Detroit’s three commercial casinos set an all-time gaming revenue record in March, as two properties set new individual records.

Figures released Thursday by the Michigan Gaming Control Board show total casino gaming revenue of $138.6m in March, 5.7% higher than the same month last year. The figure is the highest ever recorded since the first casinos opened in 1999, surpassing the previous record of $135.3m in March 2012.

MGM Grand Detroit set a new personal best with $58.1m, up 7.3% year-on-year and beating its previous monthly best of $57.2m in March 2012. Ditto for MotorCity Casino, which earned $49.3m, beating its March 2013 record of $45.8m. Jack Entertainment’s Greektown Casino contributed $31.2m to March’s total, but fell short of its own record of $34.7m in March 2013.

Despite the records, the market’s total revenue over the first quarter of 2018 was essentially flat year-on-year at $360.2m. The blame goes to Greektown, whose Q1 total of $82.9m was down 4.7% year-on-year, while MGM and MotorCity posted gains of 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

The UK gambling industry’s problem gambling charitable organization has struck its first deal with an English Premier League football team to warn fans of the potential downsides of gambling.

On Friday, the industry-funded GambleAware charity announced a deal with London’s Crystal Palace FC to cooperate on the production of “advertisements and promotion materials to raise awareness of the risks of gambling.”

The problem gambling messages will appear both on the perimeter of the Selhurst Park pitch and on screens throughout the stadium, ensuring their visibility for both in-stadium spectators and viewers watching at home on television. The first messages will appear during this Saturday’s match against Brighton & Hove Albion and continue for the final two matches of the current EPL season.

Crystal Palace has a shirt sponsorship with UK-licensed online betting operator ManBetX, one of nine EPL clubs that has shirt deals with gambling operators. Crystal Palace is the first EPL squad to sign on for the GambleAware initiative and the charity hopes other teams will join the campaign, which aims to boost awareness of the advice and support available via the BeGambleAware.org site.

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is reviewing online gambling operator Sun Bets license after last year’s infamous ‘PieGate’ novelty bet incident.

On Friday, the UKGC imposed an £84k penalty on Tabcorp UK Limited, a subsidiary of Australian betting operator Tabcorp Holdings, for failing to properly manage risks associated with certain novelty bets and for allowing over 100 self-excluded gamblers to continue to gamble with the Sun Bets site.

The sketchy novelty bets included whether Sutton United FC goalkeeper Wayne Shaw (pictured) would eat a pie on the sidelines during a February 2017 match against Arsenal. The 322-pound Shaw, who did consume a pie, later admitted to tipping some friends about his plans in advance of the match.

In its public statement on the penalty, Tabcorp UK copped to offering a novelty market “which carried a risk of inciting an individual to breach a sports governing body’s rules.” The company further admitted to failing to carry out a specific risk assessment on the impact of the pie-eating market on the individual who had a pivotal role in determining the outcome of that market.

The annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia has once again cemented its status as the must-attend gambling conference of the year, shining the spotlight on key industry segments across its interactive show floor.

G2E Asia 2018, which will be held at the Venetian Macao from May 15 to 17, has already shattered its record number of attendees in 2017, with an estimated 15,000 local and international trade visitors expected to descend in the former Portuguese enclave during the three-day event.

Compared to last year’s conference, G2E organizers said the expo has experienced a staggering 30% growth and already boasts 95% of reserved show space.

G2E organizers noted that there are so many different reasons why operators keep on attending the region’s one-stop destination for forward-thinking gaming and entertainment decision makers and suppliers.

Casino operators are slowly getting a clearer picture of how Japan’s Integrated Resorts bill will look like ahead of the start of the Japanese Diet session late this month.

Over the past weeks, Japan’s ruling party Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner Komeito party have been trying to map out details on a bill specifying rules for the structure of the country’s integrated resorts.

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently presented LDP lawmakers a plan to set a casino entry fee for Japanese residents. The ruling party also concurred to allow three resorts in the initial phase of liberalization.

