In the fast-moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements from the gambling industry. Our Press Release section is updated constantly.

Booming Games receives U.K. license.

Malta-based and MGA licensed slot supplier Booming Games kicks off 2021 with the approval from the U.K. Gambling Commission (UKGC) to supply their games to players in the U.K. The company has met the high standards of the regulator and received the supplier license in January 2021.

It’s not uncommon for casinos to face lawsuits of all kinds, which is why they have massive legal teams backing them up. A new lawsuit against Harrah’s Joliet in Illinois probably won’t cause too many sleepless nights for the casino’s lawyers or executives, but still has to be given serious attention. A man sent to jail almost three years ago following an incident on the casino’s property is now suing the casino, for $10 million, according to Casino.org, arguing that it is to blame for his wrongful detainment.

58-year-old Darryl Allen has been sitting in a jail cell since March 2018 after police determined that he was the aggressor, not the victim, as he claimed, in a struggle that took place outside the casino. He has filed a pro se civil lawsuit, one in which the plaintiff acts as his or her own attorney, arguing that the casino is to blame for everything that has transpired to keep him locked up since then. He wants the cash, as well as a public apology from Harrah’s over the ordeal.

The way Allen tells it, he was around Harrah’s that March when a couple exited the casino. He asserts that he asked the female if she had any luck, which, in Allen’s words, sent her partner into a rage. The lawsuit claims the man went on the offensive against Allen, shouting, “That’s my wife your (sic) talking to (racial slur) and then he reached in his waist for what I thought was a weapon so I took a knife out to defend himself (sic).”

However, the supposed weapon turned out to be a cell phone, but Allen contends that he still tried to get away from the confrontation. The man continued to chase him and, as Allen exited the casino’s parking garage, he was caught by casino security and put in handcuffs. Later, he was handed over to police and booked. He wasn’t able to cover the bond on the $150,000 bail that he was given, so he has stayed locked up since then.

Resorts World Genting (RWG) has taken another step back, announcing they will close entirely between January 22 and February 4. The closure was forced by Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO), restricting intrastate travel in a bid to reduce Covid-19 transmission.

On their website, the operator notes, “Essential resort-based services such as security, bomba, utilities and clinics will remain operational.” Otherwise though, casinos and resort services will be unavailable. Guests have been offered a phone number to call if they need to change their reservation dates, or if they with to request a refund.

Malaysia was forced to implement their MCO on January 13, due to a new spike in Covid-19 cases. The continuing spread of the virus has now forced the government to extend the MCO to all states, except Sarawak, and extend the travel ban to February 4. The Ministry of Health reports 4,008 cases in the 24 hours leading up to January 21, bringing the pandemic tally to 169,379. 630 have died of the virus.

“The MCO standard operating procedures are the same as I have announced before. That means residents are not allowed out, except for two from one household for daily necessities, including emergency cases,” said Senior Minister Ismail Sabri.

On November 24th I went out for a run and out of the blue, felt a sudden, sharp pain in my left knee cap when going down a hill. I was able to walk home, but after I cooled down, even just puttering around the house was uncomfortable and I was devastated. 

For those who don’t know, I’ve been an avid runner for all my life, its my favorite activity on the planet. My modus operandi has always been to use gym equipment such as ellipticals, power mills, etc, when recovering from a running injury (or trying to prevent one) and this has always worked for me…until COVID hit and gyms were forced to close and are still closed here in the London area.

Today I wanted to share my story with our readers as I think the lessons I’ve learned since November 24th can be applied to all of us in our daily lives as we continue to battle COVID, with a great deal of uncertainty still ahead of us.

The first lesson I learned is there is a solution to every problem, you just have to find it. Once I realized I was not going to be able to run for a while and going to the gym was not an option due to lockdown-induced closure, I jumped on my bike to see if a cycling motion bothered my knee. I was delighted to learn it did not. 

The latest Super MILLION$ final table kicked off with Dario Sammartino in the lead, as we reported yesterday, but the Italian would not be able to see it out and claim the win. In fact, he would finish outside the podium places.

How did this happen? Let’s take a look back at the 32nd Super MILLION$ final table and how it played out.

It took a long time for the first elimination, and it was Cypriot player Aliaksei Boika busted in 9th place for the first prize of $56,864. Boika was all-in with pocket sevens and was up against ‘RRomashka’, who made a better flush on the river with pocket tens.

It was the start of the eliminations, but there was no let up from that moment onwards, with players dropping left, right and centre. Next to depart was Canadian Ami Barer, his stack eventually dwindling to 12 big blinds. Barer must have thought he’d waited for the perfect moment, moving all-in with pocket queens, but he was called by Argentina’s ‘on the Flow’ with ace-king and an ace on the flop saw the chips disappear from in front of Barer.

The 2020/21 Premier League has been not just entertaining but life-affirming for many football fans affected by lockdown in terms of national restrictions.

