Rich Goldman Holdings Ltd, formerly the Neptune Group, posted higher profits in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period last year, according to a filing.

Total first-half revenue, including the company’s money lending business and hotel operations, was HKD130.5 million ($16.7 million), compared to HKD296.8 million ($38 million) during the corresponding period last year, a 56% decline. Profit for the period was HKD124.4 million ($15.9 million), compared to HKD39.9 million ($5.1 million) in the same period last year.

In spite of a fall in revenue due to the cancelation last year of its junket representative agreements, profits were boosted by the reversal of impairment losses of trade receivables and intangible assets, HKD42 million ($5.4 million) and HKD49.8 million ($6.4 million) respectively, from 2017. In addition, a one-off loss on disposal of an associated company last year, worth HKD62.9 million ($8 million), meant the first half profits of this year would be that much higher.

These positive effects were offset by a 69% decline in gaming and entertainment revenue, from HKD295.5 million ($37.8 million) in the first half of 2017 to HKD91.3 million ($11.7 million) in the period of January to June of this year.

For the second time in as many years, Global Poker is preparing to launch its successful poker tournament series, The Eagle Cup. Global Poker is reportedly the fastest growing poker site for US players and this year’s festival will see the prize pool increase to $750,000 in “Sweeps Cash” (SC). There will be a total of 135 events and action gets underway on September 30, running through October 21, offering a combined prize pool of SC$750,000.

The series of tournaments will offer a range of buy-ins, designed to suit virtually any player. The festival kicks off with a SC5,000 Freeroll before the official action begins on October 1. As was the case last year, the big attraction will certainly be the main event, which offers a guarantee of SC$100,000. It begins on October 21.

Each Eagle Cup winner will be awarded a Global Poker “champions pack” and a trophy. The top two finishers in each event will also earn a seat at the table for the Tournament of Champions. The ultimate winner of the Tournament of Champions will be given the opportunity to participate in a live poker event of the winner’s choice.

Here are some schedule highlights for the upcoming festival:

Rounders was one of the best poker movies ever to be sent out of Tinseltown. Even though it was regarded as a flop at the time, it has since turned into a cult classic and is put in the same category with Chris Moneymaker as the reason poker has become so popular. Rounders showed some takes of the game that would certainly never be seen at a WSOP or WPT tournament and has developed a strong fan base throughout the world over the years.

The movie’s star, Matt Damon, not only learned how to excel at poker because of the movie, but also how to cheat at it. He used the skills he learned to interpret the role of Mike McDermott, along with fellow actor and Rounders star Edward Norton, in real life, once taking Bob Weinstein and his disgraced brother, Harvey, for a ride.

The acting pros used skills that they learned preparing for Rounders in a real-life poker game against the Weinstein brothers who, coincidentally, produced the movie for Miramax. The night before production began, the four sat down for a little poker fun and the two actors decided to try out their newly acquired skills.

As Norton tells it to The Ringer, “Matt and I … had been taught how people cheated, played partner poker, by signaling. Because they do that in their games. We had had someone show us a fairly complex system for signaling what your cards were by the way you positioned your hold chips on your cards. And so we got very good at it and we were just like, ‘Should we do it?’ And we were like, ‘F*** it, it’s like Harvey and Bob’s game, let’s do it.’”

Boyaa Interactive has had a rough year. The China-based gaming company has seen its revenue fall steeply after regulators began prohibiting a large number of social games. That drop also saw its stock price plummet to a new all-time low. Now, the chairman and CEO of the company, Zhang Wei, has been sentenced to spend some time behind bars and the company has been scrambling to find a suitable replacement.

Last Friday, Zhang resigned from all positions he held at the company. These included executive director, CEO, chairman of the board, chairman of the nomination committee and all other senior management positions. The resignation came after he was sentenced to 12 months in prison following the denial of an appeal stemming from bribery charges.

Zhang went in front of a judge with the Municipal of Intermediate People’s Court in May to answer to charges brought against Boyaa Shenzhen of offering “bribes by entities.” Boyaa received a fine of $364,667 (RMB2,500,000) and Zhang was sentenced to a year in prison, with a suspended sentence of 18 months. Upon being found guilty, Zhang immediately launched his appeal, which was denied last week by China’s Higher People’s Court.

According to a Boyaa announcement from last Friday, Dai Zhikang is set to replace Zhang as the board’s chairman. Tao Ying was tapped to be the company’s executive director, authorized representative and chairman of the nomination committee.

2016 was a good year for the Ritz Hotel Casino in London. The venue, which is owned by the Barclay brothers, reported a pre-tax profit of $11.64 million for the year, giving it a substantial foundation upon which to continue to build. Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite as well as the Barclay brothers would have liked for the its latest fiscal year and the casino saw a loss that completely wiped out the previous year’s pre-tax profit, and then some.

For the 2017 fiscal year, the Ritz reported a loss of $15.3 million (£11.7 million). Overall, the property’s revenue dropped to $29.1 million from the $43.1 million it reported in the year prior. It indicated that it has seen the same level of traffic between the two reporting years; however, profit was impacted by an increase in payouts to customers.

The company hopes to turn things around in 2018. It said in its revenue filing, “Efforts to encourage new Middle East and Far Eastern players remain focused and business in 2018 is expected to be more fortuitous.” Aidan Barclay, who is the son of David Barclay and sits on the company’s board, added, “Business in 2018 is expected to be more fortuitous.”

The Ritz hotel has been around since the beginning of the last century. It was previously a ballroom, a restaurant and an entertainment venue and the casino was added in 1977. The Barclay brothers purchased it in 1995.

Crown Perth has fallen out of favor with rich Asian gamblers. The result is a drop in revenue of almost 10%, according to an announcement by the Gaming and Wagering Commission. From July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, the casino saw its gross gaming revenue (GGR) fall to AU$564 million (US$409.8 million).

The drop was propelled by a staggering 24% decline in revenue from baccarat, a standard favorite among Asian gamblers and typical for those with extremely deep pockets. In total, the casino’s baccarat GGR was $163 million (US$118.4 million). Since 2014, baccarat GGR has fallen a total of 57% at the casino. At its highest, it was bringing in $383 million (US$$278.3 million).

The Crown Resort company, owner of Crown Perth, had hoped to promote itself as the ultimate gambling destination for rich Asian gamblers as part of a $650 million (US$472.5) million redevelopment plan. That plan got off to a strong start, but a crackdown on foreign gambling companies by Chinese officials has resulted in a decrease in popularity.

That crackdown hurt baccarat, as well as Crown. In 2016, 19 Crown employees were arrested for participating in crimes that went against China’s stiff anti-gambling policies. The employees, one of whom was Crown senior executive Jason O’Connor, were eventually released and Crown agreed to pay a hefty fine for their actions.