Baccarat gamblers get more reckless after they win, while losing online racing bettors log off for longer periods than winners. 

Japanese researchers recently published a study that crunched nearly 8m hands of baccarat played by nearly 4k “middle-aged Asian male” players at the Paradise City casino in South Korea. The goal of the study, which was published in the International Gambling Studies journal, was to determine how repeated and risky betting behavior varies as a function of outcome history.

The researchers sought to detect what effect a sustained winning or losing streak had on gamblers’ intensity levels, i.e. differences in size of betting stakes and whether gamblers made riskier bets (low probability, high reward) based on how well or poorly they did on their previous wagers.

The researchers concluded that gamblers became more reckless after consecutive wins than after consecutive losses. The size of their wagers gradually increased the longer their streak lasted, and this effect was “more pronounced” after sequential wins than sequential losses.

It was perhaps the defining game of the International season so far, at least for the hosts. With England a point clear at the top of their Nations League group, all they had to do was defeat Denmark at Wembley and they’d be in control of their own destiny, with Belgium winning as expected in Iceland. 

That didn’t happen, however, on a night of personal disappointment for one of England’s best defenders and another newbie, while a shot-shy squad who looked lacking. But why was this the case, and can England recover? There’s no-one better to ask than The Secret Coach. 

Last time we spoke to The Secret Coach, he was analysing Jurgen Klopp’s football lesson his Liverpool team learned at Aston Villa. This week, we were looking at International football, however, a very different beast but something The Secret Coach knows plenty about. TSC is a professional football coach in English football, who will remain anonymous. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the game, going through the coaching process, and is currently part of the team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. He’ll be honest each week about what he sees as he sees it. As ever, The Secret Coach pulls no punches! 

Gareth Southgate had less players to choose from than usual, with injuries and ‘personal reasons’ robbing them of some of their most capable players. With England fielding a side without Jack Grealish, they looked to be slightly pessimistic, with the inclusion of Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips both in the side. 

It was perhaps the defining game of the International season so far, at least for the hosts. With England a point clear at the top of their Nations League group, all they had to do was defeat Denmark at Wembley and they’d be in control of their own destiny, with Belgium winning as expected in Iceland. 

That didn’t happen, however, on a night of personal disappointment for one of England’s best defenders and another newbie, while a shot-shy squad who looked lacking. But why was this the case, and can England recover? There’s no-one better to ask than The Secret Coach. 

Last time we spoke to The Secret Coach, he was analysing Jurgen Klopp’s football lesson his Liverpool team learned at Aston Villa. This week, we were looking at International football, however, a very different beast but something The Secret Coach knows plenty about. TSC is a professional football coach in English football, who will remain anonymous. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the game, going through the coaching process, and is currently part of the team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. He’ll be honest each week about what he sees as he sees it. As ever, The Secret Coach pulls no punches! 

Gareth Southgate had less players to choose from than usual, with injuries and ‘personal reasons’ robbing them of some of their most capable players. With England fielding a side without Jack Grealish, they looked to be slightly pessimistic, with the inclusion of Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips both in the side. 

The latest poker to be found on screen is in a brand-new series devised and hosted by Robbie Strazynski, founder of Cardplayer Lifestyle, a website dedicated to the game we all know and love. 

We’ll start by crediting Strazynski for managing to get the personalities around the same virtual table, which can’t have been easy, no matter how captive a cast poker is during a global pandemic where players are no longer hopping on a plane every fortnight. These days, players are hopping online instead, and the discussion in Episode 4 is between Daniel Negreanu, GGPoker ambassador, Phil Galfond, Run It Once supremo, Rob Yong, unofficial saviour of partypoker and Alex Scott, who has 15 years’ experience in the poker industry.  

This episode touches on some very interesting topics, including whether online poker is at a saturation point and while it’s interesting hearing each personality’s point of view, what makes it even better is seeing what the others think of each speaker while they’re talking.  

