The World Series of Poker have refused to lift Salomon Ponte’s lifetime ban after the Hashtag King requested a reprieve, and Matt Stout and the team at the Charity Series of Poker prepare for their 10th event at the MGM Grand.

Twitter have handed Salomon Ponte the reins

to his account.

The Hashtag King had his access rights revoked by the people at Twitter Towers for reasons unknown, but he is back in business and had some interesting news to report earlier.

Poker Central are set to launch a new comedy show, Poker Nights, on their PokerGO subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, and the Aria High Roller action continues with wins for Christian Christner and Dan Smith.

Have you ever have a brilliant idea and then felt like climbing to the highest peaks of the Pyrenees and shouting fuck my luck when you see someone else turning that idea into reality?

That’s how I felt when I learned that Poker Central’s subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, PokerGO, was readying itself to launch a new six-episode short-form comedy series called Poker Nights.

I am a big fan of Ricky Gervais.

The two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Kristen Bicknell, becomes the latest addition to the partypoker ambassadorial team, promoting the brand in Canada.

Kristen Bicknell gets the opportunity to leave the solitary confinement of her laptop station after signing a deal to become the most recent addition to the partypoker ambassadorial team.

Bicknell, who is ranked #10 in the Canadian Global Poker Index (GPI) rankings, has been a fan of partypoker for a long time, and briefly represented them in the partypoker MILLION North America in the Playground Poker Club, Montreal.

“We have been looking to add a Canadian poker pro to our team for some time,” said the Overlord of partypoker, Tom Waters. “I want to ensure that we are listening to players in the local communities and having such a great, personable individual like Kristen on board gives players the opportunity to pass on their feedback directly.”

Horseracing fantasy contest operator DerbyWars could pay up to $1m to resolve a lawsuit brought by racetrack operator Stronach Group.

Last month, a federal court in California ruled in favor of a lawsuit Stronach had brought against DerbyWars’ parent company Horse Racing Labs (HRL) in December 2015. The court supported Stronach’s view that fantasy contest entry fees were the equivalent of real-money wagers under the Interstate Horseracing Act (IHA) of 1978.

The ruling paved the way for Stronach to file a claim for monetary damages against HRL due to DerbyWars having offered fantasy contests on races held at Stronach tracks without compensating Stronach. At the time of last month’s ruling, DerbyWars CEO Mark Midland suggested his company was considering an appeal but the parties have now reached a court-approved settlement.

The settlement approved on Tuesday by US District Court Judge James Otero calls for HRL to pay Stronach $1m in damages but this sum can be cut in half if HRL agrees to pay $250k within three business days followed by 12 monthly payments of $20,833 each. HRL has the option of paying off the outstanding amount faster if it’s capable and so inclined.

Atlantic City casinos reported year-on-year gaming revenue rising in May, even without the help of their surging online gambling operations.

Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s seven casino operators reporting brick-and-mortar gaming revenue of $208.3m, 2.5% higher than the same month last year and a significant rebound from April 2017’s $191m.

Throw in the $21.1m generated by the state’s licensed online gambling operators and May’s total gaming revenue is up 4.3% to $229.4m. Comparing only the seven casinos that were open in both this May and last – thereby excluding the impact of the now-shuttered Trump Taj Mahal – and the year-on-year brick-and-mortar gain rises to 10.7%.

April’s revenue numbers were dragged down by lackluster table game results but that wasn’t the case in May. While statewide slots revenue was down 3.6% to $144m, table game revenue shut up nearly one-fifth year-on-year to $64.3m.

New Jersey’s regulated online gambling market came just shy of setting a new all-time monthly revenue record in May despite poker’s inability to grow beyond its current confines.

Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) show the state’s licensed online gambling operators generated revenue of $21.1m in May, up 27.3% from the same month last year, $300k higher than April 2016’s total and not far off the record performance of $21.7m set this March.

As has become DGE dogma, May’s year-on-year improvement was entirely the work of the casino vertical, which shot up 35.6% to just under $19m. Poker, on the other hand, was down 17.5% year-on-year to $2.1m, although this represented a modest sequential gain over April’s poker receipts.

Over the first five months of 2017, total online gambling win is up 29% to $101.2m, despite online poker revenue falling 7.8% year-on-year to just $10.85m.

Canadian casinos are not having the greatest week, dealing with allegations of money laundering and the unauthorized public release of private customer data.

On Tuesday, British Columbia authorities announced the arrest of nine suspects in a widespread criminal enterprise that allegedly laundered millions of dollars through local casinos. Police have yet to indicate which casinos are involved but did say that none of the arrested suspects are casino employees.

The criminal gang, which reportedly has links to mainland China and other countries, stands accused of everything from money laundering to extortion to loan sharking to operating its own illegal gambling operations. The arrests followed a lengthy investigation that began in May 2016.

BC Gaming Industry Association exec director Peter Goudron expressed surprise at the scale of the money laundering allegations, telling the Vancouver Sun that “given the robust [anti-money laundering] procedures in place at BC casinos we are unaware how this could have taken place.”

Online gambling operator 32Red has extended its sponsorship ties to Scottish footballers Glasgow Rangers for another two years.

On Wednesday, Rangers management announced that the team had extended its current shirt sponsorship deal with 32Red for a further two seasons. 32Red, which is now part of the Kindred Group, has had its logo on Rangers’ kit since 2014.

Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson said the Scottish Premiership mainstays had fielded a number of offers to take over the shirt sponsorship but the club opted to stay with 32Red. Robertson said 32Red “have been with Rangers every step of the way as we progressed from the lower leagues back to the top flight” and the club hopes to build on this association in the next two years.

In other sponsorship news, Sky Betting & Gaming has inked a three-year deal to become the new official betting and gaming partner of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The deal will offer Sky Bet a variety of branding options both on the club’s Headingley grounds as well as via its digital channels.