Casinos in the Indian state of Goa have only just resumed operations but have already raised the ire of local residents who fear a pandemic resurgence spurred by reckless tourist gamblers.

Goa casinos – both the floating and land-based kind – were given the all-clear to resume operations as of November 1 following seven months of COVID-19 lockdown, but only at 50% capacity to minimize the likelihood of further pandemic spread among customers and staff.

Clearly there was significant pent-up demand, as the onshore offices and embarkation points of the floating casinos have quickly become a sore spot with local residents. Horrified locals report scores of gamblers clustering in groups on the streets outside the ships, most without wearing face masks or maintaining appropriate social distancing measures.

Uday Madkaikar, mayor of the city of Panaji in which locals board the floating casinos, said this past weekend that he would convene a meeting with casino operators on Monday (23) to discuss the lack of adherence to medical safeguards the casinos are supposed to be observing as a condition of their reopening.

Casinos in the Indian state of Goa have only just resumed operations but have already raised the ire of local residents who fear a pandemic resurgence spurred by reckless tourist gamblers.

Goa casinos – both the floating and land-based kind – were given the all-clear to resume operations as of November 1 following seven months of COVID-19 lockdown, but only at 50% capacity to minimize the likelihood of further pandemic spread among customers and staff.

Clearly there was significant pent-up demand, as the onshore offices and embarkation points of the floating casinos have quickly become a sore spot with local residents. Horrified locals report scores of gamblers clustering in groups on the streets outside the ships, most without wearing face masks or maintaining appropriate social distancing measures.

Uday Madkaikar, mayor of the city of Panaji in which locals board the floating casinos, said this past weekend that he would convene a meeting with casino operators on Monday (23) to discuss the lack of adherence to medical safeguards the casinos are supposed to be observing as a condition of their reopening.

The Philippines’ gambling market remains a shadow of its former glories, while locally licensed online gambling activity apparently remains a state secret. 

Figures released this week by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) show the local gaming sector generated gross revenue of P17.66b (US$367m) in the three months ending September 30, barely one-quarter of the P65.4b generated in the same period last year.

However, the Q3 2020 sum is a significant improvement from the P2.4b the market generated in the three months ending June 30, a period in which nearly all gambling operations – both land-based and online – were closed due to the local impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

PAGCOR became increasingly stingy with its statistics as the pandemic took hold, but the Q3 report represents a new nadir. Unlike the year’s first two quarterly reports, the regulator didn’t even provide year-to-date totals this time. Instead, the Q3 figures are simply replicated in the ‘total’ column. Insightful, it ain’t.

The Caribbean Poker Party Main Event had already seen 490 players put up the $5,300 buy-in on Day 1a of the tournament, but on Day 1b, that total got even higher, with 547 players paying the entry fee and pitting their poker wits against the rest of the world.

The partypoker CPP 2020 Online Series has been very successful so far, and those numbers meant that the $5 million guarantee, with the prizepool set at $5,185,000… for now. Players will have until a few minutes before 7pm GMT tonight to enter on Day 2 as play then goes down to a winner. 

With 18 levels in the can on Day 1b, it was Peruvian superstar Diego Ventura who led the 86 players who emerged claiming a Day 2 seat. With a chip-stack of 18.7 million chips, Ventura was clear of other big names such as  Ramiro Petrone (15,372,144), Daniel Colpoys (15,261,296), and EPT regular Anton Wigg (14,536,280). With partypoker ambassadors Anatoly Filatov (12,991,576) and Ludovic Geilich (3,431,076) both going through with differing stack sizes, Australia’s current in-form high roller Kahle Burns  stacking up 10,732,793 and 2020 crusher Timothy Adams sneaking into the counts, there are plenty of luminaries who will be scrapping it out for the big money in the Main Event as the tournament progresses.

