Oregonians are going to be able to place wagers on the NFL, including possibly some of the prop bets seen in the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, however, they will have to wait until next year to do so. According to a report by Oregon media outlet KATU, the Oregon Lottery has stated that it hopes to have a mobile sports gambling app available before the start of the next NFL season.

Oregon already allows a limited amount of sports gambling. When the U.S. government cracked down on the activity with the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1972 (PASPA), Oregon was exempt because it already offered sports gambling-type games, including a type of “pick ‘em” wagering activity on football offered by the Oregon Lottery that was finally withdrawn about ten years ago.

Now, however, the Oregon Lottery is reviving its sports gambling activity and is preparing the mobile app. At first, wagers will only be allowed on the outcome of games, either against the spread or the final outcome, but other football-related bets could be allowed in the future.

According to a spokesperson for the lottery, Matthew Shelby, “It’s in the black market, offshore sports betting operations that people can access. The question that we’re looking at is should there be a regulated, state-run way for people to do that?”

Macau’s junket market continues to shrink. Over the past year, the number of licensed junkets has decreased by 8.3%, marking the sixth year in a row that there has been a decline in the legal gaming promoters. There are now only 100, compared to 109 seen in January of last year.

The Gaming and Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym) released its updated list of junkets yesterday in Macau’s Official Gazette, a report it produces annually in January. Looking back over the past several years, the current number is less than half that seen in 2013, when 235 junkets were operating under license.

The DICJ didn’t offer a reason for the decline; however, it could be due to continued losses the junkets have seen over the past several years. The gambling industry in Macau suffered a two-year recession that hurt the junkets’ bottom line and they reportedly have yet to be able to fully recover. Many turned to the government last year, asking for tax breaks and assistance in collecting outstanding gambling debts.

Macau is now actively working to better define the junket market. A bill was introduced earlier this month that, while still undergoing revisions, would raise the capital deposit for new licensed junkets to $1.23 million. The government is also set to introduce new “severe penalties” on unregulated capital deposits made by operators in the junket sector.

South Shore Holdings is trying to climb out of a financial hole. The company reported a loss of $55.38 million for the six-month period ending last September after a sizeable investment made Macau’s The 13 Hotel and is hoping that it can find a source of funds to help in its recovery efforts. It has now signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a potential investor to make that happen.

The MOU is a non-binding initial agreement that could lead to a “potential investment” in the company by an associate of one of the firm’s major shareholders. South Shore made the revelation known through a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday, adding that the investment would be provided to the company’s subsidiary that owns The 13. It didn’t specify the name of the shareholder or the potential investor were; however, it added that the MOU had been signed on January 4.

The 13 partially opened its hotel, after several delays, in August of last year. South Shore hopes to eventually include a casino at the venue and has previously indicated that it could possibly open sometime this year. The losses incurred by the company were a direct result of the venue’s development and were due to an “increase in finance costs, depreciation and amortisation charges and hotel operation expenses for the hotel segment.”

The amount of the investment reportedly will not exceed $191 million. The money would be used to reduce the amount of debt of the company’s subsidiary, according to the filing. The two parties involved have until April 4 to reach an agreement, or the MOU is invalidated.

Studio City Finance Limited, subsidiary of New York-listed Studio City International Holdings Limited, announced the pricing for its international offering of senior notes due in 2024.

In a press release, Studio City Finance said that the offering will consist of $600 million in aggregate principal, for 7.250% senior notes due 2024 and priced at 100%.

Net proceeds of the offering will fund a conditional cash tender offer announced by the company last week, where Studio City Finance plans to purchase all of its outstanding 8.500% senior notes due 2020. The tender offer is set to expire on February 4, at 5 p.m. New York time, with the settlement of transactions by February 11.

According to the terms of the tender offer, Studio City Finance will be paying $1,003.50 for each $1,000 principal amount of the 2020 notes, with a minimum denomination of $250,000 and integral multiples of $1,000 over that.

Paradise Co., who with gaming company Sega Sammy operate the Paradise City casino in South Korea, is considering extending the partnership to compete for an integrated resort (IR) license in Japan.

Inside Asian Gaming reported Paradise President and CEO Park Pyung-yong is mulling over bidding for one of three licenses the Japanese government is expected to issue next year.

When asked if partnering with Sega Sammy was in the cards, Park answered, “Yes. It’s not a commitment, but it’s some kind of sentiment. But it’s not confirmed.”

He added, however, that the possible joint venture wasn’t in fear of losing Japanese customers to the Japanese IRs. “Some people think Japanese high rollers may not come to Korea, but Japanese high rollers may be very cautious about their playing… I think Japanese high rollers won’t go to their local casino. Our VIP clients in Japan will still come to Korea,” he explained.

Three very different stories of success involving three PokerStars Ambassadors after a terminally ill man chooses to meet Daniel Negreanu as his dying wish, Maria Konnikova takes the stage at the World Economic Forum, and Lex Veldhuis wins the Sunday Warm-Up.

Smug.

Sanctimonious.

Patronising.

Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) have propped up real estate in the country, and are expected to continue doing so, according to property consultancy firm JLL Philippines.

Local news outlet BusinessWorld reported that the firm’s Country Head Christophe Vicic, during a roundtable discussion, stressed that much of the investment in POGOs was coming from China, and helped offset a drop in the growth of business process outsourcing (BPO) firms in the country.m

“We cannot forget that the investment from China is critical to this country at any level, residential, commercial, construction, infrastructure… The Chinese money is important to this country, it’s part of the GDP [gross domestic product] growth,” Vicic said.

Chinese nationals were said to be increasing in the Manila Bay Area, with POGOs hiring them. This has not only raised demand in commercial space, but also in residential developments.

Slovakia’s online gambling liberalization is back on schedule after legislators overrode President Andrej Kiska pre-Christmas veto.

On Tuesday, the Slovak National Council voted to override the December 21 decision by President Kiska (pictured) to veto the country’s new Gambling Act, which legislators had originally approved on December 4.

The legislation deals with a wide variety of gambling issues, but the biggest change is ending the online gambling monopoly of the state-owned national lottery operator Tipos. For the first time, Slovakia will allow private domestic firms as well as online operators based in other European Union markets to apply for licenses.

Tipos will retain its monopoly over online lotteries, bingo and raffles while online casino and sports betting products will now be open to competition. Individual online product licenses will cost operators €3m apiece or €5m for a dual-product permit.

Toby Lewis is making Melbourne his home once again, after winning the AUD 50,000 Challenge a few days shy of finishing runner-up to Rainer Kempe in the AUD 25,000 Challenge.

When four people turned up to compete in the 2018 Aussie Millions AUD 50,000, while the rest of the tribe scurried around the rail like shady looking shrews, I thought the Aussie Millions High Roller scene looked as tasty as an overdrawn bank account.

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

151-entrants rained down on the AUD 25,000 Challenge like confetti at a wedding, and Rainer Kempe defeated Toby Lewis to win the title after the pair cut a deal and moved all-in blind.

The first of two midweek evenings of English Premier League action draws to a close, and it was a night to forget for both Manchester Clubs, dropping points against relegation contenders Newcastle and Burnley.

On a night when you expected Manchester City to pull within one point of league leaders Liverpool, and Manchester United to record their ninth straight win under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Newcastle and Burnley kicked off their shackles and placed them on the ankles of the Red and Blue sides of the place where it always rains.

City had not lost to Newcastle in 22 league games, and with Liverpool facing Leicester at Anfield on Wednesday night, and Sergio Aguero scoring the fastest English Premier League (EPL) goal of the season in just 24-seconds, you expected the gap to close.

Ah, the EPL, the most exciting league in the world, where anyone can beat anyone.

The hype around the once-imminent Bitmain IPO has died down to a wash of awkward whispers as Hong Kong financial regulators have proven reluctant to move forward. The world’s biggest supplier of mining hardware is now contemplating its next steps. But what about the world’s largest blockchain payment provider? BitPay hasn’t publicly discussed any kind of IPO but according to documents exclusively obtained by CoinGeek, it is suffering from some of the same problems as Bitmain.

One problem is determining valuation. Due to the structure of BitPay’s balance sheet and other problems inherent in the volatility of BTC and BCHABC, the two coins the processor works with exclusively, assigning a value to BitPay is next to impossible. Don’t take our word for it though. This assessment comes from a document dated April 2018 recently leaked to CoinGeek in the form of a fair market value assessment for BitPay compiled by Adams Capital Valuation Services.

Adams Capital does succeed in pinning a value for BitPay, but doesn’t seem too sure about it. Before we get to the number though, it seems that the main reason Bitmain wanted to do an IPO was that it needed capital to expand, but its balance sheet was clogged with BTC and not enough fiat currency. If it had wanted to raise capital, it would have to sell BTC in large amounts and that would work against its own balance sheet by pushing the price down. So it needed to raise money another way. An IPO would be a good way of accomplishing that.

Now, it appears BitPay is suffering from a similar problem, though not as acute. On BitPay’s balance sheet, we know the following. The original BTC spike to $1,150 at the end of 2013 was followed by a fall to around $300 by the end of 2014, a collapse of about 75%. That initial collapse brought down BitPay’s annual revenue from $6.23M in 2013 to a revenue loss of $35,000 in 2014. Bet you didn’t think a company could actually make negative revenues, but if you’ve got accounting issues it’s possible. Again in the words of Adams Capital, “BitPay’s revenue dropped from $6,229,163 to $-35,677 between 2013 and 2014. However, the majority of the revenue in 2013 was related to a realized gain on bitcoin market value.”

After Daniel Negreanu created a nuclear winter across Twitter with a series of opinions that a large swathe of the poker community met with sarcasm and scorn, Lee Davy, tries to figure out why he continues to bother, why people react and more.

Some people grind away making their unhappiness the ultimate factor of their existence until finally they are just automatically unhappy, their suspicious upset snarling selves grinding on and

at and for and through their only relief being to meet another unhappy person or to create one – Downers, by Charles Bukowski.

I can’t put it off any longer.