London-listed Playtech announced that it is selling its 10% stake in online trading platform Plus500 Ltd.

The shares, totaling 11.4 million, were sold at £1.55 per share, for a total of approximately £176 million ($227 million), which the gaming software provider said “will be used for general corporate purposes and debt reduction.” The company assured shareholders that the sale would not affect the issuance of the interim dividend announced by Plus500 last August 13, which totals about $16 million.

The Playtech sale comes just a day after the founders of Plus500—Alon Gonen, Gal Haber, Elad Ben-Izhak, Omer Elazari and Shlomi Weizmann—announced the sale of 9.4 million shares, which was half their remaining stake and about 8% of all shares issued, for £145 million ($187 million), reportedly for personal reasons. Last March, the founders had already sold 7.27 million shares, or about 6% of issued shares, for £80 million ($103.2 million), also for personal reasons.

Back in 2015, Playtech had been negotiating for a takeover of Plus500, ready to spend £460 million ($593.4 million) for the acquisition, but plans fell through when the UK Financial Conduct Authority blocked the purchase. The agency was reportedly concerned about ownership of shares by Playtech founder Teddy Sagi, who was convicted for major stock fraud in the 1990s. Sagi holds a 6.3% stake in company.

Time is running out for Macau’s casinos to request approval to offer smoking lounges. The operators have until September 28 to make their case before regulators; however, as of August 31, only 12 of the 37 companies in the city have submitted the necessary applications. Those that don’t apply and offer smoking lounges will face fines of up to $24,747.

On-site smoking in casinos and all gaming venues can only take place in approved smoking lounges, according to recent law changes. The lounges must be equipped with advanced-technology smoke extractors, and all plans have to be approved by the Health Bureau. The new smoking rules went into effect at the beginning of this year, but a grace period of year was offered to allow the venues to upgrade their systems.

Gaming establishments were given the September 28 deadline to file their applications in order to allow inspectors enough time prior to January 1 to complete what would be an overwhelming amount of on-site visits. There is already a backlog of applications and, with the cutoff date approaching quickly, there will certainly be a run on the Health Bureau to submit requests and meet the deadline.

The 12 operators who have already submitted the necessary requests for their smoking lounges have handed in a total of 88 applications—one for every individual smoking lounge, as required. Among those, 10 in only two locations have already been approved. The first smoking lounge to receive the green light by authorities was the Ponte 16 casino hotel, a venture by SJM Holdings and Success Universe Group. In August, officials approved the requests of Melco Resorts and Entertainment’s Studio City.

Citizens of Yokohama, Japan, may not want a casino, but this won’t be a problem. There are plenty of other areas that are more than happy to receive a gambling operation and reap the rewards of the investment. One of these is Wakayama on Japan’s south central coast, which has already received 33 proposals for an integrated resort.

Wakayama published a request for information (RFI) in August to gauge the response on resort construction. Regulators said they wanted to receive “ideas from domestic and overseas entities, regarding the resort-type IR which Wakayama Prefecture aims to introduce, including IR plans, investment intentions for related developments of [the] surrounding area, [and] measures to prevent adverse effects such as problem gambling.”

Plans involve building the resort on a man-made island measuring about 98.8 acres in Marina City. The island is already home to a couple of hotels, as well a theme park, and can easily support another venue that offers as many as 2,500 additional hotel rooms.

Seven of the proposals came from international companies, with the rest being submitted by domestic suitors. There is still a lot of work to be done, however, as Japan has yet to finalize where the initial three casino resorts will be located.

PokerStars has been trying to come up with—let’s call them innovative—ways to enhance the user the experience. While some have been intriguing others, such as Unfold, only smack of a desperate attempt to increase the company’s rake. Next in the lineup, however, could be something that actually works, and is received well by players. Rumors have begun to circulate that the poker portal could be working on introducing short-deck poker to its menu.

In the PokerStars’ version, it is called Six Plus Hold’em. The version is played with just 36 cards, instead of the standard 52, and eliminates all cards from 2-5. The Ace is still high or low, meaning you can have a straight of A-9 or 10-A; however, several big chances mean that the game may take some getting used to. In the most common variation, because of the reduction in cards, flushes are harder to achieve. So, a flush is actually higher than a full house. Additionally, three of a kind beats a straight, instead of the other way around.

The version began in China and has increased in popularity. It is more challenging and several high-stakes pros, including Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, have decided that they like short-deck more than full-deck. It has been seen in Vegas, Montenegro and Manila, with Dwan describing it as “a pretty cool game!”

Another variation that could be coming to the platform is Fusion. It was initially expected to be released this past May but was, for some reason, delayed. However, recent hints, including a new PokerStars Fusion logo, could be an indication that the site is ready to move forward.

South Korea-based Widus International Leisure Inc. will be opening a new hotel, the Clark Marriott, in Clark Freeport in the Philippines next week, according to a GGRAsia report.

