The World Series of Poker Circuit in Potawatomi ends with Michael Hudson winning the Main Event, and Aaron Massey dedicating his third gold ring win to the family of his friend who recently passed away.

The next time Michael Hudson’s standing in a supermarket line holding a bag of onions he’s going to have a tad more money to pay for them.

Hudson has taken down the 667-entrant, $1,700 buy-in Main Event at the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) at the Potawatomi Events Centre. The 32 years old from Illinois wins a seat into the season-ending Global Casino Championships as well as a $207,159 pat on the back.

It’s Hudson second win, the last coming more than a decade ago when he won a 287-entrant $5k side event at The World Poker Tour (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a career-high $490,095.

Sweden’s new online gambling operators may lose their ability to market their products entirely if the government takes note of new survey results.

A new survey by Swedish market researchers Sifo shows more than half (53%) of Swedes believe gambling advertising should be banned. Throw in the other 30% who at least partially agree with that statement and the future of Swedish gambling advertising looks downright bleak indeed.

The survey’s other questions found similarly pejorative views, with 76% agreeing entirely with tightening the rules for gambling advertising and an additional 16% at least partially in agreement. And 87% agreed entirely with the idea that there was far too much gambling advertising, with an additional 10% at least partially concurring.

These views aren’t really anything new, as a 2018 survey found gambling industry advertising the least credible among all business sectors. A Swedish Quality Index survey last month found the gambling industry scored “very weak marks on customer satisfaction, trust and reputation.”

Two stories with 888Poker in the headline as the online poker giant agrees upon a deal with the World Poker Tour, and 888Live London Kickoff wraps up with victory for Ivelin Ganev.

A partnership between The World Poker Tour (WPT) and 888Poker will result in two new events joining the 2019 WPTDeepStacks (WPTDS) schedule.

[Image credit: 888poker]

888Poker and WPTDS will co-host two European events held at Malta and Portugal, in a new three-year deal between the pair. Like a Japanese restaurant and red bean ice cream, the deal makes perfect sense. The WPT doesn’t possess a solid homegrown tributary leading the fish, whales and sharks from online poker to its brick and mortar cousin. 888Poker just likes to be affiliated with the best brands in the business.

Malaysian online poker and sports betting whale Wei Seng ‘Paul’ Phua may have resolved his US legal troubles but his Macau troubles are only getting started.

In June 2014, Macau authorities shut down what they described as the largest illegal sports betting operation the special administrative region had ever seen. The operation, which was said to be taking wagers on that summer’s FIFA World Cup, was being run out of several hotel rooms at the Wynn Macau casino.

Among the 22 individuals arrested at the time was Phua, who was allowed to post bail and fly to Las Vegas, where he was arrested the following month for allegedly running a different online sports betting operation out of some high-roller digs at Caesars Palace.

It took a year, but Phua ultimately emerged legally unscathed from his Vegas experience, largely on the strength of prosecutorial ineptitude. Phua is undoubtedly hoping some of that luck will rub off on his current trial for illegal gambling, which got underway in Macau’s Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

Italy’s online gambling licensees now include Pinnacle and 1xBet, who may have a hard time raising local brand awareness under the market’s new advertising restrictions.

On Monday, Italy’s Agenzia della Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) regulatory body issued its new official list of online gambling concession holders who have been granted approval to operate until December 31, 2022. The list includes 66 companies plus an additional four whose operations face certain restrictions.

Italy opened its latest online gambling license derby in January 2018, and the government originally expected to issue up to 120 permits. The licenses carry a price tag of €200k, and the government originally hoped to raise significantly more than the €13.2m it will realize from the actual number of permits issued.

The full list (viewable here) includes new arrivals such as Pinnacle, the Malta- and Curacao-licensed online betting giant that opted against pursuing a UK online gambling license last May. Apparently, Italy’s charms proved more alluring.

Online gambling operator LeoVegas had a “record strong” December to close out 2018, a year the company’s CEO called “the most challenged” in the company’s seven-year history.

On Tuesday, LeoVegas released its Q4 and full-year 2018 report card, which showed revenue rising one-quarter to €84.5m in the final three months of the year. Earnings were up nearly one-third to €8.1m as margins improved 0.6 points to 9.6%.

