UK-listed bookmaker William Hill Plc. is about to give GVC Holdings a run for its U.S. dollars, after it recently signed sports betting agreements in the states of Mississippi and West Virginia.

On Friday, The British bookmaker announced that it will provide sports betting risk management services and mobile betting technology to at least 11 Mississippi casinos, including Hard Rock Casino Hotel & Casino Biloxi, Island View Casino Resort (Gulfport), Palace Casino (Biloxi), Treasure Bay Casino (Biloxi) and WaterView Casino (Vicksburg).The Hills also secured a deal with a “soon-to-be-announced casino partner” to provide retail and mobile/online sports betting in West Virginia.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the Hills estimate its sports betting offerings to go live by the end of August.

William Hill CEO Philip Bowcock said newly signed agreements in the states of Mississippi and West Virginia were tangible proof of the company’s goal of cementing their presence in the United States.

Goa is poised to become one of Asia gambling industry’s crown jewels under a new regulation that will bring an end to floating casinos, according to international brokerage Union Gaming.

Union Gaming made this prediction days after Goa’s Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar announced that the Indian state will publish formal casino regulations by the end of August, including the transfer of floating casinos on land.

Analyst Grant Govertsen described Goa’s latest casino policy to be “transformational” since these high-quality integrated resorts that the government is pushing for will firmly put India on the gaming map.

Goa’s estimated gross gaming revenue is currently estimated at $200 million. If the planned IRs in Goa will push through, Govertsen predicts Goa to become a billion-dollar market overnight.

Hong Kong authorities have arrested former Universal Entertainment Corporation Chairman Kazuo Okada in connection with corruption-related offenses.

In a disclosure to the Japan Stock Exchange, Universal confirmed Okada’s arrest in Hong Kong, noting that the Japanese billionaire was later on released by the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) after posting bail.

The announcement did not indicate the amount that Okada paid in exchange for his temporary liberty.

“Further, Mr. Okada had duly resigned from the directorship of our Company on 29 June 2017 and he has no further connection with us whatsoever. Notwith standing the aforesaid, we will render our full support and assistance to the ICAC and other law enforcement authorities should the situation require,” the company said in a statement.

He retired from boxing this past June after earning the title of the world heavyweight, as well as the unified cruiserweight, champion. Now, David Haye says he wants to take up poker with the goal of winning a major tournament, even though he admits he knows virtually nothing about the game.

In his quest for fame and glory at the felt, Haye has already found his coaching staff. He will be trained by three of the top players in the UK, Joe Beevers, Katie Swift and Jeff Kimber. Haye will undergo a 12-month training, coached by actors, psychologists and mathematicians, until he can “forge his own style.”

Haye said that he plans on entering—and winning—the 2019 Goliath poker tournament at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, and that he is dedicating the long list of resources to ensure that he isn’t “embarrassed” at the event. He told Talk Sport, “I come from the boxing realm and will be going into the poker realm. It’s about accepting the fact that I’ll be pretty poor, that every single person I’m playing with is better than I am.

“In sport if you’re sometimes bigger and stronger than other people, that’s enough to get you by. But I can’t use my physicality to fast track me. It’s not about how quick I am or my reflexes. It’s about learning the bread and butter of poker correctly from the very beginning.

Crown Casino has had its casino license renewed, even though it isn’t keeping up with its obligations. The Australian company has faced fines and has found to be out of compliance on several issues, but Victoria’s gaming regulator approved the renewal, anyway. In approving the license, The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) has ordered the casino operator to create “new or refreshed” strategies for problem gamblers.

The VCGLR also admonished Crown over “failures of governance and risk management, contributing to compliance slippages,” as well as a “lack of innovation” for responsible gaming “such as might now be required of a world-leading operator to meet heightening community and regulatory expectations.” According to the commission, however, Crown is still suitable for its gaming license.

Crown has been fined record amounts for violations of gaming laws. Last year, it was fined US$221,000 for the removal of betting options on 17 poker machines without approval. It was also fined US$414,000 over a five-year period for eight breaches of compliance that included minority gambling. Crown has also come under fire for Victoria’s anti-money laundering policies, which the VCGLR has said are not being followed. The company has denied those allegations.

During the same five-year period, 13 drug deals were recorded in the casino, according to Victoria Police. Weapons were also found on casino grounds, including in hotel rooms.

London-based Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) recently purchased a controlling stake in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) company FanDuel. Following the integration, the company didn’t waste any time and has already signed a deal with Boyd Gaming Corp (BGC) that would see PPB break into the online casino and sports betting markets in the US.

Through the new partnership, FanDuel’s online gaming products and sportsbook will have access to the states where BGC currently has a gaming license, except for Nevada. Also covered are states in which BGC and MGM Resorts have worked a deal for market access. This deal is highlighted by the recent partnership between MGM and the National Basketball Association (NBA), and a separate partnership between MGM and British online sports betting company GVC Holdings.

