China is giving international gambling operators until April 30 to turn themselves in or be thrown to the (metaphorical, we presume) lions. 

On Friday, China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued a joint ‘notice of surrender’ to individuals engaged in ‘cross-border’ gambling (online or land-based), warning them that they had until the end of April to throw themselves at the mercy of Chinese courts. 

The notice states that those who come forward now of their own accord will be given ‘the opportunity to rehabilitate and strive for leniency.’ Suitably contrite suspects may receive ‘a lighter or mitigated punishment according to law’ while those whose crimes are ‘relatively minor’ may get off with just a warning. 

However, those who come forward will be obliged to ‘report or expose the criminal behavior of others’ and ‘actively assist’ in the capture of other suspects. Such ‘significant meritorious service’ will be factored into the courts’ determination of the appropriate punishment. 

Peergame is continuing their momentum in 2021, releasing yet another new game for Bitcoin SV (BSV) gambling. The site proudly announced the roll-out of Roulette to their site in a tweet and post to their blog.

The long wait is over

We are proud to introduce our newest addition to Peergame

Roulette

Rugby is set to return early in the Northern Hemisphere with the Six Nations set to kick off this weekend. England have emerged as the early favourites to claim the crown, with the enigmatic French team an outside chance of pulling a major upset prior to their tour to Australia in July.

With all of the matches set to be played out behind closed doors, international rugby fans will be grateful for the return of any type of competition.

We’ve looked at the form guide for the opening round with our tips and preview list below.

Italy vs France

Back when we had in person conferences, one of the common comments was regarding the lack of female presenters and attendees. Entain is hoping to change that, having announced their partnership with the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), Women’s Innovation Igniter.

The program is designed to help UNLV undergraduate and graduate women find a path to successful careers in the gambling and technology industries. Entain, who recently took on Jette Nygaard-Andersen as their CEO, is specifically looking to recruit talented women, and change the shape of the male-dominated field.

The program will be led by Jan Jones Blackhurst, Chief Executive in Residence, International Gaming Institute and Robert Rippee, Ph.D., Executive Director, Innovation Hub. It’s expected to launch in August 2021 with 20 women in its first class, and will be held at the Harry Reid Research and Technology Park.

Those first 20 women can expect a curriculum of hands-on experiences, practical learning, internships and mentoring from top executives. Entain will also keep an office on the premises to help the process along. “Entain is the ideal partner to help us bring this groundbreaking program to life,” said Jan Jones Blackhurst. “As a leader in online sports betting and gaming, Entain will help us showcase the myriad of opportunities available in these professional fields, further develop our curriculum, and help women see career pathways in a technology led industry where they are not always well-represented.”

It should have been a simple process in Arkansas. An idea for casino expansion is pitched, approved by legislators and voters and casino operators then present their projects in order to seek license approval. Everything seemed to be going well in Pope County until it was time to choose which operator would be given the license. That was the step where, last June, Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) Commissioner Butch Rice screwed everything up, creating a serious amount of embarrassment that lingers today. Rice had seemed to be less than impartial when he sided with Gulfside Casino Partnership and its project, leading to backlash and a fight by the other candidate, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, as well as his removal from involvement in the casino plans. The ordeal has continued and has now reached the Arkansas Supreme Court, which is giving its support to the Cherokee in the on-going battle. 

When members of the ARC gave their scores for the two casino proposals, it was blatantly obvious that Rice never seriously considered the Cherokee’s project, giving it a score so low that everyone knew something was fishy. That led to a complaint by the Cherokee, through its Cherokee Nation Business (CNB) arm, and the voting process was thrown out. An independent third party was brought in to make the decision, which didn’t sit well with Gulfside and the debacle continued. 

Gulfside tried to plead its case in front of an Arkansas court judge, but lost. That, in theory, would have allowed the independent review and selection process to move forward, but the judge in that hearing, Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Tim Fox, decided that the CNB, since it had no casino experience, wasn’t qualified to be considered as a possible candidate. 