LeoVegas CEO Gustaf Hagman celebrated his company having returned to sequential growth in Q4 following a Q3 slowdown. October was the weakest month of the quarter, but the company enjoyed all-time high gambling turnover and record-high customer activity in December.

However, Q4’s organic growth in local currencies was a more modest 7%, thanks to “a weak development in the UK.” The company’s UK-facing brands faced some “technical problems” but made “gradual improvements in both revenues and key figures” during Q4 and these improvements continued into January. Celebrating a UK revival might be premature but Hagman remains confident in LeoVegas’ turnaround plan.

Online gambling operator LeoVegas had a “record strong” December to close out 2018, a year the company’s CEO called “the most challenged” in the company’s seven-year history.

On Tuesday, LeoVegas released its Q4 and full-year 2018 report card, which showed revenue rising one-quarter to €84.5m in the final three months of the year. Earnings were up nearly one-third to €8.1m as margins improved 0.6 points to 9.6%.

LeoVegas CEO Gustaf Hagman celebrated his company having returned to sequential growth in Q4 following a Q3 slowdown. October was the weakest month of the quarter, but the company enjoyed all-time high gambling turnover and record-high customer activity in December.

However, Q4’s organic growth in local currencies was a more modest 7%, thanks to “a weak development in the UK.” The company’s UK-facing brands faced some “technical problems” but made “gradual improvements in both revenues and key figures” during Q4 and these improvements continued into January. Celebrating a UK revival might be premature but Hagman remains confident in LeoVegas’ turnaround plan.

Online casino technology supplier NetEnt posted modest 2018 financial gains despite some negative activity in its fourth quarter.

The Stockholm-listed NetEnt released its Q4 and FY18 fiscal report card on Tuesday, which showed revenue rising 9.5% to SEK465m (US$50.2m) in the three months ending December 31, 2018. Earnings gained 5% to SEK204m, but operating profit slipped nearly 6% to SEK146m and after-tax profits fell 11.6% to SEK137m.

The final quarter of 2018 saw NetEnt announce a global restructuring that included 55 staff redundancies and the write-down of a virtual reality project. But NetEnt also inked new customer contracts with Sweden’s Svenska Spel and ATG, Finland’s Veikkaus, a live casino deal with UK bookmaker William Hill, plus US intrastate deals with Churchill Downs Inc. (New Jersey) and Penn National Gaming (Pennsylvania).

For 2018 as a whole, revenue was up 9% to SEK1.78b, earnings improved 10.2% to SEK816m, operating profit edged up 3.2% to SEK601m and after-tax profits rose 5.4% to SEK577m. The year closed with 31 new customer agreements and the launch of 38 new customers’ casinos.

Missouri Senator Denny Hoskins is a busy man. The Republican has filed several bills which would change the status of gambling in the Show-Me state.

Local news reports that Hoskins has introduced the Video Lottery Control Act. If passed, it would regulate the 14,000 lottery machines in the state’s gas stations, grocery stores and other venues. The lottery machines are already there, but without any oversight, regulation or taxation.

With the new regulation, Hoskins estimates that $36 million would be brought in to the state’s coffers through taxation. It would also establish regulations for where the machines are allowed, and set up a self-exclusion system for problem gamblers.

On the other side of the isle, Senator Kiki Curls is afraid the machines could cause problem gambling, especially with minors. She said:

Penn’s latest earnings just came in, and assuming the US economy continues apace and nothing major changes for the next 5 years or so in regional economies in the US, Penn looks to be in good shape. Revenues over $1.15B for an increase of $386M thanks to the Pinnacle acquisition, higher EBITDA, higher operating income, 2019 guidance of $163M in total earnings, and other numbers that sound great to investors’ ears.

As long as everything stays stable, Penn remains in a good situation. However, a quick glance at the stock’s long term chart shows that it is anything but stable. Shareholders are riding on leveraged buyouts that for now are working out, but at the expense of heavy indebtedness that threatens long term losses should anything upset the apple cart. Consider, just the recent stock market plunge late last year, triggered without any serious economic earthquakes, brought shares down 53%, rivaling Penn’s decline during the 2008 financial crisis of about 70%.

