Casino and junket operator Jack Lam left the Philippines days before the authorities announced they were seeking his arrest for bribery and illegal online gambling.

On Saturday, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa gave an interview with dzMM Radio saying his officers had launched a nationwide manhunt to arrest Lam (pictured), reportedly on the direct orders of President Rodrigo Duterte, for bribery and “economic sabotage.”

On Sunday, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) released a statement saying travel records indicate that Lam Yin Yok (believed to be Lam’s real name) left the Philippines on Nov. 29 on a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Hong Kong. Lam’s attorney Raymond Fortun has yet to publicly comment on either the charges or Lam’s current whereabouts.

Last week, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II accused Lam, the founder of leading Macau junket operator Jimei Group, of offering bribes to obtain the release of the 1,316 Chinese nationals arrested on Nov. 24 for illegally working at an online gambling operation run out of Lam’s Fontana Casino in the Clark Freeport.

Porn impresario Larry Flynt is suing the state of California to overturn a statute that prevents him from investing in out-of-state casino businesses.

On Wednesday, Flynt (pictured), who owns a pair of Gardena cardrooms – the Hustler Casino and Larry Flynt’s Lucky Lady Casino (the former Normandie Casino) – filed a civil lawsuit in federal court claiming the state’s gambling rules are unconstitutional.

The California Business and Professions Code 19858 prohibits state residents who hold cardroom licenses from investing in out-of-state entities that operate casino-style gambling, even if these casinos are located outside the United States.

The lawsuit (read it here) offers some backstory on the reasoning behind this prohibition, citing a 2001 report by an independent state oversight agency that examined the ownership limitations. The restriction was intended to “keep organized crime out of California” but the report concedes that crime would or would not be present “regardless of the ownership of the club.”

Russian bookmaker Fonbet has gone live with its new licensed online sports betting site.

Fonbet’s new officially approved Russian-facing betting site bkfon.ru is the sixth to have received one of the new online sportsbook licenses since Liga Stavok’s Russian-approved site made its debut in February. Fonbet is a member of the Bookmakers Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO), which saw its first member (Leon.ru) launch its official online site in October.

Russia’s new online betting regime requires all online betting operators to channel their payments through centralized hubs known as TSUPIS so that the government can monitor the activity. All Bookmakers SRO member sites plan to use payment processor QIWI’s Russian subsidiary KIWI-Bank to power their TSUPIS.

But QIWI representatives told Betting Business Russia that it’s TSUPIS was still in “test mode” and thus Fonbet’s new site is really only in beta until the payment processing is sorted.

Japanese casinos are a step closer to reality after a legislative committee approved a casino study bill, strengthening the odds of approval by the full legislature before the end of the year.

On Friday, the House of Representatives Cabinet committee passed the so-called Integrated Resorts Promotion (IR) bill, which seeks to amend Japan’s constitution to remove a prohibition on casino gambling. The bill is a necessary precursor to a future bill that would spell out the nuts and bolts of casino licensing and regulation.

Committee members belonging to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) voted in favor of the bill, while two of three members of the LDP’s coalition partner Komeito voted against the legislation. Komeito, a party with strong Buddhist ties, has traditionally opposed loosening restrictions on gambling activity.

Kyodo News reported that, as of Thursday, Komeito’s rank and file members were officially undecided on whether to support the IR bill. The decision was therefore left up to the party’s leaders, who announced Friday that they wouldn’t protest the committee’s IR bill vote.

Finally, some positive news about the digital currency situation in Russia.

Reports surfaced several months ago that representatives of Russia’s Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and government staff are seeking to abandon the idea of punishing whoever is caught involved in bitcoin operations in the country. According to Russian-language media outlet Interfax, the group is planning to submit a recommendation to President Vladimir Putin in August.

Now, the government has finally published a document that confirmed the legal status of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin in the country. In it, the government defined the bitcoin and other forms of digital currencies as foreign currencies, and since trading operations involving digital currencies are to be treated as foreign currency transactions, this means that transfers will not be subjected to financial reporting.

The document is a victory for cryptocurrency users and advocates in Russia, which has had a tense relationship with digital currencies over the past years.

U.S. tribal casino operator Mohegan Sun is projected to cash in US$750 million in fee income for its bet in a new casino resort at Incheon, near South Korea’s capital Seoul.

According to GGRAsia, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority is expected to receive multi-million dollar in fee income from its investment in the new South Korean casino. The tribal casino operator plans to inject US$100 million for 50-percent plus of the project’s equity.

Mohegan Sun expects to earn a development fee during construction (around US$45 million) and a 24-year management fee (3 percent of all revenues [plus] around US$30 million per year), according to the slides present by the casino operator at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2016 Leveraged Finance Conference.

The caveat, according to Mohegun Sun, was that the definitive management and development agreements for the property had not yet been signed. Mohegan Sun also failed to show details about financing for the construction of the casino resort.

Gumpoldskirchen, December 2016 (OTS) – NOVOMATIC, Europe’s leading gaming technology group, yesterday completed the final required steps for the successful acquisition of the Albanian National Lottery.

Following a tender carried out in 2012, Lotaria Kombëtare had been granted a ten-year license to establish, operate and manage the Albanian National Lottery. With the completion of the acquisition, NOVOMATIC continues to systematically strengthen its lottery business. With its expertise as a provider of lottery system solutions, it will ensure the successful operation of the Albanian National Lottery.

