Would-be Tinian casino operator Alter City Group Holdings (ACG) has had its license suspended after failing to make its scheduled annual payment to the local government.

On Thursday, the Marianas Variety reported that the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission had suspended ACG’s gaming license after the company failed to make its required annual payment of $500k.

William Cing, the Commission’s exec director, told the paper that ACG was required to pay $500k per year over the duration of the 40-year license, but the company failed to ante up last year and “they have not done anything yet on the property since they broke ground” a couple years back.

Cing said ACG is reportedly “having problems with [their] financial scheme, so now they want to apply for the EB-5 investor program so they can invite other investors.” Cing added that ACG’s quest for new investors represented a “very different” scenario than the one the company offered when it made its initial casino pitch for a $1.2b resort (artist’s impression pictured above).

Myanmar’s government has followed through on its promise to introduce legislation permitting legal casinos catering to international tourists.

On Tuesday, Myanmar’s Public Affairs Management Committee submitted the Gambling Bill 2018 to the Hluttaw, the country’s bicameral legislature. The bill would amend the 1986 Gambling Act to permit casino development in areas of the country popular with foreign visitors.

The Myanmar Times quoted Mingaladon MP U Aung Hlaing Win saying that a legal casino industry “will enable a whole new sector to flourish and draw much needed taxes and foreign currency into the country.”

U Aung Hlaing Win added that the country’s economic needs are sufficiently urgent that there was “no time” to start from scratch with an entirely new bill, and that the amended 1986 Act would be bolstered at a later date by rules and bylaws spelling out the nuts and bolts of casino regulation.

Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) has warned investors of an expected profit plunge when it releases its H1 2018 results later this month.

On Thursday, IPI informed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it expects to record “a substantial decrease in profit for the six months ended 30 June 2018” compared with the same period last year. The company reported a profit of HK$912m (US$116m) in H1 2017.

The company claimed the profit decline is “mainly attributable to the decrease in total revenue and the impairment of trade receivables.” IPI famously avoided utilizing junket operators when it launched its temporary Saipan casino in November 2015, choosing instead to directly offer credit to VIP gamblers in order to reap a greater share of gambling losses.

That strategy isn’t without its pitfalls, as evidenced by the over half-a-billion US dollars the company wrote off as uncollectable VIP gambling debts last year. IPI is currently chasing a number of VIP deadbeats through the courts in the hope of reducing 2018’s expected write-offs.

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has hit National Lottery operator Camelot with a £1.15m penalty for “sufficiently serious” control and governance failings.

On Thursday, the UKGC announced the results of an investigation it launched in December 2016 after identifying multiple failings at Camelot, including that year’s launch of a wonky mobile app that incorrectly informed players that their winning tickets were losers.

The UKGC paused its probe in February 2017 in order to give Camelot time to implement the company’s new Operational Excellence Program. The probe was renewed that November and expanded to include “other controls-related failures that had emerged subsequent to the start of the investigation.”

The UKGC ultimately determined that the mobile app cockup, the online publication of incomplete Lotto results, direct debit instruction failure in May 2016 that temporarily prevented processing of lotto sales, plus failings in both security measures and Post Office control, warranted the imposition of a financial penalty.

Online gaming software supplier Playtech reported revenue of €436.5 million ($506.3 million) for the first half of 2018, up 4% from the same period last year.

In a filing, the London-listed company noted that its total revenue from January to June, excluding Asia, went up 35%, compared to last year’s first half. Just last June, the company’s stock plummeted in relation to its gray- and black-market operations in Asia, due to crackdowns on illegal gambling.

Playtech Chairman Alan Jackson said in a statement, “This progress is marked against the disappointing market conditions in Asia. However, it should be noted the headwinds in the Asian market are not reflective of the core strength of the Playtech model as the regulated segment continues to report organic growth and encouraging momentum.”

Jackson is reportedly to be replaced by Ian Penrose, who will join as a non-executive director to the company’s board.