Casino operator Bally’s Corporation has further diversified its offering by acquiring daily fantasy sports operator Monkey Knife Fight (MKF), while rival Caesars Entertainment has made its own DFS play. 

On Monday, Bally’s (formerly Twin River Worldwide Holdings) announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire MKF, the third-biggest DFS operator behind market giants DraftKings and FanDuel and possessor of what Bally’s calls “the fastest-growing gaming platform in North America.”

The $90m transaction, which Bally’s expects will close in the current quarter, is an all-stock affair. MKF will get immediately exercisable penny warrants to buy around $50m worth of Bally’s shares, as well as contingent penny warrants to buy up to $20m more shares on each of the deal’s first and second anniversaries of closing. 

Bally’s plans to incorporate MKF into its new ‘Bally’s Interactive’ division, which also includes the Bet.works sports betting and iGaming platform that Bally’s acquired last November. The MKF add-on will make Bally’s only the third US sports betting operator to include a DFS component, joining DraftKings and FanDuel (more on Caesars’ efforts to join this formerly exclusive club below).

After a tumultuous weekend in the F.A. Cup, Frank Lampard lost his role as Chelsea manager, the holders Arsenal were knocked out and Liverpool suffered another defeat, this time at the hands of their bitter rivals, Manchester United.

With the Premier League returning in midweek with a full programme of 10 fixtures, which sides will be looking to move up the table and which others will be glancing over their shoulders nervously?

West Bromwich Albion vs. Manchester City (Tuesday, 8.15pm GMT kick-off)

A tricky tie for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, not least because Kevin De Bruyne will miss the game after a hamstring problem sent the Belgian assist machine to the injury room at the Eithad for between four and six weeks.

A delayed start, quarantine regulations and COVID-19 restrictions – just how was anyone supposed to prepare for the Men’s Singles at the Australian Open properly?  

From the pundits to the players, the fans to the financiers and the advertisers to the organisers, putting on this year’s Australian Open has been a Herculean effort worthy of commendation. But with players forced to quarantine for a fortnight, many of the world’s best tennis players have found cause for complaint.  

Unsurprisingly, one of those is world number one Novak Djokovic, whose 305th week at the top of the men’s tennis rankings was spent calling out the AO for the condition players have been forced to isolate in. Living in their hotel rooms, players such as Djokovic have not been happy, but disharmony isn’t helping anyone.  

Djokovic said in his letter to the AO on Twitter that “better conditions” were needed for players in Melbourne and kicked back against those accusing him of wanting COVID-19 restrictions eased for his own benefit. Fans are understandably loathed to forget Djokovic’s antics around last year’s Adria Cup and are judging him with that indiscretion in mind.  

Last year, the World Series of Poker cancelled the biggest live poker festival in the world late. In fact, if you’re judging on the specifics, it was very late. Some players had booked months in Las Vegas before finding out in May that the entire WSOP was cancelled. From the fabled Main Event to the Colossus, it was in the bin.  

Or rather, it wasn’t, because the WSOP Online Series came along, promising to be the efinitive way to search for World Series bracelet winners during a global pandemic. If the poker mountain couldn’t be travelled to by the MMT poker player, then the mountain would come into players hoes via the internet. GGPoker and WSOP.com welcomed thousands of players to their online lobbies. Guarantees were met, winners received their bracelets via FedEx, some winners bounced off car park WiFi. It was a hoot.  

Then the World Series reappeared like a reanimated zombie at the close of the year. That summer event online wasn’t the World Series of Poker Main Event, this hybrid version was instead, they told players. Cue confusion, a lower top prize than the $5,000 single re-entry Main Event and an angry Bulgarian in Stoyan Madanzhiev.  

Well, after the turn-of-the-year win was sealed by Argentina’s Damian Salas for a total prize of $2.5 million (Madanzhiev won $3.9m back in the summer and he got a certificate too), the World Series has been distinctly quiet on whether or when the World Series of Poker Main Event and thus the festival itself will be back.  

