In our series on the Premier League winners of the 21st century, we have covered improbable winners such as the 2015/16 Leicester City side, as well as the dominant teams of yesteryear, such as the Manchester United side who won back-to-back-to-back league titles between 2007 and 2009. 

After a season in which Antonio Conte’s Chelsea had won the league at a canter, Pep Guardiola reinforced a defence that had endured a period halfway through the previous season where they’d lost four games in just six weeks either side of Christmas. While the preceding season had been difficult, City losing five away games, an unbeaten run at the end of the season hinted at the dominance to come in 2017/18. All in all, Guardiola spent an incredible £255 million on six first-team players.

Kyle Walker arrived for £45m from Tottenham Hotspur, and Benjamin Mendy cost even more, setting The Citizens back £49.3m as he made his way to Manchester from Monaco. Aymeric Laporte arrived from Atletico Madrid for £57m, while Ederson came from Benfica for £34.9m. Danilo made his way from Real Madrid for £26.5m and Bernardo Silva swapped Monaco for The Etihad to the tune of £43 million. It was a massive summer spending spree.

Just four games into the season, Manchester City hosted Liverpool is what would be an important game for The Citizens. Sadio Mane’s senseless red card led to a five-goal rout for the home side:

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.

Evoplay Entertainment joins forces with Ously Games

Innovative game development studio Evoplay Entertainment has announced an agreement with Ously Games, one of Germany’s leading providers of cross-platform gaming services.

The deal sees Evoplay Entertainment’s 50+ portfolio of engaging slots integrated with SpinArena, the intuitive social casino created by Ously Games.

Singapore had already begun to make headway toward offering a more transparent gambling market when it brought oversight of the industry under the control of one regulator in April. Those efforts, though, were forced into overdrive when the Marina Bay Sands casino, owned by Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Sheldon Adelson, found itself in the crosshairs of a US Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into possible money laundering. With that ongoing investigation threatening Singapore’s reputation, the country is now going to take a closer look at its gambling laws to ensure that they are in line with recommendations established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

GGRAsia reports that it received a statement from Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA), explaining that the government agency and other government officials are reviewing the country’s Casino Control Act to bring it up to FATF standards. The CRA explained, “The Ministry of Home Affairs and CRA are reviewing the legislative thresholds in the Casino Control Act with a view to lowering these thresholds further to fully comply with the FATF standards.”

Currently, cash transactions of anything above SGD10,000 ($7,177) and deposit transactions of SGD5,000 ($3,599) conducted at casinos in Singapore trigger know-your-customer protocols. However, this is higher than what the FATF has recommended, which places the transaction threshold at about $3,240. A previous study on Singapore’s gambling operations showed that it was deficient in its compliance with established protocols, having only partially created guidelines to appeal to the FATF’s recommendations. That report added that there were “deficiencies with regard to the inadequate customer due diligence requirements applicable to casinos, real estate agents, precious stones and metals dealers and accountants” that could facilitate money-laundering activity such as that now allegedly coming out of Marina Bay Sands.

LVS has a significant history of dubious practices, but has continued to push forward without much more than a slap on the wrist. It was fined $9 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2016 for violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and paid another $7 million the following year to the DOJ on related charges. There have also been reports of the company allowing drug dealers to pass massive amounts of cash through accounts registered at its casinos, and the Marina Bay Sands has been specifically targeted after a patron accused the property of transferring funds from his account to those of others without his knowledge.

Singapore had already begun to make headway toward offering a more transparent gambling market when it brought oversight of the industry under the control of one regulator in April. Those efforts, though, were forced into overdrive when the Marina Bay Sands casino, owned by Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Sheldon Adelson, found itself in the crosshairs of a US Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into possible money laundering. With that ongoing investigation threatening Singapore’s reputation, the country is now going to take a closer look at its gambling laws to ensure that they are in line with recommendations established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

GGRAsia reports that it received a statement from Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA), explaining that the government agency and other government officials are reviewing the country’s Casino Control Act to bring it up to FATF standards. The CRA explained, “The Ministry of Home Affairs and CRA are reviewing the legislative thresholds in the Casino Control Act with a view to lowering these thresholds further to fully comply with the FATF standards.”

