Monthly Archives: April 2020

Sky Racing World launches Japan NAR simulcasting

Japan Racing simulcasts latest addition to distributor’s catalogue of international thoroughbred racing

Louisville, KY. April 2nd, 2020 – Sky Racing World, the Louisville, Kentucky-based distributor of international horse-racing content and subsidiary of Australian wagering operator Tabcorp, has announced the launch of a new simulcasting product that will make Japan National Association of Racing (NAR) horse racing available to North American audiences. The service will officially launch on Sunday night,  April 5th, with races from Tokyo City Keiba, Oi Racecourse.

The Japan National Association of Racing is Sky Racing World’s exclusive partner in distributing the weekly simulcasts every Sunday through Thursday night. At commencement, racing will be offered from three tracks: Tokyo City Keiba, Funabashi and Kawasaki, with Sunday night’s first post at 1:30am ET (i.e. early Monday morning). All tracks and races will be conducted on a dirt surface.

Audiences will now be afforded access to an additional range of quality Japanese racing events, including the Tokyo Sprint (Listed) on opening night and the Gr1 Japan Dirt Derby (1m 1/8) from Tokyo City Keiba on July 7th. A familiar range of betting types will be available, including: Win, Place, Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pick 3, and Pick 4.

Cambodia casino staff fear future after COVID-19 shutdown

Cambodia’s casino owners are being reminded not to forget their staff’s needs now that the government has shut down all gaming venues to prevent further COVID-19 spread.

On Thursday, the Khmer Times reported that the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW) was increasingly concerned about the wellbeing of some 20k casino employees who are currently out of work following the government-ordered “temporary closure” of all casinos effective April 1.

In making his announcement on Monday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the government would offer casino operators certain tax exemptions to help them deal with the disruption. Hun Sen also told casino owners to ensure they paid out March wages before laying off their staff.

While some casino staff have confirmed receiving their March wages, owners have been tight-lipped regarding whether they feel any obligation to financially assist staff during the enforced layoff. CUMW president Pav Sina expressed concern that staff will quickly find themselves in financial difficulty if the ‘temporary’ closure lasts longer than anticipated.

Kindred: online gambling adoption will be coronavirus silver lining

Nordic online gambling operator Kindred Group wants the investment community to remember how young and virile they were before the stupid coronavirus came along and spoiled things.

On Thursday, the Stockholm-listed Kindred issued an update on “the initial impact of COVID-19” on its operations. Citing the “exceptional circumstances” and the need to ensure that Kindred is “well capitalized for future investment opportunities,” the company is now recommending no 2019 dividend be paid to shareholders.

Kindred, the parent company of Unibet, will publish its official Q1 financial figures on April 24 but the company said it estimates revenue will come in between £247m-252m (up from £224.4m in Q1 2019). Kindred says sports margins were up 2.5 points to 12.2% prior to “the disruption of sports in the middle of March” as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

Like some other operators, Kindred said the reduced sportsbook turnover was “partially compensated by solid growth in revenues from other products.” Nonetheless, daily average revenue from March 16-31 was around £2.2m, 10% lower that the daily average throughout 2019.

Who should foot the bill for football’s furloughed staff?

With English Premier League football on an undefined hiatus following the coronavirus outbreak, when Premier League and indeed all English football league clubs were forced off the field of play to cope with COVID-19 and defer the end of the season to either the summer or the history books.

In the days and weeks that have followed that decision, football fans have gone through many phases. The initial feeling was commonly that we missed football but appreciated that it was a necessary sacrifice to make, of course. But as the delay to the end of the season has turned into a question as to whether the season will be written off, many fans are too distraught at the thought of no live football for so long that they have become despondent.

If fans miss football, then what about the staff who work at the Premier League clubs up and down the country? Well, as it turns out, some have been looked after and others haven’t. Manchester United announced very quickly that they would be footing the bill for their staff, a move which will cost them upwards of £1 million.

BBC Reporter Dan Roan broke the news yesterday, however, that Tottenham Hotspur have done no such thing, and that their staff are being furloughed at a cost of the government and will receive 80% of their wages.

King’s Casino to remain closed to visitors until September 1st

The largest casino in Europe has announced today that it will remain closed to visitors until September 1st at the earliest.

