Category: Announcement

Bitcoin Crashes Again amid Social Media Ban on Crypto Ads

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Just a few months after Facebook banned cryptocurrency adverts on its platform, Twitter has followed in its footsteps by confirming reports from earlier this month that it was implementing a global crackdown on ads for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Twitter’s updated Restricted Content Policies now requires any project seeking to conduct a token sale to have proof of legal regulation in the targeted country before it is allowed to run adds on the social platform. The same goes for cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets which will now have to be publicly-listed companies on major stock markets.

Bitcoin dropped 12 percent in January after Facebook, which happens to be the world’s second-largest online advertiser, said it would be banning all adverts that promote cryptocurrencies in a bid to prevent what it termed as “financial products and services frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” Twitter’s updated policy is more or less giving the same vibe since the terms it has set are meant to curb the same problem. The policy effectively requires that any adverts for financial products and services must be compatible with all applicable laws in the target countries and the all information regarding the products or services must be provided to the investors. Also, the owners of the ads will have to provide necessary disclosures as well as balanced information detailing the risks and benefits.

Reddit Also Jumps Ship

In similar news, Reddit, another popular social media website, will no longer be accepting bitcoin as payment for the platform’s Reddit Gold membership program. While there is still hope that the payment option may be reinstated in the future, players will have to manage with the existing options, that is, PayPal and credit cards. According to “emoney04”, a Reddit admin, the removal of bitcoin as a payment option was prompted by the upcoming Coinbase change and “some bugs around the Bitcoin payment option that were affecting purchases for certain users.”

“We’re going to take a look at demand and watch the progression of Coinbase Commerce before making a decision on whether to re-enable,” the administrator said.

Kansas Sports Betting Bill Calls for Integrity Fee

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Professional sports leagues might just get what they want after all with the introduction of a sports betting bill in the state of Kansas that called for the inclusion of an integrity fee. The bill which was brought forward by the Committee on Federal and State Affairs of Kansas is the third sports betting-related bill to be introduced in the state.

Introduced on March 22, the bill will allow the Kansas Lottery to sports betting to players over the age of 21. This will be limited to the lottery’s facilities and will be through contracted lottery retailers, its web platform and mobile platforms as well as through an interactive and dedicated sports betting platform. This still depends on how the United States Supreme Court will rule on the petition regarding the federal ban on betting.

S.B. 455, the bill, gives the Gaming Commission the final say on the types of wagers and game restrictions. Kansas lawmakers, however, will be expecting no less than a 6.75 percent cut from the sports betting operators. They went further to take note of sports betting legislative developments in New York and have thus decided to include the pro sports leagues’ integrity fee as one of the requirements of the bill. The sports betting right and integrity fee was set at 0.25 percent of the handle but the lawmakers capped it at 5 percent of the sports betting revenue.

“All revenues from sports wagering conducted by the Kansas lottery shall be remitted to the state treasurer and deposited in the lottery operating fund in according with K.S.A 7408711, and amendments thereto,” one of the S.B. 455 provisions read.

While many gambling operators are eagerly waiting for the Supreme Court ruling, a number of stakeholders and interested parties are anticipating that the federal ban on sports betting will be lifted. The professional sports leagues are by far the most vocal – the Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have been lobbying for the inclusion of an integrity fee in state sports betting regulations. According to the leagues, this fee will serve as an insurance to the “risks”  that sports betting will bring to their brands.

Casinos Rove into Virtual Reality in a Bid to Excite Players

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Casinos are always looking for new and innovative ways to attract new customers and to get their existing customers excited about gaming. Online gaming was just the beginning and a lot of fresh ideas have sprung up since then, some successful and others entirely bizarre. Still, more and more innovations are being pursued in a bid to revolutionize casino gaming in the same way that online gaming did.

