CrownBet chief Matthew Tripp has taken up the cudgels for Australia’s sports betting industry which is now under fire for a spike of gambling losses in the land down under.

Interviewed by radio news station 3AW, Tripp pointed out that the sports betting industry is small to take the brunt of the blame on the spike of gambling losses in Australia. The latest nationwide gambling figures show Australians lost almost US$17.5 billion through gambling in 2015.

While half of the amount was on pokie machines, there was also a 30 per cent increase from sports betting.

Trip said that the government made an erroneous interpretation on the latest Australian gambling data.

Anyone remember Brexit? That thing where Britons voted by a healthy majority it leave the European Union? Yeah, well surprise surprise, it looks like it won’t happen this decade, if ever. On August 14th, the Sunday Times came out with a report suggesting that the new UK government will likely delay the move until late 2019. Says Reuters, quoting the Sunday Times,

But British government ministers have warned senior figures in the City of London, London’s financial district, that Article 50 was unlikely to be triggered early in 2017 because the situation in government was “chaotic”, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday.

After noting that the situation in government was “chaotic”, the Sunday Times continued (not really) by quoting another source that said that the sky was “blue”. The newspaper then won the Pulitzer immediately for its groundbreaking Sunday Times Sunday scoop. The Monday Times then repeated the story the next day and won some other award granted by establishment elites.

Back to Sobriety Times now. This delay comes as no surprise, except for the fact that I expected the delay to be triggered by some sort of plausible excuse other than “the situation in government is chaotic,” really a groundbreaking situation there. God forbid a terrorist attack, a debt crisis flair up, the Government has a headache so no Brexit tonight honey, or some other whatever to trigger a delay I believed was more reasonable, but we didn’t even get that. We just got a delay for no reason at all, and UK voters don’t seem to care all that much. Nigel Farage retired too early it seems. If he cared about Brexit so much, he should have stayed on until the process was completed. Referenda may be technically expensive, but in the end they are cheap.  As a reminder, just before the vote I had said,

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is weighing approval for select companies in the United Kingdom that use the blockchain technology.

UK’s financial regulatory body told Financial Times that there is a number of groups that are engaged in the development of blockchain-based consumer-facing products, which are already in the preapproval stage.

Blockchain is the underlying technology that supports popular digital currency bitcoin. It makes use of cryptography to create a distributed ledger system to hold and spend money in a more open, transparent and flexible manner compared to the traditional bank or credit card companies.

“We do think [blockchain] has got some potentially interesting applications and we are talking to firms thinking about how to apply that to financial services and how it could benefit consumers or indeed make the business of compliance easier,” said Chris Woolard, the FCA’s director of strategy and competition, according to the news outlet. “There may be areas where we might want to encourage it a bit.”

Slowly but surely, the Atlantic City casino industry is stepping out of the shadow of economic recession.

Collective operating profit of Atlantic City’s casinos surged by 21 percent in the first half of 2016, the highest since 2010, according to Fox Business.

From January to June 2016, the eight remaining Atlantic City casinos posted a combined $259 million, compared to $213 million in 2015. But total revenues for the same period barely improved, from $1.66 billion in the first half of 2015 to $1.68 billion in the same period in 2016.

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa led six of the eight Atlantic City casinos in terms of profits with $106 million in the second quarter, up by 27 percent compared to the same period last year. Borgata was followed by Resorts Casino Hotel, which saw a 26 percent uptick in its profits to $5.7 million compared last year, and Tropicana Casino Resort which saw a 25 percent increase in 2016 profits to $17 million.

Slowly but surely, the Atlantic City casino industry is stepping out of the shadow of economic recession.

Collective operating profit of Atlantic City’s casinos surged by 21 percent in the first half of 2016, the highest since 2010, according to Fox Business.

From January to June 2016, the eight remaining Atlantic City casinos posted a combined $259 million, compared to $213 million in 2015. But total revenues for the same period barely improved, from $1.66 billion in the first half of 2015 to $1.68 billion in the same period in 2016.

