Austria’s government has proposed allowing internet service providers to block the domains of websites deemed to be breaking local laws, a category that could include internationally licensed online gambling sites.

Austria’s Ministry of the Interior recently announced plans to amend the Telecommunications Act 2003 to permit local ISPs to use “traffic management measures” in the prevention of “criminal acts.” The official proposal defines such acts as malware distribution and other computer crime, along with copyright infringement and dodgier forms of pornography.

While gambling wasn’t specifically mentioned in the proposal, the recently formed Austrian Association for Betting and Gaming (OVWG) is sounding the alarm that gaming sites are at risk of being blocked should the amended Act be approved by Austrian legislators.

Despite its questionable efficacy, domain-blocking has become increasingly popular in many European markets, with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland and Poland all having joined the domain-blocking party this year alone.

Gambling technology provider Playtech has bolstered its financial services division via the acquisition of assets from ACM Group Limited.

On Wednesday, Playtech announced that it had reached a deal to acquire “technology, intellectual property and certain customer assets” of UK-based ACM (aka Alpha), a “B2B market maker, dealer and broker focused on delivering bespoke risk management and trading services to institutional and professional clients.”

The deal requires Playtech to make an initial upfront payment of $5m, plus two staged payments based on 1x EBITDA of 2017 and 2018, as well as a contingent consideration of 5.2x 2019 EBITDA, minus the other payments. The total consideration will be capped at $150m. Playtech expects the deal to be concluded by September 30, 2017.

The ACM assets being acquired include a portfolio of international B2B clients, proprietary trading technology, and the institutional-focused Alpha Pro trading platform. About 20 UK-based members of ACM’s trading, risk, dealing and biz-dev teams will accompany the transferred assets to their new Playtech home.

Australian-listed casino operator Star Entertainment Group has pulled a surprising AUD264.4 million net profit for the fiscal year, beating analysts’ forecasts.

The full-year profit of The Star, which rose 36 percent from AUD194.4 million (US$153.55 million) a year ago, came as a surprise to many analysts especially since the turnover of heavy-hitting gamblers from China has fallen.

In a disclosure to the Australian Stock Exchange, The Star reported that its international VIP gambling dropped 20 per cent in the year to June 30. It reported that its normalized profit was down 11 percent at AUD214.5 million (US$169.43 million).

What saved the day for The Star was the higher than normal ‘win rate’ for the casino which resulted to a robust net profit and a 23 percent boost in the dividend for the year.

Tropical storm Hato dealt Macau only a glancing blow on Wednesday, but it was enough to shut down Asia’s premier gaming hub, flood some integrated resorts, and took at least three lives as it pummels its way toward the mainland.

The Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) hoisted signal 10 shortly before midday as the former Portuguese enclave braced itself for what the government agency described as the most destructive typhoon that hit the gaming paradise since 1999.

According to The South China Morning Post, power outages and flooding were being reported across much of the Macau peninsula as the storm – with winds reaching the speeds of up to 165 kilometres per hour (103 mph) – skirts about 50 kilometers to the south of Hong Kong.

The non-stop rainfall in Macau has reportedly inundated the ground floor gaming area at the Ponte 16 resort. Tropical storm Hato also left a trail of destruction in Melco Resorts’ Studio City on Cotai and City of Dreams; while uprooted trees were hurled across the pool of Galaxy Macau.

HongKong-listed gaming device maker and solutions provider Paradise Entertainment Ltd. has trimmed its losses by 90.2 percent in the first half of the year after inking a multi-million dollar deal to grant some exclusive rights to International Game Technology (IGT).

In a disclosure to the HongKong Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Paradise Ent reported that their net loss for January to June 2017 period was at HKD40.2 million (US$5.1 million), an improvement from the HKD334.8 million (US$53.26 million) losses it incurred a year earlier.

The firm attributed the lower net loss for the first half of 2017 to the “a one-off non-cash loss arising from assignment of intangible assets of HK$334.8 million in relation to the assignment and license of patents and associated technology to IGT in April 2016.”

In April 2016, Paradise Ent decided to enter an agreement to transfer all of its electronic table game technology, patents and other intellectual property to IGT because of the latter’s highly entrenched local gaming market in the US.

3: Barrels of pure value including a former professional poker player winning an award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a reminder that New Hampshire is seeking an online gambling future, and Rotoworld sponsor Poker Night in America’s King of the Hill.

Poker is boring, but it doesn’t have to be.

Ken Cheng, a professional poker player, and comedian, from the UK, won the 10th Annual Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this week.

Cheng spent a year studying maths at Cambridge University, before deciding to pursue a career as a professional poker player, while, at the same time, trying to build his reputation as a comedian.

Online gambling technology provider NYX Gaming Group has reported another quarter of seriously strong double-digit revenue growth.

Figures released Tuesday show the Toronto-listed NYX generated revenue of C$61m (US $48.5m) in the three months ending June 30. The figure represents a 73.3% improvement over the same period last year, reflecting its early-2016 acquisitions of sports betting technology firm OpenBet and gaming content provider Betdigital.

OpenBet contributed C$32.9m in revenue to NYX’s Q2 results, up from the partial-quarter contribution of C$16.5m in Q2 2016. That said, NYX was keen to point out that even if you exclude contributions from OpenBet and Betdigital, the company enjoyed organic growth of 50.6%, thanks to a steady stream of new customer launches.

Royalty & license revenue was up 53% to C$31.9m, while professional services jumped 142% to C$28.8m. The lone negative was social gaming, which fell from C$2.5m to just under C$300k, following the company’s decision to divest itself of the play-money gambling business in June.

3: Barrels of a partypoker flavour including the results of the partypoker Grand Prix Canada; a change in online satellite rules, and a trio of ambassadors seeking Spirit of Poker awards.

A finance student, who plays cash games in his spare time, has won the partypoker Grand Prix Canada for CAD$200,000 ($157,338). The CAD$200 buy-in event attracted a whopping 3,746 entrants, but that wasn’t enough for the event to match its CAD$1m guarantee, falling short by CAD$31,200.

It’s because of the overlay that Raphael Duval entered the tournament, and it turned out to be a smart decision. Duval was a dominant force at the final table, gathering chips like limp-dicked old men gather viagra, entering the heads-up phase against Debra Ann Holman with a 6:1 chip advantage.

The victory also earned Duval an additional $1,000 entry to an online event with a $10,000 partypoker Caribbean Poker Party (CPP) package in the offing, courtesy of wearing a CPP patch, and winning the last longer promotion.