Two years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court sent out a loud message to federal legislators (and certain casino operators and sports organizations) that they were unequivocally wrong and that their attempts at manipulating states’ rights were completely off-base. It was May 14, 2018 when the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) was repealed by the highest court of the country, paving the way for states to reclaim their constitutionally-guaranteed right to control whether or not they would allow legal sports gambling. In celebration of the momentous occasion, SBC has put together a virtual soiree, dubbed PASPA Repeal, to mark the second anniversary of PASPA’s demise.

SBC, among other things, is behind several large gaming-centered conferences, including Betting on Sports America and the recently-completed SBC Digital Summit. It has now put together PASPA Repeal as a virtual networking event to give those in the gaming industry a place to discuss how the reversal of PASPA has impacted the industry. It is designed to give “operators, suppliers, affiliates, lawmakers, advocates and the media” an opportunity to “discuss the progress made towards the creation of a thriving market over the last two years and what the next steps for the U.S. sports betting industry might be.”

Scheduled to participate in the summit are Raymond Lesniak, a former New Jersey Senator and one of the main players of the PASPA repeal effort, SportAD CEO Joe Brennan, Jr., who is also the former director of iMEGA and an opponent of PASPA, and professional sports gambler and writer Captain Jack Andrews. Participants will be able to hear the opinions of the panelists as they relate to the changes in the U.S. sports gambling market, as well as ask questions and share their own thoughts about the industry. It is also a great opportunity for attendees to network and make new contacts in the growing sports gambling ecosystem.

It took a stubborn, relentless effort on the part of New Jersey to finally prove to the Supreme Court that PASPA violated the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Justice Samuel Alito, one of the seven justices to side with New Jersey (two justices voted against the repeal), explained at the time, “The PASPA provision at issue here—prohibiting state authorization of sports gambling—violates the anti-commandeering rule. PASPA’s provision prohibiting state ‘licens[ing]’ of sports gambling schemes also violates the anti-commandeering rule. In either event, state legislatures are put under the direct control of Congress. It is as if federal officers were installed in state legislative chambers and were armed with the authority to stop legislators from voting on any offending proposals. A more direct affront to state sovereignty is not easy to imagine.”

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.

Betsoft Gaming raises the stakes with Platinum Casino

Betsoft Gaming, a leading provider of high-quality iGaming content has partnered with Romania-based Platinum Casino. The agreement will see the integration of a wide selection of Betsoft’s top-performing titles on the online casino in order to create differentiation for the casino in a crowded market and engagement with an increasingly sophisticated demographic.

Having identified specific features that create and retain customer engagement in its home market, Platinum Casino is confident that Betsoft’s portfolio, as well as its brand capital, will hugely appeal to the target audience – both existing and new.

It has been a grueling two months since casinos across the US were forced to kick out gamblers in order to stave off the spread of the coronavirus. Potentially losing millions of dollars in revenue each week the shutdown was prolonged, casino operators could only watch with anxious energy for some sign that things were returning to normal. As of this week, some casinos across the country have begun to open their doors once again, inviting gamblers back with the smell of casino chips and the melodies of the slot machines. While more casinos have started to follow the lead set by casinos in Oklahoma and elsewhere, others aren’t yet ready to take the leap.

Casinos in South Dakota and Oklahoma have been among the first to begin welcoming patrons once again, albeit with a lot of restrictions in place. Visitors will find reduced capacities at all venues and will need to adhere to social distancing policies that have been implemented to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. With these operations back in business, the Golden Nugget Lake Charles in Louisiana expects to be the first in the state to open its casino floor next Monday. The gambling activity will begin following the successful reintroduction of the venue’s hotel, restaurants and other amenities, scheduled to take place this Friday. Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta explains in a statement, “We have anxiously awaited this reopening and look forward to welcoming the Lake Charles and surrounding communities back to our hotel and casino. This is a step in the right direction to getting our employees back to work.”

In Washington State, the Angel of the Winds Casino Resort began welcoming visitors yesterday, becoming the first casino in the state to reopen. It has been closed since late March, and is implementing some unique policies to ensure it does its part to operate in accordance with state policies. All guests will need to carry a cell phone when they arrive as the casino is operating on a waiting-list system. Only one entrance is open, accessible through the parking lot with both the valet and parking garage closed, and guests have to check in upon arrival. They will be given a list of procedures they must follow and will then return to their vehicles. When it’s their turn to enter the casino, they’ll receive a text message on their cell phone to let them know.

