Donaco International is ready to be the past squarely in the rear-view mirror. The casino operator has announced that it has completely wrapped up a long-running dispute it had with former Thai business associates linked to its Star Vegas property in Cambodia. That, along with other internal corrections, will allow the company to continue to recover from COVID-19 and get off on the right foot in the new year, building on growth it began to see as 2020 started to wind down.

Donaco’s fight had been raging since 2015 when it purchased the property from the associates, who proceeded to build a competing venue right around the corner in violation of a non-compete clause in the purchase agreement. That fight culminated in an agreement reached last March that has now “formally concluded,” according to Donaco. In other words, Donaco has likely received at least part of the multimillion-dollar settlement it was to receive for the alleged violations, which will be reflected in its half-year results for the last six months of 2020.

The casino operator, which also has a casino in Vietnam, adds, “In addition, the business has continued to improve to a positive EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] as impacts from Covid-19 have moderated from the earlier extreme levels. The company’s debt has been reduced significantly and a solid platform for growth is now emerging.” Donaco’s Star Vegas saw positive EBITDA of $540,000 and $800,000 in October and November, respectively, last year. 

The company had also been able to rework certain credit arrangements with its creditors, notably, Mega International Commercial Bank, last summer, which helped to gain strength in the second half of the year. Part of the revamped agreement included a $5-million payment to be made before 2021 rolled around, and it’s conceivable, but not confirmed in the announcement, that Donaco was able to complete the payment using some of the proceeds from the settlement with the Thai associates. Megabank had also been involved in settling that dispute.

In order to invest successfully this year, what must be understood and accepted first and foremost is that the world is now in a state of flux for the foreseeable future. There is no going back to the way things were before and just resting there. The pandemic was a historical fault line. That line has been crossed, and there is no traveling back in time. In many obvious ways the world has changed for the worse, but in some key and important ways, believe it or not and whether we can actually see it yet or not, the world has changed for the better. Put in investment terms, the companies that accept this and are ready to change accordingly, they have the best chance of succeeding in the new era.

Take Macau. Morgan Stanley is not very positive, but Macau Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong is forecasting a strong recovery. To put it dryly, it’s a disagreement between a crony megabank that supposedly is packed with stock picking experts, whose stock is still down 30% from a tech bubble that popped 21 years ago, and Macau’s local government cheerleader. Take your pick on who you are going to believe.

The good news is that the new era has forced Macau casinos to improve efficiency dramatically. Morgan Stanley has pointed out that operating expenses across Macau have dropped by 39% this year, and we can expect casinos to be miserly in stepping up spending again too quickly in a highly uncertain environment like this one. In other words, the competition between Macau casinos has changed from which can grow the fastest in a profligate environment full of junkets, to which can be the most efficiently run in a challenging one where the VIP sector is now a giant question mark.

We should now start to see analyst focus change subtly from cheering on and rewarding high growth numbers, to targeting conservative, responsible management with a clear plan to stay financially lean and healthy. Like a man who has just suffered a massive heart attack and had successful bypass and is now committing to a healthier diet, it’s going to take time, but it’s certainly the right long term direction.

A new immigration, stay and residency bill could be coming to Macau this year. At least one provision of the legislative piece is not going to make privacy advocates happy; however, it’s also becoming the global standard and isn’t going to go away. According to André Cheong Weng Chon, Macau’s Secretary for Administration and Justice and a spokesperson for Macau’s Executive Council, the bill includes the legal authorization by the government to collect biometric data from anyone entering the city, which could also be shared with all government offices.

The bill, which is just a draft of the potential legal framework, would unify two current and competing immigration and residency laws, as well as two administrative by-laws that were introduced in 2003. Combined, these provide blanket coverage for immigration and residency issues, as well as extended visitation by non-locals, and topics concerning deportation and how the laws are enforced. The biometric data stipulation of the bill would allow the collection of fingerprints, palm prints, iris and retina patterns and facial recognition. Commissioner Ng Kam Wa of the Public Security Police (PSP) explained last Friday in a press conference that, once the law is implemented, only one form of biometrics data would be collected by immigration officers.

Cheong said of the new bill, “With reference to international common practice, the bill proposes the introduction of measures to collect and verify visitors’ biometric data so as to enable [immigration officers] to effectively detect those using a false identity, with the aim of preventing and combating illegal immigration and overstaying more effectively.” He added that the proposals are necessary in order to combat illegal immigration and to help curb criminal activity by those in the city illegally.

The bill would also require hotels to inform immigration authorities each time a non-local guest checks in or checks out. It also looks to cut down on marriages-for-residency and other fraudulent means of trying to stay in the city illegally. Going forward, fake marriages and forged employment documents would be more closely controlled by Macau’s legal system.

