In the fast-moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.

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.

Footstock Relaunches Affiliate Programme with Paysafe’s Income Access

Fantasy sports brand to leverage Income Access’ in-house affiliate management team and network

Many YouTube series featuring poker players are the same. They feature a challenge where the poker player begins with a nominal amount to put down, say, $50 and they propose to turn it into a five-figure bankroll, like $10,000.

That’s exactly the premise of the latest Charlie Carrel video series on YouTube, so why is watching Charlie Carrel so different to watching any other player, both online or live?

For a long time, Charlie Carrel existed in a world of poker players I personally had no knowledge of – the high roller set. It had only passed me by due to pure chance really; at the start of my poker reporting career, I was rightly tested out in some smaller events that had less eyes on. In fact, sometimes, just my eyes. But that’s the right way for it to be and sooner rather than later, I found myself in Prague in the presence of Charlie and his good friend Ben Heath.

Together, Carrel and Heath socialized on breaks, studied poker hard together and often swapped action, so it made sense to watch what they were both doing. Both were young, precocious and at a level of poker so far above players their own age that it struck me as fairly unique, and certainly in terms of British players.

Bwin’s Russian-licensed online gambling site has permanently shut its digital doors, while Bet365’s Russian plans appear to be just getting started. 

This weekend, the Bwin.ru site stopped working for local bettors, who found the site’s home page displaying a message saying only that the site was “unavailable at present,” citing unspecified “system maintenance work.” The site’s social media feeds went silent and questions regarding the outage went unanswered. 

On Monday, Bwin.ru confirmed that its closure was permanent, based on “rapidly changing realities and new legislative initiatives.” In order to “make Bwin’s withdrawal from the Russian market as comfortable as possible for all customers, we have reached an agreement with one of the industry leaders, Parimatch.”

Bwin customers will reportedly find the funds held in the Bwin.ru accounts transferred to Parimatch.ru, and customers who decide to wager with Parimatch “will be able to receive a unique bonus offer.” The migration to Parimatch will reportedly be complete by the end of the month.   

Crown Resorts is going through a massive shakeup after the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) deemed the casino operator unsuitable to hold a license. Several top dogs on the company’s board stepped down and there was talk that CEO Ken Barton was going to give up his position, as well. That exit has now been confirmed, but Crown will reportedly give Barton some lovely parting gifts for his participation. 

According to The Guardian, Barton, who had only led the company for about a year, is expected to receive a nice compensation package as he packs up his things. He will reportedly receive AUD$3 million ($2.33 million) in severance pay, which will be more than enough to keep him going for a while. The money comes as part of his employment contract, which stipulates that he be paid a year’s salary if he leaves the company without notice. Only “serious breach or misconduct” could have prevented Crown from paying the severance. 

Barton’s exit, and the cashout, comes as he was singled out by the ILGA and its Bergin inquiry for his “serious lack of judgment,” a refusal to respond to notices of potential money-laundering activity at Crown and his close relationship to former Crown boss James Packer. Packer has been accused, among other things, of still secretly running the company after his ouster, which could have allegedly only been made possible through information provided to him from Barton. 

With Barton heading for the exit, Crown’s board chair, Helen Coonan, will have to take on additional responsibilities for now. She will wear the CEO hat while the company searches for a new boss, something she publicly states is not a role she accepts enthusiastically. She said in a Crown notice to the Australian Securities Exchange, “Assuming the role of executive chairman is a decision I have not taken lightly but the board feels it provides leadership stability and certainty at this important time for the business.”

Imperial Pacific International (IPI) Chair Cui Li Jie may have been portrayed as a helpless victim by her legal team, but the courts aren’t buying it. Attorney Juan Lizama told a judge last month that she doesn’t run the casino operator and doesn’t have the skills to oversee its activity, despite the fact that she is a reportedly billionaire entrepreneur, and Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Chief Judge Ramona Manglona didn’t bite. She now wants Cui to explain why she shouldn’t be locked up for civil contempt and why she shouldn’t be fined for failing to comply with a court-ordered subpoena.

Cui and IPI have been under fire for a lot of reasons lately, but this particular episode of the ongoing drama centeres on construction workers, as well as a construction contractor. The company that made huge promises with its Imperial Palace casino resort, but which has failed to deliver on any of them, was sued for alleged labor law violations and human trafficking, for which a subpoena was issued to Cui last month. However, Cui never responded, according to the latest complaint.

The Guam Daily Post reports that one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, Bruce Berline, Cui received the subpoena on January 18, but, the next day, one of her associates tried to “intimidate the process server” by threatening “legal trouble” if he didn’t take it back. On January 19, IPI reportedly returned the subpoena, ostensibly as an attempt to deny it had been delivered. Berline told the courts, “Neither this attempt at intimidation nor the act of returning the physical subpoena negates its legal validity.” He added, “Ms. Cui also never moved the court to quash or modify the subpoena. On Jan. 26, Ms. Cui then failed to appear for the deposition or produce any documents. Ms. Cui clearly violated her legal obligations under the subpoena.”

As a result, Berline asked Judge Manglona to hold Cui in contempt of court, and the judge has ordered her to speak up. She faces a fine of $10,000 a day until she complies with the subpoena, and the judge could hit her with even more sanctions, including possible jail time for noncompliance. Cui has to respond by this Wednesday if she wants to avoid any further issues.