California’s sports betting hopes were dashed on Monday as tribal opposition to a state legislator’s proposal proved too high a hurdle.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that state Sen. Bill Dodd was withdrawing his Senate Constitutional Amendment 6 (SCA-6), which would have asked state voters to amend the state constitution to allow land-based and mobile wagering by tribal casino operators and state racetracks.  

Dodd, who sponsored SCA-6 along with Assemblyman Adam Gray, cited opposition from tribal operators as the primary factor in his decision to pull the bill. Restrictions imposed by COVID-19 also played a role in preventing the state’s “significantly diverse stakeholders” from arriving at a mutually acceptable compromise.

In order to make it onto November’s ballot, SCA-6 would have needed to be approved by a two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers by Thursday. The next opportunity for a referendum on amending the constitution won’t come until November 2022, meaning California bettors won’t have legal wagering at their disposal until 2023 at the earliest.

The Premier League are edging closer to an announcement over the future of Saudi Arabia’s bid for Newcastle. A £300 million offer is expected to be approved after the Saudi government pledged to clamp down on platforms illegally streaming sporting events in the country.

Illegal sports streams emerged as a key issue for the contentious Newcastle takeover, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A report last week revealed that Saudi Arabian nationals were promoting illegal sports broadcasts through a pirate network company BeoutQ.

The report from the WTO would have meant that the potential new Newcastle owners would fail the test for directors and owners. The Saudi Arabian government has gone on the offensive vowing to comply with guidelines, with a strict crackdown on sports piracy.

The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property released a statement vowing to “shutdown 231 websites that violate intellectual property law to prevent it from being browsed from the Kingdom.”

Taking down live poker titles at the age of 64 isn’t easy for most players, but for the Frenchman known as ‘Terminator’, it seems like second nature. Over the course of the weekend, ‘Big Roger’ Hairabedian, previous winner of two World Series of Poker bracelets, took down the 2020 King’s PLO High Roller for €40,401.

King’s Casino’s reopening has attracted many headlines in the poker world, not least because of the casino, which is based on the Czech-German border, initially refused Italian players, then declared itself closed for the foreseeable, only for the casino, which contains the largest cardroom in Europe to re-open quickly once lockdown measures were eased.

Hairabedian, who lives in Marrakech these days, has over $5 million in live tournament earnings, cashing half a dozen times at the live felt in 2020 already. With 60 entries in this King’s event, he enjoyed a dominant day at the felt.

With a prize-pool of €128,250, only the final seven places were paid, and before the money bubble burst, there was plenty of drama, not least in one particular hand. Harry Casagrande – a poker player’s name if ever there was one – eliminated not one, not two but three opponents when he turned a king-high straight to rid Kristijan Maric, Robert Wilke and Andre Ellbracht of any lingering hopes they might have had of winning the tournament. Jan-Peter Jachtmann is considered a PLO specialist, but he left the action in 12th place, flopping top pair but being rivered by Christian Stratmeyer’s two-pair for the German to bust.

China’s anti-gambling crackdown has resulted in over 11,500 arrests and the seizure of US$32.4b in illegal gambling proceeds in the past four months.

On Monday, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced that it had prosecuted 257 criminal cases since launching its campaign against illegal cross-border gambling on February 28. The campaign also targeted ‘related crimes’ ranging from telecom fraud, money laundering, kidnapping, abduction, trafficking and human smuggling.

The Ministry claimed to have ‘destroyed’ 368 gambling platforms, 148 criminal groups, 187 underground banks and ‘other financial institutions’ while closing over 27k bank accounts, resulting in the confiscation of RMB229b.

The Ministry is also investigating over 200 bank and regulatory staff for possible collusion with illegal gambling operators, while a ‘large number’ of gambling suspects have been put on the country’s blacklist for traversing China’s borders.

The AFL season restart has been thrown into chaos after Essendon’s Connor McKenna tested positive to COVID-19 over the weekend. The positive test result meant that the AFL was forced to postpone the round three clash between Essendon and Melbourne.

Essendon fear that they could lose several players, with their entire playing squad set to be tested after several players came into “close contact” with McKenna. The strict quarantine guidelines imposed by the AFL and the Victorian Department of Health could see players quarantined for 14 days.

It was alleged that McKenna attended a team meeting, a gym session and full contact hit-out with the Essendon backline, while the results of his tests were still pending.

The AFL is investigating how Irish import McKenna contracted the virus, with investigators suspecting he picked it up locally. The Herald Sun reports that McKenna breached League restrictions multiple times. If found guilty, the McKenna could be facing a lengthy suspension for the 2020 season.

Right from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, industry analysts predicted there would be hard times for many operations, with those short on cash likely to go under as the crisis dragged on. That’s proving true in the Philippines, where Five Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs) have now closed. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as 11 have now been permitted to resume operations.

Philstar reports that the 5 POGOs, as well as 10 local service providers shut down, informing staff of the decision as much as two weeks ago. Over 2,000 Filipinos have lost work as a result, in positions ranging from live dealers, I.T., admin and production staff.

The strict shutdown of POGO offices during the Enhanced Community Quaratine, combined with the ongoing costs to continue operation, were blamed for the shutdowns. It likely didn’t help matters that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) demanded a full payment of outstanding taxes for operations to resume.

“Short on cash following three months of suspended operations, it won’t be surprising if more POGO firms and local service providers will close shop soon,” a source told the outlet.

During a year where most of the poker world has been forced to play online poker, it’s perhaps fitting that the best story of 2020 in poker so far is an online poker challenge that was set up long before the global Coronavirus pandemic hit.

