The gambling industry in Pennsylvania is in a state of chaos after the Supreme Court voted 6-1 in favour of an extension for the General Assembly to change tax laws on slot machine revenue as local communities suffer.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted the General Assembly more time to pull their fingers out of their ass and come up with a solution to their slot machine tax levy headache.

In 2006, Senate Bill 862 passed with flying colours dictating that the 12 casinos in the state would have to pay a tax levy of 2% of annual gross slot revenue or $10m (whichever came first). And that deal has stood for the past decade until recent rumblings.

The first to complain about the tax levy, a decade after the imposition, was Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino, where four of the world’s top No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up specialists are currently being handed their ass on a plate by a machine.

The Charity Series of Poker returns to the Borgata Winter Poker Open, this time raising money for Support The Kid, an organisation created to help children suffering from cancer.

Matt Stout and the gang are back raising money for charity this weekend.

The ninth Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event takes place at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Cards will be in the air at 18:30. The buy-in is $220. The action is fast and furious. Asher Conniff, Jessica Dawley, Dan Heimiller and Jamie Kerstetter will be supporting the evening.

The Charity Series of Poker returns to the Borgata Winter Poker Open, this time raising money for Support The Kid, an organisation created to help children suffering from cancer.

Matt Stout and the gang are back raising money for charity this weekend.

The ninth Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event takes place at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Cards will be in the air at 18:30. The buy-in is $220. The action is fast and furious. Asher Conniff, Jessica Dawley, Dan Heimiller and Jamie Kerstetter will be supporting the evening.

The Charity Series of Poker returns to the Borgata Winter Poker Open, this time raising money for Support The Kid, an organisation created to help children suffering from cancer.

Matt Stout and the gang are back raising money for charity this weekend.

The ninth Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event takes place at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Cards will be in the air at 18:30. The buy-in is $220. The action is fast and furious. Asher Conniff, Jessica Dawley, Dan Heimiller and Jamie Kerstetter will be supporting the evening.

The Charity Series of Poker returns to the Borgata Winter Poker Open, this time raising money for Support The Kid, an organisation created to help children suffering from cancer.

Matt Stout and the gang are back raising money for charity this weekend.

The ninth Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event takes place at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Cards will be in the air at 18:30. The buy-in is $220. The action is fast and furious. Asher Conniff, Jessica Dawley, Dan Heimiller and Jamie Kerstetter will be supporting the evening.

The Charity Series of Poker returns to the Borgata Winter Poker Open, this time raising money for Support The Kid, an organisation created to help children suffering from cancer.

Matt Stout and the gang are back raising money for charity this weekend.

The ninth Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event takes place at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Cards will be in the air at 18:30. The buy-in is $220. The action is fast and furious. Asher Conniff, Jessica Dawley, Dan Heimiller and Jamie Kerstetter will be supporting the evening.

The Charity Series of Poker returns to the Borgata Winter Poker Open, this time raising money for Support The Kid, an organisation created to help children suffering from cancer.

Matt Stout and the gang are back raising money for charity this weekend.

The ninth Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event takes place at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Cards will be in the air at 18:30. The buy-in is $220. The action is fast and furious. Asher Conniff, Jessica Dawley, Dan Heimiller and Jamie Kerstetter will be supporting the evening.

International online sports betting operators could be barred from operating in Kenya if new legislative proposals are approved.

Kenya was considering new gambling legislation last year before that bill was scrapped and its tax provisions inserted into a separate Finance Bill. The government promised at the time to introduce a new gambling bill that would impose tighter curbs on the gaming industry.

In late December, Kenyan MP Jakoyo Midiwo introduced a draft of a new Betting, Lotteries and Gaming (Amendment) Bill that would dramatically revamp the country’s gambling landscape, including requiring all online gambling firms to be wholly owned by Kenyan nationals.

Earlier this month, Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) chairman Anthony Kimani Kung’u told Business Daily Africa that while Kenya’s existing gambling legislation was “in dire need of alignment with the phenomenal growth of the industry,” he felt Midiwo’s legislative proposals had “shortcomings that will roll back significant gains made in the industry.”

The ranks of Macau’s casino junket operators continue to shrink despite recent signs of life in the VIP gambling market.

On Friday, Macao Daily News quoted Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) director Paulo Martins Chan saying the DICJ planned to authorize “slightly more than 120” VIP gaming promoter licenses in 2017. That would represent a double-digit decline from the 141 valid licenses the DICJ confirmed in January 2016.

Chan said the year-on-year decline was partly the result of some junket operators failing to meet the DICJ’s standards for financial accounting. The DICJ imposed tighter accounting and auditing requirements in 2015 following a series of high-profile internal theft incidents that shattered junket investor confidence.

Chan told the Chinese-language media outlet that the DICJ would conduct a fresh inspection of junket operators following the Chinese New Year celebrations. These inspections would include financial soundness tests and audits of the total value of non-rolling chips the promoters were holding on behalf of clients.

The ranks of Macau’s casino junket operators continue to shrink despite recent signs of life in the VIP gambling market.

On Friday, Macao Daily News quoted Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) director Paulo Martins Chan saying the DICJ planned to authorize “slightly more than 120” VIP gaming promoter licenses in 2017. That would represent a double-digit decline from the 141 valid licenses the DICJ confirmed in January 2016.

Chan said the year-on-year decline was partly the result of some junket operators failing to meet the DICJ’s standards for financial accounting. The DICJ imposed tighter accounting and auditing requirements in 2015 following a series of high-profile internal theft incidents that shattered junket investor confidence.

Chan told the Chinese-language media outlet that the DICJ would conduct a fresh inspection of junket operators following the Chinese New Year celebrations. These inspections would include financial soundness tests and audits of the total value of non-rolling chips the promoters were holding on behalf of clients.