Winamax Pro Ivan Deyra has been dismissed as an ambassador and forced to pay back winnings after being exposed as a multi-accounting cheat.  

As reported by PokerNews today, French player Deyra, who won a World Series of Poker bracelet back in 2019, the year Hossein Ensan took the Main Event trophy, won over €83,000 in the recent Winamax Series by dishonest means.  

Deyra’s duplicity was exactly that. As discovered by French poker forum Club Poker in the aftermath of the event, Deyra busted from the tournament only to then use an account registered to his own father’s name to seal victory.  

So what was the clue that gave his game away? Well, given he’s a talented poker player, it’s not exactly a trick that Moriarty would be proud of and didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out. Having not played his Day 2 until using the account name ‘MATIVANAO’ to do so, forum members discovered that this pseudonym was put together using the Christian names of Deyra’s brothers and sisters. 

A little less than two months ago, Bloomberg reported that it had insider information asserting that Macau might eventually move away from using the Hong Kong dollar as its base currency, opting, instead, to rely on China and the introduction of the digital yuan. = This announcement created waves in the gaming community, with mounting concern over the control China wanted to exert on the city – the possibility of Macau going the same direction as Hong Kong was more than a little unnerving. = Although Macau’s gambling regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym), denied the Bloomberg report, there may be more to the story than what appears. Analysts with the Sanford C. Bernstein brokerage have spoken up and are asserting that a move to a digital yuan would be beneficial for Macau’s casinos in the long run.

The analysts issued a research report last Friday, explaining that a Chinese digital yuan as the central currency in Macau would help both the mass and premium-mass segments. The conclusion is based, in part, on China’s crackdown on cross-border payments and transactions, and the analysts believe that the use of the digital yuan would facilitate those payments, as well as appease Chinese authorities. China has been working harder than ever to crack down on gambling and illicit payment activity recently, and this isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky and Tianjiao Yu said in the report, “[A digital yuan] would allow greater [Chinese] government scrutiny and control over money flows [and] it would also allow easier money transfer [and] eliminate the need to use intermediaries (like junkets, underground banks or pawnshops). Mass and premium-mass play could surely benefit due to ease of money flow.”

The fact that analysts are still allocating time and resources to the subject of the use of the digital yuan in Macau would indicate that the DICJ’s denial of the rumors might be misguided. There seems to definitely be some validity to the Bloomberg report and it’s very possible, given China’s recent stance on political control, that Macau might be expected to make changes when it comes time to issue new casino concessions next year. However, at this point, there has not been any solid evidence to support that idea.

Shaquille O’Neal made a name for himself in the NBA, collecting four championship titles and three Finals MVP titles, along with a laundry list of other accomplishments. In a professional career that spanned 20 years, Shaq set himself apart as a scoring leader and, even after leaving the league, he wasn’t done staying in the spotlight. He has released four rap albums and has starred in two reality TV shows, and is also the manager of an eSports group in the NBA 2K League. Now, the 7’1” tower has added another accomplishment to the list by becoming a brand ambassador for Australia-based sports gambling operator PointsBet. 

Going forward, Aussies will see Shaq appear regularly in PointsBet’s marketing campaigns on TV and digital platforms, including social media. Often soft-spoken in interviews, unless he’s feeling especially energetic, O’Neal has stayed in the limelight over the years by becoming a keen business investor and aligning himself with a number of worthy causes. He has been a regular fixture in different basketball-themed video games over the years and even has his own, Shaq Fu, that was made available for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. 

Because of his continued high-profile status, PointsBet decided to strike an agreement with him to be its brand ambassador in a deal for which the terms were not disclosed. Andrew Fahey, the company’s co-founder and chief marketing officer, said of Shaq, “Shaq is an iconic figure in the worlds of sports and entertainment and was our clear number one pick to represent the PointsBet brand in Australia. U.S. sports, particularly professional basketball, continue to be the fastest-growing betting sport in Australia, and we are very excited to align with such a transcendent athlete. Further, we are delighted that Mr. O’Neal has agreed to take part of his consideration in the form of equity in PointsBet, which underscores the alignment and trust across our teams and our shared belief in the opportunities ahead for PointsBet.”