Phil Galfond’s ‘Galfond Challenge’ attracted plenty of headlines when it kicked off, with at least five challengers each bringing something different for the man himself to combat. Could Phil Galfond still be called one of the best players in the world?

After the early exchanges of his first challenge against online player VeniVidi93, Galfond was behind. It didn’t immediately get better for him, the player known as VeniVidi going an incredible $900,000 ahead in the challenge. Galfond considered his options, with many commentators on social media claiming the comeback was impossible.

Not only did Phil Galfond recover his loss, but he won the challenge outright in an amazing final day of play. We spoke to the Run It Once creator and owner to find out what lay behind his comeback and subsequent victory in the second completed challenge against ‘ActionFreak’.

There are a million words of advice we could give you about improving your poker game with positive mental and practical habits. But, in such a time of global retreat, while you can put many positive poker tips into practice, there’s as much merit in avoiding the errors that can crrep into your game.

From fatigue to low mood and through bankroll or behavioural changes, playing poker in a time of a global pandemic is so difficult purely because it has never happened before. Here are seven ways to avoid stopping yourself being at your best.

Adjust Your Bankroll

Returning to the felt may be simple from a point of view of looking forward to poker, but if you’ve been forced to take a break during these rather odd and troubling times, it would be perfectly understandable.

This past week was a good one for sports gambling enthusiasts, as well as for certain charities. The Britannia Stakes race at Royal Ascot was held, and certain bookmakers had previously agreed to donate their profits to groups that support cancer and coronavirus initiatives. The sportsbooks are all part of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), which ultimately donated over $310,000 for the worthy causes. It was a victory for everyone involved – the gamblers came out ahead, the charities picked up some much-needed cash and the bookmakers scored some points with the public. 

Among those operators that participated in the charity driver were bet365, BetVictor, Betway, Fitzdares, Genting Bet, Grosvenor Sport, JenningsBet, Kindred Group, Ladbrokes Coral, Paddy Power Betfair, Sky Bet, Virgin Bet and William Hill. They had agreed to turn over all profits, minus taxes and other fees, from wins and each-way wagers placed on the race, allowing several charitable organization to see a welcome influx of cash. 

The CEO of the BGC, Michael Dugher, said in a statement, “It was a great day for punters, though not such a good one for the bookies. However, it’s brilliant to see that despite bookmakers not making a profit in the race, they will still make a large donation of a quarter of a million pounds to four fantastic charities, who undoubtedly deserve every penny. I’d like to thank those BGC members for this wonderful gesture.”

Among the entities that received funds were the Berkshire Community Foundation Coronavirus Fund, Marie Curie, Prostate Cancer UK and The Care Workers Charity. Royal Ascot also made a donation of $124,000 for the National Emergencies’ Trust Relief and National Health Services (NHS) Charities. The second-favorite horse, Khaloosy, won the Britannia Heritage Handicap, which means certain gamblers also scored nice paydays. The three-year-old colt would go on to claim six wins at Royal Ascot 2020. 

 Jesper Kärrbrink is always thinking ahead, leading Green Jade Games to be an industry innovator. That forward thinking ability makes him an interesting man to talk to, especially during these times. After their panel at SiGMA ICE Asia Digital, our Becky Liggero Fontana caught up with Kärrbrink for the latest episode of The Long Con, to talk about the state of the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how people can innovate in their own lives while they stay at home.

One of the feared changes from the pandemic has been an increase in gambling regulations, and Kärrbrink fears that over regulation could punishing the regulated market, driving players to internationally regulated sites. “Regulations are positive for the industry,” he was careful to note. “Regulations are positive for the people who has a problem with playing. That means that we put more efforts on problematic gambling, you focus resources on problematic gambling and you impose certain restrictions on the gaming companies so they can balance this.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnuC0M8CnIE?feature=oembed]

But just because he agrees regulation is necessary doesn’t mean he accepts what he’s currently seeing. “What we see now is, I don’t know, its political nonsense,” he said. “Someone is trying to look as powerful or action driven politician or whatever, they’re just making decisions without really looking at the data. Because what they are creating now is, they are actually risking the perfect model, or near perfect model.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to become integrated in virtually all aspects of everyday life and, in many cases, people don’t even realize that it’s present. Chatbots, self-monitoring dishwashers, Alexa and so much more would not be possible if it weren’t for AI, and Google is harnessing the power of machine learning to make picture searches on the Internet easier. The company’s Area 120 team, which is behind the tech giant’s experimental innovation, has created a new product called Keen, designed to specifically compete with Pinterest. 

Pinterest was co-founded in 2010 by Ben Silbermann, who now serves as the company’s CEO. His net worth as a result of the initiative is now over $1.5 billion, according to Forbes, which is a strong indication of how powerful Pinterest has become. It’s also the basis for Google’s interest and its desire to topple the giant. 

Keen uses AI to help Netizens find more content they like. CJ Adams, one of the project’s founders, explains in a blog post, “On Keen […] you say what you want to spend more time on, and then curate content from the web and people you trust to help make that happen. You make a ‘keen,’ which can be about any topic, whether it’s baking delicious bread at home, getting into birding or researching typography. Keen lets you curate the content you love, share your collection with others and find new content based on what you have saved.” The application is already available for Android and there is also a web-based version available. 

Application users can establish aptly-dubbed “keens” for any topic. These are essentially content groups based on the user’s criteria, such as “humpback whale migration” or “flower garden maintenance,” and Keen learns from the choices that are made. Users can select the content from related searches, share their selections with others and look for similar content to mark. Adams states, “The more you keep in a ‘keen’ and organize it, the better the recommendations will be. Even if you are not an expert on a topic, you can start creating a ‘keen’ and save some interesting gems or links that you find helpful.”