Australian casino operator Crown Resorts’ largest shareholder blamed lawyers and senior management for a series of cockups that threatens its ability to operate its new Sydney venue.  

Wednesday saw James Packer’s second day of testimony at the New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) inquiry into Crown’s suitability to hold a state gaming license for its Crown Sydney property, which is scheduled to begin opening in December.

Packer’s first day testifying via video link from his yacht floating somewhere on the high seas saw him acknowledging ‘shameful’ behavior related to email threats he made to a private equity manager in 2015. Packer also revealed for the first time that he’s being treated for bipolar disorder.  

On Wednesday, Packer threw senior Crown execs under the bus regarding the 2016 arrests of 19 Crown staff based in China for violating that country’s rules on promoting gambling services to mainland residents. Packer claimed he’d asked then-CEO Rowen Craigie and chairman Robert Rankin to investigate potential dangers prior to the arrests but that the execs had “let the side down.”  

A lot of people in the workforce today may have a boss who’s still new to managing, and could resort to all sorts of zany micromanagement ideas. In the office, that could mean tweaking every idea to perfectly match their vision, and for remote workers, it could mean all day Zoom meetings. Whatever the case may be, the best way for you, the employee to thrive in such a situation is to learn how to manage your manager.

Before we get started, let me say that there are a lot of guides on how to do this online. Some offer great advice, while others perhaps you’ll find things to disagree with. At the end of the day, the relationship you have with your boss is unique, and it’s a matter of assessing the situation and finding what will work best for you.

Get on the same page and aim for the same goals

Unless your boss is the owner of the company, every boss or manager reports to someone else. That means they have goals to reach and targets to hit, and that’s likely what’s on their mind when they are assessing you.

Colossus Bets have stepped up to save the 2020 Greyhound Grand National, signing a five year sponsorship agreement.

Central Park organiser Roger Cearns was delighted at the outcome of the sponsorship deal after the 2020 event was put in danger. Cearns admitted that this year’s event was in danger of being cancelled after a proposed sponsor backed out after a proposal to run the event behind closed doors. He said:

“Our thanks go to Bernard and Colossus Bets for stepping in at what is the eleventh hour to allow us to stage the Grand National. We are the home of hurdling here at Central Park, but this year’s event was in real danger.”

“It’s been an unprecedented year and the pressures on track owners are immense. We had actively sought a backer for the Grand National and we’re delighted Colossus Bets are back here after a successful Kent Silver Salver sponsorship,” Cearns added.

Canada has done a good job at keeping COVID-19 at arm’s length, for the most part, but a surge seen over the last month is making some people nervous. Still, the country is counting on its citizens to be responsible in helping to control a further spread of the virus and has, like everywhere else, been slowly reintroducing commercial activity emphasized by strict social health protocols. The country’s casino industry has only been able to take baby steps toward a complete revival, with some operators getting back to work at the end of last month. Gateway Casinos, with its large footprint, decided to wait a little longer, though, but is apparently ready to take the plunge. The company announced yesterday that it will open certain casinos in Ontario this week, with others to follow later. 

11 Gateway casinos will open between tomorrow, October 8, and October 10. Playtime Hanover, Gateway Casinos Woodstock, Gateway Casinos Clinton and Cascades Casino Chatham will open tomorrow, while Starlight Point Edward, Gateway Casinos Sarnia, Gateway Casinos London, Gateway Casinos Sudbury, Gateway Casinos Sault Ste. Marie, Gateway Casinos Thunder Bay and Gateway Casinos Innisfil will welcome gamblers back starting Saturday. Casino Rama Resort, however, is still going to remain closed for now. 

Gateway CEO Tony Santo says of the relaunch, “We are excited to be able to re-open our Ontario properties and welcome back some of our team members and customers. The health and well-being of our employees and guests is our top priority. We look forward to fully re-opening and welcoming more of our guests back in the future as capacities are increased and restrictions are lifted.” 

Despite the announcement, gamblers in and around Ontario shouldn’t get too excited. According to Gateway, patrons are going to have to reserve their play time online in advance, and only My Club Rewards members will be able to make a reservation. Even then, the casino will have to first send an invitation to the member in order for him or her to be able to place the reservation – no invite, no reservation, no casino visit. 

A “mechanized infantry division” in the military may take on an entirely different meaning in the future. The idea of enhanced technology being integrated into body armor to produce super soldiers is not a new concept, but a new project launched by the U.S. Air Force could take things to a whole new level. The military branch has given a contract to a robotics firm specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and which is designed to lead to the introduction of “dexterous robotic systems.” 

