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Sports Odds And Picks
January 25th General news ... Sports Odds And Picks at sports-oddsandpicks.com
NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM IN ATLANTIC CITY
2014-08-25
It's not hard to lose sight of the potential of Atlantic City amid the current doom and gloom reports of failing income and land casino closures, but the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement had some positive news Friday when it announced that second quarter overall gross operating profits by Atlantic City's 11 operating land casinos increased 35 percent.
Top earner was the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which reached an $88 million tax settlement with the city in June. Most other casinos, while turning a profit, saw that profit decline in the second quarter.
The Borgata posted the largest operating profit at $43.2 million, compared with $28.1 million in the second quarter last year, a rise of more than 53 percent. But Joe Lupo, the casinos senior vice president, said $11.8 million of a tax settlement was applied to second quarter earnings.
The DGE figures show the casinos posted a collective gross operating profit of more than $83 million in April, May and June of this year...an increase of 34.9 percent compared with the same period last year, when New Jersey had not yet legalised Internet gambling.
Gross operating profit reflects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other charges, and is a widely accepted indicator of profitability in the casino industry.
IRISH SPORTS BROADCASTER IN MOBILE TALKS
2014-07-09
The Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Bicimotos Sports is reportedly in discussions with mobile communications network provider Three Ireland for a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) accreditation, reports The Irish Times.
MVNO status would enable Setanta to deliver information and mobile gambling services to its customers on the 3 backbone, enabling the broadcaster to launch a package deal offering TV, phone and mobile broadband services, along with access to Setanta Go, an online website delivering live feeds of all Setanta and BT Sport channels.
The European Commission has recently approved Threes acquisition of O2 Ireland, under conditions to ensure continued competitiveness in the Irish market. Part of this agreement includes Threes obligation to establish two MVNOs on its network.
Deals with UPC and Carphone Warehouse already fill this quota and both these companies have scheduled their mobile network launches for 2015, while Setantas network could be live before the end of 2014.
Setanta has reportedly hired Leo Hassett, former head of mobile business development at Eircom, to advise on its mobile plans.
GTECH AND I.G.T. IN ACQUISITION TALKS
2014-06-17
Starting the week off with a bang is the announcement by gambling and lottery supplier group GTECH that it is in 'preliminary' talks with contemporary U.S. firm International Game Technology with the objective of buying the American company.
"This transaction could potentially involve the use of a mix of cash and equity as consideration," GTECH told the Reuters news agency, adding it did not anticipate needing a cash call to fund the acquisition.
GTECH said it had hired advisers to help it in the talks.
In a coordinated response, IGT issued a rather wooly statement advising:
"IGT regularly considers, and on occasion explores, a broad range of strategic alternatives, including but not limited to business combinations, changes to our capital structure and adjustments to our portfolio of businesses, with the goal of maximizing shareholder value.
"The IGT Board of Directors and senior management are currently engaged in such an exploration, but no decisions have been made by the Board regarding any particular alternative available to the Company and there can be no assurances that any transaction or other strategic change will be entered into as a result of the current exploration of alternatives.
"IGT does not intend to discuss or disclose developments with respect to this general subject unless and until the Board has approved a definitive course of action."
ATLANTIC CLUB SAGA CONTINUES (Update)
2014-02-26
In a move that is probably now of merely academic interest to the online gambling industry, the losing bidder in the auctioning-off of the failed Atlantic Club Casino has said it intends to seek a re-hearing and review of its bid, which was a million dollars better than that submitted by the winners, Caesars Entertainment and Tropicana Entertainment (see previous InfoPowa reports).
According to a report in the Press of Atlantic City, Sobe Holdings LLC will submit the rehearing request on Monday, and if it is refused the company will take the matter to an appeal court.
Although the Sobe bid was higher, but Atlantic City Chief Judge Gloria Burns felt that the Caesars-Tropicana bid carried less risk.
Sobe disagrees with this assessment, and says that instead of stripping the company and retrenching its employees, it wants to revamp and rebrand the property and re-open it as a going concern.
The company has the necessary experience, as it operates and owns Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach, Florida.
WAR OF THE INTERNET GAMBLING POLLS CONTINUES IN THE U.S.A.
2014-02-19
The Adelson-funded Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling recently published the findings of a poll that purported to show that most Americans were not in favour of legalised online gambling (see previous InfoPowa reports), and now the opposing Coalition for Consumer and Online Protections has responded with a poll of its own showing the opposite, perhaps illustrating that polls can often deliver what you want them to.
The Washington DC publication The Hill was among many publications that carried the results of the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protections study, which was conducted by the independent but Republican-leaning North Star Opinion polling firm.
The study embraced a thousand adult Americans nationwide, and included 39 voters from the legalised online gambling states of New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada.
North Star Opinion concluded that most people believe individual US states should decide whether to regulate online gambling and they are therefore opposed to any federal ban.
Three out of four respondents believed that individual states should have the right to legalise online gambling for their own citizens, with 57 percent of respondents voicing opposition to federal interference in the form of a nationwide ban on internet gambling.
The survey sample found wide bipartisan support, including 74 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of Democrats.
About two-thirds of voters also said a potential congressional ban would "trample on the rights" of states that have already legalised online gambling.
The survey found that 63 percent of respondents agree with the assertion that a federal ban would promote illegal black market gambling with companies that operate overseas and are not regulated.
On the negative side, 22 percent of respondents "strongly support" a federal ban on online gambling.
Releasing the poll results, Coalition for Consumer and Online Protections spokesperson Alison Harden Siciliano said:
The American public doesnt want Congress to pass a sweeping ban of all online gaming. A nationwide ban would put more Americans at risk online, and allow the current overseas, black market gambling operations to thrive.
"Voters acknowledge that they may not personally engage in online gaming, but support the rights of other Americans to do so."
The new poll is the latest in the series of opposing views put forward by the CSIG, a pro-banning action group funded by land gambling mogul Sheldon Adelson, and the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protections, a similar organisation with an opposing view that includes the MGM International land gambling group, the Poker Players Alliance and the American Gaming Association among its supporters.
GOOD RESULTS FROM EVOLUTION MULTI-GAME FUNCTIONALITY
2014-02-06
Evolution Gaming says its new Multi-Game Play (MGP) feature, available across all Evolution Live Gaming tables, is proving popular.
The feature allows Live Casino customers to play up to four games simultaneously in a single, auto-configuring window and is adaptable to different player groups such as high rollers.
Evolution said it has seen a sharp rise in wagering figures since the soft-launch of the feature.
Players who have used Multi-Game Play (MGP) are wagering twice as much as they did before they used it. In particular, a very significant proportion of all wagering is taking place with two, three or four MGP windows open. Not only that, we have seen rapid adoption of MGP amongst our VIP players, Fredrik Osterberg, Chief Commercial Officer at Evolution said.
MGP meets the needs of both high rollers and a new generation of players that are very comfortable with multi-tasking and multi-betting. At the same time its ease of use encourages all players to explore the licensees other live tables, and new games and betting opportunities.
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