It’s exactly why round table discussions are so important – an open forum for poker topics is virtually neverending, the game changes so quickly and this niche of the show is what makes it such compelling viewing. That two of the game’s greats are in the fourth episode is a bonus – Daniel Negreanu and Phil Galfond don’t give out too many interviews, so to have them on same bill is quite impressive – and the subjects naturally lend themselves to friendly debate.  

Atlantic City casino gaming tables felt a revenue chill in September, just as the market prepares to welcome the return of its long-shuttered live poker rooms.

On Thursday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) reported that AC’s nine casinos generated combined slots & table revenue of $190m in September, a 15% decline from September 2019 and $9m below August 2020’s total.

The decline was entirely the fault of the casinos’ gaming tables, where revenue tumbled 28.7% year-on-year to $46.55m, which was also $8.35m below August 2020’s table tally. Slots were down a more modest 9.6% year-on-year to $144m, effectively unchanged from August 2020.

However, combined with the over $100m generated in September by the state’s online casinos and AC’s sports betting partners, total gaming win was up 3% to nearly $291.7m. All things considered, things could be much, much worse.

New Jersey’s online gambling market failed to set a new revenue record in September but did set a new record for sports wagering handle as NFL bettors woke from their seasonal hibernation.

Figures released Thursday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s licensed online casino/poker operators generated combined revenue of $87.63m in September, more than twice the $41.1m reported in the same month last year but a smidgen below August 2020’s $87.77m.

As always, the online casino vertical carried the load with just under $85.1m, up 115.4% year-on-year, while online poker gained a respectable 55.8% to $2.55m. For the year-to-date, overall online revenue is up 102.2% to a hefty $685.6m, with casino rising 102.7% to $654.7m and poker up 92% to $30.9m.

The Golden Nugget’s online casino total – which includes contributions from Betfair, PlaySugarHouse and BetAmerica – topped $26m in September, down $1.65m from August. The Borgata family of sites – including BetMGM, PartyPoker and PalaCasino – ranked second with a new record high of $20.3m, including $781k from poker.

With just a fortnight to go until Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu get down to their heads-up match on PokerGO, there’s no chance that either man is going to go quietly into the night. Doug Polk has ramped up the aggro pre-game by going ‘all-in’ on charts, leading to a huge row on Twitter this week. 

Is the smack-talk part of the hype or an annoying distraction before the actual poker takes place? We’ll let you be the judge.

Polk’s latest quarrel with Negreanu has been a bit more of the other way around, in reality. Negreanu took issue with charts or ‘cheat sheets’ being used during the game, which will be screened on PokerGO and for a portion of the action will feature hole cards.

While many players have used ‘push-fold’ pre-flop sheets in the past (or at the very least, haeve taken a look at a spreadsheet or two), the notion that a multi-million dollar player would need to use one in a heads-up battle against his bitter enemy is a slightly amusing one. It’s rather like discovering that a baddie in a Bond film has an off-colour weakness for Neapolitan ice cream – it doesn’t make sense and it’s not building character in any way.

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is facing questions over the wisdom of opening its new Crown Sydney property while the fate of its gaming license is up in the air.

Patricia Bergin, commissioner of the New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) inquiry into Crown’s suitability to hold a state gaming license, suggested Thursday that it was “inappropriate” for Crown to be proceeding with plans to open its AU$2b Sydney casino in December.

Bergin made the suggestion while questioning Crown director Jane Halton, who chairs the company’s risk management and compliance committees, regarding testimony from other Crown principals who exposed the company’s disinterest in compliance, particularly when it came to junket operators steering high-rolling Chinese gamblers to Crown Melbourne.  

The inquiry won’t deliver its final report until February, and Bergin wondered if Halton had given any thought as to “the propriety or good sense” of opening a casino whose gaming licensee is undergoing a suitability hearing. Halton said she was unaware of any discussions within Crown regarding a potential delay to the December 14 opening of Crown Sydney.

