Macau casinos leaned on mass market gamblers to an unprecedented degree in the final quarter of 2020, a shift that is likely to persist following China’s war on ‘cross-border’ gambling.

Figures released Friday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) show local gambling operators generated combined revenue of MOP22b (US$2.75b) in the three months ending December 31, 2020.

It’s a far cry from the MOP72.3b the market generated in the same quarter last year but a good sight better than the Q3 2020’s MOP9b. The Q4 sum brings the FY20 total to just over MOP61b, barely one-fifth of 2019’s MOP293.3b, reflecting a year of unprecedented challenges for the world’s largest casino market.

The most notable feature of Q4’s results was mass market baccarat’s contribution of MOP11.85b, a nearly 54% share of the overall, while VIP baccarat contributed just MOP7.6b (34.5%), the first time VIP has slipped below a 40% share. Counting non-baccarat contributions, mass market gambling accounted for a record 65.4% of Macau’s overall revenue.

The first step in overcoming an addiction problem is to admit there’s a problem. The former mayor of Whiting, Indiana, doesn’t believe he was ever an addict, though, despite having misappropriated more than $255,000 in campaign funds to pay for casino trips and other expenses. Joseph Stahura was facing jail time for his actions after pleading guilty last September, but a judge has decided he can walk. 

Stahura, who resigned as Whiting’s mayor last August, allegedly took about $255,000 in campaign contributions given to him over the years and used to visit out-of-state casinos, pay off bills and credit cards and more. He was tracked down through ATM withdrawals and reportedly made around 50 trips to casinos from March 2014 to October 2019. Those ATM withdrawals showed around $55,000 spent during that time.

The former politician was found guilty of wire fraud and filing a false tax return, but the judge took a light-handed approach to sentencing him. He could have faced as many as 23 years behind bars if given the maximum sentence for the crimes; however, the judge, James T. Moody, determined that Stahura’s lawyers made a good case for leniency when they argued that their client’s crimes were not that serious. Kerry Connor, an attorney representing Stahura, asserted, “Stahura’s conduct was wrong and illegal, but it didn’t impact his role as mayor, and I think that’s an important distinction Mr. Stahura’s conduct was significantly different than these other politicians.”

Stahura, who was facing legal action along with his wife, had reportedly made restitution of the embezzled funds, which the judge took into consideration when he handed down his decision. He also stated that it was obvious Stahura was very remorseful of his actions, which he demonstrated by stating, “I’ve not only embarrassed my wife, my family, and the residents of Whiting but everyone who believed in me.”

Hard Rock International (HRI) is expanding its U.K. footprint. The casino operator announced yesterday that it is now the owner of a casino premise license from The Ritz Club in London, which gives it the ability to “establish a new casino premise” in the city. This is just one of many moves the company is making to become a global casino force in major cities around the world.

HRI already has a well-established presence in hotspots across the globe, including in various cities in the U.S., as well as Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and others. It has also been approved for a new resort in Virginia, but lost an opportunity to include Greece in its portfolio last year. The company is also clinging on to hopes that it might be able to get in on Japan’s integrated resort industry at some point in the future. Additionally, a return of the Hard Rock name to Las Vegas is in the works. HRI has 12 casinos and a total of 240 locations scattered across the globe and has a presence in 69 countries.

The company didn’t provide a lot of details about its London plans and goals, or when it might be ready to bring its iconic massive guitar to London, but it probably won’t be soon. The U.K. is dealing with new COVID-19 issues that have forced many commercial venues, including casinos, restaurants and bars, to take a break, and HRI can take its time finding the ideal spot for a new property. Chairman Jim Allen only offered in the announcement, “We look forward to expanding our brand offerings within London and bringing our award-winning hospitality, gaming and entertainment to the birthplace of Hard Rock.”

At the end of last year, HRI began stepping deeper into the digital gaming realm when it launched Hard Rock Digital. This is to be an iGaming and sports gambling platform that it will operate through a partnership with Seminole Gaming. The company tapped three executives formerly with The Stars Group (TSG) to help build the brand, including former CEO Rafi Ashkenazi, former attorney Marlon Goldstein and the former head of TSG’s U.S. operations, Matt Primeaux.

MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis played Let’s Make A Deal, and Davis won. MGM has owned the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA since it purchased the team from Spurs Sports and Entertainment in 2017, but will soon be handing the team over after reaching an agreement with Davis to sell the team. It isn’t clear how much the entrepreneur is prepared to lay out, but he has been a long-time supporter of the Aces.

Davis, along with his mother, has owned a controlling share of the Raiders since his father, Al Davis, passed away in 2011. He just relocated the team to Las Vegas from Oakland, CA, ahead of the current season, expanding the sports footprint in Sin City that included the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and the Aces – an NBA expansion team is also reportedly in the works. Davis has been to a number of Aces games since the team moved to the city from San Antonio, Texas, in 2018.

