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Scandinavian countries, together with the United Kingdom, have been among the front-runners when it comes to the rapid development of the online gaming market. Despite the fact that a big part of the population of the Scandinavian countries participate in online gaming activities such as casino, poker and sports betting, national laws are still playing catch-up as old legislations are not up to date with today’s online environment.

After Denmark regulating their national online gaming market several years ago, Sweden is now the next one in line with a proposal of a national regulation that includes government tax for online gaming. Norway and Finland are also expected to follow the same path at some point over the next decade. With the new laws and legislations, there will be both benefits and drawbacks for actors in those markets.

With the tax implication, we are likely to see both consolidation and elimination when it comes to operators and affiliates. Profit and margins will become smaller, which means running smaller operation might not be as profitable as it has been historically. This, combined with one of the fiercest competition in the world, means that the prospect for organic SEO affiliates within online gaming in Scandinavia might become worse over the next couple of years. So what are the options in order to move away from this to a better landscape?

Lee Davy catches up with Finland’s, Patrik Antonius at 888Live Barcelona to talk about parenthood, community, and how it might be the time he stepped up and tried to help improve poker’s image.

Patrik Antonius is every woman’s dream and every man’s nightmare. The Finn’s fine features make the rest of us look like those kids pulled out of the vaginal canal with a ventouse, but he’s not just good looking.

He is also one of the greatest poker players alive with $11.3m in profits playing cash games on Full Tilt, $5.7m on PokerStars, and God knows how much he has won playing live cash games. Couple that with $6.7m in live tournament winnings and you have a man who knows how to play cards.

Antonius is an elusive creature preferring to let others hog the limelight. But he recently surfaced with a sponsorship deal with the clothing firm Noetics, competed in the $100k Super High Roller in the PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo, and lo and behold there he was sitting on the couch in a bar outside the Casino Barcelona during 888Live.

Monetary authorities in Macau, Hong Kong and Beijing are vowing to up their game in the fight against money laundering.

On Friday, the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM) announced that it had met with its counterparts at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) as well as with representatives of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to power a new Financial Security Expert Alliance aimed at combatting serious financial crime, money laundering and terrorist financing.

The HKMA issued its own statement that echoed many of the AMCM’s talking points while not actually referencing the AMCM. Instead, the HKMA announced the formation of its own Fraud and Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce that will utilize the combined strengths of regulators, the financial sector and the Hong Kong Police Force.

Sources told the South China Morning Post that the separate but equal statements reflected “a coordinated move with Beijing pulling the strings” to combat the “outflow of illicit funds from China’s economy.”

As the world’s greatest poker players arrive in Las Vegas for a week of high-stakes poker action, we bring you a roundup of Day 1 of the Super High Roller Bowl and the rest of the Aria action.

The greatest players in the world are currently hiding in the Aria like bats fearing the sunset.

The reason?

If you spend most of the year competing in poker tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $25k to $1m, then right now it’s Christmas.

The Spanish online gambling outfit, Codere, won their legal case against PokerStars (sort of), and a British poker playing bomber will be eating porridge for the next 15-years.

Codere has been successful in their long drawn out litigation battle with PokerStars (sort of). The Spanish gambling giant sued PokerStars and a host of other online gambling companies back in 2011, citing operations without the appropriate licensing from the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ).

The reason for Codere’s venomous attack might have had something to do with the 65% market share PokerStars had in the online poker business, the 60% that Bet365 owned in the sports betting business, and the 70% of the casino business divided between Gamesys and Bet365. The DGOJ eventually awarded PokerStars a pukka license in 2012, but Codere still wanted retribution.

A Madrid court favoured Codere, but a Barcelona court fell on the side of PokerStars stating that they weren’t the only online gambling company operating without a DGOJ issued license and the local online gambling bobbies were seemingly happy with the situation.

The Netherlands’ gaming regulator is vowing to take an even tougher stand against unauthorized online gambling operators based on its professed desire to protect Dutch youth from harm.

On Saturday, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) regulatory body announced “a new step in combating remote gambling,” with KSA vice-chairman HW Kesler saying it was “unacceptable” that underage Dutch citizens were allegedly finding welcome mats outside the domains of internationally licensed online gambling sites.

Not to put the cart before the horse, but the KSA announced its plans to unleash its can of whoop-ass against minor-friendly online gambling sites before actually determining the scope of the problem. In fact, the KSA says it is still planning to launch an investigation into allegations of minors gambling online, and the results of this study may lead to even more whoop-assery.

The KSA already considers a gambling site to be out of bounds if it offers services in the Dutch language, advertises its services on Dutch-language/Dutch-facing media or employs the use of an .nl domain. Starting June 1, the KSA is dramatically broadening its definition of what constitutes a rogue website.

Online sports lottery technology provider 500.com has made a play to acquire land-based lottery technology firm MelcoLot Ltd. in a bid to diversify its revenue stream.

On Monday, the Shenzhen-based, Nasdaq-listed 500.com announced that it had reached a share purchase agreement with Melco LottVentures Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Melco International Development, to acquire roughly 40.65% of MelcoLot’s issued share capital. The total consideration of the deal is roughly HKD 322.2m (US $41.3m).

MelcoLot’s primary reason for being is as a distributor of retail lottery terminals for China’s official welfare and sports lotteries. The company is part of the Melco family of businesses (Melco International, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, etc.) controlled by Macau billionaire Lawrence Ho.

The share sale represents the sum total of Melco International’s holdings in MelcoLot, and the company will have no further involvement in MelcoLot once the sale concludes on June 6. Melco International believes the sale will allow the company to better focus on core operations and other ventures that hold more potential for growth.

A Chinese national sports figure’s casino gambling debts are causing public embarrassment for Beijing, which is rarely a good idea for any public figure.

A writ filed in a Hong Kong court last Friday accuses two-time Olympic gold medal tennis table player Kong Linghui of failing to repay a six-figure marker drawn on an account at the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort in Singapore.

According to the writ, Kong signed a S$1m (US $721k) credit agreement with the casino in February 2015 that established the man known as China’s ‘ping pong prince’ as a premium player at MBS. Kong eventually repaid over S$545k but has yet to make good on the remaining S$454k. The casino, which is owned by Las Vegas Sands, is suing for repayment of the balance plus interest.

Kong issued a statement on Monday via social media that claimed he hadn’t actually gambled away the sum at the casino, but had only “provided my personal details to the casino” to get chips for friends and family while Kong himself was only “watching them play.”