The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) continues to charge forward as it looks to instill a greater amount of confidence among consumers in the gaming industry. It has already introduced a number of initiatives to ensure that everyone knows that it means business and has its fingers on the pulse of gambling operations around the world. In one of its latest endeavors, the IBIA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with an online gambling trade group out of the Netherlands, Stichting Speel Verantwoord (SSV), which is going to lead to better clarity and transparency for the country’s gaming community.

SSV, translated into English, is Play Responsible Foundation, which is precisely what the trade group is designed to address. The new arrangement it has made with the IBIA will lead to collaboration on a number of integrity-focused projects, including the promotion and creation of workable regulated gambling markets and “consumer channeling,” according to a report by SBC News. In addition, they will be working on other initiatives that will focus on integrity and consumer protection for the entire gaming ecosystem.

SSV Managing Director Peter-Paul de Goeij asserts, “There are a significant number of companies that are members of both associations and there is clear benefit for our two bodies from working closely in the lead up to the introduction of the remote gambling law.

“Whilst both associations welcome the opening of the market, the law places a number of restrictions on certain betting products on integrity grounds, which both the SSV and IBIA have questioned; there is a general concern about the impact on consumer channelisation and market viability.”

In the early months of 2020, sports betting was looking to have a banner year, as more regions opened up to the activity and better educated punters started looking at all the options in front of them. Covid-19 kind of ruined that, but as Becky Liggero Fontana learned in her conversation with Jesper Søgaard, CEO of Better Collective, esports came to save the day.

Liggero Fontana began by asking about how the year took a turn for the worse. “Actually as you say, numbers look good, and we actually, especially in January and February, had a very good start of the year with really record activity on our sites and in the business as a whole,” he said. “And we started seeing sort of the gradual effect of Covid-19 end of February on the NDC sites, for the new depositing customers with our partners. But it wasn’t until mid-March where we saw the complete cancellation of sports globally, where we could see a significant drop in the business. But we’ve just had so much momentum already, so as you say the numbers actually came out quite well. And we also gave an update then on April, with our Q1 report, stating that we had revenue of 4.6 million euros for April, which is down 17 percent compared to April last year.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGDZfQLhL3IVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Jesper Søgaard discusses how big a role esports played in the last 3 months (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGDZfQLhL3I)

But things are slowly starting to turn around again, and Søgaard is optimistic. “So of course a drop, and the organic growth was minus 41 percent, so there we could really see the impact, but then but again there were no sports, and now this weekend we saw the German Bundesliga, so it’s actually, you know I’m cautiously optimistic right now, because it seems like we’re over the worst of this crisis,” he said. “As you mentioned here in Copenhagen, our headquarters, most employees are now back in the office. We have of course also offices in the U.S. where that’s not the case, but I think at least now I’m cautiously optimistic about the future development.”

As much as it sounds like it could be a restaurant in the sky, a cloud kitchen definitely has strong terrestrial roots. The cloud kitchen concept essentially refers to a restaurant that is dedicated totally to delivery, and is also known as a ghost or a virtual kitchen. The idea sprouted from the current situation caused by the coronavirus, which has forced people to stay indoors almost 100% the time. When they’re able to venture out, they have to ensure they adhere to social distancing policies and practice health and safety measures meant to ensure COVID-19 doesn’t make a return. The cloud kitchen is offering an alternative to take-out in order to allow diners to get their restaurant fix without having to worry about dealing with the concerns of being possibly exposed to the virus. 

A cloud kitchen can be built virtually anywhere – mall parking lots, hotel kitchens, industrial centers and more. They are cheaper to set up and operate, which is always a plus for a venture whose margins are, on average, much lower than those of other consumer segments. There is less overhead and, since food delivery is such a common attraction across the globe, finding services to handle that leg of the process is relatively easy. 

The initiative also follows a trend that sees more consumers moving their purchases online. There is virtually nothing that cannot be bought through a website these days, and many companies are exploring advanced technology, such as drones, to handle the delivery. While the latter may take a while to gain traction, the theory and the implementation have already been proven effective. 

According to Ken Research, a market intelligence firm, online grocery purchases are expanding exponentially. For example, in the United Arab Emirates, online grocery orders increased anywhere from 80-100% over the first five months of 2020. This segment has become more attractive because of COVID-19 and mandated or self-imposed quarantines. The coronavirus may go away but, now that people have seen how easy it is to place orders online for almost anything, that trend won’t go away. One eCommerce operator has asserted, “While e-commerce was just an option before Covid-19, it is now essential for retailers and producers to sell their products through e-commerce platforms in order to survive. The long-term impact will be positive for online shopping as it will start to become habitual for consumers.”

