infinity magazine feb
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The Infinity Gaming Magazine February EditionTRANSCRIPT
Infinity GamingTHE IGA6 WINNERS & ALL THE PHOTOS
LAS VEGAS SANDS ANNOUNCE LOCATION IN MADRID
POKERSTARS HAPPY WITH GOVERNOR CHRISTIE
www.gaming-awards.com | ISSUE FEBRUARY 2013
Who’s the Man? Gov. Christie
A look at the man who would be kingFOCUS
Social Gaming to Gambling Converting Social Gamers into paying
customers
ALAN GREENSPAN OFFERSValuable lessons for casino training
TWITER TIPS TO GO VIRAL
Make sure your tweets get read
SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCINGGet the most out of connecting with
others at conference
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EDITOR’S LETTER
4 EDITOR LETTERWhat a week that was
6 Who’s The Man?A closer look at Governor
Christie
9 IGA6 WinnersAll the winners announced and all the fun on the evening in photos
17 Latest Gaming NewsFind out the latest news from the gaming sector
FEATURES
22 Alan Greenspan offersBy Martin R. Baird
24 James Packer on his father & Tom CruiseRare interview with the billionaire
27 Twitter TipsGetting your tweets read
29 The 6th IGA PhotosCheck out who was at the awards
31 Bally dealBally technologies do deal with Amaya Gaming
32 Social Gaming to GamblingConverting social players into paying customers.
34 Caesars EntertainmentA hard look at the finances of the gam-ing giant
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contentsInfinity GamiingMAG
Social Gaming to Gambling
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37 AcePlayPokerNew online poker site launched with Calire Sinclair
38 Cashless Casino closed afer two daysChinese island casino closed down
39 Top tips to successful conference networking
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Next MonthInfinity Gaming Magazine interviews one of the smart-est, successful and great looking people within the online gaming industry.Check out the March edition for this exclusive.
ADVERTISE Superb deals availableContact the team for details
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Welcome to our new look magazine, we hope you like it. We thought as we en-ter a new year we needed to refresh the style to reflect the latest trends in publishing.
ReadershipThe stats guys told me recently that we had nearly 300,000 readers to our publi-cations last year, we must be doing something right then. A big thank you whether you are in Asia, Australia, Af-rica, Europe or the Americas where our magazine reaches.
IGA EVENINGJust over two weeks ago we celebrated the 6th annual International Gaming Awards (IGA) and what a great eve-ning we had. New winners of awards this year, great enter-tainment and most impor-tant to myself and the team we managed to raise thou-sands of pounds for Care In-
ternational our chosen char-ity. So much is covered about winners on the evening and rightly so, all fought hard for their awards with great new innovations, products and services, but our focus is to raise the awareness of deserving charities each year and throughout the year. I wanted to say a special Thank You to Mr Green, whom of-fered to sponsor the charity item of a Chopard Necklace, to which we raised so much for Care International.
Closing ThoughtI want to say enjoy the maga-zine and please do let us know what you think of the new style.In closing and to those people, to whom you know who you are, I want to offer a quote from one great person: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.” - Mahatma Gandhi
Infinity Gaming MAG
New Look, New Year
byLana Thompson - Chief Editor
CONTRIBUTING WRITERSMartin R. BairdRohin Malhotra
CONTACT USClever Duck MediaSuite 105 Park Plaza Point South Hayes Way Cannock WS12 2DB UKTel: +44(0)1543 578 689 [email protected] PRODUCTIONClever Duck MediaSuite 105 Park Plaza Point South Hayes Way Cannock WS12 2DB UK
PUBLISHINGInfinity Gaming Magazineis operated by© Clever Duck Media Ltd ® Company Reg. No. 687 1018(Registered in England)
ADVERTISING:Sponsorship [email protected]
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EDITOR’S LETTER
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“Governor Chris Christie” The man who would be King
T he 7th February 2013 was a huge day for those politicians pushing to make
Atlantic City (New Jersey) the next state to offer legal online gambling.With state Governor Chris Christie making a conditional veto on the bill with what is seen by observers as only small amendments needed to have the bill signed into law and for the state to offer online gambling to its residents. Infinity Gaming Magazine wanted to take a closer look at the Governor of New Jersey and see if he could be a future President of the US. However before we look at the man himself, here’s how the news was broken last week:
G overnor Christie’s condi-tional veto of the online gaming bill – one which
has online poker supporters cel-ebrating and bill sponsor state Sen. Ray Lesniak predicting approval in “a matter of weeks.” The tax goes from 10% to 15% in Christie’s version, almost double the 8% of land based casinos, and there is a 10-year exit clause to allow the legislature to revisit the bill “Pursuant to Article V, Section I, Paragraph 14 of the New Jersey Constitution, I am returning Assem-bly Bill No. 2577 (First Reprint) with
my recommendations for reconsid-eration For generations, Atlantic City was a prolific engine that drove economic growth in our State and generated significant revenues to support critical programs through-out New Jersey.While Atlantic City’s reputation and stature as one of the premier resort destinations on the East Coast are well chronicled, it is no secret that revenue from the region’s most important industries, gaming and tourism, has been in decline. Since the beginning of my Administration, I have stressed the importance of reversing the trend of economic contraction in Atlantic City and have made the revitaliza-tion of the region’s gaming and
tourism industries a key priority. In furtherance of my commitment to these critically important industries, I signed landmark legislation in February of 2011 establishing the Atlantic City Tourism District.This
law, the product of a joint effort between my Administration and the Legislature, sought to
enhance tourism in Atlantic City by empowering the Casino Reinvest-ment Development Authority
(“CRDA”) to coordinate the mar-keting efforts of the casino in-dustry, implement public safety
initiatives in Atlantic City, and make critical investments in both gaming and non-gaming amenities in the region. The law also reorganized
Editorial on New Jersey
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several State entities and authori-ties with tourism related duties and responsibilities in order to promote efficiency and achieve
greater synergies between such entities. While some of the provisions set forth in this
legislation would serve to advance the important goals of the 2011 Tourism District law, others are at cross-purposes with the law’s underlying objec-tives. Without question, one of the keys to success in Atlantic City lies with giving the CRDA the tools it needs to effectively implement the State’s reform agenda. Toward that end, and consistent with the provisions of the Tourism District law, I firmly believe that the CRDA needs significant flexibility and freedom from burdensome, bureaucratic, and overly restrictive State mandates.
