Struggling Nepal casino operator Silver Heritage Group may have found a financial white knight in an offshoot of Philippines-based gaming technology outfit DFNN.

Late last week, Silver Heritage informed the Australian Stock Exchange that the financially flailing casino operator’s appointed administrators had recommended accepting a recapitalization proposal put forward by HatchAsia, an affiliate of Philippine-listed DFNN, which (among other things) supplies gambling technology to that country’s eGames outlets.  

The deal, which Silver Heritage shareholders must still approve, remains something of a work in progress but would reportedly see HatchAsia pay around AU$530k (US$391k) in cash plus 3% of shares in a new Australia-listed subsidiary (HatchAustralia Holdings) in exchange for 92% of Silver Heritage’s issued shares.

DFNN holds a 19% stake in HatchAsia and DFNN CEO Calvin Lim said his group would “welcome and look forward to the foray of HatchAsia in the international market.” The deal would give DFNN a backdoor into Australia’s capital markets, something Lim believes would allow DFNN “to fully value its early investments in HatchAsia.”

France’s regulated online gambling market suffered only a modest revenue decline in the second quarter as online poker activity more than doubled year-on-year.

Figures released Monday by France’s new Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) gambling regulator show locally licensed online gambling operators generated combined revenue of €323m in the three months ending June 30, a 6% decline from the same period last year but a nearly 26% decline from Q1 2020.

Like most other gambling markets, France’s sports betting revenue took a major hit following the pandemic-related suspension of major league activity early in Q2. Betting revenue was down 56% to €94m as wagering turnover slid 57% to €513m and active bettors fell by more than one-third to just under 1.1m.

Like a number of other markets, French bettors turned their attention to Belarusian football, which continued to play despite the pandemic. This boosted football’s share of overall betting turnover to 87% (€445.4m), up from an average 55-60% in previous quarters.

Online poker giant PokerStars is reportedly exiting China, Taiwan and Macau just days after its parent company said it planned to ‘switch off’ markets that fell outside its compliance standards.

On Monday, a user on the 2+2 online poker forum posted a screenshot of a message from Stars Support informing one of its customers that “as of 1st of September we’ll be exiting China, Taiwan and Macau.”

The message states that the company has made a number of banking changes “in order to facilitate player withdrawals,” including lowering the minimum amount available for bank wires for players in these markets, as well as enabling withdrawal options via Skrill and NETELLER without a previous deposit by customers in Taiwan.

None of the three markets currently permit legal online real-money poker play, and China in particular has been ratcheting up its fight against ‘cross-border illegal gambling,’ including much tighter scrutiny of online payment processing for gambling operators.

Arsenal defeated Liverpool on penalties to seal a memorable Community Shield victory over their Premier League rivals.

An open game was won by The Gunners after the score was locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes, with extra time fast becoming a thing of the past across cup football, led as it is by pandemic guidelines and time constraints that have trimmed the forthcoming season from being 10 months long to just nine.

Arsenal started brightly in the traditional Wembley showpiece and looked determined to add to their trophy haul since Mikel Arteta took over from Unai Emery before lockdown last season.

Overall, the first half saw the North London side start a lot slicker and the F.A. Cup winners went 1-0 up through a stylish passing move that culminated in both the pass of the day and finish of the game too. Bukayo Saka’s cross-field diagonal was coolly controlled and sublimely curled into the opposite corner by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the Gabonese scoring his fifth goal in just three Wembley games including the F.A. Cup semi-final and final.

As the industry hoped, a relaxing of Metro Manila’s quarantine status has brought with it a limited return of casino gambling. As of August 24, casinos in the region have been allowed to return to limited operations, as revealed by Melco International’s 1H Interim Results.

Melco wrote:

“On August 19, 2020, Metro Manila was placed under a General Community Quarantine and City of Dreams Manila was allowed to resume its dry run/trial run previously started in June 2020. On August 24, 2020, the Philippine government allowed PAGCOR-licensed casinos in areas covered by the General Community Quarantine to operate at 30% operational capacity. City of Dreams Manila is preparing for the resumption of its normal operations in accordance with the terms and conditions of this new guideline.”

