Monthly Archives: April 2020

All-new official online shop of ONE Championship, ONE.SHOP, launches today, 20 April

Athlete-driven new limited edition collections added, featuring ONE’s biggest stars as well as the launch of ONE’s Gold Corner Loyalty Program

20 April 2020 – Singapore: The largest global sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship (ONE), announced today, 20 April, the launch of its new official online shop, ONE.SHOP, where fans have access to all-new collections of ONE Championship official merchandise and athleisure wear.

Originally established in 2018, ONE’s athleisure business has been updated and upgraded, with an all-new webstore featuring brand new collections.

Added to the wide selection of ONE Championship branded merchandise are new athlete-centric designs featuring some of the organization’s biggest stars.

South Korea casinos taking very different COVID-19 strategies

South Korea’s casino operators continue to take very different strategies in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, foreigner-only casino operator Paradise Co Ltd announced that it was reopening its three gaming venues in Incheon, Seoul and Busan after weeks of pandemic-related closure. The news follows the reopening of Paradise’s casino on Jeju Island one week ago.

However, as Paradise was firing off its starter’s pistol, rival Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) was announcing yet another extension of the closure of its three foreigner-only casinos. The new hopeful reopening date is May 6, which would mark seven weeks since GKL’s three Seven Luck-branded casinos originally shut their doors.

Similarly, South Korea’s largest casino Kangwon Land, which shut its doors on February 23, announced last Friday that it was extending its closure until Monday, May 4 at 6am. Kangwon Land previously forecast that remaining closed until April 20 would cost KRW296b (US$240m) in lost revenue.

United Arab Emirates welcomes first fatwa-approved lottery

A new United Arab Emirates lottery is offering a record prize while dancing on the edge of religious propriety.

This weekend, Emirates Loto broadcast the UAE’s first official lottery drawing, which featured Lebanese television host Wissam Breidy and Indian actress/model Aishwarya Ajit. The grand prize for matching all six numbers was AED35m (US$9.5m) but the closest anyone got was one player who matched five numbers for an AED350k prize.

The jackpot for next week’s draw now increases to AED40m and, should no one match all six numbers, will continue to increase until its maximum cap of AED50m. There are other lotteries in the UAE but they offer much smaller prizes and tickets can only be purchased via the Duty Free areas of international airports, with the result that the winners are all foreigners.

The Qur’an makes it clear that gambling is strictly forbidden (haram) but the lottery organizers managed to obtain a religious order (fatwa) issued by the General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments in Abu Dhabi exempting their product from this prohibition. The fatwa was secured by ensuring that there is an exchange of value in the transaction.

World Series of Poker postpones 2020 event on COVID-19 concerns

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has bowed to the inevitable and postponed its 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, the WSOP organizers announced that the 51st edition of the tournament would not get underway as planned on May 26 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas “as a result of the public health emergency involving COVID-19.” The event is being moved to the “fall of 2020,” with specifics to be determined later.

WSOP exec director Ty Stewart said his group was “committed to running the World Series of Poker this year but need additional time to proceed on our traditional scale while prioritizing guest and staff well-being.”

The rescheduled event will of course include the $10k buy-in Main Event championship, but the announcement indicated that the overall schedule – which featured a record 101 gold bracelet events – will be “revisited” and “changes are anticipated.” Will your favorite event make the cut? Only time will tell.

NFL Draft odds – Spotlight on the quarterbacks

Let’s face it: Every NFL Draft is about the quarterbacks. It’s the most important, high-profile position in all of sports. Even in the rare years where a signal-caller isn’t going to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, it’s still all about the quarterbacks.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Barring an absolute stunning trade offer from someone like the Miami Dolphins (think multiple first-round picks), the Cincinnati Bengals are going to take LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner, at No. 1 overall on Thursday night. He will be the third LSU player to go first, following running back Billy Cannon in 1960 (to the Rams) and quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007 (to the Raiders). Russell was arguably the biggest bust in draft history.

Oddsmakers are so sure that Burrow will go first that he’s priced at -10000 to do so. That’s just to go first overall, not to a specific team. That’s an important designation to keep in mind on those props for a guy being selected at a certain spot. Trades are going to happen. Burrow will be the third straight Heisman Trophy-winning QB to go first, following Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield in 2018 (to the Browns) and OU’s Kyler Murray last year (to the Cardinals).

Five Super Bowl betting upsets no-one saw coming

The NFL Draft is just three days away, but for anyone dreaming of being in the pre-season favourites, we featured evidence recently about how that might be a poisoned chalice. If you wanted further evidence of this, you only have to look at these five Super Bowl finals, where the favourites fell at the final hurdle.

Super Bowl III – New York Jets 16-7 Baltimore Colts

18-point underdogs New York Jets somehow got the better of the Baltimore Colts after a scoreless first three quarters and a field goal early in the final period saw The Jets surge into a 16-0 lead.

That the Colts then scored seven points was nothing but a consolation as 1969 saw over 75,000 fans inside the Miami Orange Bowl stunned by the American Football League winners triumphing against the NFL’s finest. It remains one of the biggest shocks ever seen in the sport.

Sun Int’l closes two South African casinos; Phumelela on the ropes

Casino and hotel operator Sun International is permanently closing two South African gaming venues due to the financial burden of COVID-19 lockdowns.