The Governor FactsChristopher James “Chris” Christie was born September 6, 1962, he is the 55th and current Governor of
New Jersey, serving since 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Christie became the first Republican to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years.Born in Newark, New Jersey, Chris-tie is the graduate of the University
of Delaware and Seton Hall Univer-sity School of Law. In 1987 Christie worked as a lawyer in private prac-tice before he was elected as a Free-holder of Morris County, New Jersey, where he served from 1995 to 1998. In 1998 Christie registered as a lob-byist, working for the legal represen-tation firm Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci. President George W. Bush appointed Christie as the United States Attor-
ney for the District of New Jersey in 2002, serving in that position until his resignation 2008.In January 2009, Christie filed as a candidate for Governor of New Jer-sey. He won the Republican Primary with 55% of the vote, and defeated
incumbent Governor John Corzine, with 48% of the vote in the general election. Chris-tie, who was seen as possible candidate in the 2012 Presi-dential Election but declined to run, delivered the keynote address at the 2012 Repub-lican National Convention. Some view Christie as a lead-ing contender for the Repub-lican Presidential nomination in 2016. However in Novem-ber 2012, Christie filed pa-
pers to run for a second term in of-fice, which would begin in January 2014, which would mean should he be confirmed as Governor again, he would have to resign before running as a Presidential candidate.Only recently some political com-mentators have questioned whether Christie would be a viable presiden-tial candidate, both for medical and social reasons concerning his size.
Some view Christie as a lead-ing contender for the Repub-lican Presidential nomination in 2016. However in Novem-ber 2012, Christie filed pa-pers to run for a second term
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All theWinners and memorable moments from the 6th International Gaming Awards
A busy week for the gambling industry got un-der way in style in London as the igaming and offline gaming community rubbed shoulders,
clinked glasses and celebrated their efforts at the 6th International Gaming Awards.Through thick times and thin, the great and the good of the gaming world turn out to celebrate excellence in our wonderful industry, network with their peers and aspire to one day join the winners on stage.The glittering Gala Awards dinner held at the Brewery venue on 4 February 2013 in support of Care Interna-tional charity and Responsible Gambling Trust. Was
attended by most influential executives of the Gaming industry from Landbased and iGaming companies and supported by generous sponsors.Among the many highlights was, Jez San OBE receiving the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Gam-ing Industry. The International Gaming Awards highest honour, the Outstanding Contribution Award, is given to an individual for their truly outstanding achieve-ments. Previous recipients of the Outstanding Contri-bution Award Mr Andrew Love Chairman of Ritz Club London, Dr Stanley Ho and Bertill Knutsson founder of TCSJohnHuxley
The sixth International Gaming held on the 4th February in London at the Brew-ery was again attended by the leaders of the global gambling industry. Such figures came from Macau, Australia, Africa, Canada, Europe & the US, to celebrate, recognise and support this charity focussed event.
IGA6 Winners
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Winner
Casino/Integrated Resort
of the Year City of Dreams, Melco Crown Entertainment
Winner
Casino Operator Of The
Year Europe Rank Group (Grosvenor Casinos)
Winner
Casino Operator Of The
Year Americas Las Vegas Sands
Winner
Casino Operator Of The
Year Asia/Australia Galaxy Entertainment Group
Winner
Corporate Services Supplier
of the Year Optimal Payments
Winner
Casino VIP Room of the
Year Galaxy Macau Sky 32 VIP Casino
Winner
iGaming Software Supplier Playtech
Winner
Mobile Operator of the Year William Hill
Winner
Industry Publication/Portal
of the Year iGaming Business Magazine
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Winner
Online Bingo Operator of
the Year Bwin.party (Foxy Bingo)
Winner
Online Casino Operator of
the Year Mr Green
Winner
Online Poker Operator of
the Year PokerStars
Winner
Online Sportsbook Operator
of the Year Paddy Power
Winner
Socially Responsible
Operator Land Based Aspers
Winner
Payment Solutions Provider
Company of the Year Skrill
Winner
Slots Operator of the Year
(Online) Redcorp (7Red)
Winner
Slot Manufacturer/Provider
Online or Land Based Williams Interactive
Winner
Socially Responsible
Operator Online Sky Betting & Gaming
IGA6 Winners
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co.u
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we are poker
2012_1204 We are poker SP EN.indd 1 13/11/2012 16:49
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Winner
Technology Provider/
Supplier Bally Technologies
Winner
Traditional Casino
Equipment Supplier TCSJohnHuxley
Winner
Gaming Industry Fair Play Betsson
Winner
Outstanding Contribution to Gaming Recipient 2013 Jez San OBE
J ez San, the founder of 3D online poker website PKR & Crunchy Frog received the Outstanding Contribution to Gaming Award for 2013. Jez had
previously been honoured for his contrubtion to gam-ing with an OBE. Jez started being involved in comput-ers at the tender age of 13 and began in business when
only 16 years old. Designed his first computer game back in 1986, which was voted Best Game of the Year. His previous companies designed games for the Harry Potter franchise among many others. He is also a life-time member of the prestigous BAFTA. For Jez’s full bio visit the Gaming Awards website.
IGA6 Winners
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01 All important Awards This is what the hun-dreds of attendees where all here to win.
02 CalvinAyre Team Always expect glamor-ous ladies with CalvinAyre team.
03 Andrew Love Our Chairman of the IGA6 Judges
04 Optimal Payments Neil Erlick of Optimal Payments, one of our great sponsors for IGA6
IGA6 Highlights
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Ice Totally Gaming WiFi HACKED!
Pokerstrategy wins court case against Pocket KingsPokerstrategy has won their court case against Pocket Kings, the parent company & former owner of Full Tilt Poker worth $1.2 million, even thou the company is now being liquidated.
New Jersey first to offer television gam-blingCustomers at a New Jersey casino won’t even have to get out of bed in order to place a bet soon, as The Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City said it will become the first casino in the US to let guests gamble in their hotel rooms via TV sets.
Kim Dotcom launch-es new siteThe internet entrepeneur Kim Dotcom boasted on Sunday that his new file-sharing service, Mega, was the fastest-growing startup in internet history.
