In the fast moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.

CEOs to share post-COVID-19 vision at industry’s biggest online conference

SBC Events is launching the SBC Digital Summit – the biggest ever online conference in the betting & gaming industry as it comes to terms with the deep impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

With travel and working restrictions severely limiting interconnection, the SBC Digital Summit will allow delegates to hear from the betting and gaming industry’s leading CEOs about how they are dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond.

The monumental task of overcoming COVID-19 has meant that every little bit of help truly counts for a lot. While some casino operators have focused on the devastating financial impacts they are absorbing, the casinos of Manila have emphasized what they are doing to help the Philippines.

On March 26, Okada Manila announced they would be donating a total of P50 million ($980,000), split between the Lung Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Heart Center.

In response to our medical frontliners’ growing need for support in preventing the spread of COVID-19, the Okada Foundation has pledged to donate Php25 million to the Lung Center of the Philippines and another Php25 million to the Philippine Heart Center. pic.twitter.com/AP43BcdqjP

— Okada Manila (@okadamanila) March 26, 2020

Setting the scene: The global economy is frozen in place. Production has stopped. It is becoming clearer now that the coronavirus is not nearly as deadly as initially reported. Frantic government-sponsored fear-mongers are now dialing back their Armageddon estimates of 1.2 million dead in the United States and 250,000 in the United Kingdom. Turns out that up to 2/3rd of fatalities are people who probably would have died within the year anyway. This is sad, but it it does not warrant shutting down everyone’s lives over it. I wonder how many people in their 80’s and 90’s die of the common cold.

As testing escalates and we find more asymptomatic carriers and people with mild symptoms, the fatality rate will continue to fall and we are going to be inundated with headlines about how COVID-19 is not really as bad as we thought it was. Pressure will build to open up the economy. Stock markets already seem to be anticipating this with an incredibly strong bounce off lows at the beginning of the week.

Here’s how things are likely to proceed from here and what you can do to make a few bucks off this before everything collapses again. First of all, we must accept that we are not headed back to where we were before. Everything is different now. The jig is up. Central banks are now printing infinite amounts of paper currency. The Fed’s balance sheet is now at $5.25 trillion, up over $1 trillion since March 4, by far no question the fastest rate of money printing ever. Mark my words – this rate will increase faster, and faster, and faster still. It will not stop until the dollar is dead. Central banks are locked in kamikaze mode now. BUT – there may be a few weeks to a few months before people realize this and come to terms with the terrible conclusion that the fiat dollar reserve standard, and with it every other unbacked paper currency in the world based on it, is now in its final days.

Consumers are now awaiting their stimulus checks, and pent up demand is going to mean sales skyrocket once people are let out into the world again. The euphoria in capital markets will be extreme but short-lived, as people suddenly realize that everything they need is much more expensive all the sudden. Inflation indexes are going to spike and talking heads will start to question monetary policy. At that point, stocks may continue to climb nominally, but they will lose value relative to hard assets. The best companies will eventually gain real value again on a sustained basis, but it’s going to take time and a reset before that happens.

Some football teams come out of nowhere to stamp their mark of authority on the Premier League. Think of Manchester City. Before their coffers were injected with Sheik Mansour’s billions, they were used to bouncing between relegation and promotion.

Other teams in the Premier League era were on the cusp of greatness before finally tipping over the edge and achieving that level. The Arsenal team that went unbeaten in the 2003/04 season are one of those.

Of course, to say the gunners went unbeaten the entire season would be a falsehood, as they lost games in the F.A. Cup (defeated at the semi-final stage by arch-rivals Manchester United) and League Cup (Middlesbrough winning at the semi-final stage, winning both legs at Highbury and The Riverside). Arsenal lost two of their first three games in the UEFA Champions League, too, and would eventually depart that competition meekly at the quarter-final stage to Chelsea, losing to a goal by Wayne Bridge at Highbury. But it was in the league that Arséne Wenger’s team achieved immortality.