With the International break now a mere dot on the horizon, the players involved have travelled back to England to play in the English Premier League. It is a potentially superb weekend of action, too, with the Merseyside derby and two matches between other massive rivals that will shape the top and bottom of the table in dramatic fashion whichever way the three points go.

Everton vs. Liverpool (Saturday, 12.30pm GMT kick-off)

What should, in theory, be a fantastic game must be tempered by a pre-match admission; the last three Goodison Park derby days have all been 0-0. That is an incredible enough statistic on its own merit, especially considering the defensive records of both sides during that period of over two and a half years. But add to that this weekend’s match features sides who so far have seen 39 goals either scored or conceded in their collective eight games played (an average of nearly five goals per game) and it really would be astonishing if this one were to finish goalless.

What could stop this being a goalfest? James Rodriguez is setting up goals for fun, while Liverpool let in seven (7) last time out at Aston Villa. With Mo Salah in good goalscoring form and Dominic Calvert-Lewin even putting the Egyptian in the shade, this could and should be packed full of goalmouth action.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Could the NFL go to a postseason bubble format like Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL did for their playoffs?

All three other postseasons worked incredibly well in terms of negative COVID-19 tests, and while the NFL is adamant it will not go to a bubble at all during the regular season – the rosters are just too big, for one thing – there have been reports this week that it could play at neutral-site bubbles in Arlington (AT&T Stadium) and Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium) for the four divisional round games and two conference title games. That would obviously hurt the top seed in each conference by taking true home-field advantage away. Super Bowl 55 would stay as scheduled from Tampa, Florida. Stay tuned.

A handful of teams have won the Super Bowl with their backup quarterback, most recently the Philadelphia Eagles following the 2017 season with Nick Foles under center. Could the Dallas Cowboys actually win a title after losing NFL passing yardage leader Dak Prescott to a season-ending ankle injury in Week 5?

U.S. betting operator DraftKings have announced that they have joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). The addition of the fantasy sports betting operator was welcomed by the IBIA, who have been proactively campaigning for operators to share information on suspect betting activity across the globe.

DraftKings,one of the biggest names in U.S. sports betting, joins our association! This strengthens our global monitoring&alert platform and will see @DraftKings’ share information on suspicious betting with other globally recognised sports betting operators in our association.

— International Betting Integrity Association (@IBIA_bet) October 13, 2020https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Draft Kings will work with IBIA partners who monitor more than 15 regulated U.S. and global markets by sharing information on the association’s monitoring and alert platform.

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.

BetGames.TV signs with Haiti lottery leader Chez Toto

Supplier’s live dealer content to launch across operator’s 500+ retail sites

Air Macau is going to continue to be the preferred domestic air carrier for the city for at least the next three years. It doesn’t really have any competition, so being the preferred option when you’re the only option is pretty simple. The company has been the only air carrier based out of Macau since 1995 when it was given a 25-year concession, and the government has decided to renew the agreement. It only took a global pandemic for Air Macau to maintain its status. 

There had been talk about opening the air space to other carriers when Air Macau’s concession was drawing to a close. However, the coronavirus pandemic got in the way, and the government decided the timing wasn’t right to consider making any drastic changes. As a result, it authorized Air Macau to hang onto its monopoly until the end of 2023, but, after that, changes might be coming. Given the seemingly complete overhaul Macau is exploring with its daily activities, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Air Macau lose its status. 

That wouldn’t be good news for the company, which is already reeling from COVID-19-induced losses. Last year, it saw a year-on-year drop in profit of 37% as it reported just $15.9 million, and this year will be even worse because of the pandemic. In September, there was an average of just 30 daily movements, compared to an average of more than 210 each day in 2019. With Macau looking at needing at least two years to recover from COVID-19, Air Macau is going to have a very turbulent flight ahead. 

