LeoVegas may have committed a pretty big no-no. The UK Gambling Commision (UKGC) is investigating a claim that the operator accepted £20,000 ($26,220) from a problem gambler, and encouraged him to play more despite his problems.

The Guardian reports the player’s LeoVegas account was locked in May 2018 when a customer service agent noted “concerning” communications during a live chat. Sister sites Pink Casino and Castle Jackpot, also run by LeoVegas, then sent him marketing emails offering “free spins” and bonuses.

The player then set up a new account with 21.co.uk and lost thousands. When the site asked for identification, they figured out that he was using his mother’s credit card without her permission. As that’s a violation of site terms, his account was blocked.

That wasn’t enough to stop the madness though, as other LeoVegas sites once again courted him with marketing emails.

Growth is becoming routine for Okada Manila. Universal Entertainment Corp, the operator of the Manila area casino, has announced preliminary numbers for March 2019, and it once again shows huge growth.

In March, the casino brought in PHP3.3 billion ($63.7 million) in gross gaming revenue (GGR). That represents a 67.9% growth from March 2018. Even better, this was a big improvement on the PHP2.38 billion ($45.2 million) the firm brought in for February 2019, demonstrating that they’re growing fast in the short term as well.

Universal was happy to explain that the month-on-month growth was “primarily due to a recovery in both domestic and international players following the Chinese New Year holidays, resulting in increased volumes in VIP rolling, mass-table drop and gaming machine handle”.

The week-long Chinese New Year holiday, which falls in February, is a big reason for Chinese tourists to travel, but not to gambling destinations. Showing both year-on-year and month-on-month growth in March demonstrates the company came back to form after the minor slump. It wasn’t too bad though, considering the operator had a 73% year on year increase for February.

Sports gambling isn’t legal in Iowa yet, but this hasn’t stopped a local casino from putting together plans to launch a sportsbook. The Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington has everything lined up and, as soon lawmakers sign off on a sports gambling bill, it’ll be ready to pull the trigger. To ensure that the operations are in line with regulations, the state’s Racing and Gaming Commission (RGC) is going to review the venue’s plan and two related contracts for the construction and operation of the sportsbook.

According to local media outlet KCGR, the RGC is set to review a contract designed to oversee the construction of the venue, which would be led by DesignWise, an interior design and services company out of Minnesota that works with the commercial and hospitality industries.

The commission is also going to review a separate contract that would see Australia-based gambling operator PointsBet to help manage the sports gambling activity. PointsBet is already active in New Jersey and is currently looking to expand across the United States.

Iowa is one of a growing number of states that are contemplating some type of sports gambling expansion. Lawmakers in both chambers of legislation have been discussing separate, but similar, bills to authorize sportsbooks and the Senate version has seen the most recent movement, finding support by the Senate Ways and Means subcommittee almost two weeks ago. It is now looking for approval by the full committee and, if granted, the bill will be identical to the House version. This would allow the bills to be consolidated and possibly find approval much quicker.

In a surprise announcement, the new Marina Bay Sands tower, being built in Singapore, will not include gambling as part of their operations, according to a statement provided by an executive with the resort casino. This release was provided by George Tanasijevich, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

On April 3, the government of Singapore had allowed their two casinos to expand operations by imposing higher taxes on gambling revenue. It was expected that this would raise an additional $6.65 billion by the end of 2030, which would add a significant amount of revenue in taxes to the government.

However, the new fourth tower, which is being built at a cost of SGD4.5 billion, will not include gambling as part of the operations. It will contain a 15,000 seat arena as well as 1000 luxury suites and a sky roof, but gambling operations will not be included.

Instead, gambling operations may increase in the current casinos located within the Marina Bay Sands other three towers. The current plans include a 13.3% increase in the total amount of gambling space allotted to the Marina Bay Sands, which should provide up to 17,000 square meters of space.

As the wheels are spinning increasingly faster for a Caesars Entertainment sale, thanks to the perseverance of billionaire Carl Icahn, the company has announced a change at the top of the pyramid. It was known that CEO Mark Frissora would be leaving the company and the Wall Street Journal is announcing that his successor is going to be Anthony Rodio.

Rodio is the CEO of Affinity Gaming, a private gaming company headquartered in Las Vegas. The official announcement of the transition is expected to be announced by Caesars on Monday (April 15), and Rodio will also be given Frissora’s seat on the company’s board of directors.

