Gambling regulations opening up legal sports betting are coming fast to many parts of the United States. They couldn’t come fast enough for some Massachusetts punters though, and now the law has stepped in.

Nine people in the Greater Boston area have now been indicted on charges of illegal sports betting and money laundering. Local news reports that the charges stem from an investigation by the state’s police and the attorney general’s Gaming Enforcement Division. On top of the gambling charges, they’ve also been accused of attempted extortion. It appears that for some losing bettors, there may have been threats if they didn’t pay up. It didn’t help their case that one of the losing bettors was an undercover officer.

The indictments came just days after a bar manager pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling ring, for which he was indicted in 2017.

It’s pretty clear, Bay Staters want to bet on sports, and they’re willing to risk running afoul of the law to get some action. What’s worrisome is when their local bookie is threatening to break some legs to get paid.

US SPORTS BETTING

Without question, the gambling story of 2018 came in May, when the US Supreme Court’s dismantled the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The year began with legal single-game wagering in just one state and is ending with legal betting in eight states, with a number of other states expected to follow early in 2019.

The deal-making between European betting giants and US gaming firms was already well underway before the Court rendered its verdict and only accelerated from that point forward. GVC Holdings launched a joint venture with MGM Resorts, while Paddy Power Betfair opted for total control by acquiring the US operations of daily fantasy sports operator FanDuel.

William Hill had a head start on all its European rivals, having bought into the Nevada sports betting market years ago, while also setting up a sportsbook-in-waiting at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park racetrack. And while Hills has done alright for itself in snaring its share of action in legal betting states, the company found itself chasing some unlikely frontrunners.

India has been cracking down on illegal gambling for some time now, but new bookies and bettors keep popping up. There’s a clear demand for gambling, it’s just been driven underground. Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram and senior Congress leader, thinks it’s time to fix the situation, and has proposed a new bill that would regulate sports betting and protect against match fixing.

Glaws reports that the Sports (Online Gaming and Prevention of Fraud) Bill, 2018 will regulate the integrity of sports by regulating online gambling, and penalizing sports fraud and match fixing.

Tharoor plans to present his bill before the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Parliament for India, as soon as the agenda allows it. Although the Indian government hasn’t shown many signs of warming to more legalized gambling, recent events might have changed the atmosphere.

Just a few weeks ago, there was a back and forth between Amar Singh, another member of parliament, and Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister of Law and Justice, on what should be done about illegal gambling. Prasad told the upper House of Parliament that if a ban could not be ensured, legalization should be considered. This bill by Tharoor looks like it would address the problem, but we’ll need to wait and see if this is real progress, or just a lot of talk.

As more U.S. states offer up regulated gambling options, competition is getting fierce, and operators are looking for any advantage they can get to increase profits. In Atlantic City, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) sees eSports as a new opportunity to stay ahead of the pack.

On December 18, the board voted to put $700,000 into eSports events over the next year and a half. The competitions will be held at the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall and the Atlantic City Convention Center.

Frank Gilliam, Mayor of Atlantic City, was quoted as saying, “It’s something in my opinion that puts Atlantic City on the edge of something different and new.”

If no one else was willing to come right out and say it, a representative of the Attorney General’s office was happy to cut to the chase, specifically encouraging eSports companies to look into opportunities to make it a gambling event.

Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada is asking the Philippine Department of Justice (DoJ) to give him a chance. He’s asked them to reconsider their resolution finding probable cause he’d received $3.1 million through fraudulent means.

In his petition, Okada maintained that the contested amount had been rightfully earned as salary and consultancy fees in his capacity as a part of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. (TRLEI), the company he founded and which operates the Okada Manila casino and hotel.

TRLEI, whose board had removed Okada as chairman and CEO in June 2017, had filed a complaint with the Parañaque City prosecutor’s office, accusing Okada and former TRLEI president and chief operating officer Takahiro Usui of fraud. The city prosecutor had cleared Okada, but the case was later reviewed by the Justice department.

According to local news outlets, Okada, in his motion for reconsideration, noted that TRLEI Vice-President for Legal and Compliance Department Joseph Joemer Perez had “prepared, finalized, or at least approved” the paperwork involving the money Okada had taken, after which Usui affixed his signature.

Aquis Entertainment Limited will soon be acquired by Blue Whale Entertainment Pty Ltd, after the owners’ redevelopment plans for its Casino Canberra failed to materialize.

In a filing at the Australian Stock Exchange, Aquis announced the impending sale, subject to independent shareholder and regulatory approval. Blue Whale, majority-owned by iProsperity Group CEO Michael Gu, will be buying some 137 million Aquis shares from Aquis Canberra Holdings (Aus) Pty Ltd (ACH), for AUD4 million ($2.82 million), or AUD0.029 ($0.020) per share.

The implementation deed also transfers ACH’s convertible loan with Aquis, which has an outstanding balance of AUD37 million ($26.1 million), to Blue Whale for AUD24 million ($16.9 million), after which Blue Whale will forgive at least AUS2 million ($1.4 million) of the amount, with the remainder to be converted to company shares at AUD0.20 ($0.14) per share, subject to a cap.

