Monthly Archives: July 2020

Taylor swift the favourite for 2021 Super Bowl half-time show odds

Sporting glory is down to the margins, and in the history of Super Bowl that piece of magical will be defined by one moment, a tale so great that it adds a few feet to that white whale. The crux of any great Super Bowl is the half-time show. When Tampa Bay was announced as the location of the 2021 event, there’s been speculation over who’ll be leading the halftime extravaganza. The half-time show has been the place where some musical careers have put out to pasture.

J-Lo and Shakira took out the honour in 2019 and before the world has been forced to endure Maroon Five singer Adam Levine, who gave us twice as many nipples as Janet Jackson. Before Justin Timberlake got his sexy back, he infamously ended the career of Janet Jackson with one swipe.

The word is that Rhianna has already said no, in protest over the NFL’s treatment of Colin Kapernick. But before the NFL dusts off Madonna, there are some other contenders who’ve shown some promise.

Every teenage girl at one point at has been musically connected to Taylor Swift. Unless Taylor decides to marry Joe Alwyn in a secret pre-Super Bowl wedding, the gig is hers to lose. Tay Tay is a solid bet, she’s consistently in the public eye and is the musical equivalent of Tom Brady at Superbowl.

NRL coaching circus claims another casualty

The NRL coaching circus continued with Cowboys coach Paul Green becoming latest NRL coach to be sacked. Green is the third coach to be sacked since the competition restart, joining Stephen Kearney and Dean Pay on the sidelines. The well-respected mentor isn’t expected without a job for long, with Green immediately firming as the man most likely to take the Brisbane Broncos jobs, should they decide to part ways with current boss Anthony Seibold.

Green is the longest-serving coach in Cowboys history, boasting a premiership and two Grand Final appearances for the club in seven years. The Cowboys had slumped to a 3-7 record this season, and the club’s hierarchy informed Green that they would be taking a new direction in 2021.

Green was informed of the decision midweek, rather than immediately walk the Cowboys boss coached the side for the final time on the weekend against the Panthers. “I was pretty adamant about coaching Sunday,” Green said. “I was glad I did, I was proud of the way the boys played even though we lost yesterday. In saying that I think the club is well placed given some of the young talent coming through. Hopefully, by making this decision now it will allow those guys to get on with it and improve.”

The former Cowboys boss told media that he was adamant that his coaching career was far from over. “I will use this next period to freshen up, spend some time with my family and assess options before moving on to my next coaching role. While my time as a Cowboys coach has come to an end, my time as a head coach has not,” Green said.

Taylor swift the favourite for 2021 Super Bowl half-time show odds

Sporting glory is down to the margins, and in the history of Super Bowl that piece of magical will be defined by one moment, a tale so great that it adds a few feet to that white whale. The crux of any great Super Bowl is the half-time show. When Tampa Bay was announced as the location of the 2021 event, there’s been speculation over who’ll be leading the halftime extravaganza. The half-time show has been the place where some musical careers have put out to pasture.

J-Lo and Shakira took out the honour in 2019 and before the world has been forced to endure Maroon Five singer Adam Levine, who gave us twice as many nipples as Janet Jackson. Before Justin Timberlake got his sexy back, he infamously ended the career of Janet Jackson with one swipe.

The word is that Rhianna has already said no, in protest over the NFL’s treatment of Colin Kapernick. But before the NFL dusts off Madonna, there are some other contenders who’ve shown some promise.

Every teenage girl at one point at has been musically connected to Taylor Swift. Unless Taylor decides to marry Joe Alwyn in a secret pre-Super Bowl wedding, the gig is hers to lose. Tay Tay is a solid bet, she’s consistently in the public eye and is the musical equivalent of Tom Brady at Superbowl.