PointsBet hasn’t made a name for itself only in Australia; it has a strong presence in the US and other countries, as well. In August of last year, its US footprint grew after it expanded its operations in New Jersey and added Indiana to the states it serves. It can also be found in Michigan, where it is partnered with the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL and the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. That wasn’t one of the six teams Shaq played for when he was on the court, but his involvement with the league and with PointsBet will certainly spill over. Shaq, always a man of few words, said of becoming an ambassador for the company, “The rise of responsible sports betting is really exciting, and I am so excited to join forces with PointsBet, the best-in-class partner in Australia when it comes to online sportsbooks.”

Andrew Yang might seem like an unlikely mayor for New York City, but the odds, and consistent polling, suggest that he could very well pull it off. Odds from Bodog continue to suggest he’s the favorite to win election come November, 2021.

The former U.S. Presidential Candidate, known for mostly for his offer of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), but also taking stances on loot boxes and digital currency, has thus far held onto an early led in polling and odds. December polls suggested Yang joined the race in the lead, thanks to name recognition, and door-to-door campaigning has helped extend that lead, while his competitors stay at home and ask for votes over Zoom.

The question is if any of the other candidates can label Yang as an inauthentic New Yorker and knock him out of the race. Former New York State Senator Eric Adams is second in the odds and polls. Adams has spent his whole life in NYC, and whereas Yang’s campaign speaks more to economic equality, Adams’ emphasizes racial equality and ending police brutality.

The Manhattan option is Scott Stringer, former NYC Comptroller, running in a close 3rd place. Stringer’s website promotes all of the establishment endorsements he’s gathered, and has a few left leaning, but fairly boring, promises (at least when it comes to NYC politics).

India’s skill gaming industry is lobbying for standardized regulations, giving fantasy sports, rummy and poker operators a more consistent ruleset to work with throughout the country. They are pushing for the NITI Aayog, a government-think tank, to go a step further and set the industry up for a more stable future.

In December, NITI Aayog put forward draft guidelines for a Fantasy Sports regulator, citing the need to supervise and support a booming industry. Now, several other segments of the skill-gaming industry want in on the deal.

Sameer Barde, CEO of The Online Rummy Federation, doesn’t see why his game should be left out. “It is a brilliant move to have fair regulations for the online skill gaming industry in India… But at the same time, it is paramount to understand that fantasy games are only a part of the entire skill gaming industry. There is an equal, if not a larger need, to regulate the broader skill gaming industry.”

Games24x7, which develops rummy, fantasy sports and other ‘casual games,’ takes a similar view. “NITI Aayog should take a more forward-looking view and recommend a framework for all games of skill,” said Bhavin Pandya, co-founder and CEO. “Fantasy is one game of skill, and while distinctions have been made in the media between fantasy and other games of skill, the judgements which rule that fantasy is a game of skill are based on the 1996 Supreme Court judgement which rules horseracing and rummy to be games of skill… In law, there is no distinction between fantasy sports and any other game of skill.”

After an entertaining weekend of football, the F.A. Cup provided some shocks, some goal-packed games and more than one count of controversy as Liverpool, Arsenal and Fulham all crashed out in the 4th Round.

With a five-goal thriller at Old Trafford, a comeback win for The Foxes and The Saints defeating The Gunners, there was no end of drama in a great round of F.A. Cup action.

Southampton 1-0 Arsenal

While Wolverhampton Wanderers kicked off the action on Friday night, their tame 1-0 dismissal of non-league Chorley was not the cup cracker most fans craved. Any neutrals hoping for a spellbinding tie at St. Mary’s may not have been as disappointed, with the home side in good form and playing a strong side.

