It seems to be working for Rhode Island, New Hampshire and other New England states, so Vermont is now considering getting in on the sports gambling fever sweeping the U.S.. Two state senators have pre-filed a bill that would allow Green Mountain State residents to place wagers on different types of sporting events and they had the foresight to include a much-needed component of the activity – mobile sportsbooks.

Senators Michael Sirotkin and Richard Sears drafted their sports gambling bill, S.213, and prefiled it this week, hoping to see the state capture some of the revenue that is currently going to other states and the black market. The legislation creates almost exclusively a mobile industry, given that the state has no existing casinos or gambling facilities of any kind.

The idea of legalized sports gambling in Vermont is met with mixed emotions. The state has no professional sports team and even its anchor university, the University of Vermont, doesn’t have a football or a basketball team. However, the state is a popular haven for residents of nearby states, such as New York and New Jersey, who are looking to escape the grind and live at a slower, calmer pace. Given the fact that individuals from those two states are often huge sports fans, the desire to be able to wager on the activity has been slowly bleeding into Vermont.

Should S.213 be approved as it stands, the provisions are in line with what has been seen in many other states. Licenses can be purchased for $10,000 a year and the operators would have to pay 10% in tax on their gross gaming revenue. In the event a sportsbook has a bad month and takes a loss, those losses can be deducted from future tax obligations. The bill also allows daily fantasy sports, which would cost $5,000 per license and be taxed the same as sports gambling.

Steve Witkoff, owner of The Drew Las Vegas, is anxiously watching as the casino continues to be renovated, hoping that it can one day soon come back to life. He was just provided a boost of fresh energy this week, as the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has agreed that the venue should be given a license once it becomes operational. According to the current schedule, that could be sometime in the fall of 2022.

The New York businessman appeared before the NGCB this past Tuesday where he stated his case for the 67-story property and what it means to Sin City. He provided the board with an update on how The Drew is progressing, telling them that it is a “high-end renovation job” and adding, “It’s in preconstruction today. We’ve essentially X-rayed the entire building.”

The NGCB appears to have been impressed with his comments and updates, and don’t see any problems with the venue holding a gaming license. The facilities will have to be inspected again once ready before the permit can be issued, but, as far as the board is concerned, there won’t be any obstacles for the project to be greenlighted for gambling.

Part of the reason that the NGCB is optimistic about The Drew’s future, in addition to the fact that the property isn’t serving any purpose to Las Vegas as it sits, could be because of one of the people expected to help run the show. Witkoff announced in November of last year that Vegas fixture and WSOP Poker Hall of Famer Bobby Baldwin had been tapped as the casino’s chairman and CEO. Anyone who has been around Vegas instantly recognizes the name and what he has done over his long history in the city, as well as the state of Nevada.

Thousands of workers going on strike is never a good look, and how a company responds to it can say a lot. With 3000 employees on strike at NagaWorld, NagaCorp has decided the best course of action is to describe their action as illegal.

In their January 10 filing with shareholders, the operator has decided to downplay the effects of the strike as much as possible. While media reports indicated that as many as 3,000 employees joined the strike, NagaCorp “observed that approximately 500-700 employees participated in an illegal gathering.” Comparing this against their total workforce of 8,200 employees, they added:

“All business operations of the Group remain normal and the Board expects that the above matter has had no negative impact on the business operations of the Group.”

The filing provides a full history of negotiations between NagaCorp and the NagaWorld Union, the representative body of the employees. It lays out the demands of the employees, including increases in pay and benefits, as well as a timeline of recent negotiations.

Thousands of workers going on strike is never a good look, and how a company responds to it can say a lot. With 3000 employees on strike at NagaWorld, NagaCorp has decided the best course of action is to describe their action as illegal.

In their January 10 filing with shareholders, the operator has decided to downplay the effects of the strike as much as possible. While media reports indicated that as many as 3,000 employees joined the strike, NagaCorp “observed that approximately 500-700 employees participated in an illegal gathering.” Comparing this against their total workforce of 8,200 employees, they added:

“All business operations of the Group remain normal and the Board expects that the above matter has had no negative impact on the business operations of the Group.”

The filing provides a full history of negotiations between NagaCorp and the NagaWorld Union, the representative body of the employees. It lays out the demands of the employees, including increases in pay and benefits, as well as a timeline of recent negotiations.

India’s largest casino operator Delta Corp has been issued a gaming license in Nepal, more than two years after first striking a casino management deal in the country.

On Thursday, Delta Corp announced that its Deltin Group subsidiary had been issued a license to operate a casino in Nepal. The announcement follows the company’s October 2017 announcement that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Everest Hospitality and Hotel Pvt Ltd to lease space at the Marriot Hotel being built in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

At the time, Delta suggested that the five-star, 235-room Marriott Kathmandu would open by June 2018 but the property didn’t begin accepting guests until July 2019. Delta’s Thursday announcement avoided specifics on when its new casino might actually launch, saying only that it expects to commence gaming operations at the new hotel “soon.”