Currently, cash transactions of anything above SGD10,000 ($7,177) and deposit transactions of SGD5,000 ($3,599) conducted at casinos in Singapore trigger know-your-customer protocols. However, this is higher than what the FATF has recommended, which places the transaction threshold at about $3,240. A previous study on Singapore’s gambling operations showed that it was deficient in its compliance with established protocols, having only partially created guidelines to appeal to the FATF’s recommendations. That report added that there were “deficiencies with regard to the inadequate customer due diligence requirements applicable to casinos, real estate agents, precious stones and metals dealers and accountants” that could facilitate money-laundering activity such as that now allegedly coming out of Marina Bay Sands.

LVS has a significant history of dubious practices, but has continued to push forward without much more than a slap on the wrist. It was fined $9 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2016 for violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and paid another $7 million the following year to the DOJ on related charges. There have also been reports of the company allowing drug dealers to pass massive amounts of cash through accounts registered at its casinos, and the Marina Bay Sands has been specifically targeted after a patron accused the property of transferring funds from his account to those of others without his knowledge.

Bulgaria’s gambling market could face a dramatic upheaval if a bill proposed by a far-right legislator is approved.

Last week, Valeri Simeonov, a leader of the right-wing National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB), introduced legislation that would restrict land-based gaming operations to 10 large integrated resort casinos in five-star hotels within 20km of Bulgaria’s national borders.

Simeonov’s bill also calls for the closure of 638 existing casinos and slots halls across the country no later than December 31, 2025. On Monday, Simenov told a local TV station that the aim was “to focus this activity on foreigners, on tourists – not on Bulgarians.”

The NFSB, which is part of a coalition with the governing GERB party, also wants the government to return to its old tax regime, which collected 15% of online betting operators’ turnover, while also applying that rate to lottery sales.

New Zealand casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group is celebrating the country’s lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings, while the nation’s racetracks are still wondering if they’ll have warm bodies in their betting booths this week. 

On Monday, the New Zealand government announced that the country was officially moving to COVID-19 Alert Level 1 effective at midnight after health officials reported the last known individual infected with COVID-19 had recovered. It’s been 17 days since the country reported a new infection.

The shift to Level 1 means the elimination of nearly all pandemic-related restrictions, paving the way for what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called “public events without limitations,” including thousands of fans packed into sports stadiums.

Ardern also declared that both retail and hospitality operations are “back without limitations.” SkyCity, which has been operating under pandemic restrictions since its May 14 reopening, announced Monday that “over the next few days,” all its New Zealand casinos (with the exception of the Wharf in Queenstown) “will return to normal hours as will the majority of SkyCity’s restaurants and the Sky Tower.”

Each week, we take a look at the game of poker making it to the written page in one form or another. This week, popular poker author Jeff Hwang’s look at going from NHLE To PLO is put in the spotlight.

Adapting to modern day poker isn’t so straight forward as playing Game Theory Optimal (GTO) strategy and sticking to No Limit Hold’em. In the 2008 book Pot Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy by Jeff Hwang, the idea of swapping the two-card game for the four-card game is explored as an appealing one by the writer in question.

Pot Limit Omaha is of course now one of the most well-loved poker formats to play, and with many PLO tournaments around the world, including many each year at the World Series of Poker, players have embraced the game now. This book is not for you if you’re already au fait with PLO to such a standard that you wouldn’t need advice on how to swap no limit skills for the four-card game.

PLO’s appeal is that bigger pots and more action are virtually guaranteed by the structure of the event and the fact that four cards means more hands are open to turn your hand into a winning one.

South Korea’s casino operators are discovering that reopening after their lengthy COVID-19 shutdown doesn’t mean a return to anything resembling ‘normal.’

Last week, Paradise Co Ltd reported that sales at its four foreigner-only casinos totaled KRW29.8b (US$24.5m) in the month of May, down 51.2% from the same month last year. Table games were down 52.4% to KRW27.3b while electronic gaming machines slid nearly one-third to KRW2.5b.

However grim May’s sales may seem, they represent a step up from April’s sales of just under KRW8b. April’s numbers were laid low by Paradise’s decision to close its casinos on March 23 due to COVID-19. But as the country’s infection rate slowed, Paradise reopened its Jeju Island venue on April 13 and its three mainland properties one week later.