Sarcos Defense, a subsidiary of Sarcos Robotics, was awarded the contract. The parent company is dedicated to the development of advanced robotics and electro-mechanical systems. It is behind the proprietary Guardian XO wearable exoskeleton robot, which was named the “Top Emerging Technology” by Digital Trends and the “Best Robot” by PCMag. 

Sarcos Robotics chief scientist Denis Garagić, explains, “This is a unique opportunity to leverage a robotic system that is kinematically equivalent to the human body to lay the foundation for teaching robots how to move and accomplish tasks in the real world, the same way humans do. This success-based teaching will speed up the learning process of AI-enhanced perception, reasoning and decision-making techniques currently being implemented across Sarcos’ platforms. Implementation of such an AI-based system will enable autonomous situational awareness, which can radically reduce the cognitive load on the operator while dramatically increasing precision as it augments human performance.”

The Guardian XO, which was unveiled for the first time at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, uses AI and machine learning to rapidly self-educate and figure out how to make human-like movements. The result is an AI-based robotic solution that can adapt to different environments more quickly, which reduces the preparation time and human intervention needed to train the machines. This will ultimately lead to a larger, faster deployment of robotic systems able to perform many tasks currently performed by humans. 

The US approach to prison sentences is one of reform and education. The idea is that those who are incarcerated for their crimes will be adequately punished and learn from their mistakes, existing the penal system wiser and more responsible. That may work for some, but one Chicago man apparently didn’t learn the lesson. Gregory Emmett Paloian is a figure in the Chicago underworld who was already sent away for over three years for illegal gambling almost two decades ago. The 66-year-old, who is said to be linked up with a notorious Chicago mob, is now looking at a return to his home away from home for a second time after being brought up on charges of returning to his old habits. 

Paloian spent three and a half years behind bars for running an illegal sports gambling ring under the protection of Rocky Infelise of the Chicago Outfit mafia. That was back in 2002, but his reappearance into society eventually led to him picking up where he left off. Federal authorities have now charged him with reinvigorating his entrepreneurial spirit from 2015 through 2019 in another illegal sports gambling operation. As a result, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois wants to seize over $274,000 and a 2017 Audi that Paloian owns before sending him up the river once again. 

If the charges against Paloian hold up in court, he could be looking at up to five years behind bars. He has only been accused of one count of operating an illegal gambling business, although it’s plausible that prosecutors may try to tack on additional charges in order to make sure he’s locked up, especially with his reported ties to the mafia. That, however, will be up to the Department of Justice and the prosecutors to figure out. 

Paloian has repeatedly found himself on the wrong side of the tracks. While still in his 20s, he was already finding himself in trouble with the law and was convicted in 1980 of managing “juice loans” for the mafia. Gamblers who had accumulated serious debt would turn to the underground for loans to cover their losses, often being forced to pay outrageous interest rates. When they couldn’t make a payment on the loan, they quicky learned, the hard and painful way, what happens when you cross the mob. 

Slot machines may seem like a they are at an innovation dead end to industry veterans, but not to people like CasinoGrounds CEO Tobias Svensen. While the CasinoGrounds CEO believes that the gambling industry is playing catch-up, he believes one of the oldest forms of casino entertainment still has something to offer millennials. Svensen took some time out to chat to our very own Becky Liggero Fontana on why he believes that there’s still plenty of entertainment to be found on those reels.

According to Svensen, the unique conditions of 2020 have offered the industry a unique opportunity to capture a new audience. Svensen believes that a push away from gamification towards the social aspects of gaming can create new opportunities for slot-based games. “What I have ever really wanted to see is innovation on the social aspect of how to play together.”

With players unable to leave their homes, Svensen believes that the ‘shared experience’ is the trump card for industry operators. “I’d rather win 500 euros with my friends than win 2 000 euros completely alone. Sharing experiences with others is the most exciting part of being human.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcXJDSL5PTU&w=1225&h=480]

Maryland casinos are showing an impressive rebound from their coronavirus shutdown. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission reports they saw a year on year increase in revenue for September, growing to $1.4 million.

After a three-month shutdown, from March to June, the state’s six casinos combined for $143,709,268 in revenue for September. That beats the $142,223,137 in 2019 they made in 2019, a 1% increase.

The casinos are only allowed to be open at 50% capacity, as per the orders of Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan. Despite that restriction, four casinos saw increases in earnings: Live! Casino & Hotel, Rocky Gap Casino, Hollywood Casino and Ocean Downs Casino.

Only two casinos saw a drop in revenue: MGM National Harbor in Prince George county, which dropped $232,999 from the previous year, and Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore city, which saw a $950,931 drop.

