Online payment processor Paysafe is denying allegations of facilitating illegal online gambling that sent the company’s stock into a tailspin.

On Wednesday, short-selling firm Spotlight Research published a document titled “Paysafe: Material Risks from Regulatory Enforcement Action” that claimed Paysafe was “enabling both illegal gambling and Chinese capital control evasion through alleged undisclosed related parties run by recent former executives.”

Spotlight claims Paysafe’s largest customer, “who we believe to be [online betting operator] Bet365,” is operating a China-facing online betting operation, a revelation on par with the theories that water is wet and Donald Trump is a tiny-handed demagogue with crippling self-esteem issues.

Citing Paysafe’s public filings, Spotlight claims Bet365 is the company that represented 20% of Paysafe’s H1 2016 fee revenues and possibly up to 50% of its earnings, and that “the majority of this revenue comes from Asia.” Spotlight also links Paysafe to Asian online betting giant Dafabet, which has been on the receiving end of Chinese authorities’ enforcement actions.

Japan is poised on the brink of revoking its longtime ban on casino gambling following a favorable committee vote in the legislature’s upper house.

Despite a contentious debate that saw legislators still talking well into Tuesday evening, the upper house committee tasked with vetting the Integrated Resorts Promotion (IR) bill eventually voted to bring the legislation to the floor of the upper house for a vote. The vote must occur on Wednesday (14), the final day of the Diet’s extraordinary session.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds a commanding majority in the upper house, making Wednesday’s vote something of a foregone conclusion, barring any mass pangs of conscience by LDP MPs. Abe has touted the introduction of casino gambling as a means of boosting international tourism traffic and domestic employment.

Japan’s lower house approved the bill last week, despite some LDP members defying their leadership by voting against the measure and opposition parties staging a walkout to protest what they claimed was the LDP steamrolling the bill through the Diet despite widespread public wariness toward casino gambling.

The gaming stocks model portfolio was opened on January 19th. As 2016 comes to a close, let’s reassess and see where we stand for the year, and go through which current positions should be held, and which sold. No buys to be recommended today. Only realized gains and losses on closed positions will be calculated. Unrealized gains and losses on long term holds will be held into 2017, and possibly added to.

On January 19th, the model was opened with:

1) 7% position in MGM Resorts (MGM)

2) 3% position in Penn National Gaming (PENN)

Silicon Valley, San Francisco, 13th December 2016 – Betcade, the first gambling app store for Android, today announces that the company’s mobile payments solution, an industry first, is launching as a general purpose payment method.

The first mobile payments solution built and optimized for gambling customers, Betcade Pay, is now available for integration to gambling operators. The solution’s utility and user experience has been quickly embraced by the industry and is already being implemented by operators. Designed specifically for mobile gambling, and built from the ground up by an experienced team of mobile and payment development professionals, Betcade Pay offers a secure, fast and easy-to-integrate service, whilst accepting all the popular payment methods players are accustomed to.

Betcade Pay incorporates a user centric, easy and intuitive UI that requires the fewest steps to deposit of any solution on the market today, ensuring both customers and operators receive a first class experience.

By Q1, Betcade Pay will begin to process UK consumers’ Visa and MasterCard which is available with and without chargeback protection and Bank transfers. It will host more than 50 global payment methods by the end of the quarter as the service launches throughout Europe, with more methods continuously being added during 2017.

2016 has become the year of an all-out war against cash.

In November, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked the entire country when he banned two currency notes—500 and 1,000 denominations—to crack down on corruption, fake currency notes and tax evaders. The announcement caused massive problems in the country, resulting in people standing in line at banks to exchange or deposit the scrapped rupee bills.

Now, it appears that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has taken a page out of Modi’s book. The embattled president announced over the weekend that the country’s 100 bolivar fuerte (Bf) banknotes will be demonetized in the next couple of days.

“There has been a scam and smuggling of the one hundred bills on the border with Colombia. We have tried the diplomatic way to deal with this problem with Colombia’s government; there are huge mafias. I have decided to take out of circulation bills of 100 bolivars in the next 72 hours. We must keep beating the mafias,” Maduro said on state television.

Seven years after outlawing gambling, the Polish government is considering a new legislation that will allow sports betting and online poker again in the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin confirmed that the government “is working on a new gambling.” In an interview with Polish Radio, Gowin admitted that “Poland suffered enormous, multibillion losses” after the Gambling Act was introduced by then Prime Minister Donald Tusk in 2009. That bill banned gambling outside casinos and online.