Providing an update to the concession renewal yesterday, the Macau government said in a statement, “The concession contract of Air Macau will reach its expiry on 8 November 2020. Facing the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia worldwide, the aviation sector is adversely affected and will take a considerable period of time to recover. During this period, it is necessary to maintain the stability of the industry operations. To ensure that Air Macau will continue to provide continual and stable services to the Macau residents as well as to the visitors, the Macau SAR Government extended the concession contract of Air Macau for three years.”

Air Macau is going to continue to be the preferred domestic air carrier for the city for at least the next three years. It doesn’t really have any competition, so being the preferred option when you’re the only option is pretty simple. The company has been the only air carrier based out of Macau since 1995 when it was given a 25-year concession, and the government has decided to renew the agreement. It only took a global pandemic for Air Macau to maintain its status. 

There had been talk about opening the air space to other carriers when Air Macau’s concession was drawing to a close. However, the coronavirus pandemic got in the way, and the government decided the timing wasn’t right to consider making any drastic changes. As a result, it authorized Air Macau to hang onto its monopoly until the end of 2023, but, after that, changes might be coming. Given the seemingly complete overhaul Macau is exploring with its daily activities, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Air Macau lose its status. 

That wouldn’t be good news for the company, which is already reeling from COVID-19-induced losses. Last year, it saw a year-on-year drop in profit of 37% as it reported just $15.9 million, and this year will be even worse because of the pandemic. In September, there was an average of just 30 daily movements, compared to an average of more than 210 each day in 2019. With Macau looking at needing at least two years to recover from COVID-19, Air Macau is going to have a very turbulent flight ahead. 

Providing an update to the concession renewal yesterday, the Macau government said in a statement, “The concession contract of Air Macau will reach its expiry on 8 November 2020. Facing the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia worldwide, the aviation sector is adversely affected and will take a considerable period of time to recover. During this period, it is necessary to maintain the stability of the industry operations. To ensure that Air Macau will continue to provide continual and stable services to the Macau residents as well as to the visitors, the Macau SAR Government extended the concession contract of Air Macau for three years.”

Air Macau is going to continue to be the preferred domestic air carrier for the city for at least the next three years. It doesn’t really have any competition, so being the preferred option when you’re the only option is pretty simple. The company has been the only air carrier based out of Macau since 1995 when it was given a 25-year concession, and the government has decided to renew the agreement. It only took a global pandemic for Air Macau to maintain its status. 

There had been talk about opening the air space to other carriers when Air Macau’s concession was drawing to a close. However, the coronavirus pandemic got in the way, and the government decided the timing wasn’t right to consider making any drastic changes. As a result, it authorized Air Macau to hang onto its monopoly until the end of 2023, but, after that, changes might be coming. Given the seemingly complete overhaul Macau is exploring with its daily activities, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Air Macau lose its status. 

That wouldn’t be good news for the company, which is already reeling from COVID-19-induced losses. Last year, it saw a year-on-year drop in profit of 37% as it reported just $15.9 million, and this year will be even worse because of the pandemic. In September, there was an average of just 30 daily movements, compared to an average of more than 210 each day in 2019. With Macau looking at needing at least two years to recover from COVID-19, Air Macau is going to have a very turbulent flight ahead. 

Providing an update to the concession renewal yesterday, the Macau government said in a statement, “The concession contract of Air Macau will reach its expiry on 8 November 2020. Facing the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia worldwide, the aviation sector is adversely affected and will take a considerable period of time to recover. During this period, it is necessary to maintain the stability of the industry operations. To ensure that Air Macau will continue to provide continual and stable services to the Macau residents as well as to the visitors, the Macau SAR Government extended the concession contract of Air Macau for three years.”

The key to success for any new product is getting people on board. Companies spend millions of dollars to entice consumers to try new products or services, providing massive discounts, free samples, “try before you buy” deals and more. The idea of using cryptocurrency in lieu of fiat has found resistance in the consumer space on certain levels because of the hurdle that appears when trying to convince people to change their ways. However, those companies that have been tempted to test the waters and begin to accept crypto payments, especially in B2B channels, are quickly realizing the benefits of digital currency over fiat. As a result, the B2B crypto payment segment is facilitating greater adoption of digital currency as a payment alternative that is extending rapidly into the B2C segment, as well. 

