Shukan Bunshun, the largest weekly news magazine in Japan, has published some fairly significant allegations against casino giant Caesars Entertainment. The magazine has accused the company of making illegal bribes to Japanese politicians through appearances at social gatherings organized by politicians. Attendance is only possibly through purchased tickets, which Shukan Bunshun says represents a form of bribery. Caesars responded by calling the practice legal and accepted.

Current and aspiring politicians often conduct fundraisers through social gatherings. It’s a straightforward method of gathering funds for political campaigns, and is seen in countries all around the world. According to Japanese law, political donations by foreign citizens or companies is illegal; however, the law, the Political Funds Control Law (PFCL), does not expressly cover the purchase of tickets to political social gatherings.

Caesars admits that one of its advisors, Jun Okawa, has purchased tickets to attend the gatherings for years. Caesars Executive VOP of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Jan Jones Blackhurst defended its position against the accusations by saying, “The recent Bunshun article, as it relates to Caesars Entertainment, focuses on the long-standing and legal practice in Japan of buying tickets to political fundraising events. We believe that the purchases of such tickets by our consultant over many years were made in accordance with the laws of Japan and other jurisdictions, as well as in accordance with our own robust compliance policies and procedures.”

Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, also defended the activity. Appearing before the state Diet last Thursday, he said that the practice did not violate any law and is a non-issue. Yasutoshi is one of the politicians whose gatherings was attended by Okawa.

It looks like Patrik Hofbauer, the new CEO of Sweden’s gambling monopoly Svenska Spel, is going to have his work cut out for him. Since the country revamped its gambling laws last month, Svenska Spel will no longer be the only game in town and poker players will soon be able to sit down at the virtual felt against players in other countries around the European Union (EU).

The changes officially take place on January 1 of next year. They come following an admonishment made to Sweden by the EU in 2013 over gaming law violations, including failing to comply with a treaty in the union that said countries could not prevent international companies from receiving gaming licenses.

While lawmakers in Sweden shuffled their feet updating the laws, Svenska Spel was able to operate what was effectively a monopoly. Swedes were not able to participate in the international market and Svenska Spel even asked Apple to take down all of its gambling applications from the Apple Store.

Swedish regulators have now determined that the current structure is “not enforceable.” There has been an increase in unauthorized operators in the country and regulators have admitted that the outdated regulations did not do much to protect consumers. Ardalan Shekarabi, Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration, said, “Unregulated gambling has taken over and gambling is used in criminal activities. It is now time for us to move from words to action and regain control of the Swedish gambling market.”

State lottery contracts for four distributors in Mizoram have been pulled. The move comes following an allegation by the opposition party that the process for issuing the licenses was unfair, and is just the latest in the never-ending saga of lotteries in India.

Last week, Mizoram’s finance department issued a statement, saying that the contracts will not be extended to Ecool Gaming Solution, Teesta Distributors, N.V. International and Summit Online Trade Solution. The decision was taken after members of the Mizo National Front (MNF) accused Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla of renewing the four contracts despite knowing that the amount of revenue returned by the distributors over the past six years was not consistent with state averages.

The MNF appealed to the Directorate of Institutional Finance and State Lottery in Aizawal, alleging state losses of around $17.3 million in revenue resulting from the scheme. The group is also pushing for a probe by the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the scam, as well as into the possible involvement by Thanhawla.

In addition to arguing that Thanhawla is involved as evidenced by his approval of the four contracts to the distributors, they further assert that his unwillingness to call for an investigation by the CBI is proof of his involvement.

Another year rolls by, and Mike Matusow and Huck Seed have missed the cut for the Poker Hall of Fame again, with the current members and the media believing John Hennigan and Mori Eskandani are more deserving. 

On Thursday, I head out to Jeju to work at the Triton Poker Series event at the Landing Casino, and earlier, today, a friend of my dearly beloved asked me if I was looking forward to the trip.

“No.”

Here’s the thing.

John Cynn is the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event champion after beating Tony Miles in the longest heads-up match in the event’s history, two years after the agony of finishing 11th.

Two-years ago, John Cynn did the unthinkable by finishing 11th in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. We barely remember the people who finish second, let along 11th, but they never forget.

Cynn won $650,000, but I doubt that mattered for the longest time. As a poker player, a berth in the final table would have been on his bucket list, a win, the stuff of dreams.  In the 2016 archives, there is a photograph of Cynn taken by Joe Giron at the moment his run came to an end at the hands of Gordon Vayo. Sitting on his butt, staring at the monitors above the final table with a dejected, resigned look on his face.

Two years later, and Joe Giron took a much better shot.

Another round-up from the World Series of Poker focusing on Ben Yu winning the $50,000 No-Limit High Roller for $1.6m, after beating Sean Winter in heads-up action.

Ben Yu is fast becoming one of the most talented all-around poker players in the game after winning Event #77: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller.  

The $1m buy-in One Drop hors-d’oeuvre attracting 128 entrants (97 unique and 31 re-entries) and created a $6.1m prize pool. After the suits had finished number crunching, it became apparent that two people would become millionaires.

Let’s take a look at how the action went down.