The Grosvenor Casino cuts ties with ambassador Will Kassouf, after allegations surface that the man who lit up the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event stole money from friends while playing roulette at a Grosvenor Casino.

Outside of killing 3.3 million per year (more than war, terrorism and homicide combined), and being a causal factor in more than 200 illnesses and diseases, alcohol does have one other effect.

It makes you act like a complete and utter cock.

Two years ago, a man with a wolf on his baseball cap won the 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, but the star of the show was a lawyer from the UK, who liked to play poker sporadically, Will Kassouf.

The French online poker behemoth, Winamax, is forced to cancel their forthcoming live tour after losing a significant court case against a bunch of casino bullies.

It sucks to be a French loving poker player.

It’s easier to find syphilis than a kosha game of live poker in the land of expensive paintings and tall towers.

The Aviation Club de France (ACF) closed down.

The UK Labour Party has promised live weekly broadcasts of gambling CEOs being eviscerated with extremely dull blades if voters will return the currently directionless party back to power at the next general election.

Well, not really. But in preparation for this weekend’s annual conference in Liverpool, Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has unveiled a raft of crowd-pleasing, pitchfork-and-torch-ready proposals aimed at cutting the gambling industry off at the knees.

Watson called problem gambling “a public health emergency,” evidently having skipped reading this month’s Gambling Behavior in Great Britain survey, which found problem gambling rates unchanged from the previous survey, while gambling participation actually declined.

Still, Tom, you were saying? “Current gambling regulation [introduced under a previous Labour government, just so we’re clear] is not up to the job of protecting addicts” but never fear, Labour has a plan, and this time, it’s really going to work.

Casino staff in the Philippines are no longer allowed to gamble in any of the country’s gaming establishments, apparently as a result of the government’s desire to temper local gambling appetites.

In an announcement posted to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) website, Angeline Papica-Entienza, Assistant VP of the Gaming Licensing and Development Department, announced that “all employees of licensees holding Gaming Employment License (GEL) are prohibited from playing in any gaming establishments in the Philippines.”

The notice, which was dated September 6, states that the names and relevant information of all GEL holders is to be integrated into the National Database of Restricted Persons (NDRP), a computerized database of individuals who are restricted from playing in gaming establishments operated and regulated by PAGCOR nationwide.

At the end of the second quarter of 2018, PAGCOR’s NDRP featured a total of 1,303 names, although 632 of these exclusions had since expired. Nearly two-thirds of these exclusions were sought by family members of the gambler, while most of the rest were gamblers who’d opted for self-exclusion.

UK-listed gambling operator GVC Holdings is demonstrating its commitment to conquering the US market by helping to fund a new study into problem gambling.

On Wednesday, GVC announced that it had joined the President’s Circle of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), America’s leading advocate for program and services to assist problem gamblers and their families.

GVC’s commitment to the NCPG includes helping to fund the National Survey of Gambling in America, a new study aimed at quantifying gambling prevalence in the US of A and establishing a baseline by which to judge the scope of problem gambling behavior.

GVC CEO Kenny Alexander celebrated his group joining the NCPG’s efforts, which he said “reinforces our commitment to ensure that GVC promotes the highest standards of responsible gaming while ensuring our customers can enjoy our products in a safe environment.”

New Hampshire is the sixth US state to take its lottery online, offering both draw tickets and instant-win games to state residents.

The New Hampshire Lottery quietly launched its iLottery products this week, with technology provided by NeoPollard Interactive LLC (NPi), the co-venture of Pollard Banknote and NeoGames that helped bring the Michigan Lottery’s digital presence to life a few years back and also powers the online subscription platform of Virginia’s state lottery.

The New Hampshire iLottery is utilizing NPi’s turnkey iLottery 360° Solution to offer online sales of Powerball and MegaMillions draw tickets as well as eight instant-win games, all of which is available via both desktop and mobile devices to customers who manage to stay within the state’s geographic boundaries.

New Hampshire Lottery exec director Charlie McIntyre called the online launch “the critical next wave component in enhancing our players’ direct interaction with our games.” McIntyre said the Lottery had selected NPi because its domestic and international experience “would best ensure a successful rollout and early adoption of the online lottery experience.”

The state of Western Australia (WA) has imposed new measures to punish not only online lottery betting operators but also state residents who dare patronize such sites.

On Wednesday, the WA government introduced legislation to protect state-owned lottery monopoly Lotterywest by prohibiting sites like Lottoland from advertising their services. The measure is somewhat redundant, given that Australia’s federal government already approved a nationwide ban on so-called ‘synthetic’ lotteries that kicks in on January 1, 2019.

But the WA government’s plan goes further, including provisions that would hit lottery betting customers with personal fines of A$2,500 (US$1,800). The WA government has yet to explain exactly how authorities would detect an individual’s use of such sites, but does plan to give the state’s Gaming and Wagering Commission ‘sweeping’ new powers to police the market.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Legislative Assembly member Paul Papalia saying that the new tools would future-proof Lotterywest from unwanted competition by granting the gaming regulator “the power to act in the event of some other unforeseen disruptive betting process coming onto the market, they can just outlaw it immediately.”