Delta is India’s only publicly traded casino operator and by far the country’s largest. Delta operates three floating casinos and one land-based venue in the state of Goa, one casino in the state of Sikkim and a hotel in the union territory of Daman. The latter operation has been waiting for approval to open a casino for years without any sign of that wondrous day’s arrival. Delta also runs a small but growing online poker and rummy business.

Italy’s online casino operators were the market’s standout performers in 2019 as sports betting growth slowed and poker’s decline continued unabated.

Data released this week by Italy’s Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) regulatory body show the country’s sports betting operators generated combined land-based and online revenue of €1.59b in 2019, a 7.4% improvement over 2018’s result. Retail betting was up 3.2% to €867.5m while online betting improved 13.2% to €725.2m.

2019’s betting growth, which was 3.4 points lower than 2018’s 10.8%, came thanks to a phenomenal surge in December’s revenue, which leaped 123% year-on-year to €216m, the best showing of any month last year. While December’s online betting revenue nearly doubled to €91m, retail wagering soared 153% to €125m.

Bet365’s Italian site claimed top online betting honors in December, scoring an impressive 26.7% of turnover and 13.7% of online revenue. Playtech’s Snaitech division ranked second on the revenue chart with a 13.5% share, with SKS365 third with 12.1%.

A hacker who broke into the UK National Lottery’s website in 2016 has been sentenced to nine months in prison for his ill-fated and ultimately unrewarding efforts.

In November 2016, National Lottery operator Camelot warned customers that their personal data may have been compromised after determining that unauthorized individuals had gained access to around 26,500 online accounts.

The following spring, police traced one of the IP addresses from which the hack occurred to Aston University. Police then arrested suspect Idris Kayode Akinwunmi, who quickly cracked under police interrogation and gave up two other suspects with whom he claimed to have communicated only through a WhatsApp chat forum.

Akinwunmi claimed a WhatsApp user identified only as ‘Rosegold’ was the primary instigator of the National Lottery hack. Akinwunmi claimed Rosegold had supplied him with the brute-forcing tool Sentry MBA and instructed him on how to use it to access the National Lottery accounts.

A hacker who broke into the UK National Lottery’s website in 2016 has been sentenced to nine months in prison for his ill-fated and ultimately unrewarding efforts.

In November 2016, National Lottery operator Camelot warned customers that their personal data may have been compromised after determining that unauthorized individuals had gained access to around 26,500 online accounts.

The following spring, police traced one of the IP addresses from which the hack occurred to Aston University. Police then arrested suspect Idris Kayode Akinwunmi, who quickly cracked under police interrogation and gave up two other suspects with whom he claimed to have communicated only through a WhatsApp chat forum.

Akinwunmi claimed a WhatsApp user identified only as ‘Rosegold’ was the primary instigator of the National Lottery hack. Akinwunmi claimed Rosegold had supplied him with the brute-forcing tool Sentry MBA and instructed him on how to use it to access the National Lottery accounts.

Maine’s sports bettors are crying foul after the state’s governor vetoed legislation that would have authorized wagering within its bettors.

Late Friday afternoon – the traditional dumping ground for dodgy political announcements – the office of Gov. Janet Mills said she’d vetoed the LD 553 sports betting bill that state lawmakers had approved way back in June 2019.

Mills’ lengthy veto message said she respected the time and effort that lawmakers had put into crafting and approving LD 553, but she said she remains “unconvinced at this time that the majority” of the state’s residents are ready to “legalize, support, endorse and promote betting on competitive athletic events.”

Mills said her state wasn’t ready to “join the frenzy” of states that have approved wagering since the US Supreme Court struck down the federal betting ban in May 2018. “The Supreme Court said we could regulate it; but that does not mean we have to.”

Maine’s sports bettors are crying foul after the state’s governor vetoed legislation that would have authorized wagering within its bettors.

Late Friday afternoon – the traditional dumping ground for dodgy political announcements – the office of Gov. Janet Mills said she’d vetoed the LD 553 sports betting bill that state lawmakers had approved way back in June 2019.

Mills’ lengthy veto message said she respected the time and effort that lawmakers had put into crafting and approving LD 553, but she said she remains “unconvinced at this time that the majority” of the state’s residents are ready to “legalize, support, endorse and promote betting on competitive athletic events.”

Mills said her state wasn’t ready to “join the frenzy” of states that have approved wagering since the US Supreme Court struck down the federal betting ban in May 2018. “The Supreme Court said we could regulate it; but that does not mean we have to.”