World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska co-writes the televised broadcast’s new musical score ‘Rise Above’ as the WPT Legacy Through Art Series continues.

If there was one musical act that you wish you could see, but can’t, who would it be?

Mine is Pavarotti.

When I was a kid anyone taking a liking to classical music would have been beaten up like the boy, everyone called Michelin Man, but all that changed in 1990.

Online gambling legalization hopes are fading in Illinois as the clock counts down to the end of the current legislative session.

The Illinois state senate stunned observers on the last day of May by approving online casino, poker and daily fantasy sports legislation with little advance notice. With a full month to go before the legislature adjourned for the summer, all that was needed was a similar vote in the state House and Gov. Bruce Rauner’s signature.

And then, nothing. The House Executive Committee eventually scheduled a meeting for last Saturday to discuss the issue, then rescheduled for Tuesday, then rescheduled again for Wednesday. But the Wednesday hearing came and went without debate or votes on either online gambling or DFS.

Poker Players Alliance exec John Pappas was in attendance at Wednesday’s hearing, but Pappas poured a big bucket of cold water over the state’s online gamblers by tweeting that the “wheels have come off” the online gambling and DFS bills. “Folks are regrouping and may try this again in a few weeks.”

Some made-in-Australia wagering brands appear headed for the chopping block as a result of the pending merger of Tabcorp Holdings with rival Tatts Group.

Last week’s approval of the Tabcorp-Tatts merger by Aussie competition watchdogs spells big changes for the local gambling industry, including the possible demise of Tabcorp’s Northern Territory-licensed online betting brand Luxbet and Tatts’ UBET wagering brand.

Speaking to RSN’s Racing Pulse program this week, Tabcorp CEO David Attenborough said “the most obvious or notable changes” from the merger would be in the states where UBET operates – Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania – as the enlarged company would “extend the TAB brand … so the UBET brand will fall away.”

Tatts launched the UBET brand in April 2015 to encompass its Tattsbet, Tatts.com, TAB and Tote brands, which prompted Tabcorp to take some public potshots at its rival’s new betting identity. Despite this ribbing, Tatts enjoyed healthy growth at its rebranded betting operations, particularly online.

Portugal’s online gamblers are asking the government to rethink the industry’s tax rates as one company reveals that the government claims two-thirds of its revenue.

On Monday, Portugal’s National Association of Online Gamblers (ANAon) announced that it would be presenting parliament with a petition bearing the signatures of 4,600 gamblers who want their government to lessen the tax burden imposed on locally licensed online operators.

Portuguese-licensed online casino and poker operators pay a variable tax rate, with sites generating less than €5m in annual revenue paying a 15% rate, which escalates along with revenue before maxing out at 30%.

Online sports betting operators face even tougher rates, which start at 8% of the first €30m of betting turnover – not betting revenue – which escalates along with wagering handle before maxing out at a truly absurd 16%.

The Japanese city of Osaka has broken up what local authorities are calling the biggest – and possibly oldest – illegal gambling den they’ve encountered in years.

On Monday, Osaka Prefectural Police arrested 24 individuals after disrupting a major illegal baccarat casino operating out of a building in the Minami entertainment district. Police seized five gaming tables and ¥9m (US $80k) in cash, along with a further ¥200m ($1.8m) in cash in subsequent searches of buildings connected to the gambling operation.

The police officers who conducted Monday’s raid arrested the 41-year-old casino manager, who reportedly copped to operating the illegal gambling den, which ran 24 hours a day. In addition to the manager, police arrested nine casino employees and 14 gamblers. A further 26 staff and customers were questioned.

Police say the operation had elaborate security procedures, including a double-door guarding the entrance and 40 surveillance cameras located inside and outside the venue. The fourth-floor gaming den wasn’t directly accessible via elevator, meaning customers had to first alert casino staff, who would escort customers to floors above or below the casino, then lead them to their gambling promised land.

American authorities hate Bitcoin more than they hate illegal gambling and securities fraud, if recent jail sentences are anything to go by.

This week saw movement toward the resolution of federal charges filed against two individuals in 2015 in connection with a massive criminal conspiracy involving online gambling, stock fraud, identity theft, the hacking of JPMorgan Chase and other major US financial institutions, money laundering and running an unauthorized Bitcoin exchange on US soil.

On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice announced that Anthony Murgio had been sentenced to 66 months in prison for his role in operating the Florida-based Coin.mx Bitcoin exchange.

Murgio pled guilty in January to charges of conspiring to operate an illegal money transmitting business, conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud, and conspiring to obstruct a National Credit Union Administration probe into Coin.mx’s activities.