We’re just a few weeks away from the biggest movie event of the year, and the culmination of 11 years of storytelling. Marvel Studio’s Avengers: Endgame, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, premieres April 26, and millions are waiting breathlessly to find out if the Avengers can somehow reverse the effects of Thanos’ snap, and who will survive the final battle.

Care of Bodog, we have odds on a few wagers you could make on the movie. I might not have seen the 14,000,605 outcomes that Dr. Strange saw with the time stone, but I did watch Avengers: Infinity War with the director commentary turned on recently, so I’ll walk you through your options.

First, let’s look at the box office. Will the movie open to more (2/13) or less (15/4) than $257 million in North America? Infinity War barely hit that number. More recently, Captain Marvel only made it to $153 million. With the cliff hanger of the previous movie, and the anticipation of what’s coming next, the over looks tempting, but I think it would be hard to fit any more people in the theatre, so I like the under.

Looking at the worldwide gross, the over/under has been set at the same amount Infinity War made as well, at $2.048 billion. To hit the over (4/7), Endgame will need to rack up the revenues before serious competition comes in the form of Detective Pikachu on May 9 and John Wick Chapter 3 on May 15. I don’t think those are very serious threats, so I would stay away from the under (27/20).

To save the world from wasteful consumption, it’s going to take many painful changes, from businesses and customers alike. MGM China Holdings Ltd announced how they will be taking their next step in that direction on April 1; their restaurants will no longer use single use plastic items.

In the press release, MGM says that all of its restaurants will be using environmentally-friendly alternatives going forward. This is the culmination of something that started in 2018, when it phased out plastic straws, cutlery and takeout containers. Now, customers get paper bags, compostable takeout containers and cutlery, and biodegradable straws.

Mr. Grant Bowie, chief executive officer and executive director of MGM China Holdings Limited, said:

“Reducing plastic waste is a small act that creates a ‘ripple effect’ towards wider change. As one of Macau’s key integrated resorts with prominent presence, we have a responsibility to use our scale for good to lead the local hospitality industry in a plastic-free movement. We have acknowledged that this is only the beginning of the journey, and we know there is more that can be done. We will continue our efforts in working with the government and industry partners to introduce many more positive steps toward sustainability.”

Even getting locked up in jail doesn’t stop illegal online operators. Philippines immigration operatives suspected that might be the case, and launched a surprise raid on a Bureau of Immigration (BI) jail in Taguig, one of the cities that make up the Metropolitan Manila region, reports local outlet Manila Standard.

They found what they were looking for, too. Several Chinese nationals, who were previously arrested for operating illegal gambling dens in the region, had over P130,000 ($2480) in cash, credit cards, checks, laptops, computer monitors, routers and cellphones. They were using these devices to continue running secret online operators directly from jail.

The raid comes after two months of surveillance of the BI Warden Facility. During that time, they confirmed the illegal operations were happening inside the prisoner’s cell.

The raid was also looking for illegal drugs, with the assistance of K9 units, but found none. The cash was found stuffed inside pillows, and the devices were neatly hidden underneath blankets and clothes.

It’s an absolutely stunning development that has never before happened in history, assuming you start your count of history from five minutes ago. Legislation that outlawed fixed odds betting terminals above £2 a spin in the UK has backfired, spurring *gasp* unintended consequences.

The new regulations went into effect on April 1, and appropriately enough for April Fool’s, the joke’s on them. The free market has found a way to bypass artificial price maxima once again, which is all the legislation really is, a price maximum on a very narrow form of gaming. Just like any artificial maximum limit on any price on anything in the economy, all it does is cause shortages. In this case, a shortage of games that allow betting above £2 a spin. Given the shortage, the free market will always figure out a way to meet demand and earn that revenue some other way, legally or not. In this case, it has done so legally by slightly changing the form of the game to comply with the letter of the law.

Basically, instead of placing the bet in the machine itself, gamers place bets on a sheet of paper that corresponds to positions on the machine, so the bet is technically an over-the-counter bet, which can be above the £2 limit.

