Back in May, thousands of poker players were supposed to be arriving in Las Vegas to play in dozens of events at the world-famous World Series of Poker. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, it was a work-from-home experience that was on offer rather than a trip to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

The final bracelet event that took place this summer, during a series that began with 31 events across each day of July on WSOP.com and concluded in mid-September on the same site although the other 54 events took place on GGPoker, the online site that has seen its success mushroom in recent months.

Part of that appeal to players has been the acquisition of some major talent by the poker brand, with Felipe Ramos, Boris Becker and Fedor Holz all proud to be GGPoker ambassadors. There are no players who compare, however, to the one-man marketing brand that is Daniel Negreanu, and Kid Poker took part in the final WSOP bracelet at the end of the weekend.

In doing so, Negreanu was attempting to win a side bet for possibly a six-figure sum that he put on the line against other major professionals, that he would outscore them in WSOP bracelets. Having got close but not actually won any so far, ‘DNegs’ had to run deep.

We now have 30 days until markets understand that a No Deal Brexit is inevitable. Last night, the Internal Market Bill that the Johnson Administration introduced last week to override the Brexit agreement with the European Union, passed an initial vote in Parliament by a 76-strong majority of 340 to 263. Even though there was some Tory opposition to the bill, it is nowhere near enough to stop it.

What the Internal Market Bill does is eliminate EU oversight from Northern Ireland completely, allowing a leak of goods into the EU via the border with Ireland. Despite the full frontal mainstream media assault on the bill emphasizing all the former prime ministers and others who have come out against it for breaking international law, it appears that in a practical sense, the existing oppoisition is insignificant in a practical sense.

If the bill passes – and there is little reason right now to think it won’t – then it may be the end of the United Kingdom as we know it. Scotland is likely to vote on independence again now with a solid majority supporting independence in the latest polls. Wales may follow with an independence referrendum of its own. I’m not saying independence and the breakup of political unions is a bad thing. Most of the greatest nations in the world over the last two centuries have declared independence from the U.K. in one way or another.

I am saying rather that you may not want to be invested in U.K. gaming assets as this political dissolution reaches its climax. Any existing market order is built on the assumption of background stability, which no longer exists in either fundamental or political form.

Renee Bell was ecstatic in May 2018 when she found out she had won $1.05 million through the BetEasy sportsbook. However, her excitement turned to surprise when the sports gambling operator only gave her about $183,125 (AU$250,000). The surprise wasn’t because of the low payout; it was because she didn’t even know she had an account with the operator. As the mystery began to unravel, she took BetEasy to court to try to recover the difference of the payout, and the ongoing lawsuit finds her asserting that the account must have come from someone at Crown Resorts. 

Bell bases her theory on the fact that she received the email about her sports gambling parlay winnings three days after becoming a member of Crown Resorts’ Signature Club. BetEasy was previously known as CrownBet, the sports gambling brand owned by Crown Resorts, and Bell asserts that the only way the bet could have been placed on the platform is if someone at Crown used her identity. She believes she’s entitled to the full payout, however, even if she apparently never placed the bet. 

Court documents for the case reveal that Bell “did not agree to CrownBet’s terms and conditions and such terms and conditions were not brought to her attention” when she signed on with the Crown Signature Club. In addition, “she did not agree to CrownBet’s terms and conditions and such terms and conditions were not brought to her attention.” This also, according to the lawsuit, signifies that she could not have agreed to the platform’s terms and conditions, which include a caveat that it will only pay out a maximum of AU$250,000. 

This is just the latest addition to the number of problems Crown has had to deal with over the past several years. While it may not have been directly involved in this drama, it has still been pulled in because of its history with BetEasy. CrownBet became BetEasy in 2018 when The Stars Group bought 80% of the sports gambling operator and then, last year, bought the remaining 20%. However, because of the alleged link between Bell’s BetEasy account and the Crown Signature Club account, Crown will, once again, find itself having to answer for any potentially illegal actions. 

Ronald Perelman is now known as the former chairman of Scientific Games. The casino equipment manufacturer has made a few changes at the top after he extricated himself from the company through a planned sale of his stake. Having controlled about 39% of the company, Perelman has sold 34.9% of that to a group that includes a global investment firm, Caledonia, with a history in the gaming industry, paving the way for several new appointments to be made at the top. 

Going forward, former Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. CEO Jamie Odell will be the new executive chair of Sci Games. Joining him is Toni Korsanos, a former Aristocrat chief financial officer and non-executive director of Crown Resorts, who has been tapped to be the company’s executive vice chair. The tie-up between Sci Games and Aristocrat was most likely due to the stake purchase by Caledonia, which was previously an investor in the latter. 

In arranging the sale of the stake, the incoming investors split the amount they took. A press release announcing the purchase indicates that the stakes will be distributed through “multiple tranches,” with no investor “expected to beneficially own more than 9.9 percent of the outstanding shares of Scientific Games.” One tranche was reportedly already reassigned, while the others are expected to be turned over in the following weeks. Details on the other investors involved weren’t provided. 

