Monthly Archives: September 2020

Overtaking the Enemy: The Battle Between England’s Two Most Successful Clubs

The biggest mission in many sports is to overtake your main rival. In Formula One this aim might be literal, making the car faster and better to handle than the one you want to finish ahead of. In rugby, it might be to make your pack stronger and fitter than the current champions. In football, the demands of style and success are often focused on the actions of others.

They tell us different, football players and managers. They profess that they are concentrating on playing their ‘own game’, or ‘focusing on ourselves’. They say these things after studying videos of their opponents all week.

One of the most interesting battles to take the title in the world of football is the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United. The Red Devils have won a record 20 top-flight titles, but Liverpool’s incredible success in the extended 2019/20 season earned them a famous victory, their first in 30 years, to bring up their 19th.

How can United bridge the gap between the two sides – which last year stood at 33 points – to limit the chances of their North West rivals of making it to 21 titles before they do? 

CoinGeek Live blockchain conference features prominent government & law speakers

The CoinGeek Live conference is honored to announce its speaker roster includes prominent global leaders from government and law. The 3-day blockchain event (September 30-October 2, 2020) will be broadcast digitally from studios in New York and London. CoinGeek Live will explore Bitcoin SV’s vision to achieve one massively-scaled blockchain for the world – in order to break down data silos, create a single source of information truth, and incentivize more honesty. Although focused on Bitcoin SV (BSV), CoinGeek events welcome speakers (like those listed below) and attendees who are interested generally in blockchain technology and digital currency.

For CoinGeek Live, the government and law speakers include:

Pēteris Zilgalvis, J.D., Head of Unit, Digital Innovation & Blockchain and Co-Chair, FinTech Task Force, European Commission

Carl Brincat, Chief Legal & Enforcement Officer, Malta Gaming Authority

Presidential election odds: Who wins if vote is contested?

Just as we thought we were entering the home stretch of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, some wild comments from President Donald Trump threaten to flip everything we thought we knew about the election. With the first debate set to take place on September 29, we have up to date odds from Bodog, a contest from Fan Duel, and some insight on what will happen if the vote gets thrown out.

Let’s start with the big question: What happens if Trump tries to throw out the election result? Although practically unthinkable from a certain principled perspective, don’t act like this hasn’t happened before. The Supreme Court gave George W. Bush the presidency in 2000 before all ballots in Florida had been counted, creating precedence for presidential election shenanigans.

Trump’s administration, seeing that they are losing in important polls, have started to ask important states to consider ignoring their popular vote totals, citing a lack of confidence in mail-in ballots. They couldn’t possibly get away with it, right? Well, much like in 2000, such a move would likely end up in the courts, and Donald Trump is likely to get a new right leaning Supreme Court Justice.

Five votes could matter more than anything else to decide the next president. There are currently three left leaning judges on the court (Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan). Chief Justice John Roberts has been the deciding vote in most controversial decisions of late, and could side with the more liberal side of the court. After that, Joe Biden has to pray that someone like Neil Gorsuch likes him, and democracy, better than Trump.

Climate tech becomes big business for investors

Climate change is real and there is a growing awareness among the population to try to mitigate any negative ramifications these changes will have. New, innovative solutions are constantly being introduced to offset the impact of everyday activities, and some are going to be able to help in more ways than others. As a whole, climate change is turning into big business and investors are taking notice. According to Modern Diplomacy, citing a study conducted by accounting giant PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), investments being made into climate innovation far outpace those of venture capital (VC) market rate, now reaching five times the amount targeting the latter. 

From 2013-2019, a total of $60 billion was injected into companies working on netzero emissions solutions. That first year, $418 million had been destined to climate tech, while $16.3 billion was contributed last year. Almost half of the total investment money went to companies and startups operating out of the U.S. and Canada, while $20 billion went to Chinese companies. The European market only captured $7 billion. 

In terms of overall investments, VC only accounts for 6% of all money that is given to finance new projects. Environmental tech is grabbing a larger portion of that pie, primarily, due to the provability and scalability of the solutions presented, and their ability to effectively reduce carbon use, or to erase it completely. By way of comparison, the environmental tech investment segment is growing three times faster than the artificial intelligence (AI) segment.

Explains PwC U.K.’s Celine Herweijer, the company’s global leader of Innovation and Sustainability, “The analysis shows the urgency of the opportunity, and gap to close, to support and scale innovative technologies and business models to address the climate crisis. Climate tech is a new frontier in venture investing for the 2020s.”