One of the newest innovations in casino technology that is currently being tested is virtual reality (VR). This admittedly exciting new concept will allow players to “compete against each other for cash prizes in spirited VR tournaments.” This was through the efforts of both International Gaming Technology (IGT), a game developer and HTC Vive, a renowned virtual reality hardware developer. The two hardware developers collaborated to launch the new Virtual Reality product referred to as “Virtual Zone” at Boyd Gaming’s, The Orleans in Las Vegas which makes the casino the first and only operator with such an offering.

The pairing is a rather strong selling point for this new idea – HTC delivers the amazingly-engineered immersive virtual reality headgear that takes players into IGT’s Virtual Zone, the virtual reality competition arena that pits the players against each other in a series of skill-based gaming tournaments. Obviously, the winner gets to walk away with a prize.

Is This the Future of Gambling?

While it is certainly too early to tell which direction this will take, it is quite clear that casino gaming is diverging from the traditional casino floors and virtual reality might be a fresh extension of that trend. This is especially because of the fact that the casino industry has been trying to engage with the millennial generation that is not very fond of traditional casino gaming.

Esports is a great reference – casinos are slowly catching on to the reality that gladiatorial nature of competitive video gaming is far more appealing to younger markets as when compared to the one-dimensional and strategy-devoid slot machines.

With virtual reality, it is safe to say that virtual reality might end up redefining gambling games and make them work as spectator sports. Most casino games have been perfected for decades, and even centuries, which makes them ripe for a bit of innovation. The ultimate goal is to keep the players excited about a casino’s offerings. In the unlikely case that this goes south, there are a number of great alternatives, some of which have not even been thought of yet.

NBA Getting into Esports with Creation of New League

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The inevitable advance of competitive video gaming, otherwise known as Esports, will break new ground in April when the National Basketball Association (NBA) makes history by becoming the first American professional sports organization to operate a dedicated Esports league. So far, 17 of the 30 NBA franchises have confirmed they will be fielding their own NBA 2k League teams in pursuit of the $1 million prize fund. Still, more teams are being invited to join the NBA 2K League.

To qualify to be a participant in the new league, prospective players must be at least 18 years old and be high school graduates. Also, they must have purchased a copy of the game either for PlayStation or Xbox and won no less than 50 games in Pro-Am mode prior to January 2018. Every player who meets these requirements can look forward to a six-month contract worth $35,000 as well as a $32,000 basic salary. These lucky players will be the top 102 ranking applicants of the tens of thousands who applied and they will be taking part in the opening round of the games in May.

Considered to Be the NBA’s Fourth Branch

Other than the $35,000 six-month contract and the $32,000 basic salary, the players will also have the opportunity to supplement their incomes by signing various endorsement deals. To sweeten the deal, the NBA job will also include a retirement plan, medical insurance and housing! Considering how big this budget is, the NBA certainly has huge expectations for this new venture.

In fact, NBA’s vice president of global partnerships Matt Holt confirmed that the NBA considers the eLeague to be the fourth of its branches alongside the WNBA, minor G League and even the NBA itself. This is further proven by the fact that the benefits offered to Esports players are at par with those offered to professional basketballers.

Getting a Piece of the Esports Gold Mine

The NBA’s interest in online gaming is well founded – the Esports community boasts of approximately 130 million competitive video gamers from all corners of the globe. This makes it one of the fastest growing markets in the world of entertainment with its estimated value standing at $1 billion at the moment.

NBA’s partnership with NBA 2K is an attempt at becoming one of the lucrative tournaments that have been springing up across the globe where professional Esports teams compete for huge prize money as millions of viewers watch online.

The league is taking a slightly innovative approach – they eventually seek to have an eLeague counterpart for every regular-season NBA team. The idea here is that the leagues will be complementing each other. Case in point, the NBA 2K games will kick off in May and run all through the summer, the period during NBA’s offseason.

CoinPoker Responds to Poker Bot, Security Issues Allegations

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Just a few weeks ago, CoinPoker’s real money tables went live and the site is celebrating by running a number of generous promotions. However, according to PartTimepoker.com writer and GameIntel Managing Editor Alex Weldon, these generous promotions have been contributing to the cryptocurrency-based online poker site’s bot-driven player traffic. Weldon also believes that CoinPoker is struggling with security protocols on the site.