If Sue Glick gets her way, veterans groups in Indiana will be able to find much-needed funding to overcome losses caused by COVID-19.  The Senator has introduced a bill that would allow organizations like the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars to install video gaming terminals (VGT) in their establishments as a way to generate income, but the machines would still be off-limits for use elsewhere, such as in restaurants and bars. A separate effort might try to get the VGTs brought to those establishments, as well.

Glick’s Senate Bill 267 (SB 267) wants to change the language in Indiana’s gambling laws so that “congressionally chartered veterans’ service organizations” are legally authorized to allow VGTs. The American Legion, which is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are just two of the organizations serving military veterans that were forced to cut back on their activity last year as the coronavirus pandemic continued to spread. The Senator believes the machines would be a viable alternative for the groups to recover, while not having to rely on handouts to survive.

Should SB 267 be approved, any eligible organization, described in the bill as any group identified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or which is federally chartered by Congress, would have to pay $150 for an application fee to operate the VGTs. Those approvals would then have to be renewed every three years to remain valid and each organization would only be allowed a maximum of five terminals. VGT manufacturers and distributors would also have to pony up some money, paying a $25,000 upfront fee that would need to be renewed each year for $10,000. 

There would be no tax on the gaming revenue earned by the vet groups; instead, they would work out profit-sharing agreements with the manufacturer or distributor. Gamblers wouldn’t be allowed to wager more than $2 each time and the maximum win on a single spin would be capped at $599. All activity, including licensing, operations and use, would be overseen by the Indiana Gaming Commission.

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. Our Press Release section is updated constantly. We also roundup the latest slot game releases for you every Wednesday.

Bojoko makes U.S. debut in New Jersey

Online casino listing site secures licence from state regulator and kicks-off North America expansion

Glitnor Group CEO David Flynn has developed a few tricks to handle the pressure of leading a gambling operation. Flynn confessed that the last 12 months have given him opportunities to adapt, and he took some time out to share his secrets with Calvinayre.com Lead Reporter Becky Liggero Fontana.

Straight off the bat, Flynn admitted that he loves a morning bike ride to prepare for a day in the office. “I try and get out on the bike every morning, depending on the weather and what my schedule is like. If I can get out on the bike for an hour it sets me up for the day. Cycling is all about refreshing my mind,” said Flynn. 

“It gives me a lot of thinking time and it helps me think about the problems of the day, that otherwise, I don’t get the time to think about when I’m in the office,” he added.

When it comes to setting up his day, Flynn explains it’s important to lead a balanced lifestyle between the office and his family.

Brazil’s sports betting regulations will reportedly be ready by this summer, although the market isn’t expected to launch until next year. 

In an interview published Sunday, Waldir Eustáquio Marques Jr., the undersecretary of prizes and sweepstakes in the Economic Ministry’s Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery (SECAP), said the government will have final online and land-based sports betting rules ready for release by July. 

However, issuing licenses will take more time and the betting market isn’t expected to launch until early 2022, which would be over three years since Brazil approved its betting legislation. Marques said the delays were due to the government’s desire to avoid “having to take a step forward and another step back.” 

Marques revealed that the government was close to formalizing its regs last year until SECAP had a change of heart regarding the number of licenses it intends to issue. Marques said the original plan to authorize every company that met the licensing requirements had “some points that could be harmful. So we had to put the brakes on, review the model, in order to be able to proceed safely.” 

Spain’s gambling and betting operators claimed a smaller share of the country’s e-commerce activity in the second quarter of 2020, casting further doubt on the government’s rationale for imposing tough new marketing limits. 

Figures released last week by Spain’s Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) show Spain’s e-commerce turnover hit just over €12b in the three months ending June 30, 2020, up 0.2% from Q2 2019 but €223m below the Q1 2020 figure. 

Gambling and betting accounted for 3.7% of all e-com transactions in Q2, ranking sixth among business sectors. Gambling’s score was unchanged from the same period last year but down from 4.1% in Q1 2020. 

In terms of the number of individual transactions, gambling and betting ranked fifth with 5% in Q2 2020, down from second place and 5.9% in Q2 2019. The transaction count is down even further from Q1 2020, during which gambling outpaced all other sectors with 6.4% of all online transactions. 

Asian online gambling operator 500.com is once again attempting to diversify its revenue streams, this time by getting into Bitcoin mining.

On Monday, the Nasdaq-listed 500.com announced that it had entered into a definite purchase agreement with “certain non-US persons” to acquire ‘Bitcoin mining machines’ in exchange for nearly 11.9m newly issued 500.com Class A shares worth some US$14.4m.  