While the riots and protests following the death of George Floyd as he was being arrested by police have calmed down in some areas of the U.S. (and even in Australia, where some individuals apparently decided they needed to join in on the action), other locations aren’t as lucky. Looting and willful destruction of public property continue, and Nevada has seen its fair share of problems. Just as the state was getting ready to start its rebuilding process following the coronavirus pandemic that shuttered all casinos within its borders, Nevada is dealing with a new situation that has already forced the National Guard to be brought into Reno. The armed military branch will now also be seen in Las Vegas, which is going to cause greater concern for the city that expected to open its gambling halls starting tomorrow. 

 In Sin City, most of the protests have been relatively calm compared to what has been seen elsewhere in the country. Instead of burning down churches and privately-owned businesses, protestors are peacefully marching to have their voices heard; however, this doesn’t mean that Vegas shouldn’t be prepared. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has ordered the National Guard to assist local police efforts to maintain order, explaining in a notice posted on Twitter yesterday, “The Guard will not be on the front lines, making arrests or doing crowd control. Their mission is to act as support personnel & they will focus on protecting critical facilities, preserving public safety & allowing [individuals] … to exercise their rights to peacefully demonstrate.”

Demonstrating peacefully doesn’t include shooting police officers in the head, which is why the National Guard was requested to lend a hand. Although Vegas has been relatively calm, there have been a few isolated incidents that have caused concern. One is the shooting of police officer Shay Mikalonis outside the Circus Circus on The Strip by Edgar Samaniego. 29-year-old Mikalonis was shot Monday in an unprovoked attack and is on life support at a local hospital. That incident, though not found to be related, followed the death of an armed man by police on Monday near the federal courthouse in Vegas.

Governor Sisolak has said that casinos can reopen as of tomorrow, June 4, and there’s little doubt that casino operators were anxiously waiting for the day to arrive. However, the current situation is going to make it more difficult to attract gamblers, and some may decide to wait a little longer to open their doors. Sisolak added in his message on Twitter, “The casino resorts are empowered to set their own reopening times. The Governor and the Gaming Control Board have committed, from day one, that reopening would be conducted in a manner aimed at protecting the public health of Nevadans and visitors.”

Russian professional poker player Artur Martirosyan has overturned Viktor Blom’s huge lead to claim the 2020 Super High Roller Bowl Online Series Championship in stunning fashion.

 With a final day’s action that saw Martirosyan need to put in a peak performance at the online felt, the Russian made his sixth final table of 27 events, cashing for an incredible $1.795 million over the series.

Blom, who had led until the last three events, was overtaken as Martirosyan cashed for an eighth and final time, but the manner in which the Russian overhauled the deficit will have made every elite player sit up and take notice.

The race for the Championship saw Blom get off to the much better start, finishing second in Event #2 for $320,625. Quite a lead already, Blom added to his points tally in Event #8, again finishing runner-up in an event where Martirosyan came 3rd. That advantage for the Swede was built upon in Event #9 as Blom finally got the outright win and looked to have established an impressive lead.

Office politics can be a tricky game. If you know what you’re doing, they can help you do better work, accomplish more and get ahead. If not, you might feel like the world is against you, and everything you do ends up wrong. So it’s important that you have an elementary understanding of how they work, how to work within them, and how to make the whole system work to your advantage.

Now before we get started, let’s address the mythical unicorn that is an office without workplace politics. I’ve worked with countless bosses and colleagues who would quickly denounce politics in the workplace; but as you got to know them, they played the game in their own way. Any sizeable office will start to cultivate its own differing camps of thought and priorities, and even these apolitical types would eventually filter into one group or another.

If you personally feel like you can rise above the fray, I hope you are unimpeachably good at your job and fast to make friends. If not, this article might have some takeaways for you.

First, get to know your office, and gain allies

Russia’s sports betting operators managed to sustain their 2018 World Cup momentum in 2019, although COVID-19 has long since derailed that speeding train.

Federal Tax Service data showed Liga Stavok leading all Russian-licensed bookmakers with sales of nearly RUB49.5b (US$720.5m) last year, up from just RUB36.1b in 2018. The gains are all the more impressive given that 2018’s figures got a significant boost from Russia hosting the quadrennial FIFA athletic shindig.