Alex Weldon first wrote about this on a March 17 PartTimePoker.com article title ‘CoinPoker’s Traffic is a Farce’ in which he detailed the findings from his research of the traffic numbers for GameIntel – the company that supplies data to PokerScout, an established website that tracks online poker traffic of nearly all online poker sites.

Weldon’s research was apparently prompted by what he describes as “abnormal traffic patterns.” For instance, he noticed that a number of players were simultaneously playing a number of tables for hours at a time. Furthermore, the said set group accounts dominated the huge volume of gameplay with a significantly small number of other players getting in on the action from time to time.

The players that caught Weldon’s eye all played at minimum stakes for each of the site’s leaderboard levels with each of the level of the leaderboard having nearly the same of player at the tables, though with different names. The wagering patterns of the massively multi-tabling players made Weldon even more suspicious as they seemed to be making programmed decisions.

CoinPoker’s initial response was the closure of three accounts as further investigations are carried out. The site’s officials also pointed out that “Malicious poker bots have not been a significant issue thus far, but we will continue to investigate the problematic accounts that pop up on our leaderboard.” Still, CoinPoker’s security protocols and the site as a whole have been subject to a number of questions.

To further prove their dedication to handling the issue as expected, the online poker operator decided to limit the number of simultaneously played tables to 8 per player. In addition to this, the site plans to integrate a verification tool called Civic to their platform.

“With these measures in place, we can, with a high degree of confidence, say that our final leaderboards reflect players who have played fairly and worked hard to win prizes in our current 5MM CHP Giveaway Promotion,” they wrote.

On the issue of security protocols that was a key concern for many of the stakeholders of the poker site, CoinPoker confirmed that the launch of its peer-to-peer security system was still scheduled for October this year. The new security system will be replacing the existing security system that runs on a hybrid platform that combines standard online gambling security measures and blockchain technology

Bitcoin Price Brushes Aside Child Abuse Report, Nears $9,000

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On Tuesday evening, bitcoin’s price rose above $9,000 for the first time in a week regardless of reports that its blockchain contains links to child abuse imagery. Researchers from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany discovered 1,600 files that were currently stored in the bitcoin blockchain. At least eight of the files contained sexual content including two with 274 links to child abuse imagery and one that looked like an image of the same. Also among these files were 142 that contained links to dark web services.

The blockchain, which is essentially a transaction ledger distributed and stored on many different computers was designed to be immutable so as to guarantee the integrity of information. This is how all decentralized digital currencies work. As such, the information cannot be altered – at least not yet. The only alternative to would be a consensus among the network’s users to use a new version – also called a “fork” – of the blockchain instead of the original one. However, bitcoin is yet to experience this.

The Implications

Some blockchains, such as the one powering bitcoin, which is probably the oldest, can contain all sorts of information fragments some of which may be illegal in certain jurisdictions. Since the information cannot be deleted, everyone that has a copy of the blockchain is essentially breaking the law.

It came as no surprise that the blockchain would undoubtedly cause trouble with laws in certain jurisdictions. The European data protection laws, for instance, say that people must be given the liberty of having their personal data amended or deleted regardless of where it is stored. Public cryptographic keys and transactions which are regularly stored on blockchains are basically personal data – and since the blockchain does not allow these to be altered, it is a breach of that particular law.

“Our analysis shows that certain content, e.g., illegal pornography, can render the mere possession of a blockchain illegal,” the German researchers explained. “Although court rulings do not yet exist, legislative texts from countries such as Germany, the UK, or the USA suggest that illegal content such as [child abuse imagery] can make the blockchain illegal to possess for all users. This especially endangers the multi-billion dollar markets powering cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.”

This is quite serious, isn’t it? But, how is bitcoin braving it? Well, while the research report highlights the importance of addressing the possibility of unintended data insertion in future blockchain designs in order to protect users accordingly, it is also important to note that the existing bitcoin blockchain design troubles do not affect casual users of the cryptocurrency.

