Russian bookmaker Liga Stavok says its online operations accounted for 60% of its business in 2017 and will likely rise to 80% in future.

On Monday, Liga Stavok VP Dmitry Pavlovsky held a press conference at which he extolled the company’s strong performance through the first 11 months of 2017. Liga Stavok was the first bookmaker to receive an official Russian online betting license in 2016 and Pavlovsky was particularly impressed by how the site’s digital division performed this year.

According to Pavlovsky, Liga Stavok’s online growth topped 500% this year, although he credited much of that eyebrow-raising statistic to growing from “a small base.” Regardless, Pavlovsky said digital operations accounted for 60% of the company’s business in 2017, and he projected the online/land-based split would eventually settle “at a ratio of 80 to 20,” based on its current monthly growth rate of 10-20%.

Of online wagers, 60% were placed via mobile devices. The company has taken wagers from over 4m customers since its launch, while November 2017 set a record with 210k customers placing at least one wager, up from the last year’s monthly high of 150-160k.

Bermuda has approved a controversial amendment to its gambling legislation that critics claim concentrates too much regulatory power in too few hands.

On Friday night, Bermuda’s parliament approved the Casino Gaming Amendment Act 2017, which was introduced by the ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) in November. The vote was cast along strict party lines, with members of the opposition One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) party all voting against the Act.

The primary function of the bill is to require the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission (BCGC) to follow “general directions” on gaming policy put forward by Jamahl Simmons (pictured), the Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. The Minister would also have the authority to replace BCGC members as the Minister “considers appropriate.”

Gaming industry stakeholders and OBA MPs had protested these changes, saying the amended Act would neuter the formerly independent BCGC by making it a slave to the whims and wishes of the minister.

It looks like Australians are more inclined to watch horse racing than any other TV shows in spring time.

Citing the latest television audience statistics from OzTam, The Australian Financial Review reported that Tabcorp’s Sky Racing enjoyed high television ratings compared to other pay-TV shows for sports, news, lifestyle, and drama.

The research firm’s figures showed that Sky Racing’s average audience in the recent horse racing carnival, including the Melbourne Cup and Winx’s big win in the Cox Plate, climbed 16 percent compared to last year’s event coverage.

The show’s rating peaked to 48 percent during the Everest/Caulfield Guineas day on October 14, according to a Tabcorp spokesman. On the other hand, the ratings agency noted slight audience declines across Foxtel’s pay-TV service.

UK-based online gambling operator Sky Betting & Gaming (SkyBet) has thrown its support behind the impending acquisition of NYX Gaming Group Ltd.

In a statement, SkyBet said the successful acquisition of NYX by U.S. gaming technology provider Scientific Games Corp. (Sci Games) will deliver great value to the Canadian-listed company’s shareholders. SkyBet is a minority investor in NYX, owning close to 1.65 million ordinary shares and 412,000 warrants in the company, as well as 37,400 convertible preference shares in a NYX subsidiary.

“We look forward to continuing to work with a combined Scientific Games and NYX as more jurisdictions around the world look to legalize sports betting and online gaming” SkyBet CEO Richard Flint said in a statement.

SkyBet’s statement comes on the heels of Sci Games’ announcement that it entered into an independent agreement to support the previously announced acquisition of NYX for CAD2.40 (US$1.87) per ordinary share. For the acquisition to move forward, NYX and Sci Games need to get the approval of their shareholders, who are scheduled to meet on December 20 in Las Vegas.

Bookmakers and betting exchanges in Malta are in for an early Christmas treat after Europe’s premier gambling hub announced that these services will be exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT).

The Maltese government would no longer impose VAT on bets and wagers, including the services of bookmakers and betting exchanges, and “equivalent entities” starting January 1, 2018, The Times of Malta first reported.

Under the new Value Added Tax Act, published in the Government Gazette last week, bets on actual and virtual sports events, lotteries, competitions, lotteries, performance of an index, and even natural disasters and other phenomenon would also be exempted from the tax.

The Maltese government, however, clarified that the VAT exemption under the new tax regime did not include bets on the outcome of casino table games, including blackjack, roulette, poker, or any other casino-style game of chance. Any gambling services provided through the use of remote technology would still pay the VAT, the government added.

Ireland wins the International Federation of Match Poker Nations Cup, and Andy Black picks up the award for the tournament’s outstanding player as the event plays out in Oxford, England.

There’s an old TV ad I remember from my childhood.

A kid wearing a Liverpool kit dives into his fridge. His mate says, “Got any lemonade?”

“If you want,” says the fridge diver before coming up pouring himself a glass of milk.

Three barrels giving off an Asian aroma including a chess grandmaster promoting poker as a game of skill in India, Varun Gupta taking down a title in Macau, and Japan getting in on the live tournament act.

We are solving the perception problem. 

Those were the words of India’s Poker Sports League’s (PSL) co-founder Pranav Bagai when we spoke recently about his vision for the future of poker in his country.

I was interested in learning how PSL was going to shoot down their competitors: Match Indian Poker League (MIPL) and Global Poker League (GPL) India, when I learned that India’s rulers are the primary enemy, and MIPL and GPL are more like allies.

A triple barrel’s worth of PokerStars tales including a round-up from their inaugural Online High Roller Series, we check in with the PokerStars Championship in Prague and tip you off about a new PokerStars shop on Amazon. 

I often wonder if partypoker was standing next to a geyser, and nobody was looking, if PokerStars would push them in, grinning as their bones were boiled clean?

Yes, I get it, it’s good for poker that partypoker have finally got their act together and are applying some severe pressure on Stars’ cranial nerves, but things must have been a lot chirpier in Stars Towers when they had everything their own way.

While partypoker was proving their capability of migrating their MILLIONS brand to the online realm, handing out $1m to Jon Van Fleet, the largest online poker room this side of the cobweb that connects fan blades in my hotel room, was finishing off their online High Roller Series.

A few years ago, the Calvin Ayre Media Group set out to make CalvinAyre.com the premier global gambling news site on the web, it’s been a fun ride but now we have a new challenge.

The cryptocurrency industry is exploding in popularity, the technology is revolutionary and with our new site CoinGeek.com we want to do the same for the cryptocurrency industry that we did with the gambling industry. We’re working hard to bring you the all the news and insights as they happen but we need help.

CoinGeek.com needs news writers, columnists and social media mavens to help us by sharing their knowledge and technical analysis of the day’s events.

We’re looking for people who know bitcoin, prefer BCH because of its clear superiority for super low cost micro-transactions and want to be part of its future success by sharing news and achievements of the coin.