German states approve new federal gambling treaty

Germany’s individual states have approved the country’s new federal gambling treaty, despite European Commission warnings that the new pact will likely face the same legal challenges that derailed the 2012 treaty.

On Thursday, the leaders of the 16 German länder voted to approve the new State Treaty on Gambling, which lifts the previous treaty’s controversial cap on the number of available sports betting licenses, calls for greater enforcement against unauthorized operators and allows for the future possibility of authorizing online casino activity.

The new treaty, which will take effect on January 1, 2018, must still be ratified by each individual state legislature, and politicians in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein have already indicated the treaty is unlikely to be approved. Schleswig-Holstein has typically been a regulatory outlier, having approved a far more comprehensive state-level online gambling regime some years back.

The new treaty was slammed by the EC earlier this month as “not a viable solution” to the problems posed by the 2012 treaty. The EC found fault with Germany’s proposal to offer provisional permits to the original 20 license recipients as well as the other 15 applicants who failed to make the first cut, while remaining mum on the opportunity for other companies to secure German licenses. The EC also wants Germany to accelerate its authorization of other online gambling verticals, including casino and poker, to provide greater consumer protections for German gamblers.

The German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) called Thursday’s vote “a small step in the right direction” but the new “restrictive” regulations are “not yet suitable for creating an attractive legal offering” that will convince German punters to patronize locally licensed betting sites.

DSWV member Mybet, which was among the original 20 license recipients, hailed Thursday’s vote for creating “legal certainty” for its operations. That said, Mybet echoed the DSWV’s call to “start a dialogue with politicians to develop a mutually satisfactory sustainable solution.”

ASEAN Gaming Summit takes on the growth of bitcoin betting business in SE Asia

Despite being considered as a theoretical air pocket less than a decade ago, bitcoin is fast becoming popular among businesses and operators as a feasible option for payments processing.

In the online gambling sector, bitcoin appeals to gamblers because it allows them to make and receive payments almost instantly, and without the high transaction fees. Johnny Mayo of Forbes Asia 30 under 30 Finance & VC previously said bitcoin has helped the gambling industry revolutionize itself, particularly in terms of digital payments.

ASEAN Gaming Summit takes on the growth of bitcoin betting business in SE AsiaIn an interview with CalvinAyre.com, Mayo pointed out that opportunities for micro transactions will not be discovered if it wasn’t for bitcoin.

“I think, there’s a few different variables here but I think the largest would be now we have the first opportunity for micro transactions. We have the ability to be able to split a value of a percent. Using current traditional payment system, you can’t do that,” Mayo told CalvinAyre.com. “You can’t send to send to each other and it makes certain ideas impossible from the get go. That for me, I’d say is probably the bigger things with bitcoin and gaming is the micro transaction element.”

Currently, smaller operators have already started adopting bitcoin in their product offers, but a wider adoption from larger, established operators remains to be seen. However, there are developing nations – such as the Philippines and Malaysia – that are now starting to catch up with the others countries that are leading the way.

Next week, four bitcoin experts will sit down at the ASEAN Gaming Summit to discuss the opportunities for bitcoin gambling, especially in the Southeast Asian region. Jiten Melwani, founder and CEO of Bitgame Labs, will join Coinpoint CEO Oron Barber and Playbetr managing director Marvin Jones will talk about the possibility of cryptocurrency being the payment option of choice, among other things.

Zynga buy four Harpan Solitaire games for $42.5m

Social gaming outfit Zynga has announced the acquisition of four Solitaire card game mobile apps.

Buried deep in Zynga’s most recent Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission was the company’s casual announcement that it had bought some Solitaire mobile game apps from US developer Harpan LLC for around $42.5m in cash.

Zynga said it struck the deal with Harpan on February 14 but as the initial accounting for the “business combination” was incomplete, the company planned to record the preliminary purchase price allocation in Q1 2017.

The four games Zynga purchased are Solitaire, Pyramid Solitaire, FreeCell and Spider Solitaire, all of which are available for both iOS and Android devices. Harpan is owned by a pair of brothers, Tim and William Oswald, who can now presumably afford to play card games involving more than one person.

Harpan’s flagship product, Solitaire, is in the top-10 card games in the iOS App Store and is in the top-20 of the overall iOS games category. The app also sits in the top-100 games on the Android download charts but Spider Solitaire never got higher than #439 and #202, respectively, on the iOS and Android download ranking, while the other two apps failed to dent either US chart.

The game currently displays only banner advertising, and Zynga appears to want to further monetize the product by inserting in-game adverts, the type of which accounted for around one-quarter of Zynga’s overall revenue in the company’s most recent earnings report.

In other words, the game that Harpan describes in its App Store product description as boasting “crisp, clear graphics and a straightforward layout” is about to get a lot busier and more visually cluttered. Zynga appears to believe the potential revenue bump will more than offset any resulting decline in participation if users seek out a more streamlined game with which to while away their solitary hours.

Who the Russian hackers targeted when they stole Yahoo emails

Two Russian spies and two notorious cybercriminals hacked Yahoo and used the stolen information for targeted attacks, according to indictments the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.
According to court documents, the hackers -- who allegedly compromised 500 million Yahoo accounts in 2014, in one of the largest breaches in history -- targeted people through both individual hacks and spam campaigns that impacted a broader audience.
The specific individuals targeted included diplomats, executives and an investigative reporter. The hackers also launched campaigns against large groups of users -- including people who searched online for erectile dysfunction medicine.
Consumers affected
The court documents describe in detail some of the methods employed by the four hackers indicted: Russian intelligence officers Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, who belong to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), and two alleged hired hackers Karim Baratov and Alexsey Belan.
According to the complaint, the hackers gained access to millions of Yahoo email accounts and searched through them to try to steal credit card information, financial documents and login information for other private accounts like Gmail or retail websites.
Officials say Belan -- who was already on the FBI's "most wanted" cyber list and is currently in Russia --gained access to more than 30 million Yahoo accounts and stole their contacts to send marketing spam.
Belan also set up a scheme to make money off users who searched online for erectile dysfunction medication. By manipulating Yahoo servers, he redirected users' traffic ultimately to send them to an online pharmacy that pays a commission to people who drive traffic to its site.
Specific government, financial targets
The indictment also includes a laundry list of individuals in the hackers' crosshairs, though none are listed by name.
Hackers allegedly gained access to a European diplomat's account, and they targeted accounts of a former Minister of Economic Development in a country bordering Russia (and his wife). They also reportedly accessed accounts belonging to a Russian investigative reporter, a public affairs consultant dealing with Russia's membership to the World Trade Organization and a Russian Deputy Consul General.
Related: DOJ: 2 Russian spies indicted in Yahoo hack
Other individual targets named in the complaint include three employees from a U.S. cloud services company, a senior officer at a Russian web service provider, 14 employees of a Swiss banking firm, a sales manager at a U.S. financial company, a gambling official in Nevada, an officer of a U.S. tech company, a senior officer of a large U.S. airline, the CTO of a French transportation company and numerous people involved with a Russian financial company.
The indictment says the hackers pulled off the breaches commonly by a method called phishing: Someone sends a malicious link to a website that looks legitimate but isn't. When the victim types a username and password on the fake website, hackers collect that information and use the credentials on the real site.
At the same time they targeted Yahoo, the complaint alleges, hackers also tried to infiltrate other accounts with data they discovered by breaching the Yahoo email accounts.
They allegedly tried to access non-Yahoo accounts of an assistant to the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation, several employees at a Russian cybersecurity company, a Russian official in a technology crimes unit, a trainer at the Ministry of Sports of a Russian republic and a chairman of a Russian Federation Council committee.
Other targets included a CEO of a metals industry holding company, a banker and university trustee, an International Monetary Fund official and a prominent businesswoman.
Hackers accessed at least 80 other email accounts, including 50 or more Google accounts, according to the complaint.
The indictments cap almost two years of investigation by the FBI's San Francisco office and its law enforcement partners, the Washington Post reported. Acting assistant attorney general for national security Mary McCord said in a statement the hackers' actions were "beyond the pale."
CNNMoney (San Francisco)

Hollywood Royalty: The Most Famous Actors With Famous Parents

For people on the outside, finding success in Hollywood can be a daunting task. While some stars manage to make it on their own, others approach the entertainment industry through their parents. For these celebrities, Hollywood is very much a family business.

PrettyFamous, an entertainment data site by Graphiq, found the most famous actors who also have famous parents. To create the ranking, the team ranked all actors and actresses on their Actor Score — a score out of 100 that takes into account the total number of IMDb votes for the TV shows and movies an actor has appeared in, the number of page views on the actor’s Wikipedia page over the past 30 days and the total number of award nominations an actor has received. Actors had to have at least 30,000 Wikipedia page views over the 30-day period to qualify.

The team then found actors who have a score of at least 20 and a parent with a score of 20 or higher. The ranking is ordered by the child’s Actor Score and ties are broken by the parent’s Actor Score. If a child has two parents with Actors Scores over 20, both are included.

In many Hollywood families, there is a wide gap between the fame of the parent and the child. Sometimes the child outshines the parent (Jennifer Aniston vs. John Aniston); and sometimes the star power of the parent is significantly greater (Clint Eastwood vs. Scott Eastwood).

There are, however, some rare cases where both the parent and child enjoy high levels of fame, cementing their status as Hollywood royalty. The top parent-child pair in this ranking has near-perfect Actor Scores and nearly 130 award nominations between them.

This 'modest fashion' startup is giving Muslim women more than clothes

Muslim women are flocking to a startup that promises them fashionable clothes that fit with their faith.
Nafisa Bakkar and her sister, Selina, launched Amaliah from their mother's kitchen table in 2015 as an Instagram page to curate Muslim-friendly clothes from top brands.
Since then, that page has grown into an online community of more than 250,000 Muslim women.
The sisters grew up in the U.K., born to Indian immigrants from the eastern city of Kolkata.
Nafisa Bakkar told CNNMoney they grappled with multiple identities throughout their upbringing, but soon realized how big a role Islam played -- and the challenges they faced as a result.
One of those was how to find clothes that were stylish but allowed them to adhere to their religion.
"Amaliah started as a personal frustration," the 24-year-old said. "We realized that it was a big pain point for Muslim women to find clothes that were modest but also fashionable."
Related: Employers can ban headscarves, Europe's top court rules
That Instagram page has grown into a platform that allows Muslim women to share their perspectives, experiences and, of course, find the right clothes. The company's website features a curated collection from leading stores such as H&M, ASOS and Zara, which customers can order directly online.
It also features blogs and articles with titles such as "My journey to being a part-time hijabi" and "Empowerment looks different to everyone."
"I see Amaliah as a ... tool for cultural change," Nafisa Bakkar said. "I don't really see us as just a clothing brand."
nafisa bakkar amaliah startup
The ultimate objective is gradually to change the perception of Islam in an increasingly polarized world.
"In today's political turmoil... it's never been more important for Muslim women to be heard," the young CEO told CNNMoney. "What we're seeing in the Islamic economy [is] a lot of start-ups rising out of frustrations, out of feeling that we're not catered for."
Related: Nike has a new 'Pro Hijab' for Muslim women
That market is growing, and big global brands are beginning to notice. Bakkar says fashion powerhouses such as Dolce & Gabbana and DKNY have started catering more to Muslim women over the past couple of years.
But there's still a long way to go.
"In an ideal world, Amaliah wouldn't exist," Bakkar said. "It wouldn't be difficult for a Muslim woman to find the right clothes that she doesn't feel compromises her culture and values, it wouldn't be difficult to hear the opinion of a Muslim woman in the mainstream news."
CNNMoney (New Delhi)

Google under fire for posting government ads on hate videos

Google is facing a wave of angry customers after advertisements from major brands and the U.K. government appeared alongside content from hate preachers and extremist groups.
The British government has summoned the tech firm to explain itself after a newspaper investigation showed that taxpayer-funded ads were used on inappropriate content including videos from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
"We have placed a temporary restriction on our YouTube advertising pending reassurances from Google (GOOG) that government messages can be delivered in a safe and appropriate way," the British government said in a statement.
The investigation published by The Times showed that ads from the BBC, Transport for London, Visit Scotland, L'Oreal (LRLCF), the Financial Conduct Authority, Honda (HMC), supermarket chain Sainsbury's and The Guardian all appeared next to objectionable content on YouTube.
In addition to former Klan leader Duke, the ads were used alongside content from far-right party Britain First and an organization of Polish nationalists, as well as a smattering of religious extremists and controversial hate preachers.
Google said in a statement that it has "strict guidelines" that define where ads should appear.
"We accept that we don't always get it right, and that sometimes, ads appear where they should not. We're committed to doing better, and will make changes to our policies and brand controls for advertisers," it added.
Related: Google is going to start showing you more ads
Some companies, however, said they were taking steps to protect their brands.
L'Oreal said it was "horrified" that its advertisements had appeared with such "extreme" and "negative" content. It said the problem seems to have occurred after Google incorrectly categorized some of its YouTube inventory.
"We are taking immediate action to remedy this issue and will be working yet more closely with Google to prevent this from happening in the future," a company spokeswoman said in a statement.
David Pemsel, chief executive of The Guardian, said it was "completely unacceptable" for its advertising to be misused.
In a letter sent to Google executive Matt Brittin, he said that it was vital for Google to "uphold the highest standards in terms of openness, transparency, and measures to avoid advertising fraud."
Related: Google's Europe boss doesn't know what he is paid
"It is very clear that this is not the case at the moment," he wrote.
Google and Facebook (FB, Tech30) own huge chunks of the digital advertising business, and major brands are spending an increasing share of their ad budgets on their platforms. Many of their gains have come at the expense of newspapers and magazines.
CNNMoney (London)

Lamborghini is ready to settle down and have kids

But, like every other current Lamborghini, it has no back seats and barely any room for shopping bags.
That's what the upcoming Lamborghini Urus is for. It's a vehicle that marks a huge change for Lamborghini. Unveiled as a concept vehicle back in 2012 but finally expected to go on sale next year, the Urus will be a four-door crossover SUV.
A four-door Lamorghini isn't totally unprecedented. There was the very un-Lamborghini-like Lamborghini LM002 from the late 1980s. Originally designed for military use, the tall, chunky SUV looked like a life-sized Lego model. Fewer than 330 were ever made.
lamborghini urus
Lamborghini's Urus four-door SUV.
In 2008, Lamborghini showed off a four-door sedan concept car called the Estoque. That idea never went to production at all. But luxury SUVs are just too hot to ignore right now.
"In a segment where all the automotive manufacturers are present, of course we will be there with our voice, with our product, with our brand," said Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali during an interview at the Geneva Motor Show.
Lamborghini is owned by Germany's Volkswagen Group. So is Bentley, the British ultra-luxury carmaker that recently began selling the Bentley Bentayga SUV. BMW's Rolls-Royce division is also working on an SUV-like vehicle that Rolls executives insist on not calling SUV. Meanwhile, Lamborghini's traditional Italian competitor, Ferrari, has sworn off ever making an SUV at all no matter what you call it.
With four doors and back seats big enough for grown ups, the Urus will be, by far, the most outright practical Lamborghini ever. It will also be available in a plug-in hybrid version, another first for Lamborghini.
lamborghini urus
The Urus is expected to briskly outsell Lamborghini's two sports car models, the Aventador and Huracán. To prepare for it, Lamborghini is doubling the size of its factory in northern Italy's Sant'Agata Bolegnese.
When Lamborghini talks about a car being "popular," you have to keep that in perspective. Lamborghini set on all-time sales record last year when it sold about 3,500 cars worldwide. That amounted to 0.03% of all the cars Lamborghini's parent company, Volkswagen Group (VLKPF), sold that year.
With the introduction of the Urus, Lamborghini expects to at least double its annual sales, making 2019 the first year the brand sells 7,000 vehicles.
Lamborghini is also readying its dealer network to help customers who will come trooping in with children and pets. Lamborghini service departments will need to prepare for vehicles that rack up miles much faster than a two-seat sports car. And customers, who will be using this Lamborghini for daily errands and not just weekend thrills, will likely be less patient with extended downtime.
Maserati's first SUV is cheaper than you'd guess
Maserati's first SUV is cheaper than you'd guess
"That's why we need to make sure that the challenge that we have in front of us is taken with the right responsibility, with the right approach, because new customers, new dealers, new mileage, new service," said Domenicali. "You know, we are moving the brand in, as we say, a different dimension."
Of course, Lamborghini will still make cars like the $200,000 Huracan and the $400,000 V12-powered Aventador, cars that are designed with only the barest attention to practicality since, really, they're just supposed to go fast and get stared at.
"We need to make sure that Lamborghini will be always in the super sport car segment," Domenicali said.
Of course, Lamborghini promises that the new Urus, too, will offer "extreme performance" in a roomier package. Tell the kids to buckle up.
CNNMoney (Geneva)