CEO MICROGAMING

WINNERS2016

IGA

InfinityGamingwww.gaming-awards.com | ISSUE MARCH 2016

FRONT COVER - PONTUS LINDWALL

ALL THE WINNERS REVEALED

SPECIAL EDITION

GAMING + ARTICLES + BUSINESS+ GLOBAL+ ONLINE + NEWS+ APPS + AWARDS + etc

2 MARCH 2016

INFINITY GAMING

DONALD TRUMP

IGA9 WINNERS

OUTSTANDING

America’s Biggest Bet Yet?

All the photos & more

Pontus Lindwall

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10

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Opinion Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in all external articles are

those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official

policy or position of The Infinity Gaming Magazine Any content

provided by our feature writers or authors are of their opin-

ion, and are not intended to malign any religion, ethic group,

club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

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3MARCH 2016

INFINITY GAMING

THE FACTORS FUELLING THE RISE OF

WHY WOMEN NEED NETWORKING

Mobile Gaming

Liz Karter

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4 EDITOR NOTESLana welcomes you to the March

edition of Infinity Gaming Magazine.

6 OUR WRITERSMeet our feature writers, the superb

writers on our rosta.

15 ISRAEL TRIES FOR CASINOSEilat seaside town

19 RUSSIAN TAX INCREASE

Govt. wants to times tax by ten/1

29 PARTYGAMING FOUNDERAnurag Dikshit

35 AMAYA APPEAL KENTUCKYRuling

37 JOHN SHEPHERDGoodbye to a legend

38 IGA9 WINNERSWhat a night

+ ALL THE LATEST NEWS

& Opinions

4 MARCH 2016

INFINITY GAMING

Welcome to the latest edition of Infin-

ity Gaming Magazine and what a start

to the year we have had already! Firstly

what an absolutely amazing evening

the 1st February was, congratulations

to all the winners, thank you to all our

charity supporters for helping us sup-

port Care International and what was

those big green hands all about.....(You

had to be there).

It truly was a magical evening and the

whole team worked superbly to ensure

the very best awards evening so far, just

got to see how we top that next year!

In the magazine we have all our superb

writers covering the world of gaming

with Christina Thakor-Rankin looking

at that special man, Donald Trump, , Liz

Karter discussing the merits of Women

Networking and the excellent Paul

Swaddle doing his thing in the App

business.

A note from the editor

Welcome to the special March edition of the Infinity Gaming Magazine featuring all the IGA9 Winners and photos.

Spring is in the air and we

all can take a breath

Finally we have a farewell to our friend

John Shepherd inside the magazine and

of course all the latest news and views

from around the gambling world.

Enjoy the magazine.

So, “To Infinity and Beyond!”

Regards,

Lana

The Editor

Lana Thompson - Editor

CONTACT USClever Duck MediaCentrix@KeysKeys Park RoadStaffordshireWS12 2HA UKTel: +44(0)1543 478 889

PRODUCTIONClever Duck MediaCentrix@KeysKeys Park RoadStaffordshireWS12 2HA UK

PUBLISHINGInfinity Gaming Magazineis operated by© Clever Duck Media Ltd ®

Company Reg. No. 687 1018(Registered in England)V.A.T reg. no 972 6372 91

Sponsorship OpportunitiesColin@cleverduckmedia.com

Business PartnershipsSvetlana@gaming-awards.com

Marketing & Advertisingclaire@cleverduckmedia.com

Editorial Content & PR

media@cleverduckmedia.com

6 MARCH 2016

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Christina Thakor-Rankin

Liz Karter – Psychotherapist specializing in women and problem gambling

Christina is Principal Consultant at 1710 Gaming Ltd, a specialist betting and gaming consultancy, delivering a range of services including licensing and compliance (incl. regulation, money laundering and social respon-sibility), business start-up, training and strategic re-engineering, project management, research, business analysis and development, to start-ups and established multi-national operators and providers, gambling regu-

lators, law enforcement and government agencies, media, and specialist interest groups and associations within the sector, in both established and emerging markets across the world.

www.1710gaming.com

Liz Karter is a specialist in gambling and women and has worked as a therapist in gambling addiction since 2001. Liz is also author of the book “Women and Prob-lem Gambling” published in March 2013.

In January 2010 having worked with all leading UK problem gambling treatment agencies, and having successfully established the first UK groups for women with gambling addiction, Liz launched Level Ground Therapy. A treatment service in the City of London, Level Ground specialises in meeting the individual needs of women with gambling addiction.

Throughout her career Liz has been regularly con-sulted by the media regarding her specialisation and has made frequent national TV and radio broadcasts including This Morning, Radio 4 You and Yours and Women’s Hour and given numerous national newspa-per and magazine interviews.

Infinity Gaming Magazine Contributing WritersA magazine is only as good as the content inside and with some of the leading specialists within the gaming industry. With

specialised articles covering customer service, the gaming law, new prducts, technology and current affairs with the sector

the Infinity Gaming Magazine is delighted to showcase our superb line-up of contributing writers.

