Macau-based casino operator Macau Legend Development Ltd. (MLD) turned profitable in the first half of 2018 after selling the Landmark Macau casino hotel.

In a regulatory filing, MLD told investors that it managed to reverse the HKD229-million loss (US$29.18 million) it registered during the first six months of 2017 and bring the company to profitability in H1 2018 after completing the casino hotel sale in April.

MLD sold 100 percent of its equity in New Macau Landmark Management Ltd., which controls the Landmark Macau, to at least four buyers in March 2018, including Macau-based Dong Lap Hong Investment Company (DLHIC).

DLHIC, owned by Chong Sio Kin, president of the board of the Macau General Association of Real Estate, reportedly acquired 58 percent of shares in Macau Legend.

Lady Luck smiled at South Korean casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Ltd. in the second quarter of 2018 as the company’s net income jumped 76.2 percent.

In a disclosure to the Korea Exchange, GKL reported a net income of KRW27.2 billion ($24.2 million) in the three months ending June 30, 2018, higher than the KRW15.42 billion ($13.76 million) bottomline it registered in the same period last year.

GKL’s revenue for April to June 2018 period rose 5.9 percent to KRW116.1 billion ($103.63 million) from KRW109.7 billion ($97.9 million) in Q2 2017. However, GKL’s Q2 revenue was 4.7 percent lower than the KRW121.93 billion ($108.85 million) it registered in the first three months of 2018.

The South Korean firm’s operating income almost doubled to KRW34.7 billion ($30.97 million) year-on-year, according to GKL’s financial statement.

According to Ireland’s Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners  collected over €1 million (US$1.15 million) in taxes in 2017 as a result of a crackdown on casinos that were offering unlicensed gambling machines. The increase came as those operations were forced to go legitimate and seek licenses, resulting in a significant jump in the number of licenses issued in 2017.

In 2016, 6,088 machines were licensed, giving the Revenue office €1.8 million (US$ 2.07 million) in tax money. The number skyrocketed last year to 9,612, resulting in €2.7 million (US$3.11 million) being collected.

The Revenue office launched a national project last year that focused on the amusement and gaming machine sector. That project has resulted in a significant amount of locations being sent enforcement letters, advising them to either remove their machines or face seizures and fines.

A representative for the Office of Revenue Commissioners indicated that there had been over 300 “interventions” as a result of the project in response to a lack of compliance with regulations. Thanks to the interventions, more than €1.1 million (US$1.27 million) was collected. According to the representative, the Revenue office is “alert to, and proactive in addressing, the risks posed by the gaming and amusement sector.” He further stated, “Using a range of compliance interventions the project, which is operating on a national basis, has achieved a significant increase in tax and licensing compliance.”

This is a guest contribution by Pavlos Sideris of Cashbacker.com. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

In 1983, the Japanese gaming giant Konami released Track & Field, an arcade game based around several athletics disciplines that was addictive and infuriating in equal measure. Some of its appeal was it being easy to pick up yet difficult to master, thanks in part to just three buttons being responsible in combination with each other for the speed, distance and height—or lack thereof—your character found itself able.

This character competed against either a computer-controlled opponent across the individual events, or another human challenger. All scores found their place on the leaderboard, for which topping it with a combined total across results in each event was the prize most sought after, whether gained at the expense of a friend competing directly against you or a stranger having earlier registered a target to aim for.

These different methods of participation and their types of victory added shades of competitiveness to an otherwise straightforward game. There’s a complex question motivating us to know who can run faster, jump higher or throw further, even when the answer is sought through manipulating a graphical character. In the real world and at the sharp end of people also wondering the same, the Olympic Games has the motto ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’, which translates to ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’.

Gambling proponents in Louisiana are scrambling to gather support for the legalization of sports betting in the state and break Mississippi’s monopoly in the southeastern United States.

State lawmakers have expressed concerns that Louisiana will fall farther behind Mississippi, which started taking its first-ever legal sports bets last week, according to the Monroe News Star.

Senator Danny Martiny called on his colleagues to pass his bill seeking to regulate sports wagering in the Louisiana, warning that the state will lose money to its neighbors—and not just Mississippi.

Martiny pointed out the possibility that Arkansas may approve legal sports wagering in its racetracks, while Oklahoma’s Indian tribes may also allow sports betting in their facilities. When this happens, the Louisiana senator said the New Orleans market will take the full brunt of these developments.

There’s little more heartening to those who see the world through a free market lens than two companies from different countries teaming up to leverage their respective skills on a joint economic venture. Last week’s announcement that MGM and GVC would be combining their efforts to offer online sports betting, casino games and poker to consumers in the United States just shows that there is so little need for the political elite to rule so many aspects of our lives. We can handle things just fine, even if we’re from different countries.

In a world poisoned by trade wars and the curse of economic nationalism, joint ventures across oceans provides a ray of hope when even economic cooperation itself (trade) is viewed as a competitive “war” by our leaders. The basis for the combined effort, happily, was actually the repeal of a bad law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), not the passing of a new one. Judging by the pretentious name of the law itself, one would think that professional and amateur sports in the US will now implode from lack of protection. Something tells me they’ll do just fine.

In theory and eventually in practice, the MGM-GVC combo should yield great results. It’s exciting, that’s for sure. The press release was full of mouth-watering statistics of addressable markets and impressive brand history. There is nothing to lament in the deal itself. The question is, should you buy MGM or GVC on the back of the news?

Despite the deal being a big positive long term, I can’t see any reason why the news should trigger a buy signal on either stock specifically now. The reaction to the news is more important than the news itself in a shaky environment for equities like this one. Take a look at MGM stock on the announcement. MGM climbed a dollar one day after the press release of the joint venture, and then promptly fell 4 dollars the next trading day. GVC climbed to all time highs on the announcement and then fell as well.

The $1.5-billion integrated resort project of Hong Kong-listed casino investor Landing International Development Ltd. (LIDL) could see further delays after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the cancellation of its casino land lease deal with Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF).

Duterte’s order was issued on the same day LIDL held the groundbreaking ceremony of its multibillion-dollar casino resort in Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s (PAGCOR) Entertainment City.

Philippine Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced the news on Tuesday, saying Duterte was furious about the decision of Nayong Pilipino executives to lease a government property for a “ridiculously long period of time of 70 years.”

“[Duterte] said he will have it cancelled as being grossly disadvantageous to the government,” Roque said at a press conference.