The UFC returns to Australia this weekend with native son Robert Whittaker defending his middleweight championship against contender Kelvin Gastelum. Like most UFC fights, it will air live Saturday night (on pay-per-view) Eastern time and thus take place Sunday Down Under at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. That’s also the main venue for tennis’ first Grand Slam tournament each year, the Australian Open.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The 28-year-old Whittaker (20-4), who goes by “The Reaper/Bobby Knuckles,” was born in New Zealand but now lives and trains in Sydney. He is on a nine-fight winning streak since a first-round TKO loss to Stephen Thompson at UFC 170 in 2014. Whittaker won the middleweight belt by unanimous decision over Yoel Romero at UFC 213.

Whittaker was then set to defend at UFC 221 against Luke Rockhold, but an injury forced Whittaker off the card. So, he fought Romero again in June and beat him by split decision. Thirty percent of Whittaker’s career wins are by decision. He’s a -240 favorite for this bout compared to closing around -340 for the most recent Romero fight.

South Korea is ramping up its fight against illegal online gambling, while a former pop princess is headed to prison for her ‘habitual’ land-based gambling activity.

Last week, South Korea’s National Police Agency announced that it was boosting its number of ‘cyber investigators’ to crack down on undesirable online content, including ‘cyber sexual violence’ and online gambling, the latter cited as responsible for “many social problems.”

The new dedicated anti-gambling cyber squad will set up shop in seven local government offices across the country, including the major cities of Seoul and Busan. For the record, that’s 10 less offices than the cyber sexual violence team was assigned when it was established in 2018.

South Korea doesn’t license any local online gambling operations and works hard to ensure its citizens can’t access internationally licensed sites. Last July, the Korea Communications Standards Commission reported handling nearly 120k requests for action against undesired online content, nearly 34k of which involved gambling sites.

2018 was good to Novomatic. The Austria-based gaming equipment manufacturer and operator had a record year in revenue, according to its CEO, Harald Neumann, and more positive growth is coming down the pipe.

Novomatic is still crunching numbers and will make its official report soon. However, it stated in a press release that consolidated revenue for the company reached $5.7 billion last year, an increase of 2% over 2017’s figures.

Neumann added in the release, “Following the strong growth of recent years, we will continue to focus on consolidation and increasing synergies between the companies in 2019.”

Novomatic has three holding companies – Novomatic AG, Gryphone Invest AG and ACE Casino Holding AG. Across the three, it now owns a piece of 300 different companies, and the financial analysis so far includes approximately 220 of them.

A couple of casino operators in Macau are seeing their license concession expiration dates approaching rapidly. There are two that are expected to end next year and Macau still hasn’t determined how it will handle the renewal process. One of the firms looking at the end is SJM Holdings and its CEO has now confirmed that it still hasn’t discussed the subject of an extension with the city’s government.

SJM’s current concession expires in March of next year. If it expires without any type of extension or renewal, the company’s operations would not legally be able to remain open. Its latest offering, a new casino in Cotai, isn’t expected to be ready until the end of this year, potentially giving SJM a break in Macau revenue generation.

SJM CEO Ambrose So Shu Fai recently attended a Chinese New Year banquet hosted by the company in Macau and was asked about the extension. While the executive has previously indicated that the company would like to see an extension of the concession in order to put the expiration date parallel to that of four other operators in the city, he said that there has still been no such request made. He explained nonchalantly, “We have not done it now. We can do it tomorrow. We can do it the day after tomorrow.”

A reporter inquired as to why the company has not made a move, to which So replied, “We choose our time and when we do it. It is not for you [the media] to ask me when to do it … We will apply within the time limit. We are still complying with the law.”

Three casino operators in Macau are now onboard with giving their employees pay raises this year. Sands China took the lead, announcing a pay increase for its staff in January, and Melco followed suit shortly after, announcing that employees will receive an increase of between 2.5% and 7.5%, depending on what they currently earn. Wynn Macau has tagged along, announcing on the eve of the Chinese New Year that it will give more money to its workers this year.

The pay increase is already in effect and was backdated to the beginning of this month. It reportedly covers as much as 98% of the company’s workforce, which totals 13,700 employees. Those who earn $1,980 or under will get an increase of about $74.23, which amounts to a bump of between 3.8-6.4%, according to the company.

Last December, many of the gaming labor groups in Macau began a push for a pay raise that would be at least 5%. This was due to the city’s inflation rate, which was 3.01% last year. That was twice what the rate increased by in 2017, when inflation grew by 1.23%. At the time, Cloee Chao, the head of the New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association, stated, “In the last couple of years the casinos have been awarding their dealers a pay hike of 2.5 percent [per year]. I don’t think it really eases that much the inflationary pressure here. For next year we would ask for a pay hike of at least five percent for the gaming workers.”

For eligible employees who earn more than $1,979 monthly, the pay increase only amounts to 2.5%.

Gambling and casinos will soon be legal all across India. This is the prediction of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, a stock market investor and billionaire who owns a piece of Casino Royale Goa. It could be difficult goal, given the country’s current view on all forms of gambling.

