Pennsylvania will permit its online gambling licensees to host multiple ‘skins,’ which will allow companies from outside Pennsylvania to participate in its intrastate online gambling market.

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board published the latest installment of its rules and regulations governing its imminent online gambling licenses. The state will begin accepting interactive gaming certificate applications from its existing land-based casino licensees later this month, while technology providers will get their shot in June.

The new set of regulations (viewable in full here) addresses the contentious question of ‘skins’, aka whether an online licensee will also be able to host affiliated operators, as is the case in neighboring New Jersey. (NJ’s market-leading Golden Nugget casino, for example, offers its own online casino, in addition to Betfair- and SugarHouse-branded sites.)

The lobbying on this issue has been fierce in Pennsylvania, with Parx Casino and Penn National Gaming arguing against allowing any third-party sites, and online operators like 888 Holdings arguing to be allowed to piggyback on a local casino’s license, much as the company does in New Jersey via its partnership with Caesars Entertainment.

The U.S. state of Louisiana has moved closer towards legalizing sports betting after securing the nod of the Senate committee members.

WWL AM 870 reported that members of the Louisiana Senate committee voted unanimously to send Senate Bill 266, authored by Sen. Danny Martiny, to the full Senate for consideration. In a nutshell, SB 266 will allow Louisiana residents to punt “on any type of sports event, including but not limited to football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boxing, tennis, wrestling, jai alai, or other sports contest or event.”

Under SB 266, betting on professional leagues will be allowed at Harrah’s New Orleans casino, the 15 floating casinos, the four racetrack casinos, the 200 video poker truck stop casinos and the more than 1,000 bars and restaurants with video poker machines in the state.

The members of the Senate committee believe that it is essential to pass SB 266 before the U.S. Supreme Court decides to lift the ban on sports betting in order not to fall behind its neighboring states, who are expected to pass similar legislations.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) didn’t fool around when it called out the bluff advertisement of online poker site PokerStars.

On Wednesday, the ASA banned a controversial PokerStars advertisement, which it said implied that inexperienced players could easily excel at the game by just bluffing.

The advertising watchdog zeroed in on the narrator’s script which said: “Here you are, the moment when bluffing is the only way to win, you’re freaking out kiddo, but think about all those times you bluffed yourself… Use that talent because if you can bluff yourself, you can bluff anyone.”

After it aired in October, the ad watchdog said it received numerous complaint that PokerStars was exploiting new poker players by making them believe that they could rake in large jackpots through bluffing, just like the guy in the advertisement.

Spring came early for South Korean casino operator Paradise Co Ltd., which saw its casino revenue climb by almost 34 percent in March.

Paradise, however, gave little explanation behind the robust casino sales in March when it announced before the Korea Exchange on Tuesday that its profit grew to KRW52.19 billion (US$49.5 million) in March 2018, higher than the KRW38.97 billion ($36.63 million) it posted in the previous year period.

Last month’s figure was also 20 percent higher than the KRW43.49 billion ($40.88 million) casino sales it reported in February 2018.

The casino operator said the upswing in March 2018 casino revenue was led by the casino tables, which grew 35.1 percent year-on-year to nearly KRW48.75 billion ($45.83 million). On the other hand, Paradise Co’s machine revenue was up 18.9 percent to KRW3.44 billion last month.

William Shakespeare said it best—all is fair in love and war. However, it’s doubtful that English playwright ever sat down to play poker against Anne Hathaway. If he had, he might have changed his tune.

This past Sunday, Tim and Ness Reilly from Massachusetts took part in a WSOP Circuit tournament at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Along with 608 other players, they paid put up the $1,675 buy-in for a chance to take home the $192,152 top prize. As luck would have it, though, they eventually found themselves sharing the same felt which meant drama was just waiting to happen.

The inevitable finally occurred. Tim and Ness had to go against each other in a hand, with Ness sitting on the short stack. Holding an A 10 off-suit, Ness probably felt pretty comfortable with her cards, and pushed all in with her stack of 66,000, according to a CardPlayer report. After giving it some considerable thought—to call or not to call, that is the question—Tim called. At this point, it was too late to turn back.

Tim was holding a pair of 3s—with two over cards, Ness had a fairly good shot at winning the hand. However, the poker gods weren’t listening, and a Q-3-2 on the flop awarded Tim nicely. Ness saw a glimmer of hope on the turn, though, as a 4 was flipped over, but a King on the river denied her the chance of picking up a straight. Ness was sent to the rail in 46th place with $3,248, part of which probably went toward new locks on the bedroom door.

The Swedes are known for taking a systematic approach to problem solving, and not jumping the gun. In an effort to not upset the apple cart, the country had requested feedback in December from the European Union (EU) on whether or not its proposed Internet Gaming (iGaming) legislation might infringe on existing EU laws. After not receiving a response, which, is in essence a positive response, from EU legislators, Sweden announced in March that it was ready to move forward in its quest to offer iGaming. It’s so close, but now wants a little more time.

Additional legislation outlining Sweden’s new regulations has been presented to the European Commission (EC). The laws cover international cooperation, responsible gambling, fees, supervision and licensing. While the country had anticipated beginning the licensing process on July 1, the legislation it submitted to the EC now puts that date as August 1.

The new regulations won’t be officially enacted until January 1, 2019. From August until then, gaming operators will go through the licensing process, which includes a payment of SEK400,000 ($47,800) for gambling only. If an entity wants to offer both gambling and betting options, the licensing fee jumps to SEK700,000, or a little more than $83,000.

Additional items in the legislation cover the types of games that are allowed, as well as guidance on future regulations. Operators will be able to offer online bingo, virtual slot machines, dice and card games and roulette. League and sport betting won’t have any restrictions, except for cantering races and Swedish trotting, but regulators will have the authority to monitor gambling activities and to implement restrictions as they deem necessary at any time. Regulators will also have the authority to create rules to deter match-fixing as is warranted.

How far will opponents go to stop gambling, especially online gambling? When you have a casino multi billionaire like Sheldon Adelson in your corner, chances are you will go pretty far. Several lawmakers in the United States are pushing for changes in how online gambling is advertised on websites, complaining that the ads are targeting the youth.

Current and former lawmakers are pressuring both U.S. Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice to make changes regarding online gambling advertising. Former Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat out of Arkansas, has highlighted several issues where gambling ads have appeared on sites that included “Twelve Ways To Stop Gambling Addiction Forever,” as well as an otherwise gaming website geared for girls. Lincoln, along with several others, want Congress to overturn a 2011 decision that permits states to offer internet gambling.

It’s important to point out that Lincoln now works for the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG), with the emphasis on “Internet.” CSIG is backed by none other than the 12th richest man in the world, Sheldon Adelson, who just happens to be the head of brick-and-mortar casino group, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. In an interview with Business Insider, Lincoln compared online gambling ads to cigarette ads, stating, “You used to have the Marlboro man, you used to have those ads. Congress in its wisdom and some in the industry determined it was not appropriate. The advertising part of it is exactly what hooks kids and seniors who are desperate, who are marginalized individuals and trying to feed a family.”

The issue isn’t as cut and dry as she might think. The ads that routinely appear on websites are actually presented based on browsing history. If someone searches for a vacation in the Bahamas, it is very possible that future website visits will result in ads that display items such as hotels, islands, retreats and other related ideas. This type of advertising is referred to as retargeting advertising, where a web user’s history is used to present ads during future visits to any number of sites that are paid to allow advertising.