Bloomberg: Twitch’s Gambling Boom Is Luring Gamers Into Crypto Casinos. “These days, ‘slots’ is the seventh most popular content category on Twitch, ahead of the video game Fortnite. Many streamers are paid handsomely to take part in the activity. One popular streamer said he makes “much more” than $1 million a month as part of his sponsorship with Stake to crypto gamble in front of live audiences on Twitch.”
Reuters: Italy’s communication authority fines Google over gambling advertising. “Italy’s communication authority said on Tuesday it had fined tech giant Google, owned by parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), 750,000 euros ($766,350) for allegedly breaching a ban on gambling advertising on its YouTube video platform.”
NBC News: Crypto casinos: How bitcoin opened up a new online gambling world. “Online casino gambling in the U.S. is illegal in all but six states, kept in check by strict rules that make it hard for users to move money in and out of regulated internet casinos. But those rules don’t hold up so well when it comes to bitcoin.”
ABC News: Atlantic City 2021 casino earns surpass pre-pandemic levels. “Figures released Friday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show eight of the nine casinos posted a gross operating profit last year. Collectively, the nine casinos earned $766.8 million in 2021, far eclipsing the $117.5 million they made in 2020.”
Internet Archive Blog: A Holiday Jackpot: The Lounge is Open. “Previous sets of items, including arcade machines, handheld toys, computer software and flash animations, all represent thousands and in some cases tens of thousands of individual items from history, all playable in the browser. The Jackpot Lounge is much more focused and refers to one specific group of coin-operated games: Gambling Machines.”
Motherboard: The Economy Is Back. Welcome to the Casino. “From financial fads like SPACs—shell companies that take companies public through reverse mergers—to cryptocurrencies, online casinos streamed by megastars on Twitch, the housing market, and more, it appears as though gambling is expanding into nearly every nook and cranny of society. All of this activity has had real, and very often negative, effects on people who get caught up.”
The Conversation: Personalised gambling adverts: a troubling new trend. “There’s a new type of gambling advert being used online and on social media to try and appeal to viewers, recent research has shown. Unlike on television, these online advertisements can be more personalised, interactive and may be harder to distinguish from other content. For example, gambling companies will use methods like taking polls on the winning team of a football match to entice users to engage with them. Although the effect of these advertisements is relatively unknown, early research suggests that it is likely they will increase consumer engagement with gambling.”
New York Times: What a Gambling App Knows About You. “When Gregg finally stopped gambling in late 2018, he was in a dire financial position. He had lost nearly $15,000 during a nine-month betting binge, on top of two outstanding loans totaling more than $70,000 and a mortgage of more than $150,000 on his small home in Britain. Now he is on a hunt to know whether his favorite gambling app, Sky Bet, knew about his problems and still tried to hook him.”
Coconuts KL: Police investigating COVID-19 patients who turned MAEPS quarantine center into mini casino (Video). “The police are looking into a series of videos circulating online that showed COVID-19 patients purportedly gambling while isolating at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang, or MAEPS. At least four videos had shown men gathering at a bunk bed and playing what appears to be the Chinese game Big Two, or Dai Di with money.”
AL .com: Alabama lawsuit hits Apple, Google over gambling games. “Two federal lawsuits filed Wednesday seek refunds for Alabama residents who downloaded games from app stores the plaintiffs say are illegal gambling under state law. The potential class action lawsuits were filed against tech giants Apple and Google by two Shelby County residents who purchased the app-based games and paid money for more playing time.”
Phys .org: Taxing online sports betting, fantasy sports may help states cover pandemic losses. “Taxing online fantasy sports and sports betting may help states recoup some of the sales tax revenue lost during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a finance expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.” Sometimes when I’m reading these articles my face freezes like this: 😬
CNBC: Unprecedented mega-sports weekend could be online betting bonanza. “The pandemic has pushed the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association playoffs to September, overlapping with Week 1 of the National Football League season for the first time ever. The U.S. Open men’s tennis final and a slate of Major League Baseball games will make Sunday one of the biggest sports betting days ever, according to Patrick Keane, chief executive officer of The Action Network, the sports betting media company.”
European Gaming: Popular Gambling App Exposed Millions of Users in Massive Data Leak. “Led by Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, vpnMentor’s research team discovered a data breach on casino gambling app Clubillion. The breach originated in a technical database built on an Elasticsearch engine and was recording the daily activities of millions of Clubillion players around the world. Aside from leaking activity on the app, the breached database also exposed private user information.”
BBC: Coronavirus: Gambling addicts ‘at greater risk during lockdown’. “Gambling addicts may be at greater risk during the coronavirus pandemic despite a lack of top-level sport, the leading UK charity for problem gamblers says. GamCare has noted more people seeking to end self-exclusion schemes that stop them accessing online betting.”
Gambling .com: Online Casinos Can Advertise on Google in 2020 as Ban Ends. “Google is getting ready to change its advertising policies around the evolving U.S. gambling landscape. The company plans to ease up on online casino advertising and get rid of a sweeping ban on the industry, according to an report from EGR.”