In yet another development, Kyodo reported that the LDP will propose a ¥500 million ($4.7 million) fine against casino operators that will be found to have obtained their business licenses through fraudulent means.

With the idyllic resort island of Boracay now off-limits to casinos, Macau-based casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) still has 7,640 islands to choose from for its planned $500 million integrated resort in the country.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that GEG may still pursue its plans of building an integrated resort on a tropical island but not in Boracay, which has been ordered closed to tourists for six months.

Philippine Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said GEG could look at other jurisdictions in the Philippines for its integrated resort plan since the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has already granted its provisional license.

“So they (GEG) could have a provisional license. If they can’t build in Boracay, perhaps they could build elsewhere,” Roque said, according to the news outlet.

The daily fantasy sports (DFS) shuffle continues. Draftstars, a DFS platform created in 2015 by Australia’s CrownBet and Matt Tripp, has changed hands, and now belongs to DFS operator PlayUp. The acquisition is part of PlayUp’s plans to become a truly global DFS leader. It also allows CrownBet to shed some of its auxiliary services while trying to rebuild its core casino operations.

PlayUp offers a cryptocurrency designed for the gaming industry called PlayChip, which is based on Ethereum. With Draftstars now under the PlayUp umbrella, Draftstars users should soon be able to use the cryptocurrency in their gambling activities.

Draftstars has been the number one DFS platform in the land down under, registering over 100,000 active users. Tripp spoke of the acquisition, saying, “PlayUp’s innovative strategy to grow Fantasy Sports and create global liquidity in cash and cryptocurrency via its ‘PlayChip’ will be an exciting journey. We are glad that Draftstars now forms part of PlayUp’s offering and that the effort put into growing the Draftstars brand and client base will add to PlayUp’s success.”

PlayUp is headed by Daniel Simic, an entrepreneur based in Sydney, Australia. He salvaged PlayUp last year, after it had suffered exaggerated financial hemorrhaging to the tune of $100 million. Simic is also the CEO of information technology firm Next Security and the Fantasy Sports Global website. After picking up Draftstars, Simic said, “Draftstars is an ideal acquisition for PlayUp delivering immediate and significant growth in our Australian user base and a highly recognizable daily fantasy sports brand that we will continue to grow and enhance. Over time, we will integrate the PlayChip within Draftstars as an additional currency.”

As I do every day, I just checked and there is still no word on when the U.S. Supreme Court will publish its decision on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) repeal. The repeal of the most highly contested sports gambling legislation is expected by virtually everyone, but it’s not a guarantee. At least 12 states are paying someone to stand by a switch, ready to flip it if the courts give the green light for them to start offering sports gambling. Maybe the courts could do like they do in Rome, and use white smoke or black smoke.

The states aren’t the only ones who want to pick up a piece of the action. Several sports leagues—most notably the MLB and the NBA—have previously said that they wanted a portion of every wager before they took a step back into the locker rooms and formulated new game plans. Now the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) has said that it would support legalized sports gambling. While it didn’t specifically say that it would automatically expect a cut, comments made by the PGA Tour head certainly could make someone reach that conclusion.

Jay Monahan, commissioner for the PGA Tour, said what should be, but apparently isn’t, obvious to everyone: Sports betting is already going on illegally, so regulating the industry would “better ensure the integrity of your competitions.” He added that there could potentially be some commercial opportunities, and that legalization would help the tour reach a wider audience. Without using the exact words, he alluded to the fact that the tour could demand a percentage fee from gambling operators.

Monahan has been with the PGA since 2008. He was the executive director of The Players Championship until 2010 when he was named the Tour’s senior vice president for business development. After three years, he was promoted to executive vice president and chief marketing officer. He then served as deputy commission before being bumped up to chief operating officer. He took over as the commissioner at the beginning of 2017 when the previous commissioner, Tim Finchem, resigned.