Two casino workers from Parañaque City in the Philippines are now going to stand trial after being busted for allegedly kidnapping a third individual. The case is the latest to draw attention to the world of illegal loan sharking in the Philippines, which, according to some law enforcement officials, is becoming a bigger problem. While the full details of the incident have not yet been released, the victim was reportedly chosen for outstanding loans, and it might be a good time for casinos to do a better job at vetting their employees.

The two criminals are reported to be Chinese nationals who were working at an area casino. According to the Manila Bulletin, which didn’t provide a great amount of detail on the incident, the scheme fell apart when casino security personnel got involved and contacted police. The director of the law enforcement division’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), Brigadier General Jonnel Estomo, indicates that the casino security officers are the “reason behind the successful operation.”

Jiang Zhenqiang and Zhu Peijian were arrested at 2 AM this morning in Barangay Tambo in Parañaque City. Following their arrest, the victim, Chinese national Jiang Longgen, was found and rescued. It isn’t clear whether or not he had been harmed while being held captive.

Major Ronaldo Lumactod, a spokesman for the AKG, describes the crime as being similar to other cases that have occurred recently in the Philippines, and which have also been seen in other locations, such as Macau. Foreign gamblers, after not being able to spend some time with Lady Luck in the casino, turn to loan sharks to try to recuperate their losses and, when the losing streak continues, they’re unable to make good on the outstanding debts. As a result, the loan sharks kidnap the gamblers and torture them, sending video footage of the torture to the gambler’s family members in order to get them to pay up.

Terre Haute, Indiana is going to have to wait even longer to find out whether or not a new casino will be allowed in its backyard. Spectacle Entertainment has two Indiana casinos already and was hoping to open a third, but an investigation into alleged wrongdoing by someone with ties to the company is slowing things down. After the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) decided to postpone a licensing hearing last month, it has now put the subject on the back burner once again, and has called in a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help with the ongoing case. Local media outlet Tribune-Star reports that it might be two to three months, or longer, before a final decision is made.

The debacle centers o Charles O’Neill, a political consultant who pleaded guilty to federal charges of making illegal corporate contributions to a congressional candidate a couple of years ago. A lot of secrecy has remained about who may have been involved in the scandal, but the accepted conclusion is that it involved Rod Ratcliff, the founder of Centaur Gaming. Centaur would lead to the creation, through the help of Indiana businessman Greg Gibson, of Spectacle.

According to the IGC’s deputy director, Jenny Reske, “The Indiana Gaming Commission is performing a review of the matter — and while I cannot disclose much of what is being investigated — I can say the Commission has retained an outside consultant to help us understand exactly what the documents we’ve received from Virginia mean and what the implications of some of that information could be.”

The IGC is participating in the investigation, but isn’t leading the show. As a result, and with federal agencies being in charge, the commission is limited in the information it can share. Reske adds, “We don’t have the legal jurisdiction or resources to conduct an investigation into a violation of federal law. So we’ll be closely watching any developments that occur and consulting with Walt Stowe, a former FBI agent, to determine the appropriate next steps.”

Before deciding whether or not they should re-open the state’s casino application process, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) would like the public’s input on a potential license for southeastern Massachusetts.

The MGC had issued a public comment near the end of January asking for a residence located in Region C of the state to submit their opinion as to whether a new casino was needed in the area. This region includes Bristol, Plymouth, Nantucket, Dukes and Barnstable counties. Residents have until March 16 to submit their opinion until March 16.

In addition to seeking the public’s thoughts, the commission also asked for market research firms to provide input  on a series of business-related questions surrounding the Massachusetts  gaming market. The questions cover how a new casino would impact Region C, as well as the overall impact on other casinos within the state.

MGC Commissioner Enrique Zuniga explained the motivation behind the survey: “We are generally targeting questions to understand more about the viability of the market, especially in the context of prior market studies and current results We want to see how likely it is that there could be a good proposal or a good viable license in that region.”

What exactly are “games of skill,” and should they be allowed? It’s a legal mess that Pennsylvania is now having to solve, looking to make a clear determination on what games involve an element of skill, and which are pure luck.

Many opposed to these machines look at them as a way to skirt the law by offering cash rewards for games where “chance” is not the primary factor in why someone wins. As Jess Fiel, the senior director of government relations for the American Gaming Association, explained recently, “We don’t really want to reward this behavior. We don’t want to say, ‘Just because you’ve been doing it without proper protections, doesn’t mean it should continue.’”

Pennsylvania first had to confront the question of games of skill in in July 2019, when skill game machine manufacturer Pace-O-Matic filed suit against a competitor. 3C Amusements, was accused of “operating machines that have been ruled illegal gambling devices and is advertising its business as a casino.” The argument was made that these machines were “chance-based,” which would make them illegal under Pennsylvania law.

Ironically enough, Pace-O-Matic had been sued years earlier when a competitor made the same claim against them.

The online gambling industry has a commitment to keeping the general public safe when it comes to responsible gambling and prevention of underaged gambling. Operators dedicate significant time and attention to integrating the best technology for age verification checks and adhering to the (often changing!) rules within the jurisdictions in which they operate, although this is no easy feat.

Due to the global nature of our industry, working across multiple jurisdictions with different requirements is normal and we need solutions that are malleable, cost effective and easy to integrate.

“AgeChecked” is doing exactly what its name suggests- providing a solution for websites, including online gambling websites, to ensure they are compliant by law and offering their services to age-appropriate customers only. AgeChecked CEO Alastair Graham has created a system that minimizes the amount of friction when a customer registers, a technology that he believes differentiates AgeChecked from its competition.

