Peergame was very busy in December 2020, making several big announcements to advance the Bitcoin gambling industry. The Bitcoin SV online gambling site added two new games, and an important wallet integration to get around one of the last barriers to instant transactions.

On December 8, HandCash made the momentous announcement that Peergame would be the first app added to their Connect App Gallery.

To all our Early Access testers: first app added to the Connect App Gallery – PEERGAME! @PeergameCom

Keep in mind it’s for testing purposes, so any feedback to improve the user experience is more than welcome!

While its neighbors on all sides begin to legalize sports gambling, Kentucky seems content to allow much-needed revenue to continue to slip through its fingers. Since the U.S. Supreme Court showed lawmakers they were wrong and reversed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) almost three years ago, a number of states have scrambled to introduce their own legalized sports gambling markets. This has proven to be especially beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Kentucky continues to remain on the sidelines and is apparently happy with not getting onto the field. 

An initiative to introduce sports gambling to the Bluegrass State fell flat last year after legislators fumbled the ball and couldn’t recover it. Now, as the new legislative session got underway yesterday, it seems that there will be a repeat of last year’s performance. State lawmakers gathered for the first time in 2021 yesterday, but neither Kentucky’s House nor Senate is overly anxious to explore sports gambling opportunities. 

Two Kentucky legislators, Senate President Robert Stivers and Speaker of the House David Osborne, participated in an interview with media outlet Kentucky Education Television (KET) and its Kentucky Tonight program. With Tennessee, Maryland, DC, Virginia and others getting in on the sports gambling movement, the conversation eventually turned to whether Kentucky lawmakers would push for a legalized market, and the legislators made it clear that it isn’t a priority. Stivers, a Republican, seems to be under the impression that horse racing and sports gambling are synonymous, explaining that the state’s horse racing industry needs to focus on its own activity before new gaming options are introduced to the state. He asserted, “I think the horse industry and individuals who are interested in the wellbeing of the horse industry need to focus on historic horse racing before they start thinking about sportsbook and gambling in that realm.”

Osborne, also a Republican, supported a sports gambling bill last year drafted by Representative Adam Koenig. However, he showed his hand when addressing the issue, explaining, “[Horse racing facilities] are existing facilities that have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Kentucky, and I think that because of that, it will probably take most of the focus initially away from sports betting.” He added, “That doesn’t mean that there’s not support for sports betting amongst the members of the House, amongst the members of our caucus. It remains a bit of a divisive issue, certainly. There’s ongoing interest in discussions about it, but I do believe it will take a back seat initially to historical horse racing.”

Macau celebrated the end of an old, unstable year and the beginning of a new, potentially great one with a great performance. After suffering a drought all year caused by COVID-19 and its crazy antics, Macau recorded its best day in 11 months on New Year’s Eve, welcoming a greater number of visitors than it was probably expecting. Hopefully for the city, its residents, its casinos and all its businesses, the traffic is a sign of what’s to come in 2021.

The final tally of visitors on December 31, according to data released by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) yesterday, was 30,747. November 20, when the Macao Grand Prix was being held, saw 28,247 and 27,755 visitors passed through border controls into Macau on Christmas Day. In typical fashion, the majority of the visitors from December 31, 2020, to January 3 came from China. The daily average across the period was 21,242, of which 19,629 were mainlanders and 1,368 were from Hong Kong, based on the MGTO data.

While Macau was able to go out with a bang at the end of 2020, the numbers are still way off from where they should be. Last January, there were around 92,000 visitors on average each day, but this dropped to 5,585 the following month as the control COVID-19 was wielding began to really be seen. By May, that figure had dropped to an average of 520 per day; however, things began to pick up in the second half of the year as China gradually reduced travel restrictions and Macau was able to begin to see more traffic.

