The first nine games have been completed for most of the club in the English Premier League, and while most fans have got their club favourites, not many get it right.  

Who are the most successful players for each club, and what makes them so? Well, it’s not Fantasy Football, where assists, bonus points and clean sheets count for bundles. This is the business end of actual accountability, and as discovered in this study by sportsbetting site Betting Expert, it’s wins that counts.  

Yes, the Premier League’s most successful players are the ones that lead to more points being accumulated, it’s as simple as that in a league format. So, who has been the player to beat for your favourite English Premier League team? Let’s take a look at the whole list.  

Highest Player Win% per Premier League club (minimum 5 appearances):   

Australian casinos continue to frantically revise their pandemic operating conditions, while the embattled Crown Resorts is once again the subject of takeover talk.

This weekend, casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group announced that its Skycity Adelaide property would reopen Sunday (22) on a limited basis following the South Australian government lifting certain restrictions imposed last week due to a new COVID-19 cluster in Adelaide (sparked by a pizza worker’s lies to local officials).

For the time being, SkyCity Adelaide is restricted to the company’s Premier Rewards membership tiers and only 100 members will be allowed onto the gaming floor at any one time. The property is also imposing the standard physical distancing measures, including limits on the number of gaming machines in operation and the number of people allowed at each gaming table.

Meanwhile, next door in the state of Victoria, Crown Melbourne announced that new Restricted Activity Directions issued by state officials will cap the property’s total capacity at 1,000 patrons, with each indoor space limited to 150 patrons or one person per four square meters, whichever is less.

South Korea has ordered Seoul-area casinos to close as the region tries to control a surge in COVID-19 infections.

On Sunday, South Korean officials announced the country had notched 271 additional COVID-19 infections, the first time in nearly a week that new infections had fallen below 300. But this minor victory wasn’t enough to lower the weekly average and thus the country is imposing tough new restrictions that are set to take effect at 12am on Tuesday (24).

The regions of Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon have been ordered to ‘Level 2’ of the country’s COVID-19 mitigation strategy, which prohibits all events at which over 100 people might gather. Bars, nightclubs and, yes, casinos will be ordered to close entirely for the next two weeks.

The news is a further blow to South Korea’s struggling foreigner-only casino operators, some of which learned last week that their maximum capacity would be lowered to 20% of normal as the impacted regions went from Level 1 to Level 1.5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUU9aha6mAI&feature=youtu.beVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Robin Eirik Reed wants a space for thought leadership in iGaming (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUU9aha6mAI&feature=youtu.be)

Robin Eirik Reed, Investor, Chair and CEO of Ichiban Ventures, is all about innovation, but not in the way you usually think of when you look at iGaming. Having recently become a shareholder for iGaming NEXT and a driving force behind Ichiban, he joined our Becky Liggero Fontana on this week’s episode of The Long Con.

The two began by talking about Reed’s background, and how he got into the gambling industry. “Back in the days before I went into iGaming, I did journalism school and was going to be a war correspondent actually,” he said. “I wanted to be where the action was and report on the most important stuff that goes on in the world. And then I stumble into a flat where there were some poker players living and before I knew it, I was part of this industry and never looked back since.

That journalism background helped create a huge interest for him in iGaming NEXT. “When I came across [Pierre Lindh, Managing Director of iGaming NEXT] and saw what the guys were doing, I got really intrigued because when I started learning about tech and about gaming and the business, I started looking at TechCrunch, I started looking at Ted, I started looking at the blogs from Silicon Valley, and these types of sources,” he said. “I think we need something like that in iGaming. I think we need a place where thought leadership can be exchanged, shared, great to produce, I think we need a place where people can come on camera, speak openly, speak freely, and more.”

It was fun while it lasted, but Nevada’s casinos are about to take another hit. Just after midnight tonight, a new order passed down by Governor Steve Sisolak will force all gambling facilities, bars and restaurants are going to take a “pause” in their operations for three weeks, with capacities being reduced from their current level of 50% all the way down to 25%. The changes are due to a new spike in COVID-19 cases and, if they don’t work, Sisolak is prepared to implement even stricter policies. 

The reduction is an attempt to avoid a complete shutdown like the one seen earlier this year in the state. However, the governor has made it clear that the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) is prepared to enforce the rules and asserts, “If [casino operators] don’t follow [the restrictions] they will suffer the consequences,” Sisolak warned. “We are in constant contact with the Gaming Control Board. It’s time to act. I am not issuing a shutdown order.” For its part, the NGCB will apparently be given “great latitude” in assigning penalties to violators.

The 25% capacity limit is for all properties at all times, even Thanksgiving this Thursday. In addition, no restaurant or any other foodservice establishment – including those at casinos – is able to receive walk-in customers. All tables will be seated by reservation only, and no table will be allowed to seat more than four people.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 fiasco, Nevada has seen a total of 133,888 cases that resulted in 2,017 deaths. As of yesterday, there were another 2,155 new cases and six more deaths, and the governor is confident restricting gatherings of any kind will halt the virus from spreading further. He explains, COVID is filling up our hospital beds and that threatens all Nevadans. This is our biggest threat… This cannot become our reality.”

