The World Series of Poker Main Event has reached the money after Day 3 cut the field down to 800 players with some established pros at the top of the chip counts all searching for the $8m first prize.

Day 3 of this epic event began with Valentin Vornicu leading 2,167 players. It ended with a different chip leader, and only 800 players left in search of an $8m bounty, gold bracelet, and every poker player’s dream.

Level 11 is where we left off on Day 2, and it began on Day 3 with a splurge of top tier eliminations.

Two men bound in the history books of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event clashed with fatal consequences. Last year’s eighth-place finisher, Frederico Butteroni, eliminated Matt Affleck JJQQ to eliminated Carlos Welch, and the comedian Ray Romano wasn’t laughing then his A7 failed to find an ace to upset the 99 that eventually sent him tumbling out of the event.

Porn impresario Larry Flynt says he’ll back out of his deal to buy the Normandie Casino after being “treated as a second-class citizen” by local politicians.

Last week saw Flynt, the founder of the Hustler adult entertainment business, announced as the buyer of the Normandie Casino in Gardena, California. But this week saw Flynt accuse Gardena city council of moving the goalposts by changing the card room’s municipal tax obligations.

Flynt, who already owns the Hustler Casino in Gardena, has objected to the city’s plans to replace their standard 12% gaming revenue tax with a minimum monthly payment of $800k from the two casinos. To soften the blow, the city offered Flynt a discount on its 12% rate if either property’s monthly revenue exceeds $2m.

On Thursday, Flynt addressed the city council, warning them that he was prepared to walk away from the deal to buy the Normandie, which Flynt has already begun rebranding as Larry Flynt’s Lucky Lady Casino. Flynt warned that “400 people are going to be out of a job” if he made good on his threat.

Hawaiian Gardens Casino has become the third California card club to be hit with a seven-figure fine for anti-money laundering (AML) violations.

On Friday, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it had reached a $2.8m settlement with the Hawaiian Gardens’ owners for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

FinCEN says the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) examined The Gardens for compliance with the BSA in 2011 and again in 2014. The IRS said “many” violations it uncovered in 2011 were still unaddressed in 2014. The Gardens’ independent consultant had identified the same type of problems in 2013.

FinCEN said The Gardens had failed to (a) implement and maintain an effective AML program, (b) report large cash transactions, (c) file many suspicious activity reports (SAR), and (d) keep certain required records.

UK gambling firms spent 46% more on television adverts in 2015 than they spent in 2012 and are on track to set a new spending record in 2016.

According to data compiled by broadcast researchers Nielsen for The Guardian newspaper, UK gambling firms spent £118.5m on TV promos in 2015, up from just £82.1m in 2012.

Bingo operators, who are allowed to advertise on TV before the 9pm watershed, topped all other verticals last year by spending £56.9m, 17% higher than in 2014. Online casino spending was the biggest gainer, rising 54% to £30.1m, while sports betting ranked third with £26.7m.

Over the first five months of 2016, gambling firms spent £51.4m on TV adverts. Should that trend continue, full-year 2016 TV spending could top £123m. And considering that those year-to-date figures didn’t include the Euro 2016 football marketing bonanza, the final figure could easily exceed that £123m estimate.

Russia’s communications regulator has put two major payment processing sites on its blacklist because of their links to online gambling.

On Thursday, Russia’s Roskomnadzor agency slapped its scarlet letter on Skrill and Qiwi for (a) containing links to unauthorized online gambling sites and (b) facilitating payments for same.

Both sites remain active for the time being, as Qiwi posted a notice to its Facebook page saying that Roskomnadzor had given the company a 24-hour grace period in which to purge the offending gambling advertisements from their pages.

Skrill is familiar to Western online gamblers while Qiwi is a Cyprus-based processor that primarily operates in Russia and other Eastern European countries. Qiwi operates over 175k electronic payment terminals across Russia through its KIWI-Bank subsidiary.