Glitnor Group CEO David Flynn has developed a few tricks to handle the pressure of leading a gambling operation. Flynn confessed that the last 12 months have given him opportunities to adapt, and he took some time out to share his secrets with Calvinayre.com Lead Reporter Becky Liggero Fontana.

Straight off the bat, Flynn admitted that he loves a morning bike ride to prepare for a day in the office. “I try and get out on the bike every morning, depending on the weather and what my schedule is like. If I can get out on the bike for an hour it sets me up for the day. Cycling is all about refreshing my mind,” said Flynn. 

“It gives me a lot of thinking time and it helps me think about the problems of the day, that otherwise, I don’t get the time to think about when I’m in the office,” he added.

When it comes to setting up his day, Flynn explains it’s important to lead a balanced lifestyle between the office and his family.

Brazil’s sports betting regulations will reportedly be ready by this summer, although the market isn’t expected to launch until next year. 

In an interview published Sunday, Waldir Eustáquio Marques Jr., the undersecretary of prizes and sweepstakes in the Economic Ministry’s Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery (SECAP), said the government will have final online and land-based sports betting rules ready for release by July. 

However, issuing licenses will take more time and the betting market isn’t expected to launch until early 2022, which would be over three years since Brazil approved its betting legislation. Marques said the delays were due to the government’s desire to avoid “having to take a step forward and another step back.” 

Marques revealed that the government was close to formalizing its regs last year until SECAP had a change of heart regarding the number of licenses it intends to issue. Marques said the original plan to authorize every company that met the licensing requirements had “some points that could be harmful. So we had to put the brakes on, review the model, in order to be able to proceed safely.” 

Spain’s gambling and betting operators claimed a smaller share of the country’s e-commerce activity in the second quarter of 2020, casting further doubt on the government’s rationale for imposing tough new marketing limits. 

Figures released last week by Spain’s Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) show Spain’s e-commerce turnover hit just over €12b in the three months ending June 30, 2020, up 0.2% from Q2 2019 but €223m below the Q1 2020 figure. 

Gambling and betting accounted for 3.7% of all e-com transactions in Q2, ranking sixth among business sectors. Gambling’s score was unchanged from the same period last year but down from 4.1% in Q1 2020. 

In terms of the number of individual transactions, gambling and betting ranked fifth with 5% in Q2 2020, down from second place and 5.9% in Q2 2019. The transaction count is down even further from Q1 2020, during which gambling outpaced all other sectors with 6.4% of all online transactions. 

Asian online gambling operator 500.com is once again attempting to diversify its revenue streams, this time by getting into Bitcoin mining.

On Monday, the Nasdaq-listed 500.com announced that it had entered into a definite purchase agreement with “certain non-US persons” to acquire ‘Bitcoin mining machines’ in exchange for nearly 11.9m newly issued 500.com Class A shares worth some US$14.4m.  

500.com expects the deal to be completed sometime in the current quarter, with another four weeks required to install all the acquired mining devices (which will have a total hash power capacity of 918.5 PH/s – 1 PH/s is one quadrillion hashes per second). The sweet Bitcoin mining revenue is expected to start flowing in the first half of 2021. 

Monday’s news follows an earlier private placement 500.com announced a few days before Christmas. That announcement detailed a share subscription deal with Hong Kong-based Good Luck Information Technology Co, which agreed to purchase nearly 86m new 500.com shares “to be settled in US dollars or in crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin.”

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Road teams were quite successful during the six-game Wild-Card Weekend in these NFL playoffs. Will that continue with the Divisional Round games?

Today, we will look at Saturday’s schedule that opens with the Los Angeles Rams visiting the Green Bay Packers, who are 7-point favorites. These teams didn’t play this season, but the favorite has won the past 12 in the series. They last met in Week 8 of the 2018 season – the year the Rams reached the Super Bowl – and Los Angeles was a 29-27 home winner. Greg Zuerlein hit the go-ahead field goal with 2:05 left; he’s no longer with the Rams. Jared Goff threw for 295 yards and three scores, while Aaron Rodgers threw for 286 and a score.

Who will be under center Saturday for Los Angeles? Goff is the unquestioned starter under usual circumstances but missed Week 17 following thumb surgery and didn’t start the Wild-Card Game last Saturday in Seattle. He was forced into action, though, because of an injury to John Wolford. Goff clearly wasn’t 100 percent but made enough throws to lead Los Angeles to a 30-20 upset. The defense and rookie running back Cam Akers did most of the heavy lifting.

It’s not hard to imagine why a poker player who measured at 6’ 6” (just under two meteres) was called ‘Treetop’, but the story of Jack Straus is perhaps even taller than he was.  

Who was the man who won the 1982 World Series of Poker Main Event from having only one chip halfway through the tournament? How did he die early, and what is his lasting legacy on the game?  

It’s time to find out why Jack ‘Treetop’ Straus is a bona fide poker idol.  

From the Ground Up  

The GGPoker World Series of Poker Circuit event is down to its last nine players and there are some superstars waiting to battle at the felt for the famed Circuit Ring and perhaps more importantly, the $1,236,361 top prize.

With 6,395 entries, the $1,700 buy-in was stumped up by a huge number of players and that meant the $10 million guarantee was exceeded to an eventual total prizepool of $10,327,925.

With 700 players paid, Day 2 started with 1,112 players, meaning the bubble had not yet burst, and play might have been expected to slow down a little. With the two final turbo Day 1 flights running into that Day 2, however, play carried on at a lick of pace, with an orbit at each of the remaining tables producing over 100 bust-outs.

There were some big names who ran close to the money but missed out on profit, such as Christian Rudolph, Juan Pardo, Kenny Hallaert, David Yan, GGPoker ambassador Felipe Ramos and Fedor Holz, with the min-cash of $4,107 eluding them all.

There are six games taking place in the English Premier League this midweek, with big games at the top and bottom of the table sure to affect how some of the biggest teams in the league look towards the halfway point of the season.

Burnley vs. Manchester United (Tuesday, 8.15pm GMT kick-off)

After looking like a game that would be deader rubber than what was left on tyres at the end of Fast & Furious 7 when it was originally scheduled, this showdown at Turf Moor now looks like it could be pivotal.

It’s not that Manchester United haven’t been top of the Premier League table since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013, but we can’t recall the last time they were top of the pile after over a dozen game with a genuine chance at lasting the distance and being part of a genuine title race. Jose Mourinho finishing 18 points behind City in second place doesn’t count.

Last year’s tennis coverage around the world was great for fans to enjoy, with some great drama along the way. Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open, there was a surprise winner in the U.S. Open and the French Open saw Rafael Nadal extend his incredible legacy at Roland Garros.  

There was one thing missing, however, and that was the Wimbledon coverage we’ve grown to love and that goes hand in hand with the game just like the strawberries and cream consumed at the All-England Championships every year.  

Well, nearly every year.  

In 2020, of course, Wimbledon was cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak and ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. Wimbledon will be back in 2021, taking place between Monday 28th June and Sunday 11th July, but it looks likely to be take place behind closed doors at the All England Club as things stand.