To some, he was the enemy, a thorn in their side. To those he played for, he was God. Diego Armando Maradona, who won the World Cup in 1986 almost single-handedly, as well as transforming the fortunes of Boca Juniors, Napoli and Barcelona, has died aged 60 of a suspected heart attack.
Born into Argentinian slums, Diego Maradona was the 5th of eight children. To him, football wasn’t just a way of life – it was his way of escaping it. The sport became an obsession to him, the reason for him being on the planet, and aged 15, he made his professional debut. He would go on to transform the country of his birth purely by way of the football he played in Argentina, but his outrageous skills would soon make it to Europe, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmyssDtOiLMVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Diego Maradona Top 50 Amazing Skill Moves Ever | Is this guy the best in history? D10S (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmyssDtOiLM)
The $300,000 Hollywood Derby (G1T) Nov. 28 at Del Mar drew 13 turf sophomores that include five graded stakes winners from both the East and West coasts, topped by trainer Christophe Clement’s grade 1 winners Decorated Invader and Gufo.
Switzerland’s gambling regulator has approved its ninth online casino license, while Swiss online poker players finally have a locally licensed option at their disposal.
On Wednesday, Switzerland’s federal gaming board (ESBK) announced that the Federal Council had extended the license of Casino Neuchâtel to allow it to offer online casino games alongside its land-based offering. The as yet unnamed site will be allowed to launch once the ESBK approves its technical platform.
Casino Neuchâtel is the ninth of Switzerland’s 21 casinos to have made some progress toward launching online operations, although only seven of these online casinos are actually functional. Casinos Austria International’s Casino Lugano, which was cleared to launch in April, has yet to debut its online offering.
Meanwhile, Swisscasinos.ch, the online offering of the Swiss Casinos Group’s Casino Pfäffikon-Zürichsee, recently unveiled its new online poker product, the first of its kind in the Swiss market. Some Swiss-licensed online casinos offer live dealer poker products from the likes of Evolution, but these involve players competing against the dealer, not each other.
There are fewer games than normal on Sunday in Week 12 because of the three Thanksgiving Day matchups around the NFL, although the league helped boost the Sunday slate by wiping out byes this week.
Let’s say the NFL ceased to exist in 15 years or so. At that point, it’s easy to see a scenario where historians say the two best quarterbacks ever were Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. They have met three times as professionals, with Brady holding a 2-1 edge including playoffs – all while he was with the New England Patriots.
By far the marquee matchup this Sunday is Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs at Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff. It could easily be a preview of Super Bowl 55, which also will be held in Tampa. Or, it could be the final time they ever face off because the Chiefs and Bucs won’t be scheduled to play for another four years in the regular season, and we presume the 43-year-old Brady will have retired by then. Kansas City is a 3.5-point favorite and is a stellar 15-4 ATS in its past 19 games.
France’s online gambling market shook off its pandemic baggage in the third quarter thanks to record sports and race betting handle.
Figures released Wednesday by France’s Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) gambling regulator show locally licensed online gambling operators generated combined revenue of €405m in the three months ending September 30, up 17% from the same period last year and more than one-quarter better than Q2 2020’s result.
Sports betting revenue rose 6% year-on-year to €228m as betting turnover soared 49% to €1.615b, a new record for France’s decade-old regulated online market. The surge came courtesy of a 37% rise in weekly active bettors to nearly 2.2m as major sports resumed activity following this spring’s halt due to COVID-19, although average stakes per player slipped by 22% to €104.
Football drove the results, accounting for 64% of Q3 betting stakes, while the Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich drew over €31m in bets, second only to the final match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
In collaboration with December’s Betting on Sports America – Digital conference, VIXIO GamblingCompliance is conducting a survey to understand the market view on which regulatory, policy, and compliance challenges will most impact the growth of the U.S. sports betting market. James Kilsby, Managing Director U.S. for VIXIO GamblingCompliance, outlines the initial findings.
The enduring impact of the 1961 federal Wire Act is the most significant legal and regulatory overhang for the rapidly expanding U.S. sports wagering market, according to the preliminary findings of the VIXIO GamblingCompliance and SBC U.S. Sports Betting Regulatory Survey.