Rodio was one of the candidates on the short list to take over for Frissora. His appointment wouldn’t come as a surprise, as he has worked with Icahn in the past. He was at Tropicana Entertainment before that entity was purchased by Eldorado Resorts last October for $1.85 billion. At Tropicana, the 60-year-old Rodio served as the CEO since 2011 and moved to Affinity after the Eldorado/Tropicana deal was consummated.

At the time, Icahn said of Rodio, “By hiring a great CEO in Tony Rodio and a great management team, and by reinvesting every single penny of profits back into the company, we turned Tropicana into a great casino company.”

Summit Ascent Holdings, Inc. has had a couple of rocky years. Its revenue dipped a little in 2018 and, most recently, reports have surfaced that it could be losing some of its investors. Now, the promoter of the Tigre de Cristal integrated resort in Russia is losing its deputy chairman John Wang.

According to a company announcement from last Thursday, Wang resigned as Summit Ascent’s executive director and deputy chairman effective April 12. The decision was made to allow the executive to concentrate on “other business engagements.”

Summit explained, “Mr. Wang has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the board and there are no other matters in relation to his resignation that need to be brought to the attention of the stock exchange,” and expressing “its sincere gratitude to Mr Wang for his valuable contributions to the group during his tenure of office.”

Wang had been an executive director at Summit since March 2017 according to its 2017 annual report. He served as chairman from then until July 2013 at which time he was appointed to the position of deputy chairman.

A native Indian tribe out of Washington State is taking on Valve Software. The Quinault Nation has filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it providing—and encouraging—illegal gambling through skins betting activity in video games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and others. The tribe alleges that the activity, apart from being illegal, results in unfair competition.

Skins are items in video games that relate to players—body armor, weapons, etc. According to skins.cash, which maintains a blog on different skins, the most expensive CS:GO skin ever sold on Steam was the Artic Warfare Police (AWP) Dragon Lore, which went for over $61,000.

According to the lawsuit, “Valve is well aware of the skins gambling that goes on, is well aware that skins have real world cash value…and actively encourages and facilitates skins gambling.” It alleges that Valve is engaged in “unfair competition” with regulated casinos in Washington because it is operating without a gambling license.

Valve has been the target of skin gambling lawsuits in the past. Most notably, it was sued in Connecticut in 2016 for the same reasons as the Quinault lawsuit and the company sent cease-and-desist orders to a number of skin gambling sites. However, that action didn’t go far enough and the sites are now back in full swing.

You can’t make this stuff up, but it certainly sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie. A Las Vegas bartender, a former Playboy bunny, a quasi-psychotic boyfriend and a 71-year-old psychiatrist with the psychiatrist becoming a murder victim. The former three all assumed to be involved in his murder and two are now behind bars.

Kelsey Nichole Turner, a 25-year-old former Playboy bunny was living in Salinas, California in a home leased for her by the psychiatrist, Thomas Kirk Burchard. Over a two-year period, he also allegedly gave her as much as $300,000.

Turner relocated to Las Vegas and rented a home with her boyfriend, Jon Logan Kennison, 30-year-old casino bartender Diana Nicole Pena and Pena’s boyfriend, who wasn’t named. Burchard reportedly traveled to Las Vegas from Salinas on March 1 to visit Turner, unaware that she was had, and was living with, a boyfriend.

The following day, an unidentified inebriated female showed up and began arguing with Turner. Burchard intervened and took the female away so she could calm down. Turner reportedly became concerned, while he was away, that the female would tell Burchard of her boyfriend, which could cause her to lose her honey pot.

MGM Resorts International announced at the end of March that it was increasing an offer of senior notes to $1 billion, twice what had initially been offered. The money was to be used to pay off other debts and help with expansion plans, and the company has confirmed that the placement of all of the senior notes is now complete.

The notes carry an interest rate of 5.5% and are expected to become due in 2027. The company said in a press release last Thursday that the proceeds will be used to purchase outstanding senior notes worth $1 billion that offer a rate of 6.75% and 5.25%. Those notes are scheduled to become due next year.

Any leftover funds after the purchase will go to general corporate expenses, which could include the payment of common stock dividends, the repurchase of common stock or refinancing other loan vehicles held by the company. MGM asserts that it could invest any net proceeds in “short-term interest-bearing accounts, securities or similar investments.”

Corey Sanders, MGM’s chief financial officer, stated in the release, “This transaction demonstrates our continued commitment to strengthening our balance sheet and improving our debt maturity profile. We are pleased with the continued support from the investment community, which allowed us to upsize the transaction to $1.0 billion and further reduce our cost of debt.”