When we watch the 20 teams in action, however, which are the ones who bring goals? With the Premier League season at the halfway stage for most clubs, we’ve compiled the average goals per game ratio for all of the teams. From the big hitters to the low lights, which sides provide the most goals and entertainment in the Premier League might surprise you.

Let’s take a look at the full table and each clubs’ goal per game.

Premier League Goals Per Game Table

As co-host of the Global Poker Award-winning podcast The Chip Race with Irish poker legend Dara O’Kearney, David Lappin is jovial, witty and above all else entertaining. The Unibet Poker player brings a light-hearted air to many subjects, but is equally happy getting into the deeper topics that rise to the surface in the game we all love.  

How will Lappin cope with 15 questions that are bound to test his mental acuity and funny bone at the same time? It’s time to push ‘15 Bigs’ over the line and see how he copes as we stare him down.  

If you were to be shot at dawn, what would be your last meal/drink?  

Steak y Foie Gras from Vaso De Oro in Barcelona washed down with a Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva. 

America’s online gambling market caught a break Wednesday as a federal appeals court upheld the view that the 1961 Wire Act applies only to sports betting. 

On Wednesday, a two-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit sided with the New Hampshire Lottery Commission against the Department of Justice by ruling that the Wire Act’s prohibition on communicating wagering information across state lines applies solely to sports betting, not to other forms of gambling. 

The ruling opens the door for states that have legalized online poker to share player liquidity with other states that have enacted similar laws. To date, only Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have entered into such arrangements, but the path now appears open to states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania to consider adding their players to the pool. 

To recap how we got here, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued an opinion in 2011 in response to queries by state lotteries asking if they could sell tickets online if the data was temporarily routed across state lines. The OLC concluded that the Wire Act applied only to a ‘sporting event or contest,’ thus paving the way for the launch of intrastate online gambling markets in New Jersey and elsewhere. 

UK online gambling operators saw activity grow but revenue shrink as sports betting margins retreated to more traditional levels. 

Figures released Wednesday by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) detail its online gambling licensees’ activity during the month of November, part of the regulator’s ongoing commitment to disclosing how the country’s gamblers are coping with the impact of COVID-19. 

November marked the UK’s second pandemic lockdown, although major sports events weren’t disrupted as they were during the spring lockdown. But many residents were once again forced to spend more time at home, opening up the possibility that they’d turn to gambling away the mortgage due to lockdown boredom. 

Fortunately, while online gambling activity experienced an increase in November, “overall, there has not been a significant or sustained increase in gambling activity” since the pandemic began. Three-fifths of UK gamblers say their spending has not changed since March, while 27% reported spending less and just 13% spent more. 

The latest development in the ongoing saga of Mike Postle isn’t a good one for the poker player who faced cheating allegations after suspicious action on the Stones Gambling Hall live stream last year.  

The crib notes of the Mike Postle are well known to most. After an allegation over cheating saw poker players, commentators and YouTube creators allege ‘cheat’ in Postle’s direction, the man himself went to ground, re-emerging to successfully argue that the case should be thrown out. That wasn’t the end of the matter, however, as allegations from Postle himself about defamation of his character threatened to turn the focus against those who accused him of cheating.  

The latest twist is not a good one for Postle, whose lawyer this week stepped away from representing him and in the wake of that action, two defendants in the defamation lawsuit then hit Postle with an anti-SLAPP.  

If you’re lost like a live poker player with 7-5 off-suit and no knowledge of what any of the other players have at the table, we’ll break it down for you.  

Grupo Caliente is one of the largest gambling operators in Latin America and the hottest in Mexico. It wants to make sure it stays that way, too, and is calling on Genius Sports to give it a boost. The two have had an ongoing relationship for the past couple of years, but Grupo Caliente is now going to give the sports tech data firm the right to be the lead provider of all sportsbook management-related activity for the operator’s Caliente.mx brand. 

Moving forward, Genius Sports’ Betgenius arm will spearhead Grupo Caliente’s sports gambling efforts in relation to live data, trading and streaming activity for Caliente.mx. This will give it access to over 400 global sports competitions to introduce official sports data and live and recorded video feeds, and the real-time data and pricing compiled by Betgenius for over 170,000 different sporting events will also be included. Access to more than 20,000 streamed games and events will make Grupo Caliente’s menu of options even sweeter. 

Caliente Interactive CEO Emilio Hank is excited about the opportunity and said in a statement, “As the market leader in Mexico, we are always focused on providing our customers with the best possible product. We are excited to keep growing our content offering and to extend our long-term partnership with Genius Sports, as we continue to expand into other markets.”

This expansion is going to be just as important for Genius Sports. The company has hinted at the idea of wanting to become a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and laid out its plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. If everything goes well, it will launch sometime during the first quarter of this year, hoping for a $1.5-billion valuation, and having guaranteed, long-standing agreements with operators around the world will help give potential investors the confidence they need to back the company.