Social gamers Zynga appears to have finally cracked the profit formula, thanks to a surge in mobile activity and continued strength in its flagship poker product.

Figures released Wednesday show Zynga’s revenue rising 7% year-on-year to $208.2m in the three months ending March 31, with game revenue of $162m and advertising revenue of $44.8m. Adjusted earnings rose nearly 10% to $26.6m and the company reported net income of $5.6m versus a $9.5m loss in Q1 2017.

For years, Zynga struggled to convert its desktop users to mobile channels, and the effort appears to have paid off. Mobile users accounted for a record high 88% of Q1’s overall revenue and mobile daily active users (DAU) hit 23m, another peak performance.

The news wasn’t all great. While average DAUs rose 4m to 25m and average monthly active users (MAU) improved by 22m to 94m, average daily bookings per average DAU slipped to 9.6¢ from 10.7¢ in Q1 2017. The conversion rate from players to payers was flat at 2.3%.

Hong Kong-listed casino operator Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. posted better-than-expected earnings in the first three months of 2018, but its revenue marginally missed most financial analysts’ estimates.

In a regulatory filing, the Asian casino operator announced that its net revenue grew by 3 percent to US$1.31 billion in the three months to March 2018 from the recorded US$1.27 billion during the comparable period in 2017.

The growth was fueled by higher group-wide gross gaming revenue (GGR) in all gaming segments, according to Melco. The casino operator’s revenue, however, slightly missed the $1.32 billion estimates of financial analysts.

Melco’s earnings is a different story, growing to US$156.6 million or US$0.32 per ADS (American Depository Share) from last year’s US$113.4 million or US$0.23 per ADS. The earnings beat analysts’ estimates of US$0.28 per ADS. The dividend will be paid on May 23, according to Melco.

U.S. tribal casino operator Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment has gained full control of its casino project in South Korea after buying out its local partner.

The casino operator, also known as Mohegan Sun, announced on Thursday that it has “amicably” reached a deal with its South Korean partner for the acquisition of the latter’s stake in Project Inspire, thereby bringing the tribe’s ownership in the project to 100 percent.

The tribe’s decision to buy out its partner was driven by its desire to expand further in Asia, which it considered as “the world’s fastest-growing major gaming and entertainment market.” While Mohegan Sun didn’t mention any names, there were speculations that the supposed partner that the tribal casino operator was referring to was South Korean chemicals manufacturer KCC Corp.

It would be recalled that Mohegan Sun signed a deal with the Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) in connection with the construction of the Inspire Integrated Resort Co. Ltd. The casino project is a consortium involving Mohegan Sun, IIAC and KCC Corp.

The World Series of Poker celebrate the opening of the new tri-state online poker network with a $1m guaranteed Coast to Coast festival and prepare to debut the WSOP Café in the Rio Convention Centre.

Yannick is the new Barista in my local coffee shop. This morning, I walked in, and he said, “Good morning, Lee. A large Matcha Latte with Soya milk, right?”

I like that kind of customer service.

It makes me feel seen.

In this week’s Calling The Clock we bring you up to date on the launch of the tri-state online compact in the US, and the results from partypoker’s MILLIONS event in North America, and the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo.

I’m off camping, but before I drive a peg into the ground, let me bring you up to speed on the latest comings and goings in the world of poker, beginning with those crazy fools over at partypoker.

We’ll begin with the LIVE department, and this week the team had to clone itself with tournaments in Rozvadov and Montreal. The premier event was the MILLIONS North America taking place in the Playground Poker Club, and Taylor Black picked up the CAD 1,400,000 win in the Main Event.

Black, who finished runner-up in the World Series of Poker’s (WSOP) Colossus III, defeated Darryll Fish in heads-up action. The event attracted 1,954 entrants, meaning a CAD 300,000 overlay on a CAD 10,000,000 guarantee. Other big winners in Montreal included David Eldridge, Karim Kamal, Chris Kruk and David Chao – winning the CAD 10,000 High Roller, CAD 1,100 Open, CAD 25,000 Super High Roller, and CAD 1,100 Turbo.