The end-of-year celebration in Macau was welcome relief to area hotels, as well. The average occupancy rate, per the MGTO, was around 70%, with 3-star hotels reporting slightly better performances, at 73%. The combined occupancy rate for all hotels in the city was 67.2% during the final push of the year, which was 15.1% higher than the average for the rest of December. It was also 23.2% higher than what had been seen in November and 4- and 5-star hotels did even better. 4-star hotels averaged an occupancy rate of 69.9% and the upper end of the range saw an average of 67.6%. Price didn’t appear to be too much of a deterrent, as the average room rate was about $140, or 21.7% higher than the December average.

One thing is perfectly clear about Nevada – the pace at which the state can recover from COVID-19 is perfectly unclear. It has previously been predicted that bringing Las Vegas and other Silver State cities back to their normal operating levels would take at least three years, but the introduction of the coronavirus vaccine gave analysts and industry insiders reason to believe things would move quicker. That now seems like a somewhat dubious claim, as the M Resort has announced a new round of job cuts. This isn’t the last of the workforce reductions in the state, either, as other properties are hinting that they may be forced to let some employees go, as well.

Located in Henderson, Penn National Gaming’s M Resort has been a popular hotspot over the years, but the continued fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has caused it to turn into a veritable ghost town, operating well below its normal levels. As a result, and with yet another COVID-19 spike in Nevada appearing, the casino announced this week that it is breaking off the relationship it has with 159 employees. Jeff Morris, a spokesperson for Penn National, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ) that the cuts are “the very unfortunate reality of not knowing how long this global public health threat will last or when we’ll be able to resume full operations.”

Nevada has been reeling from the effects of the coronavirus since last March, never able to find a steady course. Commercial activity in the state has been drastically reduced, with casino floors, bars, restaurants and other public venues forced to operate at just 25% of their normal levels. Hotels have had difficulty attracting guests, which has led many to shut down completely on weekdays as reservations dried up. 

Per updated COVID-19 data from yesterday, Nevada has 2,423 new positive cases of the virus, with 29 more deaths recorded. There have been over 235,455 cases in total since the virus first landed in the state and the statistics have forced Governor Steve Sisolak to maintain his restrictive posture regarding commercial activity in the state. This isn’t sitting well with most people, including Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who has dubbed Sisolak a “dictator” that is sending Nevada back to the Dark Ages. 

When it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to cause major issues for casino operators last March, Matt Maddox and other Wynn Resorts executives decided to help the company out by foregoing their salaries for the rest of the year. In return, they were given shares in the company, which proved to be a smart move on their part. Maddox, according to a recent filing (pdf) by Wynn with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been busy selling some of his shares and can’t complain about his return.

Maddox reportedly unloaded just under 56,000 Wynn shares, 50,000 in two transactions on December 30 and 5,966 a day later (the form lists the latter sales date as January 1, 2021, but that’s not possible since the markets were closed that day). The first transaction was locked in with an average share price of $112.94, the second at $113.42 and the third at $112.83. In total, despite losing 8% of his stake in Wynn with the sale, the executive picked up around $6.32 million. He’s not going to be too concerned about taking the hit in his stake, with his remaining 394,549 shares expected to see additional gains as Wynn continues to improve this year. The sales were made at a time when Wynn’s stock had rebounded to its highest level since last February.

After seeing the success Maddox enjoyed with his sale, it’s likely that the other executives who had agreed to the stock deals will follow suit. However, with these only receiving partial compensation through stock, they might be holding out in order to see how to get the most bang for their buck with a resurgence in the price. Last year’s arrangement resulted in executives and board members agreeing to not collect a salary in exchange for anywhere from 33-100% of their pay in the form of stock.

Maddox held onto Wynn when his contract with the company was renewed at the end of 2019. At that time, the contract included a provision that entitles him to a total of 100,000 shares, provided the casino operator is able to achieve certain milestones. Those shares, however, cannot be immediately sold and Maddox is contractually required to maintain an equity position in the company that is equal to six times his annual salary. That is reportedly $1.90 million, with the rest of his compensation coming in the form of bonuses and options.

