Casinos and social gaming sites have a lot riding on new laws and licenses that will turn on the taps to online gaming revenue. One company is set to finally open shop as soon as May — but its license strictly limits where it can operate and what it can play. Read more at GigaOM »
A social gaming site called Fanhood invites players to buy tokens and make sports wagers with their friends. While they may entertain sports fans, sites like this have little hope of being part of recent moves towards legal online gambling. Read more »
Nevada became the first state in the country this week to legalize online gambling — but don’t expect this to change the fortunes of companies like Zynga anytime soon. Read more at GigaOM »
Amazon enters the social gaming market with its key incumbent in Nasdaq free-fall. Does it really want to compete in a business with unproven monetization, or does it just want to make some games for Kindle owners to play? The unit’s first game launched Monday. Read more »
American Express is teaming with Zynga on a reward program that will link offline spending on its Serve pre-paid cards to in-game rewards in Farmville. It’s an ambitious attempt at boosting the reach of AmEx’s Serve product and tying real-world spending to online virtual rewards. Read more at GigaOM »
The latest hires in the tech and media industry… Read more »
A new patent troll announced its arrival this week by suing companies like Facebook, Zynga and Playfish. Its weapon is a patent that it clai… Read more »