On March 24, South Africa’s government ordered a national lockdown of non-essential businesses, including hotel and casinos run by Sun International. On Friday, the company issued a statement saying it planned to reduce staff hours and salaries when its businesses reopen on May 1.

The reopening will take place on a limited basis, with plans to ramp up operations dependent on customer demand. Permanent full-time staff will see their salaries cut by 20%, while staff earning over ZAR1m (US$53k) per year are looking at a 30% cut.

The company acknowledged that the pay cuts will have “a substantial impact” on staff, but argued that “we need to ensure the long-term sustainability of the company so that we can protect as many jobs as possible.” Without the cuts, Sun’s lenders “will no longer provide the capital we need to continue to operate.”

Rank Group relies on digital growth to offset retail closures

Rank Group’s online gambling operations are saving its British bacon after the company furloughed 90% of its retail staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a trading update issued Monday, Rank said its statutory revenue in the three months ending March 31 was up 5% from the same period last year despite the closure of its retail operations to minimize further COVID-19 transmission.

The retail shutdown led to revenue declines across all retail segments, including Grosvenor venues (-5%), Mecca venues (-17%) and international venues in Spain and Belgium (-12%).

On the flip side, digital revenue was up 21% for the quarter and the company said digital operations posted further growth following the retail shutdown. The digital column was also bolstered by Rank’s acquisition last year of UK rival online bingo and casino operator Stride Gaming.

Macau gov’t confirms no tax break for struggling casinos

Macau’s government is publicly expressing concern over its ongoing reliance on casinos after its gaming tax revenue fell nearly 40% in the first quarter of 2020.

On Monday, Ho Iat Seng, the new chief executive of the Special Administrative Region of Macau, issued his inaugural policy address. Ho (pictured) warned that the COVID-19 pandemic had “once again exposed vulnerability and risks of Macau’s economic structure” and that there’d been no “obvious” change from previous efforts to diversify its economy.

Ho’s address came a few days after Macau’s Financial Services Bureau announced that gaming tax revenue in the first three months of 2020 had totaled slightly less than MOP18.5b (US$2.3b). That’s 37.6% below the tax haul from Q1 2019 and only about three-quarters of what Macau’s government expected to earn in this most recent quarter.

Macau’s casino gaming revenue was down 80% in March and analysts have suggested April’s tally could fall by 95% year-on-year as ongoing travel restrictions between Macau and mainland China have slowed tourist traffic to a trickle.

BetMGM Launches Pro Football $2,000 Draft Contest

With the NFL Draft days away, marking just about the only live sports-related event going on these days, all eyes will be on the virtual selections by the 32 franchises beginning Thursday night.

BetMGM is making it a little more interesting, launching the free-to-play $2,000 Pro Football Draft Contest, a series of 20 questions predicting certain outcomes of the draft, and the player who guesses the most questions correctly will win a grand prize of $2,000 cash. In the event of a tie, the prize earnings will be split evenly.

Questions include:

· Which team will draft the first QB?
· How many teams will trade down (trade back) in the first round of the draft?
· Will the New England Patriots draft a quarterback in the first two rounds?
· Which running back will be drafted first?
· Which conference will Jake Fromm (UGA) get drafted to?
· How many players from the University of Alabama will get drafted?
· What position will Mr. Irrelevant be? (Last player to be drafted in the 2020 Draft)

Registration is open to residents of New Jersey, West Virginia and Indiana only. Sign up at https://promo.nj.betmgm.com/en/promo/s/p/sports/draft-quiz.

Five times Ivey and Negreanu clashed at the Poker Table

The best of enemies at the table, good friends away from the felt. For 20 years, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey have battled in the game of poker. While others are huge poker celebrities, such as old master Doyle Brunson and modern-day hero Phil Galfond, Negreanu and Ivey are arguably the two biggest names in the game.

This weekend, Negreanu took to social media in response to a fan asking him if he thought Phil Ivey was the best poker player of all-time, as he had been voted in a recent Twitter poll.

Having won six World Series of Poker bracelets himself, Negreanu was quick to reply in the affirmative about Ivey who, with 10 WSOP bracelets is only second to bracelet-magnet Phil Hellmuth in the annual poker festival.

Phil Ivey is the greatest poker player I’ve ever played against.

China’s February lottery sales evaporate on COVID-19 shutdown

China’s lottery revenue slowed to an absolute trickle in February after the suspension of all sales, which still haven’t resumed in the country’s capital Beijing.

Figures released by China’s Ministry of Finance show lottery sales totaled just RMB1m (US$141k) in February, down from RMB28.1b in the same month last year. Lottery operations were suspended in January for the Lunar New Year holiday but that suspension was later extended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That shutdown eventually stretched to 49 days, encompassing the entire month of February. As such, it’s unclear exactly how the lottery generated that RMB1m. Lottery sales began to resume in limited capacity by mid-March and resumed in Hubei province – the original epicenter of the pandemic – by the end of the month, with Hubei’s capital Wuhan resuming sales on April 8.

Some Chinese provinces have launched campaigns to alert lottery customers to the resumption of lottery operations, including billboards detailing the ways in which lottery funds support charitable causes, effectively painting lottery purchases as something of a patriotic duty.