Fonbet was a distant second with RUB38b, a 58% improvement over 2018, while Winline saw its revenue jump an astounding 270% to RUB29.6b, knocking previous third-place finisher Bingo Boom down a notch with RUB20.1b (-0.2%). Betcity completed the top-five with RUB15.8b, down 8.7% year-on-year, its second straight year of negative growth.

Only five of Russia’s 19 licensed bookmakers were in negative territory last year, with two of them (Mostbet and Zenit) posting double-digit declines. Bwin.ru, the struggling local joint venture involving UK-listed GVC Holdings, was up 49% year-on-year, albeit to a still anemic RUB647m. 

The GGPoker WSOP Super Circuit Series has been a much-heralded success for GGPoker, from the opening announcement several weeks ago right through to yesterday’s conclusion of the GGPoker WSOPC Main Event. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq27p-RwqfsVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: 2020 WSOP Super Circuit Online Series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq27p-Rwqfs)

With a $5 million guaranteed prize-pool, 9,779 entries took part over the multiple Day 1 flights laid on by the site, and with 1,494 players returning for the final day of action, it was ‘schimmelgodx’ who eventually won the $1.27m top prize.

The penultimate event of the GGPoker WSOPSC series, the Main Event took 10 hours of play to reach a conclusion on the final day. The money places weren’t reached on Day 1, so 298 players would leave the party without making any profit on their investments. It didn’t take long for the bubble to burst, however, with just one hour of gameplay required to burst the bubble.

Suncity Group Holdings, an offshoot of Asia’s largest casino junket operator, has boosted its stake in Russia’s largest casino operator to a majority position.

On June 1, Hong Kong-listed Suncity Group Holdings, which is controlled by Alvin Chau (pictured), boss of privately held junket Suncity Group, announced that it and its wholly owned subsidiary Victor Sky were boosting their combined stake in Summit Ascent Holdings from 24.74% to 69.78%. The cost of the transaction is roughly HK$1.24b (US$160m).

Summit Ascent operates the Tigre de Cristal casino in Russia’s far east Primorye gaming zone outside Vladivostok. Suncity bought a small stake in Summit Ascent in 2018, then boosted that to nearly 28% one year ago, after which Chau was named chairman of Summit Ascent.

Summit Ascent also announced plans to increase its share capital to HK$150m divided into 6b shares from HK$80m divided into 3.2b shares. The company expects to raise around HK$1.63b via these transactions, of which around HK$600m will go toward construction of Tigre de Cristal’s Phase II development.

Casino operator MGM China has found it needs two people to take the reins from outgoing CEO Grant Bowie.

This week, MGM China co-chair and managing director Pansy Ho issued a memo to staff informing them that CFO and hospitality president Hubert Zi Qi Wang had been elevated to president and chief operating officer with responsibility for business development, casino operations, hospitality, security and digital & technology solutions.

At the same time, current chief strategy officer Kenneth Xiaofeng Feng has been bumped up to president, strategic and CFO overseeing finance, human resources, brand marketing, internal audit and design, development & property operations.  

Both men are longstanding MGM China veterans, with Feng’s tenure dating back to 2001 while Wang has been in the fold since 2011. Both men are being asked to fill the void left by Bowie, MGM China’s CEO, who last month announced his intention to surrender the reins as of May 31.

New South Wales became the first state in Australia to open some significant doors for the gambling industry, with the restrictions on pokies machines relaxed on June 1. RSL clubs and pubs across New South Wales are now allowed to open their gaming rooms, under strict social distancing guidelines.

Large clubs are allowed a capacity of fifty people. Venues across New South Wales are allowed access to their gaming rooms, with 1.5 metre social distancing rule to be enforced between patrons.

The New South Wales gaming industry has welcomed the move, with a Clubs NSW spokesperson expecting their members to follow strict social distancing guidelines.

“Clubs will enforce social distancing measures, including the implementation of queuing systems and directional signage. Clubs will also introduce strict cleaning schedules to ensure high-touch surfaces are regularly cleaned and hand sanitiser will be made available throughout venues.”

The New Zealand Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) have announced a 30% staffing cut to subsidiary TAB NZ due to the economic pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was confirmed that 230 staff, including 150 permanent staff, were axed in a cost-cutting exercise that will save the company NZ$11 million. RITA COO Stephen Henry stated that the cancellation of sporting events in New Zealand would cost the company $14 million.

