The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is taking a step back from its legal battle with bitcoin exchange Coinbase to assess if it needs to take additional action in the case.

New court filings obtained by CoinDesk showed that lawyers for the U.S. tax agency have asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to delay the hearing set for Feb. 16 until March 23 “because it is weighing whether to take additional action in the case.”

The hearing is for the petitions filed by Coinbase and one of its customers. The two parties wanted the court to formally intervene in their dispute of the legitimacy of IRS’ John Doe summons. If you recall, the California district court allowed the tax agency to require Coinbase to submit records of its customer transactions as part of an investigation into possible tax fraud committed by U.S. residents who engaged in business with or through the bitcoin wallet service.

Lawyer Jeffrey Berns, also a customer of the virtual currency exchange, challenged the order on grounds that the summons “would constitute an abuse of process” and described the IRS’s request to obtain the user records as “overboard.”

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is taking a step back from its legal battle with bitcoin exchange Coinbase to assess if it needs to take additional action in the case.

New court filings obtained by CoinDesk showed that lawyers for the U.S. tax agency have asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to delay the hearing set for Feb. 16 until March 23 “because it is weighing whether to take additional action in the case.”

The hearing is for the petitions filed by Coinbase and one of its customers. The two parties wanted the court to formally intervene in their dispute of the legitimacy of IRS’ John Doe summons. If you recall, the California district court allowed the tax agency to require Coinbase to submit records of its customer transactions as part of an investigation into possible tax fraud committed by U.S. residents who engaged in business with or through the bitcoin wallet service.

Lawyer Jeffrey Berns, also a customer of the virtual currency exchange, challenged the order on grounds that the summons “would constitute an abuse of process” and described the IRS’s request to obtain the user records as “overboard.”

Vietnam’s decision to lift the ban on locals’ gambling in casinos has sparked hope that the local industry will soon witness a boom.

The country’s casino industry has long been touted as “lucrative,” and reports indicate that it will benefit more once the long-running ban on gambling has been lifted. But are Vietnam’s casinos really as profitable as what they say?

Apparently, that’s not the case.

Local casino owners revealed to news outlet VNExpress that “they either losing money or making very little because foreigners, especially those from China and Taiwan, are becoming less inclined to gamble in Vietnam.”

Vietnam’s decision to lift the ban on locals’ gambling in casinos has sparked hope that the local industry will soon witness a boom.

The country’s casino industry has long been touted as “lucrative,” and reports indicate that it will benefit more once the long-running ban on gambling has been lifted. But are Vietnam’s casinos really as profitable as what they say?

Apparently, that’s not the case.

Local casino owners revealed to news outlet VNExpress that “they either losing money or making very little because foreigners, especially those from China and Taiwan, are becoming less inclined to gamble in Vietnam.”

“Weak” VIP segment will continue to plague the Singapore casino market this year, according to international credit debt watcher Fitch Ratings Inc.

Unlike in other gaming markets, Fitch is less optimistic about Singapore and expects its two casino resorts to be roughly flat at US$4 billion in 2017 compared to last year

“Gaming revenues continued a downward trajectory in 2016 largely due to a steep contraction in the VIP segment, despite a 12.5 percent gain in Chinese visitors (the biggest source of VIP revenue) in first-half 2016,” Fitch said in its note. “Most revenue comes from foreigners, as local residents are required to pay a SGD100 [US$71] entrance fee [for 24-hour access] and marketing to locals is heavily restricted.”

Singapore’s two integrated resorts – Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Marina Bay Sands (MBS) resort and Genting Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) – will also feel the competitive pressure from other gaming hubs in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sen. Francis Escudero has laid out his plan to make sure the Philippine government gets its rightful share of the online gaming sector’s revenue—plug the loopholes on the regulation.

The lawmaker, if you recall, is challenging the right of state regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to issue licenses to Philippine-based online gambling operators serving international betting customers. In a forum with reporters last Thursday, Escudero said the tricky issue of who “really” regulates the online gaming sector in country is depriving the government of its “rightful revenue share.”

“We need to address this issue with finality so we can finally plug the loopholes in foregone revenues from offshore gaming and put to rest the issue of the legality or illegality of its operation in the country,” Escudero was quoted by news outlet Interaksyon saying.

PAGCOR is currently issuing licenses—35 licenses so far—to Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGO), stressing that online licensing “fall within the bound of its charter to operate, authorize and license games of chance, games of cards and games of numbers in the Philippines.”

