Former Real Money Sports betting tout Adam Meyer has pled guilty to felony extortion and racketeering charges in connection with a $45m scam he ran on a former betting client.

Meyer, who originally pled not guilty to the charges, was arrested in November 2014 after Wisconsin-based customer Gary Sadoff alerted authorities that he’d been threatened with a gun by Meyer and an associate.

On Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Meyer had reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to five felonies in exchange for prosecutors dropping firearms charges. Meyer who will be sentenced on Dec. 9, could face up to 12 years in prison, although Meyer’s attorney is pushing for a five-year stint.

According to court documents, the $45.3m Meyer extracted from Sadoff between March 2009 and February 2011 is nearly twice the sum previously reported.

Italy’s top legislator has pledged to pursue a nearly one-third reduction in the number of gaming machines in bars, cafes, newsagents and hotels.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi gave an interview to a local magazine in which he claimed his administration was “developing a measure to remove [slots] from tobacconists and shops” in a bid to lessen gaming’s impact on youth and other vulnerable segments of society.

Economic undersecretary Pier Paolo Baretta followed up this statement by saying the government planned “a reorganization which takes into account social demand and therefore provides for a drastic reduction of [amusement with prizes machines] in the territory, accounting for 30 percent.”

Baretta said the government would target slots based on their physical proximity to “sensitive places,” presumably referring to the traditional schools, churches, etc. Baretta said the goal was to “find a solution that does not call into question the choices made ​​so far by local authorities but make them compatible with a more comprehensive regulatory framework.”

Nordic gambling operator Betsson AB has expanded its Baltic markets presence via the acquisition of TonyBet’s parent company.

On Thursday, Betsson announced that it had acquired Lošimų strateginė grupė UAB, which operates under the TonyBet brand. Betsson has agreed to pay an initial €4m with a further €2m payable in 2017 if the site meets certain performance benchmarks. The deal is expected to officially close within one month.

TonyBet holds online gambling licenses in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark and the UK and also operates 20 retail betting shops in Lithuania. TonyBet was founded by Antanas Guoga aka Tony G, a well-known poker player and a Lithuanian-elected member of the European Parliament. Betsson said TonyBet generated revenue of €3m and adjusted earnings of €550k in the first half of 2016.

Betsson already operates in Baltic markets via its Triobet brand and CEO Ulrik Bengtsson called the TonyBet deal “a good strategic fit” for his company, in keeping with its ambition to “increase revenue from locally regulated markets.”

The number of pending applications for smoking lounges in Macau’s casino market has piled up on the government’s desk.

Quoting a written reply of Health Bureau director Lei Chin Ion to Macau legislator Ella Lei Cheng I, GGRAsia reported that at least 73 smoking lounges are still waiting for Macau government to approve their application.

The letter, however, failed to mention which casinos had requested the government to approve their smoking lounges nor stated which casinos got the greenlight. What is clear is that there are a total of 86 smoking lounges that received a stamp of approval from the government – 83 of which were located  on main or ‘mass’ gaming floors; while the remaining three smoking lounges were situated in “areas restricted to certain gamblers.”

Two years ago, the government introduced a partial smoking ban that restricted smoking on casino main floors in the city state to the airport-style enclosed smoking lounges that do not have gaming tables or slot machines. Smoking cigarettes in VIP rooms are still allowed.