The Americas

Las Vegas Sands Casino titan Sheldon Adelson passed away at the age of 87. Adelson died following complications from his ongoing battle with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has begun to the warm to the idea of mobile sports betting. Cuomo has been presented with two bills in the chamber that outline guidelines for mobile sportsbooks in New York; Brazil sports betting regulations will be ready for the market launch in 2022. Government minister Waldir Eustáquio Marques Jr. said the government will have the regulations finalised for release in July; Veterans group in Indiana have been thrown a lifeline thanks to a bill that would allow video gaming terminals in veteran establishment. The machines would be strictly managed as they look to overcome funding shortfalls; FuboTV has announced their purchase of online sportsbook Vigtory. The streaming service has plans to tap into the lucrative U.S. sports betting market;

Europe

Israeli-based mobile games developer Playtika have announced plans to push forward with their Initial Public Offering (IPO). The group is tipped to raise $1.67 billion from the impending sale of 69,500,000 shares; Gaming operator Entain (formerly known as GVC Holdings) is losing its CEO amidst a takeover attempt from MGM Entertainment. Entain announced that CEO Shay Segev had announced his intention to take on a new position as co-CEO with sports streaming platform DAZN; Betfair is re-evaluating its Italian operations after the government introduced a new tax. The new tax affects all sports gambling verticals and will force Betfair to examine what they can offer Italian customers; U.K. greyhound races continue to face further restrictions after a new wave of COVID cases. The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is promising to keep racing alive, even if behind closed doors. Greek sportsbook operator Kaizen Gaming has continued its expansion plans. The Greek company has tapped former Better Collective executive Claus Jannson, who is now the Head of Affiliate Marketing Media Buying for Kairzen. Poland state run gambling operator Totalizator Sportowy is intent on acquiring local operator Casinos Poland. Local media reports that Totalizator Sport is looking to require a majority stake in the operator, that operate eight land-based casinos in the country.

Have you ever wondered what it would take for you to quit your job and play poker for a living instead? Of course you have – we all have. But the reality of going pro might be very different to how you imagine. We decided to investigate this by speaking to a player who has done exactly that very recently.

Andy Wool is a British poker professional and goes by the online moniker of ‘dawhiteninja’. A year ago, he was approached by Patrick Leonard, who saw Wool playing $20 MTTS (multi-table tournaments) and saw his potential. Convincing him to quit his job and go pro, Wool was then thrust into the world of playing online poker not for a money-making hobby on the side but his living. With two young boys and a devoted wife relying on his income, how did Wool get on?

This week, he came 6th in a $530-entry PokerStars Blowout Series for $150,000 in what was a life-changing moment in his poker career. We started our chat with Andy asking what it felt like and turn such a moderate buy-in into a six-figure result of that magnitude.

“It was literally a dream run, which sounds a bit weird considering I finished in 6th place!” Wool says. “What might come as a bit of a surprise is yes, it was a hugely exciting run and one that I’ll never forget – including some incredibly fortunate river cards – but it also came with a lot of other emotions that I was trying my best to handle. I was trying not to get too far in front of myself or too dependent on a “This is it” moment or any kind of ‘it’s now or never’ mentality.” 

The latest games in the English Premier League gave some sides vital three points while others were left quite literally pointless. Who succumbed to pressure and which teams rode it out to rise to the summit? Let’s dig into the action and find out.

Burnley 0-1 Manchester United 

A vital three points was gained at Turf Moor by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils, who are now three points clear of Liverpool going into a vital showdown at Anfield this Sunday.

United were, in truth, far better than their less glamourous North-West rivals for most of the 90 minutes and deserved to win by more than Paul Pogba sublime volley 15 minutes from time. The Clarets played their part in a dramatic game, however, and could well have snatched a draw in the latter stages where United had to perform a rearguard defence of the points they worked so hard to earn.

Russia’s online sports betting operators have started off 2021 in much the same way they ended 2020: under attack.

On Monday, Russia’s government published the gambling regulation signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on December 30. The publication officially starts the 270-day countdown for the arrival of a new Unified Gambling Regulator, which will now officially assume oversight of Russia’s gambling market on October 9.  

The new law also calls for a 1.5% tax on all online wagers, with the collected funds aimed at helping to fund Russian sports bodies. The tax will be deducted by the at-present-entirely-theoretical centralized payment processing hub that will replace the two existing hubs currently operated by Russia’s two rival bookmaker self-regulatory organizations (which are themselves both slated for dissolution).

To ensure no online wagers are processed by other means, Russia has been firing shots across the bow at local firms. This week, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation ordered the Sberbank-owned YuMoney payment service (formerly known as Yandex.Money) to suspend all transactions between Russian citizens and foreign-based companies. The move follows an audit of YuMoney’s activities by the Central Bank.

Poland’s state-run gambling operator Totalizator Sportowy (TS) is looking to expand into land-based casino operations by acquiring local operator Casinos Poland.

On Wednesday, Polish media reported that TS, which has a monopoly on Polish lottery, land-based slots halls and online casino operations, was looking to acquire a majority stake in Casinos Poland, which operates eight land-based gaming venues in the country.

Colorado-based Century Casinos currently holds a two-thirds stake in Casinos Poland, and a TS spokesperson confirmed that TS was looking to acquire these shares from Century. The spokesperson played coy with the details, but said the process was “at the stage of due diligence and work on transaction documentation (including a sales contract).”

TS has submitted an application to Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) to ensure the state voices no objections to TS expanding into the land-based casino market. The company already operates a slots hall monopoly with hundreds of venues across Poland.

The latest PokerStars Blowout Series event has seen a litany of high rollers turn up to battle for the biggest prizes and it was Joao Vieira who grabbed the victory for a bumper top prize of $123,068.

First to leave the final table was Canadian superpower Timothy Adams. He was dealt king-queen off-suit and called himself all-in when Niklas Astedt pushed on the turn of a board showing a king on the flop and sevens on flop and turn, but Astedt had pocket aces and held through the river to bust his illustrious opponent.

That pot gave Astedt a commanding lead over everyone except ‘milennial’, who had 7.1 million to Astedt’s 7.3 million. It would be Mark Radoja who would bust next, all-in with the same hand that downed Adams, king-queen off-suit and was called by Bert Stevens ace-queen which hit an ace on the flop and the turn to win through the board with ease.

Stevens looked to be pushing back up the leaderboard from a middle-ranking stack, but that was a false dawn, as some time later he went in 5th place, his 3rd-of-pot bet on a double-diamond flop including a three with king-three of diamonds being raised by Vieira. Stevens moved all-in and Vieira called quickly with ace-nine, the nine being in diamonds and the ace mkain gtop pair on that flop. Two dead cards to have the crucial pot to Vieira and confirm Stevens’ exit.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The first UFC event of the New Year is Saturday from the organization’s Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, and the headline bout of the Fight Night card is a featherweight matchup between former champion Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar, both Americans.

The main card starts at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised, interestingly, in the United States by over-the-air network ABC as well as simultaneously on ESPN+. One name for the card is UFC on ABC 1 as it’s the first time a UFC event will be broadcast on ABC, which, like ESPN, is owned by Disney.

The 29-year-old Holloway (21-6), ranked No. 1 in the division, won the interim UFC featherweight title at UFC 206 over Anthony Pettis and then unified the belt with a third-round TKO victory over featherweight legend Jose Aldo at UFC 212. “Blessed” won a rematch with Aldo at UFC 218 by TKO and successfully defended the belt again at UFC 231 with a victory over Brian Ortega.