Between the NFL and college football, sports gambling enthusiasts are glued to the lines that oddsmakers are putting up. This past weekend saw a lot of awesome NFL action, with college football making a return, as well. Several college conferences had already decided to push forward in spite of the COVID-19 threat and will soon be joined by others, like the Big Ten and the Pac-12. When that happens, sportsbooks are going to have to be ready to dig in and add a lot more options to an already full list. In the meantime, the limited college football and the NFL will have to do, and the Bodog sportsbook is seeing a lot of attention from football gamblers. However, every sport made an appearance on the top-ten list this past weekend. 

The NFL is still the champ on Bodog, capturing 40.34% of the wagers. College football saw a lot of action, as well, but only about half of what the NFL saw as it accounted for 21.82% of the bets. Next up, hoops took third place, with the NBA Playoffs providing 12.41% of Bodog’s activity as the LA Lakers and the Miami Heat advanced to appear in the NBA Finals best-of-seven title series. MLB and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) then followed, taking 9.2% and 6.2%, respectively. 

Soccer took two spots on the top-ten list, with the English Premier League capturing the fifth spot at 2.75%, and Germany’s Bundesliga taking tenth with 1.29%. Right in the middle of these two were the European Open and the French Open, both of which saw more action than did the NHL, which only attracted 1.73% of gamblers’ targets. The hockey league may need to figure out some different tactics if it wants to see more interest in the sports gambling realm. The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars were battling it out for the championship, yet this wasn’t enough to entice gamblers. The Stars were able to hang onto their hopes over the weekend by taking Game 5, but the Lightning proved too much yesterday and won for the second time in franchise history. 

Out of the top ten individual events, NFL games secured six spots, with the NBA Playoffs taking three – the remaining spot went to UFC 253. 23.07% of the wagers were sent for the NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints, almost twice the 12.24% given on the Heat/Celtics game from September 25. That game allowed the Celtics one more shot to stay in the running for a Finals appearance, but the Heat proved to be too hot in Game 6. When the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks took to the gridiron on Sunday, Bodog bettors gave the sportsbook 10.92% of their wagers. It’s likely most of that was sent for the Seahawks to win since they were favored at -223, and Seattle didn’t let those gamblers down.

Macau wants to get back on its feet as soon as possible after having lost huge amounts of revenue while its casinos were shut down due to COVID-19. However, the city isn’t willing to put itself in a position that could cause a relapse just to attract a few more dollars sooner. If things continue the way they have been recently, though, there’s a good chance that some of the travel restrictions for arrival into Macau could be relaxed, but testing protocols will most likely stay intact until government and health officials are confident that the coronavirus is no longer a major threat.

Daily visitation to Macau has continued to increase and has reached 36,900. That figure is still only a small fraction of what was seen prior to COVID-19, but it’s a step in the right direction. Beginning this Thursday, Macau will host its annual Golden Week holiday and, depending on how that goes, the city is ready to make changes that would allow greater visitation. The medical director for Macau’s Conde de São Januário Hospital, Alvis Lo Iek Long, said in a statement yesterday, “It is expected that a great number of mainland visitors will arrive in Macau during the Golden Week holiday. If the situation in Macau does not show obvious changes, we will review all the current preventive measures and consider easing some of them under certain conditions.”

Visitation from mainland China has already made headway over the past month. In late August, residents of the Guangdong Province, a major feeder for Macau, were allowed to request entry through the Individual Visa Scheme in China. That program was expanded to all of mainland China a few days ago, and more leeway could be given soon. 

On September 25, Macau welcomed around 36,900 visitors. Not bad for a city that was only averaging 2,500 a day just two months ago. It’s a long way from the 108,000 daily average for 2019, but it shows that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. 

It’s been a bumpy road to get to where it is, but Argentina is finally going to see online casinos. The city of Buenos Aires announced this past February that it would welcome the iGaming segment, but retail casino operators then tried to thwart those efforts in court. Buenos Aires decided that nothing was going to stand in its way, and has reportedly now approved iGaming in the city, according to an announcement issued yesterday. In some ways, the new Buenos Aires iGaming market could be the most lenient ever seen. 