This really shouldn’t be a shocker to anyone. Ahead of Wynn Resorts’ annual general meeting, scheduled to be held this month, Elaine Wynn has decided to sue the company for not releasing its shareholder records.

Wynn, who became the largest shareholder after her ex-husband, Steve Wynn, resigned from the company, filed the suit in Nevada. She is hoping to get the courts to obligate the company to release all shareholder material to which she is legally entitled. The suit also requests that the annual meeting be postponed until the lawsuit is settled.

According to Nevada law, Elaine Wynn is entitled to see the names, contact information and number of shares owned by each common stock owner of the company, provided the individual has authorized the release of the information. A representative for Wynn stated, “Providing the NOBO [non-objecting beneficial owner] list is standard practice under Delaware law and both federal and state courts have ruled that shareholders of a Nevada corporation are entitled to the list.”

The representative added, “Ms [sic] Wynn believes that the requested NOBO list is in the company’s possession and would not require the company to expend additional time or cost to produce. Moreover, she believes that the company is actively using this very list to communicate directly with Wynn Resorts’ shareholders—something Ms [sic] Wynn is unable to do, even though she is the company’s largest shareholder.”

A lawsuit has been filed against Conservative Review TV (CRTV) for $20 million by a Las Vegas billionaire and poker player, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. That in itself isn’t exactly newsworthy, but the fact that the suit was filed by one of the company’s owners adds a nice twist.

Cary Katz, who founded Poker Central, which is now owned by CRTV, is suing in an attempt to recover money from a loan he provided in June 2017. Apart from founding Poker Central, Katz is also part owner of CRTV. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “The lawsuit alleges that CRTV, through manager Elizabeth Wood, agreed in July to repay a principal sum of $10 million, along with 5 percent annual interest. It claims Wood executed a second promissory note in January with the same terms. This month Katz issued ‘a written demand for payment,’ and the company informed Mr. Katz that it would not be able to perform its obligation.”

Katz is a high roller who has won almost $14 million in live poker action. He has two wins for more than $1.4 million each, including a fifth-place finish at the Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza in October 2016 for $1.9 million and a title win at the $99,700 Super High Roller tournament at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, where he pocketed $1.49 million.

The lawsuit has theorists clambering for an explanation, puzzled at how someone could sue his own company. Some have offered their opinions, with one user on the 2+2 poker forums, DrSayre, providing an almost plausible reason. He believes that it is part of a larger argument between CRTV and a former radio host of the company, Mark Steyn. The story goes that Katz and CRTV had fired Steyn and launched a lawsuit against him for $10 million. Last month, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of Steyn, and ordered that he be paid $4 million.

Macau casinos have gotten off to the best start seen in the past decade. This year, the gambling mecca’s casinos have reported record earnings, and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. won’t be an exception. It released its first-quarter revenue standings on Thursday, showing an increase of 32% year-on-year. In total, the casino operator brought in about $2.36 billion for the quarter.

Adjusted for EBITDA (earnings before interest taxation, depreciation and amortization), the earnings increased by 36%, or over $547 million year-on-year. The adjusted EBITDA for quarter-on-quarter, however, was only up by 4%, which the company attributed to having “played unlucky.” This decreased the company’s quarterly adjusted EBITDA by about $12.4 million.

In a statement filed with the report, Galaxy’s founder and chairman Lui Che Woo said, “We are very pleased to report that we have experienced a positive start to 2018, with all-time record quarterly adjusted EBITDA. This represents our 9th consecutive quarter of EBITDA growth despite competitive new capacity being added to the [Macau] market.”

Total gaming revenue for Galaxy was around $2.19 billion for the first quarter, an increase of 31% over the same period last year. Mass table game revenue climbed 17% year-on-year, but the biggest jump was with VIP revenue—it increased by 44% and maintained a win hold of 3.4%. According to the company, the modest uptick in VIP turnover “was more than offset by not playing as lucky.”