Paul Swaddle - CEO Pocket App

A self-confessed ‘gadget geek, Paul Swaddle has been working at the leading edge of mobile technology for the past 15 years. He co-founded Pocket App in 2011 to bring the creative and technical development ele-ments of mobile technology together under one roof. This unique approach continues to differentiate Pocket App in today’s increasingly competitive landscape.

Working across a range of communications disciplines such as acquisition, loyalty, retention and customer de-velopment, Paul understands the importance of a stra-tegic and coordinated marketing approach, particularly between on and off-line communications. In the past decade he has enabled brands as diverse as Kellogg’s Fruit Winders, Barclays and Loaded magazine to get the best out of mobile.

7MARCH 2016

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8 MARCH 2016

INFINITY GAMING

APP OF THE YEAR

BEST APP COMPANY

BEST SOCIAL GAMING APP

INNOVATIVE APP OF THE YEAR

BEST SLOTS GAME APP

LOTTERY APP OF THE YEAR

BEST CASINO APP

BEST POKER APP

BEST BINGO APP

BEST APP DESIGN

BEST SPORTS BETTING APP

BEST FREE TO PLAY APP

LONDON - 2016 JUMEIRAH CARLTON HOTEL - LONDON

GAMING APPAWARDS

The International

NOMINATIONS OPEN

CLICK HEREhttp://gaming-awards.com/appawards/appcategories/

9MARCH 2016

INFINITY GAMING

APP OF THE YEAR

BEST APP COMPANY

BEST SOCIAL GAMING APP

INNOVATIVE APP OF THE YEAR

BEST SLOTS GAME APP

LOTTERY APP OF THE YEAR

BEST CASINO APP

BEST POKER APP

BEST BINGO APP

BEST APP DESIGN

BEST SPORTS BETTING APP

BEST FREE TO PLAY APP

LONDON - 2016 JUMEIRAH CARLTON HOTEL - LONDON

GAMING APPAWARDS

The International

NOMINATIONS OPEN

CLICK HEREhttp://gaming-awards.com/appawards/appcategories/

PREMIUM CASINO GAMESwww.playngo.com

PREMIUM CASINO GAMESwww.playngo.com

11MARCH 2016

INFINITY GAMING

John Shepherd1958 - 2016 A life remembered

John Shepherd was a business journal-ist who excelled at writing about complex financial issues in everyman’s language with a touch of trademark humour. In later roles in public relations he was able to turn a PR crisis into an opportunity for fun. His cho-sen business topics as a journalist reflected his own interests, in gambling, drink and sport. “He loved to party,” his wife Claire told The Independent.

Shepherd was born in London in 1958. He attended William Ellis School, Highgate. Following college he worked for Barclays Bank for a short time as a trainee cashier but soon sought a more challenging role and joined the Financial Times in 1979 as a junior reporter.

From the FT, Shepherd became part of the team for The Independent when it began publishing in 1986 under founding editor Andreas Whittam Smith. Joining as a busi-ness journalist, he was City Editor within a year. He covered the ins and outs of the business world with consummate ease and directness. By the end of his time at The Independent, where he finished as Business Editor, the newspaper had won the Wincott Financial Journal of the Year - regarded as

the Oscars of the sector - in 1987 and 1996.

After working for corporate PR specialists Burson-Marsteller, he joined the online gambling company PartyGaming plc in September 2005.

When competitor Empire Online launched injunction proceedings against PartyGam-ing in the Gibraltar high court, accusing the company of breach of contract, Shepherd’s media statement read: “We congratulate Empire for kick-starting the pantomime season. We remain confident of a successful outcome to the litigation.” The legal panto concluded the following year with Party Gaming acquiring its smaller rival.

Peter Reynolds, who worked with Shepherd at bwin.party, told The Independent that this period “tested John’s PR management skills to the full. John’s ability to capture the mood in a simple phrase became folklore across the industry. The now infamous reference to ‘irritable owl syndrome’ when describing the attentions of SpringOwl As-set Management, a New York-based activist investor that challenged the bwin.party board in 2014, was widely believed to be

another of his unheralded masterpieces.”

Reynolds added, “When not in the office, he could often be found in a City watering hole sharing late-night stories with those able to keep up with his energy and joie de vivre.”

Shepherd retired from bwin.party in Oc-tober 2014 to set up a PR consultancy and tend a five-acre smallholding in Somerset with his wife, Claire. Since 2010 he had been a member of the Main Cross-Gam-bling Industry Fundraising Committee, which has raised more than £1m for Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Critical Cardiac Unit. His family is continuing the fund-raising in his memory via JustGiving.

Martin Weigold, finance director at bwin.party, told The Independent, “John was a man that you wanted by your side when the going got tough. He would always keep his head in a crisis, no matter how bad things seemed to appear on the face of it. And somehow, in the midst of it all, he would manage to make you laugh with his wicked wit. John was truly a great man ... a legend, in fact.”

Obituary courtesy of The Independant

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