“That is why a few months ago we decided to change the law so that money flowed back into the budget,” Gowin said, according to the Polish news outlet.

The latest draft indicated that slot machines would be nationalized, operating under the national lottery services. In May, Poland’s Ministry of Finance hinted that the revisions to the country’s gambling laws will include allowing Polish-licensed online operators to offer online slots, provided they toe the line regarding responsible gambling protections for consumers.

Several investment analysts are betting on their money that Macau casinos will be able to duplicate a double-digit, gross gaming revenue growth in December.

Last month, Macau posted an estimated MOP 18.79 billion (US$ 2.35 billion) worth of casino gross revenue, a 14.4 percent increase from the previous year.

Analysts from Sanford C. Bernstein, Wells Fargo Securities, Telsey Advisory Group, and Nomura all expressed confidence that Macau market has been improving.

“That might put an end to the series of GGR growth improvements over the past few months, as we saw 1 percent, 7 percent, 9 percent, and 14 percent growth in August, September, October, and November respectively,” Nomura said in a note it issued on Monday. The brokerage firm predicted that Macau’s GGR could increase by up to 13 percent year-on-year in December.

Stockholm, December 13th, 2016 – A Phoenix lights up the screen to give players the chance to win big prizes in the latest game from Swedish slot specialist, Quickspin.

Phoenix Sun is a golden ode to the mythological bird that is said to live for thousands of years before bursting into flames and being reborn from the ashes.

In a similar fashion, the Phoenix Wild opens-up the reels for re-spins and more ways to win, with the game shifting between three and six rows in height, and 243 to 7776 bet ways.

Gather five Phoenix Wilds during re-spins and watch them set the reels ablaze, only to rise again along with the sun and a round of eight free spins.

Stockholm, December 13th, 2016 – A Phoenix lights up the screen to give players the chance to win big prizes in the latest game from Swedish slot specialist, Quickspin.

Phoenix Sun is a golden ode to the mythological bird that is said to live for thousands of years before bursting into flames and being reborn from the ashes.

In a similar fashion, the Phoenix Wild opens-up the reels for re-spins and more ways to win, with the game shifting between three and six rows in height, and 243 to 7776 bet ways.

Gather five Phoenix Wilds during re-spins and watch them set the reels ablaze, only to rise again along with the sun and a round of eight free spins.

13 December, 2016 – Malta (Press Release): Tain is to significantly expand its sportsbook service through the addition of 5,000 more live events per month.

The software and solutions provider, which is headquartered in Malta, will now offer around 23,000 live events from 6,800 competitions each month.

In increasing the number of sports covered to 50, Tain will now offer markets on the likes of curling, biathlon and water polo, as well as traditional major verticals such as football, tennis and US sports.

The expansion of the sportsbook service is the latest development since Tain was acquired by XIN Gaming in July.

Vietnam-based asset management firm VinaCapital is moving forward with its  $4 billion tourism and leisure project in Vietnam even without Malaysia’s Genting Berhad.

Deal Street Asia reported that VinaCapital is in fact targeting to launch the first phase of its long-stalled casino project in the first quarter of 2019 and has rebranded the plan as HOIANA.

It would be recalled that multi-billion casino project has first been called Nam Hoi An after VinaCapital and Genting forged an alliance to develop the township. However, the Malaysian partner soon exited the project, leaving VinaCapital scoutin for new investors.

Hong Kong diversified group Chow Tai Fook and Macau-based junket operator Suncity Group last year filled the void that Genting left as the Vietnam fund manager diluted its holding in the mixed-use development.

Supplier’s award-winning content to appear on VoodooDreams.com brand

13th December, 2016 – Yggdrasil Gaming has reached an agreement to provide its portfolio of slots to SuprNation’s debut brand, VoodooDreams.com.

The VoodooDreams.com casino will enjoy access to Yggdrasil slots including Big Blox and Bicicleta, as well as its collection of in-game promotional tools, BOOST™, and social sharing tool BRAG.

 Fredrik Elmqvist, CEO at Yggdrasil Gaming, said: “We love working with operators that want to shake up the gaming industry, so we are thrilled to have agreed a deal with SuprNation.