King’s Casino, which sits on the Czech/German border in the town of Rozvadov, is one of the most popular poker destinations in the world. While some venues sell themselves on what they offer outside of the game of poker, King’s do the opposite, with almost nothing to offer in Rozvadov itself except the stunning cardroom itself, which has hosted the WSOP Europe, MILLIONS Main Events and many other major events.

Today’s announcement that the venue will remain closed to the poker-playing public has an ominous air to it, therefore. Head to the King’s website and you’ll be greeted with a fairly stark yet staple statement:

“In compliance with the Czech government-issued restrictions on March 12 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, King’s Resort, King’s Casino Prague and Casino Admiral Rozvadov will be temporarily closed from today, 13th of March, until further notice. King’s Resort Team deeply apologizes for any inconvenience these measures may have caused. Please check our social media for any further updates.”

MLB Home Run Leader odds: Can Alonso repeat?

Last year, the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso led the major leagues with a franchise-record 53 home runs, also an MLB record for a rookie. Alonso is +1000 to repeat as the home run king at sportsbooks, although it’s likely no player will be hitting 50 home runs again in 2020 because there isn’t going to be anywhere near 162 games due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Alonso, incidentally, also won the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game last year. The 2016 second-round pick out of the University of Florida wasn’t even a lock to make the Opening Day roster out of spring training. Alonso was the first rookie to lead the majors in home runs since Mark McGwire tied for the lead with 49 in his 1987 campaign.

Those 49 home runs had been the MLB rookie record until the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge hit 52 in 2017 to lead the American League. He’s +1400 on this prop but has had trouble staying healthy since then. Teammate Giancarlo Stanton, who hit 59 home runs three years ago to lead the majors, is +2000 but also has some issues staying healthy.

Wimbledon cancellation officially makes COVID-19 as bad as Hitler

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 Wimbledon Championship tennis tournament, officially making the novel coronavirus as bad as Hitler.

On Wednesday, the All England Club (AELTC) announced that it was officially cancelling this year’s Wimbledon event “due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic.” The 134th Wimbledon will instead be staged from June 28 to July 11, 2021.

The original plan was to postpone the event until later this summer but the UK government’s increasingly dire forecasts and Tuesday’s one-day death toll of 563 quashed those ideas. AELTC chairman Ian Hewitt noted that it usually took a World War to result in Wimbledon’s cancellation, so Britons will likely find some way to blame this on Boris Becker or Steffi Graf.

Wimbledon’s absence will leave yet another giant hole on bookmakers’ calendar, and more holes may appear if other Grand Slam events such as the French Open (currently delayed to September) and the US Open (holding firm for the moment for late August) follow Wimbledon’s lead.

Greece’s online gambling plans get EC nod, applications flood in

Greece’s online gambling regulations have cleared their first European Commission (EC) hurdle as applications for new licenses flooded in just under the wire.

April 1 marked the end of the EC’s three-month standstill period for Greece’s new online gambling technical specifications, which seek to bring order to a market that has known only regulatory chaos for nearly a decade. A few more EC hurdles remain but these could be wrapped up by mid-June, after which new licenses could be issued.

Accordingly, Greek media reported Tuesday that all companies holding so-called ‘transitional’ online gambling licenses had submitted their applications for new online permits by the March 31 deadline. The Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) previously assured these operators that they could continue their Greek-facing operations past April 1 provided they submitted their paperwork on time.

Greece’s new licensing regime is a two-tiered affair with sports betting permits costing €3m and a license spanning casino and poker products available for €2m. Each type of license is valid for seven years.

Sands, Wynn extend plan to pay furloughed casino staff

Casino operators Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts are promising to do right by their employees even as the COVID-19 pandemic leaves their US casinos locked up tight and their Macau casinos struggling.

Nevada casinos learned Wednesday that their state-ordered shutdown would extend through the entire month of April, dashing hopes of any imminent return to normalcy in this new coronavirus climate. Gambling regulators in other US states that haven’t already extended their own shutdowns are likely to mimic Nevada’s moves in the days and weeks to come.

Wednesday also saw Wynn Resorts announce that it was extending its ‘payroll continuance’ for over 15k furloughed staff in Nevada and Massachusetts by an additional 30 days through May 15. The company took this step “as part of its shared responsibility for the health and safety of its employees, their families and the Las Vegas and Greater Boston communities.”

Wynn senior management, including CEO Matt Maddox, previously announced that they would forego all or some of their usual salaries for the remainder of 2020 in exchange for company shares.