Madrid-based Codere insisted it has reached a deal to acquire a controlling stake in the six Panama casinos operated by Thunderbird Resorts while the country’s wider gambling sector celebrated success in their lobbying effort against proposed casino tax hikes.

Land-based gaming groups have added their own calls for ‘urgent’ national action to address online gambling in Spain, as observers cast doubts on the efforts of Spanish regional governments to fill the regulatory void with their own, local controls.

Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer said his company’s newly-announced joint venture with Scientific Games offered a ‘clear avenue’ to the US market as state lotteries begin to play a starring role in the development of regulated online gaming across the Atlantic.

Confirming promotional deals with partners including Orange and members of France’s 1998 World Cup winning team, Française des Jeux (FDJ) said it expects to deliver €1bn in sports-betting turnover this year as the French online market opens up.

Fernando Chui’s first policy address as Macau Chief Executive failed to deliver the anticipated formal announcement of a limit to gaming table numbers in the Chinese SAR, though analysts believe efforts to constrain Macau’s casino growth are still likely to be implemented this year.

Governments in Central America and the Caribbean need to tighten rules to prevent gambling websites that still accept US bets from laundering proceeds through their jurisdictions, the US State Department has said.

The ball is in Boyd Gaming’s court if it wants to buy out partner MGM Mirage’s 50 percent interest in Atlantic City’s Borgata casino after MGM reached a settlement with regulators to divest its stake in the resort.

Gaming operators in Panama are lobbying to amend new fiscal reforms that would impose a second hike in casino taxes this year.

Brazilian gambling interests could face a minimum of 18 months more in the regulatory wilderness if their intensifying lobbying efforts fail to hit the jackpot ahead of a tight presidential election campaign.

UEFA’s internal rules prevented France’s Olympique Lyonnais from displaying the name of their sponsors BetClic during last night’s Champions League game at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium, but it was an outcome also determined by the slow pace of regulatory change in France.