500.com expects the deal to be completed sometime in the current quarter, with another four weeks required to install all the acquired mining devices (which will have a total hash power capacity of 918.5 PH/s – 1 PH/s is one quadrillion hashes per second). The sweet Bitcoin mining revenue is expected to start flowing in the first half of 2021. 

Monday’s news follows an earlier private placement 500.com announced a few days before Christmas. That announcement detailed a share subscription deal with Hong Kong-based Good Luck Information Technology Co, which agreed to purchase nearly 86m new 500.com shares “to be settled in US dollars or in crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin.”

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Road teams were quite successful during the six-game Wild-Card Weekend in these NFL playoffs. Will that continue with the Divisional Round games?

Today, we will look at Saturday’s schedule that opens with the Los Angeles Rams visiting the Green Bay Packers, who are 7-point favorites. These teams didn’t play this season, but the favorite has won the past 12 in the series. They last met in Week 8 of the 2018 season – the year the Rams reached the Super Bowl – and Los Angeles was a 29-27 home winner. Greg Zuerlein hit the go-ahead field goal with 2:05 left; he’s no longer with the Rams. Jared Goff threw for 295 yards and three scores, while Aaron Rodgers threw for 286 and a score.

Who will be under center Saturday for Los Angeles? Goff is the unquestioned starter under usual circumstances but missed Week 17 following thumb surgery and didn’t start the Wild-Card Game last Saturday in Seattle. He was forced into action, though, because of an injury to John Wolford. Goff clearly wasn’t 100 percent but made enough throws to lead Los Angeles to a 30-20 upset. The defense and rookie running back Cam Akers did most of the heavy lifting.

It’s not hard to imagine why a poker player who measured at 6’ 6” (just under two meteres) was called ‘Treetop’, but the story of Jack Straus is perhaps even taller than he was.  

Who was the man who won the 1982 World Series of Poker Main Event from having only one chip halfway through the tournament? How did he die early, and what is his lasting legacy on the game?  

It’s time to find out why Jack ‘Treetop’ Straus is a bona fide poker idol.  

From the Ground Up  

The GGPoker World Series of Poker Circuit event is down to its last nine players and there are some superstars waiting to battle at the felt for the famed Circuit Ring and perhaps more importantly, the $1,236,361 top prize.

With 6,395 entries, the $1,700 buy-in was stumped up by a huge number of players and that meant the $10 million guarantee was exceeded to an eventual total prizepool of $10,327,925.

With 700 players paid, Day 2 started with 1,112 players, meaning the bubble had not yet burst, and play might have been expected to slow down a little. With the two final turbo Day 1 flights running into that Day 2, however, play carried on at a lick of pace, with an orbit at each of the remaining tables producing over 100 bust-outs.

There were some big names who ran close to the money but missed out on profit, such as Christian Rudolph, Juan Pardo, Kenny Hallaert, David Yan, GGPoker ambassador Felipe Ramos and Fedor Holz, with the min-cash of $4,107 eluding them all.

There are six games taking place in the English Premier League this midweek, with big games at the top and bottom of the table sure to affect how some of the biggest teams in the league look towards the halfway point of the season.

Burnley vs. Manchester United (Tuesday, 8.15pm GMT kick-off)

After looking like a game that would be deader rubber than what was left on tyres at the end of Fast & Furious 7 when it was originally scheduled, this showdown at Turf Moor now looks like it could be pivotal.

It’s not that Manchester United haven’t been top of the Premier League table since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013, but we can’t recall the last time they were top of the pile after over a dozen game with a genuine chance at lasting the distance and being part of a genuine title race. Jose Mourinho finishing 18 points behind City in second place doesn’t count.

Last year’s tennis coverage around the world was great for fans to enjoy, with some great drama along the way. Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open, there was a surprise winner in the U.S. Open and the French Open saw Rafael Nadal extend his incredible legacy at Roland Garros.  

There was one thing missing, however, and that was the Wimbledon coverage we’ve grown to love and that goes hand in hand with the game just like the strawberries and cream consumed at the All-England Championships every year.  

Well, nearly every year.  

In 2020, of course, Wimbledon was cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak and ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. Wimbledon will be back in 2021, taking place between Monday 28th June and Sunday 11th July, but it looks likely to be take place behind closed doors at the All England Club as things stand.  

New Zealand’s online betting monopoly’s handling of a counterfeit money incident is undercutting its own argument that it’s the only safe option for local bettors.

On Monday, Kiwi media outlet Stuff reported on the difficulties a local racing bettor had in getting the New Zealand TAB to reimburse him for a couple hundred dollars the bookmaker paid out in counterfeit bank notes. The NZ$200 in funny money was issued by the TAB to Bruce Gasson as part of his NZ$680 winnings on January 3. 