A Widus representative said, “The Clark Marriott does not have a casino directly attached to it, but it is connected to the existing Widus Hotel and Casino as part of the integrated resort.”

The new 15-storey hotel will have 260 rooms for guests. The existing casino has 54 gaming tables and 342 slots, with an area of 48,437 square feet. Currently, there are two hotels in the resort. Last June, Widus mentioned that it was in the process of a $500-million expansion. After the Clark Marriott, a fourth tower is to be finished by 2020. In addition, according to GGRAsia, Widus may have a golf course built in the resort, with talks underway with Philippine agency the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

All in all, beginning with Widus’ first Clark hotel tower in 2008 and casino in 2009, the company will have invested a total of over $1 billion in the resort, once the current expansion is completed.

When I hear his name, the first image that pops into my head is Carol Anne in “The Poltergeist II” moving exclaiming, “They’re back!” Jon Kyl, one of the men behind the poker industry-changing Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), is coming back to the US Senate. If any poker players suddenly felt a cold chill this past Monday, now you know why and you can thank Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.

On Monday, Ducey appointed Kyl to represent the state in the Senate. He is taking the seat of John McCain, who recently passed away from cancer. The only good news is that Kyl cannot stay until the regular term would have ended in 2022 unless he’s elected. According to Arizona law, a special election must be held in 2020 to vote on who will fill the seat until the end of the term. Kyl has already said that he’s not interested in serving out the rest of the term but, once he gets in, he’ll more than likely go back on his word.

Kyl developed an animosity of the gambling industry well before helping craft the UIGEA. In the 1990s, he wrote a piece of legislation, along with Representative Bob Goodlatte, that sought to prohibit online gambling except for dog and horse racing. Apparently, some forms of online gambling are good, others are bad.

The bill didn’t make it through the channels and Kyl was defeated. Determined not to make the same mistake twice, he and Goodlatte decided to do what good politicians do – cheat. They snuck the UIGEA inside another bill, the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act – a bill that was entirely unrelated, but that was known to receive approval – and the rest, as they say, is history. The UIGEA was never discussed, debated, dissected or otherwise reviewed by Congress before being approved.

New Zealand’s race and sports betting industry is in for a shake-up after a government report recommended outsourcing the TAB’s commercial operations.

Last week saw the publication of the Messara Report, a dissection of the nation’s racing industry commissioned by Racing Minister Winston Peters. Author John Messara, chairman of Racing New South Wales, concluded that New Zealand’s thoroughbred racing industry is “in a state of serious malaise.”

Putting aside the report’s recommendations regarding the number of racetracks and such, Messara says the current operations of the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) can’t deliver the funding the industry requires, while the NZRB’s TAB betting business can’t compete with major international wagering operators.

As such, Messara recommends remodeling the NZRB as Wagering NZ, a holding company for racing’s wagering, broadcasting and gaming activities.

This past Tuesday, Scientific Games (SG) announced another shakeup at the company. Effective the same day, James Sottile had been recruited by the company to be its executive VP and chief legal officer. Sottile reports directly to SG’s president and CEO, Barry Cottle.

In a statement (in pdf) by the company, Cottle said, “Jim brings more than 30 years of experience working across multiple industries. He is an accomplished legal strategist and litigator, as well as an experienced leader. I look forward to working with him, as he guides our world-class legal organization to support our strategic objectives and positively impact our business results. He is a terrific addition to our executive team. David Smail will be staying on in an advisory role through the end of the year.”

Sottile joins SG by way of Jones Day, an international law firm. He is said to have substantial experience creating legal strategies targeting critical business issues, as well as negotiating with regulators on complex solutions. He has been a “notable practitioner” for the past 13 years, according to the Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers list, as well as being recognized since 2011 in the category of The Best Lawyers in America.

He said of his appointment, “I am excited by the opportunity to lead Scientific Games’ global legal organization and work with Barry and his leadership team to ensure the Company continues its global leadership in Gaming and Lottery and is successful in its efforts to drive innovation and benefit all key stakeholders. My passion is leading winning teams, and I am thrilled to lead and advance the success of Scientific Games’ great legal team.”

Colombia has two new locally licensed online gambling operators, bringing its total number of online licensees to 14.

On Thursday, Colombia’s Cojuegos gambling regulatory body announced the issuing of its 13th and 14th online gaming licenses to Alfabet SAS and Teclino SAS, who will operate online via the Betalfa.co and Rivalo.co domains, respectively. Each of the licenses is valid for an initial three-year term.

Alfabet is a domestic firm based in the city of Cali, but that’s about all the information that can be publicly gleaned about the new licensee. The company’s website currently displays a ‘coming soon’ message, complete with dummy text that literally reads “authorized and regulated by dummy text.”

Teclino is a subsidiary of Curacao-licensed online gambling operator Matchserv Solutions, which also operates internationally via its Rivalo.com and Rivalo188.com sites. Like Alfabet, Teclino’s Colombian site is equally not ready for prime time, containing only a message that ‘good things make you wait.’