The league campaign came on the back of a defeat in the 2002/03 title race that was to bitter enemies Manchester United, after the Red Devils won nine of their final 10 league games to snatch the title away from North London. That was not going to happen in 2003/04.

The Mike Postle case has rumbled on through the turn of the year in poker and just when you thought it might be over, Coronavirus came along. That makes court appearances all the more unlikely, with the number of cases dropped due to illness on the rise.

Mike Postle would appear to have filed a motion to dismiss his case.

We say ‘appear’ because the official court document appeared via Rounder Life in an odd way. You can take a look at the official report yourself right here.

While on the face of it, this isn’t a shocking revelation, Postle’s claim that it’s going to be impossible to prove that he cheated due to the lack of specific evidence rather than general consensus is a weak-looking argument. That is unless you take into consideration that the burden of proof is always on proving guilt rather than innocence, which is assumed from the get-go. This is already the route that Stones Gambling Hall – the venue where Postle’s alleged misdemeanours are said to have occurred – has taken the same stance.

2019 was not kind to casino equipment manufacturer Paradise Entertainment. The company has finished crunching the numbers for last year, and the bottom line isn’t very attractive. Despite seeing a year-on-year revenue increase of 1.5%, the net profit attributable to shareholders almost completely countered what was seen a year earlier. Paradise reports that this figure was 98.4% lower than in 2018, reaching just $119,442. That has forced the company to reconsider several of its activities.

In 2018, Paradise, which focuses primarily on the Macau gaming market, saw revenue of about $149.64 million. This increased to $152.22 million last year due, in part, to an increase in sales of electronic gaming equipment. This segment jumped 91.5% compared to 2018, reaching $21.9 million as the company completed the sale of hundreds of new terminals. Accounting for the increased movement, along with money coming in from royalties and lease agreements, the gaming equipment segment provided Paradise with $22.9 million in revenue.

However, that increase was countered by a weaker return in another segment. Paradise operates a small handful of casinos and satellites in Macau, and “relatively high operating costs” at these venues caused some to see decreases in revenue. Casino Kam Pek Paradise had an 11.3% drop in gross gaming revenue compared to 2018, taking in just $163.83 million. However, Casino Waldo reported a year-on-year GGR increase of 8.6% as it took in $70.57 million. Operational expenses decimated the gains, though, and Waldo ultimately recorded a loss of $3.54 million in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).

This was the second year in a row that Waldo saw a negative adjusted EBITDA, and 2019’s loss was 13.9% greater than what had been reported a year earlier. With that in mind, Paradise felt that it was time to step away from the casino, and decided not to renew its management contract, which it held under the concession owned by Galaxy Entertainment Group.

Sportsbooks can’t seem to catch a break. In the U.S., sports gambling is a nascent activity, at least legally, and many states only recently began allowing the practice. A small handful had just launched their markets this year, right before the coronavirus reared its ugly head and forced the global sports community to its knees. Sportsbooks were forced to scramble to find alternatives in order to keep the lights on, and William Hill U.S., in addition to other options, went after the world of chess. It applied with Nevada gaming regulators to be able to offer chess tournament lines, and it received the go-ahead and began preparing the odds. However, once again because of COVID-19, it was forced to put everything on hold less than two days after first starting to accept bets.

The Candidates Tournament has been underway in Russia and William Hill was able to offer lines on games in Round 7 of the series. However, the International Chess Federation (FIDE, for its Spanish acronym) called off all play ahead of Round 8, which was to get underway yesterday, and William Hill was left holding an empty bag. It said in a tweet from yesterday, “For Chess Candidates Cup Round 8 matches: The tournament has been postponed before the start of Round 8 and it will be continued at a later date. If you wish to void your bets on the Round 8 matches please contact Customer Support in Nevada.”

