Inside Asian Gaming

October 2016 inside asian gaming 45 this year who claimed development was on hold due to “weakened American debt markets.” The proposed US$2 billion Alon Las Vegas is one of three new mixed-use resorts to be built at the Strip’s northern end, the most notable of which – the US$4 billion Chinese-themed Resorts World Las Vegas – broke ground in 2015. Construction of its first phase is now underway. Men charged for promoting FIFA gambling Two UK men have been charged with using their YouTube channel to promote a lottery, advertise unlawful gambling and invite children to gamble on popular football video game FIFA 16. 31-year-old Craig Douglas, known online as “Nepenthez”, and his business partner Dylan Rigby appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court following an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission. They stand accused of posting a series of YouTube videos showing Douglas betting on a site called FUT Galaxy, which he owns, and encouraging others to do the same using FIFA Coins – an in-game currency used to purchase “extras” such as top players and other consumables. The pair are directors of Game Gold Tradings Limited, which owns a number of sites where players can buy and trade FIFA Coins. Douglas’ videos showed players how to bet on the outcome of randomly generated matches on FUT Galaxy. Their arrest follows recent concerns over “skins” betting in another popular game, Counter-Strike, in which players found a similar means to use in-game purchases to bet on the outcome of contests. “We are paying close attention to the growing popularity of INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS virtual or ‘in-game’ items, which can be traded, sold or used as virtual currencies to gamble,” a Gambling Commission spokesperson told gaming website Eurogamer . “If Great Britain-based players are being invited to gamble with money or money’s worth then this requires an operating licence.” The case has been adjourned until 14 October, with Douglas’ only comment coming via a tweet in which he said, “I appreciate those who have reserved judgment without the full story, but fully understand those who haven’t.” Ainsworth, Stutz win AGEM awards The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM) has announced Len Ainsworth as the initial recipient of the Jens Halle Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Commercial Gaming Professionalism and Howard Stutz as the initial recipient of the Peter Mead Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Gaming Media & Communications. Aimed at acknowledging the lasting impact on gaming by Halle and Mead – two industry veterans who passed unexpectedly in 2015 – recipients will be announced each year at G2E in Las Vegas. Ainsworth, 93, founded Aristocrat Leisure in 1953 and Ainsworth Game Technology in 1995, where he currently serves as Executive Chairman. He is credited with pioneering many of the design and technical innovations incorporated into gaming machines over the past 60 years. He was inducted into the Australian gaming industry’s Hall of Fame in 1994 and the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame in 1995. Stutz, 57, currently serves as Vice President of Corporate Communications for Las Vegas-based Golden Entertainment and has direct roots in the gaming industry dating back to 2000, when he joined Anchor Gaming as Director of Corporate Communications. From 2004 to 2016, he covered the gaming industry for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and was renowned for his “Inside Gaming” column that analyzed and provided opinion on the global gaming industry. Over the past year he received multiple awards for his investigative coverage of the sale of the Las Vegas Review-Journal to the family of Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. Halle, a long time Bally and Novomatic executive in Europe, died suddenly on 20 May 2015 at the age of 57 while Mead, the founder and publisher of Casino Enterprise Management magazine, died suddenly in Las Vegas on 24 June 2015 at the age of 54. Len Ainsworth