“Eastern and South Eastern Europe are among the core markets in which NOVOMATIC has established an excellent position due to its early commitments. With the successful completion of the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Lotaria Kombëtare, we intend to further enhance this position and to implement our strategy as a full-service provider for the gaming industry in this region, as well”, stated Harald Neumann, CEO of NOVOMATIC AG.

Lotaria Kombëtare complements NOVOMATIC’s portfolio with its reliable, secure and high-quality lottery products with high payouts and considerable chances of winning.

History shows the Seattle Seahawks find their form around the start of December, although it has been tough to know what to expect from Russell Wilson and company each week this season.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The Seahawks are listed as seven-point favorites against the Panthers – and Cam Newton – with a 44.5-point total for the Sunday Night Football betting matchup.

The Seahawks are an enviable 7-0 straight-up and against the spread in their last seven games in Week 13. Seattle is also 11-1 SU in their last 12 games against teams with losing records. The Panthers, along with boasting Cam Newton,  retain a strong pass rush on defense and are 5-1-1 ATS in their last seven games as an underdog of seven points or more.

All casinos have a built-in house edge, but in Cambodia that edge can actually draw blood.

On Wednesday, police in the Cambodian city of Sihanoukville arrested two Chinese employees of the Leu Phnom Casino for stabbing and robbing two other Chinese nationals. The Khmer Times quoted the local police chief saying the four men were known to each other prior to the attack.

The two 22-year-old casino staffers reportedly tried their hand at the other side of the gambling table, only to go broke in the process. Short of cash, they decided to rob their countrymen, who were sleeping in the casino’s staff quarters at the time.

Awakened at knifepoint, the two victims resisted, only to be stabbed in the arm and back when they didn’t make with the money fast enough. The staff/thieves relieved their friends/victims of around $3k in cash as well as a laptop. The laptop and around $1,100 of the stolen cash were reportedly retrieved by the police following the arrests of the perpetrators.

Entrepreneurs in the iGaming have a dedicated event to help them raise the capital they need on December 8th in London

 London, November 2016-  The iGaming Entrepreneurs Conference is back for 2016 with a new format, and the industry’s first mentoring package. The one-day event will take place at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, on the 8th of December.

The conference will begin with pitch coach Benjamin Ball offering his industry-leading insights to entrepreneurs on how to pitch your project to potential investors. Delegates will then hear about the challenges for the “lean startup” in the iGaming market, followed by a panel of entrepreneurs at various stages of their company life-cycles discussing the ever-changing needs of entrepreneurs as their companies grow. The morning sessions will then conclude with Unibet’s Head of Innovation discussing partnerships with established players in the industry as an increasingly popular alternative to traditional startup investment.

The afternoon begins with a panel of 5 major investors in iGaming, who will discuss their investment criteria, tell the audience what they look for in an investment and who will take questions from the entrepreneurs in the room.

Newly-opened casino resorts have kept Macau’s gambling revenue afloat in the positive territory for the fourth consecutive month, posting a 14.4 rise in November.

Macau’s gross gambling revenue in November picked up at MOP18.79 billion (US$2.35) billion, according to the latest data released on Thursday by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The figures were at the top end of analyst expectations for a 10-15 percent rise.

But November’s data was a drop from the previous month, when revenue had been boosted by a national holiday week.

Macau’s accumulated casino GGR for the 11 months to November 30 stood at nearly MOP203.40 billion, a year-on-year decline of 4.3 percent from the equivalent period in 2015.

Crown Resorts has put the demerger of its Australian and overseas gaming empires on the backburner in the light of the arrests of 18 Crown staffers in Asia.

Australian Financial Review reported that Crown, in which billionaire James Packer’s holding company has a majority stake, has paused its plans to create a separately listed holding company for certain international assets.

The decision to put the demerger on-hold, according to the report, may have something to do with the arrest of 18 Crown staffers in China, which have impinged on the number of VIP gamblers flocking to Australia.

Analysts believe that Crown will wait for the waters to settle before it resumes the process of breaking up the businesses.

Gaming operator Berjaya Corp Bhd is punting on its Asian neighbors to bring in the profits as the Malaysian government refuses to budge from its sports betting stand.

In an interview with reporters in Japan, Berjaya founder Vincent Tan said they remain “hopeful that the government will relook its stand on sports betting in the country, as well as break the monopolies in the casino and pay television markets.”

“Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd is still there, we have first right of refusal,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Four Seasons Hotel and Hotel Residences Kyoto’s official opening in Kyoto, according to The Sun Daily.

Ascot, which Berjaya bought in 2010 for $163.9 million, had been approved for the reissuance of a license to carry out sports betting operations by the Ministry of Finance in 2010—before the government decided against allowing sports betting in the country.

Approved.

That was the ruling handed down by a Northern California District Court judge, allowing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to require bitcoin wallet service Coinbase to submit records of all transactions that took place from 2013 to 2015. The summons was part of an investigation into possible tax fraud committed by U.S. residents who engaged in business with or through the California-based virtual currency exchange.

“The taxpayers being investigated have not been or may not be complying with U.S. internal revenue laws requiring the reporting of taxable income from virtual currency transactions,” the IRS wrote in its request.

The Department of Justice made the request for a “John Doe” summon, which essentially identifies a person or ascertainable group or class by their activities, several weeks ago on behalf of the IRS.