[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmu0vUMKynk?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360]

Long-time readers of Calvinayre.com will be familiar with Lee Davy, who wrote for the site for years, providing great coverage of the Poker world. He’s come back to speak with our Becky Liggero Fontana on this week’s episode of The Long Con about his new project, 1000 Days Sober, and how everyone can live a better life by embracing sobriety.

Davy talks about his introduction to addiction through smoking, and how he gradually developed a drinking problem too. He’s made it his life passion to help others struggling with addiction, and explained where he gets his wisdom:

“It’s called the STRIVE method for addiction, and it’s an experience that is born out of my personal experience, and the teaching and training that I’ve learned from everybody along the way. It’s based on the Transtheoretical Behavioral Model of Addiction by a guy called James Prochaska, who wrote an amazing book called ‘Changing for Good,’ which basically says there are six stages of addiction. So addiction is a subjective experience for all of us, but his research showed that there are six specific phases, and that allowed me to think okay I kind of get this.”

It’s taken over a decade, but Huck Seed is finally a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

Just a few weeks ago, when the list if potential inductees was released, we ourselves favoured the induction of Las Vegas poker superstar, Main Event champion and prop bet legend Huckleberry Seed. Despite that, it didn’t seem likely to happen. Others threw their weight behind the considerable talents of Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, for example. Plenty of other big names were up for nominations, too, such as Antonio Esfandiari and Mike Matusow. Sure, Chris Ferguson looked like an empty slot, but many other had high hopes.

In the end, however, Huck Seed made it into the Poker Hall of Fame during this strangest of years with an overwhelming voting advantage. Here’s how the final vote stood, as confirmed by the World Series of Poker’s announcement of Seed’s induction.

Huck Seed (winner) – 76 votes

There can be no doubt that over the last 17 years, one player’s name has been uttered more than any other. From the initial miraculous heralding of a champion to a constant energy at live festivals and a permanent influence on the game of poker itself, the legend that is Chris Moneymaker has personally defined poker more than any other player in recent times.

Other than that butterfly that Ashton Kutcher couldn’t stop going on about, who else can lay claim to having spawned an ‘effect’?

Since his epoch-making victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event Chris Moneymaker has been patched up as part of the PokerStars Team Pros.

In the years since his ambassadorial reign began, of course, many things have changed in poker. The way the game is played is very different, as is the coverage that surrounds it, the money involved and sponsorships have been hugely influenced by the ‘Moneymaker Effect’. 

Macau casino gaming revenue showed a modest flicker of life in December, but it wasn’t enough to rescue a year of negativity. 

Figures released Friday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) show the special administrative region of China posted gaming revenue total of MOP7.8b (US$978m) in December, 65.8% below December 2019’s total. 

On the plus side, that’s the highest monthly total and lowest rate of year-on-year decline since the pandemic took the market to the cleaners in February. December’s sum also represents a nearly 16% gain from November’s result. So, um, hurray? 

In financial terms, there is no real way to polish this turd, although the Macao Government Tourist Office released data this week showing average hotel room occupancy hit close to 70% during the Christmas period of December 23-27. Daily visitor arrivals averaged 24,503 during this period, a significant improvement over the 20,385 average over the first 22 days of December. 

If 2020 was the year where COVID-19 became an unwelcome player at the world’s poker table, we’re about to enter 2021. With everyone’s least favourite infection station – namely the virus – still hanging onto chips, what can we do to help you, the healthy poker player, make the most of the next 12 months whatever happens on and off the felt?

Start as you Mean to Go On

Kick off you year in style by playing with positivity, holding your nerve and making the kind of plays you want to. However you did in 2020, it’s time to start 2021 with a bang and in modern poker that means bringing your A-game. Don’t turn up at the felt unless you know that you can give your best.

Prepare for the Best, Expect the Worst

China’s lottery market took both forward and backward steps in November, with the welfare lottery segment largely to blame for the backward movement. 

