South Korea’s major casinos may be off-limits for the rest of the year as the country tries to deal with an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases. 

On Monday, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in issued a public call for more pandemic testing and better tracing as the latest batch of tests indicated a 4.2% positivity rate, up sharply from 1.2% average to date this year. New cases hit 631 on Sunday, the highest total since the pandemic’s initial wave this spring.

The surge in new infections will require more stringent social distancing limits, with the capital Seoul and surrounding areas subject to tough new rules through at least the end of this month. That spells more financial pressure for casino operators Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) and Paradise Co Ltd, both of which have venues in Seoul. 

On Monday, GKL announced that its two Seven Luck Casinos in Seoul, which were forced to close in late November, would remain shut through at least December 29. GKL’s casino in Busan, which shut last week, will also remain closed through at least December 29. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

There was a blockbuster trade in the NBA last week involving very expensive point guards as the Houston Rockets sent Mr. Triple-Double, nine-time All-Star and former league MVP Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards for five-time All-Star John Wall and a 2023 protected first-round pick. While Westbrook and Wall are very good players and big names, that deal did little in terms of shifting either team’s 2021 NBA championship odds.

While Westbrook and Bradley Beal give Washington a terrific backcourt, the Wizards don’t have much else and are +10000 long shots to win it all. Just making the playoffs could be a challenge for Washington, which hasn’t done so since the 2017-18 season. Westbrook is reunited with his former Oklahoma City coach in current Wizards coach Scott Brooks.

Wall appears to be a better stylistic fit on Houston alongside three-time reigning NBA scoring champion James Harden than Westbrook was for his one season with the Rockets. However, Wall’s health is a big question mark as he hasn’t played a regular-season game since December 26, 2018, due to knee surgery and then a torn Achilles tendon – that’s basically the worst injury a basketball player can have, especially a player whose game is built on speed like Wall’s has been. He likely won’t play both ends of a back-to-back all season. Houston is +4000 to win the NBA title.

Casinos in Canada’s largest province aren’t doing enough to crack down on suspected money laundering and online gambling liberalization plans present a potential conflict of interest for Ontario’s gambling regulator. 

On Monday, the Auditor General of Ontario released its 2020 Annual Report, which found that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), the body that oversees the province’s alcohol, gaming, horse-racing and retail cannabis operations, “lacks operational transparency on its financial and regulatory activities.”

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk notes that the number of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) at Ontario casinos rose 19% to 3,722 between 2017 and 2019, but the value of these dodgy transactions doubled over the same period to C$340m (US$265.7m). 

Worse, despite the presence of provincial police in casinos to oversee gaming integrity and investigate suspected money laundering, the AGCO seized cash on only four occasions during the 2017-19 period and barred only 38 individuals from setting foot on an Ontario casino gaming floor. 

Sports betting operator DraftKings has secured a market access deal in Connecticut via one of the state’s two tribal casino operators, putting pressure on rivals to secure a similar pact pronto. 

On Monday, DraftKings announced a deal with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (MPTN), which operates the Foxwoods Resorts Casino in Connecticut. The deal envisions a prospective online sports betting partnership and a more immediate official daily fantasy sports partnership. 

The deal ‘sets the stage’ for an online sports betting combo, “subject to necessary legislative and regulatory approvals.” Connecticut has yet to authorize legal sports betting, in part due to the usual fights among stakeholders regarding who controls what type of gambling. 

Connecticut’s casino market is currently controlled by the MPTN and Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE), which operates the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville. MGE signed a sportsbook partnership with European tech provider Kambi last year. 

The last Day 1 flight of the 2020 WSOP Hybrid Main Event has taken place, with just 75 players surviving from a huge 257 entries.  

It was always likely to be the biggest Day 1 of the three and Day 1c lived up to it’s billing as the last chance for players to put up the $10,000 entry fee on GGPoker and get themselves a Day 2 seat. Overall, 674 players took up the challenge and with no re-entry, the truest WSOP Main Event of this bizarre year has reached the penultimate stage with some having racked up mountainous stacks.  

According to the overnight report on PokerNews, the highest-ranked player when play drew to a close was Canadian player Senthuran Vijayaratnam, who totalled 966,714 chips by close of play, the overall lead in the tournament and almost a million chips.  

Of the 75 who made it through to Day 2, second in chips was a British player, Jesse Wigan carrying 642,276 through to the next day’s play and Viacheslav Buldygin (480,671) in 3rd place, having less than half of Vijayaratnam’s monster stack.  

The life of Johnny Moss was a unique one – both within poker as a game and purely about the man himself. The first-ever winners of the WSOP Main Event, a poker pioneer, and one of the charter inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame, Johnny Moss is a name that is and forever will be synonymous with the game of poker.  