Philippine casino gross gaming revenue will grow by as much as 4 percent this year as new roads in the country’s capital will make the island nation’s entertainment center more accessible.

In a note it recently issued, Manila-based COL Financial Group predicts that the collective GGR of Resorts World Manila, Solaire Resort and Casino, and City of Dreams Manila will grow by as much as PHP91 billion (US$1.8 billion) in 2017.

The three integrated resorts posted a total of PHP87.3 billion (US$1.77 billion) in GGR in 2016.

COL Financial’s optimism is spurred by the infrastructure projects in Manila, that the brokerage believe will help drive more foot traffic to the integrated casinos this year.

Philippine casino gross gaming revenue will grow by as much as 4 percent this year as new roads in the country’s capital will make the island nation’s entertainment center more accessible.

In a note it recently issued, Manila-based COL Financial Group predicts that the collective GGR of Resorts World Manila, Solaire Resort and Casino, and City of Dreams Manila will grow by as much as PHP91 billion (US$1.8 billion) in 2017.

The three integrated resorts posted a total of PHP87.3 billion (US$1.77 billion) in GGR in 2016.

COL Financial’s optimism is spurred by the infrastructure projects in Manila, that the brokerage believe will help drive more foot traffic to the integrated casinos this year.

Investors are giving Australian billionaire James Packer a rude welcome for his return to the Crown Resorts board.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Crown Resorts shareholders are preparing to file a class suit against the casino operator in connection with the arrest of its staff in China in November.

According to the report, the action is expected to involve institutional investors many of whom exited the stock or reduced their holdings during the share price rout. Law firm Maurice Blackburn will handle the suit while it will be funded by International Litigation Funding Partners.

Julian Schimmel, who is the class action principal of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, said Crown Resorts should have informed investors about the risks that the company faces in doing business in China, especially upon learning that there had been cases of arrests in connection with marketing junkets.

Super Bowl LI is going to tell us a lot we need to know about the economy for the first half of the year. The amount of bets placed each year is a good proxy for how much excess liquidity is floating around, and this year we’re looking at an 11% increase in total betting volume over Super Bowl 50. So clearly we don’t have to worry about the next recession until Donald Trump launches a war. Maybe it’ll be on Australia after his big fight with the Aussie Prime Minister over a refugee deal. Or Mexico. Or China. Or Germany? There are so many options now that being diplomatic is no longer a thing it seems. While scary, you have to admit there is something refreshingly entertaining about politicians the world over getting yelled at by a loud-mouthed reality TV star who used to hock his own brand of now defunct steaks out of the now defunct Sharper Image gadget store chain.

And now he’s president. What a weird time to be alive, eh?

The 11% increase number comes from the American Gaming Association, those group of guys hired to squeeze favors out of Congress and get the government off the gambling industry’s back as much as possible. The absolute estimate for betting volume is $4.7 billion, which includes both legal and illegal venues. Not sure how the AGA is able to track under the table bets, but it’s probably just a mathematical model thrown together based off the increase in Vegas sportsbook volumes. It makes the AGA look better if they seem like wizards able to divine every bet placed on the Super Bowl.

If the 11% increase figure is accurate, it would make some sense, because the money supply has increased by about 8% since Super Bowl 50. The slight overshoot could indicate that everyone hates Tom Brady and the Patriots so bets are lining up against them out of spite, and therefore betting volumes are up more than the money supply. Or it could mean that people are just getting looser with their cash because they are more confident in their paychecks, which precedes price inflation. Or it could be a combination of both. Either way, the fact that betting volumes are expected to jump by a double digit percentage is especially telling about the speed of the current US economy considering the ratings struggle that the NFL has encountered this year, and the relatively boring playoffs this season to boot.

New brain research shows that the brains of problem gamblers have more difficulty than non-addicts in anticipating monetary rewards.

On Wednesday, JAMA Psychiatry published the findings of researchers at Radboud University in the Netherlands who analyzed 25 neuroimaging studies involving brain reward sensitivity of over 1,200 participants, about half of whom were addicted to either gambling or substances (coke, smack, weed, alcohol, nicotine, etc.) and the other half a control group of non-addicts.

The researchers set out to determine the nature and direction of “pathophysiologic reward-processing disruptions in the brain during anticipation and outcome notification of monetary rewards.”

The addicts’ brains showed decreased activation in the striatum – a core region of the brain’s reward circuit – during reward anticipation when compared to the non-addicts. Radboud researcher Arnt Schellekens said this suggested the addicts “did not expect much from the reward.”