Jeff Garzik, a bitcoin core developer explains that the unintended information on the network is not even accessible directly since it has to be decoded first. This does not also apply to users who download fragments of the blockchain such as those who are just doing Bitcoin transactions.

Rivalry.gg Joins Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC)

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Dedicated Esports betting operator Rivalry.gg has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) to become the coalition’s latest member with the goal of ‘supporting the application of best practice across the Esports betting industry’. Rivalry.gg which is a fairly new entrant into the Esports betting business is licensed in the Isle of Man and it will be joining a host of other outstanding ESIC members that include DreamHack, Betway, Sportradar, LVP, ESL, Intel, LVP and UKGC among many others.

The Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) was formed in July 2016 so as to clamp down on all forms of cheating in the professional Esports market. ESIC is currently considered to be one of the most reputable Esports regulatory authorities in the world especially due to its unambiguous endeavour to create an unequivocal Esports playing field for all the members of the Esports community.

“ESIC is pleased to welcome another specialist Esports betting operator into membership to extend our suspicious bet alert network and help us detect possible match-fixing as it happens and having a legitimate, licensed operator that supports Esports integrity and our vital education program helps lessen the influence of dodgy operators and betting fraudsters,” noted Ian Smith, the Integrity Commissioner at ESIC.

Rivalry.gg, being quite young in the industry has employed a steady approach towards a conquering the Esports market – they are focusing on original content and pre-match betting at the moment. But, there is definitely so much more to come.

“This is just the beginning for us. Next steps are implementing the minimum requisite of features from a traditional sportsbook perspective, such as live betting, followed by a much deeper offering. We spent the better part of 2017 curating and testing various bespoke feature sets that we believe the community will love and can’t wait to share them with everyone,” Rivalry Co-Founder, Steven Salz confirmed.

Salz also pointed out that while they just recently rolled their service offering, they have been members of the community long enough to notice that members of the Esports market were being frustrated by underage and unregulated betting that was growing rapidly with little to no intervention. He believes that this was partly due to the lack of viable alternatives for gamers as well as the lack of education on the importance of regulation in online gambling. As an ESIC member, Rivalry will be supporting the coalition’s goals by reporting any and all suspicious online betting activity.

“At Rivalry our foremost effort is to provide Esports enthusiasts with a legal, and safe way to bet on competitive play in the games they eat, breathe, and sleep. Our participation in ESIC is a cornerstone piece of this effort. Having a legitimate, licensed operator that supports Esports integrity and our vital education program helps lessen the influence of dodgy operators and betting fraudsters,” Salz added.

Pro Sports Leagues Prepare For Legal Betting Ahead of Ruling

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Across the states of Arizona and Florida, professional baseball teams are getting ready for the inevitable surprises of a 162-game season. Players and coaches often use spring training so as to limit unknown variables and this year Major League Baseball is following suit.

By mid-season, baseball fans in some states might finally be able to place legal bets on baseball games and as such, Major League Baseball (MLB) officials are well aware that they cannot afford to wait till then to get things planned out. The league’s preparations have already begun with players from each and every team being given “enhanced education” this spring on sports betting. The same goes for both coaches and umpires.

The United States Supreme Court is expected to deliver a ruling that will certainly have a huge impact on sports gambling in the country. The most anticipated culmination would be the abolishment of the 25-year old federal law that outlawed sports betting in all but one state, Nevada. The other states have always had the liberty of allowing or prohibiting fans from wagering on sports but – not many have legalized sports betting and this is what makes the prospects of legalized sports betting so exciting to fans.

“We’re realistic that sports betting in all likelihood is going to expand in the United States,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said on a conference call with reporters a week ago.

All the four major United States sport professional sports leagues have been buckling up in preparation for the ruling. In fact, some are even eager about what the new world could bring after the court’s decision. Furthermore, they have all been, to varying extents, offering their players some education that includes analytics that monitors betting data. In addition to this, the league have been working tirelessly towards researching the best possible partnerships and business opportunities that will definitely open up new revenue streams.

