PK)
Ladbrokes (LDBKF.PK)
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (PYGMF.PK)
888 Holdings (EIHDF.PK)
Betfair Group (BTFRF.PK)

Of these, a couple stand out with the potential to get into the U.S. market...

888 Holdings has partnered with a few casinos — like Treasure Island in Vegas, Caesar's (NYSE: CZR), and WMS Industries (NYSE: WMS), which makes video games and video lottery and gambling machines. Bwin.party digital entertainment (NASDAQOTH: PYGMF) has already been in the U.S. by virtue of its Party Poker brand. This brand was hurt when the U.S. cracked down on online gambling.

Bwin has partnered with MGM (NYSE: MGM), Boyd Gaming, and Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA).

Bwin has the better partners, and thus might make the better investment. (Boyd's looks interesting as a value play, but it has a lot of debt... and as a casino operator, online gambling could hurt it.)

This is a small company with a market cap of just $1.7 billion and revenues of $1.04 billion. The debt situation is not bad, either: Outstanding debt is $47 million and the company has $219 million in cash.

The stock that intrigues me the most is Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA). The only problem is that as a public company, Zynga has been an outright disaster... Zynga IPO'd in late 2011 at $9 a share, ramped to $14, and then plummeted to $2. It currently trades around $3 a share.

If you don't know, Zynga makes online games largely distributed through Facebook that are particularly effective for cellphone users (think: Angry Birds, only not as fun).

Zynga's plan was to charge small amounts of money for certain things within their games. For instance, in Zynga's Texas Hold 'Em game through Facebook, you can buy like 3 million chips for $2. I guess the thought was that, with close to a billion Facebook users, Zynga wouldn't have to sell much on a percentage basis; and the fact that people's Facebook friends were playing the games would serve as incentive.

It always sounded like a business plan that was just good enough to get the company public and make the insiders some money... but ultimately destined to fail.

So I'm not surprised the company has lost over $600 million as a public company.

I am surprised the company did $1.1 billion in revenue in 2011 — and almost $1.3 billion in 2012.

And with online gambling gaining momentum (New Jersey and Delaware have approved it, and several other states have it on the docket), Zynga could be in a good position because of its relationship with Facebook. The technology already works, and it seems to me that people would be more likely to set up poker games among friends than play anonymously. So Facebook could be the prefect platform, and Zynga could be a big winner.

The stock currently trades for a little over $3. It has a $2.5 billion market cap, $1.27 billion in cash, and just $100 million in debt. Zynga could be worth a speculative investment at this point.

You might also consider Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU).

This $200 million company also targets the mobile phone user with its games. And like Zynga, it trades just over $3 a share.

Both companies recently launched online gambling services in the UK. Unfortunately, it's too soon for any good data to be in on how well they are doing... but it's a pretty good bet that both will move higher as online gambling makes headway into the U.S. market.


$28 Billion Online Gambling is Back!

Chris Kelly, half of the 1990s kid rap duo Kris Kross who made one of the decade's most memorable songs with the frenetic Jump, died at an Atlanta hospital on Wednesday of an apparent drug overdose at his home, authorities said. He was 34.

"It appears it may have been a possible drug overdose," said Cpl. Kay Lester, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County police.

This, Lester said, is based on statements received at the scene as well as evidence turned up at Kelly's home in south Atlanta.

According to Lester, police were called to Kelly's home at around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. He was transported to the south campus of the Atlanta Medical Center.

Investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said Kelly was pronounced dead at the hospital at around 5 p.m. Wednesday.

No official cause of death has been determined, pending an autopsy.

Kelly, known as "Mac Daddy," and Chris Smith, known as "Daddy Mac," were introduced to the music world in 1992 by music producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri after he discovered the pair in an Atlanta mall. The duo wore their clothes backwards as a gimmick, but they won over fans with their raps.

Their first, and by far most successful song, was Jump."The hit, off their multiplatinum 1992 debut album Totally Krossed Out, featured the two trading verses and rapping the refrain, the song's title. The duo had surprising maturity in their rap delivery, though the song was written by Dupri. It would become a No. 1 smash in the United States and globally, and one of the most popular of that year.

Their success led to instant fame: They toured with Michael Jackson, appeared on TV shows, and even had their own video game. The group was never able to match the tremendous success of their first song, though they had other hits like Warm It Up, and Tonite's tha Night.

In 2009, after photos surfaced that showed him with bald spots on his head, there were rumours that he had cancer. But in an interview posted on YouTube by Straight from the A TV, he said he suffered from alopecia, a condition in which people lose their hair.