The Buenos Aires Legislature has reportedly signed off on measures that will allow land-based casinos and bingo and slot parlors to launch iGaming operations. Some jurisdictions, especially in the U.S., have sought to charge millions of dollars in fees for gambling licenses, but the city is taking a different approach. There won’t be any fees; however, operators will have to pay between 10%-20% on each bet, as well as 6% of their gross profits. The Ministry of Finance will monitor the activity, with licenses being awarded for five-year stints.

Claudia Neira, a Buenos Aires politician who represents the Frente de Todos (Everyone’s Front) party, asserts of the planned rollout of iGaming, “It is logical to want to regulate online gaming as it exists and is installed in the world. It is also important that gambling is controlled and prevented. When we talk about gambling, we are talking about health, so we have to face it from that side. This is a great source of income for the City, but we know very well that it is an activity that brings many problems to the locals.”

Operators are going to have to be completely transparent with the games they offer, providing rules, odds and other information. Only those who don’t have any black marks on their record will be allowed to hold a license, and they will also have to make it easy for users to track their gambling and payment histories online. It isn’t clear how many licenses will ultimately be issued.

In the virtual world of Zoom meetings and working from home, how you manage your virtual interactions has never been more important. In the digital world, the conversation has proven to be a lost art and while you may be connecting with your colleagues in the virtual world, it’s important to remember a few key phrases that will help you stay likeable online.

No

The most important phrase in any office situation is no. While we may all be eager to please in the digital age, mastering the ability to gracefully refuse a request is a fine art. Knowing your limits and having the ability to clearly communicate what your they are will win you more friends than enemies in the long run. So many people will be eager to overpromise and under-deliver, it’s important to fall on the ledger of under-promising and over-delivering. Saying no shows a relaxed individual who’s confident in their abilities in any professional situation.

Please/Thank you

English Premier League (EPL) club Everton have signed a two-year partnership agreement with sports betting giant Parimatch. The will see Parimatch becoming the official betting partner for Everton in Europe and the CIS.

The Toffees silverware ambitions have been boosted in the transfer market, with the acquisition of James Rodriguez from Real Madrid and Allan from Napoli. Everton currently sits in third place on the EPL ladder.

Parimatch will be hoping that the bright start to the EPL season continues for the Toffees. The European sportsbook operator will benefit from the matchday signage exposure at Goodison Park and Everton’s digital assets as they launch their U.K. site on October 1st.

In a statement to the media, Everton Football Club Commercial Director Alan McTavish was pleased with the partnership:

UK bookmaker Betfred bounced back into profit in its most recent fiscal year after two straight years of negative results.

Betfred filed its annual report with Companies House last week, detailing the company’s financial performance in the 12 months through September 29, 2019. Unlike its publicly traded brethren, the privately held Betfred doesn’t issue quarterly reports, making its annual statements the only (limited) snapshot of how the bookmaker is faring.

Total gambling turnover hit £10.1b, down significantly from 2018’s £13.2b. Betfred doesn’t break out its online vs. land-based turnover but said the decline was largely thanks to the maximum stake on betting shops’ fixed-odds betting terminals falling from £100 to £2 as of April 2019. However, Betfred said the impact of this change on the bottom line was “not as bad as expected.”

Betfred’s revenue was down 12% to £621.4m. Despite the declines, Betfred’s betting duty rose 5.3% to £53.3m, while the FOBT stake change resulted in machine gaming duty falling 26% to £64.3m. Gross profit slipped 11.5% to £475m.

Struggling Chinese gambling operator 500.com has appointed new financial auditors after its existing auditor resigned over the company’s links to a Japanese casino bribery scandal.

On Monday, the Shenzhen-based, Nasdaq-listed 500.com reported that its auditor Friedman LLP had resigned last week. Friedman pulled the eject lever after disagreeing with 500.com management on “the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting in light of certain alleged unlawful payments.”

Said payments were made by ‘consultants’ engaged by 500.com to promote the company’s pursuit of a Japanese casino project. The payments caused a major political scandal in Japan that led to the arrest of Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto last Christmas and the subsequent resignations of 500.com’s chairman and CEO.

In January, 500.com established a Special Investigation Committee (SIC), which reportedly has yet to identify any violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Regardless, Friedman said the suspect payments “may have reflected material weakness” in 500.com’s internal controls and thus the auditor can no longer stand by the reports it prepared for 500.com’s financial statements for 2017 and 2018.