China’s lottery sales have nearly recovered from their lengthy COVID-19 shutdown, with sales in the month of June almost matching those from one year earlier.

On Monday, China’s Ministry of Finance announced that June’s lottery sales totaled just under RMB33.6b (US$4.8b), only 3.4% below June 2019’s sales. For the year-to-date, sales amounted to RMB123.9b, down 41.7% from the first half of 2019.

China’s lotteries, which suspended sales in January for the week-long lunar new year celebrations, extended that sales halt in February as COVID-19 decimated the city of Wuhan. Lottery operations remained suspended for 49 days, with some markets such as Beijing shut for even longer.

June’s overall sales benefited from the resumption of several international sports competitions, particularly the major European football leagues. Sports lottery sales totaled RMB18.3b, down 3.1% year-on-year but 59% better than the product generated in April. Welfare lottery sales were down 3.9% to RMB15.3b.

The weekend was packed with World Series events, with the latest winners each eagerly awaiting the arrival of their WSOP gold when a FedEx drop brings home the bracelet this week.  

But who won and how did they do it? Let’s take a look back at Event #22- #26.  

Event #22 

Allan Cheung took down Event #22 for a top prize of $120,082 as a field of 1,579 saw Cheung beat Myles Kotler to the bracelet, which would have been heartbreaking for Kotler, with the popular player also finishing runner-up in Event #18 too.  

Despite no legalization on the federal level and states only having been given the right to offer legal sports gambling two years ago, the US federal government isn’t about to let the activity happen without receiving a piece of the action. Currently, on legal wagers placed on sports in states like Nevada and New Jersey, Uncle Sam takes a tax of 0.25% of the handle. Even though the government needs as much incoming revenue as possible to cover the losses incurred by the coronavirus, several members of Congress are looking to strip away the tax, which, along with other requirements placed on the legal sports gambling industry, contributes around $33 million to the government, based on last year’s figures.

The tax has been in place since 1951 when it was introduced as an attempt to stop illegal sports gambling. The money generated would be used by federal law enforcement to identify, infiltrate and break up the activity and, while it may have been effective at some point, this is no longer the case. Many feel the tax is facilitating illegal gambling rings, and the president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA), Bill Miller, asserts, “Though originally enacted as a tool to curb illegal gambling, these antiquated federal taxes now give illegal operators a leg up.”

As a result, Representatives Guy Reschenthaler from Pennsylvania and Dina Titus from Nevada have introduced a bill to strip away the tax, as well as remove a provision that requires sportsbooks to pay $50 per employee annually as an employee tax. This is one of the few times that politicians on different sides of the fence can agree, as Reschenthaler is a Republican and Titus is a Democrat. Says Titus, “The handle tax makes it more difficult for legal gaming establishments to compete with illegal operators. Repealing it will push more consumers out of the black market and into a well-regulated market.”

The logic is that the offshore operators don’t have to pay either tax and, therefore, can offer better incentives and better odds. Be repealing the taxes, legal operators in the US can step up their game, generate more revenue and create more jobs. Reschenthaler adds, “At a time when so many employees in the industry are struggling, this bill ends the counterproductive practice of penalizing employers for creating jobs by eliminating a per-employee tax.”

Outside of drummed up media and political scandals, the real reason why Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs) are potentially in trouble in the Philippines is due to taxes. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has just restated that all foreign based operators must pay a 5-percent franchise tax, and have always had to. But the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp (PAGCOR), regulator of the industry, disagrees.

The franchise tax must be paid for POGOs to resume operations. BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay also noted that the tax is “not a new imposition nor is it being imposed retroactively.” He added, “From the beginning, our Bureau has maintained the position that the said tax applies to all POGO licensees and operators and there was no change of rules midstream.”

That differs from a recent PAGCOR memorandum which states otherwise. They point out that the BIR, in an Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) memorandum dating to late 2018, did not list a mandatory 5 percent franchise tax.

Dulay says PAGCOR is ignoring an earlier memorandum from late 2017, which had a section on “Taxation of Taxpayers Engaged in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations.” Section RMC 102-2017 states:

In a strange turn of events, online poker is as popular as it’s ever been. But for the same reasons online poker is now thriving, live poker is scrambling to figure out it’s future. To discuss how the pandemic has affected the entire poker industry, Ivonne Montealegre, Event Director of the Malta Poker Festival, joined our Becky Liggero Fontana for this week’s episode of The Long Con.

