Caesars (CZR) almost got away with it. But as of yesterday, it looks like they were caught just as they were about to get in their getaway car. They tried to sneak all their assets into an untouchable shell, away from the justifiably grabby arms of second lien creditors, to which Caesars owes $5.24B. On January 19, Judge Shira Scheindlin (not to be confused with Judge Judith Sheindlin of “Judge Judy” TV fame, though it would be awesome if it were Judge Judy who issued the ruling) issued a rather logical ruling as rulings go, saying that Caesars cannot sneak all its assets into a steel shell out of the hands of second lien creditors without their consent.

Scheindlin cited the “Trust Indenture Act of 1939,” which, while it probably contains a bunch of needless regulations and other legislative and bureaucratic gauntlets with some goodies and kickbacks for FDR’s cronies, does at least say one thing that makes sense – no out-of-court restructuring of debt agreements without 100% consent of noteholders.

Says Bloomberg:

The judge found that the company’s alleged elimination of the guarantees was “an impermissible out-of-court restructuring” that is “exactly” what a provision of the 1939 law “is designed to prevent,” according to her ruling.

Here’s how it went down. Caesars was trying to move all of its goodies into Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the tradable entity, which would not go bankrupt. If you’re wondering why CZR was only a little bit down on Friday despite the “Caesars Declares Bankruptcy” headlines, that’s why. It would cover first lien creditors to the tune of 92% and be thus placated, or in other words an 8% haircut. The second lien creditors, however, would only get $549M out of $5.24B, for an insulting 90% haircut on their bonds, 10 cents on the dollar, peanuts really.

The second lien creditors, understandably, were livid. They filed suit, and Caesars attempted to defend itself by saying that since there has been no technical default yet, and all debt payments have been remitted so far, that the second lien creditors have no right to complain about what Caesars is doing under the table. Judge Scheindlin didn’t buy it.

The only problem left was that the bankruptcy was still in process, freezing all other rulings in the meantime, including Scheindlin’s. She got around that by saying that while her ruling does not apply to the bankrupt Caesars Entertainment Operating Company – the entity where Caesers Entertainment Corporation stuck all its bad debt – her ruling does apply to Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the tradable CZR, because it is not bankrupt according to the restructuring.

Irish independent bookmaker, Boylesports, has expanded its land-based network in the country to over 200 sites after it acquired six outlets from Tully Bookmakers for a reported €2 million.

The bookmaker agreed to purchase half of Tully Bookmakers’ retail betting inventory. Boylesports will redesign and redevelop the purchased bookmaker stores in-line with the company’s retail layout.

Boylesports spokesperson said that staff working in the six sites are not in any danger of losing their jobs and that the bookmaker plans to take on additional employees to support the expansion.

“The acquisition brings us to 205 stores which brings us over 200 stores for the first time. We are going to invest significantly in the new shops, invest in new tech and bring them up to a modern standard,” said a Boylesports spokesman.

“We are delighted with this acquisition which allows us to significantly grow in the South East. We look forward to extending Boylesports’ industry-leading suite of products to existing Tully customers in the region,” said CEO and Founder of Boylesports John Boyle.

Boyle also said in a recent interview with the Irish Independent that the company was close to the limits of its expansion in Ireland and a UK move “would be one of the next steps.”

Paddy Power had also been linked with a potential acquisition of the six sites but a spokesperson for the bookmaker declined to comment in the deal.

The Manila Jockey Club, through its property unit, MJC Investment Corporation, has approved the issuance of shares to Hong Kong-based investors, creating more funds to help in the construction of the firm’s resort and entertainment project in Manila.

According to a disclosure to the 450 million shares, MJC Investments’ strategic investors from Hong Kong is set to subscribe an additional 673.791 million shares in the company. Details on the transaction are still being kept under wraps, including the amount of money the Hong Kong investors, represented by Cheah Teik Seng, paid for to subscribe to the new shares.

The new round of investments from Cheah Teik Seng and other Hong Kong investors, which also includes East Bonham Holdings Incorporated, Branford Ridge Holdings Incorporated, Orchardstar Holdings Incorporated, Belltower Lakes Holdings Incorporated, Purple Cassady Holdings Incorporated, and Cherrygrove Holdings Incorporated, is the second infusion of money the Hong Kong investors have put into MJC, following a February 2013 agreement between the two sides that saw investors subscribe to 450 million shares in the company at a subscription price of Php1 per share, amounting to Php450 million.

The new influx of funding could go a long way in MJC’s new resort and entertainment development. The project, which includes a five-star hotel, is located on a 7,500-square meter site inside the San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park. Once its fully developed, the site would complement existing high-end projects in the area, including a high-end residential condominium project between MJC and Ayala Land incorporated.

It’s also part of an ongoing revitalization program for San Lazaro, which MJC is tying to polish up to cater to local visitors and East Asian tourists, offering them a chance to enjoy high-quality accommodations and entertainment and recreational options close to the country’s Chinatown district.

The 160-room hotel project is set to be completed within the year, adding to a growing list of business expansions currently being undertaken by MJC. The company has also established the PAGCOR Club San Lazaro in Carmona, Cavite, which is in the middle of expanding its off-track betting (OTB) network in various parts of Metro Manila and other provinces in the Philippines.

Online poker site WSOP.com has taken over as the largest room in the New Jersey and Nevada in terms of cash game traffic, a week after its decision to share liquidity with 888poker New Jersey.

WSOP.com’s traffic has shot up to 49% while 888poker’s has risen even more sharply, with a 75% increase, putting it in second place.

The partypoker network, which includes partypoker.com NJ and Borgata Poker, has led the competition since the launch of its online poker in New Jersey in November 2013, now languishes in third, despite not losing any traffic. The 30-day moving average of cash game traffic at the partypoker network has remained constant over the last month.