New Head of Poker Comms at PokerStarsPokerStars have appoint-ed Lee Jones as Head of Poker Communications for PokerStars. In this newly-created role, Jones will serve as a key PokerStars spokesperson on poker issues for internal and external audiences.
Our sister publication, The iGaming Post received reports from visitors at the re-cent Ice Totally Gaming Exhibition and Conferences that they have had their lap-tops and mobile phones hacked while at-tending the Clarion hosted event. Both complaints said that they had their bank details taken and used to purchase online items, including a £2,500 watch. Becky Liggero from CalvinAyre has also reported her own details being stolen and her bank details used to shop online illegally before bank fraud staff informed her and blocked the account, all while us-ing the Wifi offered at the ExCel centre during Ice Totally Gaming. Did you had your laptop or mobile hacked at Ice Totally Gaming? If so please do con-tact us. Here are some tips from our Technology expert to avoid being hacked while us-ing public WiFi: The default security settings and firewalls
on your smartphone, tablet or notebook may not be strong enough to prevent prying eyes. But there are some steps you can take for some added protection 1. Turn off sharing. You can share files, music and remote login from your own private home Wi-Fi, but you need to dis-able these settings before connecting to public Wi-Fi. Otherwise, anyone in your vicinity can hack into your PC. 2. Avoid automatically connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots. Your smartphone or tablet may be set to connect to any available Wi-Fi hotspot, a setting that can seriously endanger your privacy. That would allow your device to connect to a public net-work without your express permission, or it may automatically connect you to a network set up to steal information. 3. Confirm the network name. Sometimes hackers will set up a fake Wi-Fi network to attract unwitting users. For example, the public Wi-Fi network in your neighbour-hood Starbucks may not be called “Free Starbucks Wi-Fi.” If you’re in a cafe, coffee shop or other business, check with an em-ployee there.
NEWS
ILLUMINATING NEW MARKETS Let Playtech’s proven experience light the way
to success in the regulated markets
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It seems the fight for seats at International Game Technology board of directors is getting even
worse, with the news thatIGT’s man-agement made their latest move by imposing internal blocks prevent-ing employees from accessing challenger Jason Ader’s websites. IGT’s CEO Patti Hart, whom Ader & his allies would like to see depart, has authorised an internal network pop-up that advises IGT employees
that access has been blocked. We all know within corporations that disagreements between gaming executives are not uncommon. But it’s been years since the industry has seen a family feud quite like this.The attempt by Ader & former IGT CEO Charles Mathewson to gain a three-seat foothold on the board has seen a bitter & very public fight played out for all to see.
L as Vegas Sands has an-nounced that it will go ahead with the construction
of their vast casino project near Madrid which could create up to 200,000 jobs, the Madrid regional government said. Six years after unveiling the contested project, the company run by US billionaire Sheldon Adelson will build the proj-ect on 750 hectares (1,850 acres) of land in Alcorcon, located about 15 kilometres (10 miles) southwest of the Spanish capital. The head of the regional government of Madrid, Ignacio Gonzalez, said. “We expect to launch the first rock at the end of the year,” he told a news confer-
ence. The “Eurovegas” project calls for the construction of four casino complexes with 12 hotels provid-ing 36,000 rooms, nine theatres, three golf courses, and convention centres over a period of 10-15 years. The Madrid region fought hard to lure in the project at a time when Spain is grappling with a record unemployment rate of 26%. Last year Las Vegas Sands chose Madrid over Barcelona for the project after months of talks with the two com-peting cities but the exact location where it would be built was only just disclosed in early February.
Skrill com-plete Pay-safe deal
Skrill the winner of Pay-ment Solutions Provider at the recent 6th International Gaming Awards have an-nounced that the acquisition of paysafecard, the Austrian prepaid payments business, has been completed. Skrill is majority owned by Invest-corp Technology Partners. the acquisition of paysaf-ecard represents a hugely significant step forward for Skrill, expanding its position as one of the world’s largest digital wallet providers.
Eurovegas in Madrid suburb
IGT bosses block opponents website
GAMING NEWS
Patti Hart CEO of IGT
© 2012 Williams Interactive LLC THE WIZARD OF OZ and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Turner Entertainment Co. (s13)
A W M S C O M P A N Y
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trusted player-favorite brands, Williams Interactive is prepared
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© 2012 Williams Interactive LLC THE WIZARD OF OZ and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Turner Entertainment Co. (s13)
A W M S C O M P A N Y
Learn More Today at:
W I L L I A M S I N T E R A C T I V E . C O M
With access to an unrivaled catalog of casino-proven games and
trusted player-favorite brands, Williams Interactive is prepared
to deliver the online content your players are demanding.
TM
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Tuesday that when the state Assembly and Senate ammend the online gam-bling that he conditionally vetoed earlier this month, he is ready to sign that day, so long as they make the changes to the bill he has requested.Indeed depending on the Gov-ernors day of course, if he is not too busy. However it is a clear indication that the New Jersey gambling bill should it pass both houses will not be sitting on the Governors desk for weeks until the very last moment this time.The online gambling bill goes to both houses on the 26th February for consideration and ratification, it could possibly be ready that very day for the Governor to sign.State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who is the biggest supporter of the bill said “there is a commitment in both houses to getting a revised bill passed and on Christie’s desk for 26th Feb.”
chris Ferguson has settled his case against the US DOJ, the one-time part owner of the old Full Tilt Poker online site which was accused by US authorities of be-ing a massive “Ponzi Scheme” and taking some $400 million plus from player deposits. The settlement with US authori-ties is believed to cost Ferguson some $2.3 million, which is held in his accounts. At one time the DOJ was looking to retrieve some $40 million plus from the face of the disgraced former FTP site.
The money retrieved will go towards paying back US poker player’s still awaiting payment from the settlement, even thou European and rest of world players have been paid back last November.
Part of the agreement settlement says that Ferguson admits no wrong doing and was unaware of any illegal activity by FTP.
