UK bookmakers William Hill reported an eight-figure loss in 2017 as writedowns at its Australian division offset online revenue growth.

On Friday, Hills released its official 2017 results, which showed overall revenue in the 52 weeks to December 26 – because just reporting calendar 2017 results would be too difficult, obviously – rising 7% to £1.71b.

If one ignores exceptional items, Hills’ adjusted operating profit improved 11% to £291.3m. However, the actual results showed a pre-tax loss of £74.6m versus a £181.3m profit in 2016.

The statutory results were undone by a £238m impairment of Hills’ struggling Australian operation, which the company put under review in January following the recent bans on online in-play and credit betting, as well as the threat of new point-of-consumption taxes. Hills expects to complete its Aussie review by mid-year.

The debate on whether to allow a proposed competitive processin constructing Connecticut’s first casino on non-tribal land will finally push through, and MGM has to thank none other than Democratic Rep. Jeffrey Berger for the last-minute Senate maneuvering.

On Thursday, the Connecticut legislature approved in an 18-6 vote to hold public hearings on the proposal seeking to allow competitive bidding process for a casino in the state despite objections from the co-chairman of the General Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, Hartford Courant reported.

No one expected at least one of the three legislative proposals that touches on casino expansion to move forward in the committee, especially after Sen. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford, and Sen. Tony Guglielmo, R-Stafford, rejected calls to place the casino expansion bills on the agenda.

In a last ditch effort to save the casino expansion bill, Berger mustered significant support from the committee members and pushed for a hearing on the competitive bidding bill.

Poker players, even the most successful ones, don’t necessarily intend on sitting at the felt until their bodies start to wilt. Some have left after only a few years of winning, while others, like Doyle Brunson, become an icon of the game. Vanessa Selbst retired at the beginning of this year, only to return a month later to participate in a tournament.

There are a number of reasons why players make their choices—they lose interest, the lose sponsorships or they lose the lifestyle. One player left the game and found a great deal of success in the tech industry.

French poker pro Ludovic Lacay was a regular at live tournaments for a number of years, participating often in the WSOP and the EPT. He earned more than $3.2 million in cash between 2007 and 2013 with his best win coming at the EPT San Remo tournament in 2012 where he raked in just over $918,000. His luck seemed to change in 2014, though, earning a mere $38,053 after winning a minimum of $170,000 in each of the previous seven years.

After the downturn, Lacay weighed his options and decided it was time for a change. He dropped a sponsorship deal with France’s Winamax poker site, boxed up his cards and walked off into the sunset. He never looked back—almost never.

The Asian gaming industry has come a long way since the first iGaming Asia (iGA) Congress a decade ago. New markets are emerging to challenge Macau’s hold on the title “Asia’s premier gambling hub,” while gambling regulations in the Asia-Pacific region have evolved over the years.

To mark the 10th year anniversary of the annual conference, the iGA will look back at 10 years of iGaming in Asia on March 13 to 15 at The Grand Hyatt Hotel in Macau.

Giulia Valentina Timarco, conference producer of this year’s edition of iGaming Asia Congress, said the conference will try to dissect the lessons that the industry learned in the span of 10 years, the current challenges that the iGaming industry faces, and the future Asian iGaming landscape.

“Operators, affiliates, suppliers and other companies from both the regional and global industry have met, networked and made significant deals over the years. We’ve had 1,600+ delegates, 400+ speakers and 100+ sponsors & exhibitors,” Timarco said.

Macau enjoyed a healthy year-on-year bump in visitors during the Lunar New Year festivities but analysts are fretting over a sudden and significant rise in the price of transit visas on the Chinese mainland.

The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) announced Thursday that over 963k visitors traveled to Macau during the weeklong Lunar New Year celebration that spanned February 15-21, up 6.5% from the number who visited during the 2017 event.

The final figure is below the 10% year-on-year rise Macau witnessed over the holiday’s first four days, as the daily average peaked at 185.5k on February 18. The second last day of the holiday saw annual growth fall to 2.8%, while the final day’s figure was 1.4% below the final day of the 2017 event.

The MGTO’s standard caveat is that there’s no direct link between visitation and casino revenue, in part because many VIP and premium mass gamblers give Macau a wide berth during the holiday to avoid the teeming masses of tourists.

This is a guest contribution by Martin Owens. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Kingdom Come – to Paying Card Tournaments

“Here”, the king said, “things that just don’t happen, happen.” The particular king was Peter the Great, and the country he was talking about was Russia. But today the same thing might be said of another old Kingdom,  moving up fast in the Improbability Stakes. Wait for it: open, public card tournaments, for cash prizes no less, are coming to-of all places- Saudi Arabia.

This is surprising news from any standpoint. For anyone who has spent any time in the Kingdom, this is absolutely lightning out of a clear sky. When people think of Saudi Arabia, they think of oil, desert, and a hyper conservative branch of Sunni Islam called  Wahabism. And up until now, they were right.  Women were locked away under the control of their men.  Consumption of alcohol was a flogging offense. Thieves could and did have their hands cut off. Judicial beheadings were frequently carried out, and not just for murder either.  If you sell drugs in Saudi Arabia, make sure one of them is a cyanide capsule. For  yourself.