Sachin Tendulkar signs on as brand ambassador for PFG

Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar has agreed to a partnership with Paytm First Games (PFG), to become the platforms fantasy sports ambassador for the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Widely considered to be one of the finest players of a generation, PFG will be looking to Tendulkar to help them capitalise on India’s lucrative fantasy sports market.

We are excited to announce @sachin_rt as the brand ambassador for @PaytmFirstGames #SachinIsBack

Read more: https://t.co/iTKdyHZ98B

DraftKings’ new speed roulette in New Jersey isn’t spinning freely

Sports gambling and iGaming operator DraftKings recently decided to up the ante with its online gaming offerings and added a new, live-dealer Speed Roulette game to its growing menu. It’s a straightforward option that does exactly what the name implies, but it hasn’t been received with overwhelming enthusiasm by everyone. Concerns have been raised over how the operator is pitching the game, and this could lead to tighter responsible gambling controls being implemented in the Garden State, as well as across the US. Others will argue that the negativity surrounding the new option is simple pettiness. 

When DraftKings decided to launch the game about a week ago, it took to Twitter to offer a hint of what was coming, then announced its arrival a couple of days later. That announcement, which has since been removed by the operator, received backlash from responsible gaming campaigners because it read, “It’s the game that keeps going so you can keep playing.” DraftKings pulled the announcement because of the response, but the game is still available to New Jersey gamers through its mobile app. It has yet to be included on the operator’s website. 

Speed Roulette was developed by Evolution for its B2B clients, a group in which DraftKings is included, and is offered through its studio at the Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City. Wanting customers to “keep playing” is the goal of any entertainment offering, just like wanting customers to continue dining is the goal of any restaurant. Just because the option exists doesn’t mean diners will turn into oversized eaters who live on the restaurant floor. 

The game allows gamers to reduce the amount of time between spins to about 25 seconds, allowing up to 50 spins per hour more than typical roulette tables. However, Evolution’s goal with creating the option wasn’t to lock in gamers for hours at a time; rather, to offer new and exciting choices as competition continues to increase. Evolution Chief Product Officer Todd Haushalter explained when the game was introduced to the company’s international clients, “We worked really hard to create a game that feels relaxed while at the same time being blazing fast. This is a tricky balance to achieve, and by giving the game its own dedicated studio, with numerous immersive camera shots, and letting players bet during the spin we have created a game that will appeal to serious and novice players alike.”

Connor McGregor in negotiations to fight Manny Pacquiao in 2021

Retired two-time UFC champion Connor McGregor has announced his return to the ring in a mega bout with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. McGregor announced in a series of tweets that he wanted to return to boxing against Pacquiao, with the bout expected to take place in January 2021 in the Middle East.

Anyway all water under the bridge who gives a fook.

I’m boxing Manny Pacquiao next in the Middle East.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 25, 2020https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

NFL Sunday not at all what many football fans expected

The NFL season has gotten off to a great start and fears of a massive outbreak of COVID-19 seem to have been unfounded. So far, only one player has tested positive for the coronavirus, and this is seen as a very good sign for the fate of the rest of the season. Week 3 will wrap up tonight, but most of the action played out yesterday and there was definitely no shortage of upsets and blowouts. Without a preseason to work out the bugs, the first three weeks of the season have essentially been the try-outs for a number of players, and a couple might need to start preparing for some changes. 

For the second week in a row, the Atlanta Falcons crawled all over their opponents and had the game in the bag. Last week, against the Dallas Cowboys, they were up 39-24 and had no chance of losing the game. The only thing left was to run out the clock – overcoming a 15-point deficit isn’t an easy feat. However, the ‘Boys did it, and won the game 40-39. Almost as if history were repeating itself, the Falcons failure continued yesterday as they blew a 26-10 lead against the Chicago Bears to ultimately lose, 30-26. It might be time for Atlanta to make a couple big changes. Fans aren’t happy, nor are those that took the -182 moneyline on the team. Fortunately, anyone who chose the Over on the 46.5 Over/Under and took the Bears at +155 is enjoying their rewards. 

The Bears started Mitchell Trubisky under center yesterday and he might not survive. After two and a half quarters in the game and zero production, Trubisky left in favor of Nick Foles. The replacement not only brought consistency for a quarter and a half, but he led the team to victory. Trubisky has to be feeling a little nervous. 

