As Macau works feverishly to overcome the burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s nice to have some distractions. Since casinos aren’t as busy as their owners would like, there have to be ways to fill the gaps, and Melco Resorts & Entertainment has found one. Its City of Dreams resort in the city is going to host a three-day eSports event starting today that will bring to a close a competition that began this past October.

The GBA Sim Racing Grand Prix (SRGP) 2020 Grand Final will find 50 competitors facing off to see who’s the best behind the virtual wheel. The event was put together in conjunction with CCTV and comes as the final lap of a tournament that began with online and satellite events two months ago. Over 15,000 eSports gamers had signed up for the tournament, participating from their home bases in Macau and Hong Kong, as well as Jiangmen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai in mainland China.

According to Melco, viewership for the tournament reached almost 60 million, a substantial amount, but the COVID-19 crisis and continued lockdowns played a role in limiting everyone’s options. Still, eSports continues to gain ground across the globe and has found support from many top-ranked sports organizations and athletes. It has even been brought up as a possible option for the Olympic Games, although that is proving to be a tougher nut to crack.

The closing of the tournament at the City of Dreams will begin with 30 players from the different regions competing in a semi-final event today. Another 20, specifically from Macau, will participate in a separate semi-final, with each group being given 20 minutes to take a few practice laps followed by 20 minutes of qualifying races. Then, the real race begins, with the top 16 advancing after a 40-minute race.

Language proposed by the European Commission (EC) to be included in the Digital Services Act (DSA) has found support from the largest gaming coalition in the European Union (EU). The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has reviewed the recommendations outlined in the framework and has concluded that they are going to provide necessary enhancements to protect businesses and consumers. While the DSA doesn’t directly target the iGaming sector, its protocols will still be beneficial to ensuring a cohesive maturation of the space.

The DSA has been in the works for some time and was created to support the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The latter is legislation that will regulate large digital platforms in an attempt to foster a “fair and competitive” environment for all of the markets as the EU continues to look for ways to operate as more of a singular body. The outline for the DSA includes, among other things, the implementation of cross-border identification solutions, which will be crucial for the union’s iGaming industry.

According to Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, “The two proposals serve one purpose: to make sure that we, as users, have access to a wide choice of safe products and services online. And that businesses operating in Europe can freely and fairly compete online just as they do offline. This is one world. We should be able to do our shopping in a safe manner and trust the news we read. Because what is illegal offline is equally illegal online.”

The proposals will now make their way to the European Parliament and the European Council. These two bodies will need to review the recommendations and make any suggested changes, after which, collectively, they will need to sign off on the legislation. The DSA’s language regarding how social media companies and others are held liable for content, as well as online advertising controls, should also prove beneficial to the iGaming ecosystem. 

As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. Earlier this year, when it became obvious that COVID-19 was going to cause serious economic shortfalls for governments and businesses alike, the prediction was that gambling might be taken more seriously as a viable option to make up for the losses. There is likely to be a lot of movement in the legal gambling space in 2021, especially in the U.S., and the idea of seeing a casino in Hawaii, long opposed to the concept, is now closer to reality than ever. The push for a major gambling resort isn’t coming from the private sector, either. Hawaii’s Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) is suggesting a casino resort on the island of Oahu.

The DHHL is concerned about its diminishing pool of funds and it foresees darker days ahead as it looks to figure out how to fill a $6-billion gap that will keep it from providing adequate housing. The agency is responsible, in part, for assisting native Hawaiians with their housing needs and it currently doesn’t have the resources required to continue developing land earmarked for that purpose. The DHHL said in a statement as it hinted about a casino being used to help cover the gap, Given the impact of COVID-19 on our state’s economy, the department is proposing a bold measure that has proven successful for indigenous groups in generating critically needed revenue to improve the lives of their people.”

There are eight states in the U.S. that have no form of commercial or tribal casinos, of which Hawaii is included. It is also one of two – along with Utah – that have zero gambling and the Aloha State doesn’t even offer a lottery. However, the DHHL feels that it might be time for a change and, given the success gambling has had elsewhere around the world, it could be right. In addition, a legal casino might help Hawaii to keep its illegal casinos off the islands. 

The first step in trying to bring a casino to Hawaii is to plant the seed, which the DHHL has done. The next step is to get initial approval for the concept. That will be up to the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which will soon vote on the subject. If it says yes, the proposal then moves on to the next step, approval by the state’s governor, David Ige. Even if it’s approved by the governor, it still has to be approved by Hawaii’s House of Representatives and Senate, both of which are overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats.

Kenyan sports betting operator SportPesa is threatening legal action after the country’s gambling regulator staged a raid on the company’s Nairobi offices.

On Wednesday, Kenyan media reported that police officers and agents of the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) attempted to raid SportPesa’s Nairobi offices at around 3pm. Witnesses claimed that the officials brought a truck with them, apparently in the expectation of carting away documents and computer equipment. 

However, the agents appear to have left empty-handed after failing to gain entry to SportPesa’s offices. SportPesa later issued a statement saying the agents had failed to produce either a court order or warrant supporting their invasive maneuver. 