Gasson said he contacted the TAB after getting a closer look at the two sketchy $100 bills when he got home, but the TAB told him there was “not really a whole lot they can do about it.” The TAB also said they would only consider reimbursing Gasson if it was ordered to do so by local police. 

But the police proved equally disinterested in Gasson’s bogus bills, at least, until Stuff contacted them and the TAB. The bookmaker then reached out to Gasson and assured him that he’d be made whole, while the police returned to collect the bills from Gasson for further investigation. 

UK-listed gambling operator Entain plc is losing its CEO after less than six months amidst a takeover attempt by its US joint venture partner. 

On Monday, Entain (until recently known as GVC Holdings) announced that Shay Segev had submitted notice of his intention to step down from his role as company CEO to take a co-CEO position with sports streaming platform DAZN. Segev has committed to staying on as Entain CEO for the six months required under his contract’s notice period or until his successor can be selected, the process of which is said to be “well under way.” 

Entain chair Barry Gibson expressed disappointment at Segev’s decision to exit, while noting that Entain recognized that it “cannot match the rewards that he has been promised.” DAZN began life as a subsidiary of sports media firm Perform Group and has since gone on to launch streaming services in numerous markets, including the US. 

Segev only took over as Entain CEO following last July’s abrupt departure of Kenny Alexander, who’d led the company for 13 years. Alexander’s departure came less than a week before the UK taxman announced it was widening its probe into GVC’s former Turkey-facing online gambling operations for still unexplained reasons. 

Looking to lose some weight this year? You might be considering a diet, along with some healthy exercise of course. But don’t get caught in the trap of falling for the first diet you see on social media. Consider some of these tried and tested solutions to get the right fuel in your body and achieve your goal.

The Mediterranean Diet

There’s a good reason Mediteranean countries have some of the highest life expectancy rates: it’s how they eat. The Mediterranean diet has been ranked #1 by the  U.S. News & World Report for four years running now.

The focus of eating Mediteranean is on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and seeds, fish, and lots of extra virgin olive oil. There’s not much butter to it, really no refined sugar or floud, and meat is more for flavor. Say goodbye to refined sugar and flour except on rare occasions. Fats other than olive oil, such as butter, are consumed rarely, if at all.

Ohio’s casinos finished 2020 firmly in the red, year over year. While the industry appears to be on the rebound, Covid-19 meant a drop of $500 million from 2019.

The state’s four casinos and seven racinos combined for $1.44 billion in revenue for the year, down 26% from 2019’s $1.94 billion. That resulted in a drop in $175 million in taxes for the state

The drop can largely be blamed on pandemic related closured between March and June, and further restrictions on total capacity since reopening.

The four casinos in the Buckeye-state all performed decently in December. Hollywood Toledo Casino did best with $20.46 million in revenue, increasing $4 million month over month. Hollywood Columbus followed with $15.4 million, JACK Cleveland Casino was third with $13.25 million, and Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati rounds up the pack with $10.75 million. That totals for a $0.6% improvement month over month.

After finally admitting that mobile sports gambling might have a legitimate place in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out his idea of how things should be handled. However, he’s not the only one, and two lawmakers who have been pushing for the governor to see the light for years are presenting their own guidelines. Now, it will come down to who is more stubborn, and no one should discount the governor’s determination. 

Senator Joseph Addabbo and Assemblyman Gary Pretlow filed bills in their respective chambers last week to welcome mobile sportsbooks to the Empire State. Senate Bill 1183 (SB 1183) and Assembly Bill 1257 (A1257) are relatively identical, but are not exactly what Cuomo wants to see. That could prove to be a stumbling block, given the governor’s track record of standing his ground to get his own way.

The bills would alter New York’s Racing, Parimutuel Wagering and Breeding Law to give casinos the authorization to launch mobile sportsbooks. Commercial and tribal casinos would be allowed to get in on the action, while in-state sports stadiums and off-track betting facilities would only be allowed to have mobile sports gambling if they become an affiliate of one of the licensed casinos and install a casino-operated gambling kiosk. Both of the bills have already been presented to the lawmakers’ respective chambers. 

The license to operate a sportsbook would run $12 million, which would include the ability to offer two skins. With seven casinos in the state right now – four commercial in upstate New York and three tribal venues – that means there could be as many as 14 mobile sports gambling platforms. These would pay a tax of 12% on their gross revenue, compared to the 8.5% authorized for physical sportsbooks. In addition, official league data would be required if a sportsbook wanted to offer in-play options, and sports leagues would be entitled to take 0.2% of the handle in the form of the heavily-disputed “integrity fee” that has long been contentious among sports gambling operators.