Popular TAB NZ bookie Mark Stafford was the highest-profile victim of the job cuts. The twenty-year veteran had made a name for himself, providing odds on All Blacks and Black Cap matches.

Stafford thanked the New Zealand public for their support on Twitter:

If, one month ago, you asked me what it would take realistically to push COVID-19 out of the headlines or at least demote the pandemic to a secondary topic, rioting and civil unrest would have come to mind. Well, it looks like we’ve gone from one extreme to the other. What were until just a few days ago mass lockdowns, are now mass riots. Suspending judgment on the justness of mass lockdowns and the current riots and just looking at the dry circumstances here, it makes sense that locking millions of people in their homes for two months would intensify riots once they break out for whatever reason. After finally being allowed out, some people will react with joy while others will react with anger, frustration and violence. That’s how humanity is.

So we’ve gone from lockdowns to riots. It’s like the world has malaria causing alternating fever and hypothermia chills. Nothing is in balance anymore. 

The anger though is not just on the streets of inner city America. It’s festering in the upper echelons of the most powerful governments in the world, and the pawns in the middle are getting hurt. China is now tightening its grip on Hong Kong again with a new National Security Law, causing the Trump Administration, not the most circumspect group of people to say the least, to punish Hong Kong for being punished by China. As punishment for being punished, Trump is “starting the process” (whatever that means) of revoking Hong Kong’s special trade status with the United States. That basically means Hong Kong will now be treated as China and not as a separate entity, which means travel restrictions, visas, and any tariffs Trump forces on Chinese imports will also apply to Hong Kong now.

Even worse for business, Trump went farther and opened up another front line against Hong Kong and Chinese companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Online gambling operator Kindred Group’s ads for its female-focused Maria Casino brand have been found to be misleading by Sweden’s Advertising Ombudsman.

In a decision dated May 26, Sweden’s Reklamombudsmannen (RO) ad watchdog upheld a complaint brought against a 20-second television commercial for Kindred’s Maria Casino brand for claiming to be “Sweden’s most popular gaming site.”

The ad referenced Maria increasing its payout rate to customers from 96% to 98%, which allegedly helped make the Maria site so popular. But when the complainant queried Maria’s customer service as to the source of its ‘most popular’ claim, the reps reportedly cited only “some reviews on their website.”  

In response to the complaint, Kindred cited a survey of 1,660 customers conducted by researchers Nepa AB in the first three months of 2020 that showed Maria leading all rivals in the choice of online casino sites with 12.4%, nearly double the 6.3% of its closest rival Mr Green (a William Hill brand).

After a rollercoaster Day 1, the Bosnian-American player Ali Imsirovic leads the remaining 13 players into action for the final day of the Super High Roller Bowl Online Main Event.

With a massive $100,000 buy-in and only seven places being paid, Imsirovic – a former Poker Masters winner no less – has the chip lead but some major players in the game of poker hovering menacingly in his rear-view.

With a total of 50 entries creating a $5 million prize-pool, it took eight hours to whittle those down to a baker’s dozen overnight.

With so many big names putting up the eye-watering, six-figure buy-in, it was inevitable that superstars of the game, both live and online, would be hitting the rail early. The first player to be left with the roundest number of all in terms of chip value was Pavel Veksler, but he wasn’t lonely for long. Others to bust early included Britain’s most successful live tournament player in poker history, Stephen Chidwick, Belarussian high roller Mikita Badziakowski, Australia’s finest poker export Kahle Burns and Spanish sensation Adrian Mateos.

An exciting few days at the online tables has seen Brazilian footballer Neymar run deep, Austrian Pokercode entrepreneur Matthias Eibinger scoop up another title and Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson win his 6th PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker title.

Eibinger Beats Pedersen Heads-Up to Seal SCOOP win in Event #105

It was perhaps Matthias Eibinger’s run that was most impressive, if only for the fact that he came into the final table in last place of the five who had survived that far. The Six-Max format had seen two players bust on the final table bubble, with ‘Sepcpro_tect’ from Holland leaving in 7th place for $23,491 and Uzbekistan’s ‘shuhpat’ busting in 6th place for $30,598.

With an entry of $5,200, the top five were fighting for just a single six-figure score, and it would be a Brazilian player who left the final four fighting it out, Bruno Volkmann unable to improve when committed for all of his chips with pocket eights against Greek player ‘Geokarak’ and their pocket tens.