That’s not the end of the dispute, either. Gulfside was brought to task because it, according to some, didn’t follow the rules. By law, any proposal submitted to county governments must show support by a local official. In Gulfside’s case, it had a letter of support from Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson, but this caused an issue because, by the time the two casino candidates were being considered last year, Gibson had already vacated his position. 

The Big Game this Sunday is on every sports gambler’s mind right now, with a high amount of anticipation on how things are going to turn out. Over the years, several Super Bowls have been disappointing, with complete blowouts that made football fans wonder how some teams managed to get as far as they did. Super Bowl LV isn’t expected to be one of those games, and the Kansas City Chiefs are still 3-point favorites to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With just a few days to go before the Big Game, both teams have been busy figuring out who can play and who can’t, and it seems as though most of the big names are healthy.

According to an update provided by Chiefs Wire yesterday, there were only limited issues on the Chiefs’ sideline. Left tackle Eric Fisher and Linebacker Willie Gay, Jr., who Kansas City wants to have on the field, did not practice due to injury, while running back Le’Veon Bell and wide receiver Sammy Watkins were limited. Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who had been dealing with hip and ankle issues, participated in practice yesterday, as did cornerbacks L’Jarius Sneed and Rashad Fenton. The rising NFL star who has already made his future position as a GOAT, Patrick Mahomes, was in on the practices this week, as well. 

Limited participation in practice doesn’t mean that there is reason to start worrying. In many instances, teams will put their top players on limited duty during practice to keep them healthy and help avoid any practice-related injuries. The New Orleans Saints has this as part of their standard operating procedures, and it has paid off in each of the last four years as they made it to the NFC Conference finals.

The Bucs only had one player who didn’t practice, defensive tackle Steve McLendon, but his absence isn’t injury-related and will most likely be on the field. There were a number of players on limited participation this week, including linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul who is dealing with a knee injury, and safety Antoine Winfield. Tight end Cameron Brate, whose loss would be significant for the Bucs, is dealing with back problems and was limited in practice. Wide receivers Antonio Brown and Mike Evans, who had also had knee issues, were in full practice mode this week.

If anyone in Malaysia sees a well-dressed 65-year-old partying and acting like a 30-year-old playboy, keep an eye on him. He might be Wan Kuok Koi, better known by his 14K Triad moniker, Broken Tooth. According to The Straits Times, the mob boss, in keeping with his standard MO of making promises and skipping out of town after pocketing millions, defrauded a computer software company in Malaysia of $1.4 million in shares last year and could now be hiding out somewhere in the country. To be fair, the company, Inix, should have known this would happen and can’t be too shocked. It also can’t be completely considered an innocent victim, at least not yet.

Broken Tooth was brought in to be the non-executive chairman of Inix last August. He only lasted four months, as the U.S. Department of the Treasury (DOT) hit him with sanctions in December for continuing to grow his criminal enterprise across Southeast Asia. When it comes to expanding his triad network, Broken Tooth knows no limits and reportedly has been involved in shady gambling deals, fraudulent cryptocurrency initial coin offerings and anything else that will see him make a quick buck. 

The criminal fugitive spent 14 years behind bars in Macau for having participated in illegal gambling and loansharking and was released in 2012. Instead of having used the experience as a way to reform his habits, he used it to refine them, and continued to find new ways to keep his activity going. The DOT believes his organization, the World Hongmen History and Cultural Association (WHHCA), has little to do with culture, but a lot to do with shady activity, using branded beer and wine in China, Cambodia and the Philippines to fuel the expansion of the triad. 

Wan’s appointment as the non-executive chairman at Inix raised eyebrows at first, but couldn’t legally be stopped. However, the move wasn’t welcomed by the U.S. government because of his ties to the triad and the sanctions in December prevent U.S. citizens from doing business with him or with any company with which he is associated. That is likely the reason he only lasted four months at Inix, but the company had to have known who he was beforehand. Perhaps it was counting on his connections, as Inix is now being investigated for alleged price-fixing of its shares that was followed by abnormal trading, all of which took place at about the same time Broken Tooth joined the company.