The presence of Ventura is an exciting one on its own merits, with the Peruvian the #1 player in the country of his birth and a South American poker hero. We’ve seen him in live action ourselves, and he makes for a fearsome opponent, with a dead-eye stare and all the skills to pay the poker bills. Ventura will be a tough nut to crack when Day 2 does finally commence.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Usually the best Friday of college football action each regular season is Black Friday – i.e. that shopping holiday the day after American Thanksgiving. That’s this Friday in Week 13 and there are a handful of ranked teams in action.

From the Big 12 at noon ET, No. 15 Iowa State visits No. 20 Texas. The latter was off in Week 12, although that wasn’t the plan for the Longhorns as their game at Kansas was postponed to December 12 because of COVID-19 issues with the Jayhawks. This will be the home finale against Texas, which has kept its chances of reaching the Big 12 title game alive with a three-game winning streak. However, a loss here and the rumors of Coach Tom Herman being fired will return in force.

Iowa State controls its destiny to reach the Big 12 Championship Game and will get there for sure by winning out. Coach Matt Campbell’s team still could with a loss. Texas is -1.5 and covered the past four in this series.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Usually the best Friday of college football action each regular season is Black Friday – i.e. that shopping holiday the day after American Thanksgiving. That’s this Friday in Week 13 and there are a handful of ranked teams in action.

From the Big 12 at noon ET, No. 15 Iowa State visits No. 20 Texas. The latter was off in Week 12, although that wasn’t the plan for the Longhorns as their game at Kansas was postponed to December 12 because of COVID-19 issues with the Jayhawks. This will be the home finale against Texas, which has kept its chances of reaching the Big 12 title game alive with a three-game winning streak. However, a loss here and the rumors of Coach Tom Herman being fired will return in force.

Iowa State controls its destiny to reach the Big 12 Championship Game and will get there for sure by winning out. Coach Matt Campbell’s team still could with a loss. Texas is -1.5 and covered the past four in this series.

UK National Lottery operator Camelot posted near-record sales in the first half of its fiscal year despite retail disruptions caused by COVID-19.

Figures released Tuesday show Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd generated sales of £3.85b in the six months ending September 26, a 1.7% decline from the previous year’s fiscal H1, although that period represented the company’s all-time high-water mark in H1 revenue terms. Contributions to good causes fell 1.5% to £863.7m.

The H1 stats were saved from a much greater decline by Camelot’s “urgent interventions” as the UK government’s pandemic response forced many lottery retailers to shut their doors. Camelot campaigned hard to remind players that digital options abounded while adding additional technical support to onboard newbies, resulting in 1.3m new online registrations.

That customer surge led to record digital sales of £1.62b, an increase of £455m from the same period last year, with mobile’s share of that sum gaining £380m to a record £1.13b. Camelot lowered the minimum deposit threshold to encourage digital virgins, while simultaneously pushing a ‘Dream Big, Play Small’ message that the company said resulted in digital average weekly spend “remaining consistent” over H1.

Nevada casinos posted a modest gaming revenue increase from September to October, but new COVID-19 restrictions have the mayor of Las Vegas calling the state’s governor a dictator.

Figures released Tuesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) show statewide casino gaming revenue of slightly under $822.7m, down 19.5% from the same month last year and a mere $1.6m higher than the state reported in September 2020.

The brunt of October’s decline came via the Las Vegas Strip, which reported revenue falling 30.2% to $375.8m, while downtown Vegas slipped 22.7% to $52.8m. The picture was far less bleak outside Clark County, with areas like Reno and Lake Tahoe posting decent annual growth.

Statewide slots revenue was down 19% to $565.8m, while the ‘table, counter & card games’ segment fell 20.4% to $256.8m. Baccarat revenue rose 4.6% to $59.3m and mini-baccarat gained 5.2% to $7.2m, but all other table games save bingo were broadly negative, led by blackjack ($60.2m, -24.8%), craps ($27.6m, -13%) and roulette ($18.5m, -34.4%).