Atlantic City’s seven surviving casinos saw their collective net profit jump by nearly one-fifth in the first half of 2017 despite revenue remaining relatively flat over this period.

Figures released Tuesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) show total casino revenue of $1.69b in the six months ending June 30, a mere 0.6% rise over the same period last year.

However, H1 operating profit spiked 19.1% to $308.6m, although this was slightly below the 21% profit rise reported in H1 2016. For the second quarter by itself, profit was up slightly less, rising 11.1% year-on-year to $169.4m, while revenue actually fell 0.5% to $876.6m.

It should be noted that both prior-year periods featured contributions from the now shuttered Trump Taj Mahal, which closed in October 2016. The Taj was subsequently acquired by Hard Rock International, who plan to relaunch the property in summer 2018 as Hard Rock Atlantic City following a $500m music-themed makeover.

The world’s best poker TV show has joined the world’s best online digital media outlet, as PokerGO plans to stream Season XVI of the World Poker Tour on their subscription site.

PokerGO continues to rewrite poker digital media’s genetic code after announcing Livestream coverage of Season XVI World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event Final Tables.

The WPT has acted as poker’s gateway drug for the past 16-years. With televised action beamed into the living rooms of over 150 countries and territories. It is the best TV show on the planet, and it’s now available on the best online digital media outlet on the planet.

Poker Central has come a long way since its decision to drop their 24-hour Poker TV Channel philosophy, and instead, provide the poker community with content that they love in a format that they love.

Convicted lottery fraudster Eddie Tipton has been sentenced to 25 years in prison just as America braces for the second-highest jackpot in Powerball history.

In June, Tipton reached a deal with Iowa prosecutors to plead guilty to a single count of ongoing criminal conduct related to his role in a conspiracy to rig Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) drawings. At the time, prosecutors announced they would seek the maximum punishment available.

On Tuesday, District Court Judge Brad McCall sided with those prosecutors, sentencing Tipton to the maximum 25 years in prison, although Tipton will be eligible for parole in as little as three years’ time. A Wisconsin judge previously sentenced Tipton to five-and-a-half years after he pled guilty to theft, fraud and computer crime, but McCall will be allowed to serve both sentences concurrently.

Tipton and his co-scammers – brother Eddie Tipton and mutual friend Robert Rhodes – claimed seven fraudulent lottery jackpots in five different states over a number of years before their scam spectacularly unraveled in 2011 when they made a ham-fisted attempt to anonymously claim their largest prize, a $16.5m Iowa Lottery Hot Lotto jackpot.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening to end the Seneca Nation of Indians’ casino exclusivity in Niagara Falls unless the tribe resumes revenue-sharing payments with the state.

In March, the Senecas announced that its three upstate casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca would stop remitting a 25% share of their slot machine revenue – worth approximately $125m per year to state and local governments – on April 1. The tribe argued that its gaming compact allowed it to stop making the payments once the compact’s initial 14-year term concluded at the end of 2016.

On Monday, the Buffalo News quoted a Cuomo spokesman threatening that the state would authorize a new commercial casino in Niagara Falls if the Senecas failed to resume their revenue payments to the state and to the local host communities in which the Seneca gaming venues operate. The Seneca Niagara Casino is the tribe’s most lucrative gaming venue.

This isn’t the first time Cuomo (pictured) has issued his Niagara Falls ultimatum, having made similar threats in 2013 when the parties were at loggerheads over local racetracks adding slots to their gaming mix. That impasse was eventually resolved after the state admitted it had violated the terms of the gaming compact and allowed the Senecas to keep $200m in withheld revenue sharing payments.

An affiliate of leading Asian casino junket operator SunCity Group has warned investors that it expects to take a significant profit hit when it reports its H1 2017 results later this month.

On Monday, SunCity Group Holdings Ltd alerted the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that a preliminary assessment of its performance over the first six months of the year suggests that it will record “a significant increase in its loss attributable to owners of the Company” in the six months ending June 30.

SunCity claimed the expected losses were due to a number of factors, including a RMB 698m (US $104.7m) loss on change in fair value of derivative component of some convertible bonds, a RMB 412m loss due to litigations against two wholly-owned subsidiaries based in mainland China, additional tax expenses of RMB 99m and a RMB 150m gain from the reversal of impairment loss on trade and other receivables.

SunCity cautioned that these estimates are based on unaudited preliminary assessments, and that the final numbers – which will be released on August 28 – are subject to change. SunCity Group Holdings reported a net loss of nearly RMB 65m in H1 2016.

UK-listed online gambling operator GVC Holdings has once again aborted discussions to acquire UK rival Ladbrokes Coral Group.

On Tuesday, UK media reported that GVC had made a new offer to acquire Ladbrokes Coral, the online/retail gambling behemoth created last year via the £2.2b merger of Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group. Sources claimed talks had been going on for several weeks but fell apart for a number of reasons, including a failure to agree on a valuation of the company.

The Financial Times reported that GVC had offered £2.7b for Lads Coral, or roughly 140p per share, although GVC reportedly proposed boosting that per-share offer by 50p, which would have pushed the total offer to £3.6b.

This £900m top-up was reportedly contingent on the findings of the UK government’s pending triennial review of the gambling industry. The review, which is expected to be released this autumn, could result in further restrictions on gambling advertising as well as potentially significant curbs on the use of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in betting shops. Ladbrokes Coral relies on FOBTs for a significant chunk of its revenue.