Over 28 percent of several dozen initial respondents to the first-of-its-kind survey identified the Wire Act as the regulatory issue most likely to impede market growth in the coming years.
Changing course from an intention to run Global Campaign in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 23 before beginning a stud career, WinStar Farm announced Nov. 25 the colt has been retired.
GVC Holdings, the global sports betting and gaming group to be re-named Entain, today announced a new partnership with Conscious Gaming, becoming the first official partner of PlayPause, a new multi-state responsible gambling tool which will operate across state lines in the United States. PlayPause will launch with BetMGM, GVC’s joint venture in the U.S. with MGM Resorts.
The latest move adds to existing work by GVC already underway in the U.S around responsible gaming. These include a multi-year research program into addictive behaviours with Harvard, and a collaboration with EPIC, a leading independent gambling harm minimisation consultancy. GVC is also part of the US National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) President’s Circle.
PlayPause is available via Conscious Gaming, a new non-profit organization established by GeoComply, a global leader in geolocation compliance technology. This partnership will enhance GVC and BetMGM’s ability to continue to lead the way in player protection across the US.
PlayPause adds further features to GVC’s leading player protection measures, including:
Self-exclusion protection as players move from state to state, rather than being limited to the state in which they are typically based.
Adding additional data on players who have already self-excluded in one state but need to be recognized and protected to play in another jurisdiction.
Added efficiency through eliminating the silos associated with maintaining numerous separate state-operated self-exclusion databases.
Shay Segev, CEO of GVC, commented:
“We are delighted to be the first official partner of PlayPause. We believe the most responsible operator will be the most successful operator, and PlayPause’s innovative, multi-state approach to responsible gaming in the U.S. aligns with our firm commitment to providing our customers with the safest and most enjoyable experience possible.”
Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, commented:
“A multi-state approach to responsible gaming is an important step for the industry and advances consumer protection in a meaningful way. We’re delighted to play a leading role in collaborating on this important and timely initiative.”
Anna Sainsbury, Conscious Gaming Trustee, and GeoComply Chairman and Co-Founder, commented:
“Conscious Gaming is thrilled to be partnering with GVC and BetMGM to launch PlayPause. To have such a high profile, responsible, and fast-growing operator on board from the start is a fantastic endorsement for the PlayPause initiative. As an industry, it’s only by working together with all stakeholders that we’ll be able to ensure players have the necessary tools to foster responsible play.”
Isaac Haxton is among those lined up and ready to engage in some final table festivities in the Caribbean Poker Party main event.
Partypoker Ambassador Isaac Haxton is among the biggest stacks at the final table of the Caribbean Poker Party main event. (Image: WPT)
The $5,300 fiesta played down to a final table of nine earlier this week and Partypoker Ambassador Haxton is among the top stacks.
The American, playing out of Canada, bagged just over 115 million chips on Day 3 and will start the November 25 finale in fourth place. Leading the charge with over 307 million chips is Peru’s Diego Ventura.
When Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment melded into one, extremely large casino company this past summer, they did so only after having jumped through a number of hoops. One of those hoops was held by the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC), which was concerned about the newly-formed Caesars holding too much control in the state. As a result, the gaming regulator agreed to sign off on the deal, only if a couple of gaming properties were put up for sale. Horseshoe Hammond was ultimately designated as one of those properties, and the clock started ticking for a new owner to be found. However, Caesars just forced the sale into overtime after the IGC agreed to give it an extension for finding a buyer.
The IGC greenlighted the Caesars/Eldorado merger with the caveat that three properties be sold, or the state would rescind its approval. Caesars had initially wanted to unload just two, but regulators held fast to their position that the company would still have too large a piece of the pie, and a three-casino deal was reluctantly approved. Caesars already turned over Tropicana Evansville to Twin River Worldwide Holdings, which is now known as Bally’s, and is preparing to complete a deal to sell Caesars Southern Indiana to the Eastern Bank of Cherokee Indians. The Horseshoe Hammond is the last remaining piece to go in order to make regulators happy, but the current COVID-19 environment is making things more difficult.
