UK-listed gambling giant Flutter Entertainment’s revenue topped £2b in 2019 thanks in part to its FanDuel’s brand US online sports betting market dominance.

Preliminary annual results released Thursday show Flutter (formerly Paddy Power Betfair) generated revenue of £2.14b in 2019, up 14% from 2018’s result. Sports betting revenue was up 113% to £1.67b while gaming rose 19% to £473m, but soaring costs pushed underlying earnings down 15% to £385m and pre-tax profits slumped 38% to £136m.

The Paddy Power Betfair online unit (aka European operations) reported revenue rising 6% to just over £1b but earnings slipped 3% to £307m and operating profit dipped 4% to £263m as the cost of sales rose nearly one-quarter on tax hikes in the UK and Ireland. Gaming revenue performed well, rising 26% to £340m, but sports was down 2% to a demonic £666m.

Flutter’s Paddy Power brand and the Adjarabet business in the Republic of Georgia did their bit, while the Betfair betting exchange revenue fell 5% due in part to “market switch offs.”

Now that China has identified Chinese Mainland citizens working in the Philippines without proper working permits, the situation is starting to escalate to a new level. On February 27, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) confirmed it was urging operators to turn over illegal workers with criminal liabilities.

“The crackdown is a result of PAGCOR’s constant coordination with the Chinese embassy and law enforcement agencies to ensure that proper regulations are observed,” PAGCOR said in a statement.

Emphasizing that they are working within the bounds of Philippines law, the regulator noted its task force partners in cracking down on these undocumented workers. “The state-run gaming agency is continuously working with concerned agencies like the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the creation of an operations center where all problems related to illegal gambling and cybercrimes will be coursed through,” the regulator noted. “With this shared effort, PAGCOR can be ensured that all operations being made by the law enforcement agencies are in accordance with the law.

Later in the day, PAGCOR confirmed the move against these Chinese workers was in full swing, with 2,000 of the reported 70,000 illegal workers having been deported since January 15, 2019. It’s unclear if any of that number comes from the past few days.

Online gambling operator The Stars Group (TSG) posted a profit in the final quarter of 2019 as sports betting revenue eclipsed contributions from the online casino and poker verticals.

Figures released Thursday by the Toronto-based TSG show total revenue of US$688m in the final three months of 2019, up 5.4% from Q4 2018. Adjusted earnings rose 4.1% to $249.1m but operating income rose by one-quarter to $92.4m and the company booked a net profit of $81.3m versus a $38.2m loss in Q418.

For the year as a whole, revenue was up nearly one-quarter to $2.53b, adjusted earnings gained 18% to $781m, operating income nudged up 1.6% to $264.2m and the company swung from a net loss of $109m to net earnings of $61.8m.

The Q4 revenue gains were credited to a strong showing by the UK-facing Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG) business and Australia’s BetEasy brand. Sports betting’s share of the Q4 revenue pie was up nearly five points to 39.1%, while online casino was up less than one point to 30.8% and the formerly dominant poker vertical plunged 5.3 points to 27.5%.

On February 26, Paradise Group reported they achieved a profit in 2019, cementing a solid improvement from their overall loss in 2018. In their filing with the Korea Exchange, they reported a net income of KRW14.96 billion ($12 million) for 2019. The South Korean foreigner-only casino operator reported a net loss of KRW21.05 billion ($17 million) in 2018.

This came primarily as a result of increased casino sales at the Paradise City casino, which reported an annual profit of KRW20 billion ($17 million). The total sales at Paradise Co. were up by 24.4% in 2019 over the previous year, when they reported a total sales of KRW979.43 billion ($810 million), while the previous year was just under KRW787.62 billion ($650 million).

Paradise City was of course the engine behind this growth, with a reported sales of KRW463.17 billion ($380 million) for 2019, accounting for 47.3% of the overall sales for the operator. This was also a one-year gain of 53.6% for the casino’s operations.

This great news comes at a nerve-racking time for the South Korean casino industry. Growing concerns about the coronavirus have led to a temporary shutdown at the Kangwon Land facility. The shutdown of the only casino that South Korean residents are allowed to use began on Sunday and was to end at 6 AM on February 26, but has been extended to February 29.