The Dominican Republic, once a great Caribbean paradise escape, has recently had to send out the public relations emergency responders to counter what has been reported by media outlets as a constant string of murders. That certainly didn’t help the country’s image, but new reports are surfacing about a particular resort that only make matters more complicated. According to the website iwaspoisoned.com, 147 tourists have become ill while staying at the Hard Rock Casino Punta Can – 128 in the past week.

According to an article in The New York Post, the site’s founder states that 70 people had written on the site that they had become ill while staying at various resorts in the Dominican Republic since March. After the Post article was published, over a hundred have come forward to reveal that they, too, became ill while vacationing at the Hard Rock. A few had to be hospitalized due to their illnesses.

One person wrote, “After 2 days, my husband became violently ill with diarrhea, fever and nausea. A day later, I became ill with the same, including fever and chills. These symptoms lasted the entire trip. I would estimate that over half of our group became ill as well, some with additional respiratory symptoms that mimicked influenza.”

No one has traced the source of the maladies, but some rumor that it could be caused by illegal alcohol or pesticides. The symptoms indicated by the victims – diarrhea, respiratory problems, vomiting – are indicative of possible methanol intoxication. Methanol is extremely toxic to humans and is sometimes used in producing illegal alcoholic products and certain pesticides.

The new casino resort planned for Hellinikon, Greece is taking submissions from gambling operators interested in running the property’s casino. They have until June 28 to submit their application, but when Greece will announce the winner isn’t known. An election just ordered by Greece’s Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, to be held July 7 will most likely result in a delay in the bidding process as focus turns to the election.

According to Greek media outlet Kathimerini, there are too many moving parts to the country’s government schema now to allow anything other than attention on the elections. Tsipras is nearing the end of his term – he only has four months remaining – and Parliament is set to dissolve this week before the election. With the tumultuous and sensitive nature of the country’s economy, everyone is turning toward getting through any vote before looking at other activity.

The Hellinikon project has already faced several delays. The resort, which is expected to cost well over $1 billion by the time it’s complete, is being built where the Ellinikon International Airport used to sit and the bidding process has already been delayed twice. Most recently, the deadline for submitting applications was extended from May 31 to its new date. Those delays came due to zoning problems and government issues.

According to some sources, the delays have been the work of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), a Greek political party. It is comprised of other parties, mostly communist, who share its ideals, as well as those of Karl Marx, Mao Tse Tung and others. Tsipras is the leader of that party and the rumored source of the delays contradicts what the Prime Minister has previously stated. He has promised to have the resort operational before he leaves office.

MGM Springfield, a casino resort opened by MGM Resorts in Massachusetts last August, has yet to rise to the company’s expectations. Gross gaming revenue (GGR) is substantially lower than predicted, with the venue’s casino operations having only generated about half of what was anticipated.

According to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), MGM Springfield took in $22.28 million in May for a 2.14% month-over-month increase. That’s a nice addition, but it isn’t close to what MGM had expected. Across the first ten months of operations, the venue has reported GGR of $212.5 million and had predicted $416 million in its first year when it submitted its bid for the casino license.

The underachievement isn’t deterring MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis, who is a half-glass-full type of guy, at least in public. He told the news outlet The Republican, “We continue to be pleased with our performance. We’re capturing market share and growing loyalty.” This, despite the property coming up $200 million short of its projections.

MGM Springfield should have been able to perform better – it was the only table games operator in the state, a position it held since opening. However, competition is about to increase with the opening of Encore Boston Harbor, a Wynn Resorts property, and MGM Springfield is going to have to fight for customers. Encore is expected to open June 23. Wynn had been reportedly discussing a sale of the property to MGM, but those talks fizzled.

Just like many real casinos, a virtual casino planned for Grand Theft Auto (GTA) saw its launch delayed. GTA publisher Rockstar Games has announced that, after a five-year wait, GTA Online will soon offer a real casino. However, whether or not it will stay open is a different story.

