Success Dragon International Holdings chairman and CEO Tan Teng Hong is stepping down from his post as the gaming service provider continues to seek a remedy for its financial bleeding.

In a disclosure to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Success Dragon announced that Tan will be leaving the company to focus his time and effort on other business. Tan’s departure came almost a month after he was appointed chairman and CEO of the gaming services firm.

Tan will be replaced by Kwan Chun Wai as the company’s newest chairman, executive director, and CEO effective July 3, 2018, according to the company.

Coincidentally, Kwan’s appointment as Chairman of Success Dragon came just days after the Hong Kong-listed firm announced that it would consider the use of blockchain in its gaming machines to recoup gaming revenues. Success Dragon is seeking to diversify its business segments after its gaming revenues sunk 25.7 percent to HKD112.4 million(US$14.3 million)in the fiscal year that ended March 2018.

Two news stories from PokerStars Towers including nine $30,000 Platinum Passes due for delivery in a new Moneymaker PSPC Tour promotion, and two more handed to the Seminole Hard Rock in Florida.

I couldn’t sleep last night. Chris Moneymaker was in my thoughts. I knew I was writing this when I woke up, and I was thinking of an angle.

I didn’t think of one.

So it’s back to basics.

Gross revenues of Pennsylvania casinos slot machines inched up by 0.7 percent during the state’s most recent fiscal year, according to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB).

Financial data provided by the state gambling regulator showed that the combined slot machine revenues of Pennsylvania’s 12 casinos rebounded a tad bit to $2.35 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 2018, from $2.33 billion in the fiscal year 2016-17. However, the total slot machine revenue for FY2017-18 wasnowhere near the $2.5 billion peak that Pennsylvania saw in FY 2011-12.

Meanwhile, tax revenues generated from slot machine play dropped for the second consecutive fiscal year by as much as 3.5 percent to $1.19 billion in FY 2017-2018 from $1.23 billion during the previous fiscal year.

At least five of the 12 casinos report year-on-year slot machine revenue gains in FY 2017-18, with Valley Forge Casino Resort leading the pack. Data showed that Valley Forge’s slot machines were sizzling hot with gross revenues climbing by 8.05 percent to $86.67 million in the most recent fiscal year from $80.23 million in the previous year.

Slot machine developer Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd. recently scored a major deal with U.S.-based Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI). The company completed a delivery of 600 slot machines to the Derby City Gaming, a newly completed historical machine racing facility built by CDI in Louisville, Kentucky. With that order, Ainsworth filed an update to its revenue forecast for the second half of this year, raising it to $14.7 million. It also increased the forecast for the entire year, now stating that it should reach about $26.5 million. While it’s an improvement over previous forecasts, however, it is still below earlier expectations.

Danny Gladstone, CEO of Ainsworth, stated in a previous release, “We are clearly very disappointed by the rebasing of our profit expectations for 2H18. We operate in competitive markets and our execution this time has not met the high standards our shareholders correctly deserve. We are moving decisively to improve our profit outlook and are continuing to progress new product developments and marketing initiatives, which we confidently expect to improve our performance in FY19.”

The order delivered to CDI included Ainsworth’s pari-mutuel historical racing games. These were specifically designed for CDI per an agreement between the two countries.

Construction of Derby City Gaming began in December of last year. It is a $60-million gambling facility that will feature the 600 Ainsworth-developed slot machines, a simulcast betting area, two full-service restaurants and a 50-seat bar.

Australia’s largest betting operator Tabcorp Holdings has increased its stake in online lottery reseller Jumbo Interactive Limited, further cementing the commercial relationship between them.

In a disclosure to the Australia Stock Exchange, Tabcorp said it bought approximately 3.5 million Jumbo shares at an excise price of AUD2.37 ($1.75) per share, for a total of AUD8.3 million (US$6.08 million). The sale was made through Tabcorp’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Tatts Online Pty. Ltd.

The Aussie wagering operator also sold approximately 2.9 million Jumbo shares worth AUD6.9 million (US$5.09 million) to a group of institutional investors in conjunction with the exercise of the option with the operator of Oz Lotteries site. Despite this move, Tabcorp’s stake in Jumbo still grew to 12.49 percent. As of July 3, Tabcorp’s shareholding in Jumbo has increased from 6.6 million shares to approximately 7.2 million shares.

