Casino operator Las Vegas Sands may have to ditch the ‘Vegas’ branding as it mulls the sale of its two remaining US gambling venues.

Late Monday, Sands confirmed rumors that circulated earlier in the day regarding the company’s preliminary discussions with parties unknown to sell its two Las Vegas Strip hotel casinos, the Venetian and Palazzo, as well as the Sands Expo Convention Center. Sands sold its one other US property, Pennsylvania’s Sands Bethlehem, in 2018.

Bloomberg reported that Sands had enlisted the help of an adviser to drum up interest in a potential Vegas fire sale, which analysts suggested could bring in $6b. Sands long-time spokesman Ron Reese later confirmed that sale discussions had taken place but nothing was written in stone just yet.

The news comes just days after Sands reported a net loss of $731m in the third quarter of 2020, a period in which the company’s Singapore resort Marina Bay Sands was the only one to generate positive earnings. That loss followed an even bigger loss of nearly $1b in Q2.

Ukraine’s new gambling regulatory chief is a former anti-terrorist soldier who represented his country at this year’s Invictus Games.

Last week, Ukraine announced that Ivan Rudy, a former member of the country’s Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO), had been appointed the first chairman of the new Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries.

Rudy (pictured), who reportedly beat out 20 other applicants for the job, will be tasked with overseeing the country’s new regulated gambling market, which will officially authorize online gambling for the first time. In addition to his military experience, a cabinet minister hailed Rudy’s “experience and knowledge in the field of management, international relations and finance.”

The Commission will ultimately feature seven members, two of which were also appointed last week. Attorney Olena Vodolazhko was reportedly chosen due to her experience assisting government in implementing new regulations, while former NATO liaison Yevhen Hetman got the nod for his experience inmanaging public and private enterprises.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is possibly the most iconic poker tour the poker world has seen outside mainland America.

So it’s been a surprise that taking Sochi out of the equation, we’ve not seen the EPT played out in some time. Sure, Joe Stapleton and James Hartigan refreshed our memories about how good they are behind the mic during their EPT Retro series, and we enjoyed looking back at the EPT in our recent Poker on Screen article series.

There’s nothing like a new EPT Main Event to whet the appetite, however, and that’s exactly what poker fans and players can expect to enjoy this coming November 8th – 18th as the famous festival is back – online at PokerStars.com.

With the festival running online from November 8th-18th inclusive, PokerStars are putting on a total of 20 events, with a very neat $20 million up for grabs in the form of guarantees across all those tournaments.

How can one of the oldest card games in the world can help you when it comes to playing poker.

Playing old card games can often feel like less of a step away from the neon world of online poker than ever before. People played with actual cards back then?

Part of the genius of piquet is judging which cards to keep and which ones to throw away, a very important part of the game of poker of course. Originating in 1535, Piquet is played with just 32 cards, with the cards from seven up to the picture cards in play. It’s a game where every card has value, however, as you’ll discover.

How to Play Piquet

Kenyan online sports betting operator Betika is being sued by a customer for allegedly ignoring his requests to shut his betting account.

On Monday, Kenyan media reported that Mark Ndumia Ndung’u, a local attorney, had filed a petition with the High Court against Betika’s parent company Shop and Deliver Ltd for refusing to close his online betting account despite multiple requests.  

Ndung’u claims his initial request to close his account this summer went unnoticed, and a follow-up phone call on July 17 resulted in a Betika rep telling Ndung’u that all he had to do was not make any wagers for a long period and his account would be closed due to inactivity.

Ndung’u rejected this logic due to his stated inability to refrain from betting, and Betika eventually agreed to honor his request but first asked him to undergo identity confirmation. Despite following Betika’s instructions, Ndung’u claims his account was still active in August.

Part of loving the game of poker is thinking about it when you’re away from the felt as well as when you’re facing opponents across the poker table. To that end, a lot of other activities help you with your poker game.

The study of mathematics has an obvious benefit to understanding probability and exploiting others’ lack of nous on that subject. Physical exercise is a great way of building stamina to deal with the rigours of long hours playing the game. Finally, playing Fortnite is a great way of improving your strategy at the poker table… wait, what?

Yes, that’s right, if you don’t play Fortnite already and consider the game one for children only then you couldn’t be more wrong. Particularly when it comes to tournament poker, the game has a huge number of ways it can improve your strategic thinking.

