The English Bridge Union lost their appeal to be recognised as a sport for tax purposes after judges in a European Court sided with the HM Revenue & Customs that Bridge is nothing more than a game.

The English Bridge Union (EBU) is feeling like the Little Piggy who built the house out of straw, after the European judges in Luxembourg, sheep in wolves clothing blew their house down and gobbled up their hope.

In June, the EBU lodged a claim with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that match fees should be tax exempt as Bridge is a sport. The HMRC disagreed, the EBU appealed via the upper tax tribunal, and the case ended up on the back of a very slow horse to the European courts.

While the judges agreed that Bridge is mentally and physically positive for the people who play the game, especially the older element in the crowd, as it lacked a negligible physical element they could not agree with the EBU and turned down their claim, backing the HMRC’s original decision.

Three stories from the PokerStars brand including a trio of titles for the Stars Group at the EGR Italy Awards, a new and improved online tournament schedule, and news from the Asian Championship of Poker in Macau.

The DIY gang at The Stars Group Italian branch are currently fitting a trophy cabinet next to the Jura Giga 5 Automatic Coffee Machine, and Eric Clapton signed 1958 Fender Stratocaster.

The Ikea shelving’s needed after The Stars Group walked out of the EGR Italy Awards at the Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria, Italy with Cheshire cat-like smiles after winning three of the five awards the team were shortlisted for.

The Stars Group beat Sisal to win the Poker Operator of the Year award, nudged Eurobet, Tombola, Sisal, Goldbet and Unibet out of the way to scoop the Social Marketing Operator of the Year Award, and crowned a splendid evening by taking down the Operator of the Year Award ahead of Sisal and Eurobet.

Three tales from the World Poker Tour including a pilot preventing a record-breaking WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble event, a senior citizen winning in Iowa, and a four-way split in Johannesburg.

Pressure?

What pressure?

Paul Petraglia is a pilot by day and enthused poker player by night. Ask the Jacksonville resident which one of those P’s finds beads of sweat dribbling down his temple like those on the side of a cold beer can, and he will tell you that it’s poker.

Regional casino operator Penn National Gaming (PNG) saw its shares fall nearly 3% on Thursday over concerns that Pennsylvania’s gambling expansion plans will hurt its local racino operations.

On Thursday, PNG released its Q3 earnings report, which showed revenue in the three months ending September 30 rising 5.3% year-on-year to $806.2m, as the company posted growth across its three main geographic areas of operation. Operating income improved 4.7% to $106.5m while adjusted earnings edged up 2.6% to $127.6m.

PNG’s mainstay Northeast market’s eight properties posted the largest revenue ($401.8m) but the smallest percentage gain (+1.5%). The Midwest region improved nearly $232m while the South/West division gained 18.5% to $160.1m, largely due to PNG’s acquisition of two Mississippi casinos this March.

PNG CEO Timothy Wilmott credited his company’s “continued ramp of our newer properties and business segments” for ensuring “another period of strong spend per visit” across its three operating segments.

Russia’s sports bettors have a new online betting option although all eyes are on Bwin.ru’s launch next month.

This week, Russian gambling affiliate Bookmaker Ratings reported that betting operator RUS-TELETOT had formally launched its locally licensed online betting site, which will operate via the company’s Tennisi brand.

RUS-TELTOT received its Russian bookmaking license in 2009 and currently operates 74 retail betting outlets in 30 cities, in addition to operations in Kazakhstan and Tajikistn. The company also operates .com betting sites under both the RUS-TELETOT and Tennisi brands.

The new betting site will handle financial transactions through the First TSUPIS, the centralized payment processing hub that handles payments for all online bookies that belong to the First Self-Regulatory Organization of Russian Bookmakers (First SRO), one of two rival associations representing Russian betting operators.

Two gamblers on trial for smashing up fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) in a Ladbrokes betting shop are claiming that their actions were the result of a FOBT-induced trance.

A few weeks before Christmas 2016, two Cheltenham residents, Aaron Cawley and John Dymock, were charged with causing £20k worth of damage at a Ladbrokes betting shop. The 26-year-old Cawley and the 30-year-old Dymock reportedly lost a packet playing one of the shop’s FOBTs, prompting them to go on a vandalism tantrum.

Dymock originally pled guilty to his role in the rampage, but has since asked to withdraw his plea. In August, the pair informed the court that they planned to plead not guilty due to having suffered from ‘automatism,’ aka a form of temporary insanity they claim was induced by the FOBTs heady cocktail of flashing lights and beeping sounds.

At their August court hearing, the pair’s attorney Alison Gurden told the judge, Recorder Paul Grumbar, that the vandals were suffering from “automatism due to a gambling addiction.” A skeptical Grumbar expressed surprise that the condition had “afflicted them both at the same time.”