Davis will be able to provide all the pertinent details surrounding the deal once it’s finalized. That won’t happen until after the WNBA Board of Governors can sign off on the acquisition, and it isn’t clear how quickly that will occur. MGM President of Entertainment and Sports George Kliavkoff is confident that Davis is capable of overseeing the Aces, explaining in a statement, “We can confirm we have entered into an agreement to sell the Las Vegas Aces to Mark Davis and are awaiting approval from the WNBA Board of Governors. Mark is a longtime champion of women’s basketball and we believe he is the right person to lead the Aces into a new era. We will continue our enthusiastic support of the WNBA, NBA and basketball in Las Vegas.”

It’s only speculation at this point, but the decision by MGM to sell the team may have been made in order to free up money. The company is making a serious effort to buy out its online sports gambling partner, Entain, as long as the price is right. An initial bid of $10 billion was rejected, but MGM backer InterActiveCorp (IAC) has said it’s willing to put up as much as another $1 billion if necessary.

Nevada resort workers are at the front of the line for upcoming Covid-19 vaccines, but will they want them? The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) wants to know, in light of news that as many as 35% of Nevadans will refuse to be vaccinated.

In a memo, the NGCB mandated that all licensees complete the Licensee Workforce Vaccination Survey by January 21, providing demographics information about their employees and presumably, how many plan to skip the needle. They also provided a bit of a push for operators to encourage their employees to get inoculated. The memo urged:

“Widespread vaccination of the industry’s workforce is essential to the health, safety, and prosperity of the industry itself, its workforce, and to state and local government. Therefore, submission of the information is mandatory.”

This memo came the same day a study by the University of Nevada, Reno and Nevada Department of Health and Human Services revealed 35% of Nevada residents weren’t sure they’d get themselves vaccinated. It’s believed that between 80 to 90% of the population needs to be inoculated for herd immunity to take effect.

Nagasaki, Japan just launched its initiative to attract casino partners as it looks to become one of the first areas to be awarded the rights to host an integrated resort (IR) in the country. It was the first to officially introduce its request for proposal (RFP) after delays caused by COVID-19, but other areas of the country are ready to get moving, as well. The progress is in anticipation of the Japanese Diet being able to introduce its final IR Basic Policy sometime later this year, but new issues caused by the coronavirus might lead to additional complications and schedule shifts.

Yokohama, according to local media outlet Kanagawa, is preparing to launch its RFP sometime before the end of this month. The outlet reports that it interviewed a number of people involved in the process and that the push to build momentum for its IR plans comes as the local city council rejected a petition to have a public vote held on the subject. Gambling opponents tried to block Yokohama’s efforts, collecting signatures on a petition that would force the issue to be addressed in a public forum, but both the mayor of Yokohama, Fumiko Hayashi, and the city council have determined that a public vote would be a waste of time.

In Tokyo, progress is being made, but where the city stands now in bidding for an IR is still unclear. Inside Asian Gaming points to a message by the head of Japan’s Countermeasures HQ, and member of the House of Representatives, Yukio Edano, who referenced “an IR bid by Tokyo after the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.” There hasn’t been an update on what is in the works in Tokyo and the executive’s comments came as part of a larger response to the refusal by Yokohama’s leadership to conduct the public vote. Edano asserted, “The mayor and the council are acting as if they might ignore this. Representative democracy is not a carte blanche mandate.”

Elsewhere in the country, it looks like Hokkaido is officially out of the running for an IR. There has been talk for more than a year about the prefecture possibly backing away and Hokkaido mayor Naomichi Suzuki confirmed this week that it’s withdrawing its interest. Lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto and Chinese gambling firm 500.com could be partially to blame, even if Suzuki hasn’t been completely behind the idea since it was first presented, since the bribery scandal that involved the disgraced politician had been centered on the prefecture.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment saw a horrible first half last year because of COVID-19, but began to see improvements as the year progressed. The company wasn’t able to get back in the black before the year ended, but was headed in the right direction and moved into the new year expecting to see more positive growth. However, as the global pandemic continues to threaten the gaming industry, finding solid ground could prove to be more difficult than many anticipate, and analysts with Moody’s Investors Service aren’t optimistic about Melco’s chances of seeing a lot of improvement this year.

Moody’s has lowered its expectations for the company, not confident that Melco will be able to see any significant gains in the first half of the new year. The firm’s analysts aren’t impressed with a new senior notes offering announced by Melco arm Melco Resorts Finance (MRF). It said this week that it wants to pick up $250 million through the notes that will become due in 2029, but Moody’s has given the offering a rating of Ba2 and assigned it a negative outlook. The analysts added that the position on MRF is intrinsically linked to that of its parent company.