Unfortunately, not everyone is on board with the relaunch plans. Ameristar Casino in Missouri would have been more than happy to get back to business this weekend, but its hands are being tied by bureaucracy. The state’s gaming commission has decided that gambling isn’t yet a priority, and will keep all casinos closed through the end of the month. That is certain to make the casino’s owner, Boyd Gaming, a little uneasy, as it has already stated that it took a huge hit in the first quarter of the year.

Hard Rock International (HRI) has had a closely intertwined relationship with music and gambling for decades. Just saying the name Hard Rock is enough to conjure up visions of gaming tables and autographed guitars and jackets in a single image. As huge as the company is, however, it was missing a key element that seemed to be at odds with the brand itself. HRI can be found all over the U.S., as well as outside the country, but it wasn’t allowed to claim ownership of the brand in Las Vegas. That has now been remedied after HRI purchased the intellectual property (IP) rights to the brand and all its trademarks in Nevada from Juniper Capital.

Per a press release from HRI from yesterday, the company has sealed the deal on the acquisition from Juniper, giving it full access to everything previously controlled under the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino® Las Vegas name. This includes all signage, merchandise, memorabilia, IP, websites and anything else Juniper had assigned to its Hard Rock operations. HRI Chairman Jim Allen states in the press release, “This agreement marks an exciting chapter for Hard Rock, in Las Vegas and beyond. We look forward to the opportunity of enhancing our presence in Las Vegas, which will always be one of the most iconic entertainment markets in the world.”

Juniper is part of a larger conglomeration of entities that count Virgin Hotels among its operations. Virgin Hotels owner Sir Richard Branson purchased the Vegas Hard Rock just over two years ago, with plans to convert it into a Virgin-branded resort. There has been talk of the Hard Rock name making a return to the Vegas landscape and, should that happen, it will now do so under HRI’s umbrella.

The terms of the deal weren’t announced, but it’s a coup for everyone involved. Given the sudden drop in revenue experienced by casinos around the world, the ability of HRI to lay out funds for what could only be a massive purchase speaks well of its financial health. The decision may have been made a little easier after it was revealed that the company had lost its appeal to put a casino resort in Greece, freeing up some cash. At the same time, Branson has already made it clear that he needs to shore up his businesses to stem the bleeding, and this transaction should provide a significant amount of help as Branson looks to raise at least $500 million.

A group of business owners, including some casino heavyweights, in Atlantic City (AC), led by the political action committee AC Residents for Good Government (ACRGG), are hoping they can oust Mayor Marty Small and the current City Council structure. They would prefer to see just a city manager and a small council managing the city’s affairs and, of course, would make their own determination on how those individuals would be. If the results of a special election held this past Tuesday are any indication, the odds of the group getting its way are very long. The initial results show overwhelming support for the status quo, and little support for the opposition.

The voting took place through mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic, and was meant to serve as a gauge to determine whether or not a larger vote would be needed. According to what election officials have released, ACRGG is fighting a losing battle, as there were 3,275 votes that turned down the effort to change the city’s government, compared to just 985 approvals for the measure. Mayor Small didn’t waste time expressing his excitement about the results, turning to social media to state, “With about 2,000 more votes to count it will get uglier. I’ve never been more proud of our town. NO MEANS NO. THIS IS OUR CITY.”

Votes will be accepted through today, so there’s a chance that more yes votes will be seen. However, support to overthrow the local government would still be short, and the ACRGG now realizes that it may have been blinded by the potential power grab. Led primarily by the owner of Resorts Casino, Morris Bailey, and Unite Here Local 54 union president Bob McDevitt, the group has recognized its chances of success are almost nil, and McDevitt said in a press release, “After the first night of counting the ballot it is clear that the referendum to change the government structure in Atlantic City will be defeated by a wide margin, even though counting continues. We congratulate the opposition to this question and thereby concede defeat.”

The results must have come as a shock to the politically-motivated group. In order to seek changes to the government’s structure, it had to first request a ballot entry for the issue to be discussed publicly. For that to happen, a signature-gathering initiative, standard for almost any change involving politics was conducted and the ACRGG managed to collect 3,033 signatures for its cause. However, when push came to shove, it seems that many of those who signed their name on the list may have done so either not knowing what they were signing, or not caring.

During a time of lockdown for the majority of the globe, almost zero traditional sports to bet on and bonus restrictions in some jurisdictions, iGaming operators must find ways to communicate with customers and keep them engaged until we return to some sort of normality.

Customer retention, reactivation and loyalty company Enteractive specializes in this exact service, currently working with a huge client list of iGaming operators, making thousands of calls to customers every day. Even during lockdown.