The bullish argument is as follows. At the end of 2008, Penn had $2.725B in debt with a market cap of only $515M at the lows. Now it has total debt including triple net lease obligations of $4.5B and a market cap of $3B, so what’s the problem? If Penn shares survived 2008 and even thrived in its aftermath to new highs and enviable acquisitions, up until last August at least, then it certainly looks to be in a better situation now. A 53% fall and the regional casino operator has leverage of 150%, not so bad considering it now has Pinnacle under its belt, plus a new property at Greektown in Detroit, plus Margaritaville Resort Casino as of January 1st.

But there’s a big difference between ten years ago and now. Back then, Penn’s debt was variable and interest rates plummeted in the wake of 2008 as the Federal Reserve unleashed the most explosive money-printing operations in human history totaling over $10 trillion strewn around the world and into the banking system. Penn got through the financial crisis with more or less stable revenues, but higher operating expenses, which brought shares way down along with the general panic out of equities at the time, but its balance sheet was sustainable due to the collapse in borrowing costs that ensued.

Osaka, Japan received over 12 million tourists last year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. This number could increase substantially in just a few short years if the prefecture is approved as one of the three locations for an integrated resort (IR) in the coming months. Osaka government officials predict that an IR would bring in as many as 24.8 million visitors – on top of the tourists that descend upon the prefecture for other activities.

The forecast was provided as a result of a study commissioned by the prefecture and its city by the same name. If it holds true, Osaka expects to provide a considerable amount of money to the country’s economy, with estimates of as much as $6.87 billion sent to government coffers.

The Osaka IR Fundamentals Plan (OIRFP) includes a number of initiatives for the IR, which could see the development of as much as 148 acres and a total floor space of up to 10,763,910.4 square feet (a million square meters). This would be well above the 1-million-square-foot requirement established by Japan’s IR Development and Promotion Ordinance.

The project would cost as much as $8.5 billion and would offer a casino, the largest international conference centers in the country and additional entertainment and commercial facilities. Sales would potentially reach as much as $4.4 billion each year, of which the casinos would contribute 80%.

The wait for a potential merger between Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment, Inc. and Twin Rivers Worldwide Holdings, Inc. could finally be coming to an end. Dover Downs, a Delaware-based company, had started discussing a potential merger with Rhode Island-based Twin River in July of last year and the two companies have now announced that Dover Downs shareholders will decide the fate of the merge in a special meeting next month.

If the merger goes through, Twin River, which is a privately-held company, would become a publicly traded company with a listing on either the NYSE or NASDAQ. That action has already received support by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which reportedly declared effective the registration statement offered by Twin River that discussed the merger.

The merger is only one of a few big mergers that have been seen in the casino industry in the U.S. in recent times. As competition increases, operators have turned to mergers in order to gain better market position and pool their resources to become more efficient.

The special meeting for Dover Downs shareholders will take place on March 26 at 8 PM Eastern Time. It will be held at the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino and all shareholders on the record as of the close of business from February 5 will be allowed to vote on the proposal. If that vote is successful, the merger will most likely be consummated shortly after the meeting.

The president of the Florida Senate, Bill Galvano, is moving forward with his plans to try and seek legislative approval for sports gambling in the Sunshine State. He confirmed this past Friday that he will introduce a bill that would authorize the activity, as well as cover other aspects of gambling in Florida. Disney and the Seminole Indian tribe may have met their match.

The new legislative session in Florida gets underway on March 5. Galvano had announced in January that he already directed a Senate committee to look into sports gambling and draft legislation for the industry by the end of this month. In reasserting his position last Friday, he added that the bill would cover other gambling-related topics, including “more of a comprehensive impact on the pari-mutuels, from tax rates to hours of operations.” Other topics, he explained, would be available for discussion by Florida’s legislative body.

Lawmakers in the state, in the upcoming session, will try to “stabilize and present new terms or modified terms” to an existing company Florida has with the Seminole tribe. Under that compact, Florida receives a piece of the revenue generated by the tribe’s casinos and the tribe gets exclusive control over blackjack in the state. The current compact expires in May.

Galvano asserted on Friday that both sides – the government and the tribe – will need to come to an understanding this spring in order to sign a new compact. This will allow the state to secure revenues of what should amount to about $3 billion over a seven-year period. The senator was one of the principles involved when the state signed its previous contract with the Seminole tribe in 2010.