Earlier this year, the U.K. Gaming Commission (UKGC) became concerned that the Matchbook gambling exchange wasn’t doing its part to adhere to standing regulations. The gaming platform’s parent company, Triplebet Ltd., had its license suspended in February, with the UKGC later explaining that Triplebet had not followed through properly with anti-money-laundering and other procedures. Triplebet has reportedly made adjustments to its operations in order to appease the U.K.’s gaming regulator, and has now been approved to rebuild its presence in the country.

The UKGC began investigating Triplebet for questionable practices, ultimately deciding that it was not adequately monitoring its relationships with business partners and wasn’t performing required due diligence checks. According to Gambling Insider, the company took the steps ordered by the UKGC to correct the deficiencies, prompting the regulator to greenlight the relaunch. A spokesperson told the gaming media outlet, “This announcement marks the culmination of many months of hard work and investment across our entire business.”

A statement from the company adds, “We are extremely proud of the dedication and commitment of our staff during a very challenging economic period that has enabled Matchbook to once again offer a much improved exchange platform to U.K. residents as we continue to grow our market share and deliver an industry leading platform and liquidity pool for our customers. We’re pleased to announce that our license suspension has been lifted and we are working hard to get the site back up and running as soon as possible. We can’t wait to welcome you all back to Matchbook in the coming days.”

After the initial fallout, Matchbook’s CEO at the time, Mark Brosnan, resigned in May. That exit followed the company being fined about $967,000 (£740,000) a month earlier over its failure to play by the rules. Brosnan had been with the company for 16 years, and asserted that his departure was not related to the investigation or the license suspension in the U.K. 

The first half of 2020 hasn’t been great for GVC Holdings, but they’re happy with the result, all things considered. The operator saw a dip in net gaming revenue (NGR), revenue, gross profit and EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), but pointed to new investments as the way of the future

GVC reported NGR fell from £1.8 billion to £1.6 billion when compared with the same period in 2019, and revenue also fell from £1.78 billion to 1.58 billion, both an 11% drop. Gross profit fell even more as a percentage, from £1.18 billion to £1.03 billion. EBITDA fell from £366.8 million to £348.6 million, a 5% drop.

The overall drop in profits came due to the total shutdown of retail shops. UK retail NGR fell 50% year over year, and European retail fell 48%.

Saving the company was online NGR, which raised 19%, showing double digit growth across all markets. Surprisingly, they even saw a 5% increase in sports NGR, despite the lack of sports throughout the period.

Chinese employees of Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs) may increasingly feel unwelcome in the Philippines, as the government makes finding work harder on them, and Chinese Filipinos blame them for discrimination. Suddenly, China doesn’t want them either.

China has declared that all travelers from the Philippines, including Chinese citizens, must prove they are Covid-19 free before they may board a flight home. This was announced on August 11 by the Chinese embassy in Manila, after several POGO workers returned home with Covid-19 infections.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the decision was made “to ensure the health and safety of international travel and reduce the risk of cross-border spread.”

While China has placed this restriction on most of their neighbors, it’s perceived that the Philippines made the list specifically because of POGO workers attempting to return home. Filipinos can’t really travel at the moment with a modified Enhanced Community Quarantine keeping them at home.

As much as some legislators and others across the globe try to dismiss cryptocurrency, their unwillingness to accept the future of money isn’t deterring efforts to bring a greater amount of legitimacy and regulatory guidance to the space. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) came up with a set of guidelines, effectively known as the Travel Rule, that it wants countries to implement, and there have already been several examples of countries’ endeavors to comply. In particular, crypto exchanges are being scrutinized more than ever, and a recent review of the trading platforms by the FATF shows that there is still work to be done. 

The FATF rules are designed to address issues such as anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism funding (CTF) and align almost perfectly with established regulations for companies operating in the fiat space. The agency established a 12-month window to have the rules implemented by the public and private sectors, which came to a close at the end of June. The FATF then prepared its summary (in pdf) of how well the rules are being implemented. 

Out of the 54 countries that were included in the FATF’s review, 35 have already made substantial progress implementing the required rules. Of those who haven’t, work is reportedly underway, and the process is being hampered by infrastructure challenges, as well as the need to focus more resources on the current coronavirus pandemic. However, all have indicated that they are actively moving forward. 

The FATF has been proactive during the year following the presentation of the Travel Rule, working with countries and entities to address concerns and help overcome challenges. It is extending the implementation period another year, which will be used to make adjustments to, among other things, cross-border crypto payment guidelines. The CEO of Digital Finance Group, Terry Culver, summed it up best in comments to Cointelegraph, stating, “One challenge is that implementation will face significant challenges from other contradictory regulations for AML and data protection. For example, the FinCen Travel Rule sets U.S. regulation apart from other jurisdictions. Another example is that the EU just determined that the bulk transfer of personal data to the U.S. is not allowed under GDPR.”

