Resorts World Genting (RWG) has taken another step back, announcing they will close entirely between January 22 and February 4. The closure was forced by Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO), restricting intrastate travel in a bid to reduce Covid-19 transmission.

On their website, the operator notes, “Essential resort-based services such as security, bomba, utilities and clinics will remain operational.” Otherwise though, casinos and resort services will be unavailable. Guests have been offered a phone number to call if they need to change their reservation dates, or if they with to request a refund.

Malaysia was forced to implement their MCO on January 13, due to a new spike in Covid-19 cases. The continuing spread of the virus has now forced the government to extend the MCO to all states, except Sarawak, and extend the travel ban to February 4. The Ministry of Health reports 4,008 cases in the 24 hours leading up to January 21, bringing the pandemic tally to 169,379. 630 have died of the virus.

“The MCO standard operating procedures are the same as I have announced before. That means residents are not allowed out, except for two from one household for daily necessities, including emergency cases,” said Senior Minister Ismail Sabri.

On November 24th I went out for a run and out of the blue, felt a sudden, sharp pain in my left knee cap when going down a hill. I was able to walk home, but after I cooled down, even just puttering around the house was uncomfortable and I was devastated. 

For those who don’t know, I’ve been an avid runner for all my life, its my favorite activity on the planet. My modus operandi has always been to use gym equipment such as ellipticals, power mills, etc, when recovering from a running injury (or trying to prevent one) and this has always worked for me…until COVID hit and gyms were forced to close and are still closed here in the London area.

Today I wanted to share my story with our readers as I think the lessons I’ve learned since November 24th can be applied to all of us in our daily lives as we continue to battle COVID, with a great deal of uncertainty still ahead of us.

The first lesson I learned is there is a solution to every problem, you just have to find it. Once I realized I was not going to be able to run for a while and going to the gym was not an option due to lockdown-induced closure, I jumped on my bike to see if a cycling motion bothered my knee. I was delighted to learn it did not. 

The latest Super MILLION$ final table kicked off with Dario Sammartino in the lead, as we reported yesterday, but the Italian would not be able to see it out and claim the win. In fact, he would finish outside the podium places.

How did this happen? Let’s take a look back at the 32nd Super MILLION$ final table and how it played out.

It took a long time for the first elimination, and it was Cypriot player Aliaksei Boika busted in 9th place for the first prize of $56,864. Boika was all-in with pocket sevens and was up against ‘RRomashka’, who made a better flush on the river with pocket tens.

It was the start of the eliminations, but there was no let up from that moment onwards, with players dropping left, right and centre. Next to depart was Canadian Ami Barer, his stack eventually dwindling to 12 big blinds. Barer must have thought he’d waited for the perfect moment, moving all-in with pocket queens, but he was called by Argentina’s ‘on the Flow’ with ace-king and an ace on the flop saw the chips disappear from in front of Barer.

The 2020/21 Premier League has been not just entertaining but life-affirming for many football fans affected by lockdown in terms of national restrictions.

When we watch the 20 teams in action, however, which are the ones who bring goals? With the Premier League season at the halfway stage for most clubs, we’ve compiled the average goals per game ratio for all of the teams. From the big hitters to the low lights, which sides provide the most goals and entertainment in the Premier League might surprise you.

Let’s take a look at the full table and each clubs’ goal per game.

Premier League Goals Per Game Table

As co-host of the Global Poker Award-winning podcast The Chip Race with Irish poker legend Dara O’Kearney, David Lappin is jovial, witty and above all else entertaining. The Unibet Poker player brings a light-hearted air to many subjects, but is equally happy getting into the deeper topics that rise to the surface in the game we all love.  

How will Lappin cope with 15 questions that are bound to test his mental acuity and funny bone at the same time? It’s time to push ‘15 Bigs’ over the line and see how he copes as we stare him down.  

If you were to be shot at dawn, what would be your last meal/drink?  

Steak y Foie Gras from Vaso De Oro in Barcelona washed down with a Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva. 

America’s online gambling market caught a break Wednesday as a federal appeals court upheld the view that the 1961 Wire Act applies only to sports betting. 

On Wednesday, a two-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit sided with the New Hampshire Lottery Commission against the Department of Justice by ruling that the Wire Act’s prohibition on communicating wagering information across state lines applies solely to sports betting, not to other forms of gambling. 

