It’s not too late to try for a WSOP gold bracelet. The final tournament of this year’s WSOP Circuit will take place at Harrah’s Casino in North Carolina in August, and there are still tournament seats waiting to be won. If the gold bracelet isn’t incentive enough, perhaps the $1 million guaranteed prize pool will make the difference.

As the circuit makes its way to August, Main Event winners at each tournament will receive an entry to the Global Casino Championship (GCC) worth $10,000. The players that accumulate the most points during the series will receive a Casino Championship, as will the top 50 overall points winners from throughout the season. There are a total of 128 seats at the WSOP GCC up for grabs.

For those fortunate enough to have won a Circuit ring during this season’s action, buying into the GCC will only cost $10,000. The same goes for the players that finished in the top 100 of the WSOP Player of the Year race from last year. Additional buy-ins as well as rebuys could push the $1 million guarantee even higher.

While the GCC may not attract the biggest names in poker, it still manages to carry itself respectfully in the poker tournament world. More often than not, semi-pros and mid-level pros fall in line for a chance to take a piece of the prize, but there have been a couple of big names from time to time. Daniel Negreanu made an appearance in 2015 and finished in sixth place for just over $63,000. He was bested by Loni Harwood, who finished first for $341,599.

A popular UK-facing online casino is preparing to call it quits. Dafabet, a subsidiary of the AsianBGE gambling company out of the Philippines, holds a UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) license to offer gambling operations, but has recently come under pressure due to growing regulatory concerns centered on online gambling.

The closure only affects the company’s online casino operations, not its sports betting activity, according to a Casino News Daily report. As of March 8, Dafabet users found themselves unable to make deposits, and were notified that they will have to withdraw their funds by the end of the day on March 20. After that, attempts would be made to return any outstanding balances by way of a transfer to the account with which the original deposit was made.

The UKGC, in conjunction with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), recently uncovered a pattern of violations among licensees. This opened the doors for the UKGC to launch an extensive investigation that has already resulted in a number of high-priced fines. Violations have included everything from poor anti-money laundering controls to more innocuous breaches of advertising regulations.

The CMA has begun issuing warnings and fines to companies that obstruct customers from making withdrawals as the customers want. It expressed concerns over low withdrawal limits, unreasonable cutoff times for players to verify their identity when requesting withdrawals, and the practice of the online sites of taking possession of winnings if players remain inactive for a certain amount of time.

It’s been a fascinating couple of years for world-changing controversies. Cryptocurrencies started to take over, with legacy Bitcoin (BTC) jumping up to $20,000 before settling down. President Donald Trump has embarrassed himself time and time (and time) again. North Korea and South Korea appeared together at the Winter Olympics. Oh yeah, then there were loot boxes.

Loot boxes have probably received more attention than they deserve, but now the Australian government wants to make sure everyone knows that they’re considered to be a form of gambling.  It has published a series of online gambling guidelines that are designed to help “all Australians have safe, positive experiences online.”  The guidelines can be found on the country’s Office of the eSafety Commissioner website.

The gambling guidelines point out that gambling “involves the risk of losing something of value (in most cases money) for the chance of winning a prize (of monetary or some other value),” but adds that sometimes it’s not easy to separate gambling from online gaming. Providing definitions for terms like loot boxes and freemiums is designed to help users make the distinction. The government site also identifies trends and terminology that have been associated with loot boxes, as well as the possible harm that could come from loot boxes, including gambling and purchase addiction.

A loot box is a virtual item that can be purchased, or earned, in a video game. That item has the potential to contain additional virtual items that could be as simple as character customizations or as advanced as weapons or armor. Players can purchase the loot boxes for cash, or play enough to earn points that provide the loot box as a prize. They first came around in 2007 and gained extensive popularity following the launch of the Overwatch video game in 2016.

Casino operator Caesars Entertainment is balking at paying an extra $50m in fees to the state of Indiana in connection with its $1.7b purchase of two Indiana racinos.

Last November, Caesars announced a deal to pay $1.7b for two Centaur Gaming properties in Indiana; the Hoosier Park casino in Anderson and the Indiana Grand casino in Shelbyville. Both venues include racetrack operations in addition to traditional casino gaming options.