Taylor swift the favourite for 2021 Super Bowl half-time show odds

Sporting glory is down to the margins, and in the history of Super Bowl that piece of magical will be defined by one moment, a tale so great that it adds a few feet to that white whale. The crux of any great Super Bowl is the half-time show. When Tampa Bay was announced as the location of the 2021 event, there’s been speculation over who’ll be leading the halftime extravaganza. The half-time show has been the place where some musical careers have put out to pasture.

J-Lo and Shakira took out the honour in 2019 and before the world has been forced to endure Maroon Five singer Adam Levine, who gave us twice as many nipples as Janet Jackson. Before Justin Timberlake got his sexy back, he infamously ended the career of Janet Jackson with one swipe.

The word is that Rhianna has already said no, in protest over the NFL’s treatment of Colin Kapernick. But before the NFL dusts off Madonna, there are some other contenders who’ve shown some promise.

Every teenage girl at one point at has been musically connected to Taylor Swift. Unless Taylor decides to marry Joe Alwyn in a secret pre-Super Bowl wedding, the gig is hers to lose. Tay Tay is a solid bet, she’s consistently in the public eye and is the musical equivalent of Tom Brady at Superbowl.

Taylor swift the favourite for 2021 Super Bowl half-time show odds

Sporting glory is down to the margins, and in the history of Super Bowl that piece of magical will be defined by one moment, a tale so great that it adds a few feet to that white whale. The crux of any great Super Bowl is the half-time show. When Tampa Bay was announced as the location of the 2021 event, there’s been speculation over who’ll be leading the halftime extravaganza. The half-time show has been the place where some musical careers have put out to pasture.

J-Lo and Shakira took out the honour in 2019 and before the world has been forced to endure Maroon Five singer Adam Levine, who gave us twice as many nipples as Janet Jackson. Before Justin Timberlake got his sexy back, he infamously ended the career of Janet Jackson with one swipe.

The word is that Rhianna has already said no, in protest over the NFL’s treatment of Colin Kapernick. But before the NFL dusts off Madonna, there are some other contenders who’ve shown some promise.

Every teenage girl at one point at has been musically connected to Taylor Swift. Unless Taylor decides to marry Joe Alwyn in a secret pre-Super Bowl wedding, the gig is hers to lose. Tay Tay is a solid bet, she’s consistently in the public eye and is the musical equivalent of Tom Brady at Superbowl.

Players launch strategic attack against NFL as season approaches

The NFL hopes to get the regular season started on September 10, a goal it has had for the past several months. The only way that can happen, per NFL regulations, is for training camps to start no later than July 28 – just barely a week from now. However, despite the impending deadline, the league still has not informed players and teams how it plans on protecting everyone amid the coronavirus pandemic, and concerns about the NFL being able to adhere to its schedule are mounting. In order to let the league know how they feel, a number of players launched a coordinated verbal “attack” on the NFL yesterday on Twitter, hoping to force the league into action.

The tweets, most of which were accompanied by the hashtag “#WeWantToPlay,” were designed to stress upon NFL leaders the necessity of providing guidelines expeditiously or risk a halt to pro football. According to ESPN, the idea started with Bryon Jones of the Miami Dolphins, who suggested during a player call that everyone start tweeting their frustration. Among those who participated were Dree Brees of the New Orleans Saints, Todd Gurley II of the Atlanta Falcons, Myles Garrett and Jarvice Juice Landry of the Cleveland Browns, and others.

The idea was to put pressure on the league’s leaders, as well as to show the general public that any delay or cancelation would be strictly because of the NFL’s inaction. Brees said in his tweet, “We need Football! We need sports! We need hope! The NFL’s unwillingness to follow the recommendations of their own medical experts will prevent that…” Garrett added, “If the NFL doesn’t do their part to keep players healthy there is no football in 2020. It’s that simple.”

The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) president, JC Tretter, explained in one of his tweets after the campaign began, “What you are seeing today is our guys standing up for each other and for the work their union leadership has done to keep everyone as safe as possible. The NFL needs to listen to our union and adopt the experts’ recommendations #wewanttoplay.”

