A California card room has caught a $3m break from federal watchdogs after promising to do a better job of observing anti-money laundering (AML) rules.

Last November, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) imposed an $8m penalty on Artichoke Joe’s Casino (AJC) in San Bruno. Fincen described the penalty as stemming from AJC’s having “turned a blind eye to loan sharking, suspicious transfers of high-value gaming chips, and flagrant criminal activity that occurred in plain sight.”

However, last week FinCEN announced it had settled and issued a new assessment against AJC that suspended $3m of that civil money penalty pending compliance with the undertakings stipulated in the assessment, including hiring a qualified independent consultant to review AJC’s AML program and submit written reports on said program’s adequacy.

AJC must also hire a qualified independent consultant to conduct a ‘look-back’ at all transactions in the years 2012-2014 to ensure whether any other dodgy dealings might have escaped FinCEN’s eagle eyes. A report on this look-back must be filed by December 31, 2018.

Las Vegas-based casino operator MGM Resorts International scored a major victory in Connecticut after the state House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill that would allow casino operators to compete in an open bidding process, The Hartford Courant reported.

Passing the measure didn’t come as easy as some of proponents expected. For two straight days, lawmakers locked horns on whether the measure would violate its standing agreement with the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes.

The tribes’ current deal gives them the exclusive right to operate gaming machines in Connecticut in exchange for a portion of their slot machine revenues.

In the end, however, the House decided to refer the bill to the Senate in a narrow 77-73 vote.

Maryland’s casino market enjoyed a solid performance in April, with only one of its six operators in negative territory.

Figures released Monday by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Agency show the state’s six casinos generated revenue of $143.5m in April, up 5.7% from the same month last year but below March 2018’s all-time peak of $150m.

As always, MGM Resorts’ National Harbor venue topped the revenue chart with over $57.7m, up 15.6% year-on-year but below the previous month’s record $60.4m performance. Cordish Co’s Live! Casino ranked second with $46.8m, up 3.3% year-on-year.

Caesars Entertainment’s Horseshoe Casino Baltimore was the month’s lone decliner, falling 11.5% to slightly under $21.8m. The decline was entirely due to the Shoe’s table games, which saw revenue fall to $8.25m from $10.9m last April.

Beleaguered online gambling operator Lottoland doesn’t plan to go quietly into the night if Australia pushes through with the ban on overseas lottery betting.

Lottoland has vowed to bring the Australian government before the High Tribunal should the parliament passes a bill that will see the ban of so-called “synthetic lotteries,”News.com.au reported.

The firm’s statement came out ahead of the House of Representative’s meeting on Wednesday, when it is expected that Lottoland’s business model will come under intense scrutiny. Lottoland CEO Luke Brill pointed out that the company is ready to fight for its survival, even if it means bringing the issue straight to the Supreme Court.

“With 700,000 customers in Australia, we’re going to continue to fight this,” Brill said, according to the news outlet.

Betting on the 2018 Kentucky Derby horserace set new records for operator Churchill Downs Inc (CDI) while seriously enriching a few fortunate race bettors.

On Saturday, the 144th Kentucky Derby set new records for wagering on both the overall Derby Day program and on the day’s marquee race itself, which saw betting favorite Justify live up to its advance billing by finishing with a comfortable margin of two-and-a-half lengths.

CDI reported that all-source wagering on the Derby Day slate hit $225.7m, up 8% over 2017’s record of $209.2m. All-source wagering on the marquee race was also up 8% to a record $149.9m. For Derby Week, total betting handle was up 9% to a record $311.2m.

The gains came despite a steady downpour of rain on Saturday, which relegated the on-track attendance to no better than eighth-best in track history. Attendance over the five-day event improved 7% to just over 375k.

France’s regulated online gambling market grew across all verticals in the first quarter of 2018 as active player ranks surged by one-quarter.

Figures released Monday by French gaming regulator ARJEL show the country’s licensed online sports betting operators handled wagers worth €847m in the three months ending March 31, a 34% rise over the same period last year and a new record for online betting handle since the regulated market launched in 2010.

Online betting revenue fared even better, rising 55% year-on-year to €147m – another quarterly record – thanks to favorable sporting results that pushed the return to players down 2.1 points to 85% (the minimum return allowed under French law). The average number of weekly active bettors surged 36% to 462.5k, enticed in part by operators’ bonus offers, which jumped 53% to €19.6m.

Football wagers were up 34% year-on-year to €465m, accounting for 55% of Q1’s total wagering handle. The presence of French football clubs in the Champions League and Europa League finals pushed wagering in these leagues up 47% and 73% year-on-year, respectively.

UK-listed bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair is planning to inject an additional £10 million ($13.53 million) into its Australian brand Sportsbet while its rivals are busy consolidating their businesses in the land down under.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Paddy Power is eager to “push hard” in the Australian market while its competitors are distracted with merging their businesses. The Irish-based company was referring to the AUD11 billion (US$8.8 billion) Tabcorp-Tatts merger and CrownBet’s acquisition of British bookmaker William Hill’s Australian assets.

“In Australia, we see an opportunity to complete more aggressively,” Paddy Power Chief Executive Peter Jackson said, according to the news outlet. “We want to push hard in that market. We have got a great business and we think there is a lot we can take advantage of whilst our competitors are distracted.”

Despite the revenue drop and possible introduction of new state-based digital wagering taxes, Jackson remains confident about the company’s prospects in Australia. Last week, Paddy Power announced that its Australian business was off to a bad start in the first three months of 2018, as adverse sports results pulled Sportsbet’s revenue down by 2 percent to £83 million (US$112.3 million).

Phil Galfond has released his second update on RunItOnce Poker, and there will be no Heads Up Displays allowed, prompting Lee Davy to question how the man will continue to live up to the star like expectations of his tribe?

When I considered trying to be a professional poker player (and I knew very little about poker) I had enough business savvy to Google the best online poker player and coach in the world.

One name kept coming up.

Phil Galfond.