The company is now vowing to sue both the BCLB and the Interior Ministry for disregarding a Nairobi High Court order telling the BCLB to stand down until a January 25, 2021 hearing on the question of whether SportPesa is currently permitted to conduct betting operations in Kenya. 

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.

Pariplay’s Portuguese Prominence Flourishes through Partnership with Casino Portugal

Portfolio of industry-leading casino content continues to take over Portugal with latest partnership

Another thrilling GGPoker Super MILLION$ final table saw the chip leader going into the day, Uruguay’s Joaquin Melogno win the day as he triumphed against Russian player Andrey Kotelnikov to seal the deal heads-up and win the top prize of $636,072.

With a bumper field of 511 entries, that meant the prizepool again sailed past $5 million, with a massive half a million dollars on offer to both first and second places. That created plenty of action on Day 1 and left Melogno as the man to beat coming into the final day’s play.

Melogno, who in winning the Super MILLION$ final table did so for the first time, took out five of his eight rivals to do so in spectacular style, with a thoroughly dominant performance fully deserving of the victory. 

The final table action saw the first player to fall out before the Twitch viewers had settled into their gaming chair grooves, Finnish player Jorma Nuutinen busting when his shove for just under nine big blinds with ace-four was called by Turkish player ‘veca’, whose pocket eights would turn a set on their way to winning the hand for him.

Sports betting operator FanDuel Group has struck a Caribbean and South American market access deal with a company controlled by America’s first black billionaire. 

On Wednesday, FanDuel announced a deal with The CAGE Companies and its subsidiary CAGE Sports BV to operate online and retail sportsbooks in “certain jurisdictions where CAGE is licensed or is seeking sports betting licenses in the Caribbean and South America.”

CAGE is an offshoot of the RLJ Companies, a holding company founded by Robert L. Johnson, creator of Black Entertainment Television (BET), following the 2001 sale of BET to Viacom. 

CAGE subsequently established a network of video lottery terminal (VLT), sports betting and virtual sports games in several Caribbean jurisdictions, including Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, Guyana and Sint Maarten. 

Casinos across Europe are rapidly losing their Christmas spirit as governments order them back under pandemic lockdown. 

On Wednesday, Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s Cyprus offshoot Cyprus Casinos (C2) posted a note to its website announcing that it would “temporarily suspend” operations at all four of its gaming venues “according to the government directive.”

The notice applies specifically to two of C2’s smaller satellite venues, as one other satellite location and C2’s larger ‘temporary’ casino in Limassol were forced to close in November. This is the second lockdown for C2, which shut all four venues in mid-March and didn’t reopen until the summer. 

In the Czech Republic, land-based gambling venues were permitted to emerge from their original lockdown on December 3, albeit it under strict capacity restrictions and limited hours of operation. 

Its that time of year again and oh how I love to reminisce as I put together my annual top 10 most viewed list for Becky’s Affiliated. 

As we are all painfully aware, this year has been completely different than all the rest, yet the gambling industry soldiers on, finding solutions rather than lamenting about the situation. As I’ve said before in various panels and interviews throughout the year, I’m so incredibly proud of our industry and sincerely look forward to what 2021 will bring. 

As you peruse the list below, you’ll note four of the 10 pieces are related to industry events which reflects what an important part they play within our community. I’m delighted to see two BitcoinSV pieces make the list as I predict there will be an explosion of BSV blockchain within the gambling space shortly, perhaps 2021 will be the year. 

The rest of the pieces on the list are also fantastic watches and reads, so please check them out if you have not already and thank you so much to all my Becky’s Affiliated interviewees, we all appreciate your time and expertise.

After an entertaining final table, Argentina’s Damian Salas has become WSOP Main Event winner in the International leg after the action concluded live and exclusive in Rozvadov at the world-famous King’s Casino.

Winning $1.5 million, the heads-up was an ironic meeting from two players from South America, who would have found it infinitely easier to travel to Las Vegas rather than the small town on the Czech-German border.

With only eight of the nine combatants who made it this far arriving at King’s, Chinese player Peiyuan Sun decided not to travel to Rozvadov, and while Sam Greenwood was one player who suggested maybe they should be blinded out, that didn’t happen, with Sun awarded the 9th place prize of $75,360 as contained in the GGPoker/WSOP rulebook and as reported from the scene by PokerNews.

That left eight to battle it out for the title, and the action was fast and friendly from the beginning. First out the door was Austrian player Hannes Speiser, who cashed for $109,982 when his queen-ten was crushed pre-flop by Salas’ pocket tens. Salas was building momentum, and he busted the next player to go, too, with Bulgarian Stoyan Obreshkov unable to live up to his namesake Stoyan Madanzhiev in winning a WSOP Main Event. Stay chilled, other Stoyans, and keep that powder dry – another WSOP Main Event could come along at any time!

It’s been a very busy first third of the season in the English Premier League, but how has each team done? We spoke to The Secret Coach to get the lowdown on the teams in the bottom half of the table in part one of our Premier League End of Year report. Last week, The Secret Coach was all about the positivity of time off and rest periods. This week, there’s no letting up.

