Australian casino operator The Star Entertainment Group saw its profit plunge in the second half of 2017 as VIP gamblers treated the company like dogs treat fire hydrants.

Figures released Friday show The Star’s statutory revenue rising a modest 3.3% to A$1.27b (US$1b) in the six months ending December 31, 2017. But earnings fell more than one-third to A$200m and net profit after tax plunged 76.8% to just A$32.9m.

The ‘normalized’ results, which smooth out the traditionally wild variance in VIP gambling activity, read far more positively. Normalized revenue was up 16% to A$1.36m, earnings improved nearly 12% to A$280m and net profits were up 12.4% to A$120.4m. (Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to binge on cheeseburgers and then hop on this ‘normalized’ weight scale, which will tell me that everything is just fine.)

Whatever way you slice it, the fiscal H1 was done in by an “abnormally low” international VIP (read: Asian gambling whales) win rate of just 1.06%, well below the benchmark 1.35% rate and miles away from the 1.62% rate The Star enjoyed in the same period one year earlier.

Australian casino operator The Star Entertainment Group saw its profit plunge in the second half of 2017 as VIP gamblers treated the company like dogs treat fire hydrants.

Figures released Friday show The Star’s statutory revenue rising a modest 3.3% to A$1.27b (US$1b) in the six months ending December 31, 2017. But earnings fell more than one-third to A$200m and net profit after tax plunged 76.8% to just A$32.9m.

The ‘normalized’ results, which smooth out the traditionally wild variance in VIP gambling activity, read far more positively. Normalized revenue was up 16% to A$1.36m, earnings improved nearly 12% to A$280m and net profits were up 12.4% to A$120.4m. (Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to binge on cheeseburgers and then hop on this ‘normalized’ weight scale, which will tell me that everything is just fine.)

Whatever way you slice it, the fiscal H1 was done in by an “abnormally low” international VIP (read: Asian gambling whales) win rate of just 1.06%, well below the benchmark 1.35% rate and miles away from the 1.62% rate The Star enjoyed in the same period one year earlier.

In this week’s Calling The Clock we remind you that Mike Leah upset a few people after cutting a deal during his World Poker Tour Main Event win in Fallsview, partypoker made more announcements than a sofa company during sale season, and much more. 

Walk around with a baby’s head on a spike, and you’ll receive the same abuse Mike Leah got on social media this week. It should have been the best weeks of his life. It turned out to be one of the most challenging.

The Canadian pro topped a field of 517 entrants to make the heads-up phase of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event. Sitting in the way of him and the Championship was Ryan Yu and a 4:1 chip deficit.

Despite the lead, Leah’s opponent suggested a deal in which he would be happy to take an even ICM deal, including giving the title, Champions Club berth and $15k Tournament of Champions seat to Leah.

In this week’s Calling The Clock we remind you that Mike Leah upset a few people after cutting a deal during his World Poker Tour Main Event win in Fallsview, partypoker made more announcements than a sofa company during sale season, and much more. 

Walk around with a baby’s head on a spike, and you’ll receive the same abuse Mike Leah got on social media this week. It should have been the best weeks of his life. It turned out to be one of the most challenging.

The Canadian pro topped a field of 517 entrants to make the heads-up phase of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event. Sitting in the way of him and the Championship was Ryan Yu and a 4:1 chip deficit.

Despite the lead, Leah’s opponent suggested a deal in which he would be happy to take an even ICM deal, including giving the title, Champions Club berth and $15k Tournament of Champions seat to Leah.

The Los Angeles Dodgers may have lost last year’s epic World Series to the Houston Astros in seven games, but that has not stopped them from being the favorites to win it all in 2018. The Dodgers are listed at odds of +500 to take home their first World Series title since 1988 while the Astros and New York Yankees are both at +550.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Houston is looking to become the first repeat World Series champion since New York won three in a row between 1998 and 2000. Before the Astros won their first-ever World Series last season, they edged the Yankees in a thrilling seven-game American League Championship Series behind MVP Justin Verlander, who recently tweeted out that “I can think of a reason” why the Bronx Bombers are not the team to beat in the AL.

Verlander was acquired by Houston from the Detroit Tigers last September 1 and proved to be the final piece to the championship puzzle. Since then, the Astros made a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates for former top overall pick Gerrit Cole, another quality starting pitcher that along with Verlander and Dallas Keuchel gives them one of the best rotations in baseball.

