Phil Hellmuth, like many other poker pros, is currently in Las Vegas for this year’s WSOP series. He hasn’t fared too well at the felt, reaching only has high as 30th in several of the tournaments in which he has participated. Perhaps his frustration at not performing as well as he hoped has led to showing why the moniker “Poker Brat” is so fitting for the 53-year-old pro.

In his latest outburst, his unnamed opponent didn’t take the verbal assault lying down, and apparently responded in kind. Hellmuth posted about the incident on Twitter, saying, “I was out of line and went Poker Brat for a minute. 100% my fault. Then I was called, loudly, a ‘Bad person,’ a ‘P.O.S.’ (he shouted that one 3x), a wimp, a bad poker player, and more. I took it, as I deserved a little grief, but…Wow! As usual, I apologized for my part…” As usual.

His initial public apology not being enough, Poker Brat returned to Twitter a few minutes later to post, “For the record, I am proud of the person that I am: loyal, true, authentic, honest, fun loving, passionate, [with] perfect ethics and morals. You would enjoy having a beer w me! I am not proud of those ‘Poker Brat’ moments where I lose it at the tables. That is my weakness and flaw.” Yes, Phil, those are the adjectives most people use to describe you.

One Twitter user, ‘The Standard Mope,’ decided to take the opportunity to get a little dig in on Hellmuth, and tweeted a response to Hellmuth’s latter post. He said, “Congrats good to hear. Hopefully someday someone will tweet these things about you so you don’t have to do it urself.”

Another round-up from the World Series of Poker as Jean-Robert Bellande wins his first bracelet (in No-Limit Hold’em!), and online bracelets are doled out to Chance Kornuth and Ryan Tosoc.  

Jean-Robert Bellande walks into the room. A bat, the size of a seagull, flies around the rafters looking for the moon. Nobody cares. The big man is here. High fives, a few hugs, and I walk over, stretch my hand out and ask him for an interview.

“Not right now kid, I have a cash game waiting for me. Maybe later.”

I caught him a few days later, at the end of a long massage. I could still smell the frankincense, and as the sun died spectacularly across the Adriatic Coast, he opened up.

Three more stories from the World Series of Poker including Calvin Anderson winning his second bracelet, and maiden bracelet victories for Jessica Dawley and Mike Takayama. 

The first scene where Neo meets Agent Smith. The pair of them, locked away in an interrogation room.

“Mr Anderson,” says Smith.

He is leafing through a file. Neo’s file.

Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel has struck a second sports betting partnership with UK-based technology supplier SBTech.

On Monday, SBTech announced that it had been chosen to provide Resorts with a sportsbook solution “across on-property, online and mobile channels.” The deal is subject to regulatory approval, and there was no timeline specified for when Resorts might launch its new betting product.

The deal will see Resorts “fully outsource its risk management and trading” to SBTech, who will implement a “bespoke risk management strategy” to ensure differentiation of Resorts’ betting product and “be in full control of their liabilities.”

Resorts CEO Mark Giannatonio said SBTech was selected due to its “deep regulatory expertise in the world’s most dynamic and demanding markets and the scalability to support our ambitious multi-vertical plans.”

Another round-up from the 2018 World Cup in Russia as the hosts eliminate Spain, and Croatia squeezes past Denmark, both on penalty shootouts. 

I’ve had enough of penalties.

Enough.

Before Mexico and Brazil kicked-off, a quick glance at the stats shows we’ve had a record 27 of the things in Russia.

Italy’s proposed ban on all gambling advertising and sponsorships won’t apply to existing contracts or national lottery operations.

On Monday, Italy’s new coalition government submitted its so-called Dignity Decree to a parliamentary committee for approval. The decree stipulates that “any form” of gambling advertising, “even indirect … is prohibited; however carried out and on any means, including sporting, cultural or artistic events, television or radio broadcasts, daily and periodical press, general publications, billboards and internet.”

As previously revealed, the ban would take effect on January 1, 2019, although the latest draft submitted to the committee includes a carveout for advertising contracts between operators, media outlets and sports bodies “in progress at the date of entry into force of this decree.” National deferred lotteries will also be exempt from the ban.

DI MAIO TELLS LEOVEGAS TO (CIGARETTE) BUTT OUT

Malta’s gambling sector contributed over €1.1b to the local economy in 2017, according to its gambling regulator’s annual report.

On Monday, the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) released its 2017 annual report, which reported that the gaming sector’s direct contribution to the Maltese economy hit €1.1b last year, €100m higher than in 2016. The MGA collected €59.1m in gaming tax revenue, up €2.8m from 2016’s total, despite remote gaming tax falling 3% to €26.5m.

Gaming accounted for 11.3% of Malta’s overall economy, the fourth-highest producing sector. The MGA expects this figure to increase due to its licensees projecting their local expenditure to increase by 8% to 13% per annum over the next two years, while local employment is expected to rise 10%.

There were 287 gaming operators on the MGA’s books at the end of 2017, 28 more than in 2016. The total number of remote gambling licenses issued rose by 112 to 625, while full-time gaming jobs rose by 480 to 6,673, of which 5,327 worked in the remote gambling sector.

Colombia has issued its 12th online gambling license to local firm Royal Betting Solutions SAS.

On Monday, Colombian gambling regulator Coljuegos announced that Royal Betting Solutions had received permission to launch online operations via its Apuestalo.co domain. Royal Betting, a venture of local construction, commerce and services entrepreneurs, has signed on for an initial three-year term.

Coljuegos boss Juan Pérez Hidalgo used the new license announcement to provide an update on the regulated market’s performance to date. Since the market’s first licensee launched in July 2017, Hidalgo said Colombian punters had wagered a total of COP500b (US$170m), while Coljuegos had collected COP15b in fees from its licensees.

Around 870k Colombian punters had registered with locally licensed sites as of May, a 35% increase from April’s total, reflecting both the rising number of approved gambling sites plus anticipation of June’s kickoff of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. About 85% of these bettors are men and the vast majority of bettors are under 40 years of age. Around 97% of player deposits are made in cash although the average deposit totaled a mere COP20k ($7).