Let’s start with a poker player who plays the game of Fortnite very well. Matt Glantz, who currently sits in 162nd place on the all-time money list, with over $7.1 million in live tournament winnings alone. He can also shoot a player in the head while they’re flying a plane above him in Fortnite.

The poker world is sadly getting used to losing treasured members of its fraternity in recent times.

With the sad passing of WPT legend and partypoker Chairman Mike Sexton earlier this year, the World Poker Tour family lost another member of its team in Keith Kozar, the tour’s resident statistician. This week also saw the passing of a controversial figure in the poker world and someone who lived his life like he played his poker – pushing for victory.

Sam Grizzle cashed for $1.3 million over his lifetime at the live felt and is credited by many as one of the pioneers of poker at the TV table, with many of his early appearances taking place on screen. Grizzle lives up to his name in some quarters, likely to take an angle where he saw it according to some and more than a divisive figure to some including record 15-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.

Perhaps Grizzle’s most infamous bust-up with Hellmuth was one that came before the ‘Moneymaker Effect’ kicked poker’s popularity sky-high. The two men allegedly came to physical blows and Grizzle’s temperament was not famed for being the longest. In another hand, this time against poker pro Shannon Shorr, Shorr three-bet Grizzle three hands in a row which prompted the line from Grizzle: “What is this? Revenge of the nerds?”

This week’s Champions League fixtures will see teams who suffered surprise losses, such as Real Madrid against Shakhtar, try to make up the ground, while others such as both Manchester clubs United and City will be trying to strengthen their stranglehold on their respective groups.

Let’s take a look at a couple of the sportsbetting highlights of this midweek’s Champions League fixtures.

Juventus vs. Barcelona (Wednesday, 8pm GMT kick-off)

Five years ago, Juventus and Barcelona competed in the Champions League final. This season, it would be a surprise of sorts if either team made the showpiece finale of the tournament.

UK problem gamblers will have to wait 48 hours before bankers NatWest will let them deactivate a block on debit card gambling transactions.

On Monday, NatWest announced that customers who activate the debit card gambling block feature on the bank’s mobile app will require a 48-hour ‘cooling off’ period before being allowed to once again use their card for gambling transactions.

The new time-out mirrors a move announced by NatWest rival Barclays in September, although Barclays’ cooling-off period extended for 72 hours. The change followed a study by the GambleAware charity that suggested introducing more ‘friction’ into the process for customers looking to get back into the gambling game after a self-exclusion decision.

NatWest said internal data showed that it handled fewer gambling transactions as the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown took effect this spring, although the number of transactions began to creep back up following the lifting of these restrictions. (UK Gambling Commission surveys revealed that gambling activity underwent an initial surge but slowed in August, so this appears to be a ‘choose your own adventure’ scenario.)

The English Football League (EFL) is defending its gambling sponsorship ties as the UK government mulls a potential ban on betting operators promoting their products via major sports.

On Sunday, the EFL issued a statement saying the ties binding football and gambling were “long-standing, with a collaborative, evidence-based approach to preventing gambling harms of much greater benefit than that of a blanket ban of any kind.”

The UK government’s Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is preparing to review the Gambling Act 2005, with the results of this review expected sometime next year. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly taken a personal interest in shaping the results of this long-awaited review.

Gambling marketing is expected to be a key focus of the review, with a House of Lords committee recently singling out sports sponsorships as a particular area of interest. The committee proposed delaying any sponsorship ban to 2023 for “clubs below the Premier League” to find time to adjust to the new fiscal reality but otherwise wants gambling to vanish from sport.

Kindred Group’s Unibet has launched the first online casino products featuring NFL team branding, while the Indianapolis Colts announced their first twofer sports betting partnership.

On Monday, Kindred announced that its Unibet brand’s Pennsylvania-licensed site had launched a blackjack product featuring a Philadelphia Eagles ‘theme,’ in what the operator described as “the first professional sports themed casino games ever in the US.”

The Eagles Blackjack product has already gone live for Pennsylvania customers, while a similarly themed Eagles Online Slot will make its debut exclusively on Unitbet’s Pennsylvania site before the year is through.

Kindred’s senior VP US Manuel Stan hailed his company helping to blaze an online casino sports branding trail and promised the tie-up was “just the beginning” for Unibet’s US-facing operations. Eagles senior VP of revenue & strategy Catherine Carlson was equally ebullient, calling Unibet “a forward-thinking partner” that was helping to take the tandem “to a whole new level.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkime6_t0eI?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360]

Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood is excited to be standing at the intersection of blockchain, esports and regulated gambling. Sood sat down with our very own Becky Liggero Fontana on the latest episode of The Long Con, to talk about the developments across the different sectors. 

