While the phrase “Buy when there’s blood in the streets” has validity to it, it largely depends on what kind of wound is causing the blood to flow. If it’s a superficial wound or otherwise one that can be recovered from with a little bit of rest and recuperating, then by all means buy when there’s blood in the streets. But if it’s either a mortal wound or otherwise a wound that gets seriously infected calling for amputation – in business terms permanent downsizing – then buying when there’s blood in the streets turns into a different Wall Street phrase. “Catching a falling knife,” they say.

Interactive Corp, AKA IAC, has taken a $1 billion stake in MGM. The news catapulted shares yesterday by 14%. Barry Diller, IAC Chairman, is very bullish on the global economy. He thinks that everything will return to normal once this pandemic recedes. He says this straight out in this July 9 interview in the very first seconds. “My instinct,” he says, “is that when the virus and the threat of it recedes, which at some point it will, then I think that behavior returns to the norm. Why wouldn’t it?”

Diller is essentially making the same mistake I did when the virus first hit the news and I advised buying Macau. I assumed it would be no big deal and that the world was fretting over comparatively little, at least medically. I didn’t count on the extreme political reaction, but now that I see it getting still more restrictive, I don’t see any way out of it until the political class runs out of resources from the people to enforce the current lockdown regime, which is being funded almost exclusively through the debasement of all paper currencies.

As for MGM specifically, it would be hard for Diller’s pick to be much worse. MGM is a hotel-casino company, and hotels specifically are getting destroyed at an alarming rate. The delinquency rate on hotel commercial mortgage backed securities according to Fitch in a report released August 7, is now 16.64%. This is up from 11.49% in June. The previous peak was in June 2012, a 3-year lag from the bottom of the housing bust. What this suggests is that we still have 3-4 years of serious financial trouble in the hotel sector. It’s not going away any time soon.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called ban on TikTok may have gained most of the headlines, but the Executive Order he signed on the same day against WeChat may have the bigger impact on U.S. businesses, and specially in the gambling sector. Legal analysts expect it could cause huge headaches for U.S. based casino operations in Macau.

Trump’s order will make it illegal for any U.S. citizen or corporation to conduct “any transaction that is related to WeChat”. Due to take effect on September 20, it would bar Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands from using the app, effectively cutting off their communications with customers in Mainland China.

Carlos Lobo, a Macau-based lawyer at Weir and Associates, told the South China Morning Post that this will create a huge advantage for their Macau competition, namely Melco Resorts, SJM Holdings, and Galaxy. “The mainland Chinese tourists will prefer to go to Melco, Studio City, SJM or Galaxy rather than Sands, MGM, or Wynn,” he said. “This has a toxic effect on competition that ultimately has a negative impact on the US casino operators.”

Ben Lee, managing partner at IGamiX, noted that it’s pretty much impossible to advertise in China without WeChat. “The casinos are not allowed to advertise in [mainland] China so their marketing hosts do use a lot of social apps to contact their clients and communicate promotions,” Lee said.

Some poker TV shows are enjoyable because they bring the game to life. Others feature poker as an aside, a cameo part in a Hollywood movie that works to develop the characters in question or sometimes fails miserably.

The TV show we’re featuring in this week’s Poker on Screen article is a show dedicated to the game, the UK & Ireland Poker Tour, or UKIPT for short. The UKIPT was a little brother or sister show to the slick, polished, glossy neon lit world of the European Poker Tour. But was it even better? Let’s dig behind the scenes and find out.

On screen between the years 2009 and 2016, the UKIPT gained what you could say was a cult following, and this reporter was among the many devotees turning up to watch. The poker action was a degree lower in terms of quality than the European Poker Tour due to the buy-in, the set might have creaked a little more than its European counterpart, but the show itself was every bit as watchable, and there’s one major reason for that.

Nick Wealthall.

Tense, tight and terrifically entertaining, the quarter-finals of the Europa League saw four great matches produce four teams who will battle in the semi-finals of the competition. 

The first matches to take place involved the 2017 winners and a side they may yet meet in the final, while the second round of games saw a classic battle for power between Wolves and Sevilla. 

Let’s take a look at all four games. 

Manchester United 1-0 F.C. Copenhagen (after extra time) 

It’s not easy coming back to poker after a long hiatus, and for whatever reason, that may be happening to you right now. The summer has gone, the World Series of Poker is winding to a close and by the time you’re ready to return to investing a portion of your spare money at the felt, you’re worried that you won’t so much be the mark at the table as wearing a t-shirt with a target painted on the front when that Zoom call connects.

Don’t fret, we’re here to point you in the tight direction whatever the reason for your absence. There are still some sharks in every prizepool, but you never forget how to swim, and we can throw you some armbands. 

1. Bet-Sizing

One of the most important in-game facets of poker is the size of each bet that you’re putting out there. It’s also one of the first things you can get out of practice in doing. 

Casino revenue reports continue to flood in and show just how much pent up demand there is in the U.S. for gambling. Ohio is happy to report one of their best months ever, while Pennsylvania is figuring out just how much revenue they lost from pandemic shutdowns.

The Ohio Casino Control Commission reports a record total of $86 million in revenue for July, the highest they’ve seen since bringing on their fourth casino. That included Hollywood Toledo’s $33.3 million, the highest they’ve ever seen in a month.

“July’s $86 million in casino gaming revenue is a record; the previous statewide high was March 2013 ($84.3 million),” said Jessica Franks, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Casino Control Commission.

With a pent-up demand for entertainment, and Detroit not yet reopening their casinos, Franks said there were plenty of visitor’s to Ohio’s gaming locations. “I also think there are limited opportunities for folks to spend their entertainment dollars,” Franks said.