Paradise Entertainment Limited posted a revenue of HK$563.9 million ($71.8 million) for the first half of 2018, up 15.2% from the same period last year.

The Hong Kong-based casino and gaming systems provider, in its press release, highlighted the performance of its electronic gaming equipment and systems, which saw revenue of HK$54.7 million ($7 million), up 102.6% from January to June 2017. The company said its strong sales here was “mainly driven by the Group’s deployment of a total of 217 live multigame terminals and other accessories like X-Stadium at MGM Cotai upon its opening on 13 February 2018.”

Revenue from casinos under the group’s management was up 10.1%, to HK$509.2 million ($64.9 million), while adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization stood at HK$59.7 million ($7.6 million), up from HK$0.9 million ($115,000) in the same period last year.

Net profit was at HK$26.3 million ($3.4 million), after a net loss of HK$35.3 million ($4.5 million) in the first half of 2017, according to the company.

The WPT500 Legends of Poker tournament is back at The Bicycle Casino in California this week, making its second appearance on the WPT schedule since 2014 and its second consecutive appearance at The Bike. This year, however, there will be a total of 16 Day 1 flights, a record for the event and might, quite possibly, result in the largest field ever in the five-year history of the tournament.

The WPT500 had previously been held at the Aria in Las Vegas before making a trip to the UK, where it was hosted by Casino Nottingham. Now back on the sunny beaches of California, it is drawing quite the crowd.

The tournament started this past Saturday with Day 1A. This coming Saturday will see Day 1P, with the fields merging at the end of the second flight on that day. Each day sees two flights, one in the morning at 11:30 and the other in the afternoon at 5:00.

All of the evening flights are turbo blind events. Players have the option of entering multiple “Day 1s” and carrying their largest stack over to the start of Day 2, which will kick off this Sunday at 1:00 PM. The tournament final will be held Monday, also starting at 1:00 PM.

The UK High Stakes crusher, Charlie Carrel, is taking a trip to where it all began as he tries to turn $50 into $10,000 playing the microstakes all the while recording his sessions on Twitch and summarising on YouTube.

I use Hendon Mob more than a teenage boy uses YouPorn. Yesterday, as I trawled through the live tournament histories of Maurice Hawkins, Alex Jim and Jake Schindler, I noticed that Charlie Carrel was the most viewed profile in the past week.

What was the man up to?

It seems that sometime in the past few months, the high stakes crusher from the UK has retired from poker. I assume, what that means, is Carrel doesn’t need to play poker for a living anymore and is taking a step down from competing in that manner.

PokerStars continue the Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Platinum Pass Adventure giveaway with new competitions from Daniel Negreanu, Lex Veldhuis, Maria Konnikova, Jeff Gross, and Jennifer Shahade.

I get it now.

When the concept for PokerStars’ Platinum Pass Adventure first rolled out in May, I wasn’t a fan.

I’ve changed my mind.

Colombia’s online gambling sites handled nearly $63m in wagers on the 2018 FIFA World Cup, according to the local regulatory body.

On Wednesday, Colombia’s Coljuegos gaming regulatory body reported that the country’s 12 locally licensed gambling sites handled wagers worth COP185.9b (US$62.8m) during the month-long football frenzy in Russia between June 14 and July 15.

Coljuegos president Juan B. Pérez Hidalgo said that the average online bet placed during the tournament was COP13,000 ($4.70), which seems impossibly miniscule, but the monthly minimum wage in Colombia is only about $265, and the average World Cup wager was more than twice the size of the average bet placed in the period spanning January to May.

Coljuegos requires its betting licensees to pay out a minimum of 83% of turnover to their customers. The average monthly payout to punters from all Colombian betting sites in 2018 was $33.6m but this sum increased by over 56% during the World Cup. The biggest individual payday issued by a Colombian site during the tourney was $12,200.

The Manila Jockey Club, home to gambling activities surrounding horse racing and cockfighting, saw a decrease in interest in the first half of this year. In a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange, the company reported a net loss of $1.4 million. However, this was better than the same period last year, in which it lost $1.69 million.

First-half revenue was up 28.8% year-on-year, coming in at $7.3 million. In the second quarter of this year, it lost $460,622 compared to a loss of $975,545 a year ago. Casino-related revenue during the first half also declined.

The club is operated through a lease agreement with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR). The lease stipulates that the Manila Jockey Club can “lease [a] 1,427-square-metre [15,360 sq. feet] property, with modern slot machines, including the rights to a proprietary system of linking and networking the said slot machines in Turf Club Building, San Lazaro Leisure Park, Carmona, Cavite.” That agreement is currently under renewal and also stipulates that the club can “receive monthly variable rent equivalent to 35 percent of revenues less winnings/prizes and 5 percent franchise tax.”

According to the club’s filing, income through the agreement was down for the first half of the year. It reported the income at $125,458, while last year it had collected $189,139 for the same period.