Jhunjhunwala spoke during the TiECON Summit in Mumbai this past Wednesday when he made his prediction. He expects to see a time come when all states in India follow Goa’s lead and legalize casinos and different forms of gambling.

He also asserted that he sees a bright future for the India economy in generally, as well as for the Bharatiya Janata Party. He expects the party, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to win the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for later this year.

The entrepreneur and businessman has spent the past 10 years supporting the gambling industry. He, along with his wife, have a considerable investment in Delta Corp. Lit, the only listed gaming company out of India. The couple owns approximately 7.3% of the company and both also sit on its board of directors.

Caesars Entertainment Group and Turner Sports, which is part of AT&T, are joining forces to create new gaming content. The move comes as casino operators begin to vie for position in the sports gambling market in the U.S. and comes after a number of deals have already been struck between professional sports teams and leagues with several casino brands.

According to the Bleacher Report, the new Caesars/Turner deal is reportedly the first between a national TV network and a major casino operator. However, it most likely won’t be the last. Other companies, such as Disney-owned ESPN, could most likely join the fray.

In supporting the new partnership, Caesars will develop a studio this spring that will be branded with Turner’s Bleacher Report. That studio will be hosted by Caesars Palace. Turner Sports President Lenny Daniels states in a press release, “The sports gaming industry is rapidly growing and Turner is poised to be an industry leader in the development of gaming-related content experiences. Gaming content will be a key driver for increasing fan engagement across all platforms, including time spent watching live sporting events and other criteria that impact television viewership. We’re excited to form this groundbreaking relationship with Caesars, a proven leader in sports gaming, as we collaborate to deliver the best gaming-related content experiences for our fans.”

The financial terms of the deal were not released, but construction of the new studio is already underway. Caesars is also expected to act as a gaming and sponsorship partner for Bleacher Report per the agreement’s terms, and will sponsor some programming on several of Turner’s linear networks. There is also talk that it could co-produce additional programming and/or events.

The controversial topic of Video Poker is causing infighting in the Australian state of Tasmania. Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White is coming under fire for giving up her hard-line stance against pokies.

White told ABC that Labor would no longer fight to remove video poker machines from pubs and clubs, simply because they lost the last elections in March 2018, and Premier Will Hodgman is pushing ahead with his goal to negotiate a new license for the machines. She said:

“The fact of the matter is once they [bring forward legislation], we’re not going to be able to continue to pursue our policy to remove poker machines from pubs and clubs because there’ll be a new deal struck until 2043.”

Not one to let an opportunity pass him by, Hodgman has accused White of flip-flopping, possibly due to pressure from her federal party members. He said, “It’s a little ironic that Rebecca White, who said this was a most passionate interest of hers and a concern that she believed in, has now abandoned that policy position and is calling on us to rush through legislation to implement a policy that they opposed at the election.”

As the state of New York dives deeper into the gambling industry, more opportunities will pop up for its citizens. Yahoo Finance recently put out an infographic declaring the gambling industry to be the fastest growing job sector in the Empire State.

Yahoo reached their conclusions based on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Projects Managing Partnership (PMP), and based their infographic based on growth rate for each job title.

The conclusions they drew from the PMP report can be drilled down to, and it shows impressive growth for all gaming related positions. That report forecasts how many projected jobs there will be across all industries by 2026.

They expect there will be 1,460 gaming dealers by that date, which represents a 31.5% increase from the status quo. Considering expected turnover, they expect 230 openings for that position each year until 2026. They expect the same number of cashier openings each year, with 34% growth for that position.

888Poker release the schedule for 888Live Bucharest and move into the world of pool by sponsoring the 2019 World Championships.

Martin Jacobson.

Vivian Saliba.

Two people that have to swat away admirers like farmyard horses batting back flies from their toilet hole, and in a month they will appear in Bucharest for 888Live.

Casino operator Penn National Gaming (PNG) reported some eye-popping financial numbers to close out 2018 thanks to its Pinnacle Entertainment add-ons.

On Thursday, PNG released its Q4 earnings report, which showed revenue of $1.15b, an increase of over $386m from the same period last year. The outsized gains are attributable to PNG”s late-2017 deal for 12 Pinnacle properties, which received its final regulatory approvals last October.

The rest of PNG’s Q4 numbers are similarly skewed, with operating income shooting up $97.6m to $124.4m, while adjusted earnings were up $124.8m to nearly $324m (actually $133.5m after PNG paid landlord $190.4m in rent). But this knife cuts both ways; the company booked a net loss of $42m for the quarter thanks to the acquisition’s transaction costs.

For the year as a whole, PNG’s revenue came in just under $3.6b, and the company expects 2019’s revenue total will top $5.2b. Last year’s adjusted earnings (minus rent) totaled $505.8m, while the 2019 forecast is for nearly $702m.

The World Series of Poker Europe returns to the King’s Resort October 15 to November 4 with ten bracelets up for grabs, and Brett and Joshua Reichard win gold rings in Milwaukee. 

With Valentine’s Day an obscene phone call away, it’s time to stop thinking about yourself, and instead, think of the person who puts up with your daily 24-table grinds.

Roses?

Cuddly bear?