Dutch gaming regulators are probing whether unauthorized online sports betting operators are using cash machines to facilitate account transactions.

On Tuesday, the Netherlands’ Kansspelautoreit (KSA) regulatory body announced that it had teamed up with the Public Prosecution Service to raid an unspecified company’s place of business and two private homes in search of evidence of an unauthorized online sports betting business.

The KSA said the raids were the result of tip-offs it received one year ago regarding the suspected use of Cash Centers – vending machines offering online payment services – to facilitate online sports betting account deposits and withdrawals.

The KSA stated that its investigation centered on 15 suspects supposedly linked to these machines, although no arrests were made in the course of Tuesday’s raids. These 15 individuals are suspected of having ties to internationally licensed online gambling operators who accept Dutch customers despite the lack of KSA approval.

Swedish online gambling operator Cherry AB has lost two more directors to an ongoing probe into allegations of illegal insider trading.

Last Friday, Cherry issued a statement confirming the resignations of two members of the company’s board of directors. Both Anna Bergius and Claes Ruthberg submitted their decisions to resign their board seats with immediate effect.

The statement indicated that the members arrived at their decision after receiving word from the Swedish Economic Crime Authority that they were under suspicion of committing crimes connected with the ongoing probe into alleged insider trading by Anders Holmgren, Cherry’s former CEO who was sacked in May, just days after the investigation became public knowledge.

Holmgren stands accused of buying a significant number of his company’s shares ahead of a favorable first-quarter earnings report, the details of which ran contrary to the profit warning the company issued last November due to issues integrating its new ComeOn asset.

Spain’s regulated online gambling market reported strong year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2018, although the poker vertical failed to match its Q1 revenue total.

Figures released Tuesday by Spain’s Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) regulatory body show locally licensed online gambling operators generated revenue of €167.2m in the three months ending June 30. That’s a whopping gain of 40.1% over the same period last year but only 2.3% higher than Q1’s total.

The first half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup had its expected goosing effect on sports betting revenue, which jumped 46.7% year-on-year to €87.6m, although this figure was only up 7% from Q1. And while pre-match betting improved 32.7%, in-play betting actually declined 7% from Q1.

The online casino vertical produced revenue of €56.5m, reflecting similarly large year-on-year growth (36.9%) while remaining essentially flat on a sequential basis. Slots remain the dominant casino product, claiming over 51% of casino revenue.

How sportsbook will develop in the United States is one of the most interesting questions in the gambling industry today. When the Profession and Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned by the Supreme Court, all eyes turned to the big players in the United States and United Kingdom, speculating about partnerships and expansion. GVC got the ball rolling with its partnership with MGM, and more are sure to follow.

But there are other players here besides the big recognized names that, until now, have never really been considered gaming stocks. The news earlier this month that Buffalo Wild Wings, the most popular US sports bar chain, wants to incorporate sportsbook into its restaurants, in retrospect should not have been surprising. It’s a perfect fit. The restaurant chain has made it clear that it’s looking for a partner, so together with the GVC-MGM partnership, which points to a primarily partnership-based model for this industry going forward. If MGM didn’t go it alone, then other companies probably won’t either. MGM already has sportsbook knowledge, infrastructure, experience, and economies of scale from Las Vegas, and despite all these advantages still sought out GVC.

Buffalo Wild Wings went private last year for $2.4 billion, so nothing doing there for public investors, but this opens up other US stocks to the gaming investment community that will inevitably follow Buffalo Wild so as not to fall behind. One of the more interesting and obscure options is Ark Restaurants (ARKR). Ark already is a casino runoff stock, as its business model is heavily reliant on setting up restaurants in casinos. Sportsbook doesn’t look like it will have a material impact on Ark for a while, but news of Buffalo Wild moving in to the industry will bring Ark more investor attention and could open it up as a portfolio position for many who never seriously considered it before. 8 of its 20 restaurants are in casinos, with 5 more in New York City, where sportsbook legislation failed in 2018, but could be reintroduced in 2019.

The nice thing about Ark as part of a gaming investment portfolio is that it is a stable income-play microcap, which gives it low risk for a microcap but high return potential as a microcap. Aside from an explosion higher from in 2004-2005 and then a crash back down post 2008, it has been a stable microcap since its founding in 1983. It offers a very respectable 4.5% dividend at 25 cents a share that it has paid consistently since the end of the financial crisis, and it has proven profitable even in times of extreme economic stress. From 2008 to 2009, revenue fell 8% and earnings fell 56%, but the key is that it remained profitable even in the depths of the financial crisis when restaurants typically become one of the first victims, and this one a tiny restaurant chain at that.

Lui Che Woo, founder and chairman of Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment, is “very confident” that his company’s planned Boracay casino will be built, despite recent orders from the Philippine government.

In a CNBC ‘Squawk Box’ interview with Emily Tan asking about the Boracay project, Lui said, “We are very confident. From the beginning until now, our plans have not changed.”

According to Lui, the casino aspect of the project has been overblown. He said, “Gambling will actually be a small portion. We expect a few dozen tables, as this is not our focus for Boracay. We hope it will become a truly good tourism spot and return to the beautiful island it once was. This is very different to what is being said out there. We don’t pay attention to unofficial commentary.”