Figures released Thursday by China’s Ministry of Finance show nationwide lottery sales of RMB36b (US$5.5b) in November, a 17.2% rise from October’s total but a 4.6% decline from the same month last year, showing that the market has a long way to go to erase the array of negativity the market faced in 2020. 

November’s sports lottery sales were essentially flat year-on-year, falling only 0.2% to RMB21b, although that was RMB2.6b better than October’s tally. November’s welfare lottery sales slid 10.1% year-on-year to RMB15b, although this too was up from October’s RMB12.3b. 

For the year-to-date, overall lottery sales are down 22% to RMB297.4b, with sports down 19.4% to RMB168.2b and welfare falling 25% to RMB129.2b. While overall sales enjoyed positive growth in 14 provinces in November, sales over the first 11 months of 2020 were down in 29 Chinese provinces. 

Here we are, New Year’s Eve, the night we’ve all been waiting for so we can get 2020 over and done with. While we still have a long battle ahead with COVID, we are making a lot of progress as a planet and the future is most certainly looking brighter. As we get ready to welcome 2021 with open arms, here are eight COVID-friendly New Year’s resolutions for you to consider, each one designed to bring a bit more happiness and wellbeing into your life.

Drink less…or not at all

Alcohol does not provide any benefits to our health and wellbeing, yet so many of us choose to drink copious amounts of it. In a time when our health and wellbeing is of upmost importance, consider drinking less (or not at all!) to give your immune system a boost, improve your sleep, shed some LBS, remove some years from your physical appearance, save some money and improve your state of mind. For more on all of this, please tune into our next CA Long Con on January 4th with Lee Davy of 1000 Days Sober, an inspiring conversation on sobriety you won’t want to miss.

Sign up for online yoga classes

Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially signed legislation calling for a dramatic overhaul of the country’s online sports betting market. 

On Wednesday, Putin signed a raft of laws imposing stricter oversight of Russia’s internet, including authorizing the Roskomnadzor telecom watchdog to block online resources deemed to be ‘discriminating’ against Russian media (aka Facebook, Twitter and YouTube), while also requiring biometric information from customers seeking to access certain financial and public services. 

But for Russian bookmakers, the focus was on Putin signing a bill that lawmakers approved earlier this week calling for the creation of a Unified Gambling Regulator and the abolition of the two Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs) that previously represented locally licensed betting interests. 

The bill also calls for the establishment of a single centralized payment processing hub, through which all Russian online betting must flow. This hub will replace the two existing payment hubs run by the two rival SROs, and will be controlled by a single private company. 

Online sports betting outshone its casino rival in Portugal’s regulated market during the third quarter of 2020, with wagering revenue more than doubling from Q2. 

Figures released Monday by the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body show that locally licensed online gambling operators generated revenue of €84.2m in the three months ending September 30, up 55.7% from the same period last year and 21.6% better than the market reported in Q2 2020. 

The Q3 figure represents a new high-water mark for Portugal’s regulated online market, easily surpassing the €70.2m reported in the first quarter of this year. The number of newly registered customers improved 5.2% year-on-year to 156,800, while quarterly active customers gained more than one-third to 473,200. 

Sports betting led the Q3 charge, driven by the resumption of major league activity following spring’s pandemic halt. Pent-up demand pushed betting revenue to a record €42.5m, more than double the Q2 total and nearly two-thirds higher year-on-year. Betting turnover was also in a record-setting mood, nearly doubling year-on-year to €222.8m. 

Spain’s online gambling market took a step backward in the third quarter, as sports betting was the only vertical to post a sequential gain.

Figures released Wednesday by Spain’s Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) regulatory body show locally licensed online gambling operators generated revenue of €191.2m in the three months ending September 30, a modest 2.8% rise from the same period last year but down 5.6% from Q2 2020.