The upsurge in traffic may not be completely down to liquidity sharing. It appears that the market is enjoying a mid-January boom, with the seven day moving average rising to 476 cash game seats compared to 356 a week ago.

Borgata is also in the midst of its tournament festival, the Garden State Super Series, which may be keeping players away from the cash tables.

Marketing efforts such as WSOP.com improving its rewards system, offering a higher level of rakeback for high-volume players and 888 offering a double VIP points throughout January; were also looked at as contributing factors to the change of lead.

The Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) report on regulated gaming revenues showed a good increase of 10% in December. The rise is expected to continue if rumors that PokerStars will be licensed as soon as March, attracting new blood to online poker and help reinvigorate the market.

January 20, 2015, Manila -The Asian Poker Tour (APT) has announced it will open the first APT Poker Room at the Manila Pavilion Casino Filipino in Ermita, Manila, Philippines, before the end of February. The room will consist of eight operating cash tables as well as tournament tables.

“For us it’s very much a strategic business move that we have been exploring for some time now; when suitable space became available at the very busy Casino Filipino at the Manila Pavilion we thought it ideal for what we want to achieve moving forward,” said APT CEO Jeff Mann.

“We have already set the dates for our events there in 2015 and expect to stage at least two events per year at RWM for many years to come. The APT Poker Room will simply fuel more players through satellite tournaments to these events as it will for all APT tournaments being organized in other countries,” added Mann.

About the Asian Poker Tour

The Asian Poker Tour was founded in 2008. Its first tournament was held in May of 2008 in the Philippines. Since then, it has grown to one of the leading poker tournaments in Asia. To date, the APT has staged more than 30 major events and numerous smaller tournaments mainly in the Asia-Pacific Region like the Philippines, Macau, Korea and Cambodia. But the brand has also been brought as far out as India, Australia, London and Mauritius. Through these events, more than USD 10 Million in prize pools have been awarded.

With its vision of providing a world-class poker experience at every stop, the Asian Poker Tour looks to broaden its reach by visiting more countries this year.

Hong Kong-based gaming operator Silver Heritage has secured government approval in Nepal to run the Shangri-La casino at the Shangri-La Hotel & Resort.

According to Nepal’s Department of Tourism, under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Silver Heritage plans to run the casino as a joint venture with a local Nepalese company and to invest more than NPR1 billion ($10.12 million) in its new project.

In the short term, Silver Heritage has been granted the green light to prepare to start its operations of the Shangri-La casino, at least as soon as the ministry’s operation manual to run casinos in line with the new regulations are drafted. The manual is what it is, a document that specifically lists instructions, and step-by-step procedures on how to run and operate casinos.

“As soon as the manual is drafted, Silver Heritage will be issued the final operating authorization,” Department of Tourism Director General Tulasi Gautam told Asia News Network.

Silver Heritage is the only the operator that has applied to operate a casino under the new casino regulation. Hotel Everest’s Everest Casino and a casino in Soaltee have expressed their intentions to resume operations after all the casinos were shut down in April 2014 for unpaid royalty dues and lack of operating permits under the new casino regulations.

Over in Palau, those who have been pining to see a casino in the western Pacific island will have to wait a little while longer because majority of the Senate has voted to reject a new proposal that would establish an exclusive casino license in the island country.

A bill supporting a casino license passed the country’s House of Delegates with some lawmakers arguing that a casino in the island could help generate as much as tens of millions in revenue and reduce Palau’s seeming over reliance on international donors, most specifically the United States.

UK-listed bookmaker William Hill‘s profits fell 7% in the fourth quarter of 2014. Hills issued a trading update on Tuesday saying the final three months of the year had been laid low by unfavorable results in football and horseracing. The results also endured an unfortunate comparison with Q4 2013, which saw good revenue gains across all verticals.

Q4 saw sports betting revenue fall at both retail and online thanks to the aforementioned rash of favorites cashing. But while OTC handle fell 1%, online turnover rose 16%, with in-play rising 27% and pre-match up 8%. Mobile accounted for over 50% of online wagering and 38% of online gaming revenue, the latter figure an 86% improvement over the same period last year. Retail gaming machine revenue win per week rose nearly 6% to £974.

William Hill Australia thoroughly enjoyed Q4 thanks to favorable results during the important Spring Carnival period. A revised marketing strategy helped reduce cost per acquisition by 25% and the resulting “reshaping of the customer base” helped push net revenue up 15% despite a 13% decline in turnover. William Hill US continues to grow like a weed, with turnover up 20%, revenue up 18% and profit up 14%.

For 2014 as a whole, Hills expects revenue to come in 8% higher and operating profit up 11% to £375m, handily beating analysts’ forecasts of £357m. Hills CEO James Henderson called it the company’s “best ever full-year operating profit result” thanks to markets from outside the UK rising to 18% of total revenue. Australian revenue was up 41% and the US was up 30%, while poor old telephone wagering fell 28%.

Looking forward to 2015, Hills says the year got off to “a difficult start” with yet another streak of “highly unfavorable” results. Hills also warned that the European Union’s new policy of applying VAT to electronic services could cost the company an extra £5m in 2015. Regardless, optimism abounds thanks to Hills’ online operations being “very well positioned” to absorb the impact of the UK’s new 15% point-of-consumption tax.

AUSTRALIAN CONSOLIDATION COMING

Hills confirmed that it intends to consolidate its Australian brands under the William Hill Australia moniker – and this time they mean it. Hills originally claimed there would be no rebranding of its Aussie acquisitions – Sportingbet, Centrebet and Tom Waterhouse.com – then said it would scrap the other brands, then went back to keeping the original names, and now the brands are back on the chopping block. Seriously, this time it’s going to happen.