Bills seeking to legalize sports betting, online gambling, and daily fantasy sports have emerged at the Louisiana State Capitol in the first six days of March.

First on the list of gambling-related bills filed this month was H-245, filed by Democratic Rep. Major Thibaut last Thursday. The general idea of H-245 was to pave the way for the expansion of gaming activities at the state’s four horse racing facilities: Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs, Fair Grounds, and Louisiana Downs.

If the bill passes legislators’ scrutiny, residents of Louisiana may be able to punt “on any type of sports event, including but not limited to football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boxing, tennis, wrestling, jai alai, or other sports contest or event.”

The power to regulate sports betting will be given to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board (LGCB), according to Thibaut’s proposed legislation.

Hong Kong-listed property developer Far East Consortium International Ltd. (FEC) is now looking beyond China’s horizons in search for new revenue streams.

In a disclosure before the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, FEC announced that the company has entered an agreement with Nevada-incorporated firm Trans World Corp. (TWC) for a possible acquisition or merger.

TWC owns five hotels in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, and three full-services casinos in the Czech Republic under the registered brand American Chance Casinos. The Czech casinos feature gaming tables and slot machines that FEC hopes will bring strong recurring cash flow.

Chris Hoong, managing director of FEC, said the company’s interest in acquiring or merging with TWC was piqued by the recent regulatory changes in Czech Republic, which would “provide the group with further development opportunities.”

The rest of this decade is going to be fascinating for 888 and its shareholders. I expect the next two to three years to be rough for the gambling industry and most industries for that matter, with 888 being no exception. Populist politics, trade wars, taxes etc. are going to take a toll on all companies and all portfolios. The question is who is best equipped to deal with the tough times ahead.

The background: Cheap populists replete with tough talk and really bad finances keep being elected around the western world, last weekend in Italy. Some are starting ill-advised trade wars, and others are upset that those in charge of their wallets aren’t allowing them to spend even more money they don’t have. And in the meantime, the purse managers in Brussels are gearing up for an end to the largest money-printing programs the world has ever known.

While this isn’t exactly the 1930’s and I don’t think World War II.5 is about to break out, capital growth is going to be hard to come by for the rest of the decade. Companies may start being forced to deleverage quickly. That’s where things get interesting for 888.

888 has earnings coming up in two weeks, and while no fireworks are expected, if shares edge up on the report it wouldn’t be surprising. 888 hasn’t been about fireworks ever since exiting the US. Since bottoming in 2011, it’s been a slow-burn company, if surging from 30 to nearly 300 pence in 5 years can be considered “slow-burn”. Even using such terms to describe 1000% capital growth in 5 years illustrates how deep of a boom we are still in. Within the last year though, 888 stock has underperformed some of its peers including The Stars Group, and Ladbrokes Coral Group, and has started to plateau. It may be a while – a year or two perhaps – before 888 pushes through to a new and higher trading range, but in the mean time a straight up dividend reinvestment strategy should do very well for shareholders.

British bookmaker William Hill (Hills) has formally exited the Australian market following the sale of its struggling sports betting division to Australian online sports betting operator CrownBet Holdings Pty Ltd.

The Financial Times reported Hills has already agreed to sell its Australia business to a unit of CrownBet for an equity value of AUD313.7 million (US$243.65 million), while the enterprise value is around AUD300 million (US$233.09 million).

The deal comes a week after The Stars Group announced that it had acquired a 62 percent stake in CrownBet from Australian casino operator Crown Resorts for US$117.7 million. With the acquisition of Hills’ Australian division, CrownBet now becomes the third largest sportsbook in Australia, just behind Tabcorp and Paddy Power Betfair’s local brand Sportsbet.

In January, Hills put its Australian business under review as the costs linked to running the division become increasingly onerous.

Tax-defaulting Nepal casinos only have until Thursday to settle their arrears and avoid a day in court.

The Kathmandu Post reported that Nepal’s Department of Tourism came knocking on the doors of Casino Royale in Hotel Yak and Yeti, Casino Rad in Radisson Hotel, and Casino Venus in the Malla Hotel on Monday, demanding the three gambling facilities to pay millions of unpaid fees.

Should they fail to settle their taxes, the tourism department officials said that they are in a bind to file cases against the operators of the three casinos.

