Equity and investment firm CVC Capital Partners has completed its acquisition of an 80% stake in Sky Bet, the online betting arm of UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB.

The deal, which was first announced in December 2014, values Sky Bet at £800 million (€1.1 billion/$1.2 billion).

Under the agreement, Sky received £600 million in cash and a vendor loan note, and will be entitled to further payments depending on CVC achieving certain minimum return criteria on its Sky investment.

“The sale crystallizes value for Sky that has been created in Sky Bet, and enables the enlarged Sky to focus on the significant opportunity for growth in pay-TV across the five markets in which it now operates.” Sky said.

MGM Resorts is scheduled to break ground on its $800 million casino in Springfield, Massachusetts on Tuesday.

The resort casino will occupy a 14.5 acre site in Springfield’s South End, which was destroyed by a tornado almost four years ago.

The casino is expected to open in 2017.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission granted MGM an integrated resort license for the state’s western part. Later on, it awarded Wynn Resorts a license for the Boston area but that project has not yet begun construction in Everett.

Jim Psaros has defeated Emanuel Seal to win the $183,000 first prize at the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Main Event in Sydney, and the World Poker Tour upset the Asian Poker Tour applecart with a ill-timed return to the Philippines.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced plans to return to the Philippines in August.

Everyone is delighted.

Everyone except, that is, the Asian Poker Tour (APT).

The One Drop Foundation celebrate World Water Day with a specially arranged show at The Mirage, and PokerNews release footage of Dan Colman visiting Central America to see first hand the effects of the millions poker has raised for this important charity.

I only got three hours sleep last night. I went deep in the Big $11 on PokerStars. I wanted to tell everyone that I nearly won a lot of money. My ego was bursting out of my chest.

I was half asleep brushing my teeth. The cold-water tap was running. It was pouring down the sink. A child dies every 8-seconds due to a lack of access to water. Nearly 40-people died whilst I brushed my teeth. I spat my toothpaste into the toilet and flushed the chain.

There go another 10 people.

Lee Davy wants to know why the most influential ambassadors in the poker community aren’t combining their strength and lobbying power to help hundreds of thousands of Americans play online poker.

How did a writer manage before social media was created?

It must have been such a hard job.

Today, when you are struggling for something to write about, you just browse through Twitter. Pick up a few notable poker players. Find a story. Write about it.

Team Italy has won the inaugural Global Poker Masters after defeating team Russia in the final. Team UK picks up the wooden spoon.

The Italians are the first winners of the Global Poker Masters (GPM). Let’s hope it’s just the beginning of an event that seems to have picked up nothing but universal praise.

It was dubbed Poker’s World Cup (a rather big poker company has the trademark to the better sounding World Cup of Poker) and for followers of World Cup’s a few things changed and a few things didn’t.

As a Brit, my experience with World Cup’s is pretty simple. Football is my game; England my nation. We generally play crap and lose. But every now and then we play outstanding…and lose…usually against Germany.

Philippine officials have denied reports that their investigation into Universal Entertainment’s activities in the country has been closed.

Last Thursday, the Japan-based Universal issued a statement saying that dual investigations in the Philippines and Japan had “concluded for all practical purposes.” The investigations were launched over suspicions that Universal’s Philippine subsidiary had funneled $40m in questionable payments to former top execs at Philippine gaming regulator PAGCOR. The payments were allegedly made to obtain concessions related to the development of an integrated resort in Manila’s Entertainment City casino zone.

On Monday, the Philippine Department of Justice issued a clarification saying no such conclusion had been reached. GMA News quoted Justice Secretary Leila de Lima saying Prosecutor General Claro Areliano had yet to receive the resolution of the panel of prosecutors investigating the brouhaha. Areliano also denied the claim, saying that the only instruction he’d issued was to tell the panel to speed up the resolution of the case.

TRAVELLERS INTERNATIONAL PROFIT NEARLY DOUBLES DESPITE REVENUE DECLINE

Philippine officials have denied reports that their investigation into Universal Entertainment’s activities in the country has been closed.

Last Thursday, the Japan-based Universal issued a statement saying that dual investigations in the Philippines and Japan had “concluded for all practical purposes.” The investigations were launched over suspicions that Universal’s Philippine subsidiary had funneled $40m in questionable payments to former top execs at Philippine gaming regulator PAGCOR. The payments were allegedly made to obtain concessions related to the development of an integrated resort in Manila’s Entertainment City casino zone.

On Monday, the Philippine Department of Justice issued a clarification saying no such conclusion had been reached. GMA News quoted Justice Secretary Leila de Lima saying Prosecutor General Claro Areliano had yet to receive the resolution of the panel of prosecutors investigating the brouhaha. Areliano also denied the claim, saying that the only instruction he’d issued was to tell the panel to speed up the resolution of the case.

TRAVELLERS INTERNATIONAL PROFIT NEARLY DOUBLES DESPITE REVENUE DECLINE

UK-listed online payment processor Optimal Payments has struck a €1.1b deal to acquire rival Skrill.

Optimal announced on Monday that it had entered into an agreement to perform a reverse takeover of Sentinel Topco Ltd., which counts Skrill among its subsidiaries. Sentinel is currently owned by funds managed and advised by CVC Capital Partners, which acquired a majority stake in Skrill for €600m in August 2013. The parties expect to finalize the deal by Q3 2015.

Skrill, which began life as Moneybookers in 2001, is a popular payment processor in online gambling circles, and also controls the Ukash and Paysafecard businesses. Optimal has been approved in all three US states currently offering some form of intrastate online gambling and has also boosted its presence in Canada’s regulated provincial online markets.

Optimal justified its Skrill acquisition as a way to diversify its profile and ensure it isn’t overly reliant on online gambling. Optimal chairman Dennis Jones said the Skrill deal was one of those opportunities that are “few and far between” and would likely be earnings accretive “from the first full fiscal year of ownership.”