When Daniel Negreanu broke the news that he was considering not using the re-entries option in 2020, his post met with plenty of discussion:

After this WSOPE I’m strongly considering playing only one bullet in any re-entry tournament.

By going in with a mindset that you only get one shot, I think it can have a positive affect on your play.

Too often me, and others make -EV decisions in re-entry

California’s gambling market is poised for a potentially major shakeup in 2020 over proposed changes to sports betting and cardroom regulations.

On Wednesday, California legislators announced a joint Senate-Assembly information hearing on January 8 to discuss competing proposals to legalize sports betting in the state. State Sen. Bill Dodd told local media that it was legislators’ job to “stand up for the public interest and ensure California adopts the best possible model.”

Dodd and Assembly member Adam Gray have each introduced bills that would amend the state constitution to permit legal wagering, including online and mobile bets. There’s also a strictly land-based (for the time being, at least) betting ballot initiative backed by the state’s tribal gaming operators that would prohibit involvement by the state’s cardroom operators.

Speaking of, Wednesday saw the state’s Bureau of Gambling Control (BGC) hold a public workshop to discuss proposed changes to the rules involving cardrooms’ so-called ‘player-banked’ games. Cardroom operators fiercely oppose the proposed changes, which were floated earlier this month, based on the their belief that the alterations would make their operations unprofitable.

UK kids continue to see fewer gambling advertisements on television, according to the country’s ad watchdog.

On Wednesday, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) released its latest report on children’s exposure to age-restricted TV ads. The report builds on the ASA’s previous research, released this spring, which covered the period spanning 2008 to 2017.

The report found that UK kids were exposed to 3.2 television gambling ads per week in 2018, roughly equivalent to the figures reported in each off the past five years.

In 2008, the year in which the UK government relaxed rules prohibiting sports betting and online casino products, kids watching TV saw an average of 2.2 gambling ads per week. That number peaked at 4.4 ads per week in 2013, but the figure steadily dropped after the government imposed new rules restricting ads to companies licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.

The Canadian province of Ontario has busted a major illegal online gambling operation with links to the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.

On Thursday, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) revealed details of a multi-jurisdictional takedown of a “sophisticated” illegal offline and online gambling ring involving the Hells Angels. The OPP laid a combined 228 charges against 28 suspects following a probe it called Project Hobart.

Project Hobart got underway in January 2018 following an “escalation in violence” between rival gangs in Ontario and Quebec. Michel Deabaitu-Schulde, a Hells Angel member associated with the gambling operation, was murdered this March.

The “lucrative online and traditional gaming enterprise involving members of known organized crime groups” revolved around a number of password-protected online sportsbooks bearing the names The Ultimate Sportsbook, Titan Sportsbook, Paytowin Sportsbook, Privada Sportsbook and Players Sportsbook.

Finland’s Veikkaus gambling monopoly says its new social responsibility efforts will cut its annual revenue to a level not seen in six years.

On Wednesday, Veikkaus issued an update on its ongoing efforts to improve its responsible gambling policies. The state-run firm has been on the defensive since this summer, when it aired some truly ill-advised ads urging gamblers to (we’re paraphrasing) ignore the voices in their heads suggesting restraint and just gamble already.

The outcry from the Finnish public – which was already skeptical of the need to retain a state-run gambling monopoly – prompted Veikkaus to pledge a number of social responsibility changes, including culling 3.5k of its 18,500 slots outside casinos in 2020 and advancing its plan to require mandatory identification of users before permitting slots play by January 2021.

Veikkaus said Wednesday that the effect of these changes will likely trim €50m off its 2020 earnings while its annual revenue is expected to shrink to around €963m, the sum generated by Finland’s three state-run gambling monopolies in 2014 before they were all grouped under the Veikkaus banner.

Taiwan’s cyber-cops have busted yet another illegal online gambling ring piggy-backing on a Macau casino operator’s trademarks.

On Wednesday, the telecom division of Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) announced the arrest of 29 individuals suspected of involvement in an illegal online gambling operation that catered primarily to customers in mainland China and other Asia-Pacific markets.

Acting on a tip, police raided an office complex in Taichung City where they discovered a major online gambling software design and technical support service. Police seized 57 computers, 102 monitors, 12 mobile phones, a number of bank cards and the equivalent of around US$20k in various currencies.

One of those arrested was an individual named Chen Nan, whom the CIB fingered as the mastermind of the gambling operation. Chen is said to have designed and managed over 30 gambling sites, which collectively handled a significant volume of wagers over the years.