Dan Snyder faces a ‘harder reckoning’: Washington Redskins odds

A clear pattern is starting to build with Washington’s football team: If you want any serious change with the organization, you need a massive backlash to the franchise’s behavior. First there was years of pressure to change the team’s name. Now, a focus on an alleged history of sexual misbehavior in the back office. And if neither of those are enough to get you upset, there’s a growing history of just not being good at football.

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Sexual Harassment Allegations and Fallout

The bombshell scandal that revealed itself on Thursday revealed Dan Snyder’s football organization turned a blind eye to years of sexual harassment, alleged by 15 female employees, from top figures in the organization. While Snyder himself wasn’t implicated, that he somehow didn’t know any of this was happening is just as bad.

The Long Con: Steve Donoughue on the forces of UK gambling regulation

The past couple of years for the United Kingdom’s gambling industry has seen escalating regulations, expectations and fear campaigns, driven by a certain type of politician. To put it all into perspective, our Becky Liggero Fontana spoke with Steve Donoughue, Founder, GamblingConsultant.co.uk, after their recent iGaming NEXT POWER Hour.

Especially as Covid-19 shut everyone inside, fears ratcheted up about problem gambling, and reports are now being delivered which suggest gambling has to be massively curbed. “We believe that there should be a regulated gambling industry,” he said. “We obviously have different views to what extent it should be but what we’re not is outrightly against gambling, which is what the All Party Group Gambling Harms are.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivynIOxs-fo?feature=oembed]

Donoughue isn’t impressed with the All Party Group, and he offered some perspective on how such groups decide on their mission. “What you have to remember about select committees, there is a tendency to pick topics that are either in the newspapers or actually will make sure you get a lot of press coverage, because politicians are whores for press coverage, I know that I come from political family,” he said. “

Marina Bay Sands returns millions taken from gambler

Most people freak out when, for whatever reasons, they suddenly learn that one of their financial accounts is short $50. Finding out its short $6.5 million would be enough to cause anyone to have a brain aneurysm and go into shock. That’s exactly what happened to Wang Xi, a former VIP client of the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino in Singapore. The gambling venue, which is ultimately owned by Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Sheldon Adelson, decided it could take that money out of the gambler’s account without permission, leading to a lawsuit filed last year. Possibly realizing it was up against insurmountable odds, MBS has agreed to make full restitution but, in typical fashion, refuses to admit it did anything wrong. 

According to Wang Xi, who had filed his lawsuit against MBS with the Singapore High Court, the casino conducted 22 illegal transactions against his account from October to December 2015. He didn’t realize there was money missing until last July and, when he did, he tried to get to the bottom of the issue. The money had been transferred to individuals the VIP didn’t know, but through transfer requests that carried his signature. He accused the venue of not taking the proper precautions to verify the legitimacy of the requests, and there were rumors that the transactions were conducted on behalf of the casino – not as a result of fraud or identity theft.

Given that MBS had, for some puzzling reason, decided to destroy the evidence; namely, the transfer requests, the casino was put at a disadvantage. Bloomberg indicates that the VIP and the casino had agreed to settle before the issue made it to the courts. It’s an interesting move, as not many companies would be so willing to give away $6.5 million if they thought they had a shot at winning their case. However, given that MBS has already come under fire for questions over its money-handling capabilities and possible money laundering, it isn’t too surprising that it would want to keep as much scrutiny away from its operations as possible. 

The Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) in Singapore has started to take a closer look at the country’s casinos and how they operate. There have been scattered reports of money laundering and regulatory non-compliance on the part of the gambling venues, and the agency wants to clean up its act. LVS has already had to pay more than $20 million in fines over the years due to questionable money-related issues, and it’s possible that more fines or sanctions could be on their way. Fortunately for Wang Xi, he should be able to get his before the casino operator takes another hit, even though it assures regulators that it is doing everything possible to clean up its act.