All of a sudden, when they began accepting crypto for certain payments, businesses realized that they are receiving their money almost instantly and at a fraction of the cost associated with typical bank transfers, domestic or international. While sending money through SWIFT, for example, can sometimes take two weeks or more, and can cost a company a significant portion of its potential earnings, crypto payments are landing in accounts in a matter of minutes and providing the paper trails needed to verify the transaction. 

The trend of continued acceptance of crypto as an alternative for B2B payments is expected to continue, and will most likely grow exponentially. The European Union (EU) is reportedly already realizing the value of digital currency payments on a large scale, and regulations are being drafted to provide blanket controls for corporations and investors across the entire union on how to accept and report digital currency movements. 

A good example of the shift to digital currency payments can be found in MasterCard and its Accelerate program. It was first introduced in October of last year and recently brought in Wirex to facilitate crypto payments through its cards. Says Mastercard Blockchain and Digital Assets lead for Asia Pacific Ashok Venkateswaran, “Mastercard allows the wallet holders in Wirex to use their cryptocurrency for day-to-day transactions.” 

The key to success for any new product is getting people on board. Companies spend millions of dollars to entice consumers to try new products or services, providing massive discounts, free samples, “try before you buy” deals and more. The idea of using cryptocurrency in lieu of fiat has found resistance in the consumer space on certain levels because of the hurdle that appears when trying to convince people to change their ways. However, those companies that have been tempted to test the waters and begin to accept crypto payments, especially in B2B channels, are quickly realizing the benefits of digital currency over fiat. As a result, the B2B crypto payment segment is facilitating greater adoption of digital currency as a payment alternative that is extending rapidly into the B2C segment, as well. 

All of a sudden, when they began accepting crypto for certain payments, businesses realized that they are receiving their money almost instantly and at a fraction of the cost associated with typical bank transfers, domestic or international. While sending money through SWIFT, for example, can sometimes take two weeks or more, and can cost a company a significant portion of its potential earnings, crypto payments are landing in accounts in a matter of minutes and providing the paper trails needed to verify the transaction. 

The trend of continued acceptance of crypto as an alternative for B2B payments is expected to continue, and will most likely grow exponentially. The European Union (EU) is reportedly already realizing the value of digital currency payments on a large scale, and regulations are being drafted to provide blanket controls for corporations and investors across the entire union on how to accept and report digital currency movements. 

A good example of the shift to digital currency payments can be found in MasterCard and its Accelerate program. It was first introduced in October of last year and recently brought in Wirex to facilitate crypto payments through its cards. Says Mastercard Blockchain and Digital Assets lead for Asia Pacific Ashok Venkateswaran, “Mastercard allows the wallet holders in Wirex to use their cryptocurrency for day-to-day transactions.” 

The key to success for any new product is getting people on board. Companies spend millions of dollars to entice consumers to try new products or services, providing massive discounts, free samples, “try before you buy” deals and more. The idea of using cryptocurrency in lieu of fiat has found resistance in the consumer space on certain levels because of the hurdle that appears when trying to convince people to change their ways. However, those companies that have been tempted to test the waters and begin to accept crypto payments, especially in B2B channels, are quickly realizing the benefits of digital currency over fiat. As a result, the B2B crypto payment segment is facilitating greater adoption of digital currency as a payment alternative that is extending rapidly into the B2C segment, as well. 

All of a sudden, when they began accepting crypto for certain payments, businesses realized that they are receiving their money almost instantly and at a fraction of the cost associated with typical bank transfers, domestic or international. While sending money through SWIFT, for example, can sometimes take two weeks or more, and can cost a company a significant portion of its potential earnings, crypto payments are landing in accounts in a matter of minutes and providing the paper trails needed to verify the transaction. 