BGC will be able to use FanDuel’s DFS technology for its own branded online, as well as mobile, sports gaming and betting operations. Additionally, the company will acquire a 4% stake in FanDuel with the option to acquire another 1% in the future.

Keith Smith, BGC CEO, said of the deal, “Through this partnership, Boyd Gaming and FanDuel Group will be in excellent position to successfully capitalize as sports betting and online gaming expand across the country. By joining forces with FanDuel’s nationally known brand, as well as their considerable technical expertise and resources, we will be positioned to build market-leading sports-betting and online gaming operations in each state as they move forward with these new forms of entertainment. We will also see immediate benefits from our cross-marketing agreement with FanDuel, introducing millions of FanDuel customers to Boyd Gaming’s properties nationwide.”

There’s something wrong with No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) poker these days. That’s according to high-stakes poker pro Tom Dwan, who recently finished fifth at the HL$500,000 NLHE Short Deck Ante Only tournament as part of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju. Dwan is one of several players that have recently shown a preference for the short deck version over full deck NLHE, which has led to a greatly reduced presence at full deck NLHE tournaments. But, this isn’t the only reason he’s not playing. He says that full deck is simply not the same anymore.

The game is the same – the way the cards are dealt, the way hands are calculated, the way pots are won. However, Dwan says that the atmosphere surrounding the tables has turned sour. He says, “I think the few tournaments I’ve played lately… people have taken the ‘staring at you’ to a whole new level, taking a long time every hand.”

He points out that players are intentionally slowing down the pace of the game and that this has ruined NLHE poker. “Now I think feel like people are taking [stalling] to an extreme and it’s not that fun… not that sporting,” he explained.

Bryn Kenney agrees. He said on Instagram that Dwan is “dead right,” adding “Should be a penalty for staring at amateurs,” says Kenney, adding how excessive tanking is “not making the game fun and people need to understand how important it is to make the game fun to attract players to wanna play.”

Gaming Partners International Corp (GPI) announced last week that its CEO, Gregory Gronau, is stepping down from the company. The resignation won’t officially take place until September 21, at which time he will also give up his other positions, including president, director, treasurer and secretary. Gronau will still be available as an adviser to the company, which said that the decision “for personal reasons, and not a result of any disagreement with the company or its management.”

Gronau’s role as an adviser will continue until the end of the year. He will be paid $10,000 a month for his part-time affiliation following his resignation and Alain Thieffry, GPI’s CFO and chairman of the board, will fill in as the company’s interim CEO, president, treasurer and secretary “until a successor is appointed.”

The 59-year-old executive has a long history of involvement in casino and gaming-related enterprises. He became GPI’s CEO in 2009 and, in 2014, was also appointed as the company’s Secretary and Treasurer. Prior to joining GPI, he was the VP of Operations at Shuffle Master from 2002 to 2006 and, subsequently, CEO and President of Cadillac Jack, Inc. from January 2006 to March 2008.  While with Shuffle Master, he was responsible for improvements in all of the company’s manufacturing operations as well as being the director of virtually of its acquisitions.

Nevada-based GPI supplies different types of currency, including plaques, jets and chips, to a number of casinos. It also is a supplier of playing cards, table accessories, roulette wheels, dice and gaming furniture. The company, which was founded in 1993, has experienced significant growth mainly due to an extended presence in Macau. It also holds an exclusive right to manufacture and distribute radio frequency identification (RFID) chips and readers in the US, as well as a patent for the process of embedding RFID components into the gaming chips. RFID chips have gained significant popularity lately due to their enhanced security features and counterfeit protection.

Undeniably, one of the most debated subjects in the US these days is sports gambling. Now that states have the legal authority to authorize the activity, more and more lawmakers are pushing to introduce bills to see their states capitalize on the multi-billion-dollar market. The topic has been the source of political in-fighting in more than one jurisdiction, and the state of Colorado is no different. However, Cynthia Coffman, Colorado’s Attorney General (AG), has said that advancing sports betting operations in the state should be easier than the opponents would have many believe.

In a formal legal opinion published by the AG, she said, “The Colorado Constitution does not prohibit or otherwise restrict commercial sports betting. Whether or not to amend state statutes to authorize commercial sports betting is a policy question for the General Assembly and the voters of this State.”

Many legal experts were under the impression that a statewide vote leading to a change to the state’s Constitution was going to be required for lawmakers to consider sports gambling. “Whether a game is a lottery turns on the role that chance plays in the outcome,” says Coffman. Since sports gambling certainly does not rely on chance, Coffman concludes that “wagering on a sporting event falls outside this definition.”

Casinos weren’t too pleased with the AG’s position. The Colorado Gaming Association (CGA) posted a rebuttal, stating, “The Colorado courts only give ‘respectful consideration’ to attorney general opinions and, many times, find that an AG’s opinion is incorrect. The weight of judicial authority throughout the country is that sports betting is, in fact, a ‘lottery.’ Attorney General Coffman’s conclusion that horse and dog racing are ‘not materially different’ than professional and collegiate sports betting is factually and, we believe, legally incorrect.”