UK gambling operator Rank Group’s after-tax profit fell by two-thirds in its most recent fiscal year as COVID-19 took a big bite out of its retail operations.

Figures released Thursday show Rank generated revenue of £638.1m in the 12 months ending June 30, down a modest 8% from fiscal 2018/19. But operating profit slid 40% to £23.5m and after-tax profit tumbled 66% to just £9.4m.

Rank was keen to point out that things had been going gangbusters in the eight months ending February 29, but then again, I was right close to getting Kendall Jenner to marry me until she failed to respond to my Insta post.

Back in the real world, Rank’s digital operations helped shore up the pandemic-mothballed retail venues. Like-for-like digital revenue – which excludes contributions from Rank’s October acquisition of Stride Gaming – was up 23% to £145.3m while operating profit gained 13% to £27m.

Greek lottery and betting operator OPAP reported record online gambling revenue in the second quarter but it wasn’t enough to arrest the company’s pandemic freefall.  

Figures released Thursday show OPAP generated gross gaming revenue of €179.6m in the three months ending June 30, a 53.2% decline from the same period last year. Net gaming revenue was down 54.4% to €118m, earnings slid 81.7% to €16.2m and the company booked a net loss of €15.1m versus a €34.6m profit in Q2 2019.  

OPAP was forced to close its retail operations – including its highly lucrative video lottery terminal (VLT) network – in mid-March, which the company said at the time would mean a 99% overall revenue reduction. Retail operations began to resume in early June, rescuing the company from what otherwise would have been an even grimmer result.

The mainstay lottery division saw its revenue fall 45% to €103m. That decline would have been much worse were it not for the new online version of the Tzoker (Joker) product that the company said continued to rise even after the retail reopening, although it got a wind-assist from a series of jackpot rollovers.

Switzerland’s online casino visibility took a major leap forward this week as a locally licensed operator signed a shirt sponsorship deal with a pro football team.

On Wednesday, top-tier Swiss footballers FC Luzern announced a new shirt sponsorship deal for the 2020-21 season with Mycasino.ch, the online gambling site of land-based operator Grand Casino Luzern AG. The deal will see Mycasino.ch spelled out on the back of the club’s shirts under the players’ numbers.

Grand Casino Luzern has been sponsoring FC Luzern for years now but the new shirt deal marks the first online casino sponsorship for a major Swiss football club. Grand Casino Luzern CEO Wolfgang Bliem hailed the opportunity to promote the online gambling operation via “a wide-reaching presence.”

Mycasino.ch was among the first to launch in Switzerland’s regulated online casino market and the site was recently revealed as the market leader with revenue of CHF9m (US$9.9m) in 2019, topping the combined CHF7.6m raised by the Stadtcasino Baden group’s two sites (Jackpots.ch and Casino777.ch).

Germany-facing online casino operators can continue to operate without fear of legal blowback provided they observe certain restrictions before those restrictions actually take effect.

On Wednesday, German media reported that the country’s 16 perpetually fractious states had agreed to a plan to ‘tolerate’ German-facing online gambling operators that offer casino and poker products before said products are authorized under the new federal gambling treaty set to take effect on July 1, 2021.

There are a few caveats, primarily the requirement for these operators to observe the restrictions laid out in the treaty’s draft language as if it had already taken effect. These include strict caps on deposits and a €1-per-spin stake limit for online slots play. Operators who comply with these rules by October 15 will be assured they won’t face prosecution by German authorities.

Saarland was the last state to agree to the proposal, support for which was far from enthusiastic due to many states feeling the draft treaty didn’t include enough player protection measures. The state of Bremen reluctantly agreed to toleration based on its fear that failure to support the plan could mean that the new treaty – which followed a decade of ineffectual efforts – might collapse and leave the market in its largely unregulated state.

Germany-facing online casino operators can continue to operate without fear of legal blowback provided they observe certain restrictions before those restrictions actually take effect.

On Wednesday, German media reported that the country’s 16 perpetually fractious states had agreed to a plan to ‘tolerate’ German-facing online gambling operators that offer casino and poker products before said products are authorized under the new federal gambling treaty set to take effect on July 1, 2021.

There are a few caveats, primarily the requirement for these operators to observe the restrictions laid out in the treaty’s draft language as if it had already taken effect. These include strict caps on deposits and a €1-per-spin stake limit for online slots play. Operators who comply with these rules by October 15 will be assured they won’t face prosecution by German authorities.

Saarland was the last state to agree to the proposal, support for which was far from enthusiastic due to many states feeling the draft treaty didn’t include enough player protection measures. The state of Bremen reluctantly agreed to toleration based on its fear that failure to support the plan could mean that the new treaty – which followed a decade of ineffectual efforts – might collapse and leave the market in its largely unregulated state.