In addition, ACH will be granted put options in the selling of its remaining 26.87 million Aquis shares after approximately three years, guaranteeing a selling price of more than AUD4 million ($2.82 million) for these, or AUD0.149 ($0.105) per share.

Unikrn continue to innovate and elevate this time introducing patent-pending blockchain based matchmaking technology designed so punters can back themselves when playing Fortnite, Dota 2 and League of Legends.

I used to get wasted on a Sunday – football at noon, and then the pub all day.

One time, I suggested to the lads that we have a games day over at my house. The rules were simple. Each person had to bring a game, and we would play a knockout tournament for £25 per head.

All the games were video games.

Lee Davy continues his brief explorations into the possible futures that 2019 holds for poker with a viewpoint that PokerStars will have a rather excellent year.

The last time a poker room spent a year marketing a single tournament, partypoker nailed it when the $20m Guaranteed Online MILLIONS became the richest online poker festival in the history of humankind.

PokerStars is about to do something similar.

2017 wasn’t a good year for PokerStars.

With the PokerStars Players’ No-Limit Hold’em Championship just around the corner, Lee Davy, takes a look at ten Platinum Pass winners who could win the Last Longer bet.

There are those that think that life isn’t fair. The cynics. The pessimists. The misery guts. I come from a different stock; one that believes that you receive the same energy that you put out in the world, and that’s why I’m not surprised that these ten fantastic poker players won a Platinum Pass in 2018.

1. David Peters

During the first live tournament held after PokerStars announced plans to give away 300 $30,000 Platinum Passes, David Peters won one in a random draw while competing at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).

Lee Davy opines that 2019 will be an exciting year for some of the online and live poker operators who exist in the long tail of the poker ecosystem.

Maybe Kevmath knows the math (I don’t), but even without the hard data, you know that when it comes to the online poker market, Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 principle will be at work with 20% of the market responsible for 80% of the business.

If you are a visual learner, then maybe this graph will help.

It’s known as a Power Law (or Zipf’s Law), and it achieved greater prominence in 2004 when it appeared in a Wired magazine article called The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. The article was a hit, and two years later the theory became a book: The Long Tail: Why The Future of Business is Selling Less of More.

News of online gambling busts in a number of Asian countries got overshadowed by the holiday festivities, but Christmas is over, snowflakes, so on with the judicial show.

In Vietnam, authorities in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau arrested 22 Chinese nationals accused of operating an illegal online gambling and credit card fraud ring. Police raided three villas and seized 54 computers, over 300 mobile phones and more than 200 blank credit cards.

Unlike most illegal gambling operations, the arrested individuals reportedly weren’t interested in serving the needs of other gamblers. Instead, the accused appear to have been gambling online with Chinese-language gambling sites but using bogus credit cards and withdrawing any winnings to bank accounts in the US and the UK.

Across the border in China, police in Zhejiang province arrested six individuals accused of masterminding an illegal online casino operation that catered to around 400 customers who collectively wagered nearly RMB100m (US$14.5m) over an unspecified period. As with most Chinese news of this sort, the arrest happened months ago, but word is only now leaking out through official channels.

West Virginia’s sports bettors got a late Christmas present Thursday via the launch of two more retail sportsbooks and the state’s first online and mobile betting options.

On Thursday, hospitality and gaming operator Delaware North announced that its two West Virginia casinos — Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack and the Mardi Gras Casino & Resort – had officially launched their sportsbooks following a week of field testing and the approval of the West Virginia Lottery Commission.

Delaware North also announced the debut of its BetLucky website and mobile app (for both iOS and Android), marking the first digital wagering options since the state launched its legal betting market in August at Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. (For the moment, at least, the BetLucky.com website appears intended purely to promote betting app downloads.)

From the start, Delaware North put a priority on a simultaneous digital-retail betting launch. The company had planned a November start but digital delays reportedly nixed that schedule. Regardless, the launch means that all five of the state’s gaming venues now include wagering among their gaming options.

Philippine casino operators are bracing for impact over a possible spat with China over tour groups visiting each others’ countries.

On Thursday, Business Mirror reported that Chinese officials had stopped processing visa applications for tour groups from the Philippines as of December 24. A Chinese travel agency alerted its Philippines-based partners that the change was due to “unprofessional operation by a no-license travel agent here in China.”

According to the report, the unspecified Chinese travel agent had admitted a group of Filipino tourists on December 22, after which five of these tourists “disappeared right after arriving at Shanghai PVG airport.” This was reportedly not the first time that this travel agent had admitted Filipino tourists “without checking passengers background and charging guarantee deposit [sic].”

Jose Clemente III, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines, noted that the Chinese action currently didn’t apply to individual Filipinos’ visa applications, although most Filipinos who visit China do so via tour groups. However, he suggested that “there should be reciprocity on the part of the Philippine government,” aka banning group visa applications from Chinese-organized tour groups.