Penn National Gaming (PNG) managed to close out 2020 on a positive note, reporting a net income for the fourth quarter. That’s an improvement on 2019’s Q4 net loss, but still feel behind analyst expectations.

PNG’s net income came in at $12.7 million, or 7 cents a share. That resulted off of revenue of $1.027 billion, and improved on the $92.9 million loss of Q4 2019.

While total revenue was down from the $1.341 billion of 2019, cost cutting helped result in black at the bottom of the report.

The company’s West segment, which consists of the Tropicana and M Resort in Southern Nevada, Cactus Pete’s and Horseshu in Jackpot on the Nevada-Idaho border, Ameristar Black Hawk in Colorado and the Zia Park Casino in New Mexico, reported $79.5 million in revenue, down from $158.1 million for 2019. For the year, West segment revenue was $302.5 million, down from $642.5 million.

Circa Resort, the new, massive casino property in Las Vegas that just opened last December, has had its crime cherry popped. It now joins the ranks of all the other casinos in Sin City that have had to deal with crime, but, like everything else Circa does, this incident is unique. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a naked woman has been arrested after she broke into the venue’s fire control room and started shutting off the power to various pieces of equipment.

28-year-old Alissa Neeley was a guest at the Circa earlier this week when she concocted her unusual claim to fame. At around 9:30 Monday night, she was ordered off the property for walking around the hotel in nothing but her birthday suit and for entering rooms that were off-limits to everyone but hotel staff. Approximately 30 minutes after her mandatory exit, the property lost power to its casino, hotel and parking garage. At first, there was no obvious connection between the power outage and the former guest, but that soon changed.

Given that the Circa is a new property, it wouldn’t be surprising to have an occasional glitch, so a maintenance worker went to investigate. What he found were bent control switches, disabled wires and, beside all that, a naked Neeley sitting on a chair in the control room. Security was called and put in handcuffs, apparently still naked, as everyone waited for Las Vegas Metro Police to arrive.

Neeley was taken to the Clark County Detention Center and booked before being let go on her own recognizance. She is charged with “theft of a fire prevention device” and ordered to stay away from the resort. There was no work on whether she was ordered to wear clothes when she’s in public.

The last quarter of 2020 brought some good news for Wynn Resorts, despite having to continue to deal with COVID-19. The company’s Wynn Macau operations saw an improvement in adjusted property EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) that saw it land back on the right side of zero. The figure was in the red in the third quarter, coming in at -$112.1 million, but Wynn turned things around and posted a positive adjusted property EBITDA of $39.4 million for the final quarter of the year. This was due, in part, to a greater focus on the premium mass gambling segment, a move that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. 

The latest figures were made available through a company filing this week, in which Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox pointed out that improved travel and reduced COVID-19 restrictions helped with the recovery process. In addition, the premium mass segment gave the rebound “particular strength,” while VIP and mass-market gaming improved, as well. The quarter’s mass-market table drop was $1.29 billion, six times higher than the previous quarter, and VIP turnover from table games improved almost at the same rate, coming in at $4.58 billion. Still, both figures were nowhere near the number Wynn Macau had seen a year earlier, before the coronavirus upended Macau.

The improvement in premium mass action was possible due to a shift in operations across the last six months of 2020. Wynn realized what was going to drive its growth and began implementing changes that would allow it to focus better on the premium mass segment. Maddox explained in the company filing, “It’s crystal clear that the growth drivers for Macau are really the sweet spot for our company, and that’s the premium segment, premium mass in particular.” He added, “The premium segment did better than the core mass segment – it was not down 50 percent as the overall mass was. We do not need 50,000 people a day walking through our facilities to get back to our EBITDA target. We require significantly less people because we cater to the higher-end customer … We are targeting that segment. We think we are going to get more market share in the premium-mass segment than we have in the past.”

