GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 33 - October 2015

“So far, the Macau government has never issued any online interactive gaming license to any companies. Hence, all online interactive gambling websites in Macau are considered illegal operations.” – Macau’s official gambling regulatory agency, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, in a public advisory to Macau citizens. Affactive, Revenue Jet shuttered in wake of arrests of owners By Dan Podheiser The Affactive and Revenue Jet affiliate programs shut down in late July, fol- lowing the arrests of two owners of the online casino groups. The GPWA confirmed the link be- tween the closing of the programs and the arrests of the owners through conversations with Affactive affiliate managers. The GPWA also suspended Affactive’s sponsorship on July 24. Gery Shalon, 31, and Ziv Orenstein, 40, were arrested on July 21 at their homes in Israel. They have been ac- cused by U.S. authorities of engaging in “pump and dump” stock manipula- tion schemes dating back to 2011. An indictment filed in New York charges the suspects — along with Joshua Samuel Aaron, 31, a U.S. citizen liv- ing in Moscow and Tel Aviv — with money laundering, identity theft, and securities and wire fraud. According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission state- ment made on July 22, the three sus- pects obtained shares in several penny stocks, increased the prices by 1,800% and sold the shares to recoup at least $2.8 million in illicit proceeds. When police arrested Shalon, a search of his property found 2 million shek- els ($520,000) in cash, according to Israel Hayom . On July 22, Bloomberg reported that an FBI document linked Shalon and Orenstein to the 2014 hack of JPMorgan Chase, from which hackers managed to mine gigabytes of custom- er account data undetected for months. Upon hearing news of the programs’ shutdowns and the arrests of the own- ers, GPWA forum members noted past instances of complaints about both Affactive and Revenue Jet, spe- cifically in regards to affiliate and player payments. Affactive promoted online casinos such as Win Palace Casino, Casino Titan, Jackpot Grand Casino and Golden Cherry Casino. Revenue Jet promoted Loco Panda Casino, Classy Coin Casino, Grand Parker Casino and OnBling Casino. “You put up something of value, cash, to win something of value, cash. It’s the classic definition of gambling.” – William Hill U.S. CEO Joe Asher on his belief that daily fantasy sports should be considered gambling. 7 Webmaster News & Quotables