UK-listed online gambling operator GVC Holdings enjoyed “the most significant year in the group’s history” in 2016 after acquiring and reforming Bwin.party’s betting and gaming brands.

GVC issued its annual results on Thursday, which showed pro forma revenue – backdating the company’s February 2016 absorption of Bwin.party to January 1 – rising 9% to €894.6m, while earnings were up 26% to €205.7m and adjusted pre-tax profit more than doubled to €93.8m. (In reality, acquisition-related costs resulted in a net loss of €138.6m for the year.)

GVC’s sports labels – including Bwin, Sportingbet, Betboo and Gamebookers – reported total sports betting handle up 4% to €4.55b while combined sports and gaming revenue at these labels gained 14% to €654m.

The sports labels’ gains are all the more impressive considering their marketing spending was only around 17% of revenue, well below industry average. With a better sense of its return on investment for its new brands, GVC says it plans to increase sports marketing to 23-25% in 2017.

Within a week of the Australian government banning online poker in Australia, eSports betting outlet Unikrn receives authority to open a book on Rocket League, a video game where you play football in futuristic vehicles

Dear Australian poker players,

Put down anything you may spit on the screen of your computer. If you are reading this on the phone make sure you are in a padded cell, so it doesn’t break when you hurl it.

In the same week the Australian government decided to ban online poker for no substantial reason, an eSports bookmaker called Unikrn received approval from the relevant authorities in Australia to allow people to gamble on the outcome of matches played in a video game called Rocket League.

American casino industry groups are pleading with congressional leaders not to purge problem gambling support funds from President Donald Trump’s health care plan.

Earlier this month, the heads of the American Gaming Association (AGA), National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) and the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM) sent a joint letter begging Washington pols to “recognize gambling disorders as a public health issue that merits inclusion” in whatever version of Trumpcare replaces the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aka Obamacare.

The letter, which was also signed by the exec director of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), notes that gambling disorders were covered under the ACA’s ‘mental health and substance use disorders’ and ‘behavioral health treatment’ categories, in keeping with the American Psychiatric Association’s recognition of gambling disorders as a diagnosable condition in the DSM-5.

The letter’s signatories believe this recognition is critical for enabling adequate funding for research as well as ensuring that the necessary resources and treatment facilities are available to problem gamblers seeking help in dealing with their issues.

In this week’s poker news round up we remind you of the death of online poker in Australia, a storm brewing above the heads of the High Rollers competing in the PokerStars Championships and more.

Australian poker players were dealt a blow this week when the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 sailed through the regulatory process and became law.

Much like the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 acted as a parasite on the side of the SAFE Port Act leading to a ban of online poker in the US. The decision to ban online poker somehow managed to get involved with the country’s desire to prevent match fixing in sports such as tennis and beach volleyball.

It’s a nightmare for people who rely on online poker to make a living. The choices seem to be (a) find a new job (b) emigrate (c) take the advice of Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm – “screw the government, get a VPN and an offshore account and carry on as you are, and I wish you the very best of luck.”

North Korea’s fingerprints are all over last year’s cyber-theft of $81m from Bangladeshi central bank accounts, according to a top US intelligence officer.

On Tuesday, National Security Agency deputy director Rick Ledgett was asked by an Aspen Institute roundtable moderator whether he believed nation states were currently in the business of robbing banks, to which Ledgett replied in the affirmative.

While Ledgett never mentioned North Korea by name, he noted that Symantec researchers had long ago suggested that the software used to pull off the 2016 theft of those Bangladeshi millions was similar to that used in the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures, which US security agencies have attributed to North Korea.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Justice was preparing charges that would accuse North Korea of pulling off the Bangladeshi heist, allegedly with the help of Chinese middlemen. The US is involved due to the fact that the Bangladeshi accounts were held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

North Korea is seeking international investors to back a floating casino operation just as US legislators vow to clamp down on the regime’s online gambling operations.

On Thursday, South Korean media reported that a North Korean website was inviting foreign investors to bet on a proposed cruise ship venture that would ferry customers from the port of Kosong to Russia’s far east and other southeast Asian destinations. The ship would feature “various amenities” including “a casino business.”

North Korea used to have such a casino cruise business, but the South Korean company that operated the 30k-tonne ferry halted operations after a North Korean soldier killed a South Korean tourist visiting North Korea’s Mr. Kumgang special international tourism zone in 2008.

North Korea says investors should be willing to plunge between US$10m and $20m into the cruise business over the next decade. To sweeten its pitch, North Korea says the business will be “guaranteed favorable conditions for economic activities.”

New Zealand’s government is pushing ahead with plans to restrict the ability of internationally licensed online gambling operators to offer wagers on local racing events.

On Thursday, Racing Minister Nathan Guy (pictured) announced plans to amend the Racing Act 2003 to boost the fortunes of the New Zealand Racing Board, which has long complained that its TAB betting product is getting its clock cleaned by the more attractive offerings available via international betting sites.

The proposed changes include a royalty fee for international betting operators who wish to use New Zealand race data. International operators will also face a point-of-consumption (POC) charge on wagers placed on Kiwi sports events with international operators.

The specifics of these charges won’t be revealed until the government submits new regulations to parliament – which the government says will be done “as soon as practicable” – but Guy suggested the POC rate will be in keeping with the 2% of betting turnover recommended by the Offshore Betting Working Group.

Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has launched operations in Germany as part of the company’s efforts to geographically diversify its revenue stream.

On Thursday, Yahoo Finance reported that DraftKings had debuted a beta version of its German-facing site. The move was telegraphed in January after DraftKings was awarded a ‘controlled skill games’ license from the Malta Gaming Authority, with which DraftKings plans to target European Union markets.

DraftKings’ German site offers the same palette of sporting options available in the company’s core US market, including football (aka soccer), golf and the four major North American professional sports leagues. DraftKings is eager to tap into what it believes is an active German fantasy sports base of between 4m and 5m players.

DraftKings, which launched a UK-facing site last year, began exploring international expansion following the late-2015 implosion of the US-based DFS industry, which was precipitated by a steady stream of negative media attention, including company insiders winning large prizes and alarming statistics on the unlikelihood of the average DFS participant ever winning anything.

Bitcoin opens the door to many opportunities that did not exist before it was created. Yet, the digital currency has yet to convince some investors who remain unconvinced about its potential as an alternative currency.

One reason for the skepticism surrounding bitcoin is its volatility. The digital currency, as we all know, is capable of price fluctuations—as much as 10x changes in price versus the U.S. dollar—in a short period of time.

Bitcoin experts, however, believe that the term volatility should no longer apply to the cryptocurrency.

“I think volatility is probably the keyword three or four years ago or maybe as recently as two years ago. I don’t think that’s the case anymore,” Jiten Melwani, founder and CEO of Bitgame Labs, told industry executives at the ASEAN Gaming Summit on Thursday. “I think that a massive inter-day sweep, inter-week sweep now is rare. There’s more liquidity in the market, there’s more maturity in the market.”