The Secret Coach is a professional football coach in English football… who will remain anonymous. The Secret Coach has worked with some of the biggest names in the game, been through the coaching badges and is currently part of the coaching team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. As ever, this week, The Secret Coach pulls no punches! 

Sheffield United: “Unfortunately, Chris Wilder’s team haven’t evolved or really strengthened this year,” says TSC. “They were a surprise package last season but now everyone knows what to expect and Wilder has not adapted. He lacks firepower to keep them up, which is a shame as they’re such a hard-working team.” 

West Bromwich Albion: “The Baggies of old; some nice football at times but that doesn’t guarantee you a place in the Premier League although that might change under Sam Allardyce! I remember the Mowbray years, when they played some lovely football but went toe to toe with better teams – admirable but not sensible. Same again I feel so far, not enough to compete with the mid-table teams.” 

Donald Trump’s Atlantic City casino failures will soon be but a memory as the crumbling Trump Plaza is slated to be blown up real good just days after Orange Julius is forced to exit the White House. 

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that Atlantic City’s municipal government will hold an auction for the right to press the button that lights the fuse that sets off the dynamite that brings down the crumbling remnants of the casino that Don built.

The bidding will get underway this Thursday and will run through January 19, after which the top bidders will participate in a live auction for the right to turn the Plaza to dust. Funds raised will go to the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City, and AC Mayor Marty Small hopes the auction will net over $1m. 

The Plaza closed in 2014, a year that saw four AC gaming venues shut their doors after a slower than expected market recovery following the 2008-09 global economic meltdown. It wasn’t until 2016 that the AC market was able to post annual gaming revenue growth.

Finland’s gambling market derives over half its turnover from individuals who either have gambling problems or are at risk of developing problems, while the country is losing faith with its state-run gambling monopoly. 

On Tuesday, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) released its latest snapshot of the country’s gambling market, which claims that a mere 2.5% of gamblers accounted for half of all gambling spending in 2019. (Read the report here, English abstract starts on page 11.)

The 2.5% figure – which represents around 72k individuals – is a significant shrinkage from the 4.2% of Finns who were responsible for half of all gambling spending in a similar survey in 2007, and less than half the 5.2% figure from 2015. 

THL released the preliminary results of its 2019 survey this spring, which showed problem gambling rates falling 0.3 points to 3% and the at-risk figure falling 4.3 points to 10.7%. But researcher Anne Salonen called it “concerning” that a relative handful of individuals were so demonstrably bucking this trend. 

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts will open its new Crown Sydney venue with booze but without gambling, while its Melbourne venue is facing an earlier than expected license review. 

On Wednesday, Crown announced that it had received an interim liquor license for its new Sydney venue ahead of the property’s plan to open on Monday, December 28. The license allows Crown Sydney to serve hooch at the Crown Towers hotel, as well as the property’s bars and some restaurants, but only until April 30, 2021. 

There will be no alcohol served on Crown Sydney’s gaming floor, because the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) New South Wales has forbid the property from offering gambling. The ILGA is waiting on the February 2021 release of an inquiry’s report into Crown’s shocking record of regulatory non-compliance at its other Aussie properties before making a call on allowing Crown Sydney to conduct gaming.

If you’ve been under a rock for the past few months, Crown’s board, senior management and its largest shareholder James Packer essentially crapped the bed by publicly expressing ignorance and/or disinterest regarding Crown’s willingness to look the other way when regulations interfered with revenue generation. Seriously, it wasn’t pretty. 

Sports betting operator DraftKings is claiming an industry first with the launch of branded gift cards, just in time for last-minute holiday shoppers.

On Wednesday, the Boston-based DraftKings announced a ‘strategic collaboration’ with Atlanta-based InComm Payments on the launch of an “industry-first retail gift card” bearing the DraftKings logo. The cards will be made available through a variety of retailers – including 7-11, Speedway and Dollar General – in denominations of $25 and $50, at least, to start. 

DraftKings president Matt Kalish said the company was “thrilled to provide our customers with another way to fund their accounts and engage with our real money products through this first-of-its-kind offering.” 

InComm senior VP Tim Richardson claimed DraftKings’ “large and passionate” fanbase would jump at the chance to exchange cash for plastic, while offering DraftKings “a significant brand expansion and enhancement opportunity.”

Interviewing for a new job is a bit like a game of poker. You’ve been dealt a hand (previous experience), either strong or poor, and how much you succeed in large part depends on how you play it (the interview). Even if you’re not applying for a role in the gambling industry, getting the second part right is very important, and I’m going to help you avoid some critical mistakes.

Why should you listen to me? I spent nearly a decade conducting final interviews in the online gambling world, speaking to hundreds of applicants. I saw some of the best interviews you could imagine, and plenty of the worst. Don’t do any of the following if you hope to get a job

Don’t make Resume Errors

There’s an entire art to building a resume, and plenty of ways to do it. What’s considered best might depend on the position you’re applying for and the culture you’re in. Speaking from experience, Canadian resumes are generally expected to be shorter and to the point, whereas resume’s in the Philippines are expected to be long and thorough.