Macau’s DICJ planning on stepping up casino inspections

Casino operators in Macau can’t say they weren’t properly warned, and they have plenty of time to make adjustments. The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym) has issued a statement (in Chinese, in pdf) indicating that it plans on taking a more serious interest in casino operations and that it will conduct “rigorous inspections” to ensure that the gambling venues are adhering to established protocols to prevent the resurgence of the coronavirus. The announcement came following spot checks conducted last week, but the gaming regulator hasn’t provided the results of those inspections. Given that it felt the need to step up its inspections, perhaps things weren’t as satisfactory as the DICJ had hoped.

The regulator said this past Saturday that it plans on holding regular and frequent meetings with the six gaming operators in Macau. In order to keep the city on track and avoid another massive shutdown that could decimate the economy, casinos have to implement a number of different policies to protect their employees and gamblers, even if these policies aren’t always well-received. The DICJ adds that it will continue to work with the operators and make “appropriate adjustments to epidemic prevention measures under the guidance of health authorities.”

Adriano Ho, who became the DICJ’s director last month when he took over for Paulo Martins Chan, made some impromptu visits at Macau’s casinos last week in order to see for himself whether or not the venues were taking the new health guidelines seriously. As of last Wednesday, everyone – employees, gamblers or otherwise – who step foot inside a casino have to be prepared for their body temperature to be measured and need to display a written clean bill of health. In addition, they also have to show a “valid nucleic acid test” that shows they are not infected with the coronavirus. According to the American Society For Microbiology, these tests can “detect the presence of characteristic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material (RNA) in respiratory samples of patients.”

There are reportedly around 400 entrances and exits found at all of Macau’s gambling facilities, and each one has to be equipped with “temperature detection instrument” in order to “strengthen the measurement of all people entering the casino,” according to the DICJ’s latest announcement. Casino employees are, as of July 16, being regularly tested to ensure that they’re free of COVID-19, and the regular testing is not going to be an easy feat. There are around 58,000 employees – a little less now because of the global pandemic – serving Macau’s casinos, but, considering the massive revenue declines seen lately, the health precautions are only a small price to pay. 

European Football Special – Real Madrid Crowned La Liga Champions for 34th Time

After a season that has been interrupted by the Coronavirus and a row with one of his best players, Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid have been crowned La Liga champions for a record 34th time.

Since the global COVID-19 lockdown, the most decorated club in domestic Spanish football history added the latest La Liga title to their collection after 10 straight victories gave them the title, eclipsing a stuttering Barcelona side for whom Lionel Messi may have scored his 700th career goal but as a team looked light in certain areas of the pitch at crucial moments.

Madrid’s victory is all the more impressive given Barcelona’s recent dominance. In the 30 years since 1990, Los Blancos have won only nine title including this latest win, paling into insignificance when cast against the luminous 16 titles that have gone the way of their Catalan rivals.

Zidane’s side, however, have been imperious, building on a phenomenal defensive record of conceding just 23 goals compared to the 46 they shipped last season with one game to go.

Bookies Matrix global directory launches

Propus Partners launches directory of licensed sportsbetting operators

July 2nd: Sportsbetting consultancy Propus Partners is delighted to announce the launch of Bookies Matrix, a new portal that collects together information and data about licensed sportsbetting operators globally.

The site is a new and exhaustive directory of all licensed sportsbetting operators in the world, providing a range of information about each brand including licenses held, relative size in each jurisdiction, platform, data, odds, streaming and virtuals providers, plus details of products, including sports and margins offered.

The service updates continuously with changes such as new market entrants, lapsed licenses, product launches, as well as when new jurisdictions move online.

OneTouch names Petra Maria Poola as Malta Head of Business Development & Operations

Rapidly growing mobile-first games developer appoints marketing specialist in key new role.

