MGM Resorts International is eyeing to lure more affluent Chinese masses in the coming years as it plays catch-up in Macau’s economic resurgence.

Bloomberg reported that the casino operator is set to open its $3.3 billion integrated resort on the Cotai Strip in the fourth quarter, which, according to Chief Executive Officer James Murren, will deviate from the VIP high rollers.

The multi-billion integrated resort in Cotai Strip is MGM’s second property in the former Portuguese enclave. Based on the casino operator’s plan, MGM Cotai will have 1,400 hotel rooms and suite, as well as house the largest LED Theater screen in the world.

In an interview aired over Bloomberg TV with Rishaad Salamat, Murren said: “Our business model is not predicated on the VIP business. Our strategic plan is built on catering to this tremendously emerging more-affluent Chinese customer, a customer that’s looking for more experimental experiences, not just a selfie moment or a gaming table.”

An initiative seeking to limit the expansion of gambling in the state of Florida has found an ally with deep pockets—Disney.

New data on the state’s Division of Elections website showed that Disney Worldwide Services cut a check for $500,000 to the political committee “Voters in Charge” in July. This is in addition to the $250,000 that Disney contributed to the committee in April.

In total, company has given $1.15 million to the cause, accounting for more than 80 percent of Voters in Charge’s total contributions.

Aside from Disney, anti-gambling expansion group No Casinos Inc. has also given a large part of the money raised by the committee, along with thousands of dollars worth of in-kind contributions.

It’s been a busy year for Australia’s gambling industry, both for online and land-based landscape.

Last week, the Senate confirmed the changes made to the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016, officially sounding the death knell for most forms of online gambling, such as online poker, in Australia, with the exception of sports betting, which the changes specifically covered.

The new laws will come into effect within the next 30 days, and representatives from PokerStars, which has led the Australian online poker market for so long, told CalvinAyre.com’s Lee Davy that they were “looking at withdrawing from the market and will advise players as soon as possible.”

Industry experts will be weighing in on the current Australian land-based landscape at the 8th Annual Gaming, Racing and Wagering Australia (GRWA), a comprehensive conference covering issues for gaming, wagering, racing and sports sector down under.

Philippine-listed casino operator Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc. (TIGHI) posted a PHP312.09 million (US$6.09 million) net loss in second quarter of the year.

Many analysts have expected Travellers to incur a multi-million dollar net loss especially after it closed the gaming doors of Resorts World Manila in the light of the June 2 Resorts World Manila arson attack, that claimed 38 lives.

“Due to the closure of the casino in June, drop volume in the months of January to May translates into the drop volume run rate for the 1st half,” Resorts World Manila said in a disclosure.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Travellers reported that the net loss in the second quarter dragged the casino operator’s net income for the first of 2017 by 79 percent to P374.77 million (US$6.8 million) year-on-year.

Turkish authorities have finally ended the days of Cyprus-based illegal betting ringmaster Veysel Sahin in the lam.

It, however, took Turkish policemen almost a year since the major international illegal online betting bust to capture the elusive ring leader. Turkish news website Ahaber reported that authorities arrested Sahin in Sivas, Turkey, while visiting his ailing father last month.

According to the report, the Büyükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered the arrest of Sahin for “establishing an organization to commit a crime” and “opposing the blood on betting and luck games in football and other sporting events.”

“I came to Turkey because of my father’s illness. I was going to take my dad to Istanbul. Passport was seized. I am a businessman. I have to travel abroad, the victory,” Sahin said, according to the report.

Casino cruise ship operator Genting Hong Kong has agreed to sell 3.29 percent of its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) to third party investors.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed company announced last week that it has entered an agreement with shareholders Apollo Funds and TPG Fund to sell a total of 15 million ordinary shares, or about 6.58 percent stake, in the Florida-headquartered NCLH.

Underwriters Citigroup Global Markets, Barclays Capital and Goldman Sachs have proposed to offer the shares “from time to time.”

There is no fixed price for the sale, but Genting Hong Kong expects to book a net gain of approximately US$90.1 million from the sale of its 3.29 percent stake, which is controlled by the casino company’s wholly owned subsidiary Star NCLC Holdings Ltd.

Bitcoin’s swift rise isn’t over.

On Monday, the digital currency was hovering above the $4,000 mark—the new all-time high it crossed over the weekend, when its trading price reached a high of $4,489.99, according to OKCoin data. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at $4,044 level with a market capitalization of $66.8 billion, according to Bitcoin.com.

The “relatively uneventful” blockchain split, which is the culmination of the years-long scaling debate within the bitcoin community as they search for a way to increase the network’s capacity from the original 1MB, caused the price of bitcoin to jump past the $3,000 for the first time.

This time, experts point to the rising tensions in Asia as the reason behind the fresh surge in the digital currency’s price.

In this two-parter, Lee Davy, sits down with the 2016 One Drop Monte Carlo Extravaganza winner, Elton Tsang, to talk about his poker career, his One Drop experience, and the biggest bad beat he has ever suffered at the tables. 

I stand in the lobby of the Metropolitan Hotel, London.

I feel out of place, like the only school kid without a tie.

I’m here to meet Elton Tsang, the winner of the 2016 Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza, and €11,111,111.

PokerStars announces plans to go back to Sochi, Russia, and brings the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) out of retirement after player feedback.

There is a battle going on in the poker world.

Two of the largest online poker companies are in the ring; neither particularly open about the exchange of blows. Up until now, most of the shots have been to the body, but I see a knockout punch coming, and it’s going to find a chin hosting an event in Sochi, Russia.

In March, partypoker LIVE became the first big player in the live tournament market to set up camp in the Sochi Casino & Resort, Russia. The premier event was a $1,100 buy-in partypoker LIVE Million Main Event. 1,170 entrants created a prize pool of $1.1m, and Dmitry Chop took home the $225,000 first prize.

The World Poker Tour turns to the trifecta of Maria Ho, Jeff Gross, and Caitlyn Howe to make their latest TV show, ClubWPT™ King of the Club, a huge success, as the free-to-play social poker site opens the doorway to superstardom.

For US-based poker lovers dreaming of turning their hobby into a career, the once glistening tributaries leading to an oasis of online poker have dried up to ash and bone.

The fish flip and flop, gasping for breath; a game that is every bit as American as patriotism, baseball caps, and egg-shaped footballs, dying on its ass, strangled by the red tape of bureaucracy.

But there is a sliver of a stream still teaming with life, and it won’t be long before it’s chocked full of people with dreams of the big time sewn into their DNA.