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.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements. Our Press Release section is updated constantly.

Relax Gaming adds Genesis Gaming to Powered By partner network

Relax Gaming, iGaming aggregator and supplier of unique content, has signed an agreement with Genesis Gaming, in a Powered By Partnership deal to launch the latter’s collection of premium slot games through its brand Radi8.

He came, he ate, he conquered. The man known as ‘Jaws’ lived up to this fabled reputation, conquering the 2020 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Defending champion Joey Chesnut recorded his fifth consecutive win, sealing 13 wins in his last 14 years. It’s a record that puts Liverpool or the Patriots to shame. Chestnut broke his world record at the event, eating 75 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, beating his previous world record by one dog. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE85Rjr5Nyg?feature=oembed]

The event was held under strict social distancing restrictions this year and held indoors for the first time in Nathan’s Hot Dog history. The normal field of 15 was reduced to only five competitors to make allowances for social distancing. Major League Eating champ Matt Stonie, was the highest-profile scratching from the event. The YouTube sensation was the last man to defeat Chestnut in a 2015 upset win.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

We have entered the economic twilight zone. The real economy continues to crash at an all time record pace, while financial asset values appear to be reinflating in nominal terms. At least for now. The problem is, the only real backing to asset values is the real activity that is behind them. Sure, money can be conjured into existence to buy financial products at whatever prices, but if there is no real economic activity behind what these products represent, then the money itself that the products are denominated in, becomes hollowed out and worthless.

The fear of living a normal life is now so widespread that fear itself has arguably become the real pandemic. How can I just say that? Well, it’s not me. It’s the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC has now been forced to admit that the death rate from the coronavirus itself is now so low that the disease is on the threshold of losing its status as an epidemic. The numeric definition of “epidemic” is weekly deaths attributed to any given infectious disease exceeding a certain percentage of weekly deaths in a country. That number itself is arbitrary and set at 5-7%. Here’s the CDC:

Based on death certificate data, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia, influenza or COVID-19 (PIC) decreased from 9.0% during week 25 to 5.9% during week 26, representing the tenth week of a declining percentage of deaths due to PIC. The percentage is currently at the epidemic threshold but will likely change as more death certificates are processed, particularly for recent weeks.

Still, as the lethality of the virus is clearly and obviously on the decline, the hysteria surrounding it continues to be flamed by media and governments across the world in some kind of weird obsession that keeps feeding on itself. How this fear can be stopped in the age of social media I have no idea. Personally, I have given up voicing my opinion on the subject and disconnected from social media, completely deleting my Facebook account I’ve had since 2006. I no longer look at Twitter either.

There are a number of locations around the world that believe they’re contributing substantially to reducing their carbon footprint and enhancing their green awareness. Many are misguided, but a look around the European Union (EU) shows that plenty of resources are being dedicated to protecting the environment. This can be seen on government, corporate and individual levels – although there are always those who are still too oblivious – and the EU thinks that even more can be done. That’s why it has launched a new plan that is investing €1 billion ($1.12 billion) into companies that can provide innovative clean technology solutions.

The EU’s European Commission (EC) announced last week that it is now accepting proposals for its Innovation Fund, one of the largest initiatives ever launched anywhere to expand the use of low-carbon technologies. The €1 billion comes by way of an auction of emission allowances provided through the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), and the fund is designed to “finance breakthrough technologies for renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage.” The EC adds that the initiative will “provide a boost to the green recovery by creating local future-proof jobs, paving the way to climate neutrality and reinforcing European technological leadership on a global scale.”

This first round is just the beginning – the EC plans on allocating around €10 billion ($11.2 billion) over the next decade, with all the money common from ETS-led allowance auctions. The first tranche will go to large-scale projects that introduce green solutions for commercialization and big business, with the money expected to help the new technology be introduced into the market. For additional projects that show possibilities, but which aren’t quite ready to be launched, there is another €8 million ($9.01 million) on hand.

EC Executive VP Frans Timmermans explains, “This call for proposals comes at just the right time. The EU will invest €1 billion in promising, market-ready projects such as clean hydrogen or other low-carbon solutions for energy-intensive industries like steel, cement and chemicals. We will also support energy storage, grid solutions, and carbon capture and storage. These large-scale investments will help restart the EU economy and create a green recovery that leads us to climate neutrality in 2050.”

There’s an old joke about how hospital gowns and insurance policies have a lot in common – you’re never covered as much as you think you are. Circus Circus LV, the company behind the Circus Circus casino in Las Vegas, is realizing how accurate that statement is and probably believes that its insurance carrier belongs in a circus. The company carries a massive policy covering almost any possible scenario that could cause damage – financially, physically or otherwise – to the property, and submitted a claim to the carrier, American International Group (AIG), as a result of the massive hit it has taken from COVID-19. However, AIG has started a juggling act and isn’t paying up. This has left Circus Circus with no alternative but to take the insurance giant to court.

The lawsuit was submitted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada last week and accuses AIG of not fulfilling its obligations under the insurance policy’s “all risks” rider. Attorneys representing the casino operator assert in their filing, “AIG relies on sleight-of-hand, distortions of fact and contortions of law to escape from Circus Circus’s covered claim. But no illusion or death-defying feat can alter the plain language of AIG’s policy and the broad all risks coverage that it provides.”

