Paraguay’s top gambling regulator is under fire for awarding a monopoly sports betting concession even after the national comptroller identified irregularities in the bidding process.

Last week, Javier Balbuena, president of the Conajzar (National Gaming Commission), announced that Daruma Sam SA had won the competition to become Paraguay’s sole authorized sports betting provider. Daruma, which operates under the Aposta.la brand, has been taking wagers in Paraguay since 2014.

On Tuesday, local media outlet ABC Color reported that Paraguay’s Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) was protesting Conajzar’s decision, having identified ‘irregularities’ in the bidding process, which prompted CGR to file three separate complaints with Conajzar.

The CGR had urged Conajzar to suspend the tender so that these irregularities could be probed further, but Balbuena (pictured) refused. CGR chief Enrique García admitted that his office had no formal enforcement powers to prevent the concession being awarded, but said he wasn’t ruling out pursuing judicial action against Balbuena.

Macau authorities busted a gang that livestreamed action from a Philippine casino on the same day that Philippine authorities arrested 14 Chinese nationals operating a different illegal online gambling ring.

On December 13, Macau’s Judiciary Police (PJ) raided a residential building in the ZAPE area where three suspects were arrested for operating an illegal online gambling operation. The ring reportedly used the WeChat social network to livestream action from a lone baccarat table in an unspecified Philippine casino to their customers.

Police said the ring had apparently been in action for at least one year and had earned around HKD 2m (US $266k) in ill-gotten proceeds via the Alipay payment processing channel. Police, who believe the group was controlled by an international syndicate, seized a variety of phones, computers and other tools of the illegal trade.

WeChat has become a popular method of delivering illegal online casino services to gamblers, particularly those living on the Chinese mainland, where gambling is strictly forbidden. Macau authorities have disrupted multiple WeChat-based operations this year, including the most recent bust in October.

Spread betting firms are reeling after European Union securities regulators announced plans to further restrict their use.

On Friday, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued an update on its probe into the sale of contracts for differences (CFD), including rolling spot forex, and binary options to retail clients. ESMA also announced that it would conduct a brief public consultation in January before whipping out its ban-hammer.

ESMA noted that it had been concerned about these types of financial products for some time, and acknowledged that some jurisdictions, including the UK, had imposed national measures to limit retail clients’ access and exposure to CFDs, binary options and the like, after determining that over four-fifths of CFD customers were four-figure losers.

Among the new curbs ESMA is considering are a blanket prohibition on marketing, distribution or sale of binary options or CFDs to retail clients in EU member states. Additional restrictions for limiting leverage of CFD trades are also currently under review.

2017 is coming to a close, so let’s review what has happened in what has proved to be one of the strangest, most disruptive years in decades. Not necessarily in terms of any gambling market crashes like the Macau reset of 2014-2016, but rather in terms of the groundwork for the capital flowing into and out of these markets as a whole. The stage has been set for a global monetary revolution (I’m talking to you, cryptocurrencies), something which has arguably contributed to Macau’s impressive continued recovery.

However, with yield curves globally falling fast and almost flat and price inflation slowly gaining steam, the groundwork is being laid for market stresses in 2018. We will monitor the situation as the upcoming year progresses, but for now, here’s a snapshot view of the pivotal events of 2017 and how they affected the gaming industry landscape.

At the close of 2016, these were the basic recommendations given for this past year:

In review, for 2017, buy the US and reassess around May, buy the UK until the Brexit of Theresa May, sell the Eurozone come what may, sell Macau if you may. And buy Australia.

New Jersey lawmakers have finally decided to take a break from pushing for a referendum that would have paved the way for the opening of casinos in North Jersey.

The Associated Press reported that it is unlikely for New Jersey lawmakers to revive a ballot question that will authorize casino projects near New York City, especially after the electorate overwhelmingly rejected the idea last year.

New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney said proponents of North Jersey casinos could once again attempt to bring the ballot question to the fore next year, although he believes that it is unlikely for the Senate to tackle the issue even after 2019.

“I don’t see it anytime soon, if ever,” Sweeney said, according to the news agency.

A Taiwan-based shipping firm is set to test the waters of the Russian casino industry after acquiring nearly 189 million ordinary shares of Hong Kong-listed Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd.

In a filing before the Taiwan Stock Exchange, shipping operator First Steamship Co. Ltd. announced that it bought equity interest of Hong Kong-listed Kaisheng Holdings Limited, priced at HKD1.05 (US$0.13) per share.

GGRAsia reported that the ordinary shares that Kaisheng sold to First Steamship represents a shareholding of 12.67 percent in Summit Ascent, the company that runs the Tigre de Cristal casino resort in Russia’s Far East.

It isn’t clear whether the Summit Ascent shares that First Steamship purchased are the same shares that casino mogul Lawrence Ho has recently divested. It would be recalled that Ho sold 20 million shares in Summit Ascent, as he looks for other opportunities elsewhere.

Hong Kong-listed casino investor Melco International Development Ltd. is punting big on its casino project in the Republic of Cyprus as it increases its stake by more than 4 percent.

In a regulatory filing, the Lawrence Ho-led company announced on Monday that it has entered a joint venture agreement with Cyprus-based conglomerate Cyprus Phasouri Zakaki Ltd. (CPZ) for the issuance of new shares in ICR Cyprus Holdings Ltd (ICR Holdings). Melco already holds 70.74 percent of ICR Holdings after acquiring Hard Rock International’s stake in the company back in September.

Under the new investment agreement, Melco will now own 75 percent of the equity in the holding company, while CPZ’s shares will decrease from 29.26 percent to 25 percent.

Both parties agreed that Melco will have to pay an aggregate amount of €160 million (US$188.7 million) for the newly acquired shares of ICR Holdings. The Hong Kong-listed company said that it plans to make the first payment of €25 million (US$29.5 million) upon the completion of the Subscription Agreement.

A round-up of the tail end of action at the PokerStars Championship Prague including the Main Event win for Kalidou Sow, and High Roller victories for Igor Kurganov and Danny Tang.

You don’t want to be in the dungeon with Jason Wheeler puffing smoke in your face, but that’s where Kalidou Sow ended up at the end of one of the most memorable weeks of his life.

The Parisian has prospered on the mid-stakes live tournament scene, including a third-place finish in the France Poker Series (FPS) Main Event in Paris for €72,000 in 2015, but he had never shot craps with the stars at the end of a PokerStars Championship.

There is a tombstone in Prague that reads ‘Here lies the European Poker Tour’. The words ‘European Poker Tour’ has been scratched out with red crayon, and the words “PokerStars Championship’ overwritten.