Monthly Archives: December 2020

NFL wagers close out the year strong on Bodog

This is it – the last few days of 2020 and the chance to get prepared to start fresh in 2021. Regardless of what has happened this year, it’s now in the past and there’s a whole new world waiting ahead. Professional sports have helped, to some degree, withstand the headaches caused by COVID-19 and the NFL season has proven to be a great way to close out the year. As Week 16, the last full week of the season, is now in the books, football games continue to drive sports gambling on Bodog, and this past weekend’s numbers show it.

The NFL was responsible for 52.39% of the wagers on Bodog this past weekend. It has some competition now, as the new NBA season has now gotten underway with some impressive games, including one that saw the LA Clippers set a record for the biggest halftime deficit, at 50 points, against the Dallas Mavericks. That game helped attract some attention to NBA games on Bodog, with the league’s games taking 27.38% of the wagers on the sportsbook.

College sports continue to find some action, but no one can honestly say that the attention is overwhelming. NCAA Men’s basketball games only took 8.49% of the wagers on Bodog, while NCAA football took 4.5%. With these kinds of numbers, it’s difficult for anyone to assert that allowing wagers on college-level sports is going to drastically alter the sports gambling panorama.

Premier League soccer grabbed 2.12% of the bets on Bodog, followed by eSoccer with 1.29%. Chinese basketball, with the CBA, saw a little attention as it took 1.1% of the wagers before soccer made another appearance. The GT G-26 League found 1.01% of the bets on the sportsbook this past weekend.

Aspire Global’s BtoBet signs platform and sportsbook deal with William Hill in Colombia

Aspire Global’s BtoBet has further expanded its position in Latin America through a partnership with William Hill in Colombia. BtoBet will provide the platform (PAM) and sportsbook to William Hill, one of the world’s leading sports betting and gaming operators.

The agreement is a long-term deal and further strengthens Aspire Global’s leading position in Latin America and specifically in Colombia. Aspire Global’s BtoBet will provide its platform and cutting-edge sportsbook solution.

BtoBet was acquired by Aspire Global in September and has established itself as the leading sportsbook provider in the country after the regulation of the Colombian market in 2016. By bolstering its presence in Colombia, Aspire Global and BtoBet have demonstrated its commitment to extending their footprint across global regulated markets.

Ulrik Bengtsson, CEO of William Hill, said: “We are thrilled by this partnership and the opportunity to provide players in Colombia with a superior gaming experience. We always look for the best localised solutions and BtoBet are well placed in the Colombian betting market.”

CalvinAyre.com’s most read events stories of 2020

Events and conferences looked pretty different in 2020, as almost everything went digital for the first time. Here’s the five gambling events stories that interested you most in 2020.

Becky’s Affiliated: Rory Credland reveals his vision for ICE North America digital

Becky spent a lot of time conducting Skype interviews this year, and none of them got more attention than this talk with Clarion’s Event Director, Rory Credland. He explained how conferences were shifting to digital, and just how much work was going into pulling it off smoothly.

London Conference Week 2020 Day 2 recap: ICE London

Suck Out Hands Joseph Hebert Final Table Win, Will Face Damian Salas Heads-Up for World Title

Joseph Hebert won the US version of the WSOP Main Event, and he now awaits a heads-up battle with Damian Salas for the world championship, and a shot at an extra $1 million.

Joseph Hebert is one step away from poker immortality. (Image: Twitter)

Salas won the final table, which began on GGPoker, in Rozvadov, Czech Republic earlier this month. He earned just over $1.5 million for his efforts along with the right to face the US Main Event champ. The heads-up match was originally scheduled for Dec. 30 at the Rio in Las Vegas. But Salas had some travel issues due to COVID-19. As such, the finale will take place Jan. 2.

We now know Salas’ opponent, and that individual is Joseph Hebert thanks to a cruel suck out on the final hand. Ron Jenkins, decked out in a MAGA hat, got his chips all-in pre-flop with pocket queens against A-Q. The board ran out K-7-A-4-8, a winning top pair for Hebert and a brutal bad beat for Jenkins, who received $1,002,340 for second place.

Vedran Karaman talks on Superbet’s marketing advantage

Superbet has carved out a niche as the dominant sportsbook in the Romanian and Polish market. Global Director of Performance Marketing, Vedran Karaman sat down with Becky Liggero Fontana to talk about how Superbet’s marketing campaign is capturing the imagination of players.

According to Karaman, it’s about knowing your audience. “In Romania and Poland, you have more people talking about the event, comparing the odds and comparing the outright of the match,” he said. “It’s much more communication about the event and less about criticizing the offer. I’m criticizing the adverts which also massively depend on how you construct the offer,” he said.

Bucks face Heat to highlight Tuesday NBA odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

TNT usually has the NBA doubleheader on Thursdays during the regular season but presumably because this Thursday is New Year’s Eve, the network has it on Tuesday this week. Clearly the marquee matchup of a busy night is Milwaukee Bucks at Miami Heat.