Circus Circus is owned by Phil Ruffin, who also has a similar case against another insurance company, Affiliated FM Insurance Co. That case, which centers on Ruffin’s Treasure Island casino, was also filed in Nevada and raises many of the same concerns as the newest lawsuit. It has been pending since this past May. 

As usual, the insurance companies are happy to take in the money, but not so happy when it comes time to pay on claims. The coronavirus resulted in massive amounts of claims being submitted to insurance carriers everywhere, and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) has been overwhelmed. The APCIA is an insurance trade association that includes a number of insurance companies, and reports that the financial tally of claims has been staggering. Its members have received a total of $431 billion in claims, but only took in $71 billion in annual premiums. As a result, the claims are “uninsurable.”

The casino resort being developed in Hoiana, Vietnam with the help of Suncity Group Holdings continues to move forward, even though it ran into a couple of hurdles because of the coronavirus. That isn’t surprising, given the amount of damage the entire gambling industry has taken, but the world can’t stop just because of a few setbacks. That’s why Suncity has been able to work out a few deals to help put the financing behind the project in order, which should make everyone a little more comfortable about the future of the massive project.

Suncity told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week that it had been able to negotiate a deal on no-interest convertible bonds, as well as a promissory note, which the casino junket operator had received to acquire its stake in the resort. The instruments are valued at $77.4 million, and were enough for Suncity to be able to pick up 34% of the project, which it is developing alongside VinaCapital Group and VMS Investment Group. Through the new arrangement, the maturity date on some of the bonds and on the promissory note has been extended to August 2022, two years later than the original arrangement.

The instruments were expected to mature next month, so getting the extension takes a lot of pressure off Suncity. The company explained in its filing with the Hong Kong bourse that “full or partial conversion of the convertible bonds on August 28, 2020 in the absence of the [proposed] extension” will lead to “less than 25 percent of the company’s issued share capital being held by the public.” The HKSE still has to sign off on the arrangement.

Yesterday, more financial good news came to Suncity and Hoiana when the company reported that it had picked up a loan from one of its backers. Star Admiral Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suncity, has handed over $30 million and another $30 million is coming from Gold Yield Enterprises Ltd. The latter is an entity jointly owned by Star Admiral and Alpha Era Investments. 

The two casinos in Maine could be back in business as early as this week. Officials in the state have worked out a safety plan that they hope will mitigate the possibility of another coronavirus epidemic, paving the way for Hollywood Casino and Oxford Casino to start welcoming gamblers. However, given how states like California, Nevada and Florida have seen a reappearance of COVID-19 after restrictions were lifted, Maine will have to be hypervigilant with its casino plans. 

Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck was involved in putting together the policies and procedures that will allow the state’s casinos to return to life. The plan, which included participation by a number of officials, will see casino capacity limited to only 200 people. That limit will be broken down even further, requiring the creation of “zones” inside the facilities that only allow a maximum of 50 people in each at any given moment. 

That dispersal should reduce the risk of the coronavirus coming back, but only time will tell. Sauschuck explains, “That was big change and a big move that really allowed the casinos to be viable. With a location that big it would be difficult if it was just 50 people.”

As has been established in other areas of the U.S., as well as other countries, anyone entering a casino – patron or employee – is required to wear a facemask and maintain six feet of separation at all table games and slot machines. If anyone isn’t willing to abide by the guidelines, they should be prepared to just stay at home, given the fact that visiting a casino is not a “right,” but a “privilege.” 

South Korea’s casino industry continues to struggle to get out from under its COVID-19 restrictions, as its largest operator remains shuttered with no definite reopening on the horizon.

Last week, the board of directors at Kangwon Land, the nation’s largest casino and the only one at which local residents can gamble, announced the property’s latest delay in its reopening schedule. The new anticipated reopening is Monday, July 13, although the board will reassess the situation this Friday and nobody really expects anything beyond kicking this COVID can a little further down the road.  

The state-run Kangwon Land shut its doors in February as the nation’s pandemic infection rate spiked. Tentative plans to reopen the property have come and gone in tandem with the rise and fall of that rate, which reported over 60 new cases for three straight days before falling below 50 on Monday.

South Korea’s inability to get its infection rate under control has prevented the government from relaxing restrictions on international travel, which is playing havoc with the nation’s other casino operators, all of which rely on foreign passport holders for customers.

Scotland’s bookmakers could be forced to purge their payrolls if local authorities don’t lift tough new COVID-19 restrictions, according to the UK’s betting lobby.

On Monday, the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) warned Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that “draconian” restrictions imposed on retail betting shops following their COVID-19 lockdown was putting “a huge question mark” on the long-term future of the local bookmaking sector.

The roughly 7k British betting shops that were ordered to close in mid-March were allowed to reopen on June 15 provided they installed certain health & safety measures. Scotland’s roughly 900 shops followed suit on June 29, but with additional restrictions such as no chairs, no live racing broadcasts on shop TVs, and a requirement to switch off all shop gaming machines.

Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said the added restrictions were intended to “avoid clusters of people” staring slack-jawed at televisions or mindlessly feeding bank notes into machines while circulating their droplets in an enclosed space. The shops were allowed to open “for the purpose of placing bets only.”