Sports betting reclaimed the revenue crown with €85.2m, down 15.4% year-on-year but up by one-quarter from Q2 2020. Pre-match betting took the biggest year-on-year hit, with revenue falling 21.4% to €31.5m while live betting was down 9% to €52.6m. Both segments posted sequential gains of nearly one-third apiece. 

Betting’s sequential surge came despite horserace betting actually producing negative revenue of €1.3m, despite racing turnover more than doubling year-on-year and nearly tripling sequentially. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

While it seems anticlimactic to have any bowl games following the College Football Playoff semifinals, which are Friday, there are four games Saturday to wrap up the bowl season – the national championship game technically isn’t a bowl.

The first game Saturday at noon ET is the Gator Bowl from Jacksonville featuring No. 23 NC State of the ACC and Kentucky of the SEC. The Wolfpack were pleasant surprises this season after a 4-8 mark in 2019 and have one of the country’s top linebackers in first-team All-ACC Payton Wilson. The sophomore led the ACC in tackles with 10.8 per game and had 11.5 tackles for loss.

Meanwhile, UK is in a bowl despite a 4-6 record as there are no eligibility requirements this season. Mark Stoops is the first coach to take Kentucky to five consecutive bowl appearances. The Wildcats are 2.5-point favorites, and NC State is just 4-10 ATS in its past 14 as a dog.

2020 was already shaping up as a transitional year for Europe’s gambling sector before the pandemic hit, with major operators distracted by the need to plant flags in the exploding US sports betting market. 

But the year was primarily notable for the tightening screws in European markets either regulated or in the process of regulating, with ‘consumer protection’ the new go-to phrase, although operators ultimately concluded it was they who needed protection from a combination of governments, regulators and the usual media suspects. 

The UK market closed out 2020 with news that the government’s long-promised review of the Gambling Act 2005 was finally underway. That followed numerous consultations between the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and its ‘working groups’ on issues such as game design, advertising, bonus offers and VIP programs. 

That latter subject featured one of the year’s most unfortunate episodes, as two Playtech B2C brands were found to have plied a 25-year-old high-roller with free-play offers right up until – and for a few hours shortly after – his suicide in 2017. 

There has been a lot of talk over the past couple of decades about the use of RFID (radio frequency ID) chips in humans. The chips have already found a lot of support in the use of tracking our four-legged pets – dogs and cats are regularly injected with a chip about the size of a grain of rice so they can be easily reunited with their families if lost. However, whether they should be implanted in humans raises a myriad of questions and, like any topic, has caused a great divide on their merits, as well as more than a few conspiracy theories. Still, there are pros and cons to the use of the chips, depending on how you view them.

The first human to receive an RFID chip “for fun” was Kevin Warwick, a British scientist who volunteered to have one of the micro devices implanted under his skin 22 years ago. As a result, he was able to control doors, computers and more at the University of Reading’s Department of Cybernetics without having to induce manual labor, with the devices responding to the signal emanating from the chip. Not much more activity was seen for years following his initial experiment, but the chips can now be found everywhere. Sweden has become a hotspot for their use, with over 4,000 Swedes now able to control doors with nothing more than a swipe of the hand through the air.

Being able to mimic Neo from The Matrix seemingly controlling objects with the mind isn’t the only benefit of RFID chips. They can be configured to perform a number of different functions, including serving as a wallet. RFID technology is already used in most credit and debit cards today, but having an RFID implant is more secure and makes a wallet virtually impossible to steal.

Everyone has to carry around a physical ID on them almost everywhere they go. An RFID chip could, in theory, eliminate that obligation. A scan of the chip’s memory, configured with the right personal data, would save time and hassle. In addition, medical histories (provided storage capacities are increased) could be stored in the chip, as well, and linked to your ID, making it possible to receive proper care in any medical emergency. While Warwick was the first to explore the use of an embedded RFID chip to control devices, William Koretsky, in 2006, was the first to have been saved following a car accident when doctors were able to read his embedded chip and access his identity and medical history.