HatchAsia, the gaming subsidiary of Philippine-based DFNN, has announced that it plans on listing its shares by introduction. The Manila Standard reports that the company will list 275.2 million registered shares with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) at an initial price of $0.09 each. The amount is expected to produce around $27.2 million.

“Listing by introduction” is defined as a way to list shares that are already in issue on another exchange. The process for receiving approving for a listing by introduction is the same as they are for an initial public offering (IPO). In order for HatchAsia’s offering to be approved by the PSE, it will distribute eight million common shares to DFNN shareholders in the form of property dividends.

The idea first surfaced with HatchAsia this past May. It had brought in China Bank Capital to act as an adviser, and hopes that the cash flow will help it introduce a new product to the Philippines market. It wants to set up over 200 e-betting shops that, combined, would allow for online gaming from around 7,000 computers. The product is built around a slot machine that offers server-based games across two screens. Software suppliers already in place on the InstaWin network will be added to the system.

The company is also hoping to offer banking services in the country. HatchAsia has a FinTech division that would cater to the 85% of the population that is currently unbanked. The platform would use VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) technology to provide real-time online banking through payment centers that currently have little or no Internet capability.

If you haven’t heard it before, there’s a term that has become popular lately, especially in the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystems. However, it can apply to virtually anything, including poker. FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, and is used to describe information disseminated that serves no purpose other than to spread false truths and create acrimony for a particular topic. A former US Senator from Arkansas could now be known as the Queen of FUD.

In writing an op-ed piece for the Financial Times, Blanche Lincoln compared online poker to terrorism. In an effort to support her belief, she pulled out the 2017 FBI Internet Crime Report, which provides data on “victim counts” for activities conducted through the Internet.

Lincoln said in her article, “The FBI’s 2017 Internet Crime Report revealed that the victim count and financial losses suffered as a result of online gambling surpassed that of terrorism-related cybercrimes last year. It is this clear pattern of targeting the helpless that stands out to me.”

First, the mere fact that someone could compare online gambling to terrorism is mind-boggling. But that’s a topic for a different day. It’s more important to just deal with the facts.

MGM Cotai is preparing to open VIP gambling rooms this September with the help of external junket partners. The casino resort, which is promoted by MGM China Holdings Ltd., anticipates five junket operators establishing their gaming business between then and the first half of next year, according to the company’s CEO, Grant Bowie.

Speaking to the media this past Wednesday, Bowie said, “In total we have facilities for five [junket] operators. We’re looking for two [to be launched] in September and probably another two in October and a fifth will open early next year.” He later added, “We’re now finishing off the construction of the [junket] rooms… now what we are working through is all the licensing process with the government. We’re very happy that the [junket room] construction is nearly completed, and the licensing process is being finalized.”

According to reports earlier this year, investment analysts have predicted that the first junkets will be provided by Tak Chun Group, Guangdong Group, David Group, Suncity Group and Meg-Star International. Meg-Star said at the time, “Due to the overall economy improvement and new [casino resort] projects entering into the market, Meg-Star maintains a positive view on the development of the Macau VIP market in 2018. We believe other [junket promoter] companies will also actively adjust their development strategy, depending on the development of the market, to maintain a healthy growth in coming years.”

When MGM Cotai launched earlier this year, the $3.5-billion resort was allocated 100 new-to-market live-deal tables in accordance with the city’s cap. An additional 25 new-to-market tables are positioned to be added at the beginning of next year and another 77 were approved to be moved from MGM Macau to the MGM Cotai.

Five casino operators — four of them American — are reportedly frontrunners to win the right to build Greece’s only integrated resort casino.

Earlier this month, the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) opened its consultation on the terms of the sole casino license at the proposed €8b integrated resort at Athens’ former Hellinikon airport. The consultation’s initial phase is set to run until September 10.

On Wednesday, local media outlet Ekathimerini reported that five major operators – Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock International, Las Vegas Sands, Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment – had scheduled meetings with the HGC to discuss the project further.

Both Hard Rock and Melco (the latter via its Melco International Development offshoot) are already involved in mega-resort projects in Spain and Cyprus, respectively, leading Ekathimerini to suggest they may eventually balk at the Hellinikon project’s expected €1b commitment, thereby boosting the likelihood that one of the other three US firms will seal the deal.

Massachusetts gaming regulators have given their final approval for MGM Resorts’ new $960m MGM Springfield casino to open this Friday.

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) issued regulatory approval for MGM Springfield opening its doors to the public on August 24th. The approval follows successful completion of two test play nights over the past week under the watchful eye of state officials.

Located in the state’s southwestern corner, MGM Springfield spans three city blocks in downtown Springfield. Its amenities include a 250-room hotel, a six-screen ‘luxury’ cinema, a bowling alley, shopping and dining options, plus a 125k-square-foot gaming floor featuring 2,550 slots, 120 gaming tables, a poker room and a high-limit VIP gaming lounge.

Penn National Gaming’s slots-only Plainridge Park Casino has been open since June 2015 but MGM Springfield will be the state’s first destination casino. In other words, there’s a lot of pressure on MGM not to screw this up.