Now, instead of having to find a buyer by the end of this year, Caesars will have until the end of 2021 to see the property change hands. Caesars requested the extension in light of the current economic situation, and the IGC unanimously accepted its justifications. Selling the first two properties, which even included a no-cash-down arrangement with Bally’s, wasn’t as difficult because of the sizes and values of those properties. However, Horseshoe Hammond is the largest casino in Indiana and has 2,235 gaming machines and gaming tables that can seat 1,105 gamblers. During the most recent fiscal year, it saw $309.3 million in revenue, which is substantially more than the roughly $225 million drawn to the state’s second-largest casino, the Indiana Grand.
In addition to placing the need for an extension on COVID-19, Caesars also pointed out that a sudden expansion of gaming in Chicago, which is about two and a half hours to the north in Illinois, is weakening Horseshoe Hammond’s attractiveness. The casino operator believes it might need at least another 18 months to find someone willing to buy the property and, by then, perhaps the IGC will have forgotten its pact.
It’s now completely apparent that Massachusetts doesn’t want to entertain the idea of opening a regulated sports gambling industry, choosing, instead, to allow millions of dollars to go to neighboring states and offshore books. After state legislators failed to address the subject in its most recent session, there was hope that, perhaps, the issue would be raised in the 2021 session. However, that, too, seemed to be a dead-end after the new budget for fiscal year 2021 showed no revenue coming from a sports gambling market. Now, a push from a surprising source hopes to convince state lawmakers that it’s time to take the issue seriously.
Massachusetts was expected to be one of the first states to introduce a regulated sports gambling market but, going on two years since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed PASPA, lawmakers still haven’t been able to get organized enough to establish the necessary framework. When the state released its budget for the next fiscal year and there was no mention of sports gambling revenue, a number of professional sports teams – in the same organizations that had convinced federal lawmakers to approve PASPA – began speaking out against the state’s continued failures.
The Boston Herald ran an op-ed this Sunday that shows exactly how frustrated sports gambling supporters are in Massachusetts. The state is reportedly missing out on a possible $35-million windfall, a figure projected by Governor Charlie Baker, and lawmakers are apparently willing to ignore the revenue potential. The op-ed piece was written by BetMGM, DraftKings, the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox, as well as a few more, and reads, in part, “Since the spring of 2018, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision, we have worked with you and your chambers to pass consumer-focused sports betting legislation. With sports betting not included as part of the budget process, and after two years of good-faith collaboration on this issue, and the objective absence of any organized opposition, we are deeply concerned at the prospect of legislation not being passed this session.”
The NFL and other sports organizations lobbied to have PASPA introduced and then fought efforts to have it reversed in 2018. However, now seeing the revenue potential that can be scored through partnerships and marketing deals, they have apparently begun to sing a completely different tune. While they try to work with other states to develop mature sports gambling markets, Massachusetts will only be able to sit back and watch as gamblers spend their money in states like Rhode Island or New Hampshire.
Online casino sights need to stay on top of the hottest slot offerings to keep up with the competition. We’ve got the newest slots released in the past week, so you can check them out and decide if you want them on your site.
Kalamba Games unveils result of industry-first streamer collaboration Sadie Swift: Guns ‘n Glyphs
Kalamba Games has launched Sadie Swift: Guns ‘n Glyphs, co-developed with Twitch streamer CasinoTest24.
The thrilling title is the result of the industry’s first Twitch streaming competition that Kalamba and Wildz Casino held earlier this year, with the winner invited to collaborate with the game studio to create a slot title. CasinoTest24 was the lucky streamer claiming first place and has played a major part in developing the game.
As with most places, Iowa has strict rules when it comes to gambling. Responsible gaming is one of the hottest topics in the ecosystem now, and Iowa has several measures in place to help protect gamblers from themselves. One is the ability to self-exclude from any type of gambling, and operators are required to regularly update their platforms with self-exclusion data provided by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC). The gaming regulator already dropped the hammer on DraftKings for not following the rules, and has now let it fly on two more. Both PointsBet and Betfred have been hit with fines for violating Iowa’s self-exclusion policies.