To understand the current moment in poker, you need to understand the last 20 years of it. “Poker has been the underdog always,” Montealegre said. “10 years ago, we had what is called the Chris Moneymaker Effect where this guy, an accountant from the U.S., Chris Moneymaker goes, qualifies to the World Series of Poker for nothing, for a few dollars, and ends up winning the World Series of Poker for millions of dollars. So that brought poker to the mainstream.”

But that surge in popularity didn’t last forever, and mostly due to legal issues. “Black Friday happened, and a lot of the U.S. market was shut down, and poker after that was never the same,” she noted. “We experienced very low revenues all across, where online casino was much more stronger than poker.”

But with everyone locked at home, online rooms are fuller than they’ve been in years. “It’s a second wave, it’s crazy, because I’m playing poker like crazy, everyone I know is playing poker because you can make a living out of live poker.”

In an effort to promote local tourism and get its commercial activity rolling again, Macau announced a couple of weeks ago a series of initiatives designed to reward those who got out and about around town. Things like local tourism routes and even, in some cases, spending vouchers were introduced and, at first glance, appeared to be helping boost domestic spending. Some of these staycation incentives, though, might not be around for long, though, as the city most famous for its casinos is said to be backing off a plan that would have included stays at area casino resorts, according to GGRAsia. 

Macau has reportedly earmarked just over $35 million to spend on various products related to staycation and domestic spending, with the Macao Government Tourist Office (MGTO) overseeing the programs. The initiative established a long list of included activities, one of which would have been staycations at area hotels through the use of vouchers or other incentives. The program officially kicked off last month and is set to run through the end of September, with August being the month chosen for the casino resort promotion. 

According to the director of the MGTO, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the decision to remove the staycation promos stems from the fact that they would have been redundant. She explained during a recent event, “I think most large-scale hotels have already been selling some [staycation] packages, and even at very favourable rates. So, at this stage, the Macau government does not need to allocate public resources on a staycation programme.” 

It’s also possible that there had been backlash received over the idea of the government given incentives for locals to hit the slot machines and gaming tables. While there wasn’t any official statement to that effect, the idea of using what amounts to public money to allow people to gamble may not have been seen as a smart move. However, it had never been made clear whether or not public funds would have been used for the scheme. 

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC), despite being prevalent in various industries for decades, is the new-ish buzz phrase for the gaming industry. It was a SPAC that allowed DraftKings to do the impossible and go public this past April, and it is a SPAC that is allowing Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta to break off the casino company’s online activity and take it to the NASDAQ exchange, as well. Sportsradar has a SPAC deal on its radar as it considers going public, and another gaming company now wants to join in on the fun. The Wall Street Journal reports that Rush Street Gaming is planning on sending its Rush Street Interactive (RSI) iGaming subsidiary to marry a SPAC in order to find a spot on a public exchange. 

Rush Street and dMY Technology Group Inc., which is already traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), are set to hook up in a deal that could be finalized as early as today. dMY is a public entity founded by two former technology gurus, Niccolo de Masi and Harry You, that went public this past February. When it did, it picked up $230 million in investor attention, adding just over 4% last Friday when rumors started circulating about the pending deal with RSI.

Rush Street has high hopes for the results of the marriage, and expects the transaction to put its valuation at around $1.8 billion. However, it can’t go in fully expecting to see the immediate results seen by DraftKings when it went public. According to Renaissance Capital, “For investors after the acquisition, SPAC returns have been a mixed bag. The majority of SPACs that have completed acquisitions in 2020 trade below issue (13/22), which is also true of SPACs that completed acquisitions in 2019. That said, the space is arguably maturing, both in terms of the quality of companies beginning to be acquired and the management teams forming them.”

Still, the company will at least start in the right direction. dMY is planning on using the money it received from its public offering to execute the pending transaction, throwing in another $160 million it is picking up from institutional investors. After the deal is finalized, RSI is expected to have about $230 million in cash, which will come in handy as it moves to gets its online sportsbooks as busy possible. With all major sports organizations in the US ready for action, RSI’s operations in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania are ready for gamblers. Those in Illinois will now have to plan a road trip if they didn’t register online, though. A temporary plan to allow online registrations has now been pulled. 

