Sports betting reclaimed its role as Denmark’s top revenue vertical in the final quarter of 2020, despite online casino apparently having the devil in its corner. 

Figures released Wednesday by Denmark’s Spillemyndigheden regulatory agency show locally licensed gambling operators generated revenue of DKK1.72b (US$281.2m) in the three months ending December 30, up 6.6% from the final quarter of 2019 and 12.5% better than the market reported in Q3 2020. 

Sports betting led Q4’s charge with DKK724m, up 16.6% year-on-year and a damn sight better than the DKK558m reported in Q3 2020. In fact, Q4 was betting’s best quarter last year, which otherwise suffered from pandemic-related shutdowns that began in the latter part of Q1. 

Online casino revenue ranked second with a devilish return of DKK666m, up 16.2% year-on-year and a slightly higher sequential gain from Q3. But Q4’s total was slightly below the DKK673m peak in Q2, when the absence of major sports pushed Danes to explore other gaming verticals. Slots claimed a nearly three-quarter slice of Q4’s casino pie. 

Online casino technology suppliers Evolution Gaming’s profits nearly doubled last year, a feat that was achieved largely before the company absorbed rival NetEnt. 

Figures released Wednesday show the Stockholm-listed Evolution generated revenue of €177.7m in the final quarter of 2020, a 68% rise over Q4 2019. Earnings shot up 72% to €96.2m on a gaudy 54.2% margin, while profit was up a similar percentage to €80.6m. 

Evolution’s game-changing acquisition of RNG casino tech provider NetEnt was completed on December 1, but Evolution said NetEnt’s Q4 revenue contribution of €17.8m was up only 5% year-on-year. In other words, Evolution largely achieved its stellar quarterly results on the strength of its market-leading live casino offering. 

Geographic expansion helped push Evolution’s operating expenses up 62% to €92.8m, although €12.4m of this relates to NetEnt, while restructuring and acquisition costs combined for €19.4m. 

Last year, the MILLIONS Online Main Event was not played at all, meaning that partypoker’s flagship Main Event in terms of their online output was missed by the many players who might have taken part.  

French player Benjamin ‘frenchsniperrr’ Chalot took down the 2019 partypoker MILLIONS Online Main Event for $2.26m, but will that record be broken this year? We haven’t got long until we find out.  

With 28 events, a massive $5-million guarantee for the Main Event itself and other terrific events such as a $1m guaranteed Mini Main Event, which kicks off the event schedule on this coming Saturday, February 13th.  

In an article on PokerNews, partypoker Team Pro Patrick Leonard told the reporting site that “One of my favourite things about poker is the zero-to-hero stories we hear on a regular basis. When I started playing, somebody would qualify for a $5,000 event from a $1,000 satellite and it was a great story when they went on to the final table. At partypoker, we’ve seen numerous people qualify for huge events for as little as $0.01 and win life-changing amounts. MILLIONS Online is always an amazing tournament and any player with a bankroll of $0.01 or more should get ready.”  

The hits keep on coming for Imperial Pacific International (IPI). The casino operator behind Saipan’s Imperial Palace can’t seem to get rid of trouble, which is following it around everywhere it goes, and has two more black marks on its record. After recently admitting that it can’t pay its workers all the money they’re owed, IPI was already looking at contempt of court charges, but has now been slapped with another. It has also been found guilty of trying to skip out on a contract it had with Xerox, and Ramona V. Manglona, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Chief Judge who has to continuously deal with the company’s bumbling operations, has to be at the end of her rope.

According to The Guam Daily Post, IPI has been found in contempt of court by Judge Manglona in a case that was brought against the company by a former director of operations, Joshua Gray. He asserted that he had been wrongly fired, let go because of his race and in retaliation of his complaints against the company’s treatment of employees. After previously having a few of his allegations thrown out, the case made it back in front of the judge, who approved the former employee’s request for sanctions against IPI, as well as reimbursement of attorney fees.

Now, IPI has one week to respond to the ruling and must provide new information to be used in the discovery process of the ongoing legal battle. This will include certain “Electronically Stored Information,” as well as a list of employees that are to be terminated and amended declarations from IPI’s human resources manager, Redie Dela Cruz, and former CEO Donald Browne. Should the company fail to produce the data within a week as ordered, Judge Manglona warned that she would hold IPI’s new CEO, Ray Yumul, in contempt of court.

Xerox recently filed a claim against IPI after it failed to respond to a formal complaint against the company last December. It asserted that IPI hadn’t held up its end of a service contract and, with no response coming from the company, sought the court’s help. Judge Manglona, once again, had to intervene, and has agreed with Xerox. She ordered IPI to pay about $182,905 but, with the company admitting it can’t pay its other obligations, Xerox is going to have to wait in line. However, IPI will be able to settle part of the judgment, as the company was ordered to immediately return to Xerox all of the equipment it had been given.

California-based Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) has an established presence in Louisiana, where it holds a license to operate a casino in Caddo Parish. The operator previously ran the DiamondJacks Casino & Hotel in the parish’s Bossier City, but it shut down last year due to COVID-19 issues. Now, ready to get back in the game, P2E has suggested that St. Tammany Parish, on the state’s southern coast, would be a better option for a venue, and the idea has the St. Tammany Parish’s ears burning with enthusiasm.

In a hearing held this past Monday night, the St. Tammany Parish Council discussed the idea proposed by P2E and its CEO, Brent Stevens, to potentially bring a $250-million casino resort to the city of Slidell. That lies just outside of New Orleans, and would potentially be able to capitalize on the large local population, as well as the tourist traffic that routinely descends on the Big Easy. The council voted on the proposal, overwhelmingly giving it a thumbs-up.

That approval doesn’t mean that P2E has the green light to move forward, but it is a huge step in the right direction. The company has to move its license from Caddo Parish to St. Tammany Parish but, with the council’s blessing, state lawmakers can now draft a bill to get the process started and allow parish residents to vote on the idea. That bill would need to be approved by the state legislation and Governor John Bel Edwards, after which it would be placed on the ballot to be voted on by parish residents. Only a simple majority of voters would have to approve the measure for P2E to move forward.

Years ago, the idea of adding a casino to St. Tammany Parish was way out in left field and had no chance of being taken seriously. Voters rejected the notion in 1996, but times change and the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for a number of changes in how gambling is viewed. The council approved the idea this past Monday by a vote of 11-1, which shows that there is strong interest in allowing P2E to come into town. Given that the company expects to be able to put 1,700 construction workers and 1,000 permanent employees to work, while providing tens of millions of dollars in annual economic impact, it’s not too surprising that the proposal was accepted.