By law, gaming operators in Iowa have seven days to update their databases after the IRGC publishes its newest list. DraftKings had failed to do so, which is why it received a fine of $5,000. PointsBet has also been hit with the same fine for the same reason. The sports gambling operator, which is partnered with Catfish Bend Casino, has been in Iowa for around a year and a half and should know better by now. PointsBet admits it failed the system and IRGC administrator Brian Ohorilko asserts that the company has assured the regulator that it won’t happen again. This was the first offense in violation of the rule committed by PointsBet.
Betfred was found guilty of the same infraction and was also handed a $5,000 fine. Ohorilko explains that an employee at the company, who reportedly is responsible for downloading the IRGC and updating Betfred’s database, was late in fulfilling his duties, resulting in the fine. As with PointsBet, it was a first offense for the operator after having launched in the state earlier this year through a partnership it signed with Grand Falls Casino.
While a one-time fine of $5,000 won’t do a lot of damage to the sportsbooks’ bottom lines, repeated violations could have ugly outcomes. Regulators everywhere could decide to pull operating licenses if operators demonstrate patterns of non-compliance, and this could also lead to having license applications in new areas rejected when the companies try to expand. As rapidly as sports gambling is expanding across the US, there is still a certain degree of opposition to the activity and, with the right support, anti-sports gambling lobbyists could use the violations as a mechanism to prevent further expansion.
Expect an action-packed thriller (perhaps starring Jackie Chan?) to be in the works. The storyline is simple, but unique enough to become a hit. A reported boss of the Wo Shing Wo triad, known by most as “Shanghai Boy,” sets up shop in Macau, running a string of VIP rooms. When it’s discovered that he has been leading a life of crime that allegedly includes money laundering, extortion and more, he slips out unnoticed and disappears into thin air. However, he then becomes ill and, after two years on the run, tries to return to his native land of Hong Kong, only to be stopped and arrested at the airport when he arrives. If Chan were to star in the movie, it’s unlikely to have any of his signature martial arts and acrobatics, as that isn’t this gangster’s style. However, it could still make for an interesting flick, especially since it’s based on reality.
Hong Kong-born and raised Shanghai Boy is Kwok Wing-hung, an alleged former mafia boss who is said to have been in charge of the Wo Shing Wo triad from 1998 to 2000, is said to have been a former partner in VIP rooms at MGM Macau and City of Dreams Macau. Even after giving up control, he still kept close ties to the triad, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), and was targeted in a number of investigations by law enforcement. In 2017, he was arrested for money laundering that he reportedly facilitated from 2007 to 2012 and, when it came time for Kwok to appear in court a year later, he was gone.
Kwok, now 62, is said to have laundered more than $13 million that came from illegal sports gambling. He would have likely received a cut of the money that perhaps fueled his two-year escape from the law, during which he was reportedly a European jet-setter and playboy, living a life of luxury as a moved around the continent with an entourage of bodyguards and women. Then, something unexpected happened.
The mob boss who had reportedly blackmailed and extorted his way to the top allegedly caught COVID-19. As he tells it, following his arrest upon returning to Hong Kong, he didn’t want to die in Europe and decided to risk going home. He was detained when he arrived on a flight out of Thailand and, despite the assertion that he was carrying the potentially deadly virus, a test he was administered for COVID-19 came back negative.
While Macau is taking a beating from COVID-19, there is a good chance that, when it rebounds, some casino investors are going to see significant gains. One of these is the CEO of Tak Chun Group, Levo Chan. The head of the Macau junket operator increased his holdings in Macau Legend Development company this past September when he purchased a little more than 20% of the casino company, and has now taken (pdf) an even larger position through a new stake acquisition. In doing so, he also assumed the role of co-chairman of the company.
This past September, Chan decided to grab 20.65% of Macau Legends for $165.2 million, with the goal of continuing to increase his holdings. He has now done that after purchasing an additional 771.24 million shares, representing 12.44% of the issued share capital. In return, Chan is going to have to pay $104.5 million, but he probably got the better deal. On November 17, the casino company’s stock was trading at $0.15 on the OTC market, and fell to $0.13 by November 19. Following the COVID-19 fiasco, it’s possible the stock returns to its five-year high of $0.20, which it recorded in June 2018.