Pennsylvania could be ready to get into the online state gam-bling business, as a bill going into the senate will be introduced there next week, says state representative Tina Davis who is sponsoring the bill.However the bill has no guaran-tee of passing as Ms Davis is a Democrat trying to pass the bill through a senate controlled by Republicans.“It will happen eventually,” says Davis, speaking to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper. Davis, whose district is home to the Parx casino near Philadelphia, says that Pennsylvania has sur-passed New Jersey as the coun-try’s No. 2 gambling state and says it must stay competitive.“Considering the nationwide ef-forts to legalize Internet gaming, it is imperative that we main-tain the integrity of our gaming industry amid inevitable federal pre-emption and competing states, as well as possible expan-sion of Internet games through the privatization of our own state lottery,” she says.
New Jersey lawmakers vote 26th Feb
Ferguson settles with US DOJ
GAMING NEWS
Pennsylvania online gambling bill due late Feb.
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L et’s take a trip back in time, back to when Alan Greens-pan was chairman of the
Federal Reserve. In his typical fashion – head down and mumbling into the microphone – Greenspan regales an audience with his vision of the U.S. economy. He talks about trends. At times he’s a little hard to follow. And, of course, there’s the need to read between the lines. But people know these are very important words. When Greenspan talks, he has an impact on the U.S. and even the world. But what if he isn’t seen as a financial genius? I guarantee many people won’t make
the effort to listen. Greenspan’s old speeches have nothing to do with casino training but his presentation style was a textbook example of how some gaming industry train-ers impart their words of wisdom, lulling their audience to sleep in the process. Greenspan could get away with a less-than-interesting presen-tation. Can your property’s training sessions be so lucky? If you’re like most properties, the answer is a re-sounding NO! I recently talked with a client who used a new company for training and he said the informa-tion was great, that the presenter was knowledgeable
Alan Greenspan Offers Valuable Lessons for Casino Training By Martin R. Baird
“ We’ve all experienced dull training . So what can you do about it? Prevention is the best first step. The best way to keep dull training from happening is by demanding a presentation before you make hiring decisions ”
ARTICLES
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But the delivery was awful. The presenter talked in a monotone and had no interaction with the session’s attendees. This is a sure sign that the sandman is coming soon. If Greenspan was a cus-tomer service trainer in the gaming industry today, he would starve because people would zone out as soon as he started babbling. You know exactly what I’m talking about. We’ve all experienced dull training. So what can you do about it? Prevention is the best first step. The best way to keep dull training from happening is by demanding a presentation before you make hir-ing decisions. If the presenter can’t make a one- or two-hour talk fun and interactive, you really should think long and hard about your training investment. It shouldn’t cost much more for fun, interactive training than it does for a talking head. Another answer to this prob-lem is good old-fashioned adult learning done in a different way. What most of us usually experience is a lecture followed by reading. But it’s a proven fact that this approach has the lowest retention level of all types of learning. Adult learning needs to be participant centered. It should be active so participants experience the learning process using all their senses. Studies have shown that as a person uses more and more of their senses during a learning experience, their retention level increases. Think about how we learned as children. We touched, smelled, looked at, listened to and tasted everything. All of these ac-tivities increase the amount of data that the participant’s brain stores for future use. Notice I said partici-pant, not attendee. When people just attend, they are not involved and learning. After involvement, you need to make the experience
fun. When peo-ple have a good time, they’re more open to new ideas and concepts. This means they’re open to learning. Training should be fun and edu-cational. That’s not an oxymoron. Learning and fun actually go well together. Now let’s take a look at content. Some people think good training must be harsh to the palate. They believe that if it doesn’t taste like medicine, it can’t be doing you any good. That is simply wrong! You need to have first-rate information that’s specific to the gaming industry. The presenter should talk about real customer service challenges that hard-working, front-line people face on an hourly basis. If the quality of the content is not considered along with the effectiveness of the deliv-ery, it’s almost assured you will end up with a less-than-great learning experience.Content also needs to be at the right level. You can talk about behavior theories to a group of 50 dedicated employees, but you will get far better results by letting them share their ideas and learn for themselves. This creates buy-in and also helps diminish the boredom. The only people who care about theories are academics. People on the front lines care about the customer. They care about their own lives. In other words, how can this training help them make more money?The information delivered during a training session needs to be very carefully presented so it’s easy to
understand and apply in the real world. You can’t force people to read between the lines or figure out complex information. You need to spoon feed the information with just enough fun to make it go down easy. It should be tasty to the pal-ate, not harsh.Once you understand his shortcom-ings as a speaker, Mr. Greenspan sheds an interesting light on how to do training the right way. He offers real lessons about content and de-livery. The challenge all of us in the industry face is that we can’t rely on one or the other. Great training needs to have a strong emphasis on both content and delivery or it will be a poor economic decision for the property. To make that crystal clear – it’s a waste of money!
Martin R. Baird is chief executive
officer of Robinson & Associates,
Inc., a Boise, Idaho-based consulting
firm to the global gaming industry
that is dedicated to helping casinos
improve their guest service so they
can compete and generate future
growth and profitability. Robinson
& Associates is the leader in casino
guest experience, management and
improvement. For more informa-
tion, visit the company’s Web sites at
www.casinocustomerservice.com
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I In a rare television interview recently, James Packer has paid tribute to his “terrifying” late
father Kerry and Hollywood star Tom Cruise. Packer, who is develop-ing a complex in Manila, opened up on his media tycoon father Kerry in a television interview offering unprecedented insights into their relationship.The late Packer senior, one of Australia’s richest and most influential men, who died from kid-ney failure in 2005, was known for his temper and his son said he was “best in class that I’ve come across” on that count. “At times, absolutely, if he wanted to he could pretty
easily terrify me,” Packer said in the Seven Network interview. “I always got a bit jumpy when dad called because I didn’t know if it was go-ing to be a good call or a bad call,” he added.
“ My dad was a larger-than-life character and I’m not going to say every minute or every
hour we spent together was a highlight.”
T here were moments when Packer said his father was “very unhappy”, describing
him as a “mercurial person” who had “big mood swings” and battled his
James Packer on his father & Tom Cruise
In a rare television interview James Packer has paid tribute to his father & Hollywood film star Tom Cruise
“ I always got a bit jumpy when dad called because I didn’t know if it was going to be a good call or a bad call”
NEWS
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O wn demons. He said the media billionaire “gave me the belt only a couple of times”, and he had deserved it, being “caught red-handed doing
something he specifically told me not to do”. “I wouldn’t want to give you the impression that dad was excessive in those things.” Packer wept as he recalled the final conversation with his father who, unknown to him, was dying. The elder Packer urged his son to follow his own path in life. Packer also opened up on his links to the Church of Scientology and high-profile acolyte Cruise, who he said “reached out to me” when he was at his lowest after his marriage failed and a major business deal went bust. “Tom Cruise reached out to me and it was a surreal thing — I had met him only once or twice and he was in Aus-tralia and we got together,” he said. “I think that he could tell that I was in pain and he invited me to his house to go skiing with him. “He never asked me for anything in his entire life, and he believed in me when other people didn’t. I think he’s a very special person,” he added.
