A new $150-million resort casino for Bristol, Virginia has won the favor of the community. Bristol essentially straddles the Virginia-Tennessee border, with a city of the same name found just across the state line. Backers believe that it will have a “transformative” effect on the city’s economy, as well as that of the region and the state.

The resort, with a working name of Bristol Resort and Casino, is a proposal created by two prominent Virginia business leaders, Jim McGlothlin and Clyde Stacy. It is expected to be located on the site of the former Bristol Mall, which occupied a 49-acre tract of land before it closed at the end of August last year. It will offer a casino with around 100,000 square feet, which will be integrated into one of the former primary stores, such as Sears or J.C. Penney.

A comparable amount of space would be allocated for entertainment and “family-friendly” attractions. There will also be a 25,000-square-foot sportsbook, a hotel with as many 1,000 rooms and retail and restaurant spaces. The resort could employ as many as 2,000 area residents the first year and more than 5,200 within seven years.

Stacy purchased the property this past June for $2.6 million. He explained, “Jim and I have been blessed with successful business careers here in Southwest Virginia. We are putting that success behind this major project to benefit the entire region, building the Bristol Resort and Casino here at the Bristol Mall. What that means in real terms is that we are not asking for any government support for this project. Our plan is to build it all with private dollars. This is our chance to provide lasting, meaningful support to a community that has supported us for so many years.”

The Aria casino in Las Vegas is bringing the blockchain to poker. This October, it will host the inaugural World Crypto Conference and is expected to draw a number of celebrity guests. Highlighting the three-day event will be a poker tournament unlike any seen before.

The conference will be held from October 31 through November 2. The poker tournament, which is sponsored in part by Decent.bet, will bring together live poker action with blockchain technology. Complete details have yet to be released, but Aria has said that “some of the biggest stars in poker” will attend.

The lineup could include poker high roller such as Daniel Negreanu or Antonio Esfandiari. It might also be that Phil Hellmuth, who has a tight relationship with the Aria, could decide to drop in. No matter who it is, this will certainly be one for the history books, and will go down as a prime example of how closely linked the gaming world and cryptocurrencies are.

Several poker companies, including Virtue Poker, use decentralized smart contracts for their data management and use random number generators to ensure fairness at the virtual felt. Since all licensed online poker portals have to allow their software to be assessed and monitored, there is an added sense of confidence surrounding blockchain-based poker.

Offline sales of lottery products in China just got a little boost. New regulations that will go into effect starting October 1 will make it easier for an entity to receive authorization for the products; however, there is still some ambiguity surrounding one aspect of the official lottery. Since 2015, online sales have been banned in the country, and there remains the question of whether or not this ban will be lifted.

In spite of the ban, the total sales of lottery products in mainland China are almost double those of Macau’s annual gaming sales. Last year, lottery sales bumped up 8.1% from the previous year, bringing in a total of $62.4 million. During the same period, gross gaming revenue in Macau jumped a huge 19.1%, but it was still only a little more than half the sales of lottery products at $32.9 billion.

The new lottery rules, which were just published today, said that any online sales of sports lottery or welfare lottery tickets are still illegal. However, according to the founder of Chinese lottery think tank Chian Lottery Industry Salon, Su Guojing, “For lottery issuance institutions, [up to now] they had to seek approval from their respective provincial department of finance and department of civil affairs whenever they wanted to put forward special promotions or offer new prizes for their lottery products, especially during holiday times like the National Day break or Chinese New Year. But now with the amended rules, they don’t need to do that anymore.”

Shanghai Normal University professor Li Gang indicated that a significant update of the new regulations is that provincial-level authorized entities that operate the lottery can commission tests that would provide a technical review of the lottery products. He added, “Before, these institutions have had to commission test work whenever they wanted to launch new lottery products or change the products.”

A round-up of action in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and partypoker’s POWERFEST including another significant win for probirs, two WCOOPs in a day for Nilsef, and three in a week for aDrENalin710. 

I have a sunflower seed stuck in my front tooth. I keep sucking in air, trying to free it. The geezer next to me stares at my temple like a boxer who has heard the bell each time I make the irritable noise. At least I think it’s irritating as I can’t listen to it. I have my cans on and a chorus of kids hum Season Song by the Blue States.

Man, I love Spotify.

Sunflower seeds, not so much.

The World Series of Poker Circuit announces a 13-gold ring online tour for the first time, and Tobias Peters collects a gold ring by winning the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event in Rotterdam.

His name was Simon, a mathematician, who travelled all over the world with his work.

“How is that possible?”

“Conferences.”

A round-up from the first two days of the 2018 Poker Masters including an opening day victory for David Peters in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, and Daniel Negreanu and Jason Koon star in the final table of the first $25,000 event. 

Poker Central continued their goal to create a poker masterpiece for the ages when they hosted the 2018 Poker Masters. Once again the ARIA Resort & Casino will host the event, as it did in 2017 when Steffen Sontheimer became the first poker player to add a mannequin to his trophy room.

There are a few changes to this years offering.

Most disappointingly, Sontheimer won’t defend his jacket, after choosing to stay at home.