Paradise’s fortunes largely mirrored that of Grand Korea Leisure (GKL), which operates three foreigner-only casinos under its Seven Luck brand. GKL reopened its casinos in the first week of May, but the partial month’s sales were down 73.7% to KRW10.4b, with table games down 76% to KRW8.1b and gaming machines off nearly 59% to KRW2.3b.

Detroit’s three commercial casinos will face some of the most restrictive measures in the country when they’re finally allowed to end their COVID-19 shutdown.

Detroit’s three casinos learned Monday that they will be restricted to just 15% of their respective Fire Department-mandated maximum capacities during the “initial reopening” after their pandemic lockdown, which has been in place since mid-March.

Casinos also won’t be allowed to operate their poker rooms, while most other table games will be limited to three players apiece, with four players allowed at roulette and mini-baccarat tables, and six allowed at craps tables. Dice must be disinfected for each new craps shooter and all dealers must wear masks and/or face shields.

The casinos’ new sportsbooks – which were in action for about a week before the lockdown commenced – will have to keep customers six feet apart at all times.

Loot boxes in online video games could be classified as gambling products depending on the results of a new UK government impact study.

On Monday, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the branch of the government which oversees gambling activity, announced plans to launch a call for evidence into “the impact of loot boxes on in-game spending and gambling-like behavior.”

The DCMS said it was prompted to act by its Select Committee’s report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies, which recommended that the government introduce regulations “to specify that loot boxes are a game of chance.”

The Committee also recommended that loot boxes containing an element of chance “should not be sold to children playing games” and games that contain such boxes should be labeled as gambling products with corresponding age limits. The Committee also urged the DCMS to establish a framework for ‘duty of care practices’ for eSports.

Sweden’s online gambling operators have some suggestions for how the government might better protect consumers, while the state-run Svenska Spel wants the government to better protect its lottery monopoly.

On Monday, Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), Sweden’s online gambling industry group, offered the government its proposed ‘measures for a safer gambling market,’ seeking to counter the government’s plan to impose strict deposit and spending limits on online casino products as of the first week of July.

BOS recently commissioned a study by Copenhagen Economics to determine what effect the proposed limits will have on ‘channeling’ Swedish gamblers away from internationally licensed gambling sites and toward locally licensed operators.

The report estimated that the online casino channeling rate will likely fall from its current estimate of 72-78% playing with local operators to a range of 52-63%. BOS CEO Gustaf Hoffstedt believes this will put the Swedish market “back to the unsustainable situation” that led the government to launch a regulated online market in January 2019.

The SiGMA-ICE Asia and SiGMA Deep Tech Summit wouldn’t be much of an Asian summit if it didn’t take a long, broad look at all of the important countries to the Asian market, and Day 1 of the conference did not disappoint. A series of talks and panels took a look at several of the important countries to the gambling industry.

That began with a look at Australia, moderated by Ben Blaschke, managing Editor at Inside Asia Gaming. He was joined by Jamie Nettleton, Gambling Law Partner at Addisons Lawyers, and Fredric Gushin, Managing Director, Spectrum Gaming Group.

Nettleton noted the obvious short term impact Covid-19 has had on Australia, with a complete loss of revenues for the industry. Casinos have laid off 90% of staff, he noted, and online gambling is still not an option. “It will take a long time to get back in an operational manner,” he said.

Gushin gave a perspective of what we can expect to come. “People are going to have to reestablish confidence in going to venues where there are many people.” He said. Looking back at precedents set by 9/11 and The Great Recession, airlines took 3 years to recover after 9/11 for Las Vegas, and the gambling industry as a whole needed as much as 7 years to get back to pre-recession levels.

Last week, we brought you the statistically worst World Series of Poker bad beat of all-time. It involved Bryce Yockey, 2-7 Triple Draw and a 0.16% chance from the flop.

Was it the most dramatic, however? What about the most unlikely scenario that could lead to a showdown between the two biggest hands in poker? Well, that hand happened back in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.

The hand in question possibly only ever made it to screen because of the presence of actor Ray Romano, who starred in Everybody Loves Raymond and who played the WSOP Main Event for five consecutive years between 2007 and 2011 as well as in both 2013 and 2015.

Romano is sitting two seats to the left of Justin Phillips in the hand, which had already reached the river on a board showing Ah-9c-Qd-Td-Ad. As the on-camera action begins, the commentary team announce that Motoyuki Mabuchi has already made a bet, and we then see Justin Phillips raise that bet.