Supplier’s award-winning content to appear on VoodooDreams.com brand

13th December, 2016 – Yggdrasil Gaming has reached an agreement to provide its portfolio of slots to SuprNation’s debut brand, VoodooDreams.com.

The VoodooDreams.com casino will enjoy access to Yggdrasil slots including Big Blox and Bicicleta, as well as its collection of in-game promotional tools, BOOST™, and social sharing tool BRAG.

 Fredrik Elmqvist, CEO at Yggdrasil Gaming, said: “We love working with operators that want to shake up the gaming industry, so we are thrilled to have agreed a deal with SuprNation.

PLAYTECH £250,000 GIVEAWAY – WIN HEROIC PAY-OUTS WITH DC BRANDED GAMES!

London, December 2016 – Playtech, the world’s leading Omni-channel gaming software, systems and services supplier, has launched yet another mind-blowing £250,000 casino promotion that will run across its entire network for 21 days over the Christmas period.

At the beginning of this year, Playtech announced its partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products for DC branded content, including 1960’s Batman Classic TV Series, Superman I (1978), Superman II (1980), Green Lantern (2011) and Man of Steel (2013). The promotion will showcase some of the spectacular Super Hero slot games and present players with the opportunity to win some gigantic cash sums.

The massive giveaway follows the success of Playtech’s Age of the Gods™ network promotion in June this year, which was launched to coincide with the company’s legendary series of progressive jackpot slot titles.

The draw for the Champions League Round of 16 pits Arsenal with Bayern Munich; Man City with Monaco, and Leicester with Sevilla.

As an Englishman, it’s been interesting absorbing the interest in the Champions League since the group phase ended. Talk of Man City and Leicester has been minimal with most of the focus being on Arsenal.

The central message has been one of failure. Arsenal has qualified for the Champions League every year since 2000-2001, but they have failed to navigate their way past the treacle of the Round of 16 in the previous six attempts.

I don’t think failure is the reason the English media is focusing on Arsenal. I believe they are in the spotlight because they represent our best hope of winning the thing, and if that’s true, they are once again going to have to do it the hard way.

Reports of a new Cambodian casino joint venture with Malaysian ties offer more questions than answers.

Over the weekend, Malaysian media outlet The Star reported that computer hard drive firm MQ Technology Bhd was teaming up with an entity known as Cambodian Resorts and Entertainment Co Ltd (CRE) on a $30m hotel, casino and theme park project in Banteay Chakrey in Prey Veng Province, on Cambodia’s southeast border with Vietnam.

The Star’s source claimed that CRE owned the land on which the proposed project would be built. CRE also has “a sister company which holds a casino license to operate on this land.”

Trouble is, the proposed site is around 100km from Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, home to NagaCorp’s flagship property NagaWorld. NagaCorp’s contract with the government ensures it exclusivity on casino operations within 200km of Phnom Penh until the year 2035.

Reports of a new Cambodian casino joint venture with Malaysian ties offer more questions than answers.

Over the weekend, Malaysian media outlet The Star reported that computer hard drive firm MQ Technology Bhd was teaming up with an entity known as Cambodian Resorts and Entertainment Co Ltd (CRE) on a $30m hotel, casino and theme park project in Banteay Chakrey in Prey Veng Province, on Cambodia’s southeast border with Vietnam.

The Star’s source claimed that CRE owned the land on which the proposed project would be built. CRE also has “a sister company which holds a casino license to operate on this land.”

Trouble is, the proposed site is around 100km from Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, home to NagaCorp’s flagship property NagaWorld. NagaCorp’s contract with the government ensures it exclusivity on casino operations within 200km of Phnom Penh until the year 2035.

Antigua has proposed new rules and taxes for online gambling operators that unfortunately could have the opposite effect of what the government hopes to achieve.

The Antiguan government’s Financial Services Regulatory Commission held a Gaming Sector Meeting last Thursday, which was attended by four of the eight companies currently licensed to operate online gambling in the country.

The government has proposed a new Gambling Act of 2016 that is primarily aimed at regulating land-based casinos, although the 2007 Interactive Gaming and Wagering Regulations will be folded into the 2016 Act.

A new Gambling Authority Division will be established to handle licensing and monitoring of all gambling on the island, including the online sector. The government proposes to introduce “an appropriate monitoring system and mandate monthly reports and/or data,” with the “reasonable costs” of this monitoring to be borne by the licensees.