“Tabcorp regards its holding in Jumbo as strategically important. Tabcorp has no current intention to sell any remaining shareholding in Jumbo,” the company said in a statement.

The CalvinAyre.com team covers the World Executive Gaming Summit (WGES) each year and I was surprised when I studied the 2018 agenda for one reason in particular; I spied an unusually large number of dedicated Blockchain panels and presentations, a Blockchain roundtable and even an ICO pitch.

What began as a niche topic with one or maybe two dedicated panels at each event, Blockchain technology has ballooned into a major topic of interest, now justifying hours of dedicated content per gambling conference.

For those of you who don’t know, WGES is notorious for attracting the most senior crowd of decision makers in the gambling industry, covering technology that is set to disrupt their organizations and our industry in general. Blockchain as one of the main headlines at WGES 2018 sends a loud and clear message to the professionals in our industry…I do think we are on the brink of an explosion here.

Just last week I covered the Blockchain Summit London for our sister site, CoinGeek.com and learned Ethereum’s status as the one and only “blockchain of choice” for companies to build on is about to change.  Following the May 15th upgrade of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) chain, for example, the BCH block size has been increased to 32Mb (think lots of transactions while maintaining low fees) and the OP_Codes have been restored.

Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas is known for being the home to high-stakes poker action. One particular game routinely played there, the aptly-named “The Big Game,” typically begins at $800/$1,600, although it is not uncommon to see $2,000/$4,000 mixed games. Over the weekend, things got a little out of control as players got it in during a $5,000/$10,000 four-game mix. Poker pro Gus Hansen was on hand, and showed why he’s the “Great Dane” of poker.

Dan Smith let the cat out of the bag about the game when he tweeted, “There’s currently a 5-10k 4game mix at Bellagio (PLO, 2-7, Razz, O8?) and a separate 5-10k 3 game mix (2-7, PLO, dunno?) Seems like this summer has the most nosebleed action ever…. pretty wild.”  It’s unclear where he received the information from, but there was apparently some confusion as to exactly which games were being played.

Smith didn’t name names regarding who was at the table; however, the poker world knows that Hansen was present. He used his favorite social media platform, Instagram, to show a video of himself at the table with his winnings. He had accumulated a cool $1 million in chips before retiring. He said, “It is Saturday night and it’s with (a) little tears in my eyes that I leave a beautiful $5,000/$10,000 game in Bobby’s Room, but, uh, ya gotta sleep sometime.”

Later in the morning, Hansen posted an update on Instagram, saying that the game was still continuing. If he walked away with $1 million, it’s possible that someone else took down even more. After such a long game, it makes you wonder if this will become the new norm for action in Bobby’s Room.

During a meeting in Tokyo this past Tuesday, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reaffirmed the country’s position that it will pass the Integrated Resorts Implementation Bill (IRIB) this month. Parliament, which typically breaks in June, extended its session through July for the purpose of seeking approval of the bill, as well as a few others. Without government approval, the casino industry won’t ever see daylight in the country.

Abe, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), made his remarks in conjunction with Natsuo Yamaguchi, who heads the Komeito coalition party. The IRIB is expected to be discussed again tomorrow in the upper house during a plenary session and, from there, could make it to the upper house’s Committee on Cabinet, a legislative body that deals with matters presented by Japan’s Cabinet Office.

The ruling parties are expected to introduce a resolution on the IRIB on July 19 for subsequent delivery to the upper chamber before the end of the extended session. The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, successfully passed the bill on June 19 after some last minute opposition.

The same day that that Abe made his remarks, another piece of legislation, the Basic Bill on Gambling Addiction Countermeasures, was also introduced to the upper house, or the House of Councillors. An anti-addiction bill is expected to be approved by tomorrow and will provide the legal framework through which regulation on the subject can be added. An anti-addiction bill has been considered a prerequisite for the approval of the IRIB.

Another round-up from the World Series of Poker, this time focusing on a maiden victory in an inaugural performance as the Canadian, Tim Andrew, wins the $365 Pot Limit Omaha GIANT at the first time of asking.

It’s always a little intriguing when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) tries something new. Will it be as successful as a fruit fly that’s set up camp in a kitchen food disposal unit? Will it bomb like the dog toilet?

I don’t think there was ever any doubt that the $365 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) GIANT would go the way of the dog toilet. People love their PLO. People love a $365 buy-in.

I think we can safely pencil it in for the next decade or so.