If you pass a law that the maximum price for an Aston Martin can only be £1,000, you’re going to end up with a serious Aston Martin shortage. You can blame the shortage on the people who greedily went to buy one as quickly as possible, but economics is economics and this is what must happen. If you pass a law that gasoline prices cannot rise after a natural disaster, you’re going to have serious gasoline shortages. Blame the people who waited first in line for a full tank of gas, but it’s not their fault. If prices were allowed to rise to market levels after a hurricane, there would be no shortage. Only those who absolutely needed gasoline right now would buy, like those on the way to the hospital or some other emergency situation, and those that could wait would wait for supply to be reestablished and prices to fall back down. Companies would be trying to specifically flood affected markets with more gasoline so as to earn the higher revenues, bringing prices back down naturally.

To build interest and gain enterprise adoption, you have to put yourself out there in places where businesses will notice you. Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of the Bitcoin Association, did just that as he recently joined Michael Yorba on his CEO Money show to discuss the history of Bitcoin, the roadmap for Bitcoin SV (BSV) and more upcoming opportunities for networking and building awareness of BSV.

After introductions, Nguyen explained the history of Bitcoin, from the original promise of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Whitepaper to the hijacking of the protocol from Bitcoin Core’s (BTC) developers, limiting Bitcoin far more than Satoshi envisioned. It was then forked with Bitcoin Cash (BCHABC), which showed promise of returning to the original path, but then also had its protocol changed, making it no longer the original Bitcoin. BSV then split from that, and is striving to get back to the original Bitcoin.

To do that, Nguyen told Yorba, BSV must follow a simple two-step plan. First is to restore the original protocol, putting back functions that the BTC developers stripped out and remove junk they might have left in. This has largely already been accomplished with BSV’s update to version 0.1.1.

The second step is to focus on technical measures that will improve scaling. That’s already happening as well, as BSV has already moved to 128GB blocks, and proving that the world is ready for unlimited the possibilities of the real Bitcoin, those blocks have already been filled and mined repeatedly.

After billionaire Sir Richard Branson purchased the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, he announced that the property would become the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The transformation, including updates to the venue’s hotel rooms, was expected to be complete sometime this year, but it now appears that those plans are being delayed. According to Gaming Today, the final touches are being made to the new layout and the property will stay intact until sometime early next year.

Richard “Boz” Bosworth, the President and CEO of JC Hospitality and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, explains, “The property’s project deadlines were fluid and the scope of the project continued to expand. Based on the additional improvements that we have identified, the deadline to begin work has shifted to early 2020.” He adds, “Significant construction activities remain 10 months away and the property will remain open for business without any disruptions to our guests and team members through Super Bowl of 2020.”

The Hard Rock Las Vegas has been an icon of Sin City since 1995. The venue is going to take full advantage of the delays and is introducing several changes to attract attention until the official handoff occurs. This Friday, it is introducing a new pool experience with its Breathe Pool Lounge, an exclusive and sophisticated duo of pool areas with incredible views of the Las Vegas Strip, as well as the resort’s tropical oasis.

The Joint, Hard Rock’s music showroom, is going to see some action, as well. After having been renovated ten years ago, it is going to welcome a “full slate of world-class entertainment,” including “English pop rock band The 1975 (April 16); comedian Jeff Dunham (April 26); rapper Juice WRLD (May 3); Hollywood Vampires, featuring Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry (May 10); Grammy-nominated Snow Patrol (May 18); RBRM Bobby Brown and Bell Biv Devoe (June 15).”

The hearings to determine whether or not Wynn Resorts should be allowed to continue in Massachusetts are expected to begin this week. Organized by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), the casino operator is going to be put under the microscope for allowing its founder and former CEO, Steve Wynn, to lead an alleged lifestyle of sexual impropriety against employees in the organization. One of those to testify during the hearings is Elaine Wynn, Steve Wynn’s ex-wife.

After Steve Wynn resigned from the company early last year, Elaine, now the largest shareholder in the company, stepped in to right the ship. She will be involved heavily in the hearings, which are expected to get underway today.

The MGC is expected to discuss, among other things, the findings from an investigation led by the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau regarding whether or not executives at Wynn Resorts intentionally covered up Steve Wynn’s activity when the company was applying for a gambling license in Massachusetts in 2013.