Rumors of the casino picked up recently when gamers noticed a change. There is a casino in Vinewood in the game that, since GTA was introduced, has carried an “opening soon” sign. However, that sign suddenly disappeared last week, leaving fans of the multi-player game wondering if the casino was about to open its doors.

Rockstar has responded to the rumors, saying that it is about to roll out an update that will include a “luxury” casino. It hasn’t offered any details on how the casino will operate, but GTA: San Andreas offers a casino that includes roulette and blackjack, and it’s possible that GTA Online’s model could follow suit. If so, it could also be a venue that players could own in the game. It is most likely include in-game currency, but could allow microtransactions that would see players able to top off GTA dollars using fiat through the use of the game’s “shark cards.”

Whether through real money or just for fun, the casino will certainly not be without its detractors. While the gambling industry as a whole may be expanding, as evidenced by an increase in casinos and sports gambling in the US and elsewhere, there is a clampdown on the activity that makes it difficult on operators.

Gamepind, a real-money gaming platform in India, has decided that a change in its brand is in order. The site, which is backed by Paytm and Alibaba Group, is now known as FirstGames in an effort to be more appealing to consumers. The rebranding exercise also comes as the company looks to raise $30 million to expand its gaming selections.

According to a report by the Economic Times, the site has more than 30 million registered users after having launched in February of last year. The platform offers a range of prizes, including Paytm cash, flight tickets, movie tickets and more. It reportedly has a run rate in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of about $2.86 million.

Gamepind/FirstGames offers an array of games and quizzes – over 300 total – including ludo, badlands, snake wars, 8-ball pool, rummy and trivia and live quiz games, which are available through its website, as well as mobile apps.

There is also a fantasy cricket portal, Paytm First Captains, which was launched last month. It hopes to onboard over a million gamers during the current ICC Cricket World Cup, and has already seen substantial strides toward that goal. Its user base has reportedly grown five times already this month thanks to the World Cup, and the company hopes to reach GMV of between $4-$5 million before the competition ends.

Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International’s gaming revenue tax holiday may be coming to an end, if some local politicians have their way.

Last week, Paul Manglona, a senator in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), sent an open letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, criticizing the government’s decision to impose austerity measures to alleviate a $26m deficit in the CNMI’s budget for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018.

One of Manglona’s chief questions for Torres was an explanation for the “drastic decrease” in business gross revenue tax (BGRT) paid by IPI, Saipan’s lone casino operator. IPIs BGRT payments since last October total a mere $41k, down from $43.6m in fiscal 2018 and $67.7m in 2017. Manglona asked if IPI was being allowed to use its significant bad debt write-offs to reduce its income for calculating BGRT payments.

This spring, IPI CEO Mark Brown told the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) that IPI’s BGRT payments had decreased based on the company’s belief that it was owed “credits” due to having overpaid its BGRT in previous years. Brown told local media that once these credits were exhausted “then we will go back to continue paying what’s due.”

partypoker prepares online cash games with fixed buy-ins, a new tributary into live events, and a Brit wins a million bucks on a $5 SPIN.

It’s judgment day at partypoker as player aliases change in a bid to render heads-up displays (HUDs) useless. It’s one of the fifty-plus changes partypoker plan to stop the rot caused by grinders who have become more proficient at finding leaks than a Welsh gardener.

This morning, as the barista blew his Samaritans balloons with the professionalism of a Big Top clown, I read a Pokerfuse exclusive declaring party’s intention to implement a 100bb fixed buy-in rule for online cash games.

The pesky short-stackers are salad cream, and this idea is mayonnaise. Plenty will hold the same hymn sheet on this one in another popular move picking up a head of steam throughout the poker community.

Robert Campbell receives our full attention in today’s World Series of Poker round-up as the Australian wins Event #33: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw.

[Image credit: WSOP]

Hundreds of thousands of Spider Crabs are currently heading to Melbourne to moult – a feast for stingrays, seals and anything else with a penchant for soft shell crab.

An animal that won’t be digging a fin into the Port Phillip Bay buffet are the sharks because they’re not in that neck of seaweed; they’re in Las Vegas chowing on fish, and taking bites of the occasional whale.