An initiative to expand casino gaming in North Jersey may have been dead and gone but the people of Atlantic City believes that it is only a matter of time before it rises from the grave.

The Press of Atlantic City reported several New Jersey lawmakers are trying to revive the proposal of casino expansion near New York City, almost two years after the electorate overwhelmingly rejected the idea.

Several bills aimed at expanding casino gaming in North Jersey have been quietly filed at the start of the 2018-19 legislative session while everyone is busy waiting for the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision on the federal ban on sports betting, according to Trenton’s Bad Bet Executive Director Bill Cortese.

Cortese zeroed in on Assemblyman Ralph Caputo’s ACR32 measure, which may pave the way for the amendment of the state constitution to accommodate casino gambling in the northern parts of New Jersey.

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) slapped British online casino operator 32Red with a £2million fine for failing to protect a problem gambler.

The £2million penalty includes £709,046 ($933,214) divestment of the financial gain, a £1.3million ($1.7 million) payment to be used on the National Responsible Gambling Strategy that tackles problem gambling, and £15,000 ($19,742) towards the cost of the investigation, according to the UKGC.

The UK gambling regulator admonished 32Red for failing to carry out social responsibility or money laundering checks when it allowed its VIP customer with problem gambling behavior to deposit £758,000 ($997,645).

“Instead of checking on the welfare of a customer displaying problem gambling behavior, 32Red encouraged the customer to gamble more—this is the exact opposite of what they are supposed to be doing,” UKGC Executive Director Richard Watson said in a statement.

A growing number of residents in Japan have been enrolling in casino schools in anticipation of the opening of integrated resorts in the land of the rising sun.

The Agence France Presse reported that Japanese casino schools have seen meteoric rise in the number of enrollees wanting to learn how to deal baccarat games, spin the roulette wheel and supervise betting on the green baize tables. Casino school owner Masayoshi Oiwane pointed out that more Japanese are hoping to land a job in the lucrative gambling industry based on the “unprecedented level of enrollment momentum.”

In pitching for the passage of the Integrated Resorts Implementation Bill (IR Bill), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe argued that the integrated resorts will help attract foreign investments, which, in turn, will boost the country’s economy.

The opening of casino resorts in Japan will also create new employment and culture, fueling the country’s international competitive power, according to Abe.

First, he was a poker player. Then, he was a poker vlogger. Next, he got into cryptocurrency and, of course, crypto vlogging. He continued his poker antics, though, often taking cheap shots at other players such as Daniel Negreanu. Last month, he even tried his hand at stand-up comedy in Las Vegas (although he admitted that he’s not any good at it). Now, Doug Polk, who has yet to make up his mind about what he wants to do, is going to become a mainstream news reporter.

In a post on Twitter, Polk announced that he will start covering news and comedy through yet another YouTube channel. He tweeted, “Starting a new YouTube channel for more mainstream news/comedy. Gonna kick it off doing news and go from there…” He even included a link to the first video, which can be viewed here.

Polk explains in the episode that he decided to try mainstream reporting because he sometimes wants to talk about “mainstream stuff” and doesn’t have a platform to do so. He added that one of his goals is to make videos that appeal to him, which apparently includes news from around the globe.

The new endeavor comes only six months after Polk got into crypto with his DougPolkCrypto channel. Now that the markets have been in a slump, he’s not feeling the love anymore and wants to try something new.

This is The Mouthpiece, a guest contribution by Martin Owens. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Sports betting is coming in in a big way, and there is much discussion of what legal issues will arise for state licensing authorities and the operators of the new format. But there are also some legal issues that affect the customers directly, and leave it up to them to protect themselves. Here are a few of the more prominent:

Who will be allowed to bet?

At least for right now, sports betting is licensed on a state-by-state basis. This will mean that only people physically located in that state will be able to place bets, whether or not they are legally residents. It will be very similar to the situation with Internet poker in New Jersey. If you are a non-resident visiting relatives in New Jersey, it should be possible for you to play while you’re there. But only while you’re there. If you are a permanent resident, even if you are registered with one or more licensed operators in the Garden State, even if using a mobile- friendly app to play, you will not be allowed to participate in any games as long as you (and your phone) are located outside the state borders. At the same time, players may deposit funds into  their respective accounts, or withdraw from them, at licensed sites from outside the state.

The UK’s advertising watchdog has fingered online gambling operator Coral for offering casino games that could appeal to kids.

