South Korea’s largest casino has extended its pandemic-related closure by another week, even as the country appears to have flattened its COVID-19 curve into a pancake.

On Wednesday, Kangwon Land announced that it was extending the shutdown of nearly all its operations by another week. The casino, the only one in South Korea in which local residents are allowed to gamble, now says it hopes to reopen on the morning of May 11.

Kangwon Land, which is located in a mountainous region around 200km north of Seoul, shut its operations on February 23 as South Korea tried to get a handle on its COVID-19 situation. Foreigners-only casino rivals Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) and Paradise Co Ltd quickly followed suit, but all four Paradise venues were back in business as of last week, while GKL has targeted a May 6 opening date.

Kangwon Land’s privileged status as a hub for local gamblers makes it a revenue powerhouse but is currently adding extra pressure to ensure its operations don’t worsen the country’s pandemic situation. But there are some hopeful signs that the company’s latest shutdown extension could be its last.

The gambling mega-merger of Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group (TSG) will be a done deal by May 5, after which the hard work of integrating the parties’ multiple gaming brands will commence.

Last week, shareholders of the UK-listed Flutter and the Nasdaq/Toronto-listed TSG approved plans to combine the companies’ multi-brand and multi-jurisdictional operations under the Flutter banner. On Thursday, the companies offered more details on how this marriage of two 800-pound gambling gorillas will work.

The enlarged Flutter will employ “a federal operating model,” which gives local teams “the autonomy to respond to developments in each of their local markets while still having access to the substantial resources that the broader Group has to offer.”

Flutter II will “initially” have five reporting segments: TSG International (excluding US operations); PPB (Paddy Power, Betfair, the Georgian-facing Adjarabet and B2B operations); Sky Betting & Gaming (UK); Australia (Sportsbet and BetEasy); and the US (FanDuel Group and TSG’s US operations).

UK gambling operators could face a total ban on advertising if certain anti-gambling members of parliament have their way.

On Wednesday, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Gambling Related Harm sent a letter to the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) regarding BGC members’ recent pledge to voluntarily suspend all TV and radio advertising for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter, signed by APPG chair Carolyn Harris, makes the rather extraordinary statement that the voluntary ad ban was an “acknowledgement” on the part of BGC chair Brigid Simmonds “that gambling advertising is harmful and something which must be restricted to protect people.” Harris claimed this “recognition” marked “an important milestone in this debate.”

Harris (pictured left) goes on to make a number of requests, including what evidence the BGC used to make its decision. The APPG wants to see quarterly data on the “take up of online gambling” compared to the previous quarter, both in the type of games played and whether VIP gambling stats mirror the larger market.

Portugal’s regulated online gambling market set new revenue records in the first quarter of 2020, which could put further pressure on the government to impose new limits for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figures released Thursday by the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body show locally licensed online gambling operators generated revenue of €69.8m in the three months ending March 31, a 47.5% increase over the same period last year and beating the previous quarterly record of €65.4m in Q4 2019.

Portugal’s ten licensed online sports betting operators reported revenue rising 39.2% to €34.5m as betting turnover rose 13.5% to €149m. The turnover figure was down significantly from Q4 2019’s €185.3m, reflecting the suspension of major sports events midway through Q1 due to the pandemic.

The market’s 12 online casino licensees saw revenue shoot up 56.5% to €35.3m as spending hit €960.8m, a nearly 58% boost from Q1 2019 and nearly €100m higher than Q4. Slots accounted for just under 70% of Q1 casino spending, up more than six points year-on-year but basically unchanged from Q4.

Staying compliant with know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations has become a top priority for all operations, as they have stepped up to own the responsibility of keeping their customers, and the public, safe while enjoying gambling. Several panels on day 4 of the SBC Digital Summit explored these topics.

First up was “The Virus Check: Payments, Fraud and ID” panel, moderated by Joe Streeter, News Editor at PaymentExpert.com, with panelists Rahul Das, Head of Payments at VirginBet, Steven Armstrong, Group Director of AML at William Hill, and Roger Tyrzyk, Country Manager for IDnow.

Has anything really changed as a result of COVID-19? Armstrong said no, not really, the principles of KYC stay the same. But it’s more about the time management of someone on your site than their financial data. Someone might have been furloughed after 20 years on the job.

But one challenge the experts think might put a twist on things is the return of major sports. Das noted that KYC checks will need to be run again as sports leagues like the Bundisliga brings back more action. Armstrong agreed, but noted that even if the sports schedule comes back, operators are used to offering 24/7 action. Das concluded that it will be like mini Saturdays all in a row, and automation will be crucial to new player registration. Ultimately, it might be the best advice to keep your customer base sustainable, and flatten the curve, he joked.