The ruling opens the door for states that have legalized online poker to share player liquidity with other states that have enacted similar laws. To date, only Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have entered into such arrangements, but the path now appears open to states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania to consider adding their players to the pool. 

To recap how we got here, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued an opinion in 2011 in response to queries by state lotteries asking if they could sell tickets online if the data was temporarily routed across state lines. The OLC concluded that the Wire Act applied only to a ‘sporting event or contest,’ thus paving the way for the launch of intrastate online gambling markets in New Jersey and elsewhere. 

UK online gambling operators saw activity grow but revenue shrink as sports betting margins retreated to more traditional levels. 

Figures released Wednesday by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) detail its online gambling licensees’ activity during the month of November, part of the regulator’s ongoing commitment to disclosing how the country’s gamblers are coping with the impact of COVID-19. 

November marked the UK’s second pandemic lockdown, although major sports events weren’t disrupted as they were during the spring lockdown. But many residents were once again forced to spend more time at home, opening up the possibility that they’d turn to gambling away the mortgage due to lockdown boredom. 

Fortunately, while online gambling activity experienced an increase in November, “overall, there has not been a significant or sustained increase in gambling activity” since the pandemic began. Three-fifths of UK gamblers say their spending has not changed since March, while 27% reported spending less and just 13% spent more. 

The latest development in the ongoing saga of Mike Postle isn’t a good one for the poker player who faced cheating allegations after suspicious action on the Stones Gambling Hall live stream last year.  

The crib notes of the Mike Postle are well known to most. After an allegation over cheating saw poker players, commentators and YouTube creators allege ‘cheat’ in Postle’s direction, the man himself went to ground, re-emerging to successfully argue that the case should be thrown out. That wasn’t the end of the matter, however, as allegations from Postle himself about defamation of his character threatened to turn the focus against those who accused him of cheating.  

The latest twist is not a good one for Postle, whose lawyer this week stepped away from representing him and in the wake of that action, two defendants in the defamation lawsuit then hit Postle with an anti-SLAPP.  

If you’re lost like a live poker player with 7-5 off-suit and no knowledge of what any of the other players have at the table, we’ll break it down for you.  

Grupo Caliente is one of the largest gambling operators in Latin America and the hottest in Mexico. It wants to make sure it stays that way, too, and is calling on Genius Sports to give it a boost. The two have had an ongoing relationship for the past couple of years, but Grupo Caliente is now going to give the sports tech data firm the right to be the lead provider of all sportsbook management-related activity for the operator’s Caliente.mx brand. 

Moving forward, Genius Sports’ Betgenius arm will spearhead Grupo Caliente’s sports gambling efforts in relation to live data, trading and streaming activity for Caliente.mx. This will give it access to over 400 global sports competitions to introduce official sports data and live and recorded video feeds, and the real-time data and pricing compiled by Betgenius for over 170,000 different sporting events will also be included. Access to more than 20,000 streamed games and events will make Grupo Caliente’s menu of options even sweeter. 

Caliente Interactive CEO Emilio Hank is excited about the opportunity and said in a statement, “As the market leader in Mexico, we are always focused on providing our customers with the best possible product. We are excited to keep growing our content offering and to extend our long-term partnership with Genius Sports, as we continue to expand into other markets.”

This expansion is going to be just as important for Genius Sports. The company has hinted at the idea of wanting to become a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and laid out its plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. If everything goes well, it will launch sometime during the first quarter of this year, hoping for a $1.5-billion valuation, and having guaranteed, long-standing agreements with operators around the world will help give potential investors the confidence they need to back the company.

As regulators put the finishing touches to the legislation related to online gambling, NOGA Managing Director Peter-Paul de Goeji wants to ensure that welcome mat is ready for new operators, and he took some time out to explain their journey to our very own Becky Liggero Fontana.

Goeji is in charge of the trade association that can open doors for new operators in the Netherlands. “NOGA is a new name for an organization that has been around for a time already. NOGA has built on the foundations that were laid by an organization called stifling spiel vrandor which was a foundation translated in English that means play responsibly,” Goeji explains.