“We have served a three-day ultimatum on tax defaulting casinos and mini-casinos, and if they do not pay heed to the department’s orders, they will be punished as per the law,” a tourism official told the news outlet.

Week 29 of the English Premier League reaches its conclusion with Man Utd coming back from a two-goal deficit to beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Back in the day when I thought the best way to secure my family’s financial future was to put it all on red, I used to make a mint betting on Man Utd to win after they went one or two goals down.

It’s a good job I said goodbye to the bookies at the same time Sir Alex Ferguson said goodbye to the cat licking its balls inside the dressing room.

Many things are missing from the team that used to suckle on Ferguson’s nipples, but two of them returned to a United side looking to retake their second place spot from arch-rivals Liverpool when they visited Selhurst Park

Authorities with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) are investigating an analyst accused of tipping off friends about the 2014 Amaya deal, The Globe and Mail reported.

Majd Kitmitto, a senior analyst at Aston Hill Asset Management, didn’t buy any shares, but investigators said he told an officemate, and then a roommate, about the pending acquisition.

According to the securities regulator, Kitmitto received a call from Canaccord Genuity Group in April 2014 asking if Aston Hill would like to be part of Amaya’s acquisition of the parent company of online poker giant PokerStars.

Despite signing a non-disclosure agreement, OSC authorities said Kitmitto told his officemate, Steven Vannatta, about “material, non-public information about Amaya.” This led to Vannatta snapping up CAD31,650 (US$24,372) worth of Amaya shares, which he then sold for CAD96,316 (US$74,170) profit after the official announcement was made on June 12. And in the spirit of sharing, Vannatta also reportedly tipped off four of his relatives about the Amaya deal—resulting in them pocketing a combined profit of CAD195,000 (US$150,163).

A slash in sponsorship budget is in the offing for betting operator Ladbrokes Coral if the UK government ultimately decides to reduce the wagering levels of fixed-odd betting terminals (FOBTs).

In a bid to fight problem gambling, government officials in the United Kingdom are in the midst of reviewing proposals for a new legislation, including one that suggests decreasing the maximum stakes on FOBTs from £100 per spin to as little as £2.

For Ladbrokes Coral, such a move will greatly affect its income, resulting in the betting operator to make some changes elsewhere—like making cuts in its sponsorship budget. Ladbrokes spends £8 million (US$11 million) yearly on sporting event sponsorships, almost £3.5 million of which dedicated to horse racing.

The betting giant also sponsors the Rugby Football League Challenge Cup and the Scottish Professional Football League, in addition to partnerships with snooker and darts.

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes are pressing on with its plan to build a casino near the Connecticut border with Massachusetts, even though they still don’t have the required federal approvals.

On Monday, demolition crews began clearing the site in East Windsor where the two federally recognized tribes plan to build their jointly-owned casino. The site, which housed the former Showcase Cinemas, will be knocked down to make way for the 200,000 square foot gambling and entertainment establishment.

The tribal casino, which is expected to open “inside of two years,” wants to compete with the soon-to-open MGM Resorts casino in Springfield, Massachusetts. Scheduled to open in fall, the $950 million Springfield casino lies 13 miles south of the tribes’ planned East Windsor venue.

The tribes have yet to get the U.S. Department of the Interior’s permission to operate a casino in East Windsor, although its officials are confident that the approval is already within their reach. Mohegan Tribal Council President Kevin Brown was quoted by MassLive saying, the tribes “expect to get that approval in the late spring.”

Labor authorities in the United States have ordered contractors in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to pony up a total of $13.9 million in back wages and damages to 2,400 workers who came from China to build the Imperial Pacific Resort.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) announced that four China-based construction contractors—MCC International Saipan Ltd. Co., Beilida New Materials System Engineering Co. Ltd., Gold Mantis Construction Decoration, and Sino Great Wall International Engineering Co. LLC—were found to have paid its workforce “less than the minimum wage and overtime pay” required by the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division said the Chinese workers contracted by MCC, Beilida, and Gold Mantis were brought to Saipan under the tourist visa waiver program, noting that these “tourists” worked on the casino development site without the proper work visas.

The employees had to pay for their own airfare and recruitment fees, resulting in at least $6,000 of debt, according to the U.S. labor department officials.