Staff at a Betfred betting shop in Manchester called police last week after a punter demanded the return of a £60 tip.

A couple weeks ago, a thirty-something man was in high spirits after legally relieving Betfred of what the Manchester Evening News called a “large amount of money.” Neither the specific amount of the punter’s winnings nor the event on which he wagered was revealed, but the punter felt sufficiently celebratory to share £60 with staff at the Cross Street shop.

Fast-forward to this past Friday and the punter returned to the shop in an entirely different frame of mind. Apparently having endured a run of bad luck, the punter demanded the return of the £60 tip. When staff balked at this request, the punter grew angrier, demanding staff make with the money by 3pm that day while cryptically informing them that they “don’t know who I am.”

Unnerved, the shop manager called the police but the punter amscrayed before the Greater Manchester Police arrived on the scene. Meaning shop staff still don’t know who he is.

Canada’s British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) has paid out nearly $1.1m to customers after uncovering a software glitch on its online gambling site PlayNow.com.

In a statement issued last week, BCLC said a review had uncovered an incorrect configuration setting on its Wizard of Odds slots title that failed to alert players of a progressive jackpot win. The glitch affected a total of nine players who should have been awarded varying jackpots totaling $1,088,120 between July 16, 2014 and June 10, 2015.

BCLC said it removed the offending slots title from its site on June 10, after which it conducted a review of the past 11 months’ activity. BCLC says the game was found to qualify only those players who bet one dollar or more per spin, when the game was supposed to have no minimum bet requirement. BCLC claimed to have found no problems with the game’s random number generator.

ALBERTA STILL ON THE FENCE

Casino operators with properties in Macau are seeing share price rises after a top legislator suggested a compromise on the city-state’s proposed blanket smoking ban.

Last week saw Macau’s Legislative Assembly (LA) have its first reading of the new smoking plan, which would ban tobacco use in casino VIP rooms and eliminate the airport-style smoking lounges on the mass gaming floors. Following the reading, the LA voted 26-2 in favor of the plan, sending the bill to a committee for further study and recommendation ahead of a second and final vote later this year.

Following the vote, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chong Weng dismissed suggestions that the government might permit the smoking lounges to remain, saying the government had “a very firm stance on this matter and our intention is to protect the health of Macau’s population.”

However, Tam has since offered hope that the smoking lounges could be preserved if operators could provide evidence that smoking lounges “can scientifically and effectively prevent the health of gaming workers and tourists being affected by tobacco.” Tam suggested that the LA’s final verdict “will depend upon [the operators’] proposals.”