The trend of continued acceptance of crypto as an alternative for B2B payments is expected to continue, and will most likely grow exponentially. The European Union (EU) is reportedly already realizing the value of digital currency payments on a large scale, and regulations are being drafted to provide blanket controls for corporations and investors across the entire union on how to accept and report digital currency movements. 

A good example of the shift to digital currency payments can be found in MasterCard and its Accelerate program. It was first introduced in October of last year and recently brought in Wirex to facilitate crypto payments through its cards. Says Mastercard Blockchain and Digital Assets lead for Asia Pacific Ashok Venkateswaran, “Mastercard allows the wallet holders in Wirex to use their cryptocurrency for day-to-day transactions.” 

Data forensic experts continue to work with staff at the Cache Creek Casino in California to determine if the cyberattack the casino suffered last month led to the loss of any customer data. The FBI has been helping with the investigation and, although no updates have yet been released, the casino is back in business. However, a “major systems disruption” has now hit two casinos in Idaho, leading some to assert that another cyberattack may have just taken place. 

Cache Creek, which is owned and operated by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, shut down on September 20 due to a “systems infrastructure failure” that was later confirmed to be an “external attack” on the property’s network. It assumedly hasn’t been able to determine what type of data, if any, may have been stolen, but the FBI was brought in to help sort things out and to determine if the incident was a ransomware attack. The casino has been relatively tight-lipped over the ordeal, but has stated that, should it be determined that data had been stolen, it will notify those customers who may have been targeted.

Having been able to clean up the network enough to provide better security, Cache Creek went back into business this past Monday. Being shut down for three weeks will have certainly had an impact on the casino’s bottom line; however, tribal casinos have had more leeway to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the stoppage shouldn’t cause a tremendous burden. Still, any outage is certain to cause a disruption in financial flows. 

As Cache Creek comes up, two go down. The Clearwater River Casino & Lodge and the It’se Ye Ye Casino closed Tuesday following a disruption to their networks, and neither is sure when they will be able to reopen. The Nez Pierce Tribe, which owns both of the casinos, said on social media, “We continue to work diligently toward resolving the issue. Both entities will remain closed until further notice. This disruption does not impact the Nez Perce Express convenience store, Nimiipuu Health or the Nez Perce Tribe Government Offices.”

Data forensic experts continue to work with staff at the Cache Creek Casino in California to determine if the cyberattack the casino suffered last month led to the loss of any customer data. The FBI has been helping with the investigation and, although no updates have yet been released, the casino is back in business. However, a “major systems disruption” has now hit two casinos in Idaho, leading some to assert that another cyberattack may have just taken place. 

Cache Creek, which is owned and operated by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, shut down on September 20 due to a “systems infrastructure failure” that was later confirmed to be an “external attack” on the property’s network. It assumedly hasn’t been able to determine what type of data, if any, may have been stolen, but the FBI was brought in to help sort things out and to determine if the incident was a ransomware attack. The casino has been relatively tight-lipped over the ordeal, but has stated that, should it be determined that data had been stolen, it will notify those customers who may have been targeted.

Having been able to clean up the network enough to provide better security, Cache Creek went back into business this past Monday. Being shut down for three weeks will have certainly had an impact on the casino’s bottom line; however, tribal casinos have had more leeway to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the stoppage shouldn’t cause a tremendous burden. Still, any outage is certain to cause a disruption in financial flows. 

As Cache Creek comes up, two go down. The Clearwater River Casino & Lodge and the It’se Ye Ye Casino closed Tuesday following a disruption to their networks, and neither is sure when they will be able to reopen. The Nez Pierce Tribe, which owns both of the casinos, said on social media, “We continue to work diligently toward resolving the issue. Both entities will remain closed until further notice. This disruption does not impact the Nez Perce Express convenience store, Nimiipuu Health or the Nez Perce Tribe Government Offices.”