17th July, 2020 – Mobile-first games developer OneTouch has appointed Petra Maria Poola as its Head of Business Development and Operations in Malta.

Poola brings significant industry experience to her new position, including successful spells at Cash Game Festival and as a Senior Account Manager for SiGMA.

OneTouch’s new hire will play a key role in expanding the company’s commercial network, as it looks to build on a series of agreements with exciting brands including Revolver Gaming and partner with additional operators on the island following B2B software licence approval last year.

Regal underline continued investment in data analysis with appointment of Rod Runnalls to newly created post of Head of Business and Product Intelligence

Regal Gaming and Leisure, part of the Gauselmann Group of leading U.K. facing brands, has confirmed the appointment of Rod Runnalls to the newly created post of Head of Business and Product Intelligence.

Rod, who has gained more than 30-years gaming machine experience with The Rank Group, Ladbrokes, Leisure Link and MHG (now Gamestec), joins Regal in what is a critical post lockdown period for both the gaming machine and pub sectors.

Looking forward to the challenge, which follows a 12-month consultancy role, during which he was instrumental in developing and delivering the reportage required to turn raw data into meaningful customer information, Rod believes that Regal is best equipped of all the industry operators to deliver value on behalf of its customers. He explained: “Investment into connectivity and data analysis has formed the cornerstone of Regal’s successful growth strategy over the last 24-months and the business continues to invest significant levels of Capex to ensure that all digital AWPs are connected to the Gauselmann Group’s industry leading MARS system.”

He continued: “Thanks to the MARS system we have the ability to share a wide range of data with our customers in real-time, including the number of machines that are switched on and working, as well as the number being played and transmitting data. We are also collating daily data for customers on how much physical cash is going through their estate of machines – by site and by position – which in turn allows us to understand whether all machines within a venue are trading and to what levels.”

Regal underline continued investment in data analysis with appointment of Rod Runnalls to newly created post of Head of Business and Product Intelligence

Regal Gaming and Leisure, part of the Gauselmann Group of leading U.K. facing brands, has confirmed the appointment of Rod Runnalls to the newly created post of Head of Business and Product Intelligence.

Rod, who has gained more than 30-years gaming machine experience with The Rank Group, Ladbrokes, Leisure Link and MHG (now Gamestec), joins Regal in what is a critical post lockdown period for both the gaming machine and pub sectors.

Looking forward to the challenge, which follows a 12-month consultancy role, during which he was instrumental in developing and delivering the reportage required to turn raw data into meaningful customer information, Rod believes that Regal is best equipped of all the industry operators to deliver value on behalf of its customers. He explained: “Investment into connectivity and data analysis has formed the cornerstone of Regal’s successful growth strategy over the last 24-months and the business continues to invest significant levels of Capex to ensure that all digital AWPs are connected to the Gauselmann Group’s industry leading MARS system.”

He continued: “Thanks to the MARS system we have the ability to share a wide range of data with our customers in real-time, including the number of machines that are switched on and working, as well as the number being played and transmitting data. We are also collating daily data for customers on how much physical cash is going through their estate of machines – by site and by position – which in turn allows us to understand whether all machines within a venue are trading and to what levels.”

Arsenal to face Chelsea in F.A Cup final after both Manchester clubs beaten

An incredible weekend of F.A. Cup action saw the record winners and their long-time London rivals both reach the F.A. Cup Final that will prove who is the only club in London to win a trophy this season. But how did it happen? Let’s take a look back at a fantastic two days of cup football. 

Arsenal 2-0 Manchester City

The Gunners were only fancied for defeat by most heading into the game, with some bookmakers having the North London side, the most decorated in F.A. Cup history as 8/1 shots.

Despite that, David Luiz led the side into a performance of obduracy and huge patience as Mikel Arteta got his first win against his former colleague. Pep Guardiola has suffered a number of high-profile semi-finals in recent memory, with many of the defeats coming in the Champions League, but this loss will smart just as much.