UK-listed gambling technology provider Playtech is bidding goodbye to chairman Alan Jackson as shareholders once again strenuously objected to senior executives’ hefty salaries.

Playtech held its annual general meeting on Wednesday, which included a trading statement covering the full year ahead. Essentially, the company says the trends displayed in its 2018 annual report, i.e. ‘Regulated B2B Gaming’ is growing, while ‘Non-regulated B2B Gaming’ is “materially lower” due to a “highly competitive” environment in Asia’s grey- and black-markets.

Playtech’s B2C operations, which were significantly bolstered by last year’s acquisition of Italy’s Snaitech, continue to be “very strong.” Playtech also expects its extended 15-year Sun Bingo contract will be profitable this year. The TradeTech financial division has turned in “encouraging” results but market volatility is “well below historical averages.”

Meanwhile, Playtech confirmed that the search is on for a replacement for Jackson (pictured), who has occupied the chairman’s seat since 2013. More than one-third of Playtech shareholders voted against Jackson’s re-election to the board on Wednesday, in part due to the company awarding him a 17% pay rise last August despite Playtech’s shrinking profits.

Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) just received a $500m cash injection from a Japanese firm.

On Wednesday, Saipan’s Lottery Commission okayed two amendments to IPI’s casino license agreement, including reducing the minimum stake IPI is required to hold in its unfinished Imperial Palace casino resort from 51% to a mere 10%.

Within hours, IPI informed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had reached a deal with Japanese “institution” GCM Ltd, in which the latter company will invest the not inconsiderable sum of $500m in Imperial Palace’s phase one. IPI added that the first $100m tranche of this investment “has already been made as of 15 May 2019.”

GCM stands for Global Capital Management, and GCM’s bare-bones website says the company is involved in real estate and financial products, including management of ‘distressed’ assets. If you had to use only one word that describes IPI’s Imperial Palace project, you could do a lot worse than ‘distressed.’

The American Gaming Association (AGA) is taking a cue from regulations implemented in other countries. It has released a set of guidelines for sports gambling advertising, titled “Responsible Marketing Code for Sports Wagering,” which is designed to provide methods for media outlets to employ when advertising sports gambling services and to monitor the impact sports wagers have on society. However, some argue that the code doesn’t go far enough.

The publication (in pdf) mostly concentrates on sports gambling marketing material and its dissemination through social media. One section of the report, “Controlling digital media and websites,” is completely dedicated to the topic. It covers how to protect youth from advertising and messaging while, at the same time, still covering necessary responsible gaming campaign material.

What is missing from the publication is the subject of TV advertising. This is where the AGA differs from other countries. The U.K., Italy, Australia and others are looking to curb all forms of gambling advertising, especially on TV, but the AGA makes no mention of how the activity will be policed or regulated in the United States.

This isn’t too surprising, given the culture of integration between TV and sports gambling that is being witnessed ever since the U.S. Supreme Court dumped the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) last year. A long list of agreements is being formed between sports media outlets and gaming companies, and cutting off their ability to advertise on the TV would not sit well.

It was supposed to be August 2017. Then, it was going to be the summer of 2018 before it was “definitely” going to be the end of 2018. A pattern began to emerge, however, and the Imperial Palace casino resort on Saipan had to request for yet another extension to its construction, with initial updates indicating the end of 2020 or into 2021. Now, the company behind the endeavor, Imperial Pacific International Holdings (IPI), is up to its old tricks, requesting yet another delay. If it’s looking to set the record for the most casino construction delays, it has to be close to reaching the top of the list, if it isn’t already there.

IPI believes it won’t be able to complete construction until August 21, 2022—a very specific date, given the company’s complete inability to perform any task on schedule. According to media channels, the extension request was not discussed by Saipan’s Lottery Commission when it met on Tuesday.

When IPI announced its first delay, it was told that any other delays would cause its license to be revoked. However, after several delays, several lawsuits over unpaid wages, several changes to its top brass and several federal investigations, it appears that regulators still haven’t wisened up and realized what IPI is really up to.

In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last April, IPI indicated that “phase one” of Imperial Palace would be ready—at least partially—“on or before” the end of the third quarter of this year. Given its propensity for scheduling milestones and not keeping them, this isn’t a bet worth considering.

Belle Gibson was a wellness guru out of Australia who developed a considerable following and became relatively popular in certain circles. She earned over $400,000, but her world came crashing down after it was discovered that she had duped more than 300,000 consumers by lying to them about suffering from cancer. She was found guilty of five different violations of consumer laws and is on the hook for $283,000 in fines. Despite not having the money to pay the fines, she has still been able to live a life of luxury, taking trips and gambling through sportsbooks.

Gibson offered a cookbook, Whole Pantry, and an accompanying app and promoted both by telling everyone that she had been cured of cancer through healthy eating. Her story was swallowed by consumers; however, it didn’t take long, as with all similar stories, for the tale to begin to unravel and Gibson was ultimately revealed to have lied about her cancer.

She was brought before a judge this week and questioned by lawyers with Consumer Affairs Victoria who wanted to know why she hasn’t paid any of the fine. In her defense, she said she had less than $30 in cash and about $1,200 to $1,500 in cryptocurrency, the latter of which she asserted is not “an asset.”

However, Gibson was forced to turn over two years’ worth of bank statements during the hearing. In those statements was evidence that she holds a sports gambling account with Sportsbet, an online sportsbook that offers sports wagers and horseracing gambling.

The question of the century—are loot boxes a form of gambling, or aren’t they? There is a global divide on how the video game offerings are viewed and some countries have already decided that they should be classified as gambling and, as such, are either outlawed or regulated. Other countries, though, look at them as nothing more than a fun addition to the games that don’t necessarily require a cash purchase to obtain and deserve to be left alone. Sweden is now looking to weigh in on the subject, but the final outcome—much in the same way as the outcome of the loot boxes—isn’t known.

Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration, Ardalan Shekarabi, has ordered the Swedish Consumer Agency (SCA) to review all video game elements that could be considered as having a link to casinos, lotteries or gambling. The goal is to determine if the necessary consumer protection measures are in place and to understand if adolescents are unduly being targeted by the loot boxes. The SCA is expected to submit its findings by this October.

There has been an obvious divide on how loot boxes are viewed—government and private entities are either for them or against them with no one riding the fence. EA Games is the perfect example, aggressively asserting that it will stand behind loot boxes regardless of legislative controls (although it finally relented in Belgium). However, the Swedes have been more willing to compromise. Dataspelsbranschen, a gaming trade group in Sweden, is looking to cooperate with authorities to find a happy medium.

The group’s spokesperson, Per Strömbäck, told GamesIndustry.biz, “Speaking on behalf of the industry, we welcome this initiative. We agree that it is a consumer protection issue (rather than gambling regulation as some have suggested) and welcome support and guidance in protecting the consumers. The industry has of course already taken action in light of the criticism, through the introduction of new indicators in the age rating systems and in Sweden we are in the process of starting a scientific advisory council on responsible game design (not limited to business models).”