Australian sports betting and lottery operator Tabcorp Holdings wants out of its UK-facing Sun Bets online gambling joint venture.

On Thursday, Tabcorp confirmed that it is seeking an early exit from its online gambling partnership with Rupert Murdoch’s News UK media operation. Sun Bets launched in 2016 but never caught on with the betting public, and Tabcorp placed the money-losing operation under review last October.

Tabcorp’s deal with News UK allows it to exit the Sun Bets venture on December 31, 2019, but the Guardian reported that Tabcorp had informed its 60 UK-based staff that it was seeking to exit the partnership a year ahead of schedule.

Tabcorp confirmed that it was “in discussions” with News UK about the premature evacuation, which Guardian sources claimed could cost Tabcorp up to £30m in penalties. That may appear the lesser of two evils, as Sun Bets booked a net loss of A$22.5m (US$17.2m) in the first half of Tabcorp’s fiscal 2018 on revenue of just A$3.7m.

Brazil’s long-expected gambling expansion will have to wait until 2019, according to a key legislator.

On Wednesday, Chamber of Deputies president Rodrigo Maia met with party leaders to discuss the country’s proposed must-pass tourism legislation, which is scheduled to be voted on next week.

Deputy Heculano Passos told Games Magazine Brasil that resort casinos wouldn’t be part of the legislation and that legislators were also unlikely to discuss any other form of gambling expansion until next year.

In March, an attempt was made to include casinos in the tourism bill, but deputies voted down the proposal due what they perceived as a lack of proper debate. Expectations were raised last week after local media reported that Las Vegas Sands boss Sheldon Adelson had paid another trip to Brazil to push for casino approval.

UK-listed gambling operator GVC Holdings has buckled under a shareholder revolt over executive compensation, while gambling tech outfit Playtech sells off its entire GVC stake.

GVC held its annual general meeting in Gibraltar on Wednesday, and the company’s stellar results over the past year were overshadowed by the number of votes opposing (a) the company’s controversial remuneration report, and (b) the continued directorship of the man who oversaw that report.

Following the vote, non-executive director Peter Isola opted to step down from the board’s remuneration committee. Around 42.6% of GVC shareholders voted against Isola’s re-election as director, while nearly 44% voted against approving the remuneration report he oversaw.

The board also bid goodbye to Will Whitehorn, who served on GVC’s audit, nominations and remuneration committees. GVC added Virginia McDowell, the former president and CEO of US-based Isle of Capri Casinos and the current vice-chair of Global Gaming Women, as a new independent non-exec director.

The latest UnionPay crackdown has sent investors scurrying away from Macau casino stocks.

Bloomberg reported that stocks of Macau casino operators continued to free fall since last week over concerns that Chinese government officials had removed UnionPay terminals from pawnshops located in casinos on Macau’s Cotai strip.

Investors feared that the clampdown was part of the Chinese government’s strategy to control currency outflows from Asia’s economic powerhouse. For the fifth consecutive day, the index of Macau casinos fell by 1 percent with SJM Holdings Ltd shares leading the tumble at 2.8 percent.

Wynn Macau Ltd. opened strong on Thursday but its 1.8 percent early gain eventually swung to a 0.5 percent loss. MGM China Holdings Ltd. shares were also in the red, down 0.9 percent.

An even bigger WhichBingo Awards returns for its 2018 edition, where 18 operators will be feted on June 12 at the The Steel Yard in London for their contributions to the UK online bingo industry.

Organizers of WhichBingo Awards have added four new categories to address the growing overlap with slots and casino games.

The awardees in nine categories will be decided by a public player’s vote while the winners of the remaining nine categories will be handpicked by a judging panel. Organizers estimated that there are over 12,000 votes casted in choosing the winners of the most prestigious annual gaming awards body.

The player voted categories are Best Online Bingo Site, Best Slots & Casino Site, Best Online Bingo Chat Team, Best Newcomer, Best Cozy Games Bingo Site, Best Dragonfish Bingo Site, Best Jumpman Gaming Bingo Site, Best Microgaming Bingo Site, and Best Playtech Bingo Site.

Lottery players in Pennsylvania may now be able to enjoy the game in the comfort of their homes.

The state of Pennsylvania recently announced that it has rolled out 11 iLottery games that offer players chances to win up to $250,000, making it the seventh U.S. state to sell online lottery games.

The games that went live in Pennsylvania on Monday were Cash Buster Towers, Crossword Cash, Monster Wins, Super Gems, Big Money Slingo, Foxin’ Wins, Cash in the Lamp, Big Foot Reveal, Robin Hood Reveal, Super Cash Buster, and Volcano.

Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko said these interactive games may be downloaded and played on a computer, tablet, and mobile devices. Players must be physically located in Pennsylvania to access these games and win the pot money, according to the official.

SJM Holdings has a license to operate casinos in Macau until 2020. However, the company’s CEO, Ambrose So Shu Fai, has confirmed that the company will look to solicit a two-year extension early. The move, So told Macau-based reporters, will give the firm the ability to compete for gaming rights in the gambling enclave “at the same pace” as four other operators in the city. Those four operators hold licenses that don’t expire until 2022.

