Sejin Park became the second South Korean to win a World Series of Poker bracelet this series after taking down the COLOSSUS, and Nicholas Baris overcomes a 70% heads-up chip deficit to win a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event.

[Image credit: WSOP]

On Monday, South Korea’s military sent fighter jets scurrying into the sky to investigate an ‘unidentified flying object’ flying near the North Korean border, a day after the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with the U.S. President, Donald Trump.

The military later told the South Korean press than the UFO was nothing more than a flock of 20 birds, but our sources at CalvinAyre.com inform us with some accuracy that the UFO was Sejin Park, who was still flying high after his victory in Event #61: COLOSSUS – $400 No-Limit Hold’em.

Only about a week after a public hearing was held in Yokohama, Japan to discuss the possibility of an integrated resort (IR) coming to the area, the opposition is increasing its efforts to prevent the city from becoming a gambling hub. Casino operators are highly interested in the prospects of a venue in Japan’s second-largest city – at least ten have already said they would bid for Yokohama – and local politicians are in favor, as well. However, this is about it – a poll from last August showed that 97% of the local population opposes the idea, and some trade groups are stepping up their efforts to keep an IR out of Yokohama.

The Yokohama Harbor Resort Association and the Yokohama Harbor Transport Association are putting more pressure on Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi in an effort to convince him to back off the IR plans. According to Nippon, they have sent a letter to the mayor, reminding him of the results of that August poll and stating, “Operating an IR casino over the objections of an unpersuaded public is totally unacceptable.”

Those trade groups that don’t want the IR have a different idea in mind for the area where the venue would most likely be built, Yamashita Bay. Instead of an IR, they believe that an auto racing track would attract more tourists and business travelers and could ultimately become part of the Formula 1 (F1) racing schedule. This, despite the fact that F1 has seen declining popularity consistently over the past couple of years as public attendance and TV viewership fall. Italy and the U.K., among others, have already removed live TV coverage.

The trade groups are also interested in trying something else. They want to see if Walt Disney Co. would be interested in possibly building a family-friendly resort in the area and are concerned that a gambling facility would be detrimental to that possibility. They assert that some type of non-gambling venue would ultimately be more valuable than a casino and that an international convention center, in lieu of a resort, could bring as much as $18.7 billion in revenue to the area each year.

LeoVegas just received approval to offer online gaming and sports gambling in Spain and now Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) is joining the mix, as well. In an announcement on its website, the company states that Spain’s Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling in Spain (DGOJ, for its Spanish acronym) has approved two licenses – one for each activity – and that the company will market its gambling products through its flagship Rizk brand. The first bets are expected to be received through the platform sometime in the fourth quarter.

Not only will GiG offer its own Rizk platform, but it plans on offering its proprietary technology to external licensed operators in the country. GiG hopes that the approval will give it extended access to markets in Latin America, which it states is “key priority” to its expansion goals. The company already holds licenses in Malta, the UK, Sweden, Latvia, Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and, now, Spain.

GiG CEO Robin Reed adds, “We are delighted to be awarded the Spanish licences and are looking forward to serving the market with our top performing operator Rizk and our full suite of B2C and B2B products and solutions. The approximately €1bn [almost US$1.2 billion] market is the strongest growing market in Europe, at a rate of approximately 20%* per year, yet only 12% of the gambling is happening online, compared to more than 50% in mature digital markets in Europe, this represents a great opportunity for GiG.”

Rizk will eventually become a completely casino-focused platform, while GiG’s Guts brand will become its sports gambling brand. The company’s in-house sportsbook first saw action in June of last year on Rizk before Guts came along to separate online casino gambling and online sports gambling.

Arkansas only recently approved sports gambling after a somewhat contentious battle and the state has already begun to receive its first bets. This past Monday, the General Manager of the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, Wayne Smith, placed the first ceremonial bet in order to officially launch the activity and the Hot Springs venue is now ready for state gamblers to start placing their bets.

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Two venues are eligible to offer sports gambling in Arkansas – Oaklawn and Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis. Both previously operated as just racetracks, but an amendment was approved by state residents last November that made changes to the constitution that allows them to offer casino-style games and a sportsbook. That same amendment also allows two other casinos to be built, one in Pope County and the other in Jefferson County.

Oaklawn is the first to offer a sportsbook, its newly remodeled Race & Sports Book. The venue was granted approval by the Arkansas Racing Commission last month to launch sports gambling as of July 1 and it was ready as soon as the clock reached the new day. Wagers can be placed on a variety of sports competitions, including the big leagues, the NCAA, the Olympics and more.

Any hesitation over launching sports gambling in New York is going to be mitigated through a new partnership seeking to drum up interest in the activity. MSG Networks, a regional TV broadcasting service that is offered generally in the northeast part of the U.S., has announced that it will begin including programming from the Vegas Stats & Information Network (VSiN). The new programming will be offered five days a week and is an attempt to drum up support for sports gambling in New York after legislators there failed to advance a bill during the recent legislative session.

