Immigration officials in the Philippines wants an investigation into the “unauthorized” release of 22 Chinese nationals, who presented CEZA visas to arresting agents. The Chinese nationals were among the 191 foreigners arrested on July 20 for allegedly not having work permits.

Another exciting week for online gambling in the Philippines. On Tuesday, Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials ordered an investigation into what they said was an unauthorized release of 22 Chinese nationals who were arrested for not having work permits. Here’s the catch: those foreigners already have special work visas.

The 22 were among the 191 foreign nationals arrested on July 21. Through its website, BI said these people were working as call center agents or online gambling operators in an office in Pasay City.

Of these 191 people, only 169 were brought to the BI offices in Manila, where 14 people managed to present valid work visas, leaving behind 155—mostly Chinese nationals—to face deportation charges for violating the Philippine Immigration Act, BI said in a statement.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware has imposed sentences to BetGrande bettors on charges of illegal bookmaking and a bid to avoid federal reporting requirements.

Nevada sports bettor Glen Cobb has been slapped with a one-year probation for his role in Lycur—the now defunct the Cobbs company that ran the illegal betting operation and placed bets across state and international lines on www.betgrande.com.

The probationary period will allow officers to monitor Cobb’s computers to ensure that he does not place illegal wagers with any international bookmaker. His octogenarian parents Charles and Anna Cobb and stepdaughter Monica Namnard will not undergo any probation but, along with Cobb,  were ordered to share payment for $4.2m forfeiture.

Federal prosecutors argued in court papers that the Cobbs should be banned from entering the casinos as it would be like “letting the fox back into the hen house” but Boulware decided in favor of defense lawyers saying that by doing so would take away the family’s livelihood as most of the wagering was done legally at Las Vegas casinos.

Last week we covered NFC and Beacon technology, so continuing on with the theme of mobile tech, this week we’ll take a look at mobile messaging.  When it comes to the digital world, mobile offerings and strategies are everything these days as consumers are attached to their phones and expect instant gratification.

Delivering appropriate mobile messages to the mobile gamer will increase engagement and loyalty, but sending off the right message involves sharp technology and a lot of data.  To find out how to do it right, I spoke with Troy Morris, Director of Strategic Services of OtherLevels, a company specializing in testing, optimising and analysing mobile messages.

Becky Liggero: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today, Troy.  We know delivering the right message at the right time to the right person is key- how does your technology ensure this happens? 

Troy Morris: To begin, we gather data from the device and operating system layer, from user interactions within the app, and additional business intelligence (BI) data from our clients’ varied CRM systems.

The number of Macau’s gaming and junket jobs dropped to 83,800 in the second quarter of 2015. Jobs in the gaming industry accounts for 20.6 percent of the city’s total labor force, which currently stands at 405,400.

The total number of gaming and junket jobs in Macau shrunk by 800 in the second quarter of 2015, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reported.

Through its website, the bureau said employments in the gaming industry dropped to 83,800 in the April-June period from the previous period’s 84,600. According to Macau News, gaming and junket jobs accounted for 20.6 percent of the city’s total labor force, which currently stands at 405,400.

The city’s revenue decline, which celebrated its first grim anniversary in June, hasn’t been kind to junket operators, with 34 junket operators shutting down in the last year alone. Last month, junket operator Neptune Group reportedly planned to lay off more than 300 of its staff, and casino workers association Forefront of Macau Gaming (FMG) said some of its members were being pressured to resign.

If anyone doubted the severity of Macau’s casino gaming revenue decline, a quick look at Wynn Resorts’ Q2 numbers would convince them.

Wynn reported net income of $56.5m in the three months ending June 30, 72% less than the company reported in the same period a year ago. Total revenue fell 23% to $1.045b, with Las Vegas operations down 6.2% to $423.5m and Macau off 35.8% to $617m.

VIP table game turnover at Wynn Macau was off 41% in Q2 and mass market table drop fell 16.5%. While VIP win rate of 2.92% was flat year-on-year, mass market win came in at 17.5%, nearly four points down from last year, pushing mass win down 33% to $208.6m. Slots handle and win fell 29.5% and 22.5% respectively. Non-gaming revenue was down 22.3% to $78.1m and occupancy fell two points to 96.4%.

In Vegas, gaming revenue fell 26.2% as table drop fell 19% and table win fell nearly eight points year-on-year to 19.5%, below the expected range of 21% to 24%. On the plus side, slots handle nudged up 0.7% while slot win gained 10.6%. Non-gaming revenue was up 5.3% to $330.3m.

Lee Davy takes a trawl through Twitter to figure out what is going on in the lives of the most interesting and absorbing people in poker.

The ending of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) reminds me of the end of a sweaty sex session. It was exciting, a lot of intense effort was applied and all that remains is this sense of awkwardness.

That’s how the poker news feed feels these days.

There is not much going on.

Mexican National football authorities have sacked coach Miguel Herrera two days after his side won the 2015 Gold Cup.

Mexico has won a record seventh Gold Cup. They celebrated by sacking their excitable manager Miguel Herrera after he punched a reporter at Philadelphia airport.

I remember a lot of things from the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil: the women mainly, the diving, the woeful performances from England, and a little fella called Miguel Herrera showing unbridled passion on the sidelines, as his Mexican team made it through to the second round before being edged out by the third place finishers Holland.

Herrera managed the Mexican national side on 36 occasions since his appointment in Oct 2013. Under his tutelage his sides achieved a 52% success rate. He is said to be bitterly disappointed with the way he has bowed out.