There is to be some improvement in the gaming industry this year, but not enough to put a big dent in the losses gaming operators have already incurred. The analysts add, “Moody’s expects gaming revenue in Macao SAR will improve in 2021 from the very weak level in 2020, underpinned by a rebound in Chinese tourists visiting the territory following the relaxation of some travel restrictions. However, the recovery will be gradual and partial, at least for most of 2021, given the remaining restrictions and social distancing measures and a lingering fear of infection.”

The ongoing issues spell trouble for operators trying to build momentum this year, and Moody’s doesn’t believe Melco will begin to return to pre-COVID-19 levels until next year or, perhaps, the following year. It also anticipates Melco to see greater debt over the next 12-18 months, possibly increasing to as much as $7 billion as it continues to build out its casinos in Macau and Cyprus, and foresees an adjusted debt/EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to jump to about ten times or more this year before settling at around five or six times next year. Not until 2023 will the level drop back down to just four.

A countdown that could lead to Caesars Entertainment seeing its casino license in South Korea revoked has begun. The company has been trying to put together a foreigner-only casino in Midan City, but has run into problems because of COVID-19. Construction on the property came to an abrupt halt last February and attempts to find new backers to get things going again have failed. Now, South Korea is threatening to cancel Caesars’ permission to complete the project if it doesn’t come up with a solid plan of attack. It has just two months to figure everything out.

The Midan City project was meant to be a joint venture between Caesars and a real estate development company out of China. $150 million had already been poured into the construction of the property before coronavirus launched its massive global assault and upended the global gaming space. When the impact the pandemic was to have on the world became known, Caesars found itself in a tight spot, with construction company Ssanye Construction unable to provide the $27.3 million it had promised. 

South Korean media reports that the delay in getting things restarted isn’t sitting well with local leaders, warning that, if a ”Caesars Korea Composite Resort (RFCZ) of Midan City is not approved for business changes by March 17, the casino prior permission will be revoked if the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Incheon Free Economic Zone Office get together on 14 June.” This is just the latest step backward for what was to be a huge step forward for Caesars in South Korea.

The massive project, at over 410,000 square feet, was first approved in 2014 when Caesars was given permission to bring the resort to life. Once construction is complete, the casino license would be issued, if approved, following a review by regulators of the property. However, issues have cropped up since everything first began, with multiple delays in timelines being introduced and local authorities are reportedly now short on patience.

The Korean Baseball Organisation (KBO) is facing a betting scandal on the eve of the 2021 season. The KBO disclosed that two players from the Doosan Bears have become involved in illegal sports betting. Sports gambling is illegal under local laws in Korea and the KBO specifically prohibits players from gambling.

The Doosan Bears disclosed to the KBO earlier this week that two players had been found to have purchased sports betting tickets. The Bears asked the KBO to transfer catcher Kwon Ki-Young and pitcher Jeong Hyun-Wook to the inactive list. The Bears advised the league that they will fully cooperate in the investigation of the pair.

Jeong allegedly bought tickets on the Sports Toto lottery in Korea, while Kwon allegedly used illegal betting sites. Sports Toto remains the only legal gambling option for Koreans locally, but local players face strict sanctions from the KBO for gambling.

The Bears released a statement to the media in response to the ongoing investigation. “In the process of interviewing with Jeong Hyun-Wook, who recently had a personal debt problem, he confirmed that he played sports Toto, which is forbidden by athletes. Kwon Ki-young also accessed inappropriate speculative sites in the process of conducting a thorough investigation of the entire team. And reported it to the KBO Clean Baseball Center.”

The box office is set to rebound in 2021 with everyone’s favorite R-rated superhero set to make a return. Ryan Reynolds is pulling on the spandex for Deadpool 3 and we have the odds on the Marvel characters set to make a cameo appearance.

Tom Holland’s Spiderman is the favorite to make an appearance with Reynolds in the Deadpool sequel. The last time that we saw Holland’s Spiderman, he had survived battling supervillains in Europe. With Tony Stark out of the picture, Reynold’s Deadpool could be the mentor to fill the void for Peter Parker.

Nicky Fury is another who would be at home in the Deadpool Universe. Samuel L. Jackson has battled snakes on a plane, so there would be no reason to think he wouldn’t be out of place in the Deadpool universe.

If you are a comic book geek familiar with the Marvel folklore, then a cameo from Thanos wouldn’t be a complete surprise. Tony Stark wiped out Thanos with a snap of his fingers, but a superhero recovery in a new film franchise wouldn’t be completely out of place. In the comic book version of the story, both Deadpool and Thanos are both in love with the same woman.