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa led six of the eight Atlantic City casinos in terms of profits with $106 million in the second quarter, up by 27 percent compared to the same period last year. Borgata was followed by Resorts Casino Hotel, which saw a 26 percent uptick in its profits to $5.7 million compared last year, and Tropicana Casino Resort which saw a 25 percent increase in 2016 profits to $17 million.

Slowly but surely, the Atlantic City casino industry is stepping out of the shadow of economic recession.

Collective operating profit of Atlantic City’s casinos surged by 21 percent in the first half of 2016, the highest since 2010, according to Fox Business.

From January to June 2016, the eight remaining Atlantic City casinos posted a combined $259 million, compared to $213 million in 2015. But total revenues for the same period barely improved, from $1.66 billion in the first half of 2015 to $1.68 billion in the same period in 2016.

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa led six of the eight Atlantic City casinos in terms of profits with $106 million in the second quarter, up by 27 percent compared to the same period last year. Borgata was followed by Resorts Casino Hotel, which saw a 26 percent uptick in its profits to $5.7 million compared last year, and Tropicana Casino Resort which saw a 25 percent increase in 2016 profits to $17 million.

Daily fantasy sports is back—and legal—in New York.

On Monday, the New York State gaming Commission notified five of the biggest daily fantasy sports operators—DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo, Fantasy Draft and Draft—that they are allowed to resume operations in the state immediately.

The companies will operate under temporary permits, as the state regulator is still drafting regulations based on the bill that was signed into law earlier this month by New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The timing couldn’t have been better, what with the NFL season kicking off in a few weeks.

Beleaguered businessman Roberto Ongpin can revise his proposals to save PhilWeb all he wants, but the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) will not budge on its decision.

Last week, Ongpin made several last ditch attempts to save the gaming technology provider from the wrath of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. First, the businessman announced he would donate 49 percent of his 771.75 million PhilWeb shares to PAGCOR. When the state regulator refused, Ongpin altered his offer to appeal to Duterte’s other war—drugs.

In his final Hail Mary pass, the embattled businessman said the government can use his donation to build a network of drug rehabilitation centers co-managed by the private sector.

Still, PAGCOR stood firm in rejecting Ongpin’s offer.

3-Barrels of pure value including PKR celebrating a decade in business by opening a new PKR Live Casino; PokerStars roll out a new Spin & Go promotion where players can win a $5,000 holiday; and iPoker change their tournament schedule including raking rebuys and add-ons.

What’s so special about the 17 August 2006?

It was the birth of PKR, of course.

The only 3D poker room in the world is 10-years old and to celebrate they are delving deeper into the casino business with the launch of PKR Live Casino.

PokerStars has renamed a $22 Pot-Limit Omaha daily tournament The Lex Veldhuis Open, and opened up a challenge to all players to have the event renamed in their honour; Jason Somerville RunItUp show joins the Deepstacks Poker Tour in Calgary, Canada.

You may remember Lex Veldhuis as the man who once kicked Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier’s head into the atmosphere surrounding Mars, but rumour has it he’s also a pretty good poker player.

The Team PokerStars Pro has a popular Twitch stream where he provides thrills and spills for his 11,741 followers playing under his pseudonym RaSZi.

The Dutchman has been quite a hit in the PokerStars daily $22 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) Six-Max Turbo event, so much so, that PokerStars offered him a unique challenge.

The Young Gamblers Education Trust has come under scrutiny as some of their Trustees have ties within the gambling industry, and they also receive funds from gambling companies.

As a freelance writer, I have a pet hate.

When I worked for PokerNews at European Poker Tour (EPT) events, I had to steer clear of mentioning the World Poker Tour (WPT) or World Series of Poker (WSOP), and when working for the WPT, I had to steer clear of mentioning the EPT and WSOP.

Utter ridiculousness.

The Young Gamblers Education Trust has come under scrutiny as some of their Trustees have ties within the gambling industry, and they also receive funds from gambling companies.

As a freelance writer, I have a pet hate.

When I worked for PokerNews at European Poker Tour (EPT) events, I had to steer clear of mentioning the World Poker Tour (WPT) or World Series of Poker (WSOP), and when working for the WPT, I had to steer clear of mentioning the EPT and WSOP.

Utter ridiculousness.