Those teams met in the Eastern Conference semifinals this past summer in the Orlando bubble. Milwaukee was a sizable favorite but lost in five games, in part because Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the final two games due to an ankle injury. It probably wouldn’t have mattered, though, as the Bucks lost all three games with him and were 1-1 without. Miami was simply the better team and of course would end up reaching the NBA Finals, where the Heat lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers. Heat star Jimmy Butler is doubtful Tuesday with an ankle injury, and that has pushed the Bucks to 4.5-point favorites. They are 4-11 ATS in their past 15 road games.

The TNT nightcap is a matchup of rising teams from the Western Conference as Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans visit Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns. The Suns were the only unbeaten team in the bubble but missed out on the playoffs. They made a huge trade this offseason in landing future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul, and he has fit in seamlessly. While neither the Pelicans nor Suns are good enough to compete for a conference title yet, they are getting there. Phoenix is -3 but 1-6 ATS in the past seven meetings as the home team.

Macau casino junkets fret as China amends gambling law

Casino junket operators who lure Chinese nationals to gamble abroad could face up to 10 years behind bars under the country’s revised Criminal Law. 

This past weekend, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress approved a number of amendments to the country’s Criminal Law, including the new definition of ‘organizing and soliciting by casinos abroad’ that was proposed in October. 

Article 303 of the Criminal Law now includes a clause regarding persons “setting up or managing casinos overseas, or others they appoint [who] organize and solicit citizens of the [People’s Republic of China] to go abroad and participate in gambling.” 

If wagering by these individuals lured abroad “is huge or there are other serious circumstances,” those who lured or organized their activities will face a prison sentence of between 5-10 years, along with unspecified fines. The new law will officially take effect on March 1, 2021.  

Polk Bluffs Off Winning Session, High Stakes Duel Reaches Midway Point

Doug Polk bluffed off a massive session lead on Day 22 against Daniel Negreanu, but still holds a sizable lead at exactly the midway point. That is, of course, assuming Negreanu doesn’t opt to quit.

Doug Polk lost again but still leads big overall. (Image: YouTube)

The poker stars played their shortest session to this point on Monday due to reaching the halfway mark (12,500 hands). They both agreed to cut the session short as this is the point in which the losing player (Negreanu) has the option to throw in the towel without penalty.

Negreanu, however, has made it clear he intends to see this thing through to the full 25,000-hand mark. But he did admit in the post-game interview on the GGPoker YouTube channel that he isn’t 100% committed to continuing. The long-time poker rivals will get back to the virtual felt on WSOP.com on Jan. 4, assuming Negreanu doesn’t end the match.

Poker stories of the year: Stoyan Madanzhiev wins main event… or does he?

This year was a great one for poker in many ways, as despite the difficulties faced by the industry on the back of the Coronavirus outbreak, players embraced an online culture and played in some of the biggest events that have ever taken place in poker history.

One such event was the World Series of Poker Main Event… or was it? Because in the midst of the 85 WSOP bracelets events in the 2020 World Series of Poker Online Series, was a $5,000 re-entry Main Event. No-one was told there would be another one, no-one had any clue of the Hybrid drama to come.

Especially not Stoyan Madanzhiev.

The Bulgarian won the WSOP Main Event and took home $3.9 million by doing so – the largest online poker prize in history.

Russia’s bookmakers one signature away from Worst. Year. Ever.

Russia’s bookmakers are now only a presidential signature away from setting up 2021 to be their Worst. Year. Ever.   

On Christmas Day, the upper house of Russia’s legislature gave its approval to plans for a dramatic upheaval of the domestic betting industry. The Federation Council’s vote came just two days after Duma deputies overwhelmingly demonstrated their support by rushing through the bill’s required second and third readings on the same day, despite the Ministry of Finance suggesting an additional month of stakeholder consultation.  

The legislation envisions a sweeping overhaul of Russia’s current market, including requiring local bookmakers to ante up 1.5% of turnover to the Russian sports federation on whose match a bet was made. A single centralized hub for online betting payments, run by an as-yet-unspecified private company, will be responsible for deducting this 1.5% at source. 

The bill also calls for the creation of a new Unified Gambling Regulator that will report to Rosimushchestvo, the Federal Agency for State Property Management. The two existing industry Self-Regulatory Associations (SROs) – which previously operated two separate payment hubs for their respective members – will be phased out. 

Damian Salas Can’t Enter US Right Now, WSOP Main Event Finale Pushed Back

Damian Salas is having trouble entering the United States, so the heads-up match to determine the WSOP Main Event champion is being pushed back. The news comes just hours after Upeshka De Silva was disqualified from the US final table due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Damian Salas will have to wait a few days longer than expected to compete for a world title. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

De Silva was scheduled to compete at the Rio final table in Las Vegas on Monday. Instead, he’ll receive ninth place money ($98,813) and won’t be dealt a single hand. Those were the rules set forth prior to the start of the tournament earlier this month. Each player knew of the risks associated with traveling during a global health pandemic.

Monday’s final table will still go on, but with eight players instead of nine. One of those players will take home $1.5 million and a shot to face Salas, who won the international bracket of the tournament, heads-up for the bracelet and an extra $1 million. That heads-up finale was scheduled for Dec. 30 at the Rio. But the international winner is having a difficult time entering the United States.