In December of last year, Hard Rock International (HRI) and Seminole Gaming introduced a training program for its employees that is designed to focus on all aspects of the gambling experience. The PlayersEdge education program was the first to be launched by any US-based gaming operator, and HRI and Seminole have now been recognized for their efforts. The US National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has presented the casino operators with its Corporate Social Responsibility Award in response to the broad initiative. 

The award was announced during NCPG’s Digital Symposium and National Awards Ceremony, which was held July 20-30. The PlayersEdge program goes well beyond the aspects of potential problem gambling, like most programs do, encompassing an education curriculum developed to address everyone from novice and casual gamblers, to experienced regulars. It includes topics such as casino etiquette, facts and stats related to gaming, risk identification and better gaming habits. In line with the NCPG’s primary goal, it also gives casino employees the tools needed to help gamblers self-exclude when they want and recommendations on counseling centers. 

HRI Chair and Seminole CEO Jim Allen said in a statement, “We want to thank the National Council on Problem Gambling for this award and for recognizing the PlayersEdge program. We also want to acknowledge the Florida Council for Compulsive Gambling, our Vice President of Global Social Responsibility, Paul Pellizzari, and Dr. Rory Reid of UCLA for their help in creating the PlayersEdge training.”

The NCPG has held the awards ceremonies for several decades, and this event took place as part of a symposium that is included in a larger responsible gaming conference. The 34th National Conference on Gambling Addiction & Responsible Gambling will hold its main event, as well as new master classes, this coming November in Washington, DC, right after the national elections. Last month’s symposium drew international attendance and included participation by 35 states, as well as Australia, Austria, Bermuda, Canada, the UK and more. 

Macau has announced a full resumption of their Individual Visit Scheme (IVS). There will be no limits to how many Chinese residents can visit the city, as Zhuhai, Guangdong Province and all of Mainland China will be invited to apply for visas on August 12, August 26 and September 23, respectively.

Macau’s Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has said there’s no plans to discuss any limits to the number of visitors China could send to the special administrative region (SAR). “We can see that without visitors Macau is facing great economic problems and a rise in unemployment. We are monitoring the situation and seeing the whole picture,” Ho said.

But analysts are suspicious that recovery won’t come swiftly. “It will be a great help for Macau. It is great news, but it will be a long way to reach the level of the results of 2019 ”, before the pandemic of the new coronavirus, underlined Ben Lee, an analyst at the gaming consultant IGamix.

Lee added that the segment Macau needs to come back the most, VIPs, may struggle as international trade fights to return to pre-2020 levels and Chinese authorities restrict their ability to bring immense wealth to the SAR.

What an unbelievable year. Check out this 2020 conference reschedules post of mine from March…talk about wishful thinking! The good news is, despite the enormous amount of disruption that has been caused by COVID-19, digital events are truly taking off in our world. 

While going digital was a baptism of fire for our beloved industry event organizers, now that we’re starting to get into the swing of things, our digital events are getting stronger and stronger by the day. In fact, since the organizers are doing such a good job, I think digital events are likely here to stay even when in-person events are up and running again.

With so much uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 at the moment, its extremely difficult to plan for anything that involves travel, so most of us are stuck with digital events for the time being. In fact, organizers such as SBC already went ahead and transitioned their remaining 2020 events to digital, apart from the SBC Awards in December.

As you can see below, we have no shortage of digital events coming our way and they provide a wonderful opportunity to absorb more content than ever, keep abreast of new products and companies and discover virtual networking opportunities. All of these perks are affordable, they’re convenient and we’ll be back on the in-person conference circuit again before you know its, so lets take advantage of these opportunities while they last.

“I’ve got COVID.”

Three words that no-on wants to hear, but when they come from legendary World Series of Poker commentator Norman Chad, for poker fans everywhere, it’s worrying.

Chad, whose legendary work on screen and behind the mic in poker has won the hearts of millions of fans may be struggling to ‘Do the Ooka Luka’ right now, but in daily broadcasts from his home with his doggy pal blue, he’s keeping everyone up to date on his condition… and still entertaining while he does it.

“Right now, I have an unspeakable headache, and I have a cough.” Chad continued in his first update video. “I’m unbelievably tired. We’re quarantined for 14 days and hoping everything gets better and if everything gets better, we’ll be up and going again very soon.”