Lee Davy sits down with PokerStars’ Head of Poker Communications, Lee Jones, to talk about his role at the company, the difficulty of balancing the needs of such a vastly different customer base, and more.

Lee Jones is the Head of Poker Communications for PokerStars. I imagine the past few years have been…challenging. Jones first joined the largest online poker room in 2003. It was love at first sight.

“I’ve never lost my love for PokerStars or poker. It’s a cool gig.” Jones tells me across a boardroom table resplendent with chilled water that tastes funny. 

Jones’s role is to reach PokerStars’ customers, potential customers, and the public at large to evangelise poker as entertainment that is fun, interesting, and challenging.

New Jersey gambling regulators are testing the limits of their state’s sports betting legislation by inviting operators to apply for licenses in advance of a crucial US Supreme Court ruling.

Earlier this month, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) director David Rebuck (pictured) surprised some attendees at the ICE Totally Gaming conference in London when he urged them to apply to participate in New Jersey’s sports betting market now “or you will be left behind.”

On Thursday, Rebuck issued a statement to ESPN confirming the DGE’s willingness to start the process of licensing sports betting providers, saying the regulator “needs to be prepared to investigate and license businesses and individuals seeking to enter the New Jersey gaming market should the Supreme Court issue a favorable decision authorizing the state to legalize and regulate sports wagering.”

Rebuck went on to say that the DGE had been approached by numerous companies curious about New Jersey’s “licensing requirements in the event they are able to engage in sports wagering operations with our casino industry.” Rebuck encouraged these firms to “commence the application process.”

The Premier League will show Saturday night games between 2019-2022 as Sky and BT purchase five of the seven TV packages for £4.464 billion.

Football.

There was a time when it was a religion. Sir Alex Ferguson was my God. It was the one thing I was good at as a child. I roamed the midfield like a hungry tiger, gnawing at a shinbone; Achilles heel; patella.

Sunday afternoons were a horrid nightmare. The peaks of your crazy kitten smile turned downward as you tried to fight off the feeling of impending doom that greeted school on Monday morning. Sunday dinner. The veg. Songs of Praise. Last of the Summer Wine.

partypoker has announced that the first KO Series online event of 2018 will begin with a $10m guarantee, and the unfancied Chi Zhang beats a stellar field to win the €800,000 top prize in the €50,000 Super High Roller at the MILLIONS Germany Festival.

What is the point of having a parrot that doesn’t talk?

“Pieces of eight?”

Ask for your money back.

Live dealer casino specialists Evolution Gaming nearly doubled their profit in 2017 thanks to “intense” expansion, new products and a downright obscene earnings margin.

Figures released Thursday by the Stockholm-based Evolution show the company generated revenue of €50.7m in the three months ending December 31, 2017, up 48% from the same period one year earlier. Earnings jumped 74% to €22.6m as margins improved nearly seven points to 44.6% while profit spiked 99% to €18m.

For the year as a whole, revenue was up 54% to €178.4m, earnings jumped 81% to €80.6m (on a 45.2% margin) and profit rose 96% to just under €66.9m.

Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund did his best to restrain the superlatives after “an exceptional year in many ways,” while assuring investors that the company wasn’t taking its success for granted and would continue to work its butt off to ensure the good times keep rolling.

A would-be Walter White has been arrested in Atlantic City after his meth lab caused a fire in a Tropicana Casino hotel room.

On Wednesday morning, firefighters responded to a call indicating a fire in progress on the 44th floor of the west tower of the Tropicana’s hotel. The blaze was soon under control and while the smoke forced the evacuation of four hotel floors, no serious injuries were reported and property damage was limited to around $50k.

However, once the smoke cleared and the firefighters got a better look at the room, they discovered the familiar apparatus of a makeshift methamphetamine laboratory. A check of the hotel’s surveillance system revealed three individuals fleeing the premises before the firefighters arrived on the scene.

The three suspects – two male, one female – were located and detained on Wednesday night, although two of them were subsequently released without being charged. But the man who rented the room, 49-year-old Michael Pillar, was charged with maintaining a controlled dangerous substance production facility, possession of methamphetamine and criminal mischief.