Media Man Australia Poker News Blog
Poker and Casino News Blog
Poker News Media Website Network Updated
Poker News Media Website Network Updated
The Poker News Media and Media Man Australia website network has been updated.
Websites
http://www.pokernewsmedia.com
http://www.casinonewsmedia.com
http://www.australiancasinonews.com
http://www.mediaman.com.au
First CAP Down Under a 'Great Success'
First Ever Online Gaming Affiliate Marketing Trade Show Held in Australia was a Resounding Success, Reports CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com and Media Sources; CAP TV Recap Out Today
Irvine, CA (PRWEB) December 11, 2008 -- CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (CAP), the leading online marketing resource and community website for Internet casino affiliates, has announced that its first annual CAP Down Under event, held the last week of November in Sydney, Australia, was a resounding success.
180 people -- of which 80 percent were Australian and 66 percent were affiliates -- attended the four-day affiliate marketing conference, according to company representatives. Held at Sydney's premium, five-star Shangri-La hotel during the last week of November, 2008, CAP Down Under was the first Australian-based iGaming affiliate marketing conference ever. It was held partially in response to requests from members of the CAP Forums, a highly trafficked social networking community administered on the main CAP site that boasts almost 8,000 members, an industry-leading figure.
"This was an incredible event; CAP Down Under attracted a ton of participants from all over the world," reported Alex Pratt, an organizer for the conference. "From the opening party sponsored by Rewards Affiliates in the Opera Bar with its stunning views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, to the attendance of Australian Boxer Jeff Fenech, who played heads up poker against the delegates for prizes, there wasn't a dull moment.
"And with a huge variety of experts in the affiliate marketing and search engine marketing fields, there was no shortage of informative discussion, either."
"The team at CAP Down Under/CasinoAffiliatePrograms. com has done awesome," stated Greg Tingle of Media Man Australia and Casino News Media, a participant who also served as moderator and assisted with coordination duties. "It's been a great conference ... some of the stuff that we've seen, slots and poker and search engine news ... it was very impressive, and I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about CAP Down Under here in Australia."
The event's exhibitors included Referback, CanBet/IAS, CentreBet, 888.com, Rewards Affiliates and Bluff Magazine. For video coverage of CAP Down Under, view the December 10 edition of CAP TV at http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com/captv Additional footage of the event can also be found at http://www.capdownunder.com
About CAP Down Under
CAP Down Under is a four-day trade show organized by CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com that gathers the top names in the iGaming affiliate marketing community together in Australia. Like the company's other popular and highly successful conferences in London and Barcelona, CAP Down Under boasts exhibitors from all corners of the globe, with many of the industry's brightest stars among them. For more information on CAP Down Under, please visit http://www.capdownunder.com
About CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com
Founded in 1999, CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (CAP) is the largest and longest-running online gaming affiliate resource, featuring an active community forum, chat rooms, marketing tools, industry news/articles, scam alerts, and many more industry-specific tools and services for affiliate marketers. The company offers its signature CAP Certification Process as a means to protect players, affiliates marketers, and the integrity of the online gaming industry as a whole. For more information, please visit http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com.
Star City throws $475m at 'tacky' image
Tabcorp has announced plans for a $475 million redevelopment of Sydney's Star City Casino.
The 10-year-old casino will be expanded to include a new five-star hotel, more restaurants, shops and outdoor gaming areas if the New South Wales Government approves the plans.
It would also be renovated to face Sydney Harbour and the city skyline.
A new entrance is planned for the harbour side of the building, while the main gaming floor would be redesigned and restaurants would be built to face the skyline.
Star City managing director Craig Garvin says there will be no new poker machines but an application has been made for extra gaming tables.
Mr Garvin says the project is aimed at improving the casino's image.
"We do have a five-star hotel and the best theatre in Australia, which attracts the very best productions from around the world, which we think is very important," he said.
"Yet the perception here is that perhaps we're tired and tacky, and we aim to fix that perception."
The new 309-room hotel would be built on a vacant block of land next to the casino.
Residents groups have indicated they do not have any major concerns with the plans, which go on public display today.
If approved, construction is expected to start early next year and be completed in 2011.
Too many poker celebrities? by Greg Tingle
Is the celebrity poker market becoming overcrowded? For that matter, is the online casino and online poker market flooded with not only too many celebrities, but too many casino and poker brands?
Let's play word - brand - name association...
Richard Branson - Virgin
Calvin Ayre - Bodog (regardless of the fact he sold it to Morris Mohawk Gaming Group)
Shane Warne - 888
Chris Moneymaker - Poker Stars (and World Series of Poker)... ok, Moneymaker was a regular player, with a great name who "made it", but you get the point
Many online casino and poker websites and portals make no secret of the fact that prefer one of two brands. The exception is when they just back one brand like "The Wizrd of Odds" Michael Shackleford public and shameless pushing of Bodog.. tip, it's got more to do with no pop ups appearing on Bodog, especially considering the current legal going ons at Bodog, which are also of course related to Morris Mohawk to some extent.
Brian Balsbaugh, owner of poker talent agency Poker Royalty explains. "Many poker sites have been successful using top professionals by having them provide content for the site. This gives customers a reason to revisit the site to get updates and instructional information from the top names in poker. That’s done through trip reports and ‘Hand of the Week’ kind of articles, as well as offering the ability to interact with the players themselves."
