King’s Casino owner, Leon Tsoukernik, has increased the guarantee for the €10,350 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event from €4m to €5m with €1m guaranteed for the winner.

It’s mind boggling that 250,000 poker players sat down and played in a town of only 500 residents. That’s exactly what happened last year in the tiny town of Rozvadov, Czech Republic.

It’s the home of King’s Casino; fast becoming one of the most sought after venues in Europe, thanks to partnerships with some of the biggest names in poker, and they don’t come much bigger than the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

The coupling entered into a long term partnership that will see the casino become the home of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) festival for the foreseeable future, and this week, the casino owner Leon Tsoukernik had some good news for prospective players.

New Zealand has made good on its vow to require international online gambling operators to pay betting information fees and point of consumption taxes on wagers taken from Kiwi punters.

On Wednesday, newly appointed Racing Minister David Bennett (pictured) introduced the Racing Amendment Bill into Parliament. The Bill (viewable here) seeks to amend the 2003 Racing Act to give the domestic racing and sports betting monopoly a fighting chance against its internationally licensed online competitors.

The changes were originally proposed in 2015 by an Offshore Betting Working Group as a means of shoring up the finances of the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) and its TAB betting service, whose antiquated offering and wonky technology were hopelessly outclassed by the NZRB’s 21st century rivals.

Chief among the proposed changes is the requirement for international operators to pay consumption charges on wagers derived from Kiwi punters. The rate of these charges is unspecified, although the Working Group had recommended charging 2% of betting turnover.

Lottery betting operator Lottoland has taken out a record insurance policy to guard against the possibility of a punter winning a nine-figure jackpot.

This week, Lottoland announced that it had revised its risk management system to prepare for the likelihood and/or eventuality of one of its customers betting correctly on a truly staggering EuroMillions, PowerBall or other major lottery jackpot.

Lottoland declined to identify the insurers but would say it’s now carrying €120m worth of Insurance Linked Security coverage. The company also claimed the sum represented the largest reinsurance deal in the gaming industry. This is Lottoland’s third such deal since 2015, with early renegotiation triggered by the company’s rapid growth.

Lottoland allows punters to participate in lotteries to which they may not have access in their home territory. Lottoland customers essentially place a wager on the outcome of a lottery drawing, giving them the ability to claim the identically valued prize on offer from the lottery in question.

Japan’s skittishness toward the launch of its casino market was on full display in the vague recommendations of a panel of experts.

On Monday, the government-appointed panel tasked with recommending rules for governing Japan’s proposed integrated resort industry submitted their draft report to legislators. The government will use the recommendations to craft the so-called Integrated Resorts Implementation bill that the Diet will consider in its extraordinary session this autumn.

Many of the recommendations have been widely telegraphed in advance, such as using Japan’s ‘My Number’ identification card system to restrict the number of visits Japanese citizens can make to casino gaming floors. However, the panel declined to specify how many visits will be allowed in any one-week or one-month period, leaving that decision up to legislators.

Similarly, while the panel recommended a Singapore-style casino entry levy on local residents, the amount of that levy will be up to legislators. International tourists won’t be subject to the levy, reflecting the government’s hope that its new resorts will drive tourism.

Bucking overall market trends, Macau casino operator SJM Holdings reported revenue, earnings and profit declines in the first half of 2017.

Figures released Tuesday show the Hong Kong-listed SJM’s gaming revenue falling 2% year-on-year to HKD 20.4b ($2.6b) in the six months ending June 30, while adjusted earnings fell 7.7% to HKD 1.5b and profit slid nearly 13% to HKD 955m.

The gaming revenue declines were across the board, as VIP revenue declined 3.4% to HKD 9.8b, mass market table games slipped 0.5% to HKD 10b and electronic gaming machines fell 3.2% to HKD 520m.

Unlike most of its Macau casino rivals, SJM’s properties failed to reap the rewards of the VIP gambling resurgence. VIP turnover was down 6.6%, in part due to SJM’s complement of VIP tables falling nearly one-sixth from the same period last year. SJM’s share of the overall Macau VIP market fell to 14.2% from 18.4% last year.

The government of the Australian state of Queensland has quashed plans to build a A$3b resort casino project on the Gold Coast, leaving the would-be operator mulling legal action.

On Tuesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk officially pulled the plug on ASF Consortium’s proposal to build a massive integrated resort on the Gold Coast’s Southport Spit area, bringing an end to years of false starts and missteps by the Chinese-led consortium.

Palaszczuk justified the rejection of ASF’s proposal as necessary to preserve the parkland’s reputation as “a unique site … the equivalent to what Central Park is to New York.” Palaszczuk said ASF’s proposal for five high-rise hotel towers would result in “something of an eyesore” for the region, and all future development of the Spit will be capped at three-story structures.

While the resort plans are officially toast, Palaszczuk said that the opportunity remains for ASF to build a casino in the Gold Coast region. It was only this weekend that Australian media reported that ASF had inked a deal with US casino operator Caesars Entertainment to manage gaming operations at the proposed resort.

Portugal’s regulated online gambling market took a step backward in Q2 as locally licensed operators struggled to find new customers.

The Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body released its Q2 and H1 2017 online gambling figures on Tuesday, which showed the market’s seven online licensees reporting revenue of €25.4m in the three months ending June 30.

That figure represents the first sequential revenue decline since the market launched in June 2016. It’s also the second-lowest quarterly total since Q3 2016’s €24.1m, and well below the €31.4m the market generated in Q1 2017. To date, the market has generated total revenue of €108.1m.

Sports betting revenue has been on an uninterrupted decline since the market launched, partly due to the launch coinciding with the start of the Euro 2016 football tournament. But sports betting generated only €13.9m in Q2 2017, 20% less than in Q1 2017, and each month of the most recent quarter brought in less than the month before.