“We have two major services, reactivation and activation and its basically through our reactivation cloud. Our big operators connect to the reactivation cloud and we perform calls to their customers. Its all to get that long-term loyalty and to get them back to the site and to chat to them and this has been done for over 11 years”, Mikael Hansson, Enteractive’s Owner and CEO, revealed.

Hansson is a firm believer that now is more important than ever to pick up the phone and engage with customers. His company has achieved enormous success in doing so, continuing to serve clients even when sports and bonuses are unavailable in the majority of cases.

Vietnam’s casino operators are slowly coming back to life after the nationwide shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, Australian-listed casino operator Donaco International announced that it had lifted the temporary closure of its Aristo International Hotel on Vietnam’s northern border with China. Donaco furloughed most Aristo staff in February as Chinese gamblers — on which the Aristo relies for most of its business — opted against travel and the property was officially closed on April 1.

Having managed to contain its COVID-19 situation, Vietnam allowed non-essential businesses to reopen as of May 8. Some casinos, such as the unfortunately named Corona Resort & Casino on Phu Quoc island, opted to open immediately. Donaco said Aristo would operate “on a limited basis” for the foreseeable future, as the Vietnam-China border remains closed for the time being.

Donaco’s announcement followed similar news from Platinum Entertainment Ltd, which manages gaming operations at the Royal Casino Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province. The Royal opened its doors on Tuesday, with the now-standard recipe of reduced gaming options and employees frantically coating every solid object with antiseptic liquid.

The UK Gambling Commission has shown a rare sense of mercy after letting some on-course bookmakers off the hook for getting stung in the regulator’s underage betting sting.

Last July, the UKGC announced that seven unidentified on-course bookmakers had allowed the regulator’s undercover 16-year-old agent place wagers at the Royal Ascot meet the month before. This January, word leaked that the UKGC planned to impose penalties equal to 2.5% of each of the offending bookies’ annual gross profit.

Psych! On Wednesday, word broke that the bookies had been let off with warnings or ‘advice to conduct’ letters stressing that they needed to up their Age Verification compliance. The small-time bookies had protested that the 2.5% penalty, which in one case would have amounted to £7,600, was vastly disproportionate to their infractions.

The UKGC, which hasn’t been as lenient with other licensees who strayed from the straight and narrow, said it chose to spare the rod in this case due to “the impact of the exceptional commercial challenges and current uncertainty for on-course bookmakers.” However, the regulator warned that it would be watching the sinful seven closely, and future cockups won’t find the UKGC in such a forgiving mood.

With just 10 players making it through to Day 2 of the $25,000-entry Super High Roller PokerStars SCOOP event, Hungarian high roller Andras Nemeth has a massive chip lead going into the deciding day.

With a huge chip lead of over 6 million chips to his nearest rival’s 3.2 million, Nemeth has every chance of building on his success in the recent Poker Masters Online Series. With 59 players and 30 re-entries, Nemeth leads the 10 players who will win the remainder of the $2,182,725 prize-pool. Only 11 players were to be paid, with the unfortunate Timothy Adams cashing out for $55,088 in 11th place as his ace-queen was eclipsed after the chips went in pre-flop by Nemeth’s ace-ten.

Heading into the final day, Samuel Vousden will enter play with just 21 big blinds as the shortest stack at either table. Vousden has just 837,202 but will still harbor hopes that he can upset the odds and take down the $521,598 top prize.

Other huge names who are still in the hunt include two massive German powerhouses in Ole Schemion (2,560,483) and Fedor Holz (1,170,863) with online legend Ben ‘Sauce123’ Sulsky also hoping to click his way to yet another six-figure sum, the kind he puts on the line every day in high stakes cash games.

Ukraine’s government has blocked the domains of 59 internationally licensed online gambling operators, even as the country’s efforts to regulate its own online market remain bogged down.

On Tuesday, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) announced that material it provided had led to the courts ordering local internet service providers to block 59 unauthorized gambling domains. The SSU said it would continue to “take all necessary measures to bring to justice” individuals who flout the country’s online gambling laws.

The SSU declined to specify the identities of these 59 online rapscallions, but did say they included the “20 most popular platforms among Ukrainian gamblers.” In February, Ukraine’s telecom regulator ordered the blocking of 32 gambling domains, including familiar western faces such as PartyPoker and Pinnacle.

On Wednesday, the ever-busy Cyber Police of Ukraine announced the arrest of a 46-year-old man in Odessa accused of running three unauthorized online casinos that catered to over 20k users in Ukraine and Russia. The man also operated a payment processing network that generated ‘earnings’ of over UAH1m (US$37,500) per month. The police noted that the three sites have now been blocked, but it’s unclear if they are among the 59 cited above.