Packer is lobbying to build a US$1 billion casino in Syd-ney, the city’s second, hoping to lure Asian high-rollers, particularly the growing ranks of wealthy Chinese.
James Packer paying thanks to Hollywood film star Tom Cruise
“ My father gave me the belt only a couple of times, but I had deserved it being caught red-handed doing something specifically told not to do”
NEWS
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TIPS THIS MONTH
I t is all well and good having a presence on Twitter, however if you want to take things to the
next level then you will need to fine tune your presence. Twitter engage-ment is so important and predicted to be even more-so in the future for a variety of reasons. So, here are some Twitter tips to help your Tweets go viral.
01 We bang on about the impor-tance of having an image, but
many people still use the stock egg image. Have a good candid picture of yourself to create a personal feel.
02 Your bio is also very impor-tant and having certain words
in there can help tell people why they need to follow you. Certain words en-courage more followers than others – for instance words such as ‘official’, ‘you’ and ‘please’ tend to help people achieve above average followers.
03 Tweets that come with inter-esting and engaging links are
far more likely to see you retweeted than mentions. People are far more in-clined to click on links on Twitter and there is a definite correlation between links in Tweets and a high follower number. Reports also suggest that the link should be around 25% of the way into the tweet to maximise clicks and retweets.
04 The more you talk about yourself in a tweet and use
words such as ‘me’ and ‘I’, the less in-clined people will be to retweet your tweet. Make tweets about your follow-ers and you should see a rise in tweets.
05 Tweets with a negative sen-timent or that have a down-
trodden overall tone will tend to see you with a higher unfollow rate than happy, upbeat tweets. So, be positive to ensure people follow you.
9 Twitter tips to ensure you go viral
06 Research also shows that if the tweet is longer, it will be
more inclined to get more clicks than shorter tweets. Also, leave around 10 or so spaces at the end free for easier follower retweeting.
07 Tweeting during the day is generally a better time to
tweet than in the morning. People also tend to react better between Thursday and Sunday according to statistics. Fri-day afternoon is the most popular for retweets, though this could be down to #FF as well as the feel good factor of the weekend.
08 If you’re retweeting a blog post or content – a great
headline is far more inclined to see you retweeted than a run of the mill
one. Also adding words such as ‘please retweet’ will see a significant chance of people pinging your tweet forward.
09If you have a knack for add-ing a twist or a little hu-
mour to a situation or news story you will certainly be able to increase the number of retweets. People love a little twist or unique take – so think hard before tweeting. These little tips will help you hone your tweets and increase the chances of them going viral – remember that it’s the little things that make the dif-ference.
byAdrian ReynoldsTwitter King
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Switzerland considers new gambling tax legislation
The Swiss Federal Administration has recently unveiled details of the Federal Council’s plans for
a new gambling law, including plans to introduce a new concept for the taxation of betting gains.Federal Ad-ministration highlights the fact that gains from lotteries and from profes-sional wagers are currently subject to taxation in the Confederation, while gains realized in a casino are exempt from taxation. Consequently, to end this “inequality” as regards tax treatment, the Federal Council intends to exempt from tax all gains derived from bets, the Ad-ministration explains. The arising shortfall of fiscal revenues for the Confederation and for the
Swiss cantons should be offset at least in part by additional revenues, given that the new legislation will serve to make gam-bling more attractive in Switzerland in the future, the Federal Administration emphasizes. Switzerland’s proposed new gam-bling law is designed to protect against gambling addiction, ensuring that operators put in place appropri-ate measures aimed at mitigating the risks of pathological gambling. The emphasis is on prevention. The Federal Council also intends
to end the absolute ban on online casinos, to ensure that revenues from these games are kept in Switzerland rather than flowing to foreign opera-tors. These revenues can then be used to fund cultural, sporting and social projects, for example. The Federal Council aims to launch the consultation on its new gambling law in the second half of 2013.
London Capital Group possible acquisition
GAMING NEWS
The Responsible Gambling Trust seeks adventurers to join its
Kilimanjaro 2013 fundraising expedition
• Trek to the roof of Africa •• Conquer the world's tallest freestanding mountain •
• Hike through several climate zones • Sleep beneath star-studded skies •• No technical climbing ability required •
• Help raise funds to support our front-line services •
The Responsible Gambling Trust is anindependent, national charity committedto minimising problem gambling andgambling-related harm in Britain througheffective education and preventiontechniques, which stop people getting intoproblems with their gambling, andensuring that those that do developproblems receive fast and effectivetreatment and support.
For further information on our Kilimanjaro2013 fundraising expedition pleasecontact Karen Churches Peacock, Directorof Fundraising, either by email [email protected] by phone on 020-7287-1994.
Registered charity number: 1093910www.responsiblegamblingtrust.org.uk
Only27 placesavailable
igaming post advert:Layout 1 07/11/2012 09:50 Page 1
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01 Ross Ferrar One of our IGA6 Judg-es & CEO of the Gaming Technologies Association
02 Shay Segev COO of Playtech and one of our Gold Sponsor companies
03 A Kilt in February! One of our brave at-tendees wearing a kilt in February.
04 Mr Green One minute there was one and then three of them!
01
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IGA Highlights
05 Las Vegas Girls One lucky attendee with our Vegas girls
The Responsible Gambling Trust seeks adventurers to join its
Kilimanjaro 2013 fundraising expedition
• Trek to the roof of Africa •• Conquer the world's tallest freestanding mountain •
• Hike through several climate zones • Sleep beneath star-studded skies •• No technical climbing ability required •
• Help raise funds to support our front-line services •
The Responsible Gambling Trust is anindependent, national charity committedto minimising problem gambling andgambling-related harm in Britain througheffective education and preventiontechniques, which stop people getting intoproblems with their gambling, andensuring that those that do developproblems receive fast and effectivetreatment and support.