It’s hard to imagine being forced to sit in the same position for any length of time – many of us like to remain constantly active, moving around from place to place as we complete different tasks and refuse to think we need to take a break. However, our bodies might not agree with us, even if we don’t listen to them. High blood pressure, anxiety and more are our bodies’ ways of telling us to give it a little downtime, no matter how much it goes against our nature. For many, meditation is a great way to give the body what it wants but, for those who can’t envision remaining cemented in a particular spot for anything more than a minute, it’s not an option. However, it can be, and there are ways even meditation haters can enjoy the experience.

For most of us, imagining someone meditating means viewing the person sitting down, legs crossed, eyes closed and fingers extended while reciting some chant in a foreign tongue. However, there’s a little-known secret that you should know. Meditation isn’t about sitting uncomfortably for 20, 30 minutes. In fact, it’s all about comfort. You can sit, you can lie down, you can stand on your head to meditate – whatever allows you to be comfortable.

There’s also no law that says you must remain perfectly still during meditation – the meditation police won’t come knocking at your door if you decide to scratch your nose decide to stretch a leg. The idea behind meditation is to relax the body and mind; if you fight these natural urges, you diminish any possibility of enjoying the benefits of the exercise.

The really good news for those who like to stay active all the time is that there is no given amount of time required for it to be considered a successful meditation session. If you only have five minutes and can relax during that time, you’ve accomplished your goal. It’s even possible to meditate for as little as one minute, and there are online guides that can fill you in on all the details.

The life of Doyle Brunson – nicknamed the Godfather of Poker – has been an extra ordinary one. From the basketball court – yes, really – to the poker felt, the man who became known as ‘Texas Dolly’ changed the game of poker forever when he became known as ‘the man in the hat’.  

Humble Beginnings and Hoop Dreams  

Doyle Brunson was born in 1933, six years before the start of the second World War, and would grow up as an extremely sporty individual. Running a 4:43 mile and starring at basketball, there was a real chance Brunson would have ended up in the NBA were it not for a broken leg that ruined his chances of a sporting career.  

Instead of sports, Brunson took to the poker felt and immediately found an affinity with the challenging environment he would go on to dominate. He gambled on everything from golf to poker, and traveled around areas such as Louisiana, Fort Worth and Oklahoma playing the game he loved and loved winning at. When the World Series of Poker came along in 1970, Brunson was already a huge part of the poker community and became one of the world’s best.  

The Philippines is racing to set up a legal framework for online cockfighting. But until everything is ready and the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) gives the go-ahead, local authorities are trying to hunt down those currently offering what’s locally called e-sabong.

The House committee on ways and means have approved a substitute tax bill for online cockfights and derbies. While the previous bill would create transparency around cockfights for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), this one specifically calls for a tax equivalent to 5% based on gross receipts from offsite betting activities on locally-licensed cockfights and derbies.

In the measure, “offsite betting activities on locally-licensed cockfights and derbies” are defined as cockfighting activities that involve placing, acceptance, and facilitation of wagers through remote or electronic means and licensed by local government units. It excludes offerings provided by either PAGCOR or the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

This provides a clearer bill, should it become a law, to legalize, supervise and tax online cockfighting offerings going forward. But with them still existing in a legal grey area, local authorities are still cracking down.

In order for Macau to start recovering some of the revenue lost due to COVID-19, the quickest route will be through the premium mass gambling segment. An increased focus on this market could lead to short-term gains to help the city’s casinos, as well as Macau, begin to fill the void left by the coronavirus pandemic. According to Bernstein Research, the premium mass gamblers are poised to shore up casino activity better than others, which is needed as the government is reporting a drop in Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) of around 64% for the third quarter of the year. 

Although Macau has taken a major hit from COVID-19, the mass market suffered the least in the third quarter of the year. Mass market gaming increased by 77% sequentially over the previous quarter, well above the 51% reported for the VIP segment. The mass market can attract larger numbers of gamblers, which would translate into faster short-term gains for the city. 

Certain properties would have to alter their business models in order to refocus on the mass segment. Bernstein feels that properties like Wynn Resorts and Melco Resorts and Entertainment are geared more for the high rollers, and these “may initially underperform.” However, Wynn Resorts (Macau) President Ian Coughlan is ready to push forward and told investors on a conference call recently, “We’ve noticed very strong premium mass pickup in [Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace], and they are different destinations, but one hasn’t grown at the expense of the other. So, we’re very encouraged by premium mass activity in [both properties].”

When the dust finally settles from the global pandemic, VIP gambling might continue to take a back seat to the mass segment. As one of the primary feeders for Macau, China has historically led the VIP segment, but the country’s crackdown on gambling could force casino operators in the city to refocus their energy on the mass segment, as well as other, non-gaming attractions to reboot Macau.