Philippine-listed casino investor Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC) is eyeing to have a stake in the ownership of Melco Resorts and Entertainment Philippines (Melco Philippines), operator of City of Dreams Manila.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Melco Philippines reported that there are discussions for PLC to become an equity holder of Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd.’s Philippine unit.

PLC, through its unit Premium Leisure and Amusement, Inc. (PLAI), is a co-licensee of City of Dreams Manila, one of the integrated resorts within the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s Entertainment City.

In a statement, Melco mentioned “a potential transaction whereby PLC or its affiliated entities may become equity holders” of the casino operator, noting “certain affiliated entities of PLC are currently parties to an operating agreement with Melco” in the Philippines.

It’s Day 6 of Lee Davy’s reports from the Triton Poker Series in Montenegro, this time focusing on the winner of the HKD 1,000,000 Main Event, and a roundup from the €1m buy-in Cash Game. 

The Asian crowd sitting across from me let out a collective hangover giggle. It sounds like a cacophony of monkeys at the moment a leopard strides into town looking for a headstone so he can piss on the dead.

One of them has the words ‘I Fought The Law’ on the back of his t-shirt. We all know the law won. It makes me wonder if poker players ‘fight’ other poker players, or whether the primary battle is with poker itself?

A few No-Limit Hold’em specialists came to Montenegro to pick up more video game points in the four tournaments on display in the shop window. But let’s not kid ourselves here. These events are the entrée. The cash games are the main course.

In this week’s Calling the Clock we cover the action at the Triton Poker Series in Montenegro, some standout performances in the Spring Championship of Online Poker and much more.

When it comes to the stars of our beloved game, they don’t get much bigger than Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, and this week the pair surfaced in Montenegro for the first Triton Poker Series event of the year.

The festival consisted of four live events:

HKD 250,000 (USD 32,000) Short-Deck, Ante Only No-Limit Hold’em

Unless you’ve been on a deserted island this week, the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992 shouldn’t come as a surprise. The reversal doesn’t specifically address where online poker stands, but many have already come out to say that legalized sports gambling will have the side benefit of expanding the poker industry. The subject has made its way to Twitter, where several poker pros have begun to voice their opinion on the subject. Not surprisingly, one of the most vocal has been poker’s Poker Brat.

The day following the court’s decision, Phil Hellmuth tweeted, “Every Major sport (NBA, NFL, MLB) is behind the legalization of sports betting, and all of them will profit by it. But how can Sports Betting online be legalized w/out online poker being legalized (clearly more skill than sports betting)? The time is NOW to legalize online poker!”

As usual, there was a lot of colorful input following his remarks. Many agreed with his position; while others used the opportunity to chide him for his previous dealings with Ultimate Bet.

DJ MacKinnon also used the social media platform to provide his two cents, asking that each state consider online poker legislation. As is his manner, he wasn’t verbose and simply asked, “Can we attach poker to every new states sports betting bill, thanks.”

Scientific Games Corporation (SG), already making huge strides in the eGaming industry, has tapped a veteran leader to head up a significant piece of its operations. Doug Albregts, previously the CEO and President of Sharp Electronics Corporation, has signed on to be the Executive VP and Group CEO for SG’s Gaming Division.

For almost two years, Albregts served as the head of Sharp, having started in October 2016. He was responsible for overseeing the $6-billion operating unit for the Americas, which supplies display devices, home appliances, consumer products, energy storage and business and office products. He was also responsible for managing over 2,000 employees at the electronics company.

The 50-year-old leader has also held other high-level positions, most notably as the President and CEO of Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA). He has repeatedly been in top management positions in companies such as American Express, NEC and Samsung, all focusing on international expansion.

With SG, Albregts, who received his Masters of Business Administration from Loyola University in Chicago, will oversee the firm’s product development and production. He will also manage the supply chain and sales of the company’s Gaming systems, services and products.

Prominent Macau junket Suncity wants to get in on the gambling action in Japan. It has formed an alliance with several unidentified Japanese companies that will study the possibility of applying for one of the few casino licenses to be issued by the country. The news came by way of an interview at G2E Asia with the company’s executive director, Andrew Lo.

Lo further stated that the size of the investment will be predicated on the location of the resort, as well as the final design of the casino legislation. He said during the interview with Asia Gaming Brief, “We are just beginning. We are willing to spend some expenses, form a consortium and hire a few guys to try to understand more because the rules and policies aren’t that ready yet.

“A committee asked me what am I going to invest. I said if you give me a big plot of land in front of the palace I’m going to invest $50 billion, if they give me a remote island I may consider $500 million,” Lo added.

The final touches are currently being added to Japan’s Integrated Resort (IR) Implementation Bill. Legislators are addressing how the industry should be governed and responding to concerns that have been raised over some of the bill’s amendments. Questions regarding license renewal periods and procedures, a 3% cap on the casino floor size and high tax rates are some of the issues that still need to be ironed out before the legislation is approved.

The World Poker Tour announces additional tour stops in Japan and South Korea in the wake of owners Ourgame International admitting six of their staff were involved in the recent illegal poker scandal in China. 

One of the toughest experiences a young boy can face is watching his old man get a beating. There was a time he held your hand, and you thought they were shovels. He was a giant, your protector. And then someone comes along and kicks everything you knew about the world in the head.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has watched from afar as their father has been whipped and walloped this week. In June 2015, Ourgame International Holdings acquired the WPT from bwin for $35m. It was an appropriation that was supposed to herald a new era. A poker boom in Asia. Then the Chinese government began cracking the whip.

On June 1, social poker apps die in China. It’s like Thanos has clicked his purple finger. It seems ‘someone’ had been using the social poker apps as a veil to underground cash games generating millions of dollars in revenue. According to press reports, that ‘someone’ consists of several people, some of which occupy senior positions in Ourgame International Holdings.

Two US states – Delaware and Mississippi – moved significantly closer on Thursday to launching single-game sports betting within their respective borders.

On Thursday, Delaware’s Department of Finance announced that the state Attorney General’s office had assured it that there are “no legal obstacles to moving forward with full-scale sports betting in Delaware, including head-to-head-betting, which permits single-game wagering.”

Under the federal law that the US Supreme Court struck down on Monday, Delaware was allowed to offer parlay football wagers. The Dept. of Finance now says the Delaware Lottery “has had plans in place for months and we will begin training lottery and casino staff next week in preparation for a June launch of full-scale sports betting.”

Finance Secretary Rick Geisenberger told Delaware Online that software testing would commence alongside the staff training “but this will be a conversation with the casinos and we’ll start when we’re ready and they’re ready.” Assuming all goes well at the state’s three casinos, then bars, taverns and convenience stores – which currently offer the parlay wagers – would also be allowed to add single-game wagering.

After the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for the United States of America to create laws for people to become punters, Lee Davy writes a ditty about the hopes of online poker.

When I ask my daughter where eggs come from, she says: “From a chicken’s butt, wow!”

We don’t own a television. Cultivation theory controlled my life for 35-years, I don’t want that for my daughter. And so we play theatre, dance, sing and read books.

One of her favourite books is called V is for Vegan. It’s a book aimed at educating children on the facts around animal suffering and the broader implications on our environment.