But Caesars is now trying to get out of paying an additional $50m in transfer fees for the casino licenses. Indiana law requires the initial casino license holder to pay the fee if it sells a controlling interest in the gamine venue.

There are some exceptions to this rule, such as if the transfer occurs as the result of the license holder filing for bankruptcy. Centaur did file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2010, and the subsequent restructuring saw the Hoosier Park license transferred to a new entity that was set up to oversee Centaur’s businesses.

Two phenomenal poker performances from Ioannis Angelou-Konstas and Hermilo Vargas as they win for the second time in the WPTDeepStacks and World Series of Poker Circuit respectively.

Jarvis Cocker once sang, “Do you remember the first time?”

What about the second time?

I was 14 the first time I tasted blueberry pie. I knew I was crap. I wasn’t even sure it went in. Our friends waited outside for us to fill in the blanks.

Inspired by a passage in Charles Bukowski’s ‘On Writing’ Lee Davy questions the decision to stick with the status quo in writing, in poker, in life.

I’m sitting in a renovated attic. The wooden chair is taking the skin off my sit bones. I tower over my laptop, neck craning to see the words. When I slip down to eye level, my coccyx rubs uncomfortably against the wood. A man wearing glasses sits opposite me locked into a murder-mystery, fist embedded in his temple. Occasionally, he looks at me when he thinks I’m not looking. To be fair, I type with the grace of an elephant at a disco. I bet he’s thinking, “Why doesn’t this prick fuck off elsewhere?”

I can’t.

I have to write this.

Malta’s online gambling regulator has parted company with several of its Italy-based licensees following a probe into their activities.

In February, the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) announced it was conducting a probe of seven Italian licensees, asking each of them to provide answers to 20 specific questions regarding their operations, including their anti-money laundering (AML) protocols.

The probe came shortly after Italian authorities busted an illegal online gambling ring linked to MGA licensee Phoenix International Ltd, which operated the Bsport24.com and B28sport.com domains. It was the latest in a series of Mafia-connected busts linked to MGA-licensed gambling sites.

While the MGA has so far been silent on the results of its probe, Italian media outlets recently reported that several of these Italian MGA licensees had been found wanting and had severed their ties with the MGA.

Vietnam’s bust of a major illegal online sports betting operation has ensnared two top tech businessmen as well as the nation’s former top cybercrime police chief.

On Sunday, Vietnam authorities announced the takedown of a major online gambling operation based in the northern province of Phu Tho. Police raids resulted in the seizure of around VND1t (US$44m) in cash and other assets from the organizers, who reportedly had as many as 8m clients in Vietnam and abroad.

Among the 38 individuals arrested is Major General Nguyen Thanh Hoa, the former head of the Ministry of Public Security’s ‘C50’ cybercrime division. Hoa (pictured), who was stripped of his ceremonial ‘People’s Police’ title on Sunday, had been suspended from duty late last year over suspicions of involvement in illegal gambling activity.

Police say Hoa uncovered the illegal gambling operation through the course of his duties, but instead of taking it down, chose to provide it with protection services. Other C50 officers are reportedly under suspicion of involvement in the illegal gambling operation.

Macau’s top legislator has confirmed that lcoal authorities are cooperating with Beijing to monitor mainland public officials’ visits to Macau casinos.

Speaking on the sidelines of this weekend’s National People’s Congress in Beijing, Macau Legislative Assembly president Ho Iat Seng told reporters that Macau authorities “know right away when a government official from the mainland walks in the door.”

Macau’s Portuguese-language media outlet Ponto Final quoted Ho saying that some of these officials have received telephone calls from their departmental superiors mere seconds after they sit down at a gaming table in a Macau casino. Ho claimed that Macau casino had “internal methods” of determining who was or wasn’t a public official whose presence in a gambling venue would interest mainland authorities.

These ‘internal methods’ are believed to be increasingly reliant on facial recognition technology, like the kind installed on all UnionPay ATMs in Macau last year in a bid to reduce unauthorized capital flight by mainland residents visiting the Special Administrative Region.