The deal was made using Perelman’s shares held by his investment vehicle, MacAndrews & Forbes, Inc., and was reportedly worth $28 per share. Caledonia, which has a stake in fantasy sports operator and sportsbook DraftKings, and its Sci Games investment partners hope to give the company a huge boost, implementing business strategies designed to accelerate “debt-reduction efforts and increasing focus on digital gaming and sports betting growth opportunities,” according to the press release. Odell added, “We will be highly focused on rapidly deleveraging the balance sheet and creating a flexible, agile company that is poised to capitalise on evolving industry and macroeconomic trends to deliver outsized returns to investors.”

The states that rim the Gulf of Mexico can’t catch a break lately. Hurricane Laura came creeping through the gulf last month, forcing casinos in Louisiana to stop their recovery efforts and threatening everyone from Texas to Florida. Louisiana’s gaming properties are still cleaning up the mess from that storm, and now there’s another one looking to menace the area. As a result, the Mississippi Gaming Commission (MGC) ordered all casinos along the coast to close yesterday afternoon. 

Hurricane Sally is on track to be a Category 2 storm when it hits land sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning, and the latest path has it making landfall anywhere from the eastern edge of Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Right in the middle of that scope lies Mississippi, which could see the majority of the storm’s fallout. This led the MGC to take action yesterday, ordering all casinos to be empty by 4 PM local time. 

A number of venues helped patrons pack up and ship off, even providing ground transportation so they could make their way to catch flights out of the area. Hurricane Sally was first Tropical Storm Sally yesterday before it increased to a Category 1 storm in just two hours. It became a Cat 2 hurricane about two hours later and then lost a little speed, forcing it to be redefined as a Cat 1 storm. The next few hours will determine whether or not it regains its strength and what area of the coastal U.S. it wants to target. 

Of the casino closures, Mary Cracchiolo Spain, the President of Coastal Mississippi and PR Director for MGM Resorts Mississippi, explained, “I think that, hope for the best and prepare for the worst and so this is not our first rodeo, we’ve been through many storms so we feel very comfortable with the process that we have in place. And so, we’ll just be watching and like I said, praying all goes well, but preparing for anything that could happen.”

Ireland broached the subject of having its own gambling regulator in the first quarter of last year, knowing at the time that introducing the independent body would take a while. Initially, it thought the end of this year would be a good target, setting in motion all the mechanics necessary to launch the watchdog that would oversee all gaming activity in the country, including any land-based or online gambling. Getting those mechanics to operate in sync has proven to be a monumental task, especially with the obstacles brought on due to the coronavirus, and Ireland now recognizes that it will need more time to get the regulator up and running. Instead of sometime before the end of 2020, sometime in 2021 is now the more realistic goal. 

This is according to Ireland’s Justice Minister Helen McEntee, who acknowledges that a delay in implementing the regulatory strategy is imminent. She reiterated the government’s commitment to establishing the body, adding that it will provide oversight for “gambling online and in person, and the powers to regulate advertising, gambling websites and apps.” Given that the existing legislation in Ireland for the gambling industry has its roots in 1931, a couple more months of waiting won’t make too much of a difference. 

The Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill was created and approved last year to provide guidance for the updating of gambling structures in Ireland, while adding some new tiers of oversight that previously weren’t considered in the initial 1931 laws or the additional legislation that was added in 1956. Among these tiers, similar to what is being seen in other countries, Ireland’s licensed gambling operators will funnel part of their revenue into a social fund that will be used to treat gambling addiction. In addition, it sets limits on how much a person can wager through gaming machines, as well as how much can be awarded through prizes. 

Adds McEntee, “Work is currently underway in my department on the development of the legislation to provide the necessary modern licensing and regulatory provisions for the Irish gambling industry. I hope to bring proposals in that regard to the Government next year. Given the size, complexity and technological development of the modern gambling industry and having regard to the outdated and complex arrangements, it will be important that the regulator will be established on a strong footing and adequately resourced to carry out this important task.”

Finding the best exercises to do in a home office situation can be a challenge. Let’s be honest, the majority of us struggle at the best of times to stay active at home – let alone when you have to juggle work and family commitments in 2020. Giving up the gym to spend hours in front of your laptop while working from home can have some very real consequences on your health and mental wellbeing.

Adding some small exercises into your day can go a long way towards keeping you fit and active. While these health tips may not give you the perfect beach body, they’ll help you stay in shape as you battle the office grind from home.

Below is a collection of the ten best exercises that you can do from your home office without having to stock up on the latest gym equipment.

 The Briefcase Lift

Detroit’s commercial casinos saw their gaming revenue slide 42% in their first month since reopening, while plans to reopen poker rooms are causing confusion down at the state gambling regulator.

