Russian sports bettors have one more bookmaking option at their disposal following the launch of GoldenBet LLC.

Earlier this month, Russia’s Federal Tax Service added GoldenBet’s name to its roster of officially approved sports betting operators. The company, which currently operates two betting shops in Moscow, was founded by the individuals behind Russian-licensed bookmakers Bingo Boom.

GoldenBet has reportedly aligned itself with the Bookmakers Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO), one of two rival outfits advocating on the Russian betting industry’s behalf (the other being the First SRO of Russian Bookmakers). Bookmakers SRO president Darina Denisova issued a statement welcoming GoldenBet into the fold and wishing the company the best of success.

It’s unclear whether GoldenBet plans to join the even smaller circle of Russian-licensed online betting operators. The company’s official website offers little in the way of a mission statement other than to say it’s in the gambling business.

An unknown number of Chinese scammers are reportedly picking the pockets of Spanish slot machine operators through the use of altered €5 bills.

On Thursday, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that police in Madrid had detained “several citizens of Chinese nationality” for their apparent involvement in a scam that uses doctored €5m notes to trick slot machines into spitting out €50 notes in return.

Apparently, the scam involves cutting a €5 note in half vertically, then taping the two halves together but leaving a small two- or three-millimeter gap in between. The doctored bill is then inserted into the currency slot of an electronic gambling machine, which spits the note back out as unacceptable.

The perpetrators then reinsert the doctored bill multiple times, after which, for reasons that aren’t particularly clear from El Mundo’s article, the machine’s account balance suddenly changes to read €50. The scammers can then request a withdrawal of the full amount, leading the clueless machine to spit out a €50 note, after which the scammers presumably move on to their next hapless electronic victim.

Swedish mobile casino operator LeoVegas says its second quarter earnings have exceeded expectations, while the company is ratcheting up its fight against Italy’s new gambling advertising ban.

LeoVegas released an early preview of its Q2 fiscal report this week, happily announcing that its earnings were likely to come in around €15m on revenue of around €87m. The official figures will be released on August 1.

The company said its marketing expenses amounted to around €30m, representing around 35% of Q2 revenue. When LeoVegas released its Q1 report this spring, it said its Q2 marketing spend would likely exceed the 42.3% of revenue the company spent in 2017.

LeoVegas CEO Gustaf Hagman said the company’s “data-driven marketing model works so that we only invest if we see good enough returns in our marketing channels.” This model indicated that the frenzy of rivals’ marketing efforts during the 2018 FIFA World Cup meant LeoVegas “should not advertise in some channels due to the low return, which in turn led to a significantly higher EBITDA than expected.”

Japan’s casino bill has cleared the legislature’s upper house despite a flurry of last-minute procedural tactics by opponents of gambling expansion.

On Friday, the final day of the Diet’s current legislative session, the House of Councillors formally approved the Integrated Resorts (IR) Implementation Bill. The bill’s passage marked the climax of a multi-year process that faced innumerable obstacles, including a majority of the Japanese public that remains deeply skeptical on the merits of gambling expansion.

The bill calls for a maximum of three large-scale gaming venues to be constructed in cities that have yet to be determined. After the first IR location has been established, a seven-year clock will start, after which the government will review whether to permit the construction of additional IRs.

The first licenses aren’t expected to be issued until 2020, while the expected scale of these projects mean the first casino isn’t likely to open for another five years after that.

Hard Rock International (HRI) keeps changing its tune. It opened a new hotel and casino in Atlantic City less than three weeks ago, and is now crossing the pond with its eyes on Ireland. The company said in a press release this past Tuesday that it is looking to build a new venue in Dublin with the help of a local hotel operator.

The boutique hotel is expected to have 120 rooms and would be built in the heart of the city. It will offer 24-hour room service, live music, an all-day restaurant and a cocktail bar. The Hard Rock Hotel Dublin is to be a four-star operation born of a partnership with hotel operator Tifco Limited, and HRI indicated that it expects to have the hotel completed by the end of 2020.