So commented on the extension during the launch of the “Macau Gaming History Gallery” at the Hotel Lisboa, although he pointed out that the company has yet to formally make a request to the Macau government. The gaming gallery displays an array of historically significant gaming equipment, some of which dates to the early 1970s when STDM, SJM Holdings’ parent company, held a monopoly on gaming licenses. At the time, STDM was run by the group’s founder, Stanley Ho Hung Sun.

So pointed out, “…it is clear that a new legislation will be required if the extension of a licence of an existing concessionaire is over five years [in length]. This is the issue that the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has mentioned before.”

According to Macau gaming laws, licenses for existing holders are allowed to be extended for up to five years from the original expiration date. However, if a gaming license expires, any new concession can only be granted through a public tender. This, in the opinion of some gaming lawyers, means that there doesn’t exist a true “concession renewal.”

The clock is ticking fast for Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta as the New Jersey lawmakers are set to give its final approval on a sports betting bill that may bar his casino from offering the game.

Fertita must quickly decide whether he’ll give up the ownership of NBA team Houston Rockets within the year so his Golden Nugget casino will be allowed to offer sports betting or keep his team and forfeit his sports betting license, according to the Star Tribune report.

Under NJ’s sports betting bill, anyone who owns 10 percent or more of a sports team would be barred from running a sports betting business in the state. Sen. Stephen Sweeney, the main sponsor of the bill, noted that such provision was included in the bill to ensure the integrity of both the casinos and sports team.

Technically, casino operators may secure sports betting licenses after betting is legalized in the state but they need to divest their stakes in any professional sports team within the year. If they fail to unload all their stakes after the one-year deadline, operators will not only lose their licenses but also they will be compelled to repay New Jersey all the money they earned from sports betting at that time.

Apparently, the WSOP isn’t all fun and games. It should be the perfect opportunity to take in a little poker, mix it up in friendly competition and, for those lucky few, score some impressive wins. However, reports have begun surfacing of sexual harassment by some of the vendors who have set up at the Rio.

According to a YouTube video uploaded by poker’s Joey Ingram, salespeople at cell phone and charging booths have been engaging in less-than-professional conduct. He says in the video, “The cell phone charger and headphone salespeople at the Rio World Series of Poker 2018 must be stopped. The verbal and sexual harassment that has been going on for these first few days of the World Series of Poker 2018 cannot go on any longer. Anyone that’s been at the World Series of Poker this year or in recent years has had to deal with these annoying-ass cell phone charger, cell phone salespeople in the hallway constantly yelling about their cell phone chargers.”

Ingram further claimed that several females have said that they were sexually harassed by the salesmen, and Ingram said he witnessed it personally. He indicated that he overheard some women being told that they sexy, as well as comments about their bodies. Apparently, the issue has been so significant that some females have had to find alternate routes to the tables in order to avoid the booths.

After posting the video, poker player Kristy Arnett confirmed the details. She said in a comment to the video, “I actually just left the Rio feeling super uncomfortable from these dudes. It feels bad, honestly, but sadly, I didn’t think much of it. Just kept walking. Thank you for saying something.”

Enrique Razon, Jr., founder and chairman of Bloomberry Resorts, told company stockholders this past Tuesday that the second Solaire casino in the Philippines will finally break ground sometime in 2019. He added that the final design should be ready by next January, saying that the integrated resort (IR) could have the same total floor space as its casino in Entertainment City in Manila. Since the second Solaire, which will be built in Quezon City, has less real estate, the only way to offer the same floor space will be to build up and not out.

Razon told the shareholders, “We will complete the masterplan for the Quezon City casino project by January next year. This is part of our strategy to capture the base mass segment in the north.”

Sureste Properties Inc., a Bloomberry subsidiary and operator of the first Solaire, purchased the Quezon City land in 2015. It spent about $37.8 million for the 3.87 acres, and hopes to have construction completed by 2022.

Quezon City and Manila could share the gambling market, although Razon says he’s not concerned about cannibalization. The two cities are only about 18 miles apart, which means both Solaire casinos could potentially serve the same market. Razon explained, “We expect the market to grow. We foresee that tourism will continue to play a significant role in the growth of Philippine IRs. Growth will likewise be boosted by the rise in middle-class incomes and increasing connectivity across the region. In Entertainment City, infrastructure and real estate projects are being constructed at a rapid rate and this should drive increased foot traffic into Solaire.”

With another successful G2E Asia under our belts and an AGB Networking Social coming up next week in Manila, opportunities and activity in the Asian gambling market are fresh in our minds. We’re all aware of the healthy Asian appetite for gambling, but the types of games cherished in the East remain somewhat of a mystery to those of us from the West.

Marc Dannenberg, Owner and CEO of MahjongClub.com, has a deep passion for Mahjong and bringing the popular Asian game online for real money play, for anyone around the globe to enjoy.

“I was very familiar with Mahjong due to the fact my Mother played with her friends and the tile clacking kept me up at night. I fell in love with the idea of making Mahjong as big online as it was in real life”, Dannenberg shared.

While Mahjong is a game already enjoyed throughout the world, there are pockets of regions where Mahjong is engrained in the culture and holds national sport prestige.