Two Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) officials are getting the boot after their names were linked in corrupt activities. The Philippine Star reported that a visibly irked President Rodrigo Duterte has shown the two PAGCOR officials the exit for abusing their licensing power.

Duterte said the sacked officials, who he declined to identify, even followed him to Cebu City and begged to spare them from being booted out from their offices.

“I have fired and will fire tomorrow some more people,” Duterte was quoted by the news outlet saying.

The Philippine president pointed out the PAGCOR officials have abused their positions when they decided to issue a license to a free port operator. The officials reportedly tried to justify their actions by telling the president that whatever they have granted was only what was provided for in the franchise.

There’s no longer legal impediment that could stop UK-listed technology supplier Playtech Plc from acquiring Italian betting and gaming operator Snaitech SpA (Snaitech).

In a disclosure to the London Stock Exchange, Playtech announced that the Italian regulator Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli has approved its plan to buy a majority stake in Snaitech for a sum of €291 million ($359.2 million).

The multi-million euro deal involves an estimated 70.6 percent of the issued share capital of Snaitech, according to Playtech. Upon the completion of the initial acquisition, Playtech will be required to make a mandatory offer for all remaining Snaitech shares.

Playtech CEO Mor Weizer said that he sees the acquisition as an opportunity “to improve the quality and diversification of Group revenue” while“delivering exposure to high growth end markets, by utilizing the strength of Playtech’s balance sheet.”

Online gambling technology provider GameAccount Network Plc. (GAN) has started cleaning its balance sheets and beefing up its financial coffers in a bid to widen its commercial footprint in the United States.

In a disclosure to the London Stock Exchange, GAN announced that it has raised a total of £7.5 million ($10.05 million) through an over-subscribed subscription of 15 million ordinary sharesin anticipation of Internet sports betting in the United States.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992, paving the way for the lifting of the federal ban on sports betting.

Upon completion of the subscription, GAN’s enlarged issued share capital will consist of 85.05 million Ordinary Shares.

A Japanese lawmaker has a beef with pachinko. Takashi Takai, of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, has created a laundry list of questions for the government that questions the pachinko industry’s “moral fitness” in casinos. His main argument is that the game is the primary root of addiction in the country, and that the industry does virtually nothing to protect consumers.

Pachinko machines don’t reward money directly. They reward captured balls for tickets, which are subsequently traded for money elsewhere. To many, this helps the hybrid slot/pinball machine avoid the classification of being a gambling game but, rather, one of amusement. However, with the possible spread of casinos in Japan, lawmakers are revisiting the industry and have, so far, introduced lower payouts to the games.

In 2015, the pachinko industry dealt with a scandal that involved tampering of the machines. The ensuing government investigation, according to Takei, is a good enough reason to consider the validity of the machines in casinos. He was quoted by Asia Gaming Brief saying, “Considering that there was a major tampering case by pachinko makers from a mere three years ago, I believe we must take a strict view towards their participation in the casino industry. Also, the National Public Safety Commission, as well as the prefectural public safety commissions, have proven themselves unable to prevent large-scale tampering by the pachinko makers and therefore it is inappropriate to have them supervise the casino business.”

Takei should rest easy in knowing that the industry is already on life support. Last year, 420 pachinko cafes—one out of every 25—shut down. Additionally, 177 companies went belly-up, roughly 5% of all the operators in the country. There has been a decline in interest for a number of years as millennials seek out more exciting opportunities. Perhaps he should just let the industry have its remaining days in peace and let it die happy.

Scientific Games (SG) is barreling forward with its plans to take over the world. Recent announcements brought news of two new members to the team—Doug Albregts as the Executive VP and Group CEO for its Gaming Division, Tim Butcher in the executive VP and chief product officer role across all of the company’s divisions and Nikos Konstakis as the VP of the company’s new sportsbook. SG has added yet another veteran to the fray, picking up Steve Schrier to be the chief commercial officer of the firm’s digital division.

Schrier has been involved in a variety of senior sales roles for the past two decades, covering different aspects of technology, gaming and products. He is joining SG following a successful stint as the VP of sales for Playtech Plc. His appointment will begin in July of this year, and he will report to SG’s CEO, Jason Walbridge, in SG Digital’s office in London.

In a statement, the company said, “In his role, Mr Schrier will establish world-class customer partnerships and be responsible for all account management and business development across SG Digital.” SG Digital CEO Matt Davey said, “Steve’s appointment marks the elevation of our customer engagement strategy… to cement SG Digital… as a global digital gaming powerhouse.”

In no small part a result of the recent reversal of the U.S. Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), Schrier pointed out that the digital gaming industry “continues to go through a rapid period of transformation and SG Digital is advancing on all fronts under Scientific Games’ leadership.” He added that he and his team will be concentrating their efforts on creating “world-class” partnerships while providing unparalleled customer engagement.

Phil Ivey is one of the most prolific card players of all times. He’s known for endless wins in NLHE, Omaha and Baccarat (although he might just the same prefer to forget about the latter), and has accumulated over $26 million in live action since his first first-place tournament win at Seven Card Stud in December of 1998. He has now entered into the realm of Short Deck poker, and has shown that he’s just as adept at the game as he is the others. Some might even say that he’s the best—unless you’re Dan Cates.

Ivey just participated in the Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, performing incredibly in two Short Deck (SD) tournaments. He won first place and $604,000 at a $31,000 (HKD$250,000) NLHE-Short Deck (NLHE-SD) event on May 12, only to follow it up with a third-place finish five days later in the $127,000 (HKD$1,000,000) NLHE-SD tournament for $1.6 million. In spite of the performance, “Jungle man” Cates believes he is better than “the Tiger Woods of poker,” stating in an interview with PokerNews, “From my experience, I think that I’m better than him at this game [Short Deck Hold’em], but that day he seemed to play pretty well.” He then added, “I’d be happy to play him [Ivey] some more, lets [sic] put it that way. I mean, we can play the same stakes too.”

Cates lost to Ivey in the first SD tournament, taking home a purse of $470,515. It was the only event in the Triton series in which he cashed in the same tournament as Ivey. Ivey would almost certainly disagree with his rival’s assessment, as the overall numbers confirm.

Both have been playing SD for about the same amount of time, a year and a half, and both will be at the WSOP this year. Cates may have the advantage in the online poker games, where he has won more than $11 million, but he’s at a loss in live action with only $6 million. It could prove to be a very interesting day at the felt to see the two meet once again to duke it out.

Maurice Hawkins has won his 11th World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring, pulling him one behind the leader Valentin Vornicu, as he lands an ace on the river to crack kings in his heads-up duel with Peter Vitantonio.

As the giant table umbrellas fight desperately to escape the tight blue cord that keeps them bound, and the seat covers pile high in the sky, I wave bye-bye to my last Montenegro dawn.

Somethings have to change.

Somethings don’t.