Slovakia is preparing to open its online casino market to internationally licensed operators.

Last week, Slovakia’s Ministry of Finance unveiled draft legislation that would revamp the country’s existing gambling laws, including allowing international firms to seek online casino licenses and scrapping the monopoly currently held by state-run operator Tipos.

The Ministry framed its legislative revamp as seeking greater consumer protections for both land-based and online gamblers, while responding to “trends in digitalization” not foreseen in the current law. The Ministry claims to have studied regulators’ approaches in Denmark, Sweden, Romania and the Czech Republic in crafting its new rules, which could take effect by March 2019.

While Tipos would retain its monopoly over online lotteries, bingo and raffles, other online casino products – including poker – will be open to international firms that apply for licenses. Online casino revenue would be taxed at a rate of 23% (locally licensed online sportsbook operators currently pay 27%).

Northern Marianas Gov. Ralph Torres has rejected a bill that will allow the operations of poker arcades in select Saipan villages, The Saipan Tribune reported.

In his veto transmittal letter to Rep. John Paul Sablan, Torres expressed reservations on the poker bill’s impact on the economic growth of Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) if House Bill (HB) 20-48 will be enacted. HB 20-48, which Sablan authored, seeks to transform certain lots in southwestern Saipan into mixed commercial districts to accommodate the relocation of poker arcades from villages and non-specific areas.

However, Torres pointed out that it will cost the CNMI government some $1.4 million in revenue from the annual poker machine licensing fee if he signs the bill. There is an estimated 120 poker machines in the CNMI, each remitting $12,000 in renewal fee to the government annually.

The fees from poker go straight to the government’s socio-economic projects such as the Northern Marianas Trades Institute, non-profit and community organizations, and the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance (SHEFA), which Torres said is a crucial lifeline for students who wish to improve their lives through higher education.

Strong exports of gaming services and tourism helped drive Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) to an almost double-digit percentage growth in the first three months of 2018.

On Wednesday, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) announced that the city state’s economy has expanded by 9.2 percent in January to March 31, 2018 period, higher than the 8 percent growth recorded in the previous quarter.

Macau’s economy remained dependent on gaming and tourism business as reflected on the 16 percent growth of its total exports of services, which is comprised of gaming services and tourism services.

“Exports of services performed satisfactorily and became the major driving force for economic growth,” DSEC said in a statement.

Hong Kong-listed casino investor Landing International Development Ltd. (LIDL) is considering capital reorganization and changes in board lot size to make the company more appealing to investors.

In a regulatory filing, LIDL announced that its board of directors is set to propose the capital reorganization comprising of a 50-to-1 share consolidation and capital reduction.

The capital reorganization will result in the reduction of the number of issued shares from 146,744,935,542 shares to 2,934,898,710 consolidated shares and the par value of each issued share will remain at HK$0.01 (US$0.00127), according to the company.

LIDL also dangled the idea to change the board lot size for trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange from 60,000 shares to 1,200 new consolidated shares as soon as the capital reorganization become effective.

MGM Resorts, in conjunction with its MGM Growth Properties (MGP) arm, are coming to New York. The duo announced the purchase of the Empire City Casino’s casino and racetrack for $850 million as the casino giant looks to make it big in The Big Apple.

Empire City will be sold to MGP, who will then lease it to MGM. An MGM Resorts subsidiary will be set up to operate the resort. MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Murren said acquiring Empire City “represents an excellent opportunity to further solidify our presence on the East Coast, and in particular, expand our reach into the high-density New York City region.”

Murren commented further, “We believe this transaction enhances our free cash flow profile and presents attractive future opportunities for the company.”

MGM anticipates that part of the funding for the purchase—$260 million—will be settled through stock. If Empire City is approved for a live table gaming license before or on December 31, 2022, MGM will pay an additional $50 million, provided MGM Resorts agrees to accept the license by December 31, 2024.

