South Korea’s largest casino Kangwon Land is extending its temporary shutdown as the country’s coronavirus crisis worsens.

Last weekend, Kangwon Land announced that it would shut its gaming operations from noon on Sunday (23) to 6am on Wednesday (26) in response to the government’s declaration of its highest possible alert regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Kangwon Land announced that it was extending this shutdown until 6am on Saturday (29) “due to growing concern about community infections.” South Korea has experienced a dramatic rise in the number of viral infections this week, bringing the total number of exposures to nearly 1,300 and the number of deaths to 11, the largest outbreak outside China, the COVID-19 ground zero.

Kangwon Land emphasized that it had not recorded any infections among either guests or staff but said the company was “intensively” carrying out “additional protection and disinfection” of its gaming area to prepare for the casino’s eventual reopening.

UK online gambling showed a spike in participation both at home and at the office in 2019, while online in-play sports betting continues to fall.

On Wednesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) released its latest gambling participation survey for 2019, which found that 47% of respondents had engaged in some form of gambling in the past four weeks, up one point from the 2018 survey. That number falls to 32% (unchanged) when you exclude those whose only gambling was on National Lottery draws.

Online gambling participation was up three points to 21% in 2019, but this figure shrinks to 16.6% (+2.2 points) excluding online lottery-only participants. Those who gamble online are significantly more likely to do so via their mobile devices (50%, +6) than their laptops (38%, -6) or desktop computers (26%, -2).

Most online gamblers choose to play at home (95%), although those who sneak in a little play at work was up three points to 15% (largely driven by those in the 45-54 age demo). A slightly smaller number (12%) gamble during their daily commute to work.

UK bookmaker William Hill saw its online gambling revenue surpass retail operations for the first time in 2019, largely due to the forced shrinkage of its UK real estate.

Figures released Wednesday show Hills generating revenue of £1.58b in 2019, a 2% decline from 2018’s result, while booking a net loss of £37.6m versus a £722m loss in 2018. The 2018 results were the result of a major writedown in the value of Hills’ UK retail operations following the government’s imposition of a £2 maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT).

That stake reduction forced Hills to shutter 713 shops in Q319, which resulted in FY19’s retail revenue falling 20% to £717m. Sports betting revenue was flat at £400m while gaming revenue fell by more than one-third to £317m, which pushed retail’s share of Hills’ overall revenue to 45%, down 10 points from 2018. Retail operating profit tumbled 45% to £83.2m.

Hills’ retail share will continue to fall in 2020 as last month saw the company announce the sale of 35 betting shops in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man to rival BoyleSports. Hills averaged over 2,300 active shops in 2018 but the revised estate currently sits at 1,533.

Calvin Ayre, founder of both CoinGeek and CalvinAyre.com, is a noted ambassador for Bitcoin, now reborn in the form of Bitcoin SV (BSV). While he likes to promote growth in the Bitcoin industry, he isn’t picking through Instagram accounts, looking for unsuspecting marks looking to get rich quick.

CalvinAyre.com Editor in Chief Bill Beatty was recently “lucky” enough to be contacted by “Calvin Ayre” over Instagram. Except, it wasn’t the real Calvin Ayre, but rather a fake account under the handle c_ayre_.

Scammers. This should be fun. pic.twitter.com/WzLKpCUmJJ

— BIll BeaTty (@mistabill) February 25, 2020

As the future of Atlantic City’s leadership hangs by a thread, the New Jersey state government can’t do anything about it. A casino-backed political action committee (PAC), Atlantic City Residents for Good Government (ACRGG), is pushing to dissolve the current structure in favor of a city manager, instead of a mayor, running the day-to-day operations and budget, and a small, more controllable city council. Current Mayor Marty Small balks at the idea, but the subject is due to come up for a vote next month. If Small, and others, expected the state government to intervene, his odds just went from slim to none.

On March 31, Atlantic City residents will vote on a referendum to upend the current local government structure. The move is being billed as a way to eliminate corruption by government officials, partially induced by the antics of former mayor Frank Gilliam, and, in theory, provide better oversight of government affairs and reduce overhead. Even though the state government has maintained control, to a certain degree, over Atlantic City for the past couple of years, it doesn’t have all-encompassing power.

New Jersey created the Municipal Stabilization and Recover act (MSRA) in 2016 as a means to help clean up Atlantic City and rebuild its economy and consumer trust. Opponents of the upcoming vote have used this as an argument against the validity of the outcome of the referendum, but their assertions come up short. According to The Press of Atlantic City, New Jersey didn’t foresee the unfolding drama when it approved the MSRA, and no language was included that would prohibit the upcoming vote, or prevent its outcome from being implemented.

There is other legislation in the Garden State that could have prevented the measure. New Jersey has the Optional Municipal Charter Law, also known as the Faulkner Act, that allows city residents to petition their government to require a special election on certain subjects. However, the petition and movement created by ACRGG were put forth using a different legal statute, and this completely nullifies any claims through the Faulkner Act or the MSRA.

It’s impossible to cover poker appearing in television and film without covering the comedic nature of the game. When you break it down, poker is a very funny game. Whether it’s seven card stud, no limit hold’em or Chinese Poker, if aliens landed tomorrow and saw us playing cards to influence our lifestyle, it might be seen as highly comedic.

Peep Show embraced this concept fully back in 2005 when they highlighted the game’s lighter moments. The plot centres around two idiots living together. One is uptight and conservative (Mark), while the other (Jeremy) is so liberal as to be dangerous and has more confidence than is merited. A lot more.

In the scene, Mark is trying to become a ‘man’ and therefore that means befriending guys who play poker. Jeremy, his best friend, is clearly just as clueless, but he has a natural ebullience and outgoing nature, and this is displayed brilliantly as he plays a hand strongly purely because all the cards are red.

“I have entered the world of men. All I need is some beef jerky and somewhere to spit. I’m hot like Pol Pot. Squeeze me.”

The KN Paradise Cam Ranh beach resort in Vietnam is going to add a new casino complex to its list of offerings. The promoter of the resort and new gambling facility, KN Cam Ranh Co Ltd, has confirmed that plans for the project are now definitively underway and that construction is expected to begin next year. The company told GGRAsia that it had received approval for the new facilities, and that the first phase of activity should be ready within three years. Now, all it needs is a few investors to help foot the bill and an operator to run the casino.

KM Cam Ranh Co. issued a press release yesterday, asserting that the government of Vietnam had issued an investment certificate for the “large-scale casino complex,” a required step in the process. The approval was given on plans to build a casino complex spanning 40 acres that will offer 2,000 electronic gaming machines and 200 gaming tables, and requires a sizable investment. According to rewritten government rules from 2017, casino projects need at least $2 billion in investment funds for deals to be approved and $1 billion has to be put in before the project can open.

The firm wants investors to come in to help cover that amount. It hasn’t indicated how much of its own funds are being used to facilitate the construction, but it’s unlikely, even if it could, that it would want to try to build the casino out of its own pocket.

The company’s investment deputy-general director, who wasn’t identified by name, adds, “It is with great enthusiasm that we are adequately ready to cooperate with the international casino gaming operators for the development and operation of our integrated resort in Cam Ranh. Undeniably, our strategic location and development plan will create an indispensable addition to the Pan-Asia integrated resort marketplace.”