Other casinos in the neighborhood haven’t made such an announcement, nor has PAGCOR, but a series of tweets coming out in the last week all hint that they may be willing to take in a few customers.

Lee Ann Johnstone, the founder of Affiliate Insider, has experienced the highs and lows of launching your own business. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the gaming industry’s need for reliable affiliate marketing companies, and Johnstone has well and truly earned her status in the game as one of the good guys. Launching an affiliate marketing company is a rollercoaster of emotions and Johnstone was happy to share her insights with our own Becky Liggero Fontana on the latest episode of The Long Con.

Having worked on the agency side, client-side and network side, Johnstone felt her niche was developing the affiliate marketing business. “I call myself a digital connoisseur, I love how it all links together and what the strategies are that go with that is very important to me.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJgOa7Qf1Ew?start=1&feature=oembed]

Johnstone felt she could provide some mentorship to some of the newbies entering the gaming business. “I felt it was time to teach the next generation of affiliate marketers the skillset they need and to help and support them.”

Despite having a coronavirus infection rate of less than 1%, New York State still hasn’t been able to get its casino market back on its feet due to orders from Governor Andrew Cuomo. That could change soon, as Cuomo plans on providing some type of updated guidance this week, but, in the meantime, other states are beginning to welcome gamblers back to the action. The latest is Florida and, as of today, casinos and indoor dining are back on the menu in Miami-Dade. The decision to reopen the businesses comes as the infection rate has remained below 8.2% for the past week. 

Miami casinos have been shut down twice during the coronavirus pandemic, the most recent one on July 3. Miami-Date Mayor Carlos Gimenez had ordered the second closure as COVID-19 began to spike in the area but, now that things have calmed down somewhat, he’s ready to let things going again. There will be strict health regulations in place and capacity is limited to 50%, but the relaunch is a step in the right direction. 

As with virtually everywhere, gamblers will be required to wear masks inside any gaming facility and will have to follow social distancing protocols. They won’t be able to drink or eat in the gaming areas, although respective locations are available. For their part, casinos will have to be more diligent with their cleaning routines and will have to pay more attention to what’s going on in their properties to ensure protocols are being followed. If not, they could face fines or, worse, yet another forced closure. Those gamblers who think the mask rules don’t apply to them are urged to remain at home playing tiddlywinks. 

Indoor dining will be allowed, but with the same 50% capacity established for casinos. Each table can seat up to six people for the time being, and restaurants will be required to keep air conditioning and heating systems running as long as there are diners present. All doors and windows should be open, as well, to allow better air circulation. 

Almost everything once planted as nothing more than science fiction fantasy makes its way, sooner or later, into reality. There have already been a number of technologies seen in movies that many thought would never be humanly possible, but which are already here. The idea that “anything worthwhile has already been invented” has been proven to be completely off-base, and the latest innovation that proves there is still a lot more to come demonstrates that point even more. Neural implants have arrived and, once perfected, will lead to an entirely new era of control that few would have ever thought possible.

Neuralink is a technology that has been in development for the past several years as one of the many innovations being ushered in by tech billionaire Elon Musk. The startup has already proven that the technology is viable, inserting a computer chip no larger than a coin into the brain of a pig. The goal of the company is to use wireless implants in the brain that can incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to possibly cure spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer’s and more, ultimately leading to virtual assimilation of AI by the human brain that will remove any boundaries to its potential. 

The idea of implanting chips into the brain isn’t new – it’s been something that has been worked on for the past several decades. However, Neuralink seems to have the best potential and the latest iteration, which was worn by the pig, has 1,000 channels that are capable of reading that same number of neurons. Going forward, the number of channels will read as many as 10,000 neurons. All this technology crammed into a tiny space allows the chip, which only measures about the same thickness as the brain, to allow the wearer to control limbs and extremities, and could ultimately lead to a completely paralyzed person being able to walk again. 

There is obviously still a lot to be done, but Neuralink is a step in the right direction. Musk asserts, however, that changes are coming and states, “On a species level, it’s important to figure out how we coexist with advanced AI, achieving some AI symbiosis such that the future of [the] world is controlled by the combined will of the people of the earth. That might be the most important thing that a device like this achieves.”