There's a ton of brands out there in the online casino and online poker world, and just as many affiliate programs.
Media Man Australia opens up on some of its affiliates here http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/casino.html and here! http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/affiliate_programs.html
So, who are Media Man's top picks for this month?
Virgin Casino
Virgin Poker
PKR Casino
PKR Poker
Lasseters Online Casino
Credit woes dull Crown's sparkling plan - 24th July 2008
James Packer has had to walk away from his second offshore casino project in as many months because the global credit crunch has dried up the finance he had planned to use to expand his gaming empire.
The decision to pull out of the $1.5 billion project in the Philippines was announced yesterday by Crown's chief executive and Mr Packer's right-hand man, Rowen Craigie.
Crown had earlier sought to play down its interest in the massive plan to develop a Macau-like casino precinct in Manila, saying it was merely helping a British Virgin Islands entity, Bloombury Investments, to lodge a preliminary bid with the state-owned monopoly gambling body behind the project.
Crown, which likes to do its deals out of the glare of publicity, said it was only a partner in the project and would be obliged to pay only a small amount of funding.
"The recent and ongoing events in world credit markets have made it very difficult for gaming operators to develop commercially viable casino-entertainment projects where those projects require significant external debt funding," Mr Craigie said in a statement.
"After further review, Crown has determined not to participate in Bloombury's proposal, or any other proposal to develop an integrated casino-entertainment complex in Manila Bay."
Crown prefers to team up with a partner when it enters locations where it has not operated before, such as Canada, Las Vegas and Macau. The company has one casino in Macau with Melco International, and is part-way through building a $2.5 billion casino named City of Dreams, which is due to open next year. A third, smaller casino known as the Macau Peninsula project, is yet to be built, and will likely be put on the back burner.
In June Crown also cited a lack of credit for its decision to halt plans to build a $5.2 billion casino with American partners on the Las Vegas strip and wrote off $44 million it contributed to the deposit to buy the site from Archon Corp.
Crown is still considered a buyer as it has cash from the demerger of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, and it has been rumoured to be eyeing casinos in the US.
Other potential casinos prospects in Asia are likely to emerge in Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan as these governments are proposing to liberalise their gaming laws.
Crown abandons Manilla casino talks
James Packer's Crown Ltd has walked away from its second offshore casino project in six weeks, because of increased debt-funding costs due to the global credit crunch.
Crown pulled out of the $1.5 billion project in the Philippines, after initial discussions with Bloombury Investments Ltd about a casino in Manila.
"The recent and ongoing events in world credit markets have made it very difficult for gaming operators to develop commercially viable casino-entertainment projects require significant external debt funding," chief executive Rowan Craigie said.
Crown has since tried to play down its interest in the plan to develop a Macau-like casino precinct in Manila, saying it was merely a project partner.
"After further review, Crown has determined not to participate in Bloombury's proposal or any other proposal to develop an integrated casino-entertainment complex in Manila Bay,"said Mr Craige.
Crown's share price jumped more than 8 per cent in intraday trading yesterday, to close 4.2 per cent higher, up 33 cents to $8.23.
Casino, gaming and poker sector continues to heat up down under in Australia, by Greg Tingle
Media Man Australia director, Greg Tingle, reports the ongoing trend for punters to hit the internet for their gaming and poker fix.
Virgin Games, and in particular, Virgin Casino and PKR (the world's most animated online casino) lead the pack in Media Man's assessment.
Australia mainstays Centrebet and Lasseters recent affiliation and collaboration with Media Man Australia are forecast to further shake up the sector.
James Packer's Crown is sticking to the line that they are not interested in either the Ameristar opportunity, or acquiring part of Media Man Australia.
Pikum!, which even Virgin Money and and Richard Branson have put their name to, is in negotiation with at least one Australian media and new media company.
International online gaming brands GoldenPalace.com, 888.com, Bodog and a few others are likely to be unsettled by recent developments in the online casino world, however it's not expected to deliver a devastating blow, but certainly will heat up competition for eyeballs, web traffic, and the slice of online casino revenues.
Casinos of the month as picked by http://casino.pokernews.com/ and close associates - Virgin Casino and PKR.
Casino and poker comps heat up in news media business, by Greg Tingle
Online casinos, traditional casinos and online poker and gaming rooms are battling for headlines, as the stakes continue to raise in the gaming and gabling world. Media companies such as ours are now associated with such brands such as Virgin Games, Virgin Casino, PKR, Bwin, GoldenPalace.com, 888.com and Jamster. Virgin and PKR are setting the pace.
The Media Man Australia most improved new entry goes to PKR. Next month we expect big things from both Virgin Games and Bwin, and a major announcement from our friends at Virgin Media. We also expect Bodog to bounce back, and expect to see more bricks and mortar casinos close down or go up for sale, as online casinos dominate, with the collaboration of major news media players and celebrity support.
Welcome to the Media Man Australia Poker News blog
Welcome to the Media Man Australia Poker and Casino News Blog.
I'm an Australian based media analyst, publicist, internet publisher and online entrepreneur.
In the coming days and weeks I will provide a series of news stories relating to the world of poker, casinos, gaming and the like.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Media Man Australia