The U.S. and China have been locked in a battle over international trade and security policies that have caused a lot of turmoil for the global commercial industry. China’s renewed hardline stance on Hong Kong didn’t help matters, and the friction between the two countries has only increased. However, despite the ongoing issues between the two governments and their “see who blinks first” stance, the question of whether or not the saga will impact U.S. casino operators in China-controlled Macau has been answered. Analysts with the Sanford Bernstein brokerage who have their finger on the pulse of the gaming industry in Asia tell industry players to breathe a sigh of relief. 

One of the concerns that has been raised centers on the upcoming requirement by casino operators in Macau to receive new license concessions. There are six licenses active in the city, and all are going to expire in 2022. While the logical assumption is that gaming operators will simply be awarded new licenses, this isn’t a guarantee, nor is it a legal obligation. Macau’s gaming laws assert that a new tender process must be held; however, the chances of an existing operator having its license pulled are slim. 

The U.S.-China rift could potentially change that, though, if China wanted to exert more control over Macau and hit the U.S. below the belt. The country could try to force its will on the city, like it has in Hong Kong, and demand changes to Macau’s gaming laws, which are set to be amended sometime next year. The good news for gaming operators and the industry, though, is that Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Tianjiao Yu and Kelsey Zhu don’t expect this to happen. 

They explained, “We view the scenario where one or more of the U.S. casino operators lose their gaming concession to be remote, unless the [U.S.-China] relationship sours significantly further and we see directed action against U.S. businesses in China, which would raise risk levels in Macau as well.” The analysts also asserted, to the pleasure of casino operators, that it’s likely that “all six concessionaires will have new concessions and there will be no new entrants.”

On October 5, a panel moderated by Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of the Blockchain Association, looked at the benefits esports expects to gain by adopting the Bitcoin SV blockchain at CoinGeek Live.

Bitcoin SV creates the ability to conduct microtransactions for esports betting, a perfectly auditable blockchain to create a stronger sense of integrity, and a potential for a multiverse of games all living on the same massively scaling blockchain.

In case you missed it, watch the whole presentation below, or read our recap of the panel here:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vm50ucCN3w?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360]

While the rest of the world started showing signs of life following the COVID-19 dilemma and began allowing casinos to reopen, Costa Rica decided to take a much more cautious approach. The country started to relaunch commercial activity this past May; however, gambling properties were left out of the mix, pending improvement in the country’s coronavirus fight. Things are finally starting to turn around, though, and Costa Rica will allow casinos to reopen, but things still aren’t ready to return to normal.

According to an announcement by Victoria Hernández, Costa Rica’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, casinos and bars will be allowed to open their doors again beginning this Friday. However, as has been seen elsewhere, the gambling properties will only be allowed to operate at 50% their normal capacity. They won’t be able to offer any promotions or tournaments for the time being, and no liquor will be served. In addition, gaming tables will have to limit the number of people at each table to three, and gaming machines will need to be shuffled around so that there is at least six feet between them.

Upon arriving at a casino, everyone will have their temperature taken in order to be allowed inside. Casinos will have to beef up their sanitation efforts, constantly disinfecting tables, gaming machines, gambling chips and more, and the use of anything other than disposable plates and cutlery won’t be allowed. Hernández explained, “We have been developing the protocols and we have set criteria that are a little more restrictive on the way a restaurant operates.”

The announcement didn’t specifically mention the mandatory use of face masks; however, Costa Rica implemented a requirement for these to be worn in the middle of last month. The country has seen a total of 81,129 cases of COVID-19, of which 1,947 were added to the list between this past Sunday and Monday. Since the outbreak, the country has recorded 987 deaths related to the virus. 

South Korea’s largest casino operator still hasn’t emerged from its second pandemic lockdown while its nearest rival struggles to regain its pre-pandemic form.

This past weekend, the Kangwon Land casino once again extended its pandemic shutdown, this time until 6am on Monday, October 12. The venue has been optimistically posting (and missing) reopening dates since it was forced to shut on August 23, the second time the property has turned out the lights since its initial shutdown in February.

The company said Sunday that this most recent shutdown has deprived it of around KRW62.7b (US$54m) in revenue, and that’s on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars it didn’t earn during the original shutdown and the temporary restart of VIP operations in May. The casino now expects its FY20 revenue will fall 67% from 2019 to KRW498b ($430m).

Kangwon Land is the only Korean casino that accepts local gamblers, which allows it to boast annual sales that surpass the other 16 foreigner-only casinos combined. But that privilege comes at the cost of greater scrutiny of issues such as problem gambling and, as the casino has discovered, protecting citizens from infectious diseases.

In poker, the turn of a card can see the hunted in any hand turned into the hunter. It shouldn’t therefore come as a huge surprise to poker fans everywhere that Mike Postle, against whom the case for cheating was sensationally closed a few weeks ago, has decided to sue members of the poker community.

