The Asian police force rivalry over the scale of their 2018 FIFA World Cup betting arrests is nearing a fever pitch as the tournament reaches the quarter-finals.

From the start, Thailand’s national police force has made volume its priority, and deputy police spokesman Krisana Patanacharoen said Wednesday that the authorities had so far arrested 9,420 individuals on World Cup betting charges, roughly 5,000 more than during the entire 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Nearly 8,900 of these detained individuals were ordinary bettors, while another 392 were pinched for hosting gambling events – including 79 online gambling hosts – plus 149 bookmakers’ agents.

Showing a little outside-the-box thinking, Thai authorities also raided a couple retail shops they suspected of supplying much of the technical gear used by some of the busted online gambling operators to bypass the government-monitored internet channels.

Two tales from partypoker land including a sponsorship deal that sees the Irish Poker Masters become the first of its kind to offer a €1m guarantee; and the Monster Series returns with another $2.1m in guarantees spread over 171 games. 

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) will soon end.

The battle for world domination between PokerStars and partypoker will begin where it left off.

I think partypoker had PokerStars on the ropes.

Lee Davy sits down with PokerStars’ Director of Marketing, David Carrion, for an update on the marketing and branding used to drive interest in the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars’ Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship.

It’s one thing to tell people you’re going to host the most ambitious $25,000 buy-in poker tournament the world has ever seen. It’s another thing entirely to make it happen.

I’m not saying for one minute that David Carrion shoulders the entire burden of this tournament, like the Titan, Atlas, but the title ‘Director of Marketing’ is a hint that he has a vested interest in the event doing well.

As a man who loves his role.

Casinos in the Indian state of Goa are facing even more uncertainty than usual after the state’s political leader flip-flopped on plans to amend gambling regulations.

On Wednesday, the Press Trust of India quoted Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar (pictured) saying there was “no need for amending” the Public Gambling Act 1976 because the existing Act had “enough provisions to impose restrictions on functioning of the casinos.”

It’s unclear what future Parrikar now envisions for the state’s gaming industry. Goa currently lacks a formal gaming commissioner, something the amended Act was supposed to address. The government had also sought to clearly define the legal term ‘offshore’ to ensure that, when the state’s six floating casinos are eventually compelled to move to dry land, there’s no legal wiggle room that could upset plans to relocate them to a dedicated gaming zone.

Goa’s casino operators have dealt with a lot of adversity this year, including ongoing uncertainty over their future whereabouts, stiff annual fee hikes and tax evasion probes. Meanwhile, residents of Goa’s capital Panaji are complaining of traffic congestion around the berth for the state’s newest floating casino.

The UK’s advertising watchdog has spanked online lottery betting operator Lottoland for misrepresenting the size of its potential US lottery payouts.

On Wednesday, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint filed against the Lottoland.co.uk website for its July 2017 promotion of a “PowerBall £169 million” jackpot. The complainant felt the ad was misleading due to the jackpot’s value being contingent on whether the prize was paid in a lump-sum or by installments.

Lottoland defended its promo, saying that the options for taking either a lump-sum payment or a 30-year annuity, as well as the difference in ultimate monetary value, were clearly specified in the site’s FAQ and T&C’s.

The ASA acknowledged that the FAQ did indicate that Lottoland replicated the official US lottery payout rules, including the 38% tax provision, the fact that the lump sum represented 60% of the total annuity payout, as well as the rule about splitting the potential payout should the official PowerBall prize be divvied up among multiple winners.

Sweden’s gambling monopolies are frantically improving their offering as they prepare to deal with new competition in a liberalized market.

On Monday, live dealer technology provider Evolution Gaming announced that it had struck a deal to provide live casino services to AB Trav Och Galopp (ATG), Sweden’s current horseracing betting monopoly. The deal will commence on January 1, 2019, the date Sweden has set for the liberalization of its online gambling market.

On Wednesday, Evolution Gaming announced a similar live casino deal with Svenska Spel, the state-run sports betting monopoly. As with the ATG deal, Evolution says the Svenska Spel live casino will start dealing cards “the moment Sweden’s new gambling law comes into effect.”

Sweden’s new gambling regime will see ATG and Svenska Spel enter relatively uncharted territory, although for some time now, both operators have had to compete with internationally licensed online gambling sites that served Swedish punters without the state’s permission.

India’s leading illegal online gambling operator has been run to ground by the cyber wing of the Mumbai Crime Branch.

On Wednesday, Indian media reported that Mumbai police had arrested nine individuals, including Ramesh Chaurasia and his son Anchal. The two Chaurasias are directors of Game King India Pvt Ltd, which operates the gamekingindia.com and planetgonline.com gambling domains (both of which currently display generic Microsoft Windows Server screens, although the gamekingindia.biz domain will still get you where you want to go).

The elder Chaurasia was arrested over a year ago in the state of Madhya Pradesh for operating a network of videogame parlors and cyber cafés that covertly provided access to the illegal online gambling sites. Chaurasia had also been arrested in Mumbai in 2013 but eluded prosecution, allegedly due to his political connections.

The Press Trust of India quoted Akbar Pathan, deputy commissioner of Mumbai’s cyber police unit, saying that the Chaurasia’s operation required their retail customers to pay real money for virtual credits that could be used to gamble via the online sites.