Who was Johnny Moss really, though? Where did he come from and how close did he come to giving up before becoming a three-time world champion? The truth might surprise you.  

Old Before His Time  

Johnny Moss was nicknamed The Grand Old Man of Poker, but in truth, he was older coming to the game professionally purely because poker wasn’t a viable profession in any sense of the world. Born in 1907, his teens were spent during the era of the first World War and his thirties were spent during the Second World War.  

In the wake of the massive scandal centered on Australia’s Crown Resorts, the country’s gambling operators – as well as those around the world – should start preparing now to see changes in how the activity is regulated. Crown’s future is in doubt as it has been dubbed “unsuitable” to hold a gaming license and more fallout is expected to come. In the meantime, until those new regulations are implemented, Australia’s financial watchdog, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), is clearing the air over some details. When it comes to managing junkets that work with casinos, the casino operators, not regulators, are responsible for keeping them in line.

The ongoing investigation into Crown, which is accused of facilitating massive money laundering as it turned a blind eye, has caused government officials and regulators to spend an exorbitant amount of time sifting through mountains of information to figure out who went wrong and where. This subject came up during a recent Senate hearing attended by the CEO of AUSTRAC, Nicole Rose, who made it clear that casino operators are expected to manage all aspects of their operations, including junkets.

Rose asserted during the hearing, “AUSTRAC does not regulate junket tour operators. The onus is on industry to ensure it complies with its AML/CTF obligations. The Federal Court has also reiterated this view.” She added, when asked about possible voids in junket regulations, that “domestic regulation won’t address the issues” and that “the industry was well placed to manage and assess its own risks.”

AUSTRAC has long believed that casino operators have been lax in their oversight of junkets, possibly because these are responsible for bringing millions of dollars each year to the properties. The watchdog determined three years ago that operators were more than willing to let certain activities slide and that they weren’t performing due diligence properly on the companies to ensure that they were living up to Australia’s financial standards.

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that 64% of the population in the US have had their personal data exposed through some type of data breach. Now, more than ever, the majority of what consumers do is taking place online, which means protecting that personal data is paramount to protection one’s own identity. There’s no shortage of immoral persons waiting to get ahold of private data that can then be used for a number of purposes – fake credit, fake identities, fraudulent bank account access and more. While it may not always be possible to completely prevent the theft of private data – individuals can’t prevent large companies like Wells Fargo from ensuring they have proper controls established on their networks – there are still ways to minimize exposure and protect personal information.

Personal data can include names, identification numbers, addresses, vehicle identification, phone numbers, biometric data and computer network info, such as IP (Internet protocol) and MAC addresses. A breach doesn’t have to encompass all the different data types at once; profiles can be built over time that can compile the different pieces to form the complete picture. Hackers have plenty of tools at their disposal that allows cross-referencing and correlation of bits and pieces to eventually develop the entire profile.

To help reduce the risk of having personal data stolen, never provide more information than is absolutely necessary to complete the transaction. There’s little reason to give out a phone number, for example, or a physical address to subscribe to an online mailing list. Under no circumstances should personal data be given out over the phone or through email unless you can positively identify the recipient and only then if it’s absolutely necessary. Email is inherently insecure and intercepting communication is not a difficult task.

Wherever possible, two-factor authentication (2FA) should be used. While this is not a foolproof method, it goes a long way in preventing unauthorized scraping of personal data. Through 2FA, access to a particular bank account or gambling site through your computer, for example, can only be granted once confirming your identity through a second control, usually a code sent to a pre-registered phone number you own.

Scammers and fraudsters have been around since man was able to utter his first words. They’re a fact of life that will never be erased, and consumers always have to be cautious when making purchases of any kind. The Okada Manila in the Philippines has become a target of unscrupulous persons who are trying to take advantage of the desperate need of some to get away for a while and are selling hotel stays at the casino resort. The only problem is that they’re completely fake and will only result in the purchaser losing his or her money.

The Okada Manila issued a warning that it has found unauthorized sales tied to the property, explaining, “It appears that certain persons are selling, reselling or offering hotel room packages at Okada Manila through online platforms or social media channels without our authority.” It didn’t mention any website or agency by name, only specifying that it won’t honor any of the packages that travelers try to redeem at the property. It added, “We advise the public that they can reserve rooms through the Okada Manila reservation system or reputable booking platforms.”

The resort, which is owned by Tiger Resort Leisure and Gaming and its parent, Universal Entertainment Corp., began operating at full capacity in October following a lengthy shutdown caused by COVID-19. Only a month earlier, it had received permission to operate at 30% capacity, and the return to normal operations would allow it to begin the long recovery process. The Philippines had witnessed extreme quarantine periods because of the global pandemic and the slow return to normalcy has possibly led some consumers to forget the basics regarding purchasing goods and services from legitimate entities.

