Brazil has a long and complicated history when it comes to gambling in general and poker in particular. The latest development, according to an article published on CardsChat*, the country has passed a law banning the playing of online poker in public. Anyone caught using their mobile device to access an online poker site while in a public space now faces a stiff fine and, in certain cases, potentially a short jail sentence. At first glance, it may seems surprising that the Brazilian government would clamp down in this way, given that the overall trend seems to have been towards…

iGaming Business – Mobile entertainment content provider PlayPhone has teamed up with TIM Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of telecommunications firm TIM, to launch its PlayPhone Games Store in the country. With the addition of TIM to existing partners, PlayPhone said that its social games store and global gaming network will now reach more than one billion mobile customers. The PlayPhone Games Store enables customers of the firm’s carrier partners to download and play a range of games with people around the world via a single application. With secure direct carrier billing, PlayPhone Games is personalised to each player’s gaming habits,…

World Cup 2014 – As predictable as a Gary Lineker tweet, an Alan Hansen denouncement of anyone who “writes off the Germans” and a limp quarter-final exit in a major football tournament by England, is the collective media clairvoyance predicting an imminent billion-pound betting bonanza at the World Cup in Brazil. Brazil 2014 kicks off on June 12 in Sao Paolo as 31 of the best teams in the world—and England—battle it out amid the heat, unfinished stadia and street crime to lift the coveted trophy. And sports-betting fans across the world will have their laptops, tablets and PCs at…

iGaming Business – French-licensed operators ZEturf and Winamax are gearing up for the Brazil World cup kick off next month with the planned launches of their respective online betting offerings. The two operators are number 2 in horse racing pari mutuel and number 1 in online poker respectively in France and plan to cross-sell their football offerings to their horse racing and poker players with the longer term view of diversifying their product base. ZEturf’s fixed odds offering will operate from the domain name ZEbet.fr and will run on the technology provided by operator France Pari’s b2b division Sportnco. For…