Lee Davy sits down with the owner of the Global Poker Index and the Hendon Mob to talk about his latest esports initiative chiliZ including his most significant challenges, his five-year goals and how poker fits into the picture. 

I’m in the first month of an annual challenge to face my fears.

Here is what I’ve learned so far.

1. My perception of fear hardly ever materialises; meaning it’s my thoughts that scare me, not the events.

Gambling advertising ranks dead last in credibility among Swedish adults, according to the results of a new survey.

This week, Swedish media outlet Dagens Media reported the results of a survey conducted by analysis research firm Novus on behalf of the Swedish Association of Advertising Professionals (SAAP) to gauge the trustworthiness of various industries in the eyes of local residents.

The survey involved a little over 1000 randomly selected adult Swedes, who were presented with a list of 25 industries and were asked to rank their top three sectors in terms of the credibility of their advertising.

Education/research topped the list with 23% of participants having faith in the credibility of their marketing, followed by culture/entertainment (18%), charities (16%), justice (14%) and alcohol/breweries (13%). These were the only five categories to enjoy double-digit scores.

Casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp (CEC) very nearly reported some rare black ink on its books in the first quarter of 2018.

Last week, CEC announced its revenue had more than doubled to $1.97b in the three months ending March 31, although that surge was primarily accounting sleight-of-hand, reincorporating contributions from CEC’s formerly bankrupt main unit Caesars Entertainment Operating Co (CEOC) following a court-approved restructuring.

CEC’s adjusted earnings shot up a similarly outsized amount to $518m in Q1, while the company’s net loss for the quarter narrowed to $34m from $473m in the same period last year. CEC CEO Mark Frissora said the results “exceeded our expectations” despite dodgy weather keeping customers away and those who did show up playing luckier than usual.

However, on a ‘same-store’ basis, CEC’s revenue were down 2%, earnings were down 3.4% and revenue per room fell $2 to $142. Regardless, CEC optimistically announced a program to repurchase up to $500m of CEC’s common stock, with the caveat that the phrase ‘up to’ includes the number zero. CEC says it will finance this potentially phantom buyback with cash from operations.

Confusion reigns in West Virginia after the governor erroneously claimed a deal had been reached to pay a “sports consortium” a cut of sports betting handle.

On Wednesday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice convened a meeting with his state’s casino operators, reps from pro sports leagues (NBA, MLB, NHL and the PGA) and the state’s two NCAA Division I universities. According to WV Metro News, the discussion centered around the leagues’ pursuit of a sports betting ‘integrity fee’, i.e. a cut of legal wagering handle that would ostensibly fund anti-fixing monitoring.

The state legislature approved a sports betting bill in February that adamantly rejected giving sports leagues a cut of wagering handle, but recent weeks saw Gov. Justice suggest convening a special legislative session to tinker with the legislation to incorporate an integrity fee.

On Thursday morning, Justice’s office issued a statement claiming a “tentative agreement” had been reached that would see casino operators pay the integrity fee rather than the state. The statement went on to say that WV Lottery director Alan Larrick “will be working on ways to implement the integrity fee and will determine what, if any, legislation is needed for codification.”

Russia’s anti-monopoly watchdog is investigating online video hosting portal YouTube for its hosting of Russian-language videos promoting unauthorized online casino sites.

On Tuesday, Russian media outlet RBC reported that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) had accepted a complaint filed by Russia’s Internet Video Association (IVA), which represents intellectual property rights holders, accusing YouTube of “gross and repeated” violations of Russia’s advertising rules.

In March, the IVA made a fuss about a Russian-language video promoting Curacao-licensed online casino Azino777 that ranked in the top-20 of Russia’s most-viewed online video advertising sources in January. The video, starring rapper AK-47, featured prominently on websites hosting pirated digital content, much of it belonging to IVA members.

The IVA’s current missive claims the Google-owned YouTube hosts “a lot of videos” featuring Azino777 and other forbidden online casinos, including Curacao-licensed Russian-language site AdmiralX. The IVA wants the FAS to prosecute YouTube/Google for violating Russia’s advertising and gambling laws.