The board of directors of the foundation decided that they wanted to become a full-blown trade association with members and increase the number of members and take on more responsibilities towards the gambling industry and also the protection of consumers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CramXlODwN0Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Peter-Paul de Goeji is intent on opening doors in the Dutch online gambling industry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CramXlODwN0)

Billy Walters was well-known in the sports gambling realm for years before being busted for securities fraud. He hadn’t been satisfied with the money he was warning as a gambler and, in 2017, was shipped off to prison after being found guilty of insider trading linked to Dean Foods that put $32 million in his pocket. Walters, often lucky in gambling, got lucky in front of the judge, receiving a sentence of only five years when he could have been locked up for 20 years. He’s now gotten lucky once again, with outgoing President of the U.S. (POTUS) Trump commuting the remainder of his five-year sentence.

Walters, who has previously been called a “cheater” and a “criminal” by at least one judge, may have been playing the odds when he tried to find support from Trump. U.S. presidents leaving office will often grant a number of pardons and commutations and Walters had reportedly reached out to former Trump attorney John Dowd ahead of Trump’s exit to see if he could lend a hand. Dowd had been working for Walters for several years, according to the New York Times, but it isn’t clear in what capacity. Dowd was reportedly paid “tens of thousands of dollars” in representing Walters since first taking him on as a client in 2018.

The goal was for Walters to receive a full pardon from Trump, but that didn’t happen. A pardon signed by POTUS is a big deal and something worn like a badge of honor. Any pardon essentially dismisses all charges against the individual and strikes the conviction from his or her record, and a POTUS-signed pardon means the person received extra special treatment.

However, despite all efforts, Walters was only given a commutation by Trump. This results in the remainder of a prison sentence being waived; however, unlike a pardon, it doesn’t remove the conviction from the permanent record of the individual. Still, Walters will take what he can get.

Allied Esports Entertainment has decided it no longer wants to be involved in the poker and eSports industries. The China-based company is reportedly in talks to sell its ownership of the World Poker Tour (WPT), as well as its eSports endeavors, with two entities, and the sale of the WPT is apparently a done deal. There’s a rumor that Allied might be looking to become the next big real estate investment trust (REIT) after offloading its assets.

Allied has already signed a definitive agreement to sell the WPT to Element Partners LLC, a privately-owned investment firm. Element is going to give Allied a total of $78.25 million for the purchase, which will consist of an upfront payment of $68.25 million and a guaranteed revenue share of 5% of any entry fees for WPT-branded tournaments or revenue from Element’s licensed gaming platforms. The latter is capped at $10 million and is payable over three years after the deal is closed, with the final signatures and approvals expected to be in place before the middle of next month. All that remains is to convince company shareholders and regulators that the deal makes sense.

Allied explained of the potential sale of the WPT, “Due to COVID-19’s impact on the Company’s overall revenue generation and profitability timeline, we believe the forthcoming sale of the WPT business will garner significant capital and an avenue to determine new opportunities that will deliver accelerated returns for our stakeholders.”

The eSports industry gained significant ground last year as more people turned to the activity while on COVID-19 lockdown. However, Allied is apparently willing to let its Allied Esports business change hands and is working with Lake Street Capital Markets to figure out its next move. There is nothing definitive in place yet, but the company indicates its willingness to sell its eSports operations if the right offer comes along. As an alternative, it would consider “strategic options” to advance its eSports activity.

Osaka, both the prefecture and the city, are pushing ahead their Integrated Resort (IR) plans in the same effort that will see the two administrations combined. The two bodies have chosen April 1, 2021 as the date to unify into an area-wide administration, bringing them closer together and eliminating overlap, while seeking avenues for growth.

Part of the effort will include preparations for the 2025 World Expo and Osaka’s IR bid. The overall goal is to boost Osaka into a new level of growth and development, making it Japan’s de facto second capital, after Tokyo. Having a world class IR would definitely help that effort.

Under the previously defeated Osaka Metropolis Plan, Osaka as a city would be abolished, and reorganized into four wards. That was voted down in November 2020, leading to this new effort that would see a Osaka Cooperation Council established, with the governor as the head and the mayor as the deputy manager in policy decisions. It will be considered on January 22, and officially proposed in February.

The Liberal Democratic Party opposes the effort, citing the previously failed plan. “Public opinion has been demonstrated through a referendum and Osaka city should retain full authority,” they note. With no majority yet supporting unification, it’s unclear if the measure will go forward, and critics state that April 1 is too soon to expect a clean evolution of the region into a one administration territory.