A Taiwanese legislator has been forced to deny a website’s claim that he’s a degenerate sports lottery gambler.

On Wednesday, an online news portal claimed that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Hsieh Wei-chou was a fixture at two Taiwan Sports Lottery retail outlets and had run up sports lottery debts of nearly NT$10m (US $309k).

The report quoted Hsieh Wei-chou (pictured, publicly apologizing last year for an unrelated incident) saying he no longer purchased sports lottery tickets and his sole focus was on his city councilor duties. Yet a source at Taipei City Council contradicted the councilor’s claims, saying his mother Yu Fang-chin had been forced to return to Japan to clear up her son’s debts and that his furious father had suggested that his son “might as well die.”

The source further alleged that Hsieh Wei-chou had ramped up his sports lottery stakes after being elected to city council in 2014. This allegedly led to him taking out low-interest loans that Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank offers councilors, as well as borrowing money in the name of his council office.

A Taiwanese legislator has been forced to deny a website’s claim that he’s a degenerate sports lottery gambler.

On Wednesday, an online news portal claimed that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Hsieh Wei-chou was a fixture at two Taiwan Sports Lottery retail outlets and had run up sports lottery debts of nearly NT$10m (US $309k).

The report quoted Hsieh Wei-chou (pictured, publicly apologizing last year for an unrelated incident) saying he no longer purchased sports lottery tickets and his sole focus was on his city councilor duties. Yet a source at Taipei City Council contradicted the councilor’s claims, saying his mother Yu Fang-chin had been forced to return to Japan to clear up her son’s debts and that his furious father had suggested that his son “might as well die.”

The source further alleged that Hsieh Wei-chou had ramped up his sports lottery stakes after being elected to city council in 2014. This allegedly led to him taking out low-interest loans that Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank offers councilors, as well as borrowing money in the name of his council office.

Brazil’s long-delayed gambling legislation likely won’t come up for a vote until the spring after legislators decided they had more pressing issues on their plates.

Brazilian legislators had hoped to schedule a vote on their two competing gambling bills – the Senate’s 186/2014 and the Chamber of Deputies’ 442/1991 – in early December but both bills were bumped due to other priorities, including dealing with the fallout from a Supreme Court injunction removing Senate President Renan Calheiros from office after he was indicted for embezzlement.

On Tuesday, Senator Fernando Bezerra Coelho appeared on Radio Jornal de Pernambuco’s Super Morning program, at which he confirmed that the 186/2014 bill had been referred to the Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship (CCJ) during the legislature’s final deliberative week earlier this month.

Coelho, a key backer of Brazil’s efforts to liberalize its gambling market, offered hope that the CCJ would be prompt in analyzing the bill “so that it can finally be deliberated by the Plenary.” But Coelho suggested it might take until “March, April, we can gather support necessary for the activity of gambling to be legalized in Brazil.”

During the close of 2015, an Ivy League professor pronounced bitcoin dead. And yet here we are today. Despite the bumps, the popular digital currency has never looked stronger—reaching its all-time high market cap and outperforming other currencies and assets in 2016.

So before the year ends, let’s review the moments that shaped bitcoin’s 2016.

Up, up and away

Many Nobel prize winning economists and university professors have spent their 2016 declaring bitcoin dead, but the digital currency continues to prove them wrong. In May, bitcoin broke its August 2014 record when it hit the $500 sweet spot. And that, apparently, was just the start.

During the close of 2015, an Ivy League professor pronounced bitcoin dead. And yet here we are today. Despite the bumps, the popular digital currency has never looked stronger—reaching its all-time high market cap and outperforming other currencies and assets in 2016.

So before the year ends, let’s review the moments that shaped bitcoin’s 2016.

Up, up and away

Many Nobel prize winning economists and university professors have spent their 2016 declaring bitcoin dead, but the digital currency continues to prove them wrong. In May, bitcoin broke its August 2014 record when it hit the $500 sweet spot. And that, apparently, was just the start.

There are 347 National Lottery players who became millionaires in the United Kingdom in 2016 or nearly one millionaire a day.

This is according to the latest data released by lottery operator Camelot, which reported that the number of lottery millionaires this year has surpassed the 341 record number of lottery players in 2015.

The Sun reported that the 347 players received checks for £1 million (US$1.22 million) or more in 2016, sharing a bank-busting £862m (US$1.06 billion).

The record number of National Lottery winners was attained despite the controversial changes to Lotto which saw the number of balls increase from 49 to 59 and the chance of winning the jackpot decrease from one in 14 million to one in 45 million.

Poker Central, the 24/7 dedicated poker TV channel is closing down a little over a year since they opened with their President saying that they need to curate new content for millennials.

After listening to The Minimalist podcast, I decided to participate in their 30-Day Minimalist Challenge. The rules were simple. Each day for 30-days I was to get rid of items on a scale that worked like this:

1 item on day 1

2 items on day 2

CalvinAyre’s Best Poker Moments of 2016

Lee Davy shares his best poker moments of 2016 including the Global Poker League Draft, Phil Galfond’s intention to launch an online poker room and the Fedor Holz heater of a lifetime.

My one-word summation of poker in 2016 is ‘angry.’ And yet, beneath all of the angst, frustration and even hatred there were some gems.

Here are my favourite moments of 2016.