Just two weeks ago, Philippine Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat denied any casinos will be operating on the island. This comes several weeks after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared that “no casinos outside of what was existing” would be allowed. This was in the context of the cancellation of the land lease for casino investor Landing International Development Ltd.’s new resort in the country.

Casino cruise ship operator Genting Hong Kong Group posted a $141.3-million loss for the first half of 2018, 30% lower than last year’s loss for the same period.

In its press release, the company noted that net cruise revenue from January to June 2018 had increased by 41% to $514 million, compared to $364 million during the same period in 2017, partly “due to the inclusion of World Dream and four Crystal River Cruises vessels in 1H2018.”

Revenue for the first half was at $777.6 million, 46% more than last year’s revenue for the same period. Earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for cruise-related activities, excluding startup costs for new ships, was at $63 million, whereas the company reported a first-half loss of $18.3 million in 2017.

Genting HK said that the improvement in cruise-adjusted EBITDA had been offset by lower production in shipyards, making for lower cost capitalization for shipbuilding. However, because of expected increases in the use of the shipyards, the company sees an increase in cost capitalization for shipbuilding for the second half of the year.

Imperial Pacific International (IPI), the company behind Saipan’s first integrated resort, the Imperial Palace, may never be complete. After already missing several construction deadlines that have prolonged the completion of the casino’s hotel for more than a year, the company’s vice president of construction, Eric Poon, asserted earlier this month that the project was 69% complete. He further stated that the hotel would almost certainly be ready by the end of the year. Now, IPI is asking for yet another extension for construction—until the end of 2020.

The extension is tied to the “initial gaming facility” of the casino. IPI previously expected the facility to be ready to go by the end of July, and then the end of August before Coon said definitely by December. Six amendments in total have been requested by IPI and each one makes the casino possibility less and less bright.

According to the Saipan Tribune, the deadline extension will be addressed by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (CNMI) Lottery Commission. The commission will meet by the end of August, at which time it will decide what action to take regarding the request.

IPI was offered a casino license on the condition that the initial facility would be complete by this summer. Now that it has missed several deadlines already, whether or not the Lottery Commission chooses to renew the license will certainly be a question at this month’s meeting.

After a previous attempt at securing land for a casino in Nepal failed last March, Silver Heritage tried again and had better success. After signing a minority equity interest agreement with a Nepalese partner, the company has now received approval to build its second resort in the country on a huge parcel of land in Jhapa.

The new resort, with a reported price tag of $3.2 million, will be built on an 18-acre piece of property valued at around $4.1 million, according to a filing submitted by Silver Heritage to the Australian Securities Exchange. The company stated of the sale of a minority stake, “Given the company’s focus on cash management…[it] has agreed to sell a circa 20 percent interest in the Jhapa land-owning entity to its local partner Mr. Sanchit Shrestha, a transaction which both generates the required capital to compete the purchase while also reducing its outstanding supplier payables.”

Silver Heritage launched gaming operations at its first resort in Nepal in December 2017, the Tiger Palace Resort Bhairahawa, which operates on a capital budget of around $51.5 million. It reported in May that its third quarter revenue would be close to the “monthly break-even” mark. The company also operates two other smaller casinos—the Millionaire’s Club and Casino in Kathmandu, Nepal and the Phoenix International Club, located in Vietnam near Hanoi.

Silver Heritage tried to purchase a large plot of land in Jhapa earlier this year. It ended up losing the purchase, as well as $2.8 million that were given as deposits. The company said that it had “no ability to fund the remaining purchase price.”

The Card Player Poker Tour (CPPT) Isle Casino Main Event has officially wrapped up in Pompano Park, Florida. A total of 310 players descended on the casino for the tournament, each shelling out $1,100 for the buy-in and helping the prize pool increase to $305,350. By the time the field had dwindled down to the last five, Matt Bretzfield was awarded the title in a five-way chop that saw each player pocket $35,443.

When the deal was reached, Bretzfield, who took second at the CPPT Isle Casino $360 NLHE for $22,374, was only leading by a single chip. He held a commanding chip lead of 2,785,000 going into the final table and made sure that he wasn’t going anywhere. The New York native and fellow finalists Ernie Bush, Matthew Smith, AJ Gambino and Gautum Lillaney ultimately decided to divide the pot instead of playing it all the way through to the final elimination and the top prize of $66,707.

The final table saw some impressive action. Albert Destrade, who was a contestant on Survivor: South Pacific and won the $1,200 NLHE Isle Classic event in 2015, was the first to be eliminated for $6,672. Mark Wiser and Zack Mullenix would go next, with Wiser receiving $8,367 and Mullenix, $10,183. Fernando Halac fell soon after, taking home a little more than $12,000.

Now down to five players, the final table saw a lot of back-and-forth chip tossing. Gambino and Lillaney mixed it up good in a trips vs. boat showdown that saw Lillaney double his stack and Gambino left with only three chips. Surprisingly, Gambino hung on and was able to get back into the game. He scored a huge win against pocket Queens to be back in contention and the players then began discussing a deal.