"My health is good, I just got alopecia, I don't have cancer, not other sort of diseases," he said.

Earlier this year, the group performed together to celebrate the anniversary of Durpri's label, So So Def.

As the nation’s first legal, pay-to-play poker Web site embarks on a 30-day trial period, players from every state and Europe are logging on, even as casino companies, tech developers, regulators and lawmakers alike examine the technology for strengths and flaws.

Station Casinos, a local company with 16 properties in the Las Vegas Valley, took ultimatepoker-com online on Tuesday. The company hopes to bring some clarity to the debate among gambling officials and lawmakers about online gambling.

At issue is whether the company can verify that the site’s users are over 21 and in Nevada, using identification and geolocation software, among other tools. Visitors to Nevada can register to play before arriving in the state.

Opponents have expressed concern about minors using the site.

The site’s activation accelerated a race that started this year when Nevada passed a law that legalized online gambling, beating New Jersey by a matter of weeks.

Bo Bernhard, executive director of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, called the site a milestone.

“It’s the first online casino — in the state that developed the modern casino resort,” Mr. Bernhard said.

About 30 hours after the site opened, Tom Breitling, the Ultimate Poker chairman, crowed about being “first out of the gate” and said he was surprised to see “pent-up demand” as poker players expressed interest in the site.

Mr. Breitling also pointed to the “huge responsibility” that came with being first, as dozens of companies hope to open similar Web sites in Nevada and other states.

Keith S. Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said “the Internet poses risks for problem gambling,” and pointed to data from Europe that suggests that frequent gambling on the Internet is associated with problem gambling, or addictive behavior. Mr. Whyte said he wants to see online gambling in the United States unfold with controls like those in Europe, including software that tracks gambling behavior online and displays for user information like account balances and time spent playing. He said that Nevada’s legislation did not have such requirements.

“Nevada is in some ways playing with fire,” he said.

A. G. Burnett, chairman of Nevada’s Gaming Control Board, said that comments and observations would be gathered from users and Ultimate Poker during the 30-day trial. The board will decide whether the site should be allowed to continue operating and, two weeks after that, the Nevada Gaming Commission will make the final decision.

The same procedure is followed for every new game introduced in Nevada casinos, Mr. Burnett said. Approving a form of gambling that takes place over the Internet, instead of in a bricks-and-mortar casino, means “we’re entering into a different world.”

“Everybody’s going to be trying to test it, hack it, get into it,” he said.

Nearly two dozen companies have obtained licenses to participate in some aspect of online gambling, including MGM Resorts International, Bally and Caesars, often through subsidiaries or in partnership with other companies.


www-nytimes-com/2013/05/03/business/poker-web-site-advances-online-gambling-html?_r=0

While Wall Street estimates can be, on the whole, a negative force in the world of investing, they benefited mobile-gaming firm Zynga last week. And, not to give all credit to expectations, the company also posted some encouraging numbers in the midst of its massive overhaul. Of course, it wouldn't be a Zynga earnings release without some heart-wrenching financials, as well. Revenue was down 18% year over year, while bookings took a 30% hit. Yet, with the U.K. real money gambling business on its maiden voyage, there remains significant potential for the company. Is this the inflection point for Zynga?

Earnings with friends
For Zynga bulls, who have been energized this year with the launch of real money gambling services and a more than 35% run up in stock price, the recent earnings release was a mixed bag. For headline numbers, the company was able to post a $0.01 EPS -- in line with the previous quarter's number, and far ahead of analysts' estimate of a $0.04 loss. Year-overyear EBITDA growth was an impressive 66%, due to continued success in the company's franchise titles. Free cash flow is coming in nicely -- $23 million in the past quarter alone. Zynga's sequel to Draw Something just launched, along with new "-ville" titles. Of course, the most compelling remains the gambling segment, which we will touch on in a minute.

Though there was some cause for celebration, the stock did not respond favorably; the reason was that many underlying numbers were not as exciting.

Earning with enemies
Revenue fell nearly 20%, though investors should keep in mind that the company has shut down many of its studios and properties that were not carrying their weight. More troubling is the fact that revenue from daily users is falling -- down 11% last quarter. And though the profitability is certainly encouraging for a business recently deep in the weeds, management guided down for the coming quarter -- expecting a $0.03-$0.05 per share loss.

So what are investors to do in light of recent information?

Transform something
The company is still deep in its shift from high-cost, mediocre-reward to something more sustainable. As the U.K. gambling launches on Facebook, it will be very interesting to see the percentage of fake money users switching over to the real side.