Earlier this year, Wynn Resorts reached a deal with the Nevada Gaming Control Board over the Steve Wynn debacle. It admitted at the time that some executives at the company were aware of the former leader’s improprieties, and that those individuals had been let go. However, that affirmation only fueled the case against the company that it was aware all along of what Steve Wynn was doing.

After Decree 181 was approved by the Argentinian province of Buenos Aires last December, after what seemed like a never-ending debate over the bill’s language, online gambling started to make its way into the province. There was still more work to be done before the industry could truly grab hold, and one item on the list was to have the decree published in the Boletin Oficial, the country’s official newspaper. That has now happened and Buenos Aires is the first province in Argentina to legalize online gaming.

According to Argentinian law, responsibility for legalizing and regulating online gaming and betting activity falls to the individual provinces. With Buenos Aires having gotten the ball rolling, there is hope that other provinces in the country will follow suit and introduce their own legislation to help the activity spread.

According to Decree 181, the Buenos Aires Provincial Institute of Lottery and Casinos will oversee the activity and will be in charge of issuing licenses to operators. In total, as many as seven online licenses are authorized by the decree and an operator is only allowed a maximum of one.

To secure a license, operators must meet 20 specific requirements. Applications will be reviewed by an appointed committee and the entities will be judged based on industry experience, data security, financial capacity and more. Licensees must have a strict marketing plan that doesn’t target minors younger than 18 and have to create a responsible gambling strategy that includes a self-exclusion program.

A Romanian politician believes that gambling should be removed from the country’s capital city of Bucharest. Like shunning someone with the plague, General Councilor Catalin Lucian Iliescu has submitted a proposal that would move all gambling halls to the outskirts of the city, to an area that would be dubbed the “neighborhood of gambling.”

According to Romania Insider, Bucharest has around 1,250 gambling halls. Iliescu believes that any of these that operates on the ground floor of apartment buildings should be relocated elsewhere and that no gambling facility should be allowed within 200 meters of churches, schools or other public institutions.

Iliescu has decided that relocating the facilities will help fight gambling addiction and other problem gambling issues, as the easy access to the locations fuels greater addiction. The proposal still needs to find support by Bucharest’s General Council if it is to be approved.

According to Iliescu, “This area should be able to be constructed and arranged properly by the municipality and the spaces will be leased to third parties that carry out such activities. The advantages would be that the police and the control authorities would have an efficient job and that the state budget receipts would be adequate. On the other hand, it would also be an advantage for the players, because it would be real competition between the firms that own these gambling halls.”

This is a guest contribution by Tony Ure. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

In recent months, the vast majority of the global online gambling industry has been entirely focussed on the US market following the repeal of PASPA in May last year.

The legalisation of sports betting across America is undoubtedly one of the most exciting developments in gambling history, but other markets are moving towards regulation and generating great interest.

One of those is India and with a population of 1.2 billion people – and a high propensity to gamble – the market provides just as much potential as the USA.

Some of the sportsbooks hoping to get into the game in Illinois may have just had their dreams crushed. An amendment was added to legislation being considered to legalize sports gambling that, if approved, would prevent “bad actors” from stepping foot in the state. The clause could keep companies like DraftKings and FanDuel out of the Prairie State.

The amendment was added last week to House Bill 3308 by Representative Bob Rita. It joins four other amendments that have been added to the legislation and stipulates that a vendor license or sportsbook operator’s license will not be issued to any entity that is or was affiliated with another company or entity that has accepted bets in contravention with any law in the state or the U.S.

This could mean that DraftKings and FanDuel would automatically be forbidden from seeking a license in the state. Both entities were offering daily fantasy sports gambling in 2015 and were found to be in violation of Illinois laws. They allegedly ignored a ruling by then state Attorney General Lisa Madigan and continue to provide their services to Illinois residents.

However, the amendment isn’t welcomed by all lawmakers. Some have expressed their belief that, without participation by the two companies, sports gambling competition in Illinois won’t be as heavy and the state won’t make as much in tax revenue as has been forecast.