Online gambling may be a safer option than visiting a casino (assuming you can find one that’s still open) in these pandemic times, but claiming so in public is increasingly seen as a social responsibility no-no.

On Friday, affiliate marketing partners of UK-listed gambling giant Flutter Entertainment reported receiving emails from the company instructing them in no uncertain terms that making any reference to the COVID-19 coronavirus while pitching Flutter’s brands would result in the immediate suspension of Flutter’s relationship with the offending affiliate.

Flutter’s “zero tolerance” policy towards virus-related marketing has been echoed by Nordic online gambling operator Kindred Group, the parent company of the Unibet betting brand. The operators were reportedly forced to act after at least one affiliate pitched customers on the benefits of gambling with a “coronavirus safe casino.”

Meanwhile, the Netherlands gambling regulator, which earlier this week warned both online and land-based gambling operators about pitching ‘corona-free’ products, has now added some financial bite to that regulatory bark.

After months of delays, the new Argentinian government has confirmed that Omar Galdurralde has been named as the Director-General of the Argentine Provinces Board for Lotteries and Casinos (IPLyC). This news was first reported last December.

Galdurralde had to wait for his new job. Following the election of Alberto Fernández, it was expected that his Justicialist Party would undertake sweeping reforms in several federal departments after they took office in December. This made the appointment of the new director-general to be less of a priority.

Galdurralde will replace Argentina PRO Party appointee Matías Lanusse, and comes with the impressive resume of a seasoned politician and business operative. He is the former Finance Director of ‘IOMA’, a medical assistance and workers program for BA provinces during the governorship of Javier Mouriño. He also has served as an advisor for state-owned Banco Provincia.

Joining Galdurralde will be Maria Agustina Ruax, who will serve as a technical and administrative director. She has experience as a legal liaison for the BA province’s Department of Public Coordination and Management. Carlos Gallo is expected to be named as Vice President of the IPLyC.

On March 18, South Africa’s Sun International reported an income growth of 4% in 2019. This helped the company make progress in reducing its debt to R8.8 billion ($510 million) from R9.2 billion ($530.2 million), according to a company presentation.

The success was driven in part by an 82% increase in the income of SunBet, the company’s online sports betting operation. That vertical posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of R44 million ($2.6 million). Overall, the company’s adjusted earnings increased by 109% to a total of R763 million ($45.97 million).

CEO Anthony Leeming said the company is pleased by their results:

“We are pleased with the progress we have made against these goals that have assisted us in achieving extremely pleasing results against the backdrop of an increasingly challenging environment. We were particularly pleased with our LatAm operations which showed resilience in the face of unexpected and widespread social unrest in Chile during the last quarter. Sun Dreams also demonstrated pleasing de-gearing and balance sheet strength.”

You can always gauge a peak in online poker traffic by the number of new games and tournaments that arrive on the scene. With poker players flooding back to online with many live venues closing their doors, Jake Cody puts it very well:

Guess it’s back to the online streets

— Jake Cody (@JakeCody) March 12, 2020

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The Top Seven Winners at Casino Sochi

Casino Sochi is one of the most popular casinos in the world, with stunning interiors adding to the overall sense of luxury that being situated at the former Olympic village turned playground of the super-rich brings.

When it comes to playing poker tournaments, all the best in the world seem to love showing up, and the recent Super High Roller Bowl and MILLIONS series showed exactly that, with Timothy Adams going back-to-back and Phil Ivey proving his poker legend is only growing with the passing of time.

Who is the most successful tournament player in Sochi, however? We’ve picked through the roubles, Euros and dollars to find out. You might well be surprised with the results.

Even before the current coronavirus caused crisis, Empire Resorts, owner of Resorts World Catskills, wasn’t doing too hot. In November, Empire and Genting Malaysia, the properties 49% stakeholder, had decided to take the business private to avoid bankruptcy. Now with a total shutdown, Genting has decided to inject an additional $40 million into the property to keep it alive.

In a disclosure to investors, Genting Malaysia announced it had “entered into a subscription agreement to subscribe for up to USD40.0 million (or RM174.8 million) of Series G Preferred Stock of Empire (“Equity Injection”),” on March 18. “The proceeds from the Equity Injection will be utilised by Empire for the purposes of a refinancing plan and working capital.”