While most companies operating in the gaming space have been scrambling to keep their heads above water as the COVID-19 debacle continues to keep them down, a few have been able to seemingly walk on water. Suncity Group falls into the latter category based on a couple of announcements it has made this week. The Hong Kong-listed company is pushing forward with two non-gaming resorts it wants to build in Japan and is also preparing to move on to the second phase of development at its resort in Hoiana, Vietnam. 

Suncity confirmed that it wants to build a luxury resort in Hokkaido, Japan, specifically, in the popular ski town of Niseko. It will be designed with all types of travelers in mind and the company said of the resort, “With development plans in the works in 2021, the project will cover an area of approximately 20 hectares, combining the natural beauty of Niseko and convenient leisure amenities.” Suncity hopes it can begin construction on the new property prior to the end of this year and the ultimate goal of its Japanese endeavors is to be in a stronger position to compete for a gaming license once the country gets its integrated resort (IR) market up and running.

That construction will run simultaneously with the construction of a second non-gaming resort on Miyako Island in Okinawa. Suncity purchased a plot of land there about a year and a half ago and has plans to build a property that includes 100 hotel rooms and 40 private villas, each with its own swimming pool. The company added about this endeavor that it “considers that with (i) the continued increase in Chinese visitors travelling to Japan and (ii) the newly operated direct flights to the Shimojishima Airport, the acquisition represents a good opportunity to further expand its tourism-related business and to diversify its focus, in terms of geographical locations, from China to the East Asia region.”

In addition to these plans and a project in the works in the Philippines, Suncity is moving forward with the work on its IR in Hoiana, Vietnam. The first phase of the project opened to select guests last summer and construction on the second phase is about to begin. It is going to target Southeast Asian tourists and Suncity expects the resort to bring “significant revenue and sustainable development prospects.”

Online casino sights need to stay on top of the hottest slot offerings to keep up with the competition. We’ve got the newest slots released in the past week, so you can check them out and decide if you want them on your site.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements from the gambling industry. Our Press Release section is updated constantly, and we publish roundups of the latest partnerships twice a week.

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Indian police have discovered a new way to stop the people from gambling: offer them an entertaining alternative. Police in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district are organizing a cricket tournament to keep locals distracted for the upcoming Sankranti season.

The Sankranti festival, falling on January 14 this year, celebrates the deity Surya, but also means lots of gambling typically. Cockfights and other forms of gambling are typical, but illegal. To give something else for the people to win, the police decided to make their yearly cricket tournament a bigger deal, with sponsored prizes and an open invitation for anyone to join.

“Previously also contests like this used to be held but without much publicity. This time we are doing it in a grand manner, involving all the divisions of Eluru town. Involving sponsors and also like a big league,” deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Dilip Kiran said.

Up to 50 teams of 11 will compete for a cash prize of Rs 25,000 ($341.80), with no entry fee required. “It is scheduled till Sankranti festival, so that they will be engaged in the league matches and the final will be scheduled on the festival day. Later on, the prize distribution and closing ceremony will be on the festival day,” Kiran noted.

Burlywood Capital partner Andrew Burnett predicts that innovation in the casino industry in 2021 could potentially help spur a recovery. Burnett would be one to know, with more than twenty years-experience on the finance side of the casino and gambling industry. Burnett took some time out to reminisce with long-time pal and Calvinayre.com lead reporter Becky Liggero Fontana on what he thinks may happen in the industry in 2021.

“We see some products coming along which are brand new to the market and have got the potential to shake up the industry a little bit in the U.S, so it might be worth keeping an eye out for some of those products and new entrants that can really make a bit of a bit of a blast in the market perhaps over the next 12 months,” Burnett said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUR8DWFtngA&feature=youtu.beVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Andrew Burnett predicts an industry shakeup in 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUR8DWFtngA&feature=youtu.be)

“Online gambling has had a very good pandemic so in terms of sector rotation I just think you could see the sector stepping back a little bit over the next 12 months. I think we’re long due to see some new product innovation and I think there’s been a lot of B2 businesses that have prospered over the last 12-24 months,” he added.