For further information on our Kilimanjaro2013 fundraising expedition pleasecontact Karen Churches Peacock, Directorof Fundraising, either by email [email protected] by phone on 020-7287-1994.
Registered charity number: 1093910www.responsiblegamblingtrust.org.uk
Only27 placesavailable
igaming post advert:Layout 1 07/11/2012 09:50 Page 1
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Nearly $11 billion in revenues for
Nevada casinos in 2012
Wynn announce lower results
Ladbrokes prom-ising start to 2013
Bally Technologies do deal with Amaya Gaming
Amaya Gaming have announced an agreement with Bally Tech-nologies to integrate Amaya’s Ongame Poker Platform (“On-game”) and casino suite into Bally’s iGaming Platform. Ongame’s will be Bally’s preferred poker provider in the emerg-ing U.S. online gaming market. Ongame’s global online poker network includes 25 of the e-gaming industry’s strongest brands, owned by a total of 19 operators in regulated jurisdictions, and currently reaches more than 20 million customers in over 25 markets. Ongame also operates regional networks in France, Italy and Spain.
Nevada casinos pulled in revenues of $10.8 billion in 2012, that’s up 1.5% from the previous year, the state Gaming Control Board reported. Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip saw revenues for 2012 at $6.2 bil-lion, that’s up 2.3% from 2011.For the month of December, Nevada casinos reported revenue of $943.3 million, an increase of 10.2% from the same month in 2011. On the Las Vegas Strip, casino revenue was up by 13.4% in December.
Fourth-quarter profit totaled $118.2 million, down from $194.4 million a year earlier. They continued a significant de-cline in Macau due to market share loss to the Cotai strip, where Wynn’s competitors own properties. Sur-prisingly, the company’s Las Vegas operations were the stronger asset in the last quarter, With the rise of Macau as a gambling center and the slow U.S. economy, the fortunes of Las Vegas casinos have lagged.
Ladbrokes have come out and an-nounced that they believe their new initiatives and investments will start to show signs of success and return in the second half of 2013. The gambling giant has just re-ported an 8% climb in operating profit to £206 million for the year ending 2012.
GAMING NEWS
Bally Technologies’ Vice President of Business Development John Connelly
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Social Gaming to Gambling The reality of converting social gamers into paying customers
A ccording to a recent Mor-gan Stanley report, 20% - or 170m - of the 800m
social gamers worldwide play some form of social gambling game, with 2% of them generating $1.7bn in any given month. This compares with 50m real-money online gam-blers who by comparison generate in the region of $35bn. $1.7bn represents a lot of incremen-tal revenue for companies seeking to enter this market but this in itself does not appear to be the main driver of the gambling compa-nies’ interest. Although revenue-generation is the ultimate goal, it is the perceived strategic benefits of that growing 170m players that has many so excited. Indeed, the growth of social gambling sector is attracting attention from all direc-tions. Social gaming companies like Zynga have very successful social gambling games. Online gambling companies like 888, Playtech, Gamesys and bwin.party have ex-panded into social gambling. Some gaming and consumer bodies call for its monitoring, or even regula-tion, in light of its proximity to, and perceived propensity to promote, real-money gambling. And there has been an flurry of newbies and their social gambling games, some designed to generate considerable
revenue and some focused upon creating large databases as a loss-leader so they can convert them into real-money gamblers. The last of these points is argu-ably the most important one from a strategic perspective. Is it easy to convert social gamblers into real-money gamblers? The simple answer is that it is not easy at all. It is not impossible but it is much tougher than some social gambling companies - especially those seek-ing investment or an exit courtesy of gambling companies - will lead you to believe. Social gambling is unregulated so it is able to thrive almost everywhere whilst online gambling is restricted. Where marketing of online gambling is restricted social gaming can be
viewed as a legitimate and poten-tially efficient funnel to real-money gambling for large numbers of social gamblers and regulated markets like the UK can offer visible convergence between real-money gambling and social gambling. Although it is an enviable position to have profitable operations in both social and gambling sectors, with integration and cross-promo-tion offering incremental revenue and optimisation, there are a num-ber of social gambling companies whose business models involve the growth of social gamblers as a loss-leader - or marketing cost - with the prospect of conversion into real-money gambling being the trig-ger for profitability. To date, such strategies have generally failed.
Expert Opinion
By Rohin Malhotra
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Conversion can be marginal and expensive and insufficient to off-set a loss-making social gambling operation. And so companies seeking to acquire these loss-leaders should beware. Some social gambling businesses that look well positioned for real-money gambling due to strong brands and large databases can also miss the mark. Just having a database of social gamblers is not enough. Players can become inactive quickly, with some games retaining just a quarter of players after a month and less than 10% after three months. If companies are to effectively convert, it is likely to require ongoing processes for cross-promotion and education at all stages of their gameplay with a genuinely integrated approach without over-promoting products and frustrating players. Simply emailing large databases of inac-tive users does not repre-sent, in any realm, a proven foundation for building a business. For fuller understanding of conversion, we need to look at every level starting with the product itself. Slots and Bingo players may be easier to convert to a gam-bling version of their game because of the proximity between the gaming experiences whereas conversion of social Poker players will be more challenging because of the different gaming experience. Typically, freeplay poker players - whether they be from Facebook games, .net websites or subscrip-tion games - play loosely and tend to go all-in more frequently than a gambler, who plays poker more tightly. To those who do not play
poker, this looks like a small issue but it is not. Educational tools are required in order to prevent that social player from playing too loosely and losing too much too quickly - a challenge that is not a new one. The .net websites, which wholly comprise freeplayers, and .com websites, which at any time
can comprise 80% of freeplayers, are evidence of this. Comparatively, the gameplay experience of Slots and Bingo can be similar in social gambling and real-money gambling arenas. It is true that playing for money may limit the credits spent and numbers of lines used by players for each spin of the Slots but an introduc-tion of a money prize instead of free virtual credit for some increased
risk does not fundamentally change the gameplay experience and so conversion can be regarded to be more achievable. For many Slots and Bingo games, gameplay is primarily geared towards entertain-ment and so real money wagering can be more seamlessly introduced whereas its introduction has a more
fundamental impact upon a poker game. Upselling social gamblers into real money gambling is a realistic and sound goal but being estab-lished in these disciplines will not alone enable any company or partnership to be successful in doing this. If a gambling company is seeking to buy its way into social gaming with a view to
converting social gamblers to real money gamblers, it would be wise to ensure that the business is profit-able today and projected to be for the foreseeable future. Because if profitability of that strategy is de-pendent upon large-scale conver-sion of a social gambling operation that would otherwise be a loss-leading marketing cost, it could be a long and expensive journey for them.