Poker can often take more perspiration that inspiration to become a success at, but some words of wisdom can set you up for a winning run. From champions to Hollywood actors, we’ve plucked out seven great poker quotes to help you kick off your week at the felt in style.

1. “Life, like poker, has an element of risk. It shouldn’t be avoided. It should be faced.”

Great words here from the star of Rounders, Ed Norton, who played Worm in the movie and constantly wriggled off the hook. Both Edward Norton and Matt Damon may have been stacked when they played the 1998 WSOP Main Event, but while Damon went down with kings against aces (Doyle Brunson doing the damage), Ed Norton lost with a full house against quads! This interview with the pair in Las Vegas the year that Rounders came out is quite revealing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdob9ckPdroVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Matt Damon and Edward Norton Playing Poker | World Series of Poker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdob9ckPdro)

The latest development in the Galfond Challenge is, unfortunately, the final one when it comes to the Chance Kornuth match against the host, Phil Galfond. That’s because, after 25,400 of the 35,000-hand challenge, Kornuth decided to concede the challenge, with his losses standing at $726,500 at this stage of the contest.

For many poker fans, this will come as something of a disappointment, with Kornuth arguably causing Galfond more problems than anyone in the Galfond Challenge legacy. While he didn’t get as close as ‘VeniVidi’ to taking money off the ever-impressive Galfond, Kornuth certainly provide his PLO (Pot Limit Omaha) chops and deserves a lot of credit.

As you might expect – or certainly hope – Kornuth has received some high praise from the poker fraternity after he revealed that the challenge was over, saying on Twitter:

“I’ve decided to concede the challenge . Congrats to Phil Galfond on another #GalfondChallenge Victory. It was an incredibly fun battle even though I lost. Going to take a few days with friends and family and share more about my experience in the weeks to come on Chip Leader Coaching.”

A Legislative Assembly member in Macau believes the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym) is too cozy with Macau’s casino operators. It would be hard not to have a close relationship, since the DICJ works with the six entities work on almost a daily basis, but José Pereira Coutinho thinks it goes beyond maintaining a necessary working connection. He accuses the DICJ of “permanent collusion” with the casino operators. 

Coutinho wants Ho Iat Seng, Macau’s chief executive, to step in and play a bigger role in the DICJ’s operations, at least as far as some activity is concerned. He feels that casinos have too much leeway when it comes to how they treat their employees and that the DICJ is, directly or indirectly, facilitating their ability to pressure staff into resigning to avoid being fired. A portion of that group of employees includes former nonresident casino workers who now just “drift about the streets of the city, some asking for money to buy food, and others asking for support from local associations,” according to a statement made by the legislator. 

There are also “systematic abuses” going on that the government knows about, but of which it has no interest in curtailing, explains Coutinho. He adds, “Incredibly, the government is aware of these situations, but it does not act in time to alleviate the suffering of the workers made redundant… One cannot understand why the competent authorities in the area of the Secretariat for Economy and Finance close their eyes to these systematic abuses as if they had nothing to do with their professional skills, obligations, and responsibilities. The abuses practiced by some gambling concessionaires have been widely denounced … [but] the competent authorities, out of stubbornness, do not intervene and are not even interested in knowing.”

It isn’t clear what the legislator bases his accusations on, but there is mounting concern that some businesses in Macau aren’t taking their employee responsibility issues seriously enough. A report surfaced earlier this week that one satellite casino, which is tied to an unidentified casino operator, has been strongarming some employees into taking early retirement so it can avoid looking like a bad guy. It has also resorted to threatening them if they don’t comply. However, there has been no indication that the DICJ had previous knowledge of the activity before it was revealed to Macau’s Labour Affairs Bureau. Macau is getting a new Legislative Assembly this year, just ahead of the introduction of new casino concessions, currently expected to happen next year, and new gaming regulations. The COVID-19 situation has forced the city to take a closer look at its long-term economic and financial goals, and it would appear that the stage is being set for major changes in the local gaming market.