The Super High Roller Bowl reaches the final table with six of the most in-form players in the world taking a seat, headlined by the one and only Daniel Negreanu.

I’m beginning to think that I could make a living betting on poker. It’s a thought I’ve had before.

Football.

Horse racing.

Last week, Chris Ferguson came out of the woodwork to apologize for the Black Friday fiasco. The apology, apart from coming about seven years too late, was completely void of anything that indicated remorse on his part, and social media users were quick to point this out. One player who has often come to Ferguson’s defense, Phil Hellmuth, once again defended his pal, and the tongue-lashing was even worse than what Ferguson received.

Last Thursday, the Poker Brat took to Twitter, posting, “Here is a video from Chris Ferguson. It’s a shame that so many of the younger poker players have JUDGED Chris so harshly. I believe that the whole truth about Full Tilt Poker will come out, and I believe the “Haters” will be surprised.”

Here is a video from Chris Ferguson. It’s a shame that so many of the younger poker players have JUDGED Chris so harshly. I believe that the whole truth about Full Tilt Poker will come out, and I believe the “Haters” will be surprised #IAmALoverNOTAJudge https://t.co/CABB6MXqS6

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 24, 2018

At the end of April, the Japanese government signed off on the Integrated Resort (IR) Implementation Bill (IRIB) that could soon pave way for several casinos to be built in the country. Following the bill’s acceptance, it made its way to the Japanese Diet for voting. While some tweaking to the bill has been done since the Diet began reviewing it, things haven’t been progressing as rapidly as some would like. The Diet is scheduled to end the session on June 20, but is now considering an extension primarily to ensure the bill is approved during this session.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has indicated that the session could be extended until late June or early July to help facilitate talks on gambling’s future in the country. A gambling addiction bill made it through the House of Representatives last Friday and cleared the last major hurdle in order for the IRIB to be seriously addressed by the Diet.

The LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, reached an agreement in April on a number of issues in the bill. Entry fees, tax rates and the size of gaming areas were key points of discussion that had to be cleared up before the bill could be sent to the Diet, and helped delay the legislation.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is onboard with the bill, stating, “The bill will enable us to achieve our policy aim to promote long stays by tourists from all over the world and implement measures to surely address various concerns including those about addiction.”

The UK’s advertising watchdog is keeping a tight leash on online gambling operators’ use of ‘kid-friendly’ game imagery.

On Tuesday, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints against two online gambling operators whose games featured animated images of animals, fairies, dragons and Santa Claus that the Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG) claimed were “likely to be of particular appeal to children.”

Three of the offending game titles appeared in free-play ‘demo mode’ on Progress Play Ltd’s M88.com. Following the CFG complaint, M88 modified the games to remove the offending imagery and ensured that the games could only be played after customers logged in to their accounts.

The ASA welcomed M88’s moves while the investigation was ongoing, but ultimately concluded that the games – two of which were based on the Red Riding Hood and Hansel & Gretel fairy tales – were likely to be popular with children. The ASA also warned M88 to stop promoting the games on unrestricted portions of the website.

Atlantic City will have to put up with the eyesore that is the shuttered Trump Plaza casino for a little while longer.

On Tuesday, the Press of Atlantic City reported that no demolition permit has yet been filed for the Trump Plaza casino, which has been standing derelict since billionaire Carl Icahn’s Trump Entertainment Resorts shut the financially struggling property in September 2014.

The Plaza was supposed to have been imploded this spring, and Icahn’s ownership group has reportedly been shopping around for a guy with a lot of reasonably priced dynamite on hand. But Icahn apparently hasn’t given up his futile quest to have the municipal government shoulder nearly half the tab for turning the Plaza to dust.

While everyone wants to see the Plaza gone so some productive use can be made of the prime land in the middle of AC’s boardwalk, the city won’t allow demolition to take place during the busy summer tourist season, as the demo would necessitate closing portions of the boardwalk. So the earliest possible demolition date won’t come until the fall.