Typically, freeplay poker players, play loosely & tend to go all in more often than real cash players who play a tighter game. Education tools are required in order to prevent social players losing too much too quickly - A challenge that is not new
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“Functionally insolvent” Cincinnati casino puts Caesars’ finances in spotlight
C Caesars Entertainment, the manager of Cleveland’s Horseshoe Casino, contin-
ues to face financial pressures that the company says could leave it unable to repay debt. The struggles were shown as state regulators consider approving licenses for a Horseshoe that opens in just over a weeks time in Cincin-nati. Experts say Caesars’ finances won’t affect either of the Ohio Horseshoes -- the Las Vegas company is a one-fifth partner with Dan Gilbert’s Rock Gaming in both ventures and is called on more for industry exper-tise than investment capital. Nonetheless, the Ohio Casino Control Commission asks consul-tants from the New Jersey-based Spectrum Gaming Group to provide regular reviews. Spectrum’s report won’t be made public until the com-mission meets, but a document that Caesars submitted to the federal Securities and Exchange Commis-sion on Feb. 4 offers a preview. iAccording to the filing, Caesars’ fourth-quarter losses are expected to land between $452 million and $556 million, compared with $246.9 million in the same period the pre-vious year. Debt totals more than $20.9 billion, and the company says it does not generate enough income to make nearly $2 billion a year in payments, most of it interest. Caesars plans to
seek refinancing, but the filing cau-tions that the company could have to file for reorganization. The filing notified shareholders that Caesars plans to create a subsidiary that would take in a Baltimore casino being developed with Rock Gaming and other partners, the Planet Hol-lywood casino resort in Las Vegas and an online-gaming affiliate that includes the World Series of Poker. The subsidiary would assume a small portion of Caesars’ debt and could raise money through the sale of stock. The online unit could be particularly attractive to investors, given a move by states to legalize interactive gaming within their bor-ders and the possibility of federal regulation that will expand the gaming nationwide. Caesars is a vic-
tim of a 1-2 punch: a highly lever-aged buyout of its stock in 2008 and an economic downturn from which the gaming industry is still recover-ing.
F itch Ratings gave Caesars’ notes a “negative outlook” this month and expressed
concern about the rate the com-pany is burning through cash. Alex Bumazhny, director of the gaming, lodging and leisure unit at Fitch, said the investment analy-sis and research company views default as a “real possibility” for Caesars and could revise that status to “probable.” Former Caesars executive Randall Fine said the company is “function-ally insolvent.”
Caesars Spotlight
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C Caesars has way too much debt,” said Fine, managing director of the Fine Point
Group, a gaming management and consulting firm. “They’ve spent the last four or five years fighting a rear-guard action to keep their head above water.” Caesars spokes-man Gary Thompson dismissed the possibility of filing for protection from creditors. He said the company has reduced operating expenses and debt and pushed back the due dates on obligations beyond 2015. Steps taken by the company include
selling Harrah’s St. Louis to Penn Na-tional Gaming for $610 million last year. Thompson said Caesars contin-ues to aggressively pursue new de-velopment, with announced targets in Boston, Toronto and South Korea.
Caesars has scaled back to manager and minority partner in the Cleve-land and Cincinnati casinos, but Thompson said the company will determine its role in other projects on a case-by-case basis.
“ I’m personally very confident we are following the right path to make sure this com-
pany is going to gain value, a lot of growth value, in the next couple of years,” he said in an interview. Shawn Kravetz is president of Es-planade Capital Partners, a Boston hedge fund that includes gaming as
a focus. Esplanade holds an inter-est in Lakes Entertainment, which owns 8 percent interest in Ohio’s Horseshoe casinos and a third Rock Ohio Caesars property, Thistledown Racino.
Kravetz acknowledged that Cae-sars has “had to maneuver,” but he thinks the worst is over. “There’s no question they are in a challenging situation,” Kravetz said. “That said,
they are survivors.” Rock Gaming spokeswoman Jen-nifer Kulczycki said the company would not comment before the release of the Spectrum report. But Rock rushed to its partner’s de-fense in April, when the Cleveland Horseshoe was preparing to open and Spectrum was questioning Caesars’ stability. Matt Cullen, Rock Gaming’s presi-dent and chief operating officer, said at the time that Rock could replace Caesars as manager, if nec-essary, but he was confident that would not happen. “We’re very proud of our partner-ship with Caesars,” Cullen said. “We feel very good about them as a company and individuals.”
Caesars Spotlight
“ Former Caesars Executive Randall Fine said the company is functionally insolvent”
Caesars’ finances in the spotlight
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BE THE FIRST TO KNOW.
Some news breaks before dawn.
News doesn’t stop when you leave the office
Receive 24/7 news, views and opinions from the number one online gambling industry news site.
Don’t attend another industry conference without it
Gain access to a complete conference and events directory including dates, locations, attendee info and venue maps.
Download the free CalvinAyre.com Mobile App for your iPhone or Android.
CA Mob App_advert.indd 1 12/18/12 12:59 PM
American Casino & Entertainment Properties launched 12th February the acePLAYpoker.com, Owned by the Stratosphere casino in Las Vegas have now become the latest Nevada gaming company to offer free-to-play online poker.The acePLAY poker site has their very own face of poker hostess in the shape of Claire Sinclair, who was Playmate of the Year 2011.Many gaming companies have launched poker sites over the last year in anticipation of laws that would allow limited online gaming, either by federal legislation or state-by-state. Players can win prizes including show tickets and thrill rides at the Strato-sphere and free hotel stays at American Casino & Entertainment casinos. Besides its Las Vegas properties, the company operates the Aquarius casino in Laughlin. The Nevada Gaming Commission approved American Casino & Entertain-ment Properties as an interactive gaming operator last September. “With the launch of this free to play website, we can now bring the excite-ment of play found at our properties to anyone with Internet access, no matter their location,” said Alec Driscoll, the company’s director of gam-ing development. “We are also positioning ACEP and acePLAYpoker.com for the potential approval of legalized online gaming.”
