Big Fish Casino, the series of interactive social games once operated by Churchill Downs, was found to be “illegal online gambling” by a federal appeals court judge—at least under Washington state law.

On Wednesday, Judge Milan D. Smith of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a district court ruling that junked a 2015 case filed by Cheryl Kater against Big Fish Games’ then-parent company Churchill Downs Inc.

In her lawsuit, Kater claimed she bought—and lost—more than $1,000 worth of Big Fish Casino virtual chips. While they don’t have monetary value, the chips are required to be able to play in Big Fish Casino’s suite of games, which include slots, blackjack and roulette. If a player runs out of the chips, he will either need to purchase more or wait until the game offers free chips.

Kater wanted to recover the value of her lost chips, arguing that those chips represent “something of value” under the Washington Gambling Law. In 2015, a U.S. District Court judge in Seattle junked Kater’s lawsuit.

Gaming wins continue for Nevada casinos in February, with revenues reaching past the $1 billion mark for the second month in a row—thanks to revellers visiting America’s playground to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Figures released Wednesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) showed that state-wide gaming revenue hit $1.02 billion in February, a 7.7% increase from the same period in 2017. This is the first time that Nevada achieved a back-to-back billion-dollar performance since March and April 2008.

For the fiscal year beginning July 2017 until February 2018, Nevada’s “gaming win” has risen to $7.9 billion, a 2.3% increase from the close to $7.7 billion reported in the 2016-2017 period.

The Las Vegas Strip posted its first monthly gain since the October shooting, logging winnings of over $603 million for February—an 11.37% jump from the same period last year.

To the superstitious, the number 13 is unlucky. It has even made such an impact that, around the world, hotels and high-rises don’t even have a floor 13, skipping from 12 to 14. Since gamblers are historically a superstitious group, it doesn’t make a lot of sense that a casino would want to call itself “13.” However, that’s what is going on in Macau, and the bad luck associated with the number seems to be holding up.

The group behind the casino, The 13 Holdings Ltd., had initially anticipated a launch date of March 31 for its hotel operations. This was then pushed back to April 30. Now, the new—and possibly temporary—target date has once again changed, with the new target being June 30.

The delays, according to company officials, are due to “unexpected time required for mobilizing certain contractors, suppliers and vendors.” In a regulatory filing, the casino operator said it anticipates being able to complete the remainder of the pending tasks, which include construction and installation of fixtures and equipment, by the middle of May. Subsequent to the completion of the project, the casino would still need the blessing of the Macao Government Tourism Office before it could open its doors.

The delays are more likely due to a lack of funds than from construction delays. 13 has repeatedly looked to raise more capital, and recently entered a convoluted deal with a few offshore firms, and sold shares worth around $38.2 million. In that deal, the shares, which were held by The 13 (BVI) Ltd, were sold to Paul Y. Engineering Group Ltd., who has now become a minor partner in the organization.

While almost everyone will admit that there are some laws—regardless of the country—that can really cause heads to spin, this one probably beats them all. A poker player in Spain has been slapped with a huge tax bill for losing at poker. Talk about adding insult to injury.

A few years ago, chess grandmaster Francisco Vallejo Pons was looking for a new pastime. Already an occasional poker player, Pons decided to participate in a few money games in 2011, spending, according to him, only a couple thousand euros, Chess.com first reported. His time at the felt ultimately didn’t go as planned, and he ultimate lost all the money he put in.

In 2016, Pons received a letter from Spain’s version of the Internal Revenue Service, informing him that he owed taxes on the money he had spent playing—and lost. The amount that he owed, according to the tax authority, was more than $615,000 (€500,000). It all came down to one, antiquated tax law.

The law stipulated that all online poker winnings were subject to a tax of 47%, and that losses could not be deducted. While Pons ultimately bottomed out and left with nothing, during the time he played he had put a significant amount of earnings in the win column, accumulating more than $1.2 million (€1 million). From this, the taxes were due.

No means no. That’s what we’re taught from an early age, but apparently executives of UK’s Sky Bet missed the class. It now faces a fine of £1 million ($1.2 million) for not doing a better job at excluding certain gamblers from being bombarded with gambling promotions. The fine will be paid through donations to socially responsible charities.

An estimated 50,000 customers had decided to step away from gambling, and had asked to be removed from marketing material, according to the UK Gambling Commission. Nonetheless, they still received advertisements by text messages, cell phone push notifications or emails.

Additionally, 736 individuals who had “self-excluded” were able to re-open accounts or create duplicate accounts, the gambling watchdog said. Almost 37,000 that stepped away didn’t have their balances refunded when they closed their accounts, as required by law. Many are still waiting for their funds to be returned, and Sky Bet said it is working diligently to identify those individuals. It added that all funds will be returned wherever practical.

With the increased scrutiny of gambling activity in the UK, any misstep can bring a fine. Richard Watson, program director for the UK Gambling Commission, said, “This was a serious failure affecting thousands of potentially vulnerable customers and the £1 million [USD$1.2 million] penalty package should serve as a warning to all gambling businesses.”

Last week CalvinAyre.com covered the 4th annual Betting on Football (BOF) Conference, an event SBC originally designed to bring together sports betting industry professionals and football club marketing reps to help foster new relationships.  The core focus of the first BOF was to highlight the value in football club sponsorships for online sports betting brands and how to maximize value for both parties.

As time has moved on, the focus of BOF has grown into a much wider scope, yet the unparalleled value of football club sponsorships and the regulatory challenges that come along with them are still as relevant as ever.

“Sponsorship is one of the key partnerships between football and the gambling industry, yet its fraught with controversy mainly fueled by media hysteria”, Andrew McCarron of SBC told CalvinAyre.com.

“This is why it’s important to have sensible conversations about the role that betting sponsorship plays and how it can be done to maximize the value for both parties in a way which is responsible, sustainable and acceptable to wider society. These discussions place a greater emphasis on the partnership element of these deals, rather than just a straightforward advertising transaction”, he added.

The Phil Ivey v Borgata edge sorting case took a twist on Monday after Judge Noel Hillman, presiding over the legal tussle between Borgata and the card manufacturer Gemaco, ordered the card manufacturer to return $26 in a $9.9m lawsuit.

It’s not cool to spit your coffee all over your MacBook before mimicking a big fat ginger cat coughing up a hairball. Judge Noel Hillman just made me do that. The New Jersey-based judge is funnier than a man with a wooden leg trying to cross a cattle grid.

When most people visit London, they jump on one of those double deckers and drive around taking snaps of the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace all the while hoping a terrorist isn’t about to hop on board waving a machete.

Phil Ivey isn’t ‘most people.’

PokerStars India will open their cyber doors on April 17, but is there a place for the likes of Spin & Go in a part of the world where the word ‘skill’ seems to occupy every sentence that contains the word ‘poker’.

It’s time for the Indian poker community to hide the old Pirelli Calendar that hangs in the mess room, kick the unclean cups under the sofa, and flush the chain.

PokerStars is heading their way.

The rose in the world’s overgrown online poker thornbush is about to bloom underneath the Indian sun, and we know the date.