The hotel stays aren’t the only items being offered through false channels. Okada Manila has its own line of scents, or perfumes, and fake versions of these have reportedly begun to make their way through consumer markets, as well. The venue doesn’t offer the scents for resale, and explains, “The hotel scent we use is made exclusively for Okada Manila and is not sold to the general public. The use of Okada Manila’s brand and trademarks for commerce without our authority or consent constitutes trademark infringement under the law. We will take the necessary legal action against violators.”

International Game Technology (IGT) has reportedly inked a massive deal that will see it pick up a major amount of cash just when it needs it the most. The gaming technology company announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its B2C operations in Italy, including those tied to gaming machine operations, sports gambling and digital gaming, and, once the sale is complete, will pick up $1.15 billion. That money will go a long way to seeing the company pay off a portion of its outstanding, and growing, debt. 

IGT is going to sell its entire stake in Lottomatica Videolot Rete S.p.A. and Lottomatica Scommesse S.r.l to Gamenet Group S.p.A., which is controlled by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, Inc. $879.5 million of the sales price will be collected once the final agreement is signed, with another $121.3 million due at the end of next year. After that, the remaining $151.6 million will have to be paid no later than September 30, 2022. 

Says IGT CEO Marco Sala, “The transaction enables IGT to monetize its leadership positions in the Italian B2C gaming machine, sports betting, and digital spaces at an attractive multiple to comparable Italian transactions, providing us with enhanced financial flexibility. Aligning with our recent reorganization, the favorable rebalancing of our business and geographic mix reframes and simplifies our priorities while improving the Company’s future profit margin, cash flow generation, and debt profile.”

The deal has to be approved by regulators and go through the standard scrutiny assigned to transactions of this magnitude. Provided everything goes smoothly, and IGT doesn’t run into any obstacles, the two sides should be able to see everything come to a close sometime during the first half of next year. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpkUem5eLwc&feature=youtu.beVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Alex Grabner-Jarlung shares tips on how to improve your digital presentations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpkUem5eLwc&feature=youtu.be)

With a heavy shift to digital communications in 2020, some people are having to re-learn how to communicate, or learn best practices for the first time. Alex Grabner-Jarlung, Head of Int. Business for David JP Philips is a master at communicating, and he stood up for a chat (not sat down? Watch to the end to see what we mean) with our Becky Liggero Fontana for this week’s The Long Con to share some wisdom.

In the interview, Grabner-Jarlung shares how we got into communication coaching with David JP Philips thanks to an inspiring presentation, and offers tips on how to improve your skills, use non-verbal communications and cut out filler words. But one thing he’s forceful about is cutting down on PowerPoint presentations.

“So if we attract and use PowerPoint in every single video conference call, and what we do right now is that we usually share our screen, that is equivalent to you just becoming the tool. So every focus will be on the presentation, and that will then lead to you are not time efficient because then you waste that person’s time, because if you only going to show somebody a PowerPoint, and they’re going to listen to exactly all the words that you already have in your PowerPoint, it’s just a waste of time. You could have just sent that in an email.”

As Japan’s government still plans on moving forward with its integrated resort (IR) expansion next year, after having been forced to put everything on hold because of COVID-19, one of the primary areas to host a casino resort is getting ready. Osaka will, once again, try to get its request-for-proposal (RFP) process off the ground starting in January and the prefecture is now working on the final details of the guidelines it expects all casino partners to follow. This is a reboot following Osaka’s previous attempt, which was halted this past June because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Officials in the Osaka prefecture confirmed last Thursday, during a meeting of prefecture representatives, that they want to move the RFP process forward. While the initial plans had expected to see the IRs possibly up and running by 2022, the COVID-19 situation has forced all timetables to be shifted. However, Osaka has not relented in its pursuit to secure one of the first three licenses that could be awarded to host a casino resort in the country. 

There was almost the possibility that the entire exercise in Osaka was for nothing. An initiative had begun a couple of months ago that sought to revive the Osaka Metropolis Plan. Through it, the prefecture would have been divided into different wards, Chuo, Kita, Tennoji and Yodogawa, which could have made it more difficult for a cohesive IR solution to be reached. That initiative was put before voters during elections held on November 1, but it didn’t find enough support. It had previously failed when, in 2015, voters barely defeated it by a margin of just 0.76%, and failed again last month, this time by a 1.2% margin. 

Part of the reason for the continued delays at the local levels is because the Japanese national government hasn’t been able to put together the IR Basic Policy that prefectures and cities wishing to host an IR would have to follow. However, Osaka and others that are interested in being selected as a destination for the activity are beginning to push forward and get everything they can lined up in preparation for the final distribution of that Basic Policy.