After months of waiting for the decision by the Competitions Commission (CC) on the Rank Group proposal to purchase Gala Casinos, the decision is finally through. Although the provi-sional ruling in December from the CC saying that Rank would need to sell some 6 of the Gala casinos to approve the deal, that has changed and Rank will be al-lowed to buy 19 of the 23 casinos Gala has in its portfolio.Rank said it was “pleased that it will be able to proceed with the purchase of 19 of the 23 casinos originally comprised within the proposed acquisition” and it was in talks with Gala in relation to the revised deal.CC deputy chairman Martin Cave said: “We think that removing the casinos in problem areas from the deal and requiring Rank to sell the Edinburgh cold licence to an upfront buyer will protect the interests of customers.“The excluded casinos are all profitable and so we believe that they will continue to act as viable competitors to Rank in these areas.”
Stratosphere in Las Vegas launch online poker site
GAMING NEWS
Rank given green light to buy Gala Casinos
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Cashless casino closed after just two days
Full Tilt Poker to go .euFull Tilt Poker is following Pokerstars, its sister site in opening a .eu website li-censed in Malta. The move could have positive tax implications for Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Slovenian, Romanian, Dutch & Ger-man players who migrate to the new venue.
Amaya extends deal with Warner Amaya Gaming reported it has extended their agree-ment with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, on be-half of DC entertainment, to be the exclusive pro-vider of DC Comics comic book-inspired pay-to-play online casino games.
Aussie authorities green light dealWilliam Hill & GVC Hold-ings have been given the go ahead from the North-ern Territories Commission & the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board regarding ownership of the Sportingbet Australian business saying conditions of the offer have been satisfied.
Locus Gaming An-nounces ATR Part-nershipLocus Gaming has signed an exclusive deal to roll out their new Jack Gold Casino on the mobile and tablet sites of At The Races.
The newly opened Jester Bar in Chi-na’s southern Hainan island, part of the Mangrove Tree Resort World in Sanya Bay, has been closed by local authori-ties after only two days in operation. According to reports from the the dep-uty director of the Sanya Culture and Sports Bureau on the island, they have closed the bar/casino that offered cus-tomers casino style gambling BUT for
prizes not cash. In fact there was no cash involved by customers or the operators. However Chen Guangfa from the Bu-reau said ”We have shut the entertain-ment bar,” and continued “We are inves-tigating it and so far, it looks like they have violated their operating regula-tions.”“When we approved it, the regulations and the certificate said its operations would be entertainment in nature, but inside the bar there are some games and they’ve gone beyond the scope of the regulations, so we closed it down.”it is still unclear if and how the owners of Jesters Bar have violated their certifi-cate to operate.
NEWS
The first live qualifiers for the Bodog Poker Network’s Anonymous Poker Series will take place simultaneously in both London and Macau on March 12th. The B2B live event will be held during the iGaming Asia Conference, Macau, and is open to online gaming operators at the conference.The B2C event in London will be free to enter, on a first come first served basis with full details of how to play released on Monday, March 4th, held at a central Lon-don location. The winners of each event will automatically earn their place in the $100,000 Grand Final in Manila, January 2014, with flights and accommodation for the winner and a friend provided.All players at the London tournament will also receive a Bodog goodie bag, dinner and, of course, lots of drinks. The venue will be emailed directly to participating players the day before the tournament.
Anonymous Poker Series
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Top tips to successful networking at Conferences
Conference Tips
H ave a plan. Know in ad-vance whom you want to meet (directly or the type
of people), which speakers you want to hear, and what tradeshow booths you want to visit. Set appointments in advance. If you know that there will be people in attendance whom you know that you would like to see, call or email a few weeks in advance to schedule a time to meet for coffee, a meal, or a drink. Do not hope to “run into them”, as your paths might not cross at a time when you can spend quality time together. Do not focus on meeting the celeb-rity speakers. While meeting famous authors, speakers, and other gurus is fun, you are one of hundreds who will come up to them and shove a card in their hands. Instead, place you focus on meeting other people in attendance at the event. It is the other attendees who you are most likely to bond with and create real long lasting mutually beneficial friendships. Talk to the people sitting next to you. When you walk into a seminar, take the time before the presenta-tion begins to say hello to the people seated around you. We call this the “power of hello”. Once you have said
something as simple as “hello”, it will be easier to talk with them later in the week if you see them again. Ask questions of people you meet. Never lead with your “elevator pitch”. People are more interested in them-selves than they are in you, so ask them questions to help them get to talking. Put your technology away. Do not run to your phone, BlackBerry, or laptop at every break. When you are working on electronics you send the message that you are unapproach-able because you are busy. Utilize the time on breaks to converse with others. Do not automatically send a Linke-dIn or Facebook request. So often people immediately send social net-working link requests to people they just met. However, different people have different policies about whom they link with. If they believe in only connecting with those whom they have established relationships, you make it awkward if you send them a link too early (which they then ignore). Best is to ask people if they would welcome such a link at this time. Be respectful of the fact that they might use social networking dif-ferently than you do.
Read their stuff. Many people are active bloggers, twitterers, authors, etc... If people create the written word, seek out their work and read it. It is a great way to get to know people by reading their stuff, but they will also be honored when you tell them that you read their blog or follow them on Twitter. Introduce others. When you meet cool people, be the conduit who con-nects them with others who might be beneficial to them. This includes others at the conference, as well as other people you might know back home. If you ask the right types of questions, you will easily spot con-nections that can help others. Don’t ever worry about “what’s in it for me”, but instead just be the person who helps others. You will over time that others will help you too. Follow up. If you meet interesting people and you never follow up, it makes no difference. Own the follow up after you meet people and send them an email telling them how much you enjoyed talking with them, and plan for future discussions. Happy Networking
We have just survived the first week of conferences, shows and networking events for 2013. How did they go? One of the main reasons that people site for attending a con-ference is the networking opportunities. Yet they often leave the event feeling they made few or no connections. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of connecting with oth-ers at a conference:
