Questions over the US Attorney General’s alleged Russian connections have indirectly complicated casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s bid to ban online gambling in the United States.

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from any discussion of whether to undo the 2011 Department of Justice opinion that allowed states to determine for themselves whether to allow their residents to enjoy online gambling from the comfort of their homes, so long as it didn’t involve sports betting.

During his Senate confirmation hearing in January, Sessions (pictured) said he disagreed with that 2011 opinion and would “revisit” the opinion once he was sworn in as the country’s top law enforcement officer.

But Sessions’ recent hiring of attorney Charles Cooper to steer him through congressional investigations of (among other things) Sessions’ role in the firing of FBI director James Comey has complicated Sessions’ involvement in the gambling issue.

The UK government says it won’t release the findings of its review of the fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) in bookmakers’ shops until October at the earliest.

On Thursday, Tory MP Tracey Crouch, who oversees the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) that is conducting the triennial review of the UK gambling industry, informed parliament that she doesn’t expect “any further announcement until October at the earliest” as to the results of that review.

The review is looking at whether to reduce the FOBTs’ current maximum stake of £100, with many opposition MPs and anti-gambling campaigners pushing for a reduction to just £2. The review is also examining whether to reduce the current maximum of four FOBTs per betting shop, as well as considering new restrictions on gambling firms advertising on television.

Crouch noted that the review was subject to a mandatory 12-week standstill period due to the UK’s recent snap election. This had “interrupted the final stages of our consideration of the evidence received and the subsequent internal cross-government process of approval and sign-off.” Crouch said the delays meant “we are back at the start of the process.”

Online poker liquidity sharing between European Union regulated gambling markets will be given official regulatory blessing next month.

On Friday, the gaming regulatory bodies in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain issued identical statements indicating that their long-awaited deal to share online poker liquidity among licensed operators in their respective markets will be signed in Rome on July 6.

The signing won’t immediately open the floodgates for poker players in each of those markets to square off against each other across a digital table. The statement indicates that the agreement will only “lay the foundations for cooperation” between the four nations. Regulators in each jurisdiction will then need to individually take the necessary steps “to make liquidity possible for the game of poker.”

These steps will include the thorny question of resolving the disparity in taxation of poker play in each of the jurisdictions, as well as issues involving responsibility for taking regulatory action in the event of some shenanigans involving players or operators in multiple markets.

Supplier’s instant win titles have gone live across the operator’s bingo network

London, 30th June 2017: IWG – the award-winning supplier of online, instant win games – has struck a deal to deliver its content to leading operator 888.

Popular blockbuster titles Slingo and Cashbuster will be among the games rolled out across 888 Bingo with more to follow in the next few months.

Leon Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer at IWG, said: “We are thrilled to have agreed another major deal with one of the industry’s most respected operators.