This decision was made with the current crisis very much in mind. They added:

“The equity injection … enables Empire to have funds for the refinancing. The proceeds also provide Empire additional funds for its working capital, if required in view of the recently-announced temporary closure of Resorts World Catskills by the authorities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Every day behavior has had to change dramatically for millions, if not billions, of people around the globe in the past few weeks. While the situation has forced some undeniable changes on the gambling industry, people still want action, and reports out of India indicate they’ve found it online.

Glaws reports several websites have seen healthy increases in their volume. PokerBaazi’s Marketing Director, Varun Ganjoo, noted a 25% increase in traffic, and 20% increase in transactions over a one week period. PokerDangal’s Varun Mahna added evidence of this surge, noting a 15% increase in volume. He said:

“We had a user base of 5,000 daily active users, which has now increased to 6000-6500 post the restrictions. Earlier, the average time spent per day on the platform was around two and a half hours which has now increased to somewhere around 4 hours.

Games2Win is also seeing a similar increase. “We are seeing around 15 lakh (1.5 million) people playing our games daily against 11-12 lakh (1.1 to 1.2 million) people earlier,” said Tejas Shah, head of revenue and distribution.

Casino operator Landing International Development (LID) was surprised last November when two individuals suddenly popped up out of nowhere, claiming to be acting as receivers of a significant amount of company shares. They asserted that they were entitled to partial ownership of the company, through its parent company, Landing International Ltd., but the claims of possession of the shares and of ownership were always seen as dubious. It now appears that the pair may not have been able to back up their claim with any tangible proof, as LID has announced that the claims have been thrown out.

LID released a notice yesterday that shares in the company would begin trading as of today after being temporarily suspended yesterday morning. The reason for the brief hiatus was due to the revelation a day earlier that the privately-held shares involved in the receivership claim had been “discharged” and the shares had been released. As a result, and to no one’s surprise, LID was not undergoing the ownership change the two receivers had tried to fabricate.

Landing, which is behind South Korea’s Jeju Shinhwa World casino resort, further indicated in its Thursday notice that “no bona fide offer has been communicated to the board” related to a potential takeover and, as a result, the board didn’t believe that any offer was “imminent.” It added, “For the purposes of the Takeovers Code, the offer period in respect of the company closed on the date of this announcement.”

LID CEO Yang Zhihui suddenly went missing in August 2018 before resurfacing a few months later. The two individuals who tried to claim receivership of the Landing shares, Glen Ho Kwok Leung and Lai Kar Ya, apparently took advantage of his departure to step in and fill the void. However, the odds of the pair ever being able to prove they were legitimate receivers of the 50.48% stake they claimed were never in their favor and Yang launched a lawsuit against them this past January. That suit appears to have had positive results.

At the beginning of the week, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Crown Resorts said that it would take precautionary measures inline with “social distancing” protocols established by global health officials. This meant shutting off every other slot machine and electronic gaming table at its Melbourne casino, and was a decision made in accordance with Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s assertion that no country-wide shut down was necessary. At least one politician has now spoken out against Crown’s decision, and, at the same time, against the prime minister, blasting the company for not taking more drastic measures.

Labor Party politician Anthony Byrne, who also serves as the deputy head of the government’s national security committee, has gone on the offensive against both Crown and the government for not making a casino closure mandatory. He asserts, “Given this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic is a matter of national security requiring us to take all steps to protect our community, Crown and other casinos have to be shut down. Crown doesn’t offer a unique community service. It is not a special place. It undermines confidence in government measures to contain the virus by giving Crown a free ride to remain open.”

After reducing the number of available casino options at the beginning of the week, Crown and Star have since taken additional measures in an attempt to mitigate concerns over COVID-19 while still trying to function and support themselves financially. Given all of Crown’s legal issues, it needs all the help it can get.

Australian health officials have yet to rule that the current situation surrounding the coronavirus warrants a complete shutdown of the country, and Australia’s top government leaders are listening. Byrne appears to be more willing to stir up political controversy than show solidarity, singling out Crown for making a decision that is consistent with state guidelines and which has been made by other casino operators, as well.