New Jersey’s regulated sports betting revenue took step back in May, even as online betting grabbed its largest share to date of the market’s overall wagering handle.

According to figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), state-licensed betting operators reported revenue of $15.5m in May. That’s a step down from the $21.2m the state reported in April and the lowest revenue total through the first five months of 2019.

May’s overall betting handle hit $319m, a modest uptick from April’s $313.7m, bringing the year-to-date total to just over $1.71b. Digital wagering accounted for $263.5m of May’s total handle, equal to 82.6% of the total, up 1.6 points from April and the highest monthly percentage of overall wagering since the market launched last summer.

Put it another way: May’s digital betting handle was nearly 80% as much as the state’s retail sportsbooks have handled over the first five months of 2019. Something to consider for states – here’s looking at you, New York – that seem intent on authorizing purely land-based sports betting regimes.

New Jersey’s regulated online gambling market came within a whisker of eclipsing its all-time monthly revenue record in May.

Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) show the state’s licensed online gambling operators generated combined revenue of $38.34m in May, a stellar 57.8% improvement over the same month last year and only around $800k below the market’s all-time record of $39.1m set this March.

As usual, the online casino vertical did all the heavy lifting, shooting up 63.3% year-on-year to over $36.5m, while the poker vertical dipped 6.8% to $1.8m. For the year-to-date, overall online revenue is up 53.5% to $179.4m, with casino rising 58.5% to $170.3m and poker falling 3.4% to less than $9.1m.

The perennially market-leading Golden Nugget’s family of online casino sites didn’t disappoint in May, generating revenue of just under $14.1m, nearly two-thirds higher year-on-year and within spitting distance of its all-time best of $14.2m (also set this March).

UK betting operator Betfred loss nearly £41m in its most recent fiscal year, with retail writedowns fingered as the corporate culprit.

According to documents filed with Companies House, the privately-held Betfred saw its revenue top £727.6m in the 12 months ending September 30, 2018, a 14.7% improvement over its fiscal 2016-17 result. In percentage terms, the revenue gain was greater that the 9.6% rise the company reported in 2016-17.

Betfred’s 2017-18 overall betting handle rose 6.4% to £13.5b, a slower growth rate than the 17.5% in 2016-17. The company doesn’t break out separate figures for its online and retail operations, but the company credited growth in its online customer ranks for helping to fuel the rise.

However, while gross profit improved 15% to £573m and earnings jumped 43% to £119.4m, the company booked a £41.7m net loss for the year. It’s the second straight year of red ink, and this most recent loss is three times the £13.4m the company reported in 2016-17.

Online gambling operator Gamesys has agreed to pay £1.2m to resolve a UK regulatory probe into its social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) shortcomings.

On Wednesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that Gamesys (Gibraltar) Ltd had agreed to pay £690k in lieu of a financial penalty and to return over £460k to the victims of three individuals who gambled with stolen money on the Jackpotjoy.com site. Gamesys will also pay the costs of the UKGC’s investigation.

The UKGC’s probe focused on three Gamesys customers who gambled with the operator between 2014 and 2016. The trio were the subjects of police investigations but Gamesys failed to conduct the necessary due diligence to determine the source of these customers’ gambling funds or ensure that their transactions were consistent with their risk profile.

The UKGC also found fault with Gamesys’ handling of these high-spending customers’ gambling activity, which the UKGC believes displayed signs of problem gambling behavior that Gamesys failed to address.

The Lisboeta Macau project looks like it might end up having a bit of a casino in it. Ambrose So Shu Fai, CEO of SJM Holdings Ltd, has admitted its possible his operation is working with the still under-construction project on the feasibility of putting a gambling presence in the building, GGRAsia reports.

If it does end up having a casino, it won’t be promoted by SJM though. They are considering extending their license to the property, making it a “satellite” casino, to be promoted by another group.

The Lisboeta Macau was announced in October 2018 by the son of SJM’s founder, Arnaldo Ho Yau Heng. The $639 million property is located not too far from the Grand Lisboa Palace and will be a four-star resort and is expected to open in 2020.

Before it can get a casino, there’s still some work to be done. “It needs to have government approvals and so on,” the CEO noted. When asked if SJM would supply gaming tables to the new property if those approvals were given, So explained that none of SJM’s operations would supply tables, but should they have a few to move around from other satellite casinos, they could consider moving them into the Lisboeta.

Online gambling operator Bet365’s logo has somehow ended up on hundreds of packages of cocaine seized by Russian authorities.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Federal Customs Service (FCS) announced the seizure of 400 kilograms of cocaine at the port of St. Petersburg. The drugs were found in a shipping container that originated from Ecuador, and Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs is working with the FCS to determine precisely who in Russia was expecting such a delivery.

The individually wrapped bricks of yéyo were found inside a shipment of canned fish but that’s hardly the only fishy aspect of this story. Indeed, the FCS published photos showing the bricks adorned with stickers displaying Bet365’s distinctive white-and-yellow-on-green logo, while the bricks themselves appear to have been molded with the word ‘BET’ (albeit in caps, unlike Bet365’s lowercase style). Other bricks featured stickers reading ‘VLTN’, possibly relating to the Valentino fashion brand.

Clearly, Bet365 has nothing whatsoever to do with this botched attempt at trafficking hard drugs, which the FCS claims has a street value of RUB4.5b (US$69.5m). Regardless, there’s probably some headscratching along with a few nervous jokes being made at Bet365’s Stoke-on-Trent headquarters, with “Stoke: rhymes with…” likely a popular option.

Nepotism is alive and well in Washington, D.C. Despite controls in place to prevent any display of favoritism or the possibility of kickbacks being paid, it would appear that the upcoming sports gambling industry in the legislative hub of the U.S. is not above making some shady deals. According to an article in The Washington Post, officials in D.C. are proposing to issue a sole-source contract to a company to manage online sports gambling, as well as the lottery, in a deal that would “benefit several politically connected individuals as well as executives of a company that the city ousted from running a homeless shelter.”

Both the city’s mayor, Muriel E. Bowser, and the D.C. Council have given approval to city officials to forego established procurement rules to award the gaming contract to Intralot. News of a possible deal had surfaced in 2018, but blowback had forced DC to reconsider, stating that it would move forward with the required bidding process.

The city then changed its mind again, arguing that a deal was needed to be put in place as quickly as possible in order for D.C. to remain competitive in the domestic sports gambling industry. To that end, The city’s chief financial officer, Jeffrey S. DeWitt, has submitted a proposed five-year contract to give the license to Intralot for the D.C. council to consider.

Seven companies in the contract would serve as subcontractors under Intralot, giving them access to over one-third of the $215 million the deal is worth. Emmanuel Bailey, who oversees the D.C. lottery, would be a subcontractor for the sports gambling activity, despite previous ethical concerns raised against him. A law firm that Bailey brought in when the subject of sports gambling was being discussed by the D.C. Council—Goldblatt, Martin, and Pozen—will also be a subcontractor, according to the contract.