Joint U.S. and Greek authorities have arrested a Russian national who is suspected of laundering more than $4 billion through a digital currency exchange that he allegedly operated.

Alexander Vinnik, 37, was indicted on Wednesday by a grand jury in the Northern District of California for operating an unlicensed money service business, money laundering, and related crimes, U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch announced. He was arrested by local Greek authorities in a small beachside village in northern Greece last Tuesday, according to Reuters.

The indictment charges Vinnik and BTC-e, the virtual currency exchange he allegedly operates, with one count of operation of an unlicensed money service business and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Vinnik is also charged with 17 counts of money laundering and two counts of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions.

In a statement, Greek police claimed Vinnik laundered “at least” $4 billion in cash through BTC-e. Police said the platform saw 7 million bitcoin deposited and 5.5 million bitcoins withdrawn since it was founded in 2011.

Australia’s peak lottery association are now up in arms over the supposed plan to use lottery to fund the government sports program.

The Australian reported that the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA) are now sounding alarm bells over the proposed sports lottery to pay for an Australian Olympic revival, saying funds from other social services may suffer.

People were given up until Monday to submit their suggestions in relation to the government’s sporting blueprint. For Sport Minister Greg Hunt, a lottery is a much viable option and is the top on the list of suggestions that the government is considering.

But ALNA pointed out that allocating lottery taxes to fund the sports program will eat up the funds that currently go to hospitals, schools and charities. Data showed that$1.6 billion in lottery taxes are remitted to the Australian government.

There is a sudden surge of punters in Geoff Banks website during the last few days but the prominent bookie isn’t happy about it.

Apparently, the website traffic was caused by promotion-seeking punters who are scouring gambling websites to make guaranteed profits. The Guardian reported that Banks filed a complaint against a “matched betting” website that is causing these unusual traffic to his own website.

Banks, who have more than two decades of experience in bookmaking, had been a staunch critic of “matched betting,” which he described as a “bonus culture” in modern gambling. He took his complaint before the UK Gambling Commission as he pressed the state regulator to ban the incentives.

“I don’t approve of free bets or bonus offers. From a gambling perspective I think it’s an unfair inducement to gamble,” Banks said. “But to open any new accounts these days you have to offer these inducements.

Making a healthy living as an iGaming affiliate is harder than ever, something affiliates are reminded of every time they attend an iGaming Business affiliate conference.  Affiliates who have been in the business for ten years plus will often talk of the “good old days” and those who made “easy” tens of thousands in the mid-2000s seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

iGaming affiliates who survived the drastic changes of the industry over the past fifteen years have incredible stories to tell and insightful paths to follow.  I have such respect for those who can adapt to change and create tools to help others adapt, exactly what Ian Sims, or “Simmo” to some, has accomplished.

A few weeks ago I spoke with former casino player and affiliate Sims at the iGaming Super Show about his latest venture, Rightlander.net, a landing page reporting service for affiliates.

Sims became an affiliate in 2005, sold his first affiliate site, “oggs.com” in 2007 and started over again in 2009 by building a network of sites which he sold in 2016.  Since then, his focus has been on Rightlander, a tool that has been created for affiliates by an affiliate who knows where the pain points lie.

A short round-up of the winners and losers emanating from the PokerStars Festival Main Events in both South Korea & Lille.

In London, when terror strikes, the locals react by telling everyone to keep calm and have a cup of tea. In South Korea, upon hearing the news that North Korea has promised to send a nuclear warhead into the heart of the USA if they try to remove Kim Jong Un from power, a move that would almost certainly have cataclysmic consequences for South Korea, they play poker.

Life goes on, even in this mad, mad, world of ours.

Taehoon Han, a 26-year-old born in Korea, but living in New Zealand, has won the inaugural PokerStars Festival Korea Main Event. Han, a part-time player, picked up $74,651 for the win, after defeating the Japanese high stakes cash game shark, Yuki Ko, in heads-up action.

The Atlantis resort casino on Paradise Island is spending up to $130m over the next couple years to ensure the property keeps pace with the new kid on the Bahamas block.

The Atlantis opened its doors nearly 20 years ago and while the resort remains a popular destination, including hosting an annual PokerStars tournament event, its status as the Caribbean’s go-to gaming venue is under threat from the new $4.2b Baha Mar resort.

This week, Atlantis president/managing director Howard Karawan told Tribune Business that owner Brookfield Asset Management would likely spend “north of $80m” this year to gussy up the property, and Karawan says he foresees the company spending “another $50m or so” in 2018 “to keep the product fresh and updated.”

Karawan told the Bahama Journal that “absolutely we can coexist” with Baha Mar, particularly if the new resort “follows in our footsteps and opens new facilities that can grow the market and we not steal from each other.”

The virtual doors are now open. Online poker operators who want to take advantage of the shared liquidity agreement between France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain can begin applying for a seat in the party.

I’m not well.

When I stare at the screen I feel my eyeballs tremble, nausea rises from the pit of my gut, like the soul of a dead body rammed into an oil drum.

I turn away for a moment and stare out of the window.

With Poker Central banging out original programming with a Netflix style veracity, Lee Davy, ponders what next for the PokerGO audiences? 

My first album was Rebel MC by Rebel MC. It was vinyl. I taped it and gave a copy to my mate.

“I can’t take that,” he said with a look on his face like he was standing in front of a target in an archery range with an apple on his head, and Stevie Wonder holding a bow and arrow.

“Why not?” I asked.

Delaware has become the 14th US state to authorize daily fantasy sports operations, just as the state’s real-money online gambling market took a nosedive.

On Wednesday, Delaware Gov. John Carney signed HB 249, which legislators approved on June 30. The bill amends the state’s lottery law to clarify that “interactive fantasy sports are not games of chance” due to the overwhelming skill it takes to ask a computer program to spit out 300 slightly different fantasy lineups.

The bill also states that fantasy sports aren’t “wagers on future contingent events not under the contestants’ control or influence” because the outcome doesn’t depend on a single sporting event or the performance of a single athlete. As a result, DFS no longer qualifies as illegal gambling under Delaware law.

The bill requires would-be Delaware DFS operators to pay the state an annual fee of $50k, plus 15% of gross revenue derived from Delaware players. As a result, Delaware’s legal DFS market will most assuredly be out of reach to anyone other than the sector’s big boys, aka DraftKings and FanDuel.