South Korean casino operator Landing International Development is wearing egg on its face after a staffer apparently absconded with millions of dollars over the holidays. 

In an ‘inside information announcement’ to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Landing somewhat sheepishly revealed that it discovered Monday that some KRW14.56b (US$13.4m) in company funds maintained in the South Korean holiday island of Jeju was ‘missing.’ 

Landing went on to explain that the company is “unable to reach the employee-in-charge of the funds.” Landing said it has alerted South Korean police regarding the incident and an investigation is underway. Landing’s board of directors is also “gathering information in relation to the incident.” 

Landing operates the Jeju Shinhwa World resort casino on the island, one of South Korea’s larger foreigner-only gambling venues. Like most of its local rivals, Jeju Shinhwa saw its fortunes slide as the pandemic caused the flow of foreign gamblers to slow to a trickle. 

Online gambling firms are being targeted with ransomware by Chinese state-sponsored hackers in what is either a dramatic shift in priorities or simply greedy techs looking to pad their meager salaries. 

A report by Israeli cybersecurity firms Profero and Security Joes details a series of ransomware attacks against five unidentified online gambling companies earlier this year by a group alternately known as Advanced Persistent Threat 27 (APT27) or Emissary Panda. 

The report builds on a separate report this February by Trend Micro, who identified a Chinese-led hacking group known as Winnti (aka APT41), which until that point had a history of going after online gaming (not gambling) firms. The APT27 attacks used similar DRBControl malware to gain access targeted servers but APT27 was traditionally focused on corporate espionage rather than financial gain. 

The APT27 attacks also differed in that, once the hackers had gained access to a specific server, they utilized the BitLocker encryption tool built into Windows to deny access to the servers by their rightful owners rather than employ a custom piece of ransomware. 

Maryland’s six casinos had a disappointing December after the two largest operators saw their already limited capacity further reduced mid-month due to the state’s soaring COVID-19 infection rate. 

Figures released Tuesday by the Maryland Lottery & Gaming Agency show statewide casino gaming revenue of nearly $119.4m in December, down 20% from the same month last year and $11m below November 2020’s total.

The state’s two largest casinos – MGM National Harbor and Cordish Gaming’s Live! Casino & Hotel – saw their already pandemic-restrained capacity of 50% reduced to just 25% last month. The state’s third-largest casino, Caesars Entertainment’s Horseshoe Baltimore, was already limited to 25% capacity when December began. 

Despite those limitations, National Harbor reported gaming revenue of $48.5m in December, down only 22.5% year-on-year, while Live! fared even better, falling just 17.2% to $42.9m. The perpetually challenged Horseshoe, on the other hand, was down nearly one-third year-on-year to just $12.7m. 

Cryptocurrency-funded slots play may be coming to a land-based casino near you after International Game Technology (IGT) received a patent for expanding existing machine-based payment options. 

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that IGT had received a patent for a method of transferring funds from an individual’s cryptocurrency wallet to a casino loyalty/rewards account. IGT, one of the casino sector’s primary developers/manufacturers of electronic gaming machines, has yet to comment on the report. 

IGT did announce Tuesday that it had successfully cleared the final stage of Nevada regulatory approval for its Resort Wallet carded cashless module. The system allows players to use a casino loyalty card to transfer cash between a secure digital wallet and various gaming products – slot machines, gaming tables, sportsbooks, etc. There’s also a phone-based ‘cardless cashless’ version of the Resort Wallet.  

IGT’s patent is the latest move by the US land-based gaming industry toward a cashless environment, which has the backing of the gambling sector’s primary lobby group. The shift has taken on more urgency and offered more appeal as the pandemic made the idea of handling cootie-contaminated cash seem even more ill-advised.