Sood believes the combination of all three sectors coming together, could be a serious triple-threat. Combined, they could drive a wave of new digital innovation in the gambling sector for online and land-based casinos.

During the CoinGeek panel on esports, Sood spoke about the importance of blockchain in the esports market. According to Sood, now is the time for companies to ‘innovate or die.’ Sood went further to clarify his comments from the CoinGeek panel discussion:

The Genting Group has its hands in a number of industries around the world, including several resorts and casinos. It’s ready to tackle a new project, though, and hopes that it can change the landscape in Miami, Florida. Local authorities have approved a request to explore the possibility of constructing a local monorail system, the first step in a long-term project that Genting believes will ultimately lead to the construction of a casino in the city. 

The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners has signed off on a Genting proposal that will allow it to conduct a feasibility study for the development of a monorail that would connect Miami with Miami Beach. The $14-million study will be conducted in conjunction with the company’s local partner, Meridiam Infrastructure North America Corp., and is expected to take around 18 months to complete. However, this is just the beginning of the process. 

Once the findings are gathered and put into a business plan that strongly favors the idea, Genting and Meridiam will present their report to the county so that the Board can decide whether or not the project should move forward. If they sign off on the idea, a $600-million monorail would then start to emerge over and through the Miami area. Genting, however, isn’t footing the bill. Meridiam is working on being able to provide $77 million of the price tag, with the rest possibly coming from private equity money. 

Genting has had its eye on Miami for a decade and the monorail is viewed as its possible ticket for a casino in the city. It purchased 30 acres of land in 2011 that it hoped would eventually be authorized to host a casino resort (Resorts World Miami, perhaps?), but it hasn’t been able to make any progress due to gaming laws. It has, since purchasing the property, continued to find ways to embed itself in the Miami area, including through the construction of a hotel for which it received approval three years ago. 

Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV) has found itself facing a bit of public animosity and it’s not even welcoming gamblers yet. The Genting Group-led venue was previously on the receiving end of a lawsuit for having allegedly copied Wynn Resorts’ designs, which led to a settlement between the two companies. The casino has faced several delays in construction already, as well as cost overruns, that have kept it from being able to open this year as previously planned. It’s getting closer, however, and recently came up with what was, in its mind, a great idea to support the local community. It would offer local artists the chance to help decorate certain sections of the property through the use of murals. While the program sounds great on the surface, RWLV brass missed one key piece that is now causing a black eye. It reportedly wasn’t willing to pay for the work. 

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the multibillion-dollar project wanted local “volunteer” artists to provide their talents to paint back-of-house hallways. The project was introduced last Wednesday, and the artists would be invited to paint murals so that employees could “experience Las Vegas art” because, of course, (queue sarcasm) Las Vegas employees don’t live in Las Vegas and never get to see local art (end sarcasm). However, the property didn’t actually want to pay the artists for their time or efforts; they wanted them to supply their talents out of the goodness of their hearts. 

It didn’t take long before the idea met with a huge influx of criticism on social media. Artists and others began to trash the idea, with one artist, A.D. Cook, asserting, “The employees who are experiencing this art at the hotel are being paid, why should the artists be any different? It takes a lifetime to produce original art. Yes, employees should have murals, but the people who create them should be compensated, just like anyone else.”

Apparently, someone with his or her head in the clouds thought the move could be justified by arguing that the artists would gain “exposure” to their work, and this should be enough compensation. If that were the case, the person who came up with the idea just received a lot of exposure and probably doesn’t need to be paid. The backlash, however, will be sufficient to force RWLV brass to have to open the company’s checkbook and provide compensation. 

Universal Entertainment probably thought it would be able to make peace with shareholders and backers, and even the gaming industry, by dumping former CEO Kazuo Okada, but it’s going to need more time to win back its allies. It has been struggling financially for the past couple of years, despite some interim gains, and has $600 million in issued senior notes for which it had hoped to be able to renegotiate the terms. However, the casino operator is now looking for other ways to shore up its finances after the request to make amendments to those terms was denied. 

Universal Entertainment is the parent company of Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment, which operates Okada Manila. It announced last month that it wanted to change the due date of the notes from December 11, 2021 to December 11, 2024 and, at the same time, keep the annual interest rate at its current level of 8.5%. The note holders, though, weren’t too impressed with the request and the measure wasn’t able to receive 100% approval. Offers representing around 80.3%, or $482 million, worth of the notes were received. 