On Monday, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) announced that Detroit’s three commercial casinos earned a combined $69.3m from their slots and table games in August, down 42% from August 2019. MGM Grand Detroit took the biggest hit, falling 46% to $28.6m, while MotorCity fell 37.5% to $25m while Penn National Gaming’s Greektown tumbled 41.5% to $15.7m.

The three casinos also generated a combined $2m from their retail sports betting operations, with MGM again leading the pack with $932k, followed by Greektown ($551k) and MotorCity ($493k).

The numbers appear dire, but they’re actually better than most forecasts. Detroit’s municipal government’s share of August’s returns was $8.3m, around half what the city would claim in a normal month, but well above the city’s original forecast of $3m.

Sports broadcaster ESPN continues to deepen its ties to sports betting while the US gaming lobby tries to impose a little restraint on its operators’ marketing efforts.

On Sunday, the first weekend of the NFL’s 2020 season, ESPN announced the debut of Bet, a new half-hour betting-focused program hosted by Joe Fortenbaugh and Tyler Fulghum. The show, which is produced out of ESPN’s new studio at Caesars Entertainment’s Linq casino in Las Vegas, will stream three nights on ESPN’s digital platforms.

Those platforms now include the ESPN Sports Betting YouTube channel, which is also making its debut on Monday. In addition to the new Bet program, the channel will feature segments from ESPN’s Daily Wager, SportsCenter and other shows.

ESPN also announced a pair of ‘exclusive’ deals with gambling operators Caesars and DraftKings. The multi-year Caesars deal calls for ‘link integrations’ to apps from Caesars’ sports betting provider William Hill US through ESPN.com, mobile web and the ESPN Fantasy app. ‘Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill’ will also sponsor ESPN’s Fantasy products, “deepening an integration as ESPN’s exclusive odds provider.”

New Jersey reported record online gambling revenue and sports betting handle in August, as bettors were drawn back online by the resumption of major league play.

Figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) show the state’s licensed online gambling operators reported combined revenue of $87.77m in the month of August, more than twice the $41.1m generated in the same month last year.

August’s total also narrowly edged past the previous monthly record of $87.5m the state reported in July, as online casino revenue soared 115% to $84.7m and the much maligned online poker vertical shot up 77.7% to just over $3m (although the poker total represents a significant haircut from July’s $4.8m).

For the year-to-date, online gambling revenue totaled just under $598m, a 100.7% rise over the first eight months of 2019. Online casino rose 101% to $569.7m while poker is up 96.2% to $28.3m.

Atlantic City casinos are slowly crawling back to life after their long pandemic lockdown, although one operator could lose some of its momentum following a recent court ruling.

On Monday, New Jersey gambling regulators revealed that the nine Atlantic City casinos generated combined slots-and-table-games revenue of $199m in August, a 30.5% decline from August 2019 but nearly $52m better than July 2020.

August’s slots revenue was down 30.8% year-on-year to $144.1m while table games slipped 29.8% to $54.9m. However, both figures represented significant improvements from July’s slots ($111.8m) and table ($35.6m) totals. For the first eight months of 2020, revenue is down 53.9% to $842.2m.

AC casinos were cleared to reopen on July 2 after nearly four months of inactivity due to COVID-19. But they’ve been limited to 25% capacity and, while the state’s governor announced last month that guests could once again smoke on the gaming floors, he rescinded that order just days later, leaving smokers fuming over this défense de fumer edict.  

Watching your favourite poker players play poker is obviously the greatest thrill for any poker fan. We want to see the whites of our hero’s eyes as they five-bet shove absolute air and get a crying fold from the player we love to see get beaten.

There’s a special place in the hearts of dedicated poker fans hearts, however, for a slightly different way of enjoying players at the highest level going head-to-head with each other.

The Professional Poker League came along in 1999 and was notable for the sheer quality of players it attracted, not to the tables but to the Player Draft that was held before the tournament even got a chance to play out.

For many reasons this week, players such as Daniel Negreanu have been looking back at it, and the Canadian superstar piqued the interest of fans with this teaser shot of the actual VHS tape from 21 years ago.

Casino operator MGM Resorts plans to reopen its Park MGM property as a smoke-free venue, the first such facility on the Las Vegas Strip to permanently kick tobacco to the curb.

Last week, MGM announced that it would reopen its Empire City Casino in New York on September 21. New York recently confirmed that its commercial casino operators could reopen on a limited basis as of September 9, and Empire City says its slots and electronic table games will be in operation, while bars and beverage service will remain closed for the time being.

On Monday, MGM announced that its Four Seasons Las Vegas property will reopen on September 25 while the Park MGM resort and its affiliated Nomad hotel will follow suit on September 30. These openings will mark the last MGM properties to restart operations since the company was forced to shut down its retail casinos this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Park MGM will have certain restrictions on its gaming and non-gaming amenities when it reopens, the company has decided to impose a total indoor smoking ban, making the property The Strip’s “first fully smoke-free casino resort.”