Sega Sammy’s consolidated financial report for Q3 showed a 6.8% decline in company-wide revenue over the nine months leading up to December 31, 2018. Initial financial results show that the company suffered a $24.5 million loss in digital games even though that segment of their business generated $267.2 million. A 20% drop in Sega Sammy’s pachislots and pachinko segment is of particular concern.

In a company release, Sega Sammy cited lower than expected acquisition status of approval in prototype testing and unmet machine sales projections as being main factors in their struggling pachislots and pachinko machine segment. The company plans to increase their efforts to introduce a full supply of titles that conform to new regulations along with lowering costs in order to improve earnings in that segment.

Demand for pachinko has been on the decline recently mainly due to the availability of other gaming options. It is believed that Sega Sammy is well aware of this and they are setting themselves up in the casino business. They have partnered with South Korean-based Paradise City and started a marketing campaign in Japan where casino licenses are expected to be issued in 2020. The company has revised an optimistic projection of ¥122 billion ($1.1 billion) in pachislot and pachinko machine sales to a more modest ¥102 billion ($929.4 million).

Newly released digital games “Ryu ga Gotoku Online” and “Idola Phantasy Star Saga” are two of the 12 titles that were planned for the fiscal year. Sega Sammy revised that number to nine but they are confident that upcoming releases will help recover their operating losses. Sales of packaged games like Football Manager 2019 and Judgment remain steady but upcoming releases of such games as Total War: Three Kingdoms and Catherine: Full Body will need to perform well.

Osaka, Japan is undoubtedly on the short list for hosting an integrated resort (IR). It is mentioned virtually every time the subject comes up, propelled by its popularity as a tourist destination and the fact that it will host the 2025 World Expo. Most analysts believe that a first IR in the country couldn’t open until 2025 – at the earliest – due to the length of the entire launch process, but one group is pushing for the process to be expedited in order to allow Osaka’s IR to open before the World Expo.

The Kansai Association of Corporate Executives wants the IR bid from Osaka to be expedited in order to ensure that the IR planned for Yumeshima Island will be open before the Expo. It has released a report, Six Recommendations for Osaka’s Application Guidelines, in which it asserts that Osaka’s bid needs to be given priority.

To facilitate the approval process, Kansai wants regulators to approve Osaka ahead of schedule and to allow the creation of the “Yumeshima Development and Maintenance Headquarters.” It also wants a new organization established for the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) bid and creation, and the “application of casino contributions to the tourism and cultural arts of Kansai.”

Before the IR locations can be chosen, cities wishing to host a venue must submit a proposal. That proposal has to include details regarding casino operators, a general layout of the facilities and how the venue would operate. Japan has said that it won’t start considering proposals until at least this coming summer, and the selection process could potentially take several months.

Online gambling operators can look at another example of a site turning to cryptocurrencies as a great payment option. Blockchain Poker offers No Limit Texas Hold’em cash game poker tables, and this week announced they had started accepting Bitcoin SV (BSV) for deposits and withdrawals.

The site has been around since 2015, and began by accepting Bitcoin Core (BTC), with the intent to show the world that Bitcoin could have real applications. They then switched to Bitcoin Cash (BCHABC) in July 2018, because BTC was getting backlogged from high traffic, causing high fees and slower transactions.

They announced on February 4 that they now support BSV. After the November hard fork that saw BSV reborn as the original Bitcoin, Blockchain Poker took the stance that they would wait out the fork to see what happened with the two cryptos. They added BSV to their roadmap recently, likely realizing that it offered a more stable development roadmap when compared to BCH, while providing bigger blocks, and fast and cheap transactions.

Signing up is as easy as visiting the site, setting a user name and password, and sitting down to a table. If you’re new to Bitcoin, Blockchain Poker will spot you 100 satoshis (each satoshi is one hundred millionth of a single Bitcoin) to get you started. I tried a BSV table, and had someone to play within a couple of minutes of sitting down. BTC tables usually have a handful of players as well.

Rhode Island is ready to start talking about mobile gambling. The State Senate will now be discussing Bill 0037, after it quickly passed through Senate committee.

The Providence Journal reports that the bill, authored by Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, would allow the Twin River Lincoln and Twin River Tiverton casinos to operate a mobile betting app. It would not allow outside operators to offer in the state, as it restricts this privilege to “authorized hosting facilities” in Rhode Island.