I do not have much faith, long term, in the mobile gaming business as a whole. Users seem incredibly flakey when it comes to these products -- using them obsessively for two months and then never again. Given the high cost of development, it just doesn't seem like a great investment. More concerning is that the newer games seem to be monetizing users less, or at least more slowly than the older games.

The hope for the company still lies in gambling. At this point, we just don't know how successful it will be.

Investors should expect costs to remain high, and profitability limited or nonexistent. The stock should be looked at as speculative with high reward if the story plays out.



Zynga's post-IPO performance has been dreadful, and investors are beginning to wonder if it's "game over" for this newly public company. Being so closely tied to the world's largest social network can be a blessing and a curse. You can learn everything you need to know about Zynga, and whether it's a buy or a sell in our new premium research report. Don't even think about picking up shares before you read what our top analysts have to say about Zynga.



Is Zynga Out of the Dog House? - DailyFinance

A stay at the house of a Hollywood entertainment mogul, transportation on the tabs of millionaire venture capitalists and, for the second straight year, sports tickets, meals and more from his close adviser Michael Sacks.

These perks and others are listed on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's annual economic interest statement, and once again illustrate how Chicago's chief executive moves in some of the country's elite entertainment and financial circles.

Emanuel's 2012 statement filed this week with the Cook County clerk's office requires disclosure of any gifts valued at more than $500 and any capital asset from which he earned at least $5,000 during the year. The list of gifts was full of top executives covering transportation costs for Emanuel, but state law does not require the mayor to provide any additional detail. Although the mayor frequently touts his administration's transparency, a spokesman did not provide requested details about the transportation gifts, including the purpose and whether the rides were on private jets, commercial airliners or some other form of transit.

One of the marquee names on the mayor's gift list was music executive and film producer David Geffen. Emanuel listed Geffen's name with the notation "house guest" to describe the gift.

The mayor was also a houseguest of Chicago law firm partner Sidney "Skip" Herman and of Chicago medical products company CEO Jim Abrams, according to the report.

For the second year, Emanuel reported taking sports tickets, meals and transportation from Sacks, who leads the World Business Chicago economic development board for the mayor. Sacks is CEO of the Chicago hedge fund firm Grosvenor Capital Management.

Not surprisingly, most of the gift-givers who dot Emanuel's economic interest statement also have been major campaign donors, including Herman and Abrams, who is chief operating officer of Medline Industries Inc.

Geffen and Sacks are among Emanuel's biggest donors, each contributing $100,000 during his campaign, according to state records.

Emanuel also reported receiving transportation from major political donor Kenneth Griffin, the founder of the Chicago hedge fund firm Citadel LLC. Griffin and his wife, Anne Dias Griffin, the founder of Chicago hedge fund firm Aragon Global Management, have donated millions of dollars to Republican causes but also contributed $200,000 to Emanuel's campaign in 2011.

The mayor also reported having separate transportation costs picked up by Groupon co-founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, who also founded the Chicago venture capital firm Lightbank.

Emanuel also reported accepting transportation from Chicago finance magnate Jim Crown, a co-chair of President Barack Obama's 2008 Illinois finance committee. Crown and top executives with private investment firm Henry Crown & Co. have contributed more than $100,000 to Emanuel's campaign.

Sam Mencoff, a co-CEO of the Chicago private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, and Bob Clark, chairman and CEO of construction firm Clayco, also covered transportation costs for Emanuel, according to the mayor's report. Both men are Emanuel campaign contributors as well.

Emanuel held a news conference with Clark in January to announce that the St. Louis firm was moving its headquarters to Chicago. The firm is seeking infrastructure business in Chicago and elsewhere.

Emanuel also listed gifts from the investment bank Allen & Co. for transportation and being a guest at a conference. The mayor attended the firm's annual media and technology conference in the resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho.

The mayor also reported receiving at least $5,000 each from investments in two J.P. Morgan mutual funds.



Emanuel reports house stays and plane rides from entertainment and finance leaders - chicagotribune-com

It's very nice that the time has come for online gambling.

With legal gambling now moving beyond the casinos and onto the Internet, the industry is bracing for the most far-reaching changes in its history.

A Las Vegas firm, Ultimate Gaming, on Tuesday became the first in the U.S. to offer online poker, restricting it, for now, to players in Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware also have legalized gambling over the Internet and expect to begin offering such bets by year’s end.

