Gaming Industry News (GIN) 22 June 11

25.06.2011, Gaming Industry News is the weekly e-news service from ICE Totally Gaming

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GamCare appoints new president SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Lord Sharman of Redlynch, chairman of international insurance group Aviva, has been appointed as the new president of GamCare, the UK's national responsible gambling charity. Sharman will begin in his new position in September this year and will address GamCare's annual conference on November 3. He takes on the role from Lord McIntosh of Haringey, who died in 2010. Sharman said he would do whatever he could to ensure that the money used to fund GamCare, collected directly from stakeholders of the UK gaming industry, was spent wisely to help gamblers and their families. GamCare chairman Anthony Jennens welcomed the appointment, stating that Sharman's exemplary record in business was matched by his experience and knowledge both of corporate responsibility and central government. Visit: www.totallygaming.com/news/gamcare-appoints-new-president

ICE Totally Gaming announces five-year deal with ExCeL London EXHIBITION Clarion Events, organiser of ICE Totally Gaming, the most comprehensive and international B2B gaming exhibition in the world, is to move the event to ExCeL London from 2013. Clarion and ExCeL have signed a five-year deal, with the first show taking place February 5-7, 2013. Julian Graves, managing director of Clarion's gaming division, said the huge investment that ExCel had made in its facilities and infrastructure, the upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and Jubilee line, the Olympics legacy and the venue's close proximity to London City Airport made it the right venue to help the company further grow ICE and expand its international audience, ensuring it remained the industry's leading global B2B gaming event. Visit: www.totallygaming.com/news/ice-totally-gaming-announces-five-year-deal-excel- london

Philippines land-based gaming market forecast to grow CASINO Philippines-based conglomerate Alliance Global Group has predicted that the country's land-based gaming market will become one of the biggest in the Asia-Pacific region. Kingson Sian, CEO of Alliance, said that in time the Philippines market could become the region's third biggest, behind Macau and Singapore. With a population of close to 100 million, he believes it will overtake that of Malaysia, which only has a population of 20 million. In partnership with Genting Malaysia, Alliance operates Resorts World Manila in the Philippines capital. Filipinos currently comprise the majority (60 per cent) of visitors to this property, but Sian said that visitors from China, Korea and Malaysia would soon overtake them, attracted by the new Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) Entertainment City in Manila Bay that has been approved by the country's government. Alliance has been given one of the four licenses to operate a casino in the new development.

UK government to review country's gambling legislation LAW A top licensing solicitor has welcomed a review of gambling law in the UK, to be conducted by a Select Committee of the Department of Culture, Sport and Media (DCMS). Stephen McGowan, one of only a handful of gambling law specialists in Scotland, insists that the review is an opportunity to help the gambling industry but also to resolve legal difficulties with the legislation itself. He said there are particular issues with the Gambling Act 2005 from the Scottish perspective - where UK drafting issues mean that the separate Scottish licensing system is not properly accounted for. DCMS are looking for contributions on a broad range of questions, such as how effective the Act has been in its core objectives, the financial impact of the Act on the UK gambling industry, the effectiveness of the Gambling Commission and various other issues. McGowan believes the review provides an opportunity for the operators to be heard, given their status as an extremely valuable part of this UK's economy and tourism.

32Red brings another two domains under its control ONLINE Online casino operator 32Red has announced that two further operators of online casino websites have given up infringing domains and relinquished control of them. This follows 32Red's avowal that it would "continue taking steps to assert and protect its intellectual property rights" after its recent High Court victory against William Hill Online, which was operating a site called '32Vegas'. It has now revealed that the owners of '32Royal' have transferred their web address to 32Red unconditionally, and that another gaming operator, Spin32, has changed the name of its business and transferred all domains containing the digits '32' to 32Red, again without condition.

New deal sees Playtech re-enter the US market ONLINE Playtech has become the first British-based gaming company to re-enter the US market, five years after online gambling was prohibited within it. As the US eyes up the introduction of online gambling regulation, Sciplay, a joint venture between Playtech and US-partner Scientific Games, has secured a deal to supply the California Online Poker Association (COPA) with the technology to launch "free-to-play" online poker sites. Sciplay will provide intrastate online poker services, while Playtech will license its poker software and IMS operator management system to COPA. With around two million Californians gambling illegally on offshore online poker sites, Playtech said the timing of the new sites going live depended on the change in regulation but could become a "very substantial revenue source".

Paddy Power answers billboard plea BETTING Bookmaker Paddy Power has given a job to an unemployed Irishman who used his life savings to purchase a billboard asking companies to prevent him from looking for work abroad. Feilim Mac an Iomaire, a 26-year-old marketing graduate, found global fame after paying for the billboard advertisement on Dublin's busy Merrion Road, which ran the headline "Save me from emigration". Driven to desperation after unsuccessfully applying for over 100 jobs since returning from Australia in August 2010, the unusual pitch brought Mac an Iomaire 20 interviews and several job offers. Paddy Power PR manager Ken Robertson said his "energy, creativity and never-say-die attitude" would be a massive plus for the company.

US Digital Gaming unveils new CEO ONLINE US Digital Gaming has unveiled former FOX and Walt Disney senior executive Jon Richmond as its new CEO. The company said Richmond will guide its activities to deploy the most comprehensive, legally compliant, internet gambling platform in the US, at a time when numerous states are clearly moving toward the legalisation of online gambling. As president of news digital media, Richmond oversaw the development and operation of FOX.com, FOXSports.com, and FOXNews.com. He recently served as managing director at investment firm Houlihan Lokey, where he led its media, sports, gaming and entertainment industry group. Richmond said he thought that USDG was perfectly positioned to bring together various stakeholders -- state governments, existing casino operators and other long standing gaming interests - to ensure the successful introduction of legalised online gambling in the US.

Swiss Casinos awarded Zurich licence CASINO Switzerland's Federal Council awarded the licence for the new Zurich Grand Casino to Swiss Casinos Zurich AG. Parent company Swiss Casinos Group said it was delighted with the decision, adding that it would create a magnet for leisure and tourism in the city, offering a wide variety of entertainment including for non-gaming clientele. The site will be handed to Swiss Casinos Zurich in the second half of 2011, with a planned opening deadline set for the autumn of 2012.

TotallyGaming.com goes live DIGITAL The news service on TotallyGaming.com, a new digital service from Clarion Events, has gone live and is set to deliver a powerful new business tool to gaming industry stakeholders across the globe. As well as the latest industry news, TotallyGaming.com will provide a market level portal from which the entire gaming industry can network with other contacts and keep fully up to date with the portfolio of business events and conferences that Clarion organises, including ICE, ICE Conferences, EIG, GIGSE and Betmarkets. The online equivalent of a major trade show, TotallyGaming.com also offers companies the opportunity to be listed within a comprehensive directory of gaming organisations active across all sectors of what is one of the world's fastest moving and most dynamic industries, making it an essential element in the marketing mix for organisations of all sizes. Visit: www.totallygaming.com/news/

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--- Ende Artikel / Pressemitteilung Gaming Industry News (GIN) 22 June 11 ---


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