The Cleveland Browns walked all over the Washington Football Team (WFT) yesterday, just as oddsmakers had expected. Dwayne Haskins had more turnovers for the WFT than he did touchdowns – three interceptions and a fumble – and all four resulted in Browns’ points. Despite this, the WFT was actually up in the fourth quarter, but the Browns decimated the opposition and walked away with a 35-20 win. It’s the first time in six years that they’re above .500, and the -358 they were getting before the game shows that oddsmakers knew something good was coming. The Over/Under of 44.5 was easily surpassed, thanks to the fourth-quarter surge. 

The Long Con: Bill Pascrell talks about the growing US gambling market

Bill Pascrell III is excited by the immense possibilities of the U.S. online gambling market. The lobbyist from the Princeton Public Affairs group sat down with long-time friend Becky Liggero Fontana on the latest episode of The Long Con to talk about the state of play in the growing U.S. online gambling market.

Pascrell was quick to point out that life is slowly returning to normal for the retail sector in North America. “Restaurants are opening and casinos are opening but the online gaming world has been incredibly robust,” he said.

While sports betting related content has been down, online casino and poker content has pushed jurisdictions like New Jersey to the top of the food chain. “New Jersey’s has just become the third-largest jurisdiction in the globe which is quite an accomplishment after only six years,” Pascrell added.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c9BCjnYizY]

Caesars confirms they will attempt to buy William Hill

Caesars Entertainment has ended any speculation about their intent to buy William Hill. After speculation that a bid was coming saw William Hill’s share price soar on September, Caesars has confirmed their intent to make a bid, valuing the British sportsbook at £2.9 billion ($3.73 billion).

The bid would come in at 272 pence per share, and Caesars noted its going to make further announcements when appropriate. That might seem low now, as a frenzy of speculation over an upcoming bid drove William Hill’s share price up 43.5% to 312 pence.

“The opportunity to combine our land based-casinos, sports betting and online gaming in the U.S. is a truly exciting prospect,” Caesars’ chief executive Tom Reeg said. “William Hill’s sports betting expertise will complement Caesars’ current offering, enabling the combined group to better serve our customers in the fast growing U.S. sports betting and online market.”

“We look forward to working with William Hill to support future growth in the U.S. by providing our customers with a superior and comprehensive experience across all areas of gaming, sports betting, and entertainment,” Reeg added.

Watch Calvin Ayre join Pierre Lindh to talk gambling and blockchain

Calvin Ayre, founder of CalvinAyre.com, CoinGeek and the Ayre Group, has a lot of wisdom to share when it comes to the gambling industry and Bitcoin. He explored his history and thoughts on both in a recent podcast conversation with Pierre Lindh, Managing Director of iGaming Next on iGaming Next Podcasts, and encouraged everyone to come learn more at CoinGeek Live.

Lindh began the conversation by asking the billionaire a big question: does money make you happier?

“I didn’t start out doing what I do aiming at money, because primarily what I do is, I’m a builder,” Ayre responded. “I like the challenge of building things and I really like having a vision of somewhere I want to go and then trying to do it. And my ambitions were decidedly a lot smaller when I was younger than what happened. But my own experience, I’ve had like no money when I was early on in my career, and I have lots of money now for a while now, and there’s no question that money makes your life better. Money is like a lubricant that just makes everything easier around you. So yes, money itself doesn’t buy happiness, but it removes irritants.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY9yLIjvvvY?feature=oembed]

Alabama thinks gambling is a public nuisance as state sues operators

Alabama has been thinking about allowing commercial casinos that could compete with the two federally-authorized tribal casinos that already exist. Despite a number of legal markets and decades of experience across the country, the state believes the best course of action is to conduct yet another gambling study before moving forward. In the meantime, there are a number of gambling halls that provide electronic bingo machines and the fact that the government is suing these for being a “public nuisance” seems to indicate how lawmakers really feel about legalized gambling. 

There are three electronic bingo facilities that have come under fire in the past couple of years, one in Macon County called VictoryLand and two in Lowndes County, White Hall Entertainment and Southern Star Entertainment. Targeted by state leaders and regulators, these properties have spent time in court, defending themselves and winning most of the way. That, however, ended last week when the Alabama Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s decision that the state’s court system didn’t have the authority to decide the issue. 

At the heart of the argument was the assertion that the facilities couldn’t be a public nuisance if the two tribal casinos, both on sovereign land owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, were allowed to operate with impunity and were not considered a nuisance. In previously requesting that the lawsuits be dismissed, the defendants had stated, “The Wind Creek casinos operate openly and notoriously, and are many times larger. ‘Indian gaming’ is legal or illegal is irrelevant to the State’s claims because legal conduct can also constitute a public nuisance.”