The two casinos started offering William Hill-run sports betting late last year, as a result of Rhode Island taking advantage of the Supreme Court ruling that opened up the possibility of sports betting in America. Rhode Island was the seventh state to take advantage of the change in laws.

Now that the bill has made its way through committee, it’s expected to be fast tracked to a vote in the Senate as early as Tuesday next week. The senators are likely hoping that getting mobile apps up and running could help with yearly figures. The report notes that the state took a $2.4 million loss on the Super Bowl, with many New Englanders betting on the Patriots to win.

Kazuo Okada can’t seem to catch the break he believes he deserves. After being ousted from the company he founded, Okada Holdings, he has had to deal with one headache after another. Now, he’s being hit from all sides and is having to fight his two children and estranged wife.

In 2017, the senior Okada found himself embroiled in a family dispute when his two children, Tomohiro and Hiromi, entered an agreement that led to their father’s removal from the company. Kazuo Okada holds 46.38% of the family business, while Tomohiro holds 43.48% and Hiromi, 9.78%. The brother and sister forged an alliance that helped to unseat their father; however, Hiromi later reconciled with her father, breaking the fragile alliance.

Hiromi, along with her father, then filed a lawsuit against Tomohiro. She asserted that she had been tricked into signing the trust agreement. However, the courts have disagreed and have said that the original agreement is still valid. Hiromi has said that she will appeal the decision, with the senior’s lawyers adding, “Until the decision becomes final, the fight is not yet over and Kazuo Okada remains in control of Universal Entertainment Corporation (UEC) as 99 percent owner of Okada Holdings Limited,”

On a different front, Tiger Resort Asia, a subsidiary of Okada Holdings, has announced that it has installed 11 new directors to Asiabest Group International Inc. (ABG). Tiger Resort acquired 66.6% of ABG this past Monday in an effort to be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

When many people – especially the well-seasoned individuals – think of Las Vegas and poker, one name often comes to mind, Binion’s. Binion’s Gambling Hall was the original home of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and has been a standard fixture in Downtown Las Vegas since it was founded by Benny Binion in 1951. Now, the icon is being revitalized and is undergoing an expansion that will see Binion’s bigger and brighter than ever.

Binion’s was purchased by TLC Casino Enterprises in 2008 for $32 million. Not much has been done since, but the increase in Vegas activity has spurred a number of new projects, leading TLC to decide that it was time to update Binion’s. The company plans on adding a full-service saloon and Binion’s GM Tim Lager adds that the venue will have “the modern thing,” in reference to items such as flat screen TVs and USB ports, but will retain a lot of its old-school charm, complete with hardwood floors, lace curtains and stained-glass windows.

The full-service saloon to be added is the Whiskey Licker Up Saloon. It will be located above the original Whiskey Licker Bar and will offer “drinks, dining, dancing, live entertainment, and even a mechanical bull” with a huge rotating bar as the centerpiece.

In addition to Binion’s, another Vegas icon owned by TLC is going to be restored. The Apache Hotel, which is a part of Binion’s and has sat empty for the past ten years, will reopen this summer as Hotel Apache, offering an 81-key boutique hotel that features “vintage-style furnishings reminiscent of the original Hotel Apache.” The Apache Hotel was one of the first in Vegas and opened its doors in 1932.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) be damned, sports gambling is going to continue to spread across the country. There are already eight states that have legalized the activity and several more are in line to give their approval this year. As much as Shelly and the DOJ try to prevent progress, states aren’t going to stand for the conspiracies.

The South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee approved a sports gambling bill yesterday by a vote of 5-4. It now has to go to the Senate floor for its approval and, if given, would be put on the ballot for voters next year. If all goes well, the gambling hub of Deadwood will also become the state’s sports betting hub.

In a statement to the Argus Leader news outlet, Deadwood Gaming Association Executive Director Mike Rodman stated, “We compete both with surrounding states and nationally, and need to provide our customers with those gaming products they ask for that other states are providing.”

Iowa is considering a trio of bills that look to regulate the sports gambling industry. One would allow the Iowa Lottery to oversee the industry, while another hopes to have control given to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. The third, similar in most aspects to the others but more popular with professional sports leagues, seeks to introduce the controversial integrity fee and would force wagers to be graded based on official league data. Given that most of that data is based on team reports, those grades may be skewed.