Becky Liggero Fontana: Thank you so much for joining me, Alastair and for sharing your thoughts on how you can help the online gambling industry remain compliant. Lets start with your background and why you decided to build the technology behind AgeChecked?

Casino operator Eldorado Resorts says its “100% focused” on completing its acquisition of rival Caesars Entertainment, which could explain why its operating income fell nearly one-third in Q4.

On Wednesday, the Reno-based Eldorado reported that its revenue in the final three months of 2019 fell nearly 12% year-on-year to $592m, while operating income dipped 32% to $59m and the company booked a net loss of $13.2m for the quarter. All five of the company’s geographic regions were in negative growth mode in Q4, with the biggest declines in the East and South.

On a same-store basis, which ignores Eldorado’s constantly shifting asset portfolio, Q4 revenue was down 4.4%, adjusted earnings improved 0.4% to $146.2m and operating income slumped 32.2%.

Full-year revenue was up 23% to $2.52b, operating income rose 32.2% to $410m, adjusted earnings gained 35% to $697.5m but net income fell 15% to $81m.

China’s state-run lottery services are preparing to reopen for business after an unprecedented shutdown to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

In January, Chinese authorities announced that all lottery operations would be suspended for a 10-day period starting January 22 to coincide with the annual Lunar New Year celebrations. But before that planned resumption of sales on February 1, the government extended the shutdown for another 10 days rather than have citizens cluster together in small lottery retail offices to buy their tickets.

While the extended shutdown was supposed to be lifted on February 10, no official announcement was forthcoming from the Ministry of Finance, and lottery sales have remained on pause ever since. But reports coming from provincial lottery administration centers suggest the dam is about to break.

On Wednesday, the government’s official lottery site, which has been running endless stories celebrating provincial lottery administrators’ efforts to combat the further spread of the virus by distributing masks and furiously scrubbing things, featured a message from the Zhejiang Sports Lottery Management Center saying it would resume “paper instant lottery sales in industry channels” as of Thursday (27).

China’s state-run lottery services are preparing to reopen for business after an unprecedented shutdown to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

In January, Chinese authorities announced that all lottery operations would be suspended for a 10-day period starting January 22 to coincide with the annual Lunar New Year celebrations. But before that planned resumption of sales on February 1, the government extended the shutdown for another 10 days rather than have citizens cluster together in small lottery retail offices to buy their tickets.

While the extended shutdown was supposed to be lifted on February 10, no official announcement was forthcoming from the Ministry of Finance, and lottery sales have remained on pause ever since. But reports coming from provincial lottery administration centers suggest the dam is about to break.

On Wednesday, the government’s official lottery site, which has been running endless stories celebrating provincial lottery administrators’ efforts to combat the further spread of the virus by distributing masks and furiously scrubbing things, featured a message from the Zhejiang Sports Lottery Management Center saying it would resume “paper instant lottery sales in industry channels” as of Thursday (27).

Poker biographies can be very difficult to pull off successfully. For a start, the very absence of the pre-cursor ‘auto’ is a dead giveaway that the player in question did not write the book themselves, or at the very least dictate to a ghost writer.

Released in 2005, seven years after his death in a Las Vegas hotel room, One of a Kind is the first authorised biography of Stu Ungar – by the man himself in 1998, the year of his death. Written by well-known poker enthusiast and professional Nolan Dalla along with Peter Alson, who also write the 2006 book on Ungar, The Man Behind the Shades.

Alson’s familiarity is with the gambling side of the game, typified by his authorship of Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie and Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring. Dalla’s nous, however, is in the game of poker itself of course, and Ungar position in the game we all love – so often open to interpretation by those of us who never met Ungar – is brought to life in fine style by a man accustomed to such.

The story doesn’t just cut to the World Series of Poker Main Event wins, with plenty of backstory on Ungar’s days working for the Mob in New York, and from the introduction by Ungar’s friend in the game, Mike Sexton, to the tragic closing passages that detail Ungar’s untimely demise in a Vegas hotel room, the book oozes authenticity.

Casino and betting operator Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) saw its annual revenue top the $1b mark for the second year in a row despite flat online wagering operations.

Figures released Wednesday show CDI generated revenue of $280.6m in the last three months of 2019, a 28% rise over Q4 2018. Adjusted earnings were up 72% to a record $73.8m while adjusted net income rose 95% to $16.8m. That said, actual net income attributable to CDI fell nearly two-thirds to $4m.

A similar schism was on full display in the FY19 results, which shows revenue up 32% to $1.33b, adjusted earnings up 37% to a record $451.4m and adjusted net income up 19% to $179m. Actual net income attributable to CDI was down 61% to $137.5m.

Like many gaming operators, CDI has spent the past few years frantically wheeling and dealing, acquiring properties from rivals, selling off pieces of itself while venturing into new businesses and markets, with all the associated tax adjustments, financing charges and earn-out payments.

Casino and betting operator Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) saw its annual revenue top the $1b mark for the second year in a row despite flat online wagering operations.

Figures released Wednesday show CDI generated revenue of $280.6m in the last three months of 2019, a 28% rise over Q4 2018. Adjusted earnings were up 72% to a record $73.8m while adjusted net income rose 95% to $16.8m. That said, actual net income attributable to CDI fell nearly two-thirds to $4m.

A similar schism was on full display in the FY19 results, which shows revenue up 32% to $1.33b, adjusted earnings up 37% to a record $451.4m and adjusted net income up 19% to $179m. Actual net income attributable to CDI was down 61% to $137.5m.

Like many gaming operators, CDI has spent the past few years frantically wheeling and dealing, acquiring properties from rivals, selling off pieces of itself while venturing into new businesses and markets, with all the associated tax adjustments, financing charges and earn-out payments.