As a result, Universal will create an exchange offer for $482 million in new notes that will be due on December 11, 2024. This only needs 75% approval, and the remaining balance, $118 million, will be redeemed when the notes reach their current maturity date next year. This will leave Universal short and it will need to figure out how to make up any difference. 

The new exchange offer will give Universal some breathing room and will allow it to delay repayments for just a portion of the notes, which will keep it from having to raise new money. However, it is still looking for additional financial resources and announced last week that another notes offering, one looking for $100 million, would be increased to $135 million as it continued to find ways to counter losses. 

Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs) took another shot recently, as Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo listed all the reasons she thinks they should no longer be in the country at all. Her listed reasons are as much a criticism of the industry as they are criticism of her political rival, President Rodrigo Duterte.

Robredo broke down her criticisms into a few key points. “First, the POGO should not be allowed here, because number one, it is illegal in China then we allowed it here,” she said. China has been very clear that they want the industry shut down the in the past, and have recently bolstered their efforts by suggesting criminal penalties for online gambling activities.

Her second reason was purely with a thought to the Filipinos she serves. “Number two, if they will apply for a job here, many Filipinos are already unemployed and they will compete with them,” she said, referring to Chinese immigrants working in the POGO sector.

The argument begs the question: what jobs will Filipinos compete for if the POGO sector is eradicated? Reports indicate that Filipinos have lost thousands of jobs thanks to the shrinking online gambling industry, with the economy expected to shrink further if the trend continues.

The final weeks leading into the U.S. Presidential election may be focused on the one thing that appears to be out of either of the candidates’ control. As Presidential Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden make their closing cases to the country, Covid-19 has caused a new spike in infections throughout the country, sidetracking most other topics and keeping the odds fixed in Biden’s favor.

While Donald Trump has told the country that the pandemic is nearly over, Americans will likely see a very different story from the news over the next two weeks. On October 24, the country recorded a new single day record for infections in a single day at 83,000. Most states in the country are setting record highs, forcing Texas Governor and Trump ally Greg Abbott to request military hospitals to help ease the burden on local healthcare options.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is worried that this is a bad sign for the direction the country is going in. “That is a precarious place to be for a number of reasons,” he said. While so many states are seeing spikes in infections, he explains that this would “in fact leading to increases in hospitalizations, which will ultimately lead to an increase in deaths.”

When asked if the President was taking his advice, he admitted he’s been replaced. “I definitely don’t have his ear as much as Scott Atlas right now,” Fauci said.

Macau’s casinos expect to have their operating licenses renewed in less than two years, with all six concessions expiring in 2022. While no one anticipates the existing license holders to be denied a new concession, Macau’s government has remained extremely tight-lipped on how the renewal process will work, and some industry experts think that a delay might be needed before any new agreements are finalized. Now, a legislative committee has come forward to ask the government to start communicating more on the subject of the concessions and wants city leaders to hold regular discussions on the subject. 

The Monitoring Commission for Land Issues and Public Concessions (MCLIPC) is part of Macau’s Legislative Assembly (AL), and it got together this past weekend to discuss a number of issues, including how the final session of the current AL’s term should be managed. Members of the commission also gave some attention to the topic of casino concession renewals, with the group’s president, Lei Cheng I, telling the media after the meeting was adjourned that the MCLIPC wants the government to explain its stance on gaming law amendments that are expected to be released sometime next year. He asserted, “The gaming industry is the most vital source of our economy and relates to a large number of employees. The influence and impact [are] great and wide. The current gaming concessions will end by 2022, so we want to know the planning for the amendment of gaming licenses.”

Macau’s government doesn’t foresee the need for postponing the relicensing of casinos in 2022, despite no guidance being given on how the gambling industry in the city is going to change with the amendments to existing gambling laws. Time is quickly running out, however, with the current AL term coming to a close next September. Failure to approve the amendments prior to the end of the term by then could automatically result in a delay in the concession process. Any bills that don’t find a resolution – positive or negative – during a given legislative term are dismissed and can only be considered in the following term if they are submitted as new items. 

Without clarification on what changes might be coming, giving casino operators only a year or so to review any approved amendments doesn’t offer them a lot of time. All that would be necessary is for there to be a legal objection filed, and the concession process could be forced to be postponed by default. A lot is riding on Macau’s future through its gaming industry and, even though the city is going to seek diversification in its tourism options, it will still need to count on the support of the gaming industry to provide a foundation for future growth.