PokerStars reveal the schedule for MicroMillions 14, including a $1m Guaranteed Main Event with a minimum of $100,000 reserved for the winner, and the PokerStars Southern European Shared Player Pool also experiences this teeny-tiny love bug for the very first time.

There are many positive aspects of living the vagabond lifestyle. However, I’m a pessimist, salt and peppered with a healthy dose of cynicism.

I blame my parents; miserable fuckers, the pair of them. You hear a lot about Northern Soul; you hear less about The Northern Moan. It’s the biggest horror show on earth.

Slime in this ear.

Russia’s authorities continue to tighten their grip on the country’s financial conduits to crack down on illegality, including unauthorized gambling.

On Wednesday, Russian media outlet Kommersant reported that Daniel Yegorov, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Tax Service (FNS), had asked the Ministry of Finance for the authority to compel banks to provide information on customer accounts, even if those accounts aren’t subject to a tax probe, in an effort to “identify and suppress illegal business activities.”

The Ministry has yet to respond publicly to the FNS request, which would dramatically expand the taxman’s capacity to monitor the average Russian’s financial dealings. As things currently stand, the FNS can only request banking information if it detects irregularities in an individual’s tax returns, and access is limited to verifying the suspect info.

Russian legislators have also prepared amendments to existing law that would require banks to submit information to Rosfinmonitoring (Federal Financial Monitoring Service) regarding all withdrawals of funds from Russian ATMs using foreign bank cards.

The gambling markets in Spain and other countries are facing a data deficit after internal squabbling at gaming operator Codere resulted in it pulling funding for its non-profit Codere Foundation.

On Wednesday, the Codere Foundation was due to present its ninth annual Social Perception Report on Gambling in Spain. However, Foundation director German Gusano abruptly informed the media that there would be no formal presentation accompanying the report, before dropping the real bombshell.

Gusano noted that the “internal circumstances” that have plagued the Codere Group over the past few months means that relations between the Group and the Foundation “are not as desired.” As a result, Gusano said all activities of the Foundation would be “suspended from now on” due to the “economic unfeasibility caused by the cessation of the contributions.”

The circumstances to which Gusano referred include the ouster in January of Codere’s founding Martínez Sampedro family, reportedly at the urging of the private equity groups that bailed the company out of bankruptcy in 2013. In April, the family filed a legal challenge of that bailout, which reduced the family’s Codere holdings to a mere 4.4%, but the trial won’t get underway until May 2019.

Asian police forces are ramping up their attacks on unauthorized betting operators as the 2018 FIFA World Cup draws to a close.

Authorities in China’s Guangdong province announced Wednesday that they’d arrested 540 individuals involved in a massive online football betting operation that reportedly handled a spectacular RMB10b (US$1.5b) worth of wagers from over 330k customers, who primarily used Bitcoin as gambling currency.

According to the state-run Xinhua media outlet, police took notice of the operation in May, and their subsequent investigation revealed that the operation had been active for eight months. Police identified six key individuals among those arrested who oversaw more than 20 regional operations in southwest, central and southern China.

In addition to the arrests, police seized RMB5m in assets and another RMB10m worth of virtual currency. The gang operated some 70 mobile apps and websites, which were promoted via 250 online chat groups, which have since been shut down.