Mike Postle, accused of cheating by dozens of poker players almost a year ago, has turned plaintiff as he seeks damages for libel and defamation of character.

In a slightly shocking move, Postle had turned from victim to attacker in his own mind at least as he goes after those who have soured his ‘reputation’ as a legitimate poker player. These included but aren’t limited to Veronica Brill, Daniel Negreanu, Doug Polk and Phil Galfond to name just four, as well as the cash game player Todd Witteles:

This will be drowned out by the Trump news, but Mike Postle is suing me, @Angry_Polak, @ESPN, @Pokernews, @PhilGalfond, @haralabob, @BartHanson, @RealKidPoker, @JonathanLittle, @Joeingram1, and @DougPolkVids for defamation.

Brazil’s instant lottery privatization has run aground after the International Game Technology–Scientific Games consortium said it’s backing out of the process.

Last year, IGT and Sci-Games teamed up on a joint bid for Brazil’s Exclusive Instant Lottery (LOTEX) concession. It definitely helped that this Estrela Instantânea consortium was the only bidder and Brazil’s previous privatization efforts proved to be a harder sell than the government envisioned.

On Tuesday, the consortium announced that it would “withdraw from the process and re-evaluate the business case of implementing a lottery operations model in Brazil.” The consortium left open the possibility that it might “explore the possibility of re-engaging in the process,” but it wants certain government assurances first.

For one thing, the consortium wants the government to lean on CAIXA Economica, which operates Brazil’s largest retail lottery network involving some 13k points of sale.

“My largest win of $300,000 is the size of the buy-in for this event.”

The story of how each poker player reaches any given tournament is extremely individual to that player, but for the subject of this week’s Poker on Screen, Matt Berkey, it has never been truer than four years ago in 2016.

For Berkey, playing the Super High Roller Bowl wasn’t just a case of flicking in $300,000 and hoping for the best. It was a structured approach to his play, training himself up before the event and then taking on the best of the best. All the better, there was a TV camera crew to follow his journey doing so.

Of course, this wouldn’t make great Poker on Screen content if Berkey busted in the first hand with kings under aces, at least, not after that hand. It’s not a disappointing giveaway to reveal that Berkey does well enough to reach the final table… not that doing so is a guarantee of making money, with just seven players paid.

Illinois sports betting revenue soared in August as Rush Street Gaming’s BetRivers brand finally got some online wagering competition.

Figures released Tuesday by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) show locally licensed sportsbook operators generated combined handle of $139.8m in August, a significant boost from July’s $52.5m total, while revenue totaled $7.2m. 

Online wagering accounted for $123.5m (88.4%) of August’s handle, of which Rush Street’s BetRivers once again claimed the lion’s share ($106.5m). BetRivers’ land-based casino partner Rivers Casino Des Plaines also claimed around $11.5m of the market’s $16m in retail wagering.

BetRivers welcomed two online competitors in August, DraftKings and FanDuel, which reported digital wagering handle of $13m and $4.2m, respectively, reflecting their staggered launch dates. DraftKings’ land-based partner, DraftKings at Casino Queen, added another $1m from its retail betting, while FanDuel’s sportsbook at Boyd Gaming’s Par-A-Dice Casino wasn’t open in August.

Russia’s sports betting operators are bracing for another tax hike that could squeeze some smaller bookmakers out of the picture.

On Tuesday, Interfax reported on a discussion between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov during a recent meeting of the presidential council for the development of physical culture and sports.

Siluanov reportedly detailed the financial performances of Russian-licensed bookmakers in 2019, during which the minister claimed the bookies had collectively generated profits of RUB30b (US$383.2m).

The bookmakers reportedly kicked back RUB1.2b in required payments to Russian sports – at a current rate of 5% of revenue generated from each sport, payable on a quarterly basis to that sport’s federation – while paying taxes to the state of just RUB770m.

The UK’s financial watchdog has prohibited the sale of cryptocurrency-related derivatives to retail consumers due to concerns that consumers don’t understand the risks they’re taking.

On Tuesday, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued its final rules banning the sale of derivatives and exchange traded notes (ETN) based on “certain types of cryptoassets” to retail consumers. The new rules, which affect “firms acting in, or from, the UK,” will take effect on January 6, 2021.

As a result of its new policy, the FCA warned consumers that any pitch they subsequently encounter for crypto-related derivatives – contracts for difference (CFD), options and futures – is “likely to be a scam.” These products are “ill-suited for retail consumers due to the harm they pose” and the ban could collectively save consumers £53m in “sudden and unexpected losses.”

The FCA has long sought to limit CFDs and spread betting, leading to significant tumbles in the share prices of companies offering these products to UK customers. UK-listed companies such as Plus500 and CMC did report declines on Tuesday, but only in the 1-3% range.