The future of Asia is always a complicated topic, but a panel of experts at SBC Summit Barcelona Digital attempted to tackle how the gambling industry can adapt to the ever-moving trends of the continent. Without much guaranteed in the way of regulation anywhere, the panel focused quite a bit on the products and technology that can make a difference.

Japan, which could still be years away from regulated online gambling, is showing a budding interest in Bitcoin. Andrea Bellezza, VP of EU and Asia Pacific for KaFe Rocks, has been scouring SEO data and had this to share:

“Users are definitely searching on how to play and how to gamble with Bitcoin. I think it’s a new kind of user, maybe not the one we were used to like 5 years ago, 10 years ago. It’s like a more young audience, that has Bitcoin saved from other business or joint venture, and now they’re trying to spend those Bitcoin. And we’re seeing a bit of a growth there, biggest interest from Bitcoin, is definitely something to keep an eye on.”

Anutosh Chatterjee, iGaming & Betting Consultant, also noted an increased interest in Bitcoin from India since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but noted that generally speaking, cash is still king in India, and users aren’t lacking for payment options to use.

The future of Asia is always a complicated topic, but a panel of experts at SBC Summit Barcelona Digital attempted to tackle how the gambling industry can adapt to the ever-moving trends of the continent. Without much guaranteed in the way of regulation anywhere, the panel focused quite a bit on the products and technology that can make a difference.

Japan, which could still be years away from regulated online gambling, is showing a budding interest in Bitcoin. Andrea Bellezza, VP of EU and Asia Pacific for KaFe Rocks, has been scouring SEO data and had this to share:

“Users are definitely searching on how to play and how to gamble with Bitcoin. I think it’s a new kind of user, maybe not the one we were used to like 5 years ago, 10 years ago. It’s like a more young audience, that has Bitcoin saved from other business or joint venture, and now they’re trying to spend those Bitcoin. And we’re seeing a bit of a growth there, biggest interest from Bitcoin, is definitely something to keep an eye on.”

Anutosh Chatterjee, iGaming & Betting Consultant, also noted an increased interest in Bitcoin from India since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but noted that generally speaking, cash is still king in India, and users aren’t lacking for payment options to use.

One of the most popular books of recent years, How Can He Fold? arrived in 2019 to great acclaim and remains a hugely popular book to this day. Written by Grant Denison and Jonathan Levy, this book examines poker by way of looking at several often high-profile and certainly dramatic hands.

Analysing the action, the book definitely comes under the ‘self-help’ section of poker books, aiming to improve the player who is reading about the hands. Denison and Levy are very good at breaking down each hand, taking you through the methodology of each player and guiding you as how you yourself could have played the hand differently or even better.

The best thing about this book, however, is not the analysis of poker hands, but the way the book is written. There is a great chemistry between the two authors, and it’s a little like sitting next to two intelligent, witty individuals arguing about what makes the hands interesting and the players within them so successful.

There are some really good hand choices, too, and enough to suggest that plenty of others are out there too that could be used in future volumes. One of the best things about the book is that not all the hands are too recent as to come across as similar. After all, the way we play poker changes all the time and is always evolving. There’s a great hand from the 2010 National Heads Up Championship, where Phil Hellmuth is put to the test on a call for his tournament life and another one where Phil Ivey and Isaac Haxton clash on the bubble of a Super High Roller event.

One of the most popular books of recent years, How Can He Fold? arrived in 2019 to great acclaim and remains a hugely popular book to this day. Written by Grant Denison and Jonathan Levy, this book examines poker by way of looking at several often high-profile and certainly dramatic hands.

Analysing the action, the book definitely comes under the ‘self-help’ section of poker books, aiming to improve the player who is reading about the hands. Denison and Levy are very good at breaking down each hand, taking you through the methodology of each player and guiding you as how you yourself could have played the hand differently or even better.

The best thing about this book, however, is not the analysis of poker hands, but the way the book is written. There is a great chemistry between the two authors, and it’s a little like sitting next to two intelligent, witty individuals arguing about what makes the hands interesting and the players within them so successful.

There are some really good hand choices, too, and enough to suggest that plenty of others are out there too that could be used in future volumes. One of the best things about the book is that not all the hands are too recent as to come across as similar. After all, the way we play poker changes all the time and is always evolving. There’s a great hand from the 2010 National Heads Up Championship, where Phil Hellmuth is put to the test on a call for his tournament life and another one where Phil Ivey and Isaac Haxton clash on the bubble of a Super High Roller event.