As with the previous stock purchase, Chan isn’t able to touch the holdings controlled by certain executives at Macau Legends, including those of founder and Chairman David Chow, CEO Melinda Chan or fellow directors Sheldon Trainer and Li Chi Keung. Nor can he buy those shares controlled by Madam Lam Fong Ngo, Chow’s mother, or those of Vast Field Investments Ltd. (VMI), a subsidiary of SJM Holdings. Instead, his wholly-owned investment firm that continues to purchase the shares, Perfect Achiever Group Ltd., will work with executives in what the group is calling the Offeror Concert Party Group to lead the company. That group, which doesn’t include VMI, now controls 79.88% of Macau Legends.
With Chan taking over as co-chair and executive director, other high-level moves are being seen, as well. Tsang Ka Hung, the chief financial officer for Tak Chun Group’s junket operations, is also going to serve as executive director. At the same time, Chow is no longer a director of the company, but will serve as co-chair and as a non-executive director. Melinda Chan will continue in her role as CEO and Donald Chow Wan Hok, Sheldon Trainor-DeGirolamo, Carl Tong Ka Wing and Mark Fong Chung will no longer be directors following their resignations.
Earlier this month, US private equity firm Apollo Global Management crossed the border into Canada in order to make an offer on Great Canadian Gaming Corp. (GCG). It was reportedly willing to buy all of the casino operator’s shares in return for $2.52 billion, and the idea had already received a certain amount of blowback from shareholders after GCG apparently signed off on the deal. Now, one of the company’s leading shareholders is speaking up and is planning on doing everything in its power to keep the acquisition from going through unless Apollo adds a few extra numbers to the proposed figure.
Apollo’s offer includes a 35% premium over GCG’s trading price on the day the announcement was made. However, Burgundy Asset Management, which controls 9.5% of GCG’s equity, wants more, according to Bloomberg, and is taking sides with GCG’s two largest shareholders to prevent the deal from moving forward. Burgundy accuses Apollo of trying to be “opportunistic” with its offer, given the weakened state of casino gambling in Ontario, and is drumming up support to prevent the deal from going through at its current price point.
David Vanderwood and Andrew Iu, two portfolio managers at Burgundy, said in a letter about the arrangement, “We believe Great Canadian’s Ontario assets are irreplaceable properties for which Apollo’s C$39 [$30] offer reflects only a fraction of their potential value.” If the use of “fraction” is a clue, Apollo will have to be ready to make a serious jump in the amount it’s willing to spend to purchase the assets.
Opportunism is one of the fundamental components of business, so Burgundy can’t be surprised. However, it is already gaining support to prevent the acquisition from going through and reportedly has two other shareholders, investment firms Madison Avenue Partners and Breach Inlet Capital, in its corner. They hold a weaker position than Burgundy, but combining forces will give the opponents a much larger voice. That voice will be added to that of BloombergSen Inc. and CI Financial Corp., GCG’s largest shareholders and two entities who have already been vocal about their disdain over the deal.
Europe still hasn’t fully taken advantage of Integrated Resorts (IRs), at least not to the extent that Las Vegas or Asia has. The opening panel of Day 2 at SiGMA Europe explored the possibility of Europe embracing IRs, and how it should do it.
“It is the integrated resort that has made Las Vegas resilient,” said Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director of Tottenham & Co. He explained that decades ago, operators in Las Vegas realized that the diversity of an IR, with its clubs, restaurants, hotels and more, would help it continue to bring in revenue even when it was no longer the dominant casino city of the world. And it’s paid off, even as casinos have spread across America and the world.
But Europe doesn’t have anything like that. Macau and other Asian cities have massive IRs, but Europe still has small casinos, which Alidad Tash, Managing Director of 2NT8 Limited, likened to 7/11 convenience stores. “It’s too stuffy, and its tiny,” he said.
“Europe doesn’t realize that an integrated resort is so much more gorgeous, so much more expansive, so much more elegant than what a typical European casino is,” he noted.