As of this past Monday, “Follow the Money,” a VSiN sports gambling program, is being aired on MSG Networks each day from 4 PM to 7 PM (Eastern Time), Monday through Friday. The show is hosted by Paul Howard and Mitch Moss and covers a variety of sports gambling-related topics, including statistics, stories and sports commentaries. The show is available on both the MSG TV platform, as well as its MSG GO application for mobile devices.

VSiN was founded by Brian Musburger, the nephew of longtime sports newscaster Brent Musburger, Brian’s father and documentary film producer Dave Berg. Brian also serves as the company’s CEO and said in a press release, “MSG Networks is the best possible broadcast partner to reach sports fans and betting enthusiasts throughout the New York area. We’re thrilled to continue to work with innovators like MSG Networks to deliver sports betting news and information to the growing number of Americans wagering on sports.”

VSiN was created to fill a void where no dedicated sports gambling broadcasts were available nationwide. It is the first sports media firm to provide analysis and news to sports gambling fans and is backed by former NBA player Ryan Howard and his SeventySix Capital venture firm. Its content is now available on TV, SiriusXM Radio, Sling TV, VSiN.com, fuboTV and more.

If an international poll were taken regarding video game loot boxes and whether or not they’re a form of gambling, the results would most likely be split right down the middle. Several countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, believe that the prize boxes are a form of gambling, while others, such as New Zealand and France, say that they’re not. Lawmakers in the U.S. are on the fence, with at least one trying to ban them from being included in any games that could target teens (which is basically every game in existence). A member of parliament in the U.K. has weighed in on the subject now, asserting that loot boxes are emphatically not a form of gambling.

Let’s first look at the source of the differing opinions – the loot boxes themselves. In many video games, players can purchase a box that contains some sort of reward – a new avatar, more power, a new weapon that gives more fighting capability. The contents of the boxes are never known beforehand and this is the basis of the debate. Some individuals incorrectly correlate this lack of transparency as being similar to playing a slot machine where the outcome isn’t known. However, the outcome of a particular loot box is already pre-determined and doesn’t change. It certainly doesn’t guarantee, just because a player has a better weapon than someone else, that he will be a stronger competitor – skill is still a big part of the game.

The U.K., as is the case with many countries, wants to better understand video games and loot boxes and has been conducting inquiries into the activity. Margot James, U.K.’s Minister of the State for Digital and the Creative Industries, said during one recent inquiry hearing that loot boxes are not gambling and that it would be a mistake for Parliament to try to introduce regulations based if members are not properly educated.

At one point during the hearing, Morgan asserted, “The fact that other European countries have taken action I think is much more to do with them taking their offline gambling laws online, and our gambling laws are different. I would also contest the assumption that loot boxes are gambling. I don’t think the evidence I’ve read from your committee’s hearings would support that assumption either. Loot boxes are a means of people purchasing items, skins, to enhance their gaming experience, not through an expectation of an additional financial reward. And also, more importantly, they can’t be traded offline for money. So I think there are big differences, and I don’t think really it is true to say loot boxes are gambling.”

Imperial Pacific International (IPI) doesn’t want its financial situation to be made public. The company is building the Imperial Palace in Saipan, a casino resort that has dealt with one delay after another, and has faced multiple lawsuits over how the construction project has been managed. When Ernst & Young (EY) recently completed its audit of the company’s financial health and was preparing to release its findings, IPI began screaming for the details to be kept under wraps. IPI brass even went to a judge to request a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the release of the information, which it was granted. However, it appears that the TRO was too little, too late, as the entire report has already been leaked by several sources.

IPI and the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC), which oversees gambling activity in Saipan, as well as all of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), are in court discussing IPI’s claims that the financial information is private and shouldn’t be released. The CCC has argued that the financial stability of a casino operator is under its purview as regulator and issuer of gambling licenses.

The financial data has made its way to social media platforms such as Facebook and others, where it can be viewed by virtually anyone. In fact, even CNMI Representative Christina Sablan uploaded it to her Facebook page. As a result, the CCC says that ruling against the release of the data at this point is irrelevant and that a court decision could not force those that posted the information to take it down.

It’s not clear who first leaked the information – it could have been one of a large number of individuals with access to the data, even someone from within IPI. The CCC was able to gain access via the Open Government Act (OGA), similar to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the US. The financial report reveals that IPI owes millions to the people of the commonwealth and also highlights other important details about how the company is performing.

The stock market is at record highs, unemployment is at record lows, we are now officially in the longest uninterrupted economic expansion in the history of the United States, and the Nevada gambling market continues to be in the longest recession in its history.

Economic statistics don’t mean much of anything on an individual level or sector level. It’s mostly just a statistic that investors use to guess everyone else’s next moves, and politicians use them to pat themselves on the back and justify taking a bigger share of it all. If you’re making less money this year, you’re in a personal recession regardless of what the aggregates say. If you’re making more but the stuff you buy is getting more expensive even faster, you’re still in recession and how the statistics are doing is irrelevant. This is the case for the Nevada gambling industry, too. For 11 years now, Nevada has yet to break to new highs in gambling revenue, even as the consumer price index (CPI) has risen by 20% since then.