Wynn had predicted last year that VIP gambling was likely to take a hit as it began to shift gears. However, the changes don’t reflect a complete move away from the segment. The company knows that it still needs to give its high rollers a lot of attention and has indicated that it already has a number of whales ready to descend on its Macau properties during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday period next week.

The Americas

Gambling laws are changing in the U.S., with DraftKings set to feature in the Superbowl ads. DraftKings have picked up a couple of sports to highlight sports gambling; Online poker continues to make a comeback in the U.S., with Michigan set to legalise online poker. The Great Lakes State will be the fifth state to greenlight the return of online poker in the U.S. Former MGM Resorts boss Jim Murren continues to be busy in the casino industry. His company Acies Acquisition Corp continues to play a key role in the Playstudios merger; Rod Ratcliff, the former CEO and chairman of Spectacle Entertainment faces the loss of his casino license. The Indiana Gaming Commission launched an investigation into allegations of election tampering in 2015; The body of legendary union boss Jimmy Hoffa may have finally been found. Two Fox journalists have followed a story, believing the body of Hoffa may be located in a landfill in New Jersey.

Europe

Polish bookmaker Totolotek SA is closing its retail betting operations. Totolotek announced that it would close 116 of its retail betting points of sale in Poland from March 31 due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Russian online sports operators continued to support local sporting bodies in record amounts. The First Self-Regulatory Organization of Russian Bookmakers announced a 60% increase in member contributions over 2020; The UK Gambling Commission has unveiled a host of changes set to bite into online casino revenue. Online slots are in the crosshairs of the regulator, as they look to improve safety measures; Ladbrokes has been fined by the Advertising Standards Authority in the U.K. Ladbrokes ran an ad for an on-demand video service and found strong opposition from the U.K. Gambling Commission;

Ed Pownall looks ahead with an Industry-based Eye on the Superbowl, Draft Kings & Ladbrokes’ dalliance with the suits.

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UK gamblers doubled their use of internationally licensed online operators over the past year or so, according to a new survey by their UK-licensed rivals. 

On Thursday, the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) issued a 66-page report that attempts to quantify the state of ‘unlicensed online gambling in the UK.’ The report (viewable here) was prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers and builds on the findings of a similar report issued one year ago. 

The report involved an online survey filled out by 2,363 active UK online gamblers in late-2020. These punters were queried on their awareness, usage of and spending with ‘unlicensed operators,’ as well as their motivations for seeking out these ‘unlicensed’ ruffians. 

Before we go further, we must point out that the report notes that it wasn’t interested in “UK licensed operators serving gamblers in foreign jurisdictions without a license.” Apparently, even acknowledging that the UK Gambling Commission-licensed online white knights behave abroad much like the UK-facing international rogues they so despise would tarnish their otherwise gleaming armor. But we digress…

The battle to win the ugliest heads-up duel in poker history is over. Doug Polk trounced Daniel Negreanu over 25,000 hands of poker and won $1,200,000 after their heads-up game ran the longest session of the series to close out the drama.

Polk had been pegged back just a fortnight ago after Canadian poker legend Negreanu won $390,000 in a single session – the biggest amount either man won in the months long epic poker duel. But it was the younger man who eventually sealed the win with a mammoth victory of his own, stunning Kid Poker to the tune of over a quarter of a million dollars across the biggest number of poker hands played in one session.

As Polk himself announced on Twitter:

Session: +$255,722 over 1718 hands

There are many good games on offer in the English Premier League this weekend, with a full programme of fixtures.

We start our look at some sportsbetting value at Old Trafford, where the last game saw nine goals, all for the home side.

Manchester United vs. Everton (Saturday, 8pm GMT kick-off)

Saturday night’s game features two sides in good form, as United host Everton under the lights in M13. Carlo Ancelotti’s side won 2-1 at Leeds United in their last game and have continued to bounced back after every stumble this season. As a result, they would be in the top four if they have played and won their two games in hand and are a dangerous side for the Red Devils to face.