The time is ripe to weed out the strong companies from the weak. Caesars belongs to the weak category, and its shares will follow the general market down, just at a faster pace. This is already happening. The S&P 500 topped on January 26th, and Caesars not much later on February 1st. The S&P is down 9% and Caesars 26%. Expect these trends to continue.

Why Caesars is falling specifically now is that it’s not profitable and prospects for growth are small. It’s still laden with too much debt despite casting off a ton of it to barely survive, and the only reason it was going up is because stocks in general were, too. That’s over now.

Before we get into Caesars specifically, here’s what I think happens from here in the short to medium term, meaning through the rest of 2018, and why. My belief is that US equities topped back in late January and we’re on our way down for as long as the Federal Reserve decides to stay out of the game. It’s been wild ups and downs daily now for the last two weeks. This up and down volatility seems to me to be nothing more than day traders and algorithms trying to take advantage of broad swings and squeeze each other. There isn’t significant new money flowing into the capital markets, and when this bull/bear day trading back and forth is done, we’re headed for another leg down. The only stocks that have a chance of bucking the trend are the really strong companies and Caesars is not one of them.

Dollar supply growth is very anemic and we are three weeks away from the peak for the next 4 to 5 months. Every year the dollar supply peaks on Tax Day and heads down from there until August/September. There will be no saving grace from the monetary side of things this year.

The Microgaming Poker Network’s (MPN) first trip to Bratislava is now behind us. Following four days of multiple tournaments, Alex Hendriks was crowned the victory of the Main Event, pocketing $33,148. From here, MPN travels to Bulgaria for a $184,000 (€150,000) Main Event at the Platinum Casino in Sunny Beach. That tournament is scheduled for July 5-8.

The final table of the main event proved to be a truly international competition, with eight countries represented. Hendriks took first place after reaching a three-way agreement with Jussi Mattila and Daniel Camus. The Dutch player also won entry into the MPN tournament in Bulgaria.

In final table action, UK poker pro Andy Hills was the first to hit the rail. He exited in ninth place with just a mere $3,763. Following Hills was another UK pro, Colin Guthrie. Guthrie had opened in third place when the final table was set, but never found his cards and left in eighth place with $4,911.

Danish poker player Johannes Park would be the next to go. After successfully winning several all-in hands, his luck finally ran out and he was sent packing in seventh for $6,629. Germany’s Sebastian Rebhan and Jiri Noga out of the Czech Republic would be the next on the chopping block, finishing in sixth and fifth place, respectively. The youngest player to participate at the final table was 20-year-old Slovakian player Dominik Desset, who was eliminated in fourth for $16,206.

Casino operators had approached Boracay Island with a slot machine in one hand and a deck of cards in the other, ready to launch casino operations in the tourist hotspot. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte left them there on the hot sand in their beach garb and sandals, and told them there was no way casinos would find a home on the island. Now, he has announced intentions to turn the land over to farmers to make it an agricultural center.

The Philippine president has declared Boracay Island to be a land reform area following a six-month rehabilitation of the land. In a press conference Monday afternoon, the leader stated, “You want to know now, I’m going to make the announcement. It’s going to be a land reform area for the Filipinos.” Once the six months have passed, the land will be turned over to farmers.

In the past, Duterte has referred to the area as a “cesspool” overrun by tourists. He is now following the advice of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Tourism and the Department of Interior and Local Government. All three organizations have suggested that the area be closed for six months beginning April 26.

In the words of Duterte, “pag mag-clean, sarado,” roughly translated as when it’s (the island) being cleaned, it’s closed. He indicated that the land would serve better as agricultural grounds and has even suggested providing farming equipment to the locals in the area.

In light of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent public show of distaste for the casino industry, Landing International Development (LID) might have put the cart before the horse. LID has announced plans to build an “integrated leisure and entertainment resort” in Paranaque City, and has already signed a lease for 9.5 hectares (23.75 acres) of land. The plans might fizzle out before they can even begin to percolate.

LID, owners of the Jeju World Integrated Resort in South Korea, has begun working on trying to get approval from Philippine authorities for the resort, which is going to prove to be a monumental task. The resort, if green-lighted, will have a cultural theme park, an indoor “movie-based” theme park, a convention center, hotels, a retail mall, an indoor waterpark and additional commercial facilities.

LID didn’t specifically mention that it would apply for a casino license. However, based on its South Korean operations, it’s a fairly safe bet. In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, LID said of the resort: “The Integrated Resort, if approved and completed, will add to the group’s portfolio of world-class integrated destination resorts with premium leisure and entertainment facilities which cater local and overseas visitors of all ages currently headlined by Jeju Shinhwa World in Jeju, South Korea.”

The Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp (PAGCOR), which oversees gambling licenses, announced in February that it would not be issuing any more casino licenses. The decision was prompted by President Duterte, who is looking to curb gambling activity in the country. While LID could receive a license for its project, since it doesn’t specifically mention a casino, PAGCOR is taking a closer look at the application to prevent any future attempts for LID to exploit a loophole.

France is prepping the privatization of its state-run lottery and betting operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) via an initial public offering.

Like most European Union governments, France is strapped for cash and a sell-off of state assets often appears as the shortest path to fiscal sanity. The government is now prepping a presentation to the cabinet on May 16 detailing its plans to begin selling off the family silver, starting with FDJ, the second largest lottery operator in Europe behind only Italy’s Lottomatica.

The idea is to take FDJ public in early 2019, selling off roughly 50% of its shares to investors. The government currently holds a 72% stake in FDJ, so the IPO will reduce its share to around 22%. FDJ is part of a privatization process the government eventually hopes will raise a total of around €10b.

FDJ generated sales of around €15.1b in 2017, up from €14.3b in 2016, based on its monopoly on lottery tickets and scratch cards. Scratch tickets accounted for €7.4b (+8%) of 2017’s sales, with other lottery products adding €5.2b (+5.2%) and sports betting contributing €2.5b (+0.3%).

Atlantic City casinos saw their profits jump by nearly one-quarter in 2017 despite a relatively flat revenue performance.

According to figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), the east coast tourist hub’s seven casino operators reported total revenue of $3.54b in 2017, up 0.9% from 2016’s tally. Counting contributions from the casinos’ third-party partners, the annual figure was up 0.5% to $3.74b.

The casinos’ gaming revenue was up 1.6% year-on-year to $2.56b, slightly below than the $2.66b the DGE originally reported in January. Room revenue slipped 3.6% to $391m despite occupancy rising 5.4 points to 86.9%, while food & beverage fell 0.8% to $427.3m and ‘entertainment & other’ rose 6% to $164.5m.

More to the point, the seven operators posted a combined gross operating profit of $723.3m, a 23.7% year-on-year improvement. Six of the casinos were in positive profit territory, with Caesars Entertainment’s Harrah’s property playing spoiler, as its profit fell 2.7% to $115.8m.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts got a rare piece of good news after a Macau court absolved the company of responsibility for a massive internal theft at a Wynn Macau VIP gaming room.

On Monday, the Macau Court of First Instance rule ordered junket operator Dore Entertainment Co Ltd to repay HK$6m (US$764k) to an individual who sought to gamble in the Dore-operated VIP room at the Wynn Macau casino.

In 2015, Dore was the victim of a massive internal theft by Chao Ioc Mei, a casino cage manager who absconded with roughly HK$700m (although initial reports pegged the stolen sum much higher). In 2016, the Macau courts ordered Chao (whose whereabouts remain unknown) to repay $12.9m in funds owed directly to Dore, leaving it up to individual investors and gamblers to pursue legal claims of their own.

Macau Business reported that four individuals had pursued claims against Dore totaling HK$64m but three of these individuals failed to provide the necessary documentation to justify their claims. The fourth individual was able to produce a receipt showing his HK$6m deposit with the cage manager.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts is reportedly serious about a potential sale of its in-development Massachusetts casino project.

On the weekend, Bloomberg reported that Wynn CEO Matt Maddox was having informal talks with unidentified parties regarding a potential sale of the $2.4b Wynn Boston Harbor project in Everett. The resort, construction of which got underway in 2016, is projected to open in June 2019.

The report follows Friday’s rumors that Wynn was discussing a potential sale of the entire company to rival MGM Resorts. It’s unclear how much of those rumors were based on the reported talks over the fate of Wynn Boston Harbor.

It’s equally unclear that Massachusetts regulators would approve an MGM takeover of the Boston project, given that MGM is close to opening its own casino, MGM Springfield, in the western part of Massachusetts.

UK-listed online gambling operator 888 Holdings says it will appeal a court ruling barring online casino operators from dealing with German customers.

Last October, a Federal Administrative Court upheld a lower court ruling in the state of Baden-Württemberg that barred international gambling operators not holding a German license from offering their services to local gamblers. Last month, 888 warned investors that it might have to quit the German market, which represents a significant chunk of 888’s overall revenue.

On Monday, 888 announced that its German-facing subsidiary had filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court based on the company’s assertion that the October ruling “infringes its constitutional rights, as well as its rights under [European Union] law, (including the freedom to provide services), and hence should be reversed.”

While the market reaction to 888’s original German exit announcement was alarmist, investors shrugged at this latest announcement, as the company’s stock closed out the day’s trading down less than 1% to 266p.