Peak Nevada occurred way back in 2007, with $12,480,790,793 in statewide gambling revenue. Over the next three years, gross gaming revenue in Nevada fell by 20.6% overall for the biggest sustained decline since statistics were recorded. Over the next 8 years, revenue has clawed back 17%. At this rate, it’ll be another 4 years until we hit the 2007 highs. My bet is we’re not going to make it back there before the next decline takes hold, and even if we do, adjusted for price inflation we’d have to clip off 20% from 2007 dollars to 2018 dollars. (CPI at the beginning of 2008 was 212.174, compared to 255.155 now). By the time we reach the nominal high in 4 years at the current rate, we’ll probably have to clip off another 10% at least. Like a hamster on a wheel running after a moving target (is that a thing?), full recovery for the Nevada gambling industry looks to be out of reach.

In comparison to any other recession since the 1970’s, the last one was by far the worst for Nevada. It’s not even close. In 2001 after the tech bubble burst, Nevada gambling revenue fell 4.3% peak to trough, but was back to new highs by 2004. Following the recession of 1990-1991, we didn’t even see a fall in annual revenue. We saw sluggish growth at only 1.3% in 1992 compared to the year before of 11.3%. But still the industry kept growing. If we want to move back even farther we have to move to Clark County Statistics, because the Center for Gaming Research only goes back to 1984. The double dip inflationary recession of 1980-1982 was rough, with Clark Country gambling revenue climbing only 16.7% in three years while price inflation exploded 25.64%. Clark County didn’t overcome the slump adjusted for inflation until 1985 despite an 18.9% rise in visitors over those 6 years.

The UK’s largest gambling operators have committed to spending a combined £60m per year by 2023 to fund responsible gambling programs.

On Tuesday, five major UK gambling operators – Bet365, Flutter Entertainment (formerly Paddy Power Betfair), GVC Holdings, The Stars Group’s Sky Betting & Gaming and William Hill – announced that they would raise their responsible gambling funding commitments from 0.1% of gross gambling revenue to 1% by 2023.

The combined commitment would result in funding of roughly £60m per year by 2023, a level that the companies have pledged to maintain going forward. The companies’ plans came after last month’s discussions with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which oversees gambling activity in the UK.

Around £6m of this increased funding will be designated for GambleAware, the industry-funded responsible gambling program that has routinely complained about the industry’s failure to meet the previous 0.1% revenue benchmark.

Kenya’s government is making good on its threat to suspend the licenses of gambling operators that fall short of their compliance requirements.

On Monday, Kenyan media reported that the country’s Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) had postponed renewing the operational licenses of 13 casinos, six lotteries and eight sports betting firms. The BCLB also declined to renew the licenses of 19 betting operators pending security vetting of their operations and ownership.

The identities of the targeted operators have yet to be disclosed but the BCLB issued a statement saying it “shall not hesitate to debar non-compliant operators in any category.” The BCLC also announced that all licensees will now face a quarterly review to confirm their compliance with Kenya’s tough new gambling rules.

In May, Kenya unveiled its new Gaming Bill 2019, which includes increased regulatory fees, minimum bet limits and local ownership requirements. The government previously announced that any gambling licensee deemed to have outstanding tax obligations would face suspension of their license as of Monday, July 1.

Malta-licensed gambling operators increased their share of the local economy in 2018, according to the latest annual report by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).

On Tuesday, the MGA released its 2018 Annual Report and Financial Statements, which offers a detailed picture of the local gaming industry as of December 31, 2018. The gaming sector accounted for 13.2% of Malta’s overall economic activity last year, the fourth-highest producing sector, and nearly two points higher than 2017’s share.

There were 273 MGA-licensed online companies at the end of 2018, down slightly from 287 at the end of 2017. However, the MGA noted that it had revised its licensing scheme last year, allowing operators to apply for a Corporate Group License, which allows multiple companies to operate under a single license. Nine companies representing 17 entities are currently licensed under this group designation.

The MGA also introduced its new two-license system – one for B2B operations, another for B2C activity – last August. As of December 31, the B2C category accounted for 75% of the total license base.

Chinese nationals control over 90% of businesses in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville region, including over three-quarters of its casino operations.

Authorities in Preah Sihanouk province released a report on Monday showing that Chinese nationals owned 150 of Sihanoukville’s 156 hotels and guesthouses, along with 41 of its 46 karaoke clubs and massage parlors. The Phomn Penh Post reporte that an estimated 95% of the region’s 436 restaurants are managed by Chinese nationals, who also have ownership stakes in 48 of Sihanoukville’s 62 operational casinos.

Cambodia’s government revealed last month that 91 of the 163 casino licenses it has issued to date were for operations in Preah Sihanouk province. Many of these licenses were focused on online gambling operations, which traditionally target customers in mainland China.

The massive rise in the number of new casino licenses issued – including 13 in just the first four months of 2019 – has raised government revenue but has also increased tensions between local residents and the hordes of Chinese nationals flooding into Sihanoukville.