HRI’s senior VP and Head of Global Hotel Development, Todd Hricko, said, “Ireland has always been a place close to our hearts, and it only seems right to open a Hard Rock Hotel in Dublin, given the city’s musical roots. This is an exciting opportunity to extend our presence in Europe and elevate the one-of-a-kind offering at Hard Rock Hotels to the next level.”

According to the press release, the project will be built across two structures. The first is an existing property that was built at the beginning of the 20th century. It was initially known as the Exchange Buildings and is currently the Parliament Hotel. This will retain its original red brick façade, which will be completely restored, but the interior will go under a complete makeover. It will offer a “unique music-inspired city escape with priceless memorabilia adorning the interior of the property.”

Things seem to be getting better rapidly for Ainsworth Game Technology (AGT). After striking a sizeable deal with Churchill Downs in the US, it adjusted its revenue forecast up a few notches, increasing its expected revenue from $14.7 to $26.5 million for the second half of the year. Now, the Australian company is at it again, saying that its revenue for this last fiscal year was better than previously anticipated. It also expects the second-half earnings to increase even more than previous suggested.

In submitting its financial report to the Australian Securities Exchange on July 18, AGT said that its before-tax profits for the previous fiscal year would be around $28.97 million. This was up from the $26.49 million previously stated. AGT also said that it would register a second-half pre-tax profit of $16.77 million, a $2-million increase over previous projections earlier this month.

In citing the deal with Churchill Downs as being a major factor for the readjustment in May, the company also recognized that its business during the second half of this year could falter due to several reasons. It said that the second-half sales prospects would be “adversely affected by a range of factors, including competitive activity, regulatory approval delays in product submissions and further product development changes which have deferred the approval and release of previously scheduled key game titles until first half financial year 2019.”

Novomatic AG, a gaming equipment supplier out of Austria, took control of 52% of AGT this past January. That deal was worth around $348.3 million and has allowed the Australian slot machine company to branch out into new markets in both the US and in Asia.

Yet another Russian rapper is annoying the government by releasing videos that promote unauthorized online casinos.

On Thursday, Russia’s official parliamentary gazette reported that the Youth Parliament of the State Duma had asked the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) to sanction Aleksey Dolmatov aka rapper Guf for violating Russia’s advertising laws.

Specifically, Guf stands accused of appearing in a series of music videos that actively promote Curacao-licensed online casino Azino777. A different Russian rapper, Viti AK-47, released videos promoting the same site last fall that racked up over 7.5m views.

According to the youth parliament’s chairman Maria Voropayeva, Guf’s video lyrics claim that “participation in risk-based games is a way of earning” and Azino777 customers “can have a guaranteed high income.” Guf’s lyrics also “exaggerate the probability of obtaining a win and minimize the risk” of gambling online.

The Card Player Poker Tour (CPPT) Venetian Main Event found a winner this past Wednesday. Anthony Zinno, who was the CPPT Player of the Year in 2015, held on to take the victory, outlasting 546 opponents for the first-place prize of $466,670. He has now picked up over $8 million in live-action tournament winnings in his career.

This summer proved to be fairly successful US poker pro. He cashed 11 times during the WSOP, making three final table appearances. He took third in both the $10,000 NLHE Championship and the $565 Pot-Limit Omaha online tournament for a combined $186,000 before picking up some more WSOP cash on his way to the Venetian.

With the huge win behind him, Zinno said that it’s time for a vacation. He stated, “I’ve been looking for a good excuse to take a break. I’ve been grinding, almost nonstop, for the past few months. I had just one night off the entire WSOP. I was on a mission to get another win. So this feels like a good opportunity to take a nice, long vacation. I pulled out a win, and now I can reward myself and focus on things I’ve been neglecting while I’ve been concentrating on poker.”

Zinno has picked up three WPT titles and one WSOP bracelet, which he won at the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller tournament in 2015. In 2013, he made it to the final table in the same CPPT tournament and the rest is history. “My first pretty big score came in this tournament in 2013. I didn’t have a large enough bankroll to put up $5,000 myself back then, so my buddy was nice enough to go halves with me. I ended up getting fourth place ($86,964), which basically started my live career. Shortly after that, I won the WPT at Borgata,” he explains.