The gambling industry is slowly but surely catching on to the utility of digital currency payments, and there’s perhaps no better time to talk about them than now, when everything seems to be up in the air. Calvinayre.com’s own Rebecca Liggero Fontana moderated a panel on “Blockchain payments as a driver in crisis.” She was joined by panelists Isabelle Delisle, Head of Payments for Pinnacle, Max Krupyshev, CEO of CryptoProcessing.com by CoinsPaid, Lloyd Purser, COO of Funfair Technologies and Tom Bloor, Sales Manager of Cryptopay.

Delisle said Pinnacle have looked at blockchain payments as a companion to fiat, rather than a replacement. The first world has a wealth of options and haven’t shown a great interest in it yet, but digital currencies improve a lot in what’s available in third world nations.

Purser, who’s Funfair Technologies only uses digital assets, is in a place where he’s disrupting the industry. He noted that relying only on digital currencies results in a more secure, fair and faster experience.

Krupyshev, who provides a payment service, argued that digital currencies are completely global; everyone has access to them. They are quick and irreversible, it’s a new market, making for new opportunities, and there’s less middlemen to take a share of the pot. Bloor, who also offers a payment service, added that merchants who turn to blockchain payments generally have problems that they want to improve on, and they don’t care what technology does it. Digital currencies help to get around bank restrictions, and they are also faster across borders.

You don’t want to make a habit out of betting on someone’s untimely demise, but in the case of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, I think we can all agree that it’s fair to make an exception. With the current status of the leader in doubt, and many speculating that he’s either died or fallen seriously ill, Bodog has put out a line on who his successor would be.

Assuming Kim Jong Un is replaced as supreme leader of North Korea before January 1, 2022, Bodog has odds on more than 7 of his potential successors. Since very little is known about how the Hermit Kingdom will chose its next leader, there’s a lot of fun speculation to be had.

Leading the packing is his sister, Kim Yo Jong (-125). The youngest daughter of Kim Jong-Il, Yo Jong is formally Vice Director of the ruling party, and the unofficial chief of staff. She seems to be in a great position to slide into the role based on her family lineage, only being potentially held back as being a female heir. North Korea is apparently still a very male dominated society, which is unlike the rest of the world, I guess?

If not her, then his uncle, Kim Pyong Il (+150), could be a likely choice. He’d have to be brought out of house arrest, but he is a loyal male member of the Kim family, and that means something.

The fate of each European football league has been as changeable as each country’s medical situation over the past five weeks as the spread of Coronavirus has dictated that elite sport has been forced to disappear.

When the game will return, however, is a matter of deep debate, fueled as ever by billions that are on the line. From TV Rights to player’s appearance fees, the game of football is so rooted in financial profit and loss these days that it is no longer a beautiful game that takes place at the whim of the dreaming classes. Instead, football is a project that needs restarting but may find it impossible to do so.

FIFA Medical Committee chairman Dr Michel D’Hooghe put out a desperate plea this week to focus on the health and safety of the public rather than the completion of the football season.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV3NhQFwd7c?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

The fourth day of the SBC Digital Summit began with a track dedicated to payments, and the opportunities and challenges the gambling industry would see from the COVID-19 crisis in this area. To begin the day, Sam Barrett, Director of Gaming at Trustly, delivered the opening speech.

In a short opening talk, Barrett noted that as the economy enters tough times, jurisdictions are starting to focus on affordability. But as each country figures out how they want to tackle that problem, payments are increasingly going digital, as a way to reduce the tactile spread of the virus through coins and paper bills. “I do believe after the crisis, the need to move away from cash will be even greater,” he said.

Later in the day, in the Banking Crisis panel, moderator Andre McGeachin, CCO of Neosurf spoke with panelists Mickael Marceau, Head of Payments for the Kindred Group, Alfredo Lazcano, Chairman of Lazcano Samano, Olga Golikova, Head of Billing for Parimatch and Tal Itzhak Ron, Chairman and CEO of the Tal Ron, Drihem & Co., Law Firm looked at the continuing headches of payments and finding great banking partners, and how this crisis might change things.

Marceau and Lazcano agreed that there’s a clear lack of understanding towards the gambling industry, relegated to being a black sheep of entertainment. Lazcano suggests the gambling industry needs to invest in educating banks, and the public, that it’s a responsible industry that helps fulfil many important societal responsibilities.

The ATP Virtual Madrid Open has reached the semi-finals stage as Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas seem on collision course to meet in the final.

With four superb displays on Wednesday, both Murray and Tsitsipas put in dominating performances as they took care of Alexander Zverev and David Ferrer respectively.

Let’s dive into the entertaining Esports matches as they took place, with the quarter-finals needing a regular set to win. It’s first to six games as long as you win by two. New balls, please.

Andy Murray 6-1 Alexander Zverev