On Tuesday, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a trio of complaints regarding Coral Interactive’s promotion of slots titles that a complainant (presumably the Campaign for Fairer Gambling) alleged were “likely to be of particular appeal to children.”

The three products were promoted on the Coral.co.uk site on February 20. The offending slots were titled Rainbow Riches, Fishin’ Frenzy and Lucky Wizard, and featured animated images of leprechauns, swimming fish and wizards, respectively.

Coral, now part of GVC Holdings’ family of gambling brands, argued that the animated figures weren’t excessively cartoonish, didn’t specifically resemble characters from any animated films and generally weren’t over the top. As a result, Coral maintains that there was no indication that the images would have more appeal for children than for over-18s.

Hong Kong-listed Paradise Entertainment, a manufacturer of casino gaming equipment, has inked an agreement to purchase warehouse space in Macau. The deal is reportedly worth $16.37 million and will see the company take possession of 33,000 square feet of industrial space at Centro Polytex in the Areia Preta district of the city. The company has indicated that the space is needed for the storage of inventory.

In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Paradise said that the space was purchased through a subsidiary, Century Force Ltd. It did not name the seller of the warehouse. Paradise will make an initial deposit of $254,805, followed by a second deposit by June 25 of $1.38 million. A final payment of just over $14.7 million is due by October 15. The funds for the purchase, which was sealed after markets closed last Friday, come from the company’s own accounts and from bank-issued loans.

Paradise provides electronic gaming equipment and other systems to casinos in Macau and in other countries through its LT Game brand. The company also operates several casinos in satellite properties in Macau using casino licenses held by one of the six local operators. The new storage space will be used in lieu of current warehouse space it rents in Macau for storing gaming machines, spare parts and other equipment.

After a slow first quarter of 2017 that saw the company report a loss in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $1.28 million, it bounced back in the first quarter of this year. Its EBITDA for the first three months of 2018 climbed to almost $6.6 million. Paradise explained that the figures were supported by an increase in revenue from the sale of gaming equipment and systems.

In its latest report on Hainan gaming, Union Gaming (UG) indicated that the Hong Kong-listed concessionaires in Macau saw a collective loss of $4.3 billion in market cap. The loss represents a 3.7% decline, and is a product of news that five hotels in Hainan could soon begin offering small, very low-stakes rooms for games such as baccarat. While the games are real-money games, the payouts are provided through resort amenities and other prizes.

The move comes following a recent verdict in a four-year-old court case involving the Sanya Bay Mangrove Resort. The Mangrove had been operating a similar game before it was shut down by police. This past December, a court in Hainan ruled that the operations didn’t break any laws.

UG analyst Grant Govertsen, who wrote the report, said of the new gaming options, “This is similar to the way pachinko operates in Japan – and we would take this one step further to say that the government of China will be paying close attention and will react quickly (and negatively for the hotel operators) should they begin to press their luck and do anything beyond low-stakes prize-oriented games; anything else would be in contravention of China’s constitution.”

Govertsen points out, however, that the introduction of gaming options in Hainan should not impact gross gaming revenue (GGR) trends for June. He also noted that there has been negligible fallout from the ongoing World Cup soccer games on Macau’s casino operations.

Two stories from the World Series of Poker including an announcement that 30 players have registered for the One Drop, and Doyle Brunson’s retirement from poker seems to be a tad premature.

Poker is a zero-sum game.

Scum bags play poker.

Poker is nothing but a gambling game.

Norway has appointed a new gaming regulatory chief, just as the country prepares to go to war with unauthorized online gambling sites.

Last week, the Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet (Norwegian Gaming Authority) appointed Gunn Merete Paulset as its new general director. Paulset (pictured) was an eight-year NGA veteran before leaving in 2015, but has now returned to replace Atle Hamar, who left to head up the Ministry of Climate and the Environment.

Paulset has a law degree, which will probably help her through what promises to be a legally challenging period in the Norwegian online gambling market’s evolution. The government is seeking new power to force local financial institutions to block payments to internationally licensed gambling sites that compete with the Norsk Tipping and Norsk Tikstoto state-owned monopolies.

Earlier this month, Norway’s government submitted the text (in Norwegian) of its “regulations concerning the prohibition of the processing of payments for gambling without a Norwegian license” to the European Commission for approval. The EC’s mandatory standstill period extends to September 5, and Norway hopes to impose the new rules by January 1, 2019.