In an example of jurisprudential disparity, each lower court had agreed, adding that not including the tribal casinos would eventually lead to failure of the lawsuit, as these should be considered “indispensable parties” due to the fact that they offer the same types of games that are being targeted by the lawsuit. However, after not getting their way in the courts, lawmakers took their fight to the Supreme Court, which decided that the indispensable party argument was irrelevant and that the state could determine if the bingo parlors were, in fact, a public nuisance. 

Vegas casinos on notice after Boyd levied $300,000 fine

The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) is sending a message – a loud and expensive one – to casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere across the state. Last week, reports surfaced that a couple of security officers at Boyd Gaming’s Fremont Hotel & Casino had gone all Rambo-like on a patron who had been accused of stealing from another. Instead of taking the high road and handling the situation with civility, the officers reportedly jumped into full tactical mode and are said to have acted like they had captured an Al-Qaeda operative. After the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) got involved, it conducted and forwarded its findings to the NGC for the final resolution. The commission has now spoken and has slapped Boyd with a $300,000 fine. 

The incident occurred last November, but didn’t make its rounds across media channels until last week. A gambler accused another of taking over her slot machine, which still had credits in it, and she approached security for help. The two officers intervened, and one is said to have grabbed the alleged offender by the neck and arm, hauling her away for interrogation. She was handcuffed and kept hidden away for an hour away while security is said to have tried to coerce a confession out of her. 

Video surveillance didn’t support the accuser’s allegations and no charges were filed as a result. However, the gambler ultimately paid $200 to the casino in order to be able to leave. The investigation, which included Nevada Deputy Attorney General Ed Magaw, revealed that one of the officers was exaggeratingly “hostile” and had not acted in accordance with Nevada guidelines, including an attempted cover-up of the details of the incident. As a result, the NGC decided to make Boyd an example of what will happen when casinos violate the guidelines and consumer trust. 

MGC Chairman John Moran Jr. said after the commission met last Thursday to go over the NGCB’s findings that he was “very troubled” by what had transpired, but was reluctant to support the NGCB’s recommended fine. He was reluctant because he didn’t feel it was enough. He would have been happy to sign off on a more severe punishment and will in the future if similar events are reported. He warned casino operators to toe the line appropriately, stating, “I am not going to support only a $300,000 fine. It’s going to be a lot more.”

PAGCOR wants financial institutions investigated over illegal gambling

There has been an uptick in the amount of online gaming in the Philippines recently, some of which has been determined to be operating beyond the scope of gambling laws. The country’s gambling regulator, PAGCOR, is perplexed over how this could be possible, since existing financial and anti-money laws require banks and other money-handlers to do their job in preventing illegal activity. As a result, PAGCOR wants the country’s central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), to take a closer look at all financial entities along with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to determine if any underhanded activity is occurring. 

PAGCOR has good reason to suspect that certain banks or money-transmitting operators are, directly or indirectly, involved in illegal gambling. It explains in a notice on its website from last Friday that the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) has been conducting surveillance on a number of suspected illegal gambling facilities operating out of the country. One, an illegal online bingo operator, has already been busted by the PNP-ACG and, since all of these have to be able to move money in and out, someone with ties to the legal financial realm has to be involved. 

The Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry has been running for some time, despite being the center of a lot of controversy in the country. However, while POGOs are legitimate, the newer illegal operators, perhaps capitalizing on the COVID-19 lockdown that forced retail casinos to close, could be attempting to mask themselves as having ties to the POGO segment. They have increased their marketing efforts on social media platforms and are trying to disguise themselves as operating with a license and according to regulations when, in fact, neither is true. 

Adds PAGCOR in its statement, “To further strengthen the fight against unauthorized gambling activities, the state-run gaming regulator will ask for the assistance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to conduct an investigation on banks, remittance services, and payment solutions used fund conduits for these illegal operations. 

GGPoker to host Battle of Malta in November

GGPoker have announced that they will be the hosts of the Battle of Malta, including the $3 million Main Event.

With so many live events heading online, who hosts them is the biggest question of all. GGPoker have already brought 54 WSOP events to the masses to make the 2020 World Series of Poker Online Series a huge success.

Originally scheduled for slightly earlier in the year, the Battle of Malta players will only have to wait until November now. With the series taking place on GGPoker between November 1st – 22nd, the Main Event, which costs just $550 to play, will have a guarantee of $3 million.

Initially billed to take place in early October, players will not mind one bit that it’s taking place online givien that live poker tournaments are almost certainly not going to take place properly until the Coronavirus vaccine is found or the virus is no longer classed as a pandemic.