And many inside and outside the industry say the recent position taken by the federal government that states are free to offer Internet gambling — as long as it doesn’t involve sports betting — will lead many cash-hungry state governments to turn to the Web as a new source of tax revenue.

Ten other states have considered some form of Internet gambling so far this year, but none has legalized it yet. Efforts to pass a national law legalizing online poker have sputtered, leaving states free to pass laws as they see fit.

“It’s no longer a question of if Internet gaming is coming; it’s a question of when,” said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the trade organization for the nation’s commercial brick-and-mortar casinos. “Unless there is a federal bill passed, we are going to have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in the United States. I don’t think that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re seeing.”

The brave new world for gambling brings with it a host of questions and concerns Will letting people bet online result in fewer visits to casinos, and therefore fewer dealers, beverage servers, and hotel and restaurant workers at the casinos? Will Internet bets create a new revenue stream from new players, or will they simply redirect money from gamblers who otherwise would have visited a casino, and might have eaten dinner and seen a show as well? And will it create even more problem gamblers?

Michael Frawley is chief operating officer of The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, perhaps the most endangered of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos. A deal for it to be sold to the parent company of PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker website, is up in the air. The Atlantic Club’s owners said Wednesday the deal was dead, but PokerStars said the next day it still wants to salvage the purchase. It was not immediately clear whether the deal will ultimately get done. Read More: A.C. bracing for online gambling | The Daily Journal | thedailyjournal-com

In the following video, Fool contributor Matt Thalman discusses a few different reasons he believes investors should stay away from the casino and online gambling operators until online gambling revenues are proven over the next few quarters.

One front-runner in the online poker scene is Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA ) , a company that Matt believes would be better off in the long run if it made one strategic move.

To find out what that is, and for a few reasons investors should stay on the sidelines, click on the video. Betting on Online Gambling Is Truly Gambling (LVS, MGM, WYNN, ZNGA)

The Canadian online gambling industry is fragmented into provincial jurisdictions where individual governments control the venues. While online gambling is still designated as illegal in Canada provincially owned corporations and tribal casinos abound. Some of the provinces in the eastern part of the country such as Quebec and Ontario are either offering or about to offer online casino action.
Now the Guardian News in the smallest province in Canada Prince Edward Island has revealed there is dissatisfaction with the government’s investment in the P.E.I. Lotteries Commission and the province’s $4 million stake in the online lottery game GeoSweep. The Opposition party Conservatives in P.E.I. have asked the auditor general to launch an investigation into the internet game.
The growing call for an investigation stems from the opposition’s claim that there is inadequate accounting and not enough reporting of the money being spent on the GeoSweep game. The fact that the commission’s audited financial statements were not included in the province’s 2012 Public Accounts document suggests there may be something to this line of questioning. It was also noted that the Lotteries Commission has not released an annual report since 2010.
Progressive conservative opposition Leader Steven Myers stated, “The law states the net profits of the commission must be paid into the operating fund (of the province). It doesn’t say anything at all about the treasurer taking those dollars before they cross the Confederation Bridge and investing them into some online gambling game,”
P.E.I. Auditor General Jane MacAdam said there has been changes made in the way the financial reports are presented and it caused a delay in the filing of the results. “Those delays were caused by implementation of the international financial reporting standards, so there’s a lot more work required by both the accounting and the auditing this year for that particular organization,” New Brunswick and P.E.I. were the only two Atlantic provinces that agreed to a total $8 million investment into this game. There is a lot to look into regarding this issue and it remains to be resolved.



Online Gambling GeoSweep Controversy in P.E.I.

Online says hackers compromised its Twitter and text messaging accounts, sending out erroneous news alerts about Justin Bieber and Angelina Jolie.

The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility for Saturday's hack.

E! Online said it was working with Twitter to correct the issue, and that an investigation into the attack was underway.

The SEA has taken credit for a string of Web attacks on media targets it sees as sympathetic to Syria's rebels, including the BBC, Al-Jazeera English and the Guardian.

The group claims to have hacked the Twitter feed of The Associated Press last month.

Read more: Entertainment site hacked by Syrian group | CP24-com

THERE was a time when gambling, at least in this country, meant scruffy, dark shops smelling of Woodbines and stale beer. The shops were usually populated by angry little men with caps and grudges, usually against the bookie. These undernourished habitues, however, enjoyed a remarkable ability. They could invariably work out the odds on the most complex five-horse accumulator before you could say '2.30 at Pontefract'. Now all that has changed. There are comfortable seats in the betting shops, computers work out the odds, you can get a coffee and watch the sport you are betting on across a string of TV monitors. And the internet is changing gambling even more fundamentally.