Russia’s New Online Gambling Laws Raises Stars Group Concern

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As part of 2017’s earnings reports, renowned gambling operator Stars Group pointed out that the Russian gambling market would be a potentially troublesome one in 2018. The earnings report also included what the online gambling operator is expecting to make this year with the figures further including assumptions that Russia would be introducing and implementing new online gambling rules that will essentially make it harder to process payments for Russian players.

There has been no official explanation from Russian officials in regards to the implementation of the new law that is likely to be enforced as from May 25. However, it is expected that the regulations will restrict banks from partnering with foreign payment processors or gambling operators that have been blacklisted by the Russian government.

While the new atmosphere will certainly not kill the Russian online gambling market, it undoubtedly has the potential of clamping down on the size of the gambling industry in the country. This is we put into consideration a similar scenario in the United States where the online gambling industry was clamped down after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed back in 2006. In the likely case that this occurs, the Stars Group will take quite a hit especially because the Russian online gambling market accounts for a huge chunk of its global market.

Stars Group Working on Contingencies

The effects of the changes that the Russian government is going to make is off-putting for investors but Stars Group is not giving up so easily. Rafi Ashkenazi, the Stars Group CEO said that he and his team are already working on contingencies that will help the company to deal with anything that the Russian government throws at them.

“We have plan As and plan Bs and plan Cs for every type of scenario that may happen in the market,” Ashkenazi told analysts. “We are monitoring, we are assessing, and we are ready.”

The concerns that were raised about the Russian gambling market were shared as part of an overall earnings reports which showed a steady 2017 for Stars Group – this encompassed both PokerStars as well as the group’s other online gambling sites. Total annual revenue went up 13.6 percent for fiscal 2017, summing up to over $1.3 billion. The same goes for other earnings as well – the net earnings rose by over 25 percent within the same period.

Bitcoin Mining Has Just Been Banned in Small New York Town

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Plattsburgh, a small lakeside town in northeastern New York has banned the establishment of new bitcoin mining firms for the next year and a half citing the fact that the miners have been exploiting its low-cost electricity. This comes at about the same time that the New York public utilities arm gave a ruling that allowed the municipal power authorities to charge higher electricity rates for cryptocurrency miners.

The town which is quite close to the Canadian border put the one and a half year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining in a bid to preserve its natural resources, the health of its residents as well as the “character and direction” of the city. Thus, for the next 18 months, the city will not be considering any new applications for commercial cryptocurrency mining. Breaking this rule will attract a fine amounting to $1,000 daily for the period that the moratorium is violated.

“It is the purpose of this Local Law to facilitate the adoption of land use and zoning and/or municipal lighting department regulations to protect and enhance the City’s natural, historic, cultural and electrical resources,” Plattsburgh officials said after holding a public hearing on the matter Thursday.

Cryptocurrency mining is the process by which mining firms or individuals get paid with cryptocurrencies for running complex mathematical equations on high-powered computers in order to confirm the validity of transactions. This process needs enormous computing power and thus is very energy-intensive hence miners will almost naturally be drawn to areas with significantly lower electricity costs. Thanks to its hydropower plants and the subsidies that some of the municipal power authorities allow on the electricity, some parts of New York are able to offer electricity rates that are as competitive as the Chinese bitcoin mining market. Furthermore, the naturally lower temperatures in the state also significantly reduce the cost of cooling facilities at the mining firms.

It Is a Positive Move, Some Agree

While this might not be a favourable ruling for cryptocurrency miners, one local bitcoin mining operation, Plattsburgh BTC, has expressed its support for the ruling. David Bowman, the founder and CEO of the bitcoin mining firm said in an email that the move was a positive one for both the city of Plattsburgh and crypto mining as a whole.

“We will be actively working with the city right away to find solutions that work in all of our interests, like possibly shutting off the machines if we are in danger of going over the city’s quota, looking into energy recapture as a way to heat buildings,” he added. “Anything is on the table.”