For Chess Candidates Cup Round 8 matches: The tournament has been postponed before the start of Round 8 and it will be continued at a later date. If you wish to void your bets on the Round 8 matches please contact Customer Support in Nevada.

More info: https://t.co/1fuqpVr46W

Kathy McCracken has her hands full. She stepped in as CEO of the Wind Creek Bethlehem casino in Pennsylvania just before the coronavirus started disrupting the gaming industry in the US, and now has to deal with a lawsuit being brought against the company by one of its own. An employee of the casino, Jacob Bartakovits, is suing over allegations that the casino is improperly withholding fees related to gaming licenses, and is looking for the lawsuit to be given class-action status as it potentially affects a number of employees.

According to Lehigh Valley Live, the lawsuit is being managed by the McClelland Law Firm, which has managed a number of cases brought against casinos around the country. At the center of the issue is a debate over how Wind Creek deducts certain fees and how it did not properly notify employees of these deductions. Federal law stipulates that any employee eligible to receive tips must be notified in advance if the employer is going to offer a base pay below minimum wage as a result of deductions, and a lack of providing this notice means the employee is entitled to the established minimum wage rate.

George Hanson, an attorney with the law firm, asserts, “Over the past five years we have successfully represented over 10,000 hourly and tipped employees in the gaming industry. We have been investigating this case for several months and look forward to moving it forward as quickly as possible to get unpaid wages back into the hands of employees.”

Bartakovits was employed as a table dealer for a little over a year, from August 2018 to October 2019, and is now looking to receive back pay that would cover the difference between what he received and regular minimum wage pay, as well as any overtime wages. Attorney Ryan McClelland, whose name is carried by the law firm, told Casino.org, “We estimate that hundreds of employees will be affected by the claims asserted in this lawsuit. All hourly, tipped workers employed within the last three years are eligible to join the case.”

The impact from the coronavirus is going to be felt for a very long time, even as governments look at ways to help provide economic relief to individuals and businesses. Many analysts are saying that 2020 is going to be a complete write-off, and this is bad news for any type of rebound. There are certain industries that are able to maintain some type of operational integrity during the health pandemic, but the gaming industry isn’t one of these. As it has come to a virtual standstill, the near-term future is not very bright, and Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) has stepped forward to try to help alleviate some of the pressure. It is launching a new online platform designed to promote innovation and solutions to challenges facing the industry as a result of the virus.

Gaming Asia Mega Experience (GAME) is “a recognition of the difficulties faced in bringing the industry together at a time when we need to collaborate and develop innovative ideas more than ever before,” IAG explains of its platform. It is designed to offer a range of online activity, including speeches, presentations, panel discussions and much more.

The CEO of IAG, Andrew Scott, states in a video presentation, “Like everyone, I’ve been watching the unfolding global crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus. In the early days of the crisis, I was hopeful that the impact on our industry might be relatively contained. Sadly, in recent weeks, it’s become abundantly clear that this a global public health catastrophe.

“Economically, the disaster is no less profound and it is not exaggerating to say this is an existential crisis for our industry – one that is not sustainable. Something will have to give, and some massive changes to our industry are coming.”

The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) have given approval for licensed operators to begin accepting wagers on the ESL Pro League Season, an esports competition. This decision gives consumers the ability to place wagers on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) competition’s ESL Pro League Season 11: North America series.

The NGCB issued a one-page statement on March 25 granting the authorization. This specifically gave consumers the right to place wagers on head-to-head matches, to wager on the winner of each match, and to place a bet on the overall season winner. Any attempt to allow wagers that deviates from one of these three criteria requires approval before bets can be accepted.

In addition, all operators who wish to offer these types of wagers are required to contact the NGCB’s Enforcement Division to inform them of which events they will be offering wagers upon.

Certain types of wagers are barred under the order. This includes in-play betting, meaning that all wagers must be taken prior to the start of each match. Operators will be responsible for setting their own odds for each match or event.