The William Hill betting chain, based in Britain, is an example of how gambling has been viewed by the high-rollers of the investment sector over the past 30 or 40 years. Today it is valued at £3.35bn (€3.98bn). But in the period since betting-shop gambling became legal in Britain it has been through the hands of Sears Holdings, Grand Metropolitan, Brent Walker, Investment Bank Nomura and venture capitalists Cinven.

It has made notoriously bad bets itself over the years. It had to cancel flotation in 1999 for lack of interest. It got its IPO away three years later, only to see its CEO some time later sell shares to fund a divorce; the market was not impressed. Some £75m was wiped off the market cap.

However, William Hill became the UK's biggest bookmaker, after buying 624 betting shops from its rival, Stanley Leisure, in 2005; but it was deemed to have overpaid, the shares suffered and William Hill dropped out of the FTSE100.

William Hill's dominant position in the UK forced it to look elsewhere for growth, but this wasn't a blessed strategy either. It set up in Italy in 2006 but that only lasted two years. Its operations in Spain ended in 2010. Its position improved with the joint venture with Playtech, an Israeli software company, so creating one of Europe's largest online betting firms.

As part of the deal, Playtech retained 29.9pc of the new company, William Hill Online, but the bookie retained an option to acquire these shares, which it has now done. It was also successful in the purchase of three Nevada-based bookmakers for $53m (€40m).




Taking a gamble with online betting firms - Independent.ie

This past week has been history making to say the least for the Ultimate Gaming website that launch offering real money poker to participants in the the state of Nevada.

This also sets in motion the wave on online gambling across the US since the go ahead to offer state to state gambling has been given the okay just as long as sports betting is not included.

What it has also done is raise many controversial discussions as to the cause and effect internet gaming will have on problem gambling and on the financial outlook for brick and mortar casinos.

Many are under the opinion jobs will suffer, cocktail waitresses will be serving less drinks because of a lack of in house gamblers, less shows will be seen and overall the talk of cities like Las Vegas and New Jersey will quite possibly become ghost towns. Okay that latter part is a bit dramatic, but believe it or not there are a fair amount of discussions that things will become just that dire.

Headlines across the week read like a wave of panic, “Casinos Brace for Internet Gambling”, Internet Gambling Will Cause Threat to B&B Casino’s”, “Trump to Buy the Internet, Desperate to Save Trump Entertainment Resorts,” that last headline was one I had overheard on the metro bus the other morning, so I doubt it’s validity!

Needless to say there are many concerns with the changes happening with online gambling, following Nevada will soon be New Jersey and Delaware as they prepare to legalized gambling by the end of this year.

The online gambling rush will indeed be a way for cash strapped states to make up for revenue, but will the sudden hysteria bring a down fall to the brick and mortar business? President of the American Gaming Association, Frank Fahrenkopf stated, “It’s no longer a question of if Internet gaming is coming; it’s a question of when.”

But is all this talk of what might happen just be filler to fuel panic or do you believe that the rise of online gambling will cause casinos in your town to seize and exist?

Keith S. Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said “the Internet poses risks for problem gambling” and claims “Nevada is in some ways playing with fire.”

Just last year Ohio opened its first casinos and casino developers are waiting for permission to build three casinos in Massachusetts, and New York City’s new Resorts World Casino. Are these investors buying into fool’s gold?

Nevada’s Gaming Control Board back in January shared the data of casinos collecting $783million, down 11 percent of the same period last year and the Las Vegas strip’s revenue down 13 percent to $431.9m with the state taking home a lower than expected $46million in taxes from all the state’s casinos.

If you follow trends, predictions say go with Asia which has seen a huge success as 2013 first quarter figures show a 14.8% increase in gross gaming revenue to $10.66 billion compared to the same quarter in 2012.

American companies such as Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and MGM Grand Paradise own casinos in Macau, the Las Vegas Sands owns its Macau properties through subsidiary company Sands China Ltd, and so far this year Las Vegas Sands (LVS) has seen its stock rise by more than 21% mostly due to exponential growth in Macau’s gambling market.

With all this in mind, it seems clear that there is always a back up plan; invest in casino abroad, approve online gambling on the US forefront and bases are covered, or are they?

Whatever the outcome, speculation is the one thing that is a sure bet and as we sit back and watch it all unfold the predictions see the US market exceeding $10 billion over the next several years.


The Gambler's Report, Online Gambling Rise & Fall from Legalization | CS Report