My oh my how the tables have turned. It was back in February of last year that William Hill offered to buy 888 for £744M. Disagreements over value from one key stakeholder torpedoed the deal. In street terms, that key stakeholder wanted more money, and boy was he right. Now it’s 888, together with Rank Group that may be making a bid for William Hill, and judging by the numbers, patience and tenacity may have paid off for 888 here, assuming the deal goes through for which there is no assurance yet.

888 being an Israeli company, the saying “Kol Mann D’Avid Rachmana LeTav Avid” is particularly relevant here for them. It means, “Everything that the Merciful One does is for the good.” The English equivalent would be “Everything is for the best.” It applies here in reference to 888’s failed bwin.party bid. The saying is based on a story of a Rabbi with a donkey, a rooster, and a candle looking for a place to sleep in one town while traveling. Nobody let him in so he slept in the woods, but a wind blew out his candle and wild animals ate his rooster and donkey. He responded by saying everything was for the best. He wakes up the next morning to find everyone in the town killed and their stuff stolen by robbers, and had they seen the candle or heard his animals they would have found him, too. It’s more of a way of looking at things rather than an ontological statement about reality, but in any case, better to buy William Hill than bwin.party. And back to numbers.

In February 2015 when William Hill made its offer, WMH shares were bordering on 400 pence. 888 was at 160. Since then, 888 has jumped by 36%, while William Hill has declined by 15%. 888 is now 13% higher than the total price offered by William Hill a year and a half ago. So not only is 888 more valuable now than what it was offered back then, but William Hill is cheaper now than what was worth back then, giving 888 and Rank a discount if the deal comes to fruition. As for Rank, it is up 27% since William Hill’s 2015 offer for 888, meaning it also has more financial power to buy them out.

There is another cool yet sneaky discount that 888 and Rank could get from this deal, and it’s due to the Brexit vote. While the vote will probably not change anything practically, it has certainly crashed the British pound sterling to 30 year lows. The GBP is 15% lower than it was when William Hill made its initial offer for 888. Yes, granted a lower GBP also hurts 888 and Rank who both earn money in that currency, but they also earn euros which are up against the pound. Their non-pound earnings plus the discount from the foreign exchange fall together give both another discount on net.

Spending from poker machines in the state of Victoria, in Australia rose by $43 million (US$32.33 million) in the past 12 months.

ABC News reported that Victorians spent almost $2.6 billion (US$1.95 billion) on poker machines, with gamblers from some of the state’s most disadvantaged areas pouring large amounts of money into the pokies.

Data from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation showed that Dandenong, located on the southeast outskirts of Melbourne, were each gambling $100 million a year on poker machines.

Part of the reason for the increase of gamblers in Victoria was the proliferation of poker machines in pubs and clubs, which took control of the business after betting companies Tabcorp and Tatts Group were stripped of their long-running poker machine duopoly in 2012.

Macau junket and casino investor Amax International Holdings Ltd has downplayed the impact of the temporary closure of Beijing Imperial Hotel to the group’s financial position and operation.

In an announcement to the HongKong Stock Exchange on Friday, Amax allayed fear of investors that the brief operation stoppage of Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel, which houses its beleaguered casino, Greek Mythology, will have a negative effect on the financial position of the company.

On the contrary, Amax claimed that Greek Mythology – which was temporarily shut since December 30 on the request of SJM Holdings – could continue its operation notwithstanding the close-down of the hotel under the law of Macau.

The Hongkong-listed gaming services firm, however, admitted that the temporary lock down of Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel may have a negative impact on the number of visitors and its business plan.

Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast, Lee Davy, takes a look at how the threshold model of collective behaviour slows the flow of poker and how dealers could speed it up.

My son and I are having dinner.

He’s a bag of nerves; fidgety, his fingers always working, adjusting a lapel, a button, or shaping his hair. A group of lads his age walk in and take a seat next to us. I see another change; more solemn this time, the conversation is stilted, the tone is quiet, almost imperceptible.

I look across at the lads.

Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast, Lee Davy, takes a look at how the threshold model of collective behaviour slows the flow of poker and how dealers could speed it up.

My son and I are having dinner.

He’s a bag of nerves; fidgety, his fingers always working, adjusting a lapel, a button, or shaping his hair. A group of lads his age walk in and take a seat next to us. I see another change; more solemn this time, the conversation is stilted, the tone is quiet, almost imperceptible.

I look across at the lads.

As 888Poker react to the need for their players to receive instant gratification with the launch of Blast Poker, Lee Davy wonders just how far the online poker market are prepared to go?

I was standing in the supermarket queue when it happened. This raving banshee was spitting all over me, hurling abuse, eyes glazed, mouth foaming.

I only popped in for a loaf of bread.

It was 2008, and I had just ruined her life by making her husband redundant. We were at the peak of the economic downturn. I was the Area Production Manager for a freight company. Our primary customer was the steelmaking giant Corus {Now Tata Steel}, and we learned a painful lesson.

The Indian state of Goa believes it has found a permanent home for its floating casinos but the tough job may be convincing the casinos.

This spring, Goa’s Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar gave the state’s five floating casinos until March 31, 2017 to find a permanent home other than the Mandovi river. On April 30, the Captain of Ports (CoP) proposed four potential docking sites but the casino operators rejected all four as unsuitable for their vessels’ operational requirements.

On Monday, the state Minister for Ports Administration Dilip Parulekar told the Legislative Assembly that the CoP had identified a suitable location on at Chicalim Bay on the Zuari river that would serve as a permanent dock for the five floating casinos.

Parulekar said the Chicalim Bay property “falls in the jurisdiction of Mormugao Port Trust.” This appears to be referring to the same property proposed earlier this month by a representative of the Chowgule Group, who noted that the Chicalim property had already been vetted by the Mormugao Port Trust.

Casino operator Las Vegas Sands had a mixed Q2, as its profit fell nearly one-third while posting its first Macau mass market gains in nearly two years.

Figures released Monday showed revenue falling 9.3% to $2.65b, operating income off 25% to $518.7m and net income slumping 32.2% to $394.4m in the three months ending June 30.

Sands China revenue was down 16.4% to $1.48b while profit plunged 39% to $237m. But Sands president Rob Goldstein chose to focus on the bright side, reporting that June’s mass market revenue was up year-on-year for the first time since Macau’s revenue slide began two years ago.

Goldstein couldn’t say whether June’s mass revenue gain was the result of increased visitation or increased spend per player. Whatever the cause, Goldstein hopes to see this phenomenon persist “for the rest of the summer.”

Maryland’s leading casino operator has sued its newest competitor before it even opened over an allegedly pilfered list of high-rolling gamblers.

Last week, Maryland Live filed a federal lawsuit against MGM Resorts for hiring three former staffers who Maryland Live claims stole the casino’s private database of VIP gamblers.

MGM, which is set to open its $1.3b National Harbor casino next month as the state’s sixth and final gaming venue, is accused of having “aided and abetted this whole scheme” by knowingly hiring the three staffers “with knowledge that they have misappropriated trade secrets and are subject to No Hire/Non-Compete agreements.”

Specifically, Maryland Live alleges that the three former “executive hosts” – two of whom bore the title of Asian Executive Host – stolen names and contact info of players belonging to the top two strata of its player reward system.