Ready or not, iGaming’s new world arrives ahead of schedule,

“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.”

― William Gibson

Some events can stop the world. But very few can make things run backwards. The Corona plague is one of these. Different problems, different events can cause gambling, especially state-sponsored gambling, to wax or wane, or even shut down. This year, coronavirus has done what nobody thought was possible: it caused America’s Triple Crown to reverse the order of the three thoroughbred races. The pattern has been immutable since the 1930’s: first, the Kentucky Derby in early May, then the Preakness about two weeks later, and finally the Belmont at the beginning of June or so.

Sports betting technology supplier Kambi Group lost €3m in the pandemic-plagued second quarter of 2020.

On Friday, Kambi reported revenue of €14.8m in the three months ending June 30, a nearly one-third decline from the same period last year. The company booked an operating loss of €3.4m and an after-tax loss of €3m versus a €1.6m profit in Q2 2019.

Kambi CEO Kristian Nylén said the mass cancellation of sports leading into Q2 was a “testing” period for the company but turnover began to accelerate as major leagues resumed play, leading to year-on-year operator turnover and revenue growth in the month of June.

The English Premier League’s restart fueled June’s rise, as the new staggered kick-off times led to greater media focus on each game, which in turn boosted betting turnover by around one-third from EPL games in Q1 2020.

A titanic match-up between Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari and Phil ‘The Poker Brat’ Hellmuth kicks off a brand-new PokerGO show called High Stakes Duel this week.  

On July 30th, Thursday evening at 9pm Eastern Time, PokerGO debuts its latest offering that is sure to please poker fans still stuck at home on lockdown or lacking in live entertainment, with many TV stations simply juggling repeats or staggering new content.  

Poker fans need fear no such repetition if they’re signed up as subscribers to PokerGO, with a great match-up between two of poker’s most entertaining players kicking off the action in High Stakes Duel.  

While many casinos are still very much under lockdown or have suffered the impact of COVID-19 in terms of player numbers and dipped attendances, the purpose-built PokerGO Studio at ARIA will welcome in person two of the game’s greatest talents.  

Illinois sports bettors who wish to wager online will once again have to register their account with one of the state’s land-based casinos after a recent decision by the governor.

On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office reissued a flurry of executive orders originally issued as part of the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the order Pritzker issued last month that lifted the in-person registration requirement for online sports bettors wasn’t among the renewals.

Pritzker’s move means that, as of midnight Sunday (26), Illinois bettors who want to open an online betting account will have to visit the betting company’s land-based casino or racetrack partner. At present, only one of these venues – Rivers Casino Des Plaines – has an active online betting app although other operators are expected to launch soon.

Among those operators waiting in the wings is DraftKings, which surprised onlookers Thursday with its announcement of a deal with its Illinois land-based partner to rebrand the property DraftKings at Casino Queen. That deal appeared to give DraftKings a way to circumvent the 18-month ‘time out’ in the state’s betting legislation prohibiting online-only operators from using their own brands.

Event #21 saw Tony Dunst win his second World Series of Poker Bracelet as the famous WPT presenter and modern poker legend stacked up his fifth cash of the 202 WSOP Online Series by grabbing the gold.  

With 1,361 entries coughing up the lucky slots-style entry fee, it would be 11 hours at the online felt for Dunst and his competition. With $952,700 in the prize-pool, the famous World Poker Tour presenter, who fronts their TV coverage with Vince Van Patten, won $168,342 for the latest title-winning performance of an already-impressive professional career.  

The WSOP bracelet was Dunst’s second, who four years ago took away $339,254 for triumphing in the $1,000-entry NLHE event. Dunst actually came very close to repeating that achievement in the $5,000-entry NLHE event last year but finished as runner-up. A year later, he’s out that ‘so near and yet so far’ ending right.  

There were plenty of other big names in this $777-entry Six-Max event and while none would stop Dunst, several would make the money. Jamie Kerstetter finished 206th to earn $1,047, while Phil Hellmuth (114th for $1,429) and Daniel Negreanu (30th for $5,144) also enjoyed runs into the money. Negreanu has reached the money consistently for days now and is certainly looking like he’ll put himself on a final table soon in order to battle for the chance to win those ‘win a bracelet’ prop bets.