iGaming News Roundup – August 4-August 10

August might be a time for rest and relaxation in most industries but with regulated US gaming on its way and a serious race to establish mobile dominance, the igaming world was very busy as July wound down.
Legal News
Full Tilt Ready to Payoff US Players – After years of legal wrangling and a fair amount of foot-dragging on the part of the claims administrator, the DOJ is finally ready to start paying off frozen Black Friday FullTilt accounts to Americans. The decision came after a heavy lobbying effort from the Poker Player’s Alliance, though whether players will receive the full amount or not is still in doubt.
888 Goes Solo in New Jersey – 888 will be releasing its own, standalone online gambling product in New Jersey sometime in the near future. This branded offering is in addition to the products its putting together for Caesars and other land-based casinos. Company officials have brushed off any suggestions of a conflict of interest.
Bwin.party Management Shakeup – Bwin.party’s will be welcoming Jeff Haas as its new Head of Online Poker. Haas is replacing Chris Welch who held the spot for two years. Haas is coming to the Bwin.party from the Rational Group, but has actually worked at the company in the past.
Paddy Power Sponsors Sports News App – Paddy Power, Ireland’s largest independent bookmaker, is making a run at the mobile market by co-sponsoring a football news/highlights app with News UK. The branded content package looks to put the bookmaker in front of huge new audience and is likely a model other operators will follow.
SEO
Google Publishes Mobile Guidelines – Google released a new set of guidelines mobile web design. The gist of the new document is that speed matters. The big brains state quite clearly that above-the-fold content must load in a second or less. (So get moving!)
Manual Spam Action Clarification – Webmasters who’ve been hit with a manual spam action from Google will actually know what they’